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The objectives of the Environmental Services Department of Athens International Airport SA (AIA) are to monitor environmental conditions, ensure compliance with environmental regulations, communicate environmental information, and undertake initiatives to improve environmental conditions. Since 2000, the Environmental Services Department has been certified according to EN ISO 14001:1996. During the next audit it will seek certification according to EN ISO 14001: 2004. This case study introduces the main elements of the environmental management system (EMS) regarding design, development and implementation, and examines the benefits and challenges of its adoption. Certification has led to a number of operational,environmental and public relations benefits, such as effective environmental monitoring and proactive approach to environmental problems. At the same time,EMS adoption requires continuous internal and external reviews to ensure proper implementation. One of the main future challenges is to expand the EMS to other AIA departments as well as to encourage companies operating at the airport to adopt similar systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides nationally representative information about proprietary schools, or private career schools, and their students. General attributes; Kinds of training offered; Enrollment; Amount and type of student financial aid received by students; Cost of school training.

In a model, such as a logit regression model, we wish to compare the relative importance of two groups of predictors for various objectives. In the example that motivated this work, the model predicts patient outcomes during hospital stays, and we wish to measure the relative contribution of patient and hospital characteristics to the variation in outcomes among patients and among hospitals. This is done using the relative dispersion of patient and hospital contributions to the fitted outcomes. As is seen, this question is distinct from other common questions, including the quality of the overall fit, the degree to which the outcome is accurately predicted, the statistical significance of groups of predictors, and the correlations among and between groups of predictors. Relevant point estimates, confidence intervals, and hypothesis tests are developed. In the example, we examine three outcome measures and find that nearly all of the predictable variation in patient outcomes and most of the predictable variation in outcomes among hospitals reflects variation in patient characteristics rather than hospital characteristics; however, this is true in varying degrees for the three outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a geographical analysis of the first 22 months of the Department of Defense's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening program for military applicants. This analysis concerns four HIV epidemic loci in the United States: New York City; Miami, Florida: Houston, Texas; and San Francisco, California. The cartographic analysis, using a novel smoothing algorithm to stabilize county-based rates, highlights the diffusion of the HIV epidemic from areas with relatively high prevalence to areas with relatively low prevalence of antibody to HIV. While there are particularities specific to each region, the diffusion patterns are remarkably consistent: areas closer to an endemic focus experience a slight decline over time, while more distant areas increase. The diffusion process depicted in map sequences demonstrates expansion diffusion in all four areas, while some provide a clear indication of a mixture of expansion and hierarchical processes. A previous analysis of these data for a fifteen-month period had concluded there was no evidence of a geographic trend in the data. Those conclusions were based on all ages pooled and used multi-state geographic units, making it unlikely that trends in prevalence, which varied by proximity to HIV epicenters, would have been detected. In view of the temporal crossover between the endemic and nonendemic areas' prevalence rates observed in Florida, Texas and California, any spatial analysis of these data using statewide summary rates will obscure the spatial-temporal trends. These data provide compelling evidence for the existence of sub-state level epidemics growing spatially and temporally into areas some miles from the original epicenters. We hope these results will encourage other public health personnel to undertake detailed surveillance of the AIDS and HIV infection epidemics at a unit of analysis small enough to permit quantifying spatial diffusion of this epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explains that the ability to innovate technologies is the key survival skill for businesses in the first 25 years of the twenty-first century. Discussion on the role of technological innovation to business success; Impact of innovation to companies; Ability of businesses in the United States to innovate.

The article focuses on the importance of the two-year study of the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering and Resources for the national ocean program to establish an independent national oceanic and atmospheric agency in the U.S. Implicit to the recommendation is the rejection of the Department of the Interior as a suitable home for civilian oceanography programs. The Department of the Interior intends to play a major role in this regard by exploring and developing the Nation's marine resources so that these new markets will be economically viable. Theo judgment has been endorsed by most qualified observers in public testimony on legislation creating such an agency.