We operate in the home and general merchandise market, worth approximately £55 billion in terms of retail sales. With £5.5 billion worth of sales reported for our last financial year, we hold a 10% share of this market.
We continue to maintain leading market positions in the product categories in which we trade.
Homebase
Homebase trades within the DIY and home enhancement market, which
in the UK is a very fragmented market comprising the 'sheds'
together with a significant number of specialists and independents.
These two components are each estimated to represent about 50% of
the overall DIY and home enhancement market. The sheds market,
until recently, contained the UK's four DIY shed retailers, these
being B&Q, Wickes, Focus DIY and Homebase. Following the
administration and subsequent closure of Focus DIY in 2011, the
sheds market now consists of only B&Q, Wickes and Homebase. A
third-party source, Gfk, tracks the sheds market and it is this
metric against which Homebase's performance is measured to
ascertain its market share.For this financial year, both the overall DIY and home enhancement market and the sheds market, as measured by Gfk, have declined. The sheds market is divided into five product categories, these being:
Over the same period, Homebase has held or gained market share in each of these five product categories, with the strongest market share gain being within the big-ticket category. Over the last three years Homebase has significantly improved its big-ticket offer, which principally comprises kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms and it has also introduced a highly regarded installation service. As a result of these initiatives, Homebase has seen its share of the big-ticket market increase from 20% to 22% over this three-year period. Homebase now holds an overall share of 23% of the sheds market; its highest recorded share since the Gfk sheds market research was launched in 2007.
Argos
Unlike Homebase, Argos operates over a much broader spectrum of
product categories. There are 24 markets in which Argos operates,
with no single metric existing that measures Argos' market share
performance across all these categories. Argos refers to these 24
markets as 'tracked markets', and each market is reported on by a
third-party source such as Gfk, National Purchase Diary (NPD) and
the Office of National Statistics (ONS).Over the last financial year, these tracked markets have
indicated that Argos' total market has declined by about 5%, with
many categories, especially those that are product innovation
driven or are susceptible to overlap by other technologies,
recording double-digit declines. Argos has seen the overall
consumer electronics market, as defined by Gfk, decline by around
20%, with audio, televisions (TV), mobiles and video gaming systems
(VGS) seeing the greatest declines.
Argos has grown its market share within the TV category despite a
substantial decline in the market, but it has lost its share in VGS
due to the concious decision not to compete with loss-leading deals
that existed in the market place at some points during the
financial year. In contrast to these market-declining categories
within consumer electronics, there was considerable growth in
laptops and tablets, driven by new technology such as the iPad and
Kindle, and Argos recorded strong market share gains in this
particular area.
The electricals market, which encompasses the large and small domestic appliances markets, also saw an overall decline in the financial year. Despite this, Argos held its market share within this category. Argos saw a small market share loss within furniture, a market which continued to suffer from record low levels of housing transactions and a reluctance of Argos' core customers to spend on big-ticket furniture purchases for the home. However, this was offset by market share gains in homewares as consumers, instead, spent on smaller ticket items to enhance their homes.
Overall Argos saw a small loss in market share across the total of its tracked markets for the financial year. However, if the exceptional market declines seen in VGS, where Argos deliberately reduced its participation, and audio, were excluded, Argos would have held share across its market categories.
We work with some of the world’s leading suppliers to bring quality products to help our customers enhance their lives.
The UK's second most visited retail website, with over 33,000 lines available
More than 38,000 products available for store collection or home delivery
The iconic UK home furnishing brand with stylish, well designed products


The aim of the present study was to identify the game-related statistics that discriminated basketball winning and losing teams in each of the three consecutive games played in a condensed tournament format. The data were obtained from the Spanish Basketball Federation and included game-related statistics from the Under-20 league (2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons). A total of 223 games were analyzed with the following game-related statistics: two and three-point field goal (made and missed), free-throws (made and missed), offensive and defensive rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers, blocks (made and received), fouls committed, ball possessions and offensive rating. Results showed that winning teams in this competition had better values in all game-related statistics, with the exception of three point field goals made, free-throws missed and turnovers (p > 0.05). The main effect of game number was only identified in turnovers, with a statistical significant decrease between the second and third game. No interaction was found in the analysed variables. A discriminant analysis allowed identifying the two-point field goals made, the defensive rebounds and the assists as discriminators between winning and losing teams in all three games. Additionally to these, only the three-point field goals made contributed to discriminate teams in game three, suggesting a moderate effect of fatigue. Coaches may benefit from being aware of this variation in game determinant related statistics and, also, from using offensive and defensive strategies in the third game, allowing to explore or hide the three point field-goals performance. Key words: Fatigue, basketball, young players, game-related statistics.


Effects of mistletoe on diversity: a case-study from southern New South Wales
D. M. Watson
Emu
102(3) 275 - 281
Published: 26 August 2002
Abstract The influence of mistletoe density on avian diversity has been noted previously, with several studies demonstrating a close positive relationship between the two variables. All previous work has been correlative, exploiting naturally occurring variation in mistletoe density, and hence unable to demonstrate a causative link between mistletoe density and avian richness. Here I compare the avifauna of two adjacent woodland remnants, one of which has had most mistletoe plants removed, but otherwise comparable in area, vegetation and grazing history. Ten-hour inventories were conducted in each remnant in both spring and summer, resulting in a total of 40 hours of censuses. Of the 71 species recorded overall, 52 were recorded from the treatment site (with reduced mistletoe density) and 61 species from the control site. Significantly more woodland-dependent species and species known to feed on mistletoe were recorded in the control site, while there was no significant difference for those species known to nest in mistletoe. These results broadly support the idea that mistletoe is a keystone resource, with mistletoe density having a significant positive effect on species richness. These findings reinforce previous correlative studies, and further highlight the importance of mistletoe in Australian woodlands and forests.
Full text doi:10.1071/MU01042
© Royal Australian Ornithologists Union
2002


This baseball statistic is used to measure the defensive effectiveness of a team in converting batted balls into outs by the fielders. Defensive efficiency rating (DER) is calculated by comparing the number of hits allowed, not including home runs, to the defensive opportunities, which are all balls hit into play except home runs.
The formula for DER is: 1-((H-HR)/(PA-HR-BB-HBP-SO)).
Also referred to as "Def Eff" or "Defensive Efficiency Ratio".
The purpose of DER is to determine the overall effectiveness of the fielding defense of a baseball team. The higher the DER, the better the team's fielding ability is considered to be.
While pitchers who are credited with a lot of strikeouts tend to prevent runs from scoring, those who pitch to contact would benefit more from a high team DER. This rating can also be calculated for individual players, which is a useful statistic to determine the likelihood of a team's ability to prevent runs within a particular lineup (considering both the participating pitchers and fielding players).


People
Jennifer Seavey
Jennifer Seavey earned her PhD from the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts in 2009, where she studied piping plover (
Jennifer's PhD research in the Landscape Ecology Lab focused on piping plover abundance and productivity in relation to environmental heterogeneity at multiple scales on the barrier islands of New York. The challenge of discovering ecologically relevant landscape patterns at multiple scales is critical to improving our abilities to recover endangered species, such as the piping plover. The majority of piping plover research has been based on observations at local/spatial and short/temporal scales; no piping plover studies have included a multiple scale approach explicitly. The current focus on local scale research for plovers may lead us to overlook habitat patterns that occur at broader scales. This missing knowledge could reduce endangered species recovery success, especially given that a broad-scale understanding is necessary for undertaking landscape-level recovery efforts. This missing broad-scale knowledge was the target of our research.
Jennifer's multi-scale approach explicitly examined broader scales than previously observed and allowed us to examine ecological patterns over a broad range of scales from nest site to landscape. She exhaustively sampled plover and environmental data, which allowed us to derive models that explain the distribution, abundance, and productivity of plovers based on environmental patterns at multiple spatial scales. Her results contribute to an understanding of how environmental patterns vary across spatial and temporal scales of observation.
Jennifer's PhD work is currently being reviewed for publication.
For more information, please contact:
Copyright 2000 University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003. (413) 545-0111. This is an official page of the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. All material in this website is made available according to the Fair Use Statute of the U.S. Copyright Act


Thus far, the discussion of supraventricular arrhythmia with abnormal QRS complex has included preexisting conduction defects, the preexcitation syndrome (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome), and functional bundle-branch block due to sudden shortening of cycle length, often combined with prolongation of preceding cycle; the latter is popularly called the "Ashman phenomenon." We will now present examples of other causes of aberrancy for which the mechanistic explanations may not be as clearly delineated as for those entities previously presented.
Aberrancy Occurring at Slow Rates The contour of QRS complexes which escape after long pauses may differ from the QRS complex inscribed during the normal dominant rhythm; yet, the duration of these escape systoles, which is less than 0.12 seconds, strongly, but not unequivocally, indicates an origin above the bifurcation of the bundle of His (Fig 1 and 2). Basically, four theories exist which attempt to explain the cause of such aberrantly conducted junctional escape beats.


After reading "'Dime-a-drink' tax will save lives, not kill jobs " (Feb. 22) by Messrs. Jernigan, Waters and Cook, I'm left wondering: If taxing alcohol will accomplish the two-pronged benefit of raising revenue for the state while curtailing abuse due to reducing consumption, why stop at 10 cents a drink?
Why not double the tax? Or triple it?
I'm not on the faculty of Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health, nor am I a professor of public policy at Duke University, but I did take logic in college and the writers' argument just doesn't hold water, beer or any other liquid.


The provincial government has drafted an offer of $3 million to the Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN) in return for the Band postponing their lawsuit against the province for at least two years, according to documents obtained by the Halifax Media Co-op. The draft offer stems from a 2010 PLFN lawsuit against the province of Nova Scotia, launched due to the province's failure to clean up Boat Harbour.
An estimated 1,000,000,000 litres of effluent from the Abercrombie Pulp and Paper Mill – currently owned by Northern Pulp -- have flowed into Boat Harbour, and the surrounding area since 1966, according to a 2009 King's College report, causing untold environmental and health damage. The area has described as “otherworldly” by Green Party leader Elizabeth May, for its ongoing pollution.
The draft “Capacity Building Agreement” between the province of Nova Scotia and the Pictou Landing Indian Band notes that the provincial government has agreed to pay $3 million dollars to the band, ostensibly for “Capacity Building” - not for the clean-up of Boat Harbour, and not for paying for the Band's steadily increasing legal fees. The document also notes that the money hinges on the band not attempting in any way to halt the on-going effluent dumping and preventing its members from doing the same. As noted:
“Pictou Landing will not, and will take all reasonable actions to ensure that the Members do not, support or engage in any action that might frustrate, delay or stop the Operation, Northern, or its affiliates and the successors...”
The document states that the $3 million is not:
"...to be interpreted or construed as an admission or recognition by Nova Scotia or Canada or Northern of the existence or extent of any Rights, of any infringement of Rights by Nova Scotia, Canada, (or) Northern...in relation to Pictou's Landing's Rights. ”A second internal band document obtained by HMC notes that the PLFN is “facing a financial crisis”, and that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada itself acknowledges that the Band is underfunded. The document notes that the PLFN's lawsuit cannot continue, due to lack of funding, and that there have been no outside offers of assistance to continue the legal battle. The $3 million is specifically not to be used to fund the lawsuit. The second document notes that:
“...There is no funding available in the current budget to fund a law suit. INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) has refused to provide funding for the lawsuit. The Federal government has refused to take on the lawsuit using its own lawyers. Nova Scotia Legal Aid has refused to fund the lawsuit. Private lenders have refused to fund the lawsuit.”
If this capacity building agreement is accepted by the Band, $3 million will have bought their silence for the next 2 years, and dumping looks set to continue. If the agreement is rejected, according to the second document, the lawsuit has drained the Band's coffers, and unless a legal champion for the cause can be found, dumping looks like it will continue anyway.
Such news rings dire for not only the PLFN, where the effects of living next door to a 45 year old, 140+ acre, effluent-dumping site, are the most pronounced, but also for the rest of Pictou County.
According to the Pictou County Health Authority's “Health Status Profile” of 2008, life expectancy is lower than in the rest of Nova Scotia. Fewer people now report 'excellent', or 'very good', health than in studies conducted in 2003 and 2005. Heart disease and diabetes are rising, and mortality rates due to respiratory diseases are higher than the rest of Nova Scotia. Pictou residents also have to contend with the emissions of a tire plant, a coal plant, and a now-defunct steel works, but it is the mill that bears the brunt of the locals' blame for the health and environmental issues the community struggles with.


The International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward.
The conference hubs programme was designed to extend the reach of the International AIDS Conference facilitating community participation. Conference hubs are “mini conferences” held in conjunction with the international conference by local organizations active in the AIDS response. Sessions from the international conference will be recorded or telecast free of charge for selected applicants and can be screened at organizers’ discretion. These sessions are typically followed by moderated discussions with local or regional experts to examine how the session content can be used to strengthen the HIV/AIDS response.


A jargon-free overview of law, this introduces the essentials of legal systems in a lively, accessible and stimulating manner, and includes simple explanations of terms, concepts, procedures and judgements.
Synopsis
Law touches every aspect of our daily lives, and yet the main concepts, terms, and processes of the legal system remain obscure to many. This Very Short Introduction provides a clear, jargon-free account of modern legal systems, explaining how the law works both in the Western tradition and around the world.


The Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM Sustainable Agriculture Program Agricultural expansion is the single largest threat to the world’s remaining tropical forests. In the tropics, farms are often responsible for deforestation, soil erosion and the contamination of waterways. In response to these problems, the Rainforest Alliance has undertaken a major effort to promote sustainable agriculture in these biodiversity-rich regions.


Louisiana Valued Policy Law
When Total Loss Equals Total Payment
Mitchell F. Crusto Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
August/September 2007
Louisiana Bar Journal, Vol. 55, No. 2, 2007
Abstract:
Louisiana insurance attorneys should know the intricacies of Louisiana’s Valued Policy Law (LVPL). LVPL mandates full value recovery, without deduction or offset, where real property (inanimate immovables) was insured for a stated value and suffered a total loss. For example, if a fire destroyed a property insured for a stated value, the insurer must pay the policy’s stated insured value, without deduction or offset. Caveat: Despite the existence of this important, pre-emptory statute, it is rarely (if ever) recited in homeowners’ insurance policies. Parenthetically, while this explores LVPL through the lens of homeowners’ policies, LVPL also applies to commercial property policies. How courts apply LVPL to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Katrina) property insurance claims is a multibillion dollar issue. While many Louisiana homeowners suffered a “total loss” due to Katrina, few have been paid their entire coverage amount. Some insurers claim that LVPL does not apply in three Katrina types of cases. The first case is where the total loss was due in while or in part to a non-covered peril (flood). The second case is where the total loss was due to “mixed causation,” a combination of a covered peril (wind) and a non-covered peril (flood). The third is where the total loss was offset by collateral sources such as National Federal Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) recovery, FEMA grants, SBA loans and the like. This article explores LVPL jurisprudence and addresses seriatim three contentious LVPL issues. First, is LVPL limited to “fire” losses and, if not, who has the burden of proof as to its application? Second, if LVPL applies beyond fire losses, does it apply where the loss results from “mixed” causation (covered and non-covered perils)? Third, if LVPL applies beyond fire and mixed causation, is the stated value offset by collateral sources such as NFIP payments?
Number of Pages in PDF File: 6
Keywords: Louisiana Valued Policy Law, LVPL, Louisiana insurance, commercial property policies, Louisiana homeowners' insurance policies, Hurricane Katrina, Katrina, Hurricane Rita, National Federal Flood Insurance Program, NFIP, FEMA grants
Accepted Paper Series
Download This Paper
Date posted: February 11, 2010
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


The injection of public spending into scholarships and increases in wages and pensions boosts consumption at a time when production of state-run companies and staples such as milk and sugar falls. Therefore, there is no alternative but to resort to imports to prevent widespread shortages.
In his year-end report, President of the Central Bank of Venezuela Nelson Merentes stated that in 2012, imports totaled USD 56.35 billion, the highest amount in the last 16 years. The number amounts to 59% of the dollar revenues Venezuela obtained from exports.
Venezuela’s economy is going through a cycle where imports are higher than dollar revenues because the price of oil, which provides 96% of foreign currency revenue, has stabilized.
In 2011, imports accounted for 50% of foreign currency earnings from exports. In 2008, which until now had been the record year, they amounted to 53%.
Dollars from exports not only are used to pay for imports but also to meet other commitments in foreign currency.
While the country’s situation is not critical in this respect, the gap between imports, services purchased abroad and transfers, and the foreign currency revenue from exports, which is technically known as the balance-of-payments current account, fell 41%, from USD 24.61 billion in 2011 to USD 14.56 billion in 2012.


Twenty-five years ago, InfoTech's founder, Zorianna Hyworon, had a vision of an online health risk assessment with the potential to engage an individual privately and respectfully. The process of completing the assessment would create an "Aha moment" giving pause for reflection and leading to informed decisions to set goals and take action. Group risk profiles would enable the employer to identify and prioritize needs and evaluate the business case for investment in risk reduction strategies. Over time, a sufficient number of employees would make positive changes and the impact of those changes would be reflected in measurable outcomes and quantifiable risk reduction. In 1990, InfoTech launched Wellness Checkpoint® and that vision became reality.
In the years since, InfoTech has continued to enhance the uniquely powerful Wellness Checkpoint, HRA which adapts the experience of the risk assessment to the business priorities of its clients.
While others were heralding "the HRA solution of the future" …InfoTech was delivering it While others were cautious of online technology …InfoTech harnessed its power While others focused on the U.S. …InfoTech embraced the diversity of the global market While others saw the HRA as an inventory of risk …InfoTech turned the HRA into a powerful risk management decision support system While others do annual screenings …InfoTech engages the user in a commitment to better health While others focus primarily on the individual …InfoTech expands to include the organization & business We invite you to check out our differences.


We are creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us, and increasingly unable to engage in long-form thinking. People now feel anxious when their brains are unstimulated. We are losing some very important things by doing this. We threaten the key ingredients behind creativity and insight by filling up all our ‘gap’ time with stimulation. And we inhibit real human connection when we prioritize our phones over the people right in front of us.


Now another milestone has been reached that looks even more threatening than the above one. On the morning of June 16, 2013, methane levels reached an average mean of 1800 parts per billion (ppb). This is 1100 ppb higher than pre-industrial peak levels.
NOAA image
Temperatures moved within lower and upper boundaries of respectively -8 and 2 degrees Celsius.
From a historic perspective, greenhouse gas levels have risen abruptly to unprecedented levels. While already at a historic peak, humans have caused emissions of additional greenhouse gases. There's no doubt that such greenhouse gas levels will lead to huge rises in temperatures. The question is how long it will take for temperatures to catch up and rise.


Multimedia technology presents several options to the developers of computer-based learning environments. For instance, it is common to organize information by its physical characteristics. However, organizize information based on how users understand the material might improve comprehension. This theory of cognitive media – media organized by cognitive characteristics – was examined in studies using the AlgoNet system, a multimedia learning environment (Recker, Ram, Shikano, Li, & Stasko, 1995). To explore several interface options, AlgoNet2, a second version of AlgoNet, was created with the same domain information, but several new interface concepts. Students in an introductory programming class used AlgoNet2 to solve a problem involving graph theory. Students’ performance and comments suggest that many students lack effective learning strategies and those that do employ effective learning strategies are unaware of them.
Read the paper:


in Kenya What school is like in Kenya Children really love and enjoy going to school. They have continued to attend, despite severe droughts. Many children walk several miles to school every day on an empty stomach just for the chance to learn.
Pencils no longer than an inch are shared among dozens of pupils and old newspapers serve as makeshift notebooks. Despite these obstacles, the children are determined to make do with whatever resources are available to them for the chance to better their prospects. The motivation and desire to succeed exists in each of these children.
- School meals were virtually non-existent from 2007-09 - Some children sleep at school because of walking distance between school and their home.
School is vital to the childrenâ€™s future. Schools keep the children from migrating to larger towns and cities, where opportunities and services will not be available to them.
–
Schools participating in the BAF programme include: - Naiperere Primary School - Ngabolo Primary School - Kimanjo Primary School - Kimanjo Secondary School - Raap Primary School - Musul Primary School - Nkiloriti Nursery School - Parkurruk Nursery School - Narasha Nursery School


Posts tagged "obese clients " within Fitnovatives Blog
Trust. Honesty. Values. These are the building blocks for building a strong and effective relationship between trainers and clients, particularly those who are struggling with the complex issues related to being overweight or obese.
With the dramatic increases in the rates of obesity and overweight, chances are high that you work with clients who are dealing with the unique challenges that come with a larger body size. Learn how to be size sensitive by seeing beyond the fat, anticipating the physical and emotional challenges that often come with being overweight, and designing movement that creates a pleasurable experience.


Revenues
General government activities of the City are financed through seven major revenue categories:
Taxes (Other than property taxes) This category contains the largest single revenue source - sales tax. Also included in this category are franchise taxes, utility tax, admission tax and transient occupancy taxes. Sales tax is collected by the state with a portion then remitted to the city; the others are collected directly by the city.
Property Tax This category includes revenues which are assessed and collected by the County of Santa Cruz and forwarded to the city.
Revenue from Use of Money and Property This category includes revenue secured by investing the funds of the city and for rents of city-owned property.
Licenses and Permits This category includes revenue derived from the issuance of business permits, etc.
Fines and Forfeitures This category includes funds collected by the city as well as funds collected and distributed by the state and county.
Revenue from Other Agencies This category consists of state license money, taxes, and fees collected and distributed by the state as well as federal, state, and county grants.
Fees for City Services This category includes fees charged by Parks and Recreation, Planning, Police, Fire, and other city departments.
These revenues, along with nonrecurring revenue (insurance refunds, donations, etc.) and transfers from various sources, are used to support most aspects of city government. Enterprise funds (water, sewer and refuse) are self-sufficient. Construction funds for city projects are also separately maintained. They are derived through bond proceeds and federal and state grants as well as some of the revenue sources noted above.
Debts
The city is allowed to issue general obligation bonds under Section 1418 of the City Charter with a limit that cannot exceed the sum of 15 percent of the total assessed property valuation for the purpose of the city's taxation. The limit has not been reached. A two-thirds popular vote is needed to pass general obligation bonds according to the terms of Proposition 13. The city can also issue revenue bonds for enterprise funds such as the water fund. Revenue bonds can still be authorized by the City Council.
Auditing
The Finance Department provides internal auditing services, and regular audits are made by an independent auditing firm.


As I've written before, great technology is nothing without a sound methodology for getting things done.
A few days ago, I met Travis Robertson at a business management presentation. Travis shared some of his significant goals with me and he explained that he was finding it a challenge keeping a handle on his projects and actions. Naturally, I recommended GTD as an approach to consider for organizing his life. A few days later, I received this email:
Eric, I want to thank you for recommending Getting Things Done. I picked up the book over the weekend and had an "Ah ha!" moment with it. I've tried numerous methods that involved the purchase of someone's planners and products--all to no avail. They always seemed like they were trying to make me fit their mold. Getting Things Done really makes sense to me and I think it will change my life. I'm not an organized person by nature, but I'm confident this is a system I can actually use. You piqued my interest when you said, "It so simple, it can be done on the back of a napkin."It’s easy to buy the latest and greatest in technology, but that does not guarantee a boost in productivity. Without a method for its effective use, the potential benefit of a new technology will be limited. Technology might even get in the way. I'm glad to help, Travis. Best of success to you!


OVERVIEW The UK public sector is under considerable pressure to identify savings, while maintaining vital frontline services. ICT has a significant role to play in achieving these challenging objectives. Advances in technology drive modernisation and progress; recent developments in ICT such as smartphones and tablet PCs, social networking, and Cloud computing present opportunities to generate significant efficiency and productivity gains.This conference will explore the case for making public services digital by default, providing essential information on how public sector organisations can deliver efficient, cost-effective public services that are responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses.
There is a shift towards online services, which are viewed as tools to transform the relationship between the government and individuals, particularly for disadvantaged groups. High-quality websites are vital in providing citizens with accurate and helpful information on a 'self-service' basis, reducing the need for costly call centres or face-to-face enquiries. Social media are also increasingly considered to be a key way to boost citizen engagement.
The government is leading a revolution in digital public service delivery, understanding that public services can be improved by bringing them online, increasing choice, allowing greater control, and enabling personalisation of services. The recent Open Public Services White Paper sets out a new approach of 'government services wherever you are', aiming to accelerate the digitisation of public services, creating new opportunities for technological innovation and removing the current barriers to digital delivery.
A new Director of Digital has recently been appointed to the Cabinet Office to lead the Government Digital Service (GDS), with absolute authority over the user experience across all government online services, focusing on what creates the best citizen experience. This follows the Directgov 2010 and Beyond report, produced by UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox, that states that digital public service delivery will provide better services for citizens, and has the potential to deliver savings of more than £1.3bn a year.
Delegates will be offered the opportunity to hear of examples where new models of digital public service delivery have been embraced, and how they are improving service delivery and attaining efficiency savings. Alphagov, the new prototype for a single website that aims to bring government transactions and information into one place, is to focus digital public services on customer needs. The Public Sector Network (PSN) has been particularly noted as a delivery mechanism for shared data centres, storage facilities, the public sector 'Cloud', remote technical expertise, and customer and employee self-service. This transformational programme will create an open and collaborative environment for all public sector employees, and is expected to contribute at least £631m per year in savings to the Efficiency and Reform programme by 2014.
Technology has a central role to play in the reform of the public sector, offering more innovative and individualised services.
Digital by Default: a revolution in public service delivery will feature an excellent programme of high-profile speakers, providing essential insight into the future of public services.


Nasa astronauts again complain about disinformation
Backstory http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/22/nasa-astronauts-announce-second-letter-to-nasa-at-heartland-conference/#more-64104In our letter of March 28, 2012, we, the undersigned, respectfully requested that NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) refrain from including unproven remarks in public releases and websites.
On April 11th, Dr. Waleed Abdalati responded, holding that: “As an agency, NASA does not draw conclusions and issue ‘claims’ about research findings.”
Eight days later, at a senate hearing, Dr. Abdalati, did just that, concluding that Sea-Level rise within the next 87 years projects within a range of 0.2 meters to 2 meters, with lower ranges less likely while “the highest values are based on warmest of the temperature scenarios commonly considered for the remainder of the 21st century.” Abdalati added: “The consequences of a 1 meter rise in sea level by the end of this century would be very significant in terms of human well-being and economics, and potentially global socio-political stability.”
The range and imprecision of this conclusion is astounding!
“Commonly considered?” Is this science by poll? If hard data points to a provable rise, it should be stated with its probability. Can you imagine one of your predecessors, Dr. Thomas Paine, declaring, “Our Apollo 11 Lunar Lander’s target is the Sea of Tranquility, but we may make final descent within a range that includes Crater Clavius”?
We are not trying to stifle discourse, but undisciplined commentary, lacking in precision, is wholly inappropriate when NASA’s name and reputation is attached.


Hospitality design has come a long way since the 1980’s construction boom. Guest demand for a more personalised hotel experience has created a renaissance within hotel design. Whether the hotel is boutique or budget, consumers like to stay somewhere that reflects their personality, and hoteliers meet this need by making the bedroom space look, work and feel more like home.
Yet it is often the hotel public areas that create lasting memories and reasons to return. tsg can support your aims by blending programmed music, mood lighting and promotional screen media to create an entertainment signature that makes your hospitality and leisure offer a compelling reason for residents and guests to stay within the bounds of the hotel and spend more.


Embracing the naive prospect Many businesses cater to individuals and corporations that are making a once in a lifetime purchase. Whether it's a DJ for your kids sweet 16 or a company that pours tar on the roof of your factory, it's unlikely you're an expert when you go to buy the product or service.
So, unlike a purchase from an educated consumer (shoes, for example, or a car or workman's comp insurance) this purchase has very different rules. Jargon, for one, is missing, so it's hard to communicate crisply. Education matters, because without the confidence to decide, the prospect will stall, or evade, or just move on. And trust is essential, because there's so much fear on the line.
I think there are a few valid tactics to consider:
EDUCATE--not a little, but a lot. Run a school. A real honest to goodness school, online or off, by phone or by plane. If it's important enough to me, I'll attend.
BE TRANSPARENT--tell me all about your competitors. Sure, I might buy from you if you're the only one I can think of, but I'm way more likely to buy from you if you have the confidence to give me a list of questions and a list of competitors.
A GUARANTEE might be worth less than you think. It certainly won't help replace my ruined bar mitzvah!
REALIZE that your reputation might not precede you. In other words, it's entirely possible that I have no clue who you are or what you've done before.
COMMUNITY--put me in a room with ten other people facing the same quandary. As we talk with each other, we'll gain trust in you.
Most of all, I think it's essential to acknowledge internally that your job is to turn naive, fearful new prospects into confident spreaders of word of mouth.
Or, intentionally ignore this market and demand jargon and a reference before you let me in the door. Either strategy can work. What doesn't work is intidimidating the already intimidated.


Tasmania's worst aquatic weed, rice grass, is making some of the state's great beaches look less than their best.
But the community around the Rubicon Estuary near Devonport is fighting back, with a concerted effort to halt the rice grass invasion over the summer months.
The Rubicon Coast and Landcare Group is trying to control rice grass and teaming up with Serve-Ag and Forestry Tasmania volunteers to dig out and spray small infestations at Squeaking Point.
Rachel Brown from the Landcare group says the area is a natural treasure that shouldn't be allowed to be spoiled by the silt-trapping invasive weed.
"I think has to be one of the most beautiful estuaries in Australia," she said.
"It's the birds, it's the people, it's everything you can do on it.
"But if you look a bit further south, you can start to see massive big fields of rice grass, which has completely clogged the estuary.
"It's something I've tried to get the funding for but they're not weeds that tick any of the boxes.
"They don't get listed as nationally significant weeds, but they're incredibly significant in small areas.
"This is the second largest infestation of rice grass in Australia."
The Rubicon Coast and Landcare Group is seeking funding for a total eradication plan.
Its budget to eradicate the Rubicon's 120 hectares of rice grass is $430,000, and that would be spent over the next five to ten years.
The plan has a lot of community support and backing from the Latrobe Council, but critical state and federal funding support is missing.
However, this summer Forestry Tasmania's volunteering program has been chipping in on the weeding, as forester, Tony Allwright explains.
"It's just passionate locals wanting to keep the ambience of the estuary as it is," he says.
"It's a holding pattern.
"If we can keep the areas around the towns free of rice grass and as they are, then that's a good result.
"We foresters have been pushing our folk already to see if we can do the same thing again next year, and I think there's a good chance that we can," he said.


Volume 18, Issue 3 (July 1973)
The forensic pathologist can, no doubt, contribute immensely to the reconstruction of a fatal motor vehicle accident by carefully evaluating the victim's injuries. This aspect is commonly overlooked. In most cases, autopsy reports of highway fatalities fail to correlate injuries with known mechanisms and merely list the injuries and establish the cause of death.


Source Department of Clinical Medicine, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
BACKGROUND: It has been observed that overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is accompanied by a persistent cognitive defect, suggesting that HE may not be fully reversible. The health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) has been shown to be impaired by cirrhosis, and, according to some reports, influenced by minimal HE. Little is known about the effect of previous HE on HRQoL.
AIM: To investigate the relative impact of previous HE and minimal HE on HRQoL in a group of consecutively hospitalized cirrhotic patients.
PATIENTS/METHODS: Seventy five consecutive cirrhotic patients were evaluated using the Psychometric HE Score (PHES) and simplified Psychometric HE Score (SPHES) to detect the presence of minimal HE and using SF-36 to assess the HRQoL, both corrected for age and education. Eighteen of them had previous bouts of overt HE.
RESULTS: Minimal HE was significantly more frequent in patients with previous HE than in those without (p < 0.001), independently on the method used for the diagnosis (PHES or SPHES). A deeper impairment in several domains of SF-36 was observed in patients with previous bouts of overt HE, in those with ascites, as well as in those with decompensated cirrhosis. At multivariate analysis, ascites, MELD score and previous HE were independently related to the mental-component-summary (MCS) of SF-36, whereas ascites was the only variable independently associated with the physical-component-summary (PCS) of SF-36. Minimal HE (independently on the method used for its diagnosis) impaired only one domain of SF-36.
CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that previous bouts of HE, despite their complete clinical resolution, play an independent role in producing a persistent impairment in HRQoL of cirrhotics.


Ever wonder where some of your tax dollars are being spent? Look no further. A website called Legistorm.com is ready to give you all the juicy details on how your United States House Representative is spending your federal tax dollars.
The Argentine neighborhood's representative is Dennis Moore (D-KS). Moore has served as the representative for the 3rd District of Kansas since 1999, serving five 2-year terms. Since serving in this position, Moore's salary expenditures have increased from $680,427 in 2001 to $1,095,058 in 2009. These numbers include Moore's salary, as well has some of his staff's salary, but does not include volunteers, interns, and staff members for committees or campaigns. Moore's salary is $174,000.
The site also discloses how much each representative and senator has spent on trips, earmarks they have received for their districts via legislation, and who has cosponsored that the legislation. The site also contains each representative and senator's financial disclosures, but to view those, the curious browser need to create an account.
A recent article noted that Moore spent $1.354 million in annual operating expenditures. In all fairness, Moore's expenditures are within the $1.3-1.9 million average budget spent by representatives.
Concerned and involved citizens are encouraged to check this site often to monitor their representative's spending, earmarks, and disclosures. After all, it's your money.


The potential impact of a social redistribution of specific risk factors on socioeconomic inequalities in mortality: illustration of a method based on population attributable fractions
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 07/27/2012
Hoffmann R et al. – After discussing the underlying assumptions of the PAF, the authors concluded that the approach is promising for estimating the extent to which health inequalities can be potentially reduced by interventions on specific risk factors. This reduction is likely to differ substantially between countries, risk factors and genders.


National Alliance on Mental Illness
page printed from
http://www.nami.org/(800) 950-NAMI; info@nami.org
©2013
Finding Joy in ADHD After many years of frustration and exasperation, my homeschooled, eighth-grade son was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), inattentive type. I was overwhelmed by the thought of coping with this diagnosis and figuring out what I was supposed to do next.
I experienced many emotions as I came to terms with the diagnosis, but I knew I had a choice about how to respond. I chose joy, knowing that this test could be a great gift. It could bring me the joy of knowing and loving my son more deeply, while remaining his mother and strongest advocate. And so I embarked on an adventure which, in the end, brought out the best in both of us.
We found that finding a doctor who specialized in ADHD and starting my son on medication were most helpful. We were both overjoyed at his improved ability to focus. Next, I recognized the need for consistency, structure and accountability for him and an exhaustive understanding of ADHD for me. Always scoring high on IQ tests, I realized that my son was gifted.
Then it came time to transition to college.His hard work and passion led to his becoming a National Merit Scholar. His choice, a Big 12 private institution, had an honors business program and success center with free disability advisors, free tutoring, accommodation advising and counseling. It seemed like a good environment for him, but I wondered if it would be enough.
After a freshman year that brought challenges, tears (mine) and a GPA not reflective of his abilities, we knew he needed a private ADHD coach. A coach was needed to provide executive processing skills, to help him focus and prioritize and to encourage him to improve his performance. Through his coach, he is doing well academically and has maintained his full-ride merit scholarship. In fact, he won the Shire ADHD Scholarship his junior year. His coach is part of our team and welcomes our input. Coaching with a well-trained professional is well worth the investment. Choosing to respond with joy when my child was diagnosed with ADHD was certainly the way to go. My son is truly unique and oh, so loved. I recommend that other families approach ADHD with joy. It sure beats the alternative.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The prevalence of malignant mesothelioma due to erionite exposure in Central Anatolia is very high. In this report, we review the recent developments on this epidemic on the basis of previous literature.
RECENT FINDINGS: Recently, it has been shown that erionite is poorly cytotoxic, induces proliferating signals and high growth rate in human mesothelial cells. Additionally, long-term exposure to erionite transforms human mesothelial cells in vitro, regardless of the presence of Simian Virus 40 sequences, leading to foci formation in cultured monolayers. It has also been confirmed that a genetic predisposition to erionite carcinogenesis is the cause of the mesothelioma epidemic in Cappadocia.
SUMMARY: The data obtained recently on the epidemiology, etiology, and pathogenesis of the mesothelioma due to erionite exposure in Turkey are described.


AP Photo
The global financial crisis was a true system perturbation, revealing the gap between widely perceived risk and actual underlying risk in the world's increasingly integrated financial system. As with any such vertical shock, the resulting horizontal waves continue to be felt long after the initial blow. When gaps in capabilities and rule-sets were subsequently discovered, the world's major economies effected changes, like shifting economic oversight from the G-7 to the expanded G-20 and updating the Basel banking accord. In a world without true global government, these...
TAGGED: G-20, Foreign Policy
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Intersections: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories This series is concerned with three kinds of intersections or conversations: first, across cultures and regions, an interaction that postcolonial studies have emphasized in their foregrounding of the multiple sites and multi-directional traffic involved in the making of the modern; second, across time, the conversation between a mutually constitutive past and present that occurs in different times and places; and third, between colonial and postcolonial histories, which as theoretical positions have very different perspectives on the first two ‘intersections’ and the questions of intellectual enquiry and expression implied in them. These three kinds of conversations are critical to the making of any present and any history. Thus the new series provides a forum for extending our understanding of core issues of Human society and its self-representation over the centuries.
While focusing on Asia, the series is open to studies of other parts of the world that are sensitive to cross-cultural, cross-chronological and cross-colonial perspectives. The series invites submissions for single-authored and edited books by young as well as established scholars that challenge the limits of inherited disciplinary, chronological and geographical boundaries, even when they focus on a single, well-recognized territory or period.


Midline stabilization is essential for effective functional movement. Kelly Starrett, of San Francisco CrossFit, explains the essential anatomy and physiology of it in this excerpt from his one day seminar at CrossFit Santa Cruz on November 9, 2008.
The midline is the entire spine, and its stability is dependent not just on the core, but also on all the prime movers of the body, including the hip, glutes, and hamstrings. Excessive tightness in any of the prime movers will affect the core muscles, often resulting in low back pain.
In this part 3, Kelly explains the difference between primary stabilizers and emergency stabilizers (the latter are also the prime movers), before talking about the role of midline stabilization in the kipping pull-up.
This is the third of a series from Kelly on the theory and practice of stabilizing the midline in functional movement.
4min 43sec


Examine whether contaminants in your water supply met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.
East Farmingdale Wd Babylon (t), New York . Serves 7,000 people.
No data was available for this system.
Units: ppb: parts per billion, pCi/L: picocuries per liter, ppm: parts per million, mrem/yr: millirems per year, MFL: million fibers per litre


US EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics / by Dennis Guignet http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/WPNumber/2012-01
Hedonic property value models are widely used, but are susceptible to omitted variable bias and potentially invalid conjectures regarding the assumed measure of environmental quality. This paper focuses on an application where both are of particular concern: leaking underground storage tanks. I estimate a hedonic model using quasi-experimental and spatial econometric techniques. Similar to previous studies, I examine how house prices vary with distance to the disamenity. This approach yields little evidence that prices are adversely impacted. However, to better measure risks, I utilize home-specific data on correspondence from environmental regulators, and find a 9-12% depreciation when households are well-informed.


Hamlet is the melancholy Prince of Denmark and grieving son to the recently deceased King. Thanks to Shakespeare’s skilful and psychologically-astute characterization, Hamlet is now considered to be the greatest dramatic character ever created.
Hamlet’s Grief From our very first encounter with Hamlet, he is consumed by grief and obsessed by death. Although he is dressed in black to signify his mourning, his emotions run deeper than his appearance or words can convey. In Act 1, Scene 2, he says to his mother:
‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good-mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black ... Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief That can denote me truly. These indeed ‘seem’, For they are actions that a man might play; But I have that within which passeth show – These but the trappings and the suits of woe. The depth of Hamlet’s emotional turmoil can be measured against the high spirits displayed by the rest of the court. Hamlet is pained to think that everyone has managed to forget his father so quickly – especially his mother, Gertrude. Within a month of her husband’s death, Gertrude has married her brother-in-law. Hamlet cannot comprehend his mother’s actions and considers them to be an act of treachery.
Hamlet and Claudius Hamlet idealizes his father in death and describes him as “so excellent a king” in his “O that this too too solid flesh would melt” speech in Act 1, Scene 2. It is therefore impossible for the new king, Claudius, to live up to Hamlet’s expectations. In the same scene, he pleads with Hamlet to think upon him as a father – an idea that furthers Hamlet’s contempt:
We pray you to throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father When the ghost reveals that Claudius killed the king to take the throne, Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s murder. However, Hamlet is emotionally disorientated and finds it difficult to take action. He cannot balance his overwhelming hatred for Claudius, his all-encompassing grief and the evil required to carry out his revenge. Hamlet’s desperate philosophizing leads him into a moral paradox: that he must commit murder to avenge murder. Hamlet’s act of revenge is inevitably delayed amid his emotional turmoil.
Hamlet After Exile We see a different Hamlet return from exile in Act 5: his emotional turmoil has been replaced by perspective, and his anxiety replaced by cool rationality. By the final scene, Hamlet has come to the realization that killing Claudius is his destiny:
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. Perhaps Hamlet’s new-found confidence in fate is little more than a form of self-justification; a way to rationally and morally distance himself from the murder he is about to commit.
It is the complexity of Hamlet’s characterization that has made him so enduring. Today, it is difficult to appreciate how revolutionary Shakespeare’s approach to Hamlet was because his contemporaries were still penning two-dimensional characters. Hamlet’s psychological subtlety emerged in a time before the concept of psychology had been invented – a truly remarkable feat.


Sentence Disambiguation By A Shift-Reduce Parsing Technique by Shieber, Stuart M.
Technical Note 281 Institution: AI Center, SRI International Address: 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 Mar 1983.
Native speakers of English show definite and consistent preferences for certain readings of syntactically ambiguous sentences. A user of a natural-language-processing system would naturally expect it to reflect the same preferences. Thus, such systems must model in some way the linguistic performance as well as the linguistic competence of the native speaker. We have developed a parsing algorithm–a variant of the LALR(1) shift-reduce algorithm–that models the preference behavior of native speakers for a range of syntactic preference phenomena reported in the psycholinguistic literature, including the recent data on lexical preferences. The algorithm yields the preferred parse deterministically, without building multiple parse trees and choosing among them. As a side effect, it displays appropriate behavior in processing the much discussed garden-path sentences. The parsing algorithm has been implemented and has confirmed the feasibility of our approach to the modeling of these phenomena.
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Amalgamated Transit Union honored the life and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a national day of action to defend public transit April 4 - the 44th anniversary of King's assassination in Memphis Tennessee - kicking off a massive Occupy Transit campaign targeting politicians who have failed to make necessary reforms to sustain local bus and rail systems.
"Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis supporting striking sanitation workers seeking union recognition" said Angela Walker, legislative director for ATU's southeastern Wisconsin Local 998. His work had emphasized access to jobs in his last years, paying wages sufficient to support a family. Union transit workers, and thousands of their passenger in every local community across the United States, who rely on public transit to get to available employment, consider this campaign a fitting memorial for Dr. King's life, work, and death.
Sally Prefontaine, a veteran bus driver on the Milwaukee system, highlighted that "taxpayers are subsidizing oil companies, while the price is going up, but the government has docked transit," when the U.S. is supposedly trying to reduce dependence on imported oil.
Dan Lecoco, a rider on the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) who is blind and must get to several meetings a day, told the April 4 rally at the Local 998 office on North 26th Street "I use public transit because it is the most reliable way to go. I don't use paratransit, because I need to get to appointments on time. I talk to people with disabilities who say, if they can get a ride, they will come to an event. Without transit, I'm justa guy waiting at home hoping for a ride."
For passengers such as Lecoco, said local ATU president Al Simonis, and many seeking work who cannot afford their own car, "Milwaukee cannot survive without quality public transit." While Milwaukee got another one-year breathing spell from funds released by dissolving the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Agency, the $10 million in transit cuts from Governor Walker's budget bill hurt systems in Appleton and Wausau immediately, said Walker.
Walker recently spoke to a state senate committee in support of a renewed bill authorizing local voters to approve regional transit authorities by referendum. She didn't note much response. Transit supporters in the Fox Valley, she reported, have sharply criticized Republican efforts to centralize power in Madison, a Big Government approach that destroys local community self-government in developing transit solutions.


HOME MAGAZINE TOPICS ISHN GLOBAL COLUMNS EHS RESEARCH CONVENTIONS RESOURCES MULTIMEDIA A full duty Fume Hood in a compact size, the CE Model is a low flow constant volume fume hood which offers 50% energy savings over conventional fume hoods. CE fume hoods are offered in 30”, 36”, and 48” widths and can be equipped with a wide selection of accessories to meet your specific process needs.
A new study from the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), shows that the use of Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) can significantly reduce exposure to toxins found in welding fumes.
In a study of non-metal miners in the United States, federal government scientists reported that heavy exposure to diesel exhaust increased risk of death from lung cancer.
This standard establishes the elements and activities for pre-project and pre-task safety and health planning in construction.
With access to over one million professionals and more than 60 industry-specific publications,Clear Seas Research offers relevant insights from those who know your industry best. Let us customize a market research solution that exceeds your marketing goals.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a "qualified yes" for participation by athletes with single kidneys in contact/collision sports. Despite this recommendation, most physicians continue to discourage participation in contact/collision sports for patients with single kidneys. A major concern is the lack of prospective data quantifying the incidence of sport-related kidney injury. The objective was to quantify the incidence of sport-related kidney injury among high school varsity athletes and compare it with sport-related injuries of other organ systems.
METHODS: Data from the National Athletic Trainers' Association High School Injury Surveillance Study, an observational cohort study collected during the 1995-1997 academic years, were used. Incidence rates for sport-specific injuries to select organs were computed and compared.
RESULTS: Over 4.4 million athlete-exposures, defined as 1 athlete participating in 1 game or practice, and 23,666 injuries were reported. Eighteen kidney injuries, none of which were catastrophic or required surgery, were reported compared with 3450 knee, 2069 head/neck/spine, 1219 mild traumatic brain, 148 eye, and 17 testicle injuries. Student athletes incurring kidney injuries were most often playing football (12 injuries) or girls' soccer (2 injuries). Sport-specific rates of kidney injury were significantly lower than sport-specific rates of mild traumatic brain, head/neck/spine, and knee injuries for all sports as well as rates of baseball- and basketball-specific eye injuries (P < .01).
CONCLUSIONS: Kidney injuries occur significantly less often than other injuries during sport. These data do not support limiting sport participation by athletes with single kidneys.


Moving beyond promises in Yemen’s transition 1 October 2012 Greater inclusion of young people in decision-making and tangible improvements in daily life are needed in Yemen to ensure that the current transition leads to sustained peace and security. This is the conclusion of a new report by Saferworld – Moving beyond promises – whichhighlights the crisis of authority and continuing challenges for Yemen’s political transition.
The research, which is built on discussions with young Yemenis between March and August 2012, sets out four key recommendations to promote greater youth participation: reconstituting authority and addressing negative perceptions; making progress on youth priorities; tackling obstacles to youth participation; and building on opportunities for future engagement.
Since the election of President Hadi as a consensus candidate in February 2012, Yemen has embarked on a difficult transition process with an ambitious timeline. In two years, the transitional government is expected to restructure the military, hold an inclusive National Dialogue Conference, reform the constitution and carry out free and fair elections.
“What do I want from the transition? I want security. I want electricity. I want health. I want good roads. I want no army in the streets. I want a job. That’s what I want, but I don’t know where to start.” Young man, Sana’a.The research highlights that young Yeminis are highly critical of the transition’s progress to date. They see a general crisis of national authority and the need for tangible improvements in their day-to-day lives such as electricity, jobs, infrastructure and basic services. While agreeing on the success of the UN mission, young people single out the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia as states whose roles have been characterised by self-interested interference that has done more harm than good. Yemen’s youth are united in wanting both national and international authorities to move beyond promises and be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of Yemen’s population.
In particular, young people identified three key priorities for the upcoming National Dialogue process: restructuring the military, addressing the ‘Southern Issue’, and implementing an extensive and legitimate process of transitional justice. Tackling these, in addition to wider institutional reform and changes to the constitution, is needed to ensure that the transition leads to sustained peace and security.
“If the coming National Dialogue doesn’t include women and youth, it won’t be a national dialogue.” Young woman, Ta’izThe research also concludes that young activists have positioned themselves as ‘guardians’ of the revolution, and as advocates for the national good against what they perceive as the narrow self-interest of the political elite. Because of this, young women and men remain one of the key repositories of legitimacy within the newly reconfigured Yemeni political system, and potentially strong consensus-builders. However, Saferworld’s research highlights three barriers to genuine youth participation:
the top-down framework of the GCC-led power transfer dealand its exclusion of young women and men the existence of more established political forces seeking to gain from a divided and weak youth voice the absence of accepted leadership within the youth movement and growing divisions among politically active youth – arising from limited financial and technical capacity among young people. Despite this, young people identify a number of opportunities for making a lasting impact on Yemen’s social and political culture. These opportunities include developing a strong and independent National Youth Conference that can represent and unite youth from all parts of the country, and raising awareness of civic rights and responsibilities at the local level. However, street politics, with its focus on mass pressure and bottom-up change, remains the way many young women and men feel they can best make their voices heard in the short-term.


Greg Felten, Occupational Safety Technician II gfelten@uidaho.edu
phone: 208-885-2937
fax: 208-885-5969
Environmental Health & Safety
875 Perimeter Dr MS 2030
Moscow, ID 83844-2030
PSS Units Public Safety and Security 875 Perimeter Dr. PO Box 442281 Moscow, ID 83844-2281 Phone: (208) 885-7074 Fax: (208) 885-7001Active in Emergencies(208) 885-1010 Active in Emergencies(208) 885-1010 Electrical Safety At the University of Idaho 30% of the safety discrepancies noted during the annual building safety inspections are of an electrical nature, including extension cords, daisy-chains, multi-plug adapters, and homemade extension boxes.
Data obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Annual Survey indicate that approximately 10% of all occupational fatalities are due to electrocutions. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that approximately 2,200 injuries associated with extension cords are treated annually in hospital emergency departments. The CPSC also estimates about 5,000 residential fires originate from extension cords each year, killing 85 persons and injuring some 230 others.
Extension cords are for temporary use only, and not intended to be used as a substitute for fixed wiring in a structure. They provide power to portable appliances by extending the power supply cord of electrical equipment and should be marked with a current rating sufficient for the load of the connected equipment. Grounded extension cords are required to have the grounding plug intact; the grounding prong of an extension cord should never be bypassed or broken off. Extension cords should not be attached to building surfaces. Attachment points subject the cord to weathering, damage from fasteners, mechanical abuse, and strain or repeated flexing. Extension cords must be disconnected from the power supply when not in use.
Relocatable power taps (power strips) are considered extensions of the branch circuit. Therefore, they are intended to plug directly into a branch-circuit outlet, not another relocatable power tap, multi-plug adaptor, or an extension cord. Potential overheating is one concern when relocatable power taps are used in a series arrangement (daisy-chaining). Other considerations in a series-connected arrangement include the reaction between over-current protective devices on relocatable power taps, increased voltage drop, potential tripping hazards, and an increased likelihood that additional available outlets may lead to an overload. Only circuit-protected relocatable power taps are allowed in University buildings.
Flexible cords may not be placed under carpet, through holes in walls, floors, or ceilings, or through openings in partitions with sharp edges. These are conditions that can result in damage to the insulation or conductors, and increase the likelihood of an electric shock or fire. Multi-plug adapters and homemade extension boxes are not allowed in University buildings.


A caregiver is a person who provides support and care to family or friends of any age who are physically or mentally challenged, chronically ill, or frail.
Caregiving is a complex role with a unique set of responsibilities. These responsibilities can change over time as the care needs of the person change.
These pages provide a range of resources that offer practical assistance as well as personal supports for caregivers.
In this section, you'll find:


New York State’s welfare reform efforts are predicated on the belief that individuals in need of financial assistance can attain self-sufficiency if provided with the skills and opportunity needed to maintain full-time employment. In order to achieve this goal, the Assembly has consistently recognized that many other factors, such as affordable housing, access to childcare, higher education, reliable transportation and funds to meet emergency needs contribute to a family’s ability to maintain its independence. Because of this recognition, certain income and assets are disregarded when a family first applies for public assistance.
However, should a family on public assistance receive a nonrecurring lump sum of income – such as a small inheritance or settlement of a lawsuit – they are prohibited from utilizing those funds to obtain any of the assets that public assistance applicants are allowed to possess at the time of the initial application. Instead, that family would be prohibited from receiving public assistance for the amount of time that the lump sum could provide their public assistance grant.
This year, I spearheaded legislation recently signed into law (A.6341-B (Glick)/S.5442 (Meier) Chapter 373 of the Laws of 2003) that will truly give certain public assistance recipients the opportunity to move off the welfare rolls. This new law will permit households that receive a nonrecurring lump sum to utilize these funds within ninety days of receipt for certain purposes that will enhance their ability to gain and maintain self-sufficiency. The law will require local districts, when calculating the period of ineligibility for assistance resulting from receipt of a nonrecurring lump sum, to disregard up to $2,000 or $3,000 if a member of the household is 60 years of age or older.
Additionally, districts must disregard income from the lump sum that is applied within ninety days of receipt toward certain resources. Such resources include: a car used for employment purposes; separate bank accounts in amounts up to $4,650 for the purchase of a first or replacement vehicle and up to $1,400 to pay tuition at a two-year post-secondary educational institution; burial plots for household members; and, funeral agreements for household members. I am pleased with the opportunity that the new statute will afford low-income families and will continue to fight for laws that allow public assistance recipients to make essential investments in their long-term stability.


We all know the phrase, but did you know that it turns out, the idiom is correct. You can recall certain instances in your life where you know exactly what you were doing and who you were with, for example many of us know what we were doing when we watched the Twin Towers fall, I'm sure. When an emotional event really struck you and made this memory extremely vivid for you, it allowed you to recall details of it years later. This phenomenon is known as Flashbulb memory. This "snapshot" of your moment in time, as it turns out, isn't always as correct as a picture could be, despite how positive of the event you are. Our friend from the vlogbrothers explains an interesting little tidbit about a study of inaccuracies of in our memories here:
So there you have it, next time you're recalling a really vivid memory, you might not be 100%. It's a good thing we have camera phones now, so you can capture the moment, so you don't have to rely solely on your memory.


As a cyclist and bike commuter, I’m thrilled to see that the NH “Bike Bill”, HB 1203, has passed in both the NH House and Senate and is on its way to the Governor’s desk for a signature. This bill establishes, among other things, that motorists passing a cyclist on the road must give at least three feet of clearance while passing, or potentially face a $100 fine. It also states that road construction projects must give consideration to use of the road by cyclists and avoid creating hazards (such as ill-placed rumble strips and drain grates) to cyclists.
This legislation was modeled after similar laws that now exist in 20 other states. I really hope it will help to improve riding conditions for responsible cyclists in NH.


This paper presents the results of an ongoing effort to develop a direct solder bumping process for electronics packaging. The proposed process entails delivering molten droplets onto specific locations on electronic devices to form solder bumps. This study is focused on investigating droplet deposition behaviors that affect solder bump characteristics such as final bump volume, shape, and adhesion strength. The occurrence of droplet bouncing has a strong influence on these characteristics. The potential for a droplet to bounce in the absence of solidification was modeled in discrete stages based on energy conservation. Wetting and target surface roughness were identified as the critical parameters affecting bouncing. The experimental results showed that improvements in wetting and decreases in surface roughness retard bouncing. These observations agreed well with the trends predicted by the energy conservation based model. The knowledge acquired in this study is expected to contribute to the development of an efficient solder bumping process.


Solve our latest infrastructure problem and win a trip to a Gartner summit.
Transformational Minds
Leibniz's intellectual output in fields ranging from law to logic was characterized by a consistent and clear-eyed rigorousness in reasoning.
Rigorous logical analysis enables us to see things as they are, not as we wish them to be. This knowledge is powerful, and essential to making sound management decisions in any environment, especially IT.


Examine whether contaminants in your water supply met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.
Orleans Water Works Orleans, Indiana . Serves 2,273 people.
No data was available for this system.
Units: ppb: parts per billion, pCi/L: picocuries per liter, ppm: parts per million, mrem/yr: millirems per year, MFL: million fibers per litre


Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2009 Aug
Liem KF, He M, Ocbina PJ, Anderson KV
Abstract
Mammalian Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling is essential for embryonic development and stem cell maintenance and has critical roles in tumorigenesis. Although core components of the Shh pathway are conserved in evolution, important aspects of mammalian Shh signaling are not shared with the Drosophila pathway. Perhaps the most dramatic difference between the Drosophila and mammalian pathways is that Shh signaling in the mouse requires a microtubule-based organelle, the primary cilium. Proteins that
...[more]are required for the response to Shh are enriched in the cilium, but it is not clear why the cilium provides an appropriate venue for signal transduction. Here, we demonstrate that Kif7, a mammalian homologue of Drosophila Costal2 (Cos2), is a cilia-associated protein that regulates signaling from the membrane protein Smoothened (Smo) to Gli transcription factors. By using a Kif7 mutant allele identified in a reporter-based genetic screen, we show that, similar to Drosophila and zebrafish Cos2, mouse Kif7 acts downstream of Smo and upstream of Gli2 and has both negative and positive roles in Shh signal transduction. Mouse Kif7 activity depends on the presence of cilia and Kif7-eGFP localizes to base of the primary cilium in the absence of Shh. Activation of the Shh pathway promotes trafficking of Kif7-eGFP from the base to the tip of the cilium, and localization to the tip of the cilium is disrupted in a motor domain mutant. We conclude that Kif7 is a core regulator of Shh signaling that may also act as a ciliary motor.
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Mesh Headings:
Animals, Cell Lineage, Cilia, Flagella, Hedgehog Proteins, Kinesin, Mice, Mutation, Neural Tube, Phenotype, Protein Transport, Signal Transduction


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Requirements for CPE in ethics vary from state to state. Please contact your state board to confirm your requirements. This course provides case studies drawn from "real-life" situations involving CPAs in tax practice. It is focused on the most significant ethical issues that face tax practitioners in today’s challenging environment and explores alternative courses of action. From tax shelters to preparing small business tax returns, you will explore ethical issues in the context of tax services and taking positions on tax issues that range from “probable” to "more likely than not" to a "realistic possibility." Gain insights from placing yourself in situations that require application and understanding of relevant ethical considerations and standards established by the Service, AICPA, Circular 230 and the Code. You will consider real-world tax questions that deal with independence, knowledge of errors in returns, advice to taxpayers, fees charged in shelter and other transactions and standards applicable to uncertain tax positions, among others. You will leave this course with a renewed sense of appreciation for the pitfalls faced by every tax practitioner and a heightened sensitivity for the types of ethical dilemmas you could face in the future.
Objectives: Prerequisite: Experience in tax reporting Advanced Preparation: None


Can the air your parents and grandparents breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw directly affect you decades later, despite your never having experienced these things yourself?
Epigenetics says, yes!
At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea: your genes are triggered to express differently, depending on your environment and your actions during your lifetime. These genetic expressions could, in turn affect your grandchildren.
This documentary, 'The Ghost in Your Genes,' says biology stands on the brink of a shift in the understanding of inheritance.


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Sensibility To name a--Susan Sontag insensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion.Notes On Camp(1964)Related: emotion - experience - feeling - perception - quality - senses - sensation - sentimentalism - taste
List of sensibilities: anti- - aesthetics - avant-gardism - bad taste - bizarre - bourgeois - camp - counterculture - classic - connoisseur - contemporary - controversy - cool - cult - decadent - drugs - eclectic - eccentric - eroticism - experimental - fantastic - feeling - free - female - gay - good taste - gothic - gratuitous - greatness - grotesque - groovy - high - hip - horror - irrational - intellectual - kinky - kitsch - left - libertine - low - macabre - mainstream - male - modern - opposition - perverse - pornography - postmodernism - prurience - queer - romantic - right - sadomasochism - sex - sleaze - snob - subculture - subversive - theme - trash - transgressive - underground - violent
Definition The ability to feel or perceive. Keen intellectual perception: the sensibility of a painter to color.Mental or emotional responsiveness toward something, such as the feelings of another. Receptiveness to impression, whether pleasant or unpleasant; acuteness of feeling. Often used in the plural: “The sufferings of the Cuban people shocked our sensibilities”(George F. Kennan).Refined awareness and appreciation in matters of feeling. The quality of being affected by changes in the environment. --AHD
A Dictionary of Sensibility A Dictionary of Sensibility: Introduction
In the eighteenth century, a linguistic big bang spun off a new etymological universe: the language ofsensibility. "Sensibility" and its related terms either appeared for the first time, took on meanings unique to the period, or gained enriched connotations. The denotations of these new linguistic planets have proved as elusive as the rings of Saturn, however. This hypertext offers a new approach to understanding the language of sensibility, one that accounts for the multiple possibilities of meaning. Rather than attempting hard-line definitions, this project offers the tools for recognizing the multivalent connotations of such sensibilious words as "virtue," "sense," and "benevolence." Our hypertext groups excerpts from major words of sensibility according to 24 primary words; we imagine the sensibilious reader exploring these passages to glean a new understanding of the vocabulary and the literature of the period.R.F. Brissenden, tracing the evolution of the "family" of words related to sensibility and sentimentality, notes the extraordinary breadth and variety of meanings attributed to these terms in the eighteenth century--a linguistic as well as philosophic explosion. "Especially during this period they were charged with great and often vague emotive power--moral, sexual, political, often semi-religious. They represented or could be made to represent a constellation of highly significant general ideas and feelings; while at the same time they could be used with precision, delicacy and scientific neutrality. They operated across the broadest spectrum of thought and discourse: the same word in one context could be coldly empirical while in another it could radiate the most enthusiastic idealism. At the highest level they played a part, sometimes an essential one, in the languages of physiology, psychology, philosophy and the emerging social sciences. ... At the lowest level ... part of what Steven Marcus, in his study of sexual literature in the Victorian age, has characterised as the 'fantasies' of a period, that 'mass of unargued, unexamined and largely unconscios assumptions'" on which a society's world view bases itself (Brissenden 20-1; Marcus 1).
To explore the "fantasies" of the Age of Sensibility, click on to the "term list" below. From there you will have access to the 24 words of sensibility. The source bibliography provides our primary texts; the critical bibliography, our secondary sources. Clicking on a term in the term list will take you to an introduction to the word and a list of excerpts. Each excerpt provides links to other terms used in or implied by the passage. On the excerpt pages, primary material is in bold; our commentary, in roman typeface.
This hypertext is only the beginning of the Dictionary of Sensibility: We would like our World Wide Web readers to send in their favorite passages of sensibility, to be considered for incorporation. Please access "submissions" for details on how you can expand the Dictionary of Sensibility. --http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/g_introV1.html [May 2005]
benevolence - virtue - physiognomy - physiology - landscape - animals - heart - understanding - sense - sympathy - honor/reputation - delicacy/modesty - sublime - fear/terror/horror - imagination - spirit/enthusiasm/transport - character - compassion/pity - wit/humor/invention - communication - community - education - melancholy/madness - taste --http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/termlist.html [May 2005]
Taste
In one facet of its meaning, sensibility is synonymous with taste; in another, sensibility gives rise to the judgments of taste. Thus, clarifying the definitions of "taste" may be as complicated an endeavor as elucidating the meanings of "sensibility." Moreover, the metaphorical associations of "taste" set it in nearly as suggestive a constellation of significance as that of "sensibility."Hume, Burke, and Gerard, among others, write essays explicitly devoted to investigating taste, and in these works there is a constant slippage between the physical-sensory, aesthetic, and moral domains, which is facilitated by the two principal levels of the word's meaning.
In particular, Hume uses the term "taste" to segue between external and internal senses, and even to provide implicit justification for a fundamental analogy about between the internal and external domains. The external sense of taste provides a model for understanding judgments of art (and moral standards are vaguely but essentially tied to aesthetic ones). This model helps to address the problem of subjectivity in the artistic and moral fields by relating it to idiosyncrasy in the sensory field. It also provides the means to insist on the empirical solidity of the internal sense of taste and its independence on the operations of reason. --http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/termpages/taste.html [May 2005]


Robot Walks Like a Man Category: Science & TechnologyPosted: July 6, 2012 06:06AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*
I can still remember a talk I attended about eight years ago that covered, in part, how inefficient the human gait is. Despite this, researchers still work to try to emulate it and some, as reported by the Institute of Physics, have made the most accurate robotic legs yet.
Okay, so if how people walk is inefficient, why would robots be built to mimic it? To learn more about how humans learn to walk. We cannot experiment on infants to see what parts are needed to learn to walk, but we can on a robot. The central pattern generator (CPG) is a fundamental part of the human walking system, and the researchers successfully reproduced it, in its simplest form, in the robot. With just two 'neurons' firing one after the other, the hips were ordered to move, and sensors within the legs move them to keep the robot moving. The resulting movement is similar to what we see in infants who have not developed as complex a CPG yet.
The research into the network within the robot may help us understand the neural network in our own bodies. This knowledge potentially could help those with spinal cord injuries by explaining how they can learn to walk again.


Written by Brian Turner During World War II, more than 13,000 people were confined at the Minidoka Internment Camp in Jerome County, Idaho as part of the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. To recognize and commemorate this dark period in American history, President Clinton in 2001 designated Minidoka as a National Monument to be managed by the National Park Service. Congress expanded the Monument and changed the designation to a National Historic Site in 2008.
However, even the highest level of federal designation and protection can sometimes be inadequate to protect historic places from the threat of other developments nearby. In the case of Minidoka, that threat is presented by a proposal to construct a massive factory farm for 13,000 cattle (known as a Confined Animal Feeding Operation or CAFO) about one mile upwind from Minidoka. The proposed CAFO is strongly opposed by local residents, Japanese-American organizations, conservationists, and preservationists. The central concern is that pollution and noxious emissions from the livestock operation and manure would have a negative impact on visitation to Minidoka. In fact, the experience could be so unpleasant that it would likely drive visitors away.
Three years ago, the Jerome County Board of Commissioners denied a permit application for the CAFO. However, the Board reversed course in October 2008, after the dairy owners successfully challenged the permit denial in court. A coalition of nearby property owners and interest groups (including the National Trust for Historic Preservation) then sued, arguing, among other things, that the County violated their state and federal due process rights.
Unfortunately, on August 6, 2010, Idaho District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee upheld the county’s decision to grant the CAFO permit.
First, Judge Elgee concluded that the Friends of Minidoka, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the National Trust did not have “standing” to challenge the CAFO permit because these groups only “voice[d] concerns on behalf of unidentified members of their organizations, none of whom individually would have standing.” The judge set a high bar for standing, which would require each organization to have a member with a property interest in Minidoka itself or within one mile of Minidoka in order to demonstrate standing. (See this previous blog post for more on standing.) If upheld, this very narrow interpretation of standing could potentially bar concerned organizations and interested members of the public from challenging government actions elsewhere that affect significant public resources.
Then, Judge Elgee went on to uphold a highly restrictive Jerome County law prohibiting public comment on CAFO applications from anyone other than those who have a “primary residence” within one mile of the facility. Thus, people who run farms, recreate within the vicinity, or visit public historic sites like Minidoka were deprived of any opportunity even to voice their concerns in a meaningful way. The plaintiffs argued that this rule is unconstitutional and arbitrary, especially considering that the harmful public health impacts of CAFOs often extend far beyond one mile from the facilities. The judge noted that “arguments could be made” to this effect, but, citing the high burden of proof required to overturn a legislative act on constitutional grounds, stated that he could not find a “substantial basis” to determine if the statute was unconstitutional. He suggested that the real remedy is political, not judicial.
Judge Elgee then turned to the plaintiffs’ argument that their procedural due process rights had been violated by the limitations set by the Board for public participation in the hearing to consider the permit application. The plaintiffs asserted that the Board had failed to provide them with a meaningful opportunity to participate in the hearing, since members of the public were only allowed to provide an oral statement limited to four minutes, and were only permitted to submit a written statement limited to one page, if they testified orally, or two pages if they did not. Judge Elgee first determined that any procedural due process claim could only be made with respect to members of the public within a one-mile distance from the project site, since plaintiffs living outside the one mile radius of the facility had no right to comment at all (following the logic of his ruling that the legislature was within its rights to limit participation only to those within a one-mile limit).
As for the procedural due process rights of affected landowners within the one-mile limit, the court noted that the Board had liberalized its rules to allow unlimited written testimony by anyone, if submitted not less than seven days before the hearing. Under these circumstances, Judge Elgee stated that he was unable to conclude that the rules limiting oral testimony at the hearing to four minutes, and limiting written submissions to one or two pages did not “prejudice a substantial right.”
Overall, the decision dodges important questions about how Jerome County approved this CAFO permit and how it will review future permits. It also raises questions about the Idaho statutes that spell out the counties’ authority to restrict public comment, and sets an unfortunate precedent by limiting the ability of citizens to question the legality of counties’ actions that severely impact communities, such as approving CAFOs.
The plaintiffs expect to appeal the District Court ruling to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Brian Turner is Regional Attorney in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Western Office.


Dale, Karen (2012) The employee as 'Dish of the Day’:human resource management and the ethics of consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 111 (1). pp. 13-24. ISSN 0167-4544 (Submitted)
Abstract This article examines the ethical implications of the growing integration of consumption into the heart of the employment relationship. Human resource management (HRM) practices increasingly draw upon the values and practices of consumption, constructing employees as the ‘consumers’ of ‘cafeteria-style’ benefits and development opportunities. However, at the same time employees are expected to market themselves as items to be consumed on a corporate menu. In relation to this simultaneous position of consumer/consumed, the employee is expected to actively engage in the commodification of themselves, performing an appropriate organizational identity as a necessary part of being a successful employee. This article argues that the relationship between HRM and the simultaneously consuming/consumed employee affects the conditions of possibility for ethical relations within organizational life. It is argued that the underlying ‘ethos’ for the integration of consumption values into HRM practices encourages a self-reflecting, self-absorbed subject, drawing upon a narrow view of individualised autonomy and choice. Referring to Levinas’ perspective that the primary ethical relation is that of responsibility and openness to the Other, it is concluded that these HRM practices affect the possibility for ethical being.
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Agricultural Resource Management
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The District can assist you with any resource concern: soil, water, air, plants, or animals.
Our local (Polk SWCD), state (Iowa Department of Agricultural and Land Stewardship-Division of Soil Conservation) and federal (Natural Resources Conservation Service) staff provide free technical assistance in protecting these resources and can also assist with applications for funding assistance.
Best Management Practices (BMPs)
All technical assistance follows the USDA-NRCS Field Office Technical Guide Specifications for practices. It is recommended that your contractor follow these specifications. For more information on a specific practice, you can view the Iowa Conservation Practice Standards.
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Commonly installed BMPs:
Filter Strips
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Strips of grass, trees and/or shrubs slow water flow and cause contaminants like sediment, chemicals and nutrients to collect in vegetation. Collected nutrients and chemicals are used by the vegetation, rather than entering water supplies. Filtered water then enters water bodies.
Grass, trees and shrubs provide cover for small birds and animals.
Ground cover reduces soil erosion.
The vegetative strip moves rowcrop operations farther from a stream.
Vegetation prevents contaminants from entering water bodies, protecting water quality.


Response of a Reptile Guild to Forest Harvesting
Brian D. Todd and Kimberly M. Andrews
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, U.S.A.
Abstract: Despite the growing concern over reptile population declines, the effects of modern industrial silviculture on reptiles have been understudied, particularly for diminutive and often overlooked species such as small-bodied snakes. We created 4 replicated forest-management landscapes to determine the response of small snakes to forest harvesting in the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States. We divided the replicated landscapes into 4 treatments that represented a range of disturbed habitats: clearcut with coarse woody debris removed; clearcut with coarse woody debris retained; thinned pine stand; and control (unharvested secondgrowth planted pines). Canopy cover and ground litter were significantly reduced in clearcuts, intermediate in thinned forests, and highest in unharvested controls. Bare soil, maximum air temperatures, and understory vegetation all increased with increasing habitat disturbance. Concomitantly, we observed significantly reduced relative abundance of all 6 study species (scarletsnake [Cemophora coccinea ], ring-neck snake [Diadophis punctatus ], scarlet kingsnake [Lampropeltis triangulum ], red-bellied snake [Storeria occipitomaculata ], southeastern crowned snake [Tantilla coronata ], and smooth earthsnake [Virginia valeriae ]) in clearcuts compared with unharvested or thinned pine stands. In contrast, the greatest relative snake abundance occurred in thinned forest stands. Our results demonstrate that at least one form of forest harvesting is compatible with maintaining snake populations. Our results also highlight the importance of open-canopy structure and ground litter to small snakes in southeastern forests and the negative consequences of forest clearcutting for small snakes.
Keywords: clearcutting, forest management, forest thinning, logging, logging effects, reptile, snake, Tantilla coronata , Virginia valeriae
SREL Reprint #3084
Todd, B. D. and K. M. Andrews. 2008. Response of a Reptile Guild to Forest Harvesting. Conservation Biology 22(3): 753-761.
To request a reprint