Adaptive reuse of Libre software systems for supporting on-line collaboration

In this paper, the adaptive reuse of Plone; an open source content management system is described. In one instance, Plone has been used as the backbone of a collaboration and communication support infrastructure within a large research project. In the other, Plone has been used as the main web-presence of a specialist group of the British Computer Society. This paper analyses the benefits and problems of reusing Plone to support collaboration. Based on this reuse experience, a more systematic approach to supporting Plone reuse is proposed. This approach takes into account the special case of reuse support relevant to open source software developments

Using open source tools to support collaboration within CALIBRE

Abstract – This paper describes the deployment of Plone, an Open-Source content management system, to support the activities of CALIBRE, an EU-funded coordination action integrating research into Libre software. The criteria by which Plone was selected are described, and the goodness of fit to these criteria is analysed. As a coordination action, CALIBRE involves 12 partners with different requirements and characteristics. The CALIBRE Working Environment (CWE) must therefore support a variety of users with different levels of technical expertise and expectations. Implementation of the support infrastructure for CALIBRE is ongoing, and has provided some interesting insights into the benefits of the use of libre software. Although Plone has not been explicitly developed as a collaboration infrastructure, with its wealth of plugins, it has proven highly adaptable for this purpose

Connectivity Explains Local Ant Community Structure in A Neotropical Forest Canopy: A Large‐Scale Experimental Approach

Understanding how habitat structure and resource availability affect local species distributions is a key goal of community ecology. Where habitats occur as a mosaic, variation in connectivity among patches influences both local species richness and composition, and connectivity is a key conservation concern in fragmented landscapes. Similarly, availability of limiting resources frequently determines species coexistence or exclusion. For primarily cursorial arthropods like ants, gaps between neighboring trees are a significant barrier to movement through the forest canopy. Competition for limited resources such as nest sites also promotes antagonistic interactions. Lianas (woody vines) connect normally isolated neighboring tree crowns and often have hollow stems inhabited by ants. We used two large‐scale liana‐removal experiments to determine how connectivity and nest site availability provided by lianas affect arboreal ant species richness, species composition, and β‐diversity in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. Removing lianas from a tree crown reduced ant species richness up to 35%, and disproportionately affected species that require large foraging areas. Adding artificial connectivity to trees mitigated the effects of liana removal. Ant colonization of artificial nests was higher (73% occupied) in trees without lianas vs. trees with lianas (28% occupied). However, artificial nests typically were colonized by existing polydomous, resident ant species. As a result, nest addition did not affect ant community structure. Collectively, these results indicate that lianas are important to the maintenance of arboreal ant diversity specifically by providing connectivity among neighboring tree crowns. Anticipated increases in liana abundance in this forest could increase the local (tree‐level) species richness of arboreal ants, with a compositional bias toward elevating the density of broad‐ranging specialist predators

Thora

[Verse 1] I stand in a land of roses, But I dream of a land of snow, Where you and I were happy In the years of long ago. Nightingales in the branches, Stars in the magic skies, But I only hear you singing, I only see your eyes. Come! Come! Come to me, Thora, Come once again and be Child of my dream, light of my life, Angel of love to me! [Verse 2]I stand again in the North land, But in silence and in shame; Your grave is my only landmark, And men have forgotten my name. ‘Tis a take that is truer and older Than any the sagas tell, I loved you in life too little, I love you in death too well! Speak! Speak! Speak to me, Thora Speak from your Heaven to me; Child of my dream, love of my life, Hope of my world to be

Integrating Economic Analysis with a Randomized Controlled Trial: Willingness-to-Pay for a New Maternal Nutrient Supplement

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy can have significant implications for a child’s prenatal growth and development, and undernutrition experienced during the prenatal period increases the risk of early childhood morbidity and mortality and can permanently impair a child’s physical growth and cognitive development. We use new data from Ghana generated using contingent valuation and experimental auction techniques to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for LNS, a new nutrient supplement aimed at preventing maternal undernutrition during pregnancy. We also explore the relative importance of individual and household characteristics as well as information about the long-term benefits of preventing undernutrition on WTP. We find that WTP is positive for a large majority of individuals in our samples, and the level of WTP varies significantly with individual and household characteristics including gender, household food insecurity, and household expenditures. These findings suggest important policy implications for the development of delivery options and pricing mechanisms for LNS.Economic Development, Nutrition, Willingness-to-Pay, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Development,

Household demand persistence for child micronutrient supplementation.

Addressing early-life micronutrient deficiencies can improve short- and long-term outcomes. In most contexts, private supply chains will be key to effective and efficient preventative supplementation. With established vendors, we conducted a 60-week market trial for a food-based micronutrient supplement in rural Burkina Faso with randomized price and non-price treatments. Repeat purchases - critical for effective supplementation - are extremely price sensitive. Loyalty cards boost demand more than price discounts, particularly in non-poor households where the father is the cardholder. A small minority of households achieved sufficient supplementation for their children through purely retail distribution, suggesting the need for more creative public-private delivery platforms informed by insights into household demand persistence and heterogeneity