Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

A retrospective review of Philip K. Dick\u27s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Electric Fencing for Sheep

A major fixed cost for sheepmen is the expense of fencing sheep. The rising cost of conventional fencing materials and limited availability of farm labor have cause sheepmen to evaluate alternative fencing methods

Regional Disparities in Ghana: Policy Options and Public Investment Implications

Ghana has achieved sustained growth and poverty reduction during the 1990s, but such growth did not benefit the three poor northern regions and the development gap has increased between the south and north. One of the most important reasons is that much of the growth has been generated by export agriculture in which northern Ghana has little contribution if any. This paper sets out to identify avenues for pro-poor growth in Ghana, focussing on agricultural opportunities, particularly in northern Ghana. Using an economywide, multimarket model and based on time series production data between 1991 and 2000 and Ghana Living Standards Survey data of 1991/92 and 1998/99, this paper analyzes the possible poverty reduction trends up to 2015 by assuming different patterns of growth. The results show that agriculture-led growth has a larger poverty reducing effect than nonagriculture-led growth. Within agriculture, growth in staple crop production reduces poverty more than export crops. In northern Ghana, the staple crops whose growth exerts the largest effect on poverty reduction are groundnut, cassava and cowpea. However, despite the large effects of the agriculture-led growth, the projections of poverty rates in the regions, particularly Upper East are still high implying a need for complementary avenues for poverty reduction. A review of the literature shows that while the north generally is a net migration area, the rewards of migration have been limited because people who migrate have no skills and are, therefore, limited to entering the informal job market where wages are low. The implication is to enhance this labour with education and skills. Ultimately, the regions must attract production investment to boost economic activity and generate local growth. The state must play a leading role in investing in productive and social infrastructure as a way of facilitating the environment for private sector operators

Raising a Small Flock of Sheep in Ohio

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Do Social Bots Dream of Electric Sheep? A Categorisation of Social Media Bot Accounts

So-called 'social bots' have garnered a lot of attention lately. Previous research showed that they attempted to influence political events such as the Brexit referendum and the US presidential elections. It remains, however, somewhat unclear what exactly can be understood by the term 'social bot'. This paper addresses the need to better understand the intentions of bots on social media and to develop a shared understanding of how 'social' bots differ from other types of bots. We thus describe a systematic review of publications that researched bot accounts on social media. Based on the results of this literature review, we propose a scheme for categorising bot accounts on social media sites. Our scheme groups bot accounts by two dimensions - Imitation of human behaviour and Intent.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Information Systems, 201

Experimental data about mechanical behaviour during compression tests for various matted fibres

A specific experimental device has been set up to test compressive mechanical behaviour of an assembly of fibres. Simple compression, as well as cyclic loading experiments and relaxation tests were performed. The experimental set up also allows to record the evolution of the mat fibre electrical resistance while testing. Experimental results are presented for a variety of fibrous materials. Despite the very different nature of each of these individual fibres, it appears that the mats exhibit a very similar mechanical behaviour. This common behaviour has been observed during monotonic single compression tests, as well as during cyclic or relaxation experiments. These experimental results are discussed in terms of different parameters such as the intrinsic mechanical properties of individual fibres and moreover the tangle intrinsic parameters (effect of fibre length, effect of geometrical position of fibres in the sample, fibre surface modifications. . .). The influence of the contact points between fibres is discussed in regard of the electric resistivity measurement

Effects of lactation stage, parity, beta-lactoglobulin genotype and milk SCC on whey protein composition in Sarda dairy ewes

In 90 Sarda dairy ewes the effects of lactation stage, parity, beta-lactoglobulin genotypes, and somatic cell count (SCC) on the milk content of total protein (TP), casein (CN), whey protein (WP) and its fractions alpha-lactalbumin (ALA), beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), serum albumin (SA), immunoglobulin (IG) and lactoferrin (LF) were analysed using a linear mixed model. Mean values of variables (g/l) were: TP (54.0), CN (43.0), WP (11.0), BLG (4.78), ALA (1.37), SA (0.61), IG (3.83) and LF (0.28). The lactation stage significantly affected all the variables analysed. TP, CN and WP concentrations tended to increase throughout lactation, with the increase of WP being more pronounced than the corresponding variation in CN. There was no definite trend in BLG content, whereas ALA concentration decreased as lactation progressed. The parity affected almost all variables studied. WP concentration differed significantly only between the second and fourth parity (10.45 vs 11.44 g/l). BLG and SA concentrations were significantly lower in the youngest ewes. The BLG genotype affected milk yield, but no effects were observed on the components of the milk. The SCC influenced almost all variables studied. The TP concentration was significantly higher in milk with SCC >1,000,000 (55.0 g/l) than in milk with lower SCC (53.4 g/l). This was mainly due to the increase of WP (12.52 and 10.24 g/l in milk with SCC above and below 1,000,000/ml respectively), especially in those WP fractions originating from blood

Regional disparities in Ghana: Policy options and public investment implications

"The development pattern in Ghana is characterised by a north-south divide in which the north lags far behind the south... This paper sets out to identify avenues for pro-poor growth in Ghana, focussing on agricultural opportunities, particularly in northern Ghana. Using an economywide, multimarket model and based on time series production data between 1991 and 2000 and Ghana Living Standards Survey data of 1991/92 and 1998/99, this paper analyzes the possible poverty reduction trends up to 2015 by assuming different patterns of growth. The results show that agriculture-led growth has a larger poverty reducing effect than nonagriculture-led growth... A review of the literature shows that while the north generally is a net migration area, the rewards of migration have been limited because people who migrate have no skills and are, therefore, limited to entering the informal job market where wages are low. The implication is to enhance this labour with education and skills. Ultimately, the regions must attract production investment to boost economic activity and generate local growth. The state must play a leading role in investing in productive and social infrastructure as a way of facilitating the environment for private sector operators.: from Authors' AbstractPro-poor growth, Pro-poor policies, Regional inequality, Poverty reduction, Agricultural growth, Economywide modeling, Public investment,

Fence and plough for Lapwings: Nest protection to improve nest and chick survival in Swiss farmland

Switzerland had up to 1000 Lapwing pairs breeding in the 1970s. Actually, there are some 200. The crash was mainly due to a poor productivity of 0.2 to 0.4 fledglings per pair and year. To achieve a fledging rate of at least 0.8 required for population stability, a Recovery Programme was initiated to support a small population of 10-25 pairs breeding in central Switzerland. In 2004 to 2006 all nests were marked and spared during field labour by the farmers. As a result of a well established cooperation with the local farmers, not a single nest was destroyed by agricultural activities. However, there was a high risk of nest desertion when farming activities took place during the period of egg laying. Therefore, it might be worth to postpone field labour for some days to allow clutch completion. In 2005 and 2006, but not in 2004, most nests were protected from ground predators by surrounding entire fields rather than individual clutches with electro-fences as used in sheep farming. While 95 % of clutches within the fences hatched successfully, 61 % of unprotected nests were predated. In 2006 the influence of predation on chick survival was investigated by radio-tagging 81 chicks soon after hatching. They had no difficulties to cross the electro-fences. Predation occurred mostly at night (73 %) and outside the fences (87 %). Of 46 chicks predated at night only one was taken inside an electro-fence. Daytime predation played a minor role (27 % of all chick predations) and occurred at the same rate inside and outside the electro-fence. Reproductive success in 2005 was an estimated 0.8 fledging young per pair and year. In 2006, however, it dropped to 0.25 due to heavy chick predation.In den 1970er Jahren umfasste der Brutbestand des Kiebitzes in der Schweiz ca. 1000 Paare. Heute sind es schätzungsweise nur noch ca. 200. Für diesen dramatischen Rückgang dürfte in erster Linie der viel zu geringe Reproduktionserfolg verantwortlich sein (0.2-0.4 flügge Junge pro Brutpaar und Jahr). Um den Bruterfolg auf ein populationserhaltendes Mass von ca. 0.8 Jungen pro Paar zu steigern, wurde bei einem Restbestand in der Zentralschweiz (10-25 Paare) ein Artenförderungsprogramm in Angriff genommen. In den Jahren 2004-2006 wurden alle Kiebitzgelege markiert und auf diese Weise von der Feldbearbeitung ausgespart. Dank der ausgezeichneten Zusammenarbeit mit den örtlichen Landwirten ging in dieser Zeit kein Kiebitzgelege bei landwirtschaftlichen Feldarbeiten verloren. Wenn allerdings die Bodenbearbeitung während der Gelegeproduktion erfolgte, wurden verhältnismässig viele Bruten aufgegeben. Hier kann es ratsam sein, die landwirtschaftliche Bearbeitung hinauszuzögern bis die Vögel mit dem Bebrüten des Vollgeleges begonnen haben. 2005 und 2006, nicht aber 2004, wurden Kiebitzgelege zusätzlich mit einem Elektrozaun, wie er bei Schafhaltern üblich ist, gegen Raubsäuger gesichert. Eingezäunt wurden in der Regel ganze Felder. In den so gesicherten Kulturen schlüpften 95 % der Gelege, in den nicht eingezäunten nur 39 %. 2006 wurden 81 Kiebitzküken besendert, um deren Überlebensraten und den Einfluss der Prädation zu untersuchen. Die Küken konnten den Elektrozaun ohne weiteres passieren (bodennahe Maschen 10x15 cm). Kükenverluste durch Prädation ereigneten sich überwiegend nachts (73 % aller Verluste) und außerhalb der Elektrozäune (87 % aller Verluste). Von 46 in der Nacht prädierten Küken stammte nur eines aus einer Elektro-Umzäunung. Kükenverluste, die durch tagaktive Prädatoren verursacht wurden, spielten eine untergeordnete Rolle (27 % aller Verluste). Sie traten innerhalb und außerhalb der Elektroumzäunungen in gleichem Umfang auf. Der Bruterfolg des Kiebitzes lag in 2005 bei einem bestandserhaltenden Wert von 0.8 Küken pro Paar. In 2006 führten hohe, prädationsbedingte Kükenverluste zu einem Bruterfolg von lediglich 0.25 Küken pro Paar