The marine protected area planning process in Washington state: Recommendations for increased effectiveness

In Washington State, the Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) is responsible for managing state-owned aquatic lands. Aquatic reserves are one of many Marine Protected Area (MPA) designations in WA State that aim to protect sensitive aquatic and ecological habitat. We analyzed the designation and early planning processes of WA State aquatic reserves, identified gaps in the processes, and recommend action to improve the WA State aquatic reserve early planning approach. (PDF contains 4 pages

Corporate reputation and B2B inter-firm partnerships

In our networked world today, business-to-business (B2B) inter-firm partnerships are increasingly a feature of the organisation. At the same time, corporate reputation has been strongly identified as a key factor in the success of organisations (Fombrun & Van Riel, 2004; Fryxell & Wang, 1994). However, reputation has most often been looked at from the perspective of a single organisation and how its stakeholders perceive it. By comparison, less attention has been paid to the importance of the reputations of organisations when they form a partnership. This is surprising given that partnerships are to be found in so many walks of life today including business, sport, the arts and the media. B2B partnerships are often the subject of significant investments and it is therefore important to understand the value that can be derived from them. An example of a successful B2B partnership is that of the Boeing Company with Rolls-Royce plc. The reputations of each are synergistic and together they are seen as pioneers in greener air travel with the new Trent 1000 range of multi-fuel (kerosene/biofuel mix), efficient and quiet jet engines used as part of the 787 Dreamliner product family of commercial aircraft. Successful partnerships are those in which close collaboration arises because of synergistic skills and complementary outlooks that result in positive outcomes. These partnerships have reputations, and in some cases create a strong advantage over competitors by broadcasting a jointly fostered sense of identity and culture with employees and a sense of community and loyalty that attracts other stakeholders. If the reputations of such partnerships are important to those within the dyadic exchange (Bennett & Gabriel, 2001; Arend, 2009), then there is merit in assessing the impact of partnership reputation more widely in a network setting. This report discusses the importance of corporate reputation and the characteristics and outcomes that result from such B2B partnership reputations. It is based upon work conducted jointly at Henley Business School and Albers School of Business and Economics at the University of Seattle, and which has been published in the Industrial Marketing Management journal (Money et al, 2010)

Theory underlying the peripheral vision horizon device

Peripheral Vision Horizon Device (PVHD) theory states that the likelihood of pilot disorientation in flight is reduced by providing an artificial horizon that provides orientation information to peripheral vision. In considering the validity of the theory, three areas are explored: the use of an artificial horizon device over some other flight instrument; the use of peripheral vision over foveal vision; and the evidence that peripheral vision is well suited to the processing of orientation information

Money

This essay, written around 1779, challenges the simple quantity theory of money. From the perspective of the paper money issued to pay for American's Revolutionary War--bills of credit, or continentals -- the essay rejects the idea that the value of money is determined by the number of pieces of paper issued. That idea ignores the fact that an individual nation is just a small part of the world economy. More relevant than quantity, the essay argues, are two other features: the date the government promises to exchange the pieces of paper for specie and the credibility of that promise. This essay originally appeared in a 1791 Philadelphia newspaper. The version reprinted in this journal is the edited and annotated version from The Papers of James Madison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). It is reprinted with the permission of the University of Chicago Press.Money

Age related cognitive impairments and assistive web-base technology

Several researchers argue that age related cognitive impairments have detrimental affect on use of web services by older adults. However little and systematic applied research has been conducted on how age related cognitive impairments might affect the usage of web services by older adults. Undoubtedly, understanding the relationship between the cognitive changes that accompany aging and their impact on older adults’ usage of web services will be beneficial for designing web services for this group. The paper demonstrates how such understanding has been employed to develop an assistive technology in order to improve older adults’ interaction with online forms

Efficient Video Indexing on the Web: A System that Leverages User Interactions with a Video Player

In this paper, we propose a user-based video indexing method, that automatically generates thumbnails of the most important scenes of an online video stream, by analyzing users' interactions with a web video player. As a test bench to verify our idea we have extended the YouTube video player into the VideoSkip system. In addition, VideoSkip uses a web-database (Google Application Engine) to keep a record of some important parameters, such as the timing of basic user actions (play, pause, skip). Moreover, we implemented an algorithm that selects representative thumbnails. Finally, we populated the system with data from an experiment with nine users. We found that the VideoSkip system indexes video content by leveraging implicit users interactions, such as pause and thirty seconds skip. Our early findings point toward improvements of the web video player and its thumbnail generation technique. The VideSkip system could compliment content-based algorithms, in order to achieve efficient video-indexing in difficult videos, such as lectures or sports.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, UCMedia 2010: 2nd International ICST Conference on User Centric Medi

Money Guidance Pathfinder - A Report to the FSA

In April 2009 the Government and the Financial Services Authority launched the £12m Money Guidance Pathfinder service in the North-West and North-East of England. The service, known as Moneymadeclear, provides impartial information and guidance on a wide range of personal finance issues tailored to the individual's needs and circumstances. It is available through the web, over the phone or face-to-face across the North-West and North-East. An evaluation of the Money Guidance Pathfinder was undertaken by PFRC to provide an evidence base for decisions on the roll out of a national Money Guidance service

Baby Boomers & adult Ageing: Issues for Social and Public policy

This paper provides a critical assessment of academic and policy approaches to population ageing with an emphasis on the baby boomer cohort and constructions of late-life identity. It is suggested that policy towards an ageing population has shifted in focus, away from particular social hazards and towards an attempt to re-engineer the meaning of legitimate ageing and social participation in later life. Three themes are identified: constructing the baby boomers as a force for social change, a downward drift of the age associated with 'older people' and a shift away from defining ageing identities through consumption, bacl towards work and production. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future social and public policy