Summary of Previous and New Records of the Arkansas Darter (Etheostoma cragini) in Arkansas

The Arkansas Darter, Etheostoma cragini, has an extremely limited distribution in Arkansas and is designated as a candidate for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. It was first documented in the state in 1979 in Wilson Spring near Fayetteville. Between 1979 and 1985 it was collected in 4 additional headwater streams in Benton and Washington counties. A 1997 study documented the persistence of the species in 3 of the 5 historic streams, but 1 stream yielded only a single individual. A 2004-2005 study reassessed the status of the 5 historically known populations and searched broadly for new populations, documenting E. cragini at 15 sites, all within a 2-km radius of historic sites. In 2010-2011, more concentrated sampling efforts were made in the subbasins with prior records of the species. These efforts documented populations at 13 additional sites, greatly improving the resolution of the distribution of this species within Arkansas

PSU DERMS Operating Manual and EGoT System Reference (DOE-PSU-0000922-7)

This document guides the user of the Portland State University Distributed Energy Resource Management System in configuration and normal operation. For direct access to the underlying code and its usage see the accompanying PSU EGoT System Reference. The system reference outlines all classes and methods used through the Energy Grid of Things system including applications, models, interfaces and the entity component system

Implementation Profile: EGoT DERMS Server/Client System (DOE-PSU-0000922-2)

This implementation profile (IP) provides the scope and requirements necessary to implement a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS), which networks large numbers of DER within an energy grid of things (EGoT). This document originated as part of a U.S. DOE-funded project to develop a DERMS based on a set of rules known as the Energy Services Interface (ESI). The ESI serves as an umbrella, ensuring the information exchange between an aggregator and DER owners conforms to expectations: protect privacy, provide security, develop trustworthiness, and ensure interoperability. DERMS developers use the ESI to ensure that information exchange meets these expectations. This IP demonstrates how that was done using IEEE 2030.5 as the messaging protocol

PSU ESI Review (DOE-PSU-0000922-6)

A guide to developing an Energy Service Interface (ESI) was created as part of the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium 2.5.2 ESI project. The approach applies device-agnostic and service-oriented ESI principles and leverages documents such as the Interoperability Maturity Model and Common Grid Service Definitions to provide a methodology to review, develop, and update standards and profiles to engage distributed energy resources to provide grid services. This document evaluates the ESI developed by Portland State University’s Power Engineering Group under the Electric Grid of Things project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The evaluation explores the compliance of this specific implementation with the GMLC ESI principles to provide an example of an ESI profile and gap analysis

The formation of professional identity in medical students: considerations for educators

<b>Context</b> Medical education is about more than acquiring an appropriate level of knowledge and developing relevant skills. To practice medicine students need to develop a professional identity – ways of being and relating in professional contexts.<p></p> <b>Objectives</b> This article conceptualises the processes underlying the formation and maintenance of medical students’ professional identity drawing on concepts from social psychology.<p></p> <b>Implications</b> A multi-dimensional model of identity and identity formation, along with the concepts of identity capital and multiple identities, are presented. The implications for educators are discussed.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Identity formation is mainly social and relational in nature. Educators, and the wider medical society, need to utilise and maximise the opportunities that exist in the various relational settings students experience. Education in its broadest sense is about the transformation of the self into new ways of thinking and relating. Helping students form, and successfully integrate their professional selves into their multiple identities, is a fundamental of medical education

Summary of Previous and New Records of the Least Darter (Etheostoma microperca) in Arkansas

The least darter, Etheostoma microperca, has a limited distribution in Arkansas and is designated as a species of greatest conservation need by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The fish was first documented in the state in 1938 in Wildcat Creek west of Springdale with additional discoveries in 1960, 1973, 1981, and 1982. A 1997 study documented the persistence of the species in Healing Spring Run and a spring run tributary of Osage Creek, 2 of the historic streams. Field sampling in 2004-2005 and 2010-2011, provided more concentrated sampling efforts in the basin. This study sought to determine the present status of least darter populations in Arkansas by detecting presence or absence at previously reported locations and locations in the same watersheds having similar habitat. Information on all least darter collections in Arkansas is compiled herein. The species appears to be extirpated from Wildcat Creek, Clear Creek, and Elkhorn Springs. Previously undocumented populations were found in the Clear Creek and Flint Creek watersheds. Least darter has not been collected from Osage Creek since 1973, persists in a spring run tributary to Osage Creek reported first in 1997. The species also persists in Healing Spring Run, and additional populations were found in other nearby tributaries to Little Osage Creek and in vegetated backwaters along the creek itself

Switching off or switching source: energy consumption and household response to higher energy prices in the Kyrgyz Republic

The Energy Poverty Action Initiative of the World Economic Forum suggests that access to energy is fundamental to improving quality of life and is a key imperative for economic development. This is particularly true in Central Asia, where winters are harsh and long. Changes in energy prices affect the purchasing power of households, hitting the poor in particular. The impact very much depends on a household's energy basket and the available strategies for switching to alternative energy sources. Using data from the 2011 Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey, this article analyses the profile of household energy consumption and the impact of electricity tariff increases on the probability that households would switch to alternative energy sources. The results suggest that households would respond to an electricity price increase by increasing consumption of fuels; households would be likely to move away from electricity-only heating and towards stove-only heating

The Global Financial Crisis and its Impact on Emerging Market Economies in Europe and the CIS: Evidence from Mid-2010

Emerging market economies were major beneficiaries of the economic boom before 2007. More recently, they have become victims of the global financial crisis. Their future development depends, to a large extent, on global economic prospects. Today the global economy and the European economy are much more integrated and interdependent than they were ten or twenty years ago. Every country must recognize its limited economic sovereignty and must be prepared to deal with the consequences of global acroeconomic fluctuations. The statistical data for 2009 provides a mixed picture with respect to the impact of the crisis on various groups of countries and individual economies. On average, Central and Eastern Europe experienced a smaller output decline than the Euro area and the entire EU while the CIS, especially its European part, contracted more dramatically. However, there was a deep differentiation within each country group. Looking globally, richer countries, which are more open to trade and in which the banking sector plays a larger role and which rely more on external financing, suffered more than less sophisticated economies, which are less dependent on trade and credit (especially from external sources). With some exceptions, the previous good growth performance helped rather than handicapped countries in the CEE and CIS regions in the crisis year of 2009. The post-crisis recovery has been rather modest and incomplete. It remains vulnerable to new shocks (like the Greek Fiscal crisis), the danger of sovereign default and other uncertainties. Full post-crisis recovery and increasing potential growth will require far going economic and institutional reforms on both national, regional (e.g., EU) and global levels

Effects of Vegetation, Corridor Width and Regional Land Use on Early Successional Birds on Powerline Corridors

Powerline rights-of-way (ROWs) often provide habitat for early successional bird species that have suffered long-term population declines in eastern North America. To determine how the abundance of shrubland birds varies with habitat within ROW corridors and with land use patterns surrounding corridors, we ran Poisson regression models on data from 93 plots on ROWs and compared regression coefficients. We also determined nest success rates on a 1-km stretch of ROW. Seven species of shrubland birds were common in powerline corridors. However, the nest success rates for prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor) and field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) were <21%, which is too low to compensate for estimated annual mortality. Some shrubland bird species were more abundant on narrower ROWs or at sites with lower vegetation or particular types of vegetation, indicating that vegetation management could be refined to favor species of high conservation priority. Also, several species were more abundant in ROWs traversing unfragmented forest than those near residential areas or farmland, indicating that corridors in heavily forested regions may provide better habitat for these species. In the area where we monitored nests, brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) occurred more frequently close to a residential area. Although ROWs support dense populations of shrubland birds, those in more heavily developed landscapes may constitute sink habitat. ROWs in extensive forests may contribute more to sustaining populations of early successional birds, and thus may be the best targets for habitat management