Comments on a Major Range Extension of the Little-Known Acrocera bakeri (Diptera: Acroceridae)

The spider fly Acrocera bakeri Coquillett, 1904 (Diptera: Acroceridae) is reported as a new state record for Wisconsin. This is a major range extension, because this rarely-encountered species was previously known only from the western U.S., specifically Arizona, California, and Nevada. The taxonomic history of the species is briefly discussed and hypotheses are offered for its unexpected presence in Wisconsin

Workplace change & the care of the self : health and wellbeing as a professional duty of care?

This paper examines the ways in which transformations in the organisation and practice of teacher&rsquo;s work have witnessed large numbers of teachers being seen, and seeing themselves, as stressed. These understandings of teacher stress have provoked a number of strategies designed to encourage individuals to take care of themselves &ndash; and to take care of themselves in ways that will make schools more effective.<br /

The professionalisation of stress management : health and wellbeing as a professional duty of care?

Workplace stress associated with ongoing processes of organizational change is a major occupational and public health concern. It is also a costly economic issue&mdash;both public and private. In this paper a framework will be used that draws on Michel Foucault&rsquo;s genealogies of the Self to suggest that the management of stress by professionals&mdash;in a workplace environment increasingly characterized by the practices of risk management&mdash;emerges as a key element of the choices and responsibilities that frame what it means to be professional. To be (a) professional means to be a person capable of making choices and accepting responsibilities that are framed by a duty of care to manage one&rsquo;s health and well-being to maximize organizational performance and effectiveness. The article will examine the ways in which transformations in the organization and practice of teachers&rsquo; work have witnessed large numbers of teachers being seen, and seeing themselves, as stressed. These understandings of teacher stress have provoked a number of strategies designed to encourage individuals to take care of themselves&mdash;and to take care of themselves in ways that will make schools more effective. The authors are concerned with understanding the processes that are at work which make it possible to imagine that it is a professional duty of care to manage one&rsquo;s life in such a way as to be both balanced and effective in contexts of uncertainty and risk.<br /

Lessons from a small country about the global obesity crisis

Developed countries had high obesity rates before the problem was taken seriously and hence the genesis must be seen in retrospect. Developing countries offer a clear view of causal factors but also opportunities for prevention, which must focus on both food and physical activity environments

New work ethics? Foucault and the spirit of 21st century capitalism

In a corporate environment that is changing at warp speed, performing consistently at high levels is more difficult and more necessary than ever. Narrow interventions simply aren\u27t sufficient anymore. Companies can\u27t afford to address their employees\u27 cognitive capacities while ignoring their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. On the playing field or in the boardroom, high performance depends on how much people renew and recover energy as on how they expend it, on how they manage their lives as much as on how they manage their work. When people feel strong and resilient - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually - they perform better, with more passion, for longer. They win, their families win, and the corporations that employ them win. (Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (2001) The Making of a Corporate Athlete, p.128)<br /

Governing the working population : knowledge, self and power in workplace health programs

This paper reports a case study of a workplace health programme in an international information technology company. Discourse analysis was used to identify how specific forms of knowledge create understandings of health and influence power relations between employee and organization. These forms of knowledge are shown to make employee health both visible and invisible in particular ways. Workplace health discourse encourages the employee to take responsibility for self-assessment and behaviour adjustment to become healthier employees. This is shown to be an ethical project which results in the alignment of personal and corporate goals.<br /

Assimilating in situ soil moisture measurements into the DSSAT-CSM using a Kalman filter

With the ability to monitor soil moisture in time comes the opportunity to develop ways to incorporate these measurements into predictive models, without compromising or overriding the model physics. The importance of soil moisture to the growth of crops is well understood and because of this it is recognized as one of the more important parts of crop modeling programs. This research focused on improvements to the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer -Cropping System Model (DSSAT-CSM) based on the accuracy of soil moisture estimates. To accomplish this, data assimilation techniques were implemented to process the uncertainty of the model related to state variables and the uncertainty found within in situ soil moisture measurements. Consideration of soil parameter uncertainty, which in?uences model estimates of soil moisture and model output, was taken into account using a Monte Carlo approach. A Kalman filter was used to combine the model estimates of soil moisture with in situ soil moisture measurements, while varying several important soil parameters in the model using a Monte Carlo approach. Covariances for the Kalman filter were calculated for the model and measurements based on the models standard deviation of soil moisture estimates and the standard deviation of the in situ soil moisture measurements. Data for this study was obtained from a research study conducted on irrigated wheat during the winters of 2003-04 and 2004-05 in Maricopa, Arizona in which thorough field and crop data were collected. The uncertainty of soil parameters was only moderately captured by the Monte Carlo approach for assimilation into the top layer of the soil profile. Improvement resulted for data assimilation of soil moisture through the reduction of the error between the measured and simulated grain yield and canopy weight for 47% and 37% of the simulations for the 2003-2004 and for 25% and 32% of the simulations for the 20042005 season, respectively. Assimilation was more effective for improving the model output of grain yield for the 2004-2005 than the 2003-2004 season and canopy weight for the 2003-2004 season than the 2004-2005 season. Further study is needed to fully understand the most desirable conditions for soil moisture assimilation and what other influencing effects data assimilation of soil moisture presents