Snapshot: The Home Energy Rebate Program

Alaska’s state government has spent an estimated $110 million since 2008 for better insulation, new furnaces, and other retrofits for roughly 16,500 homeowners—10% of all homeowners statewide.1 That spending was under the Home Energy Rebate Program, which rebates homeowners part of what they spend to make their houses more energy-efficient and less expensive to heat.2 The state legislature established the current program in 2008, as energy prices were spiking. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) administers it, and the Institute of Social and Economic Research and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center did this analysis for AHFC, assessing the broad program effects from April 2008 through September 2011. Changes in fuel use and heating costs reported here are estimates from AHFC’s energy-rating software; figures based on actual household heating bills aren’t currently available. The software uses house characteristics and location-specific information on weather and other factors to produce the estimates—but remember they are estimates.3Cold Climate Housing Research Cente

What is the relationship between state sponsored worker co-operatives, local markets and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality?

This research report examines the relationship between state-sponsored worker co-operatives, local markets and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM, on the East Rand, South Africa) in the 2000s, to examine how state support impacts upon democracy in worker co-operatives (“co-ops”) more generally. Worker co-ops are democratic and voluntary organisations, simultaneously owned and managed by their members (“co-operators”), have a substantial history in South Africa and elsewhere, and have often been seen as a potential alternative to capitalism. But are they? An extensive literature demonstrates market pressures erode co-op democracy (e.g. Philips): to survive, worker co-ops develop increasingly into capitalist enterprises, which fundamentally challenges notions that co-ops can challenge capitalism. Several commentators (e.g. Satgar) admit this problem, but see the solution in state support, which can purportedly shield worker co-ops from the market, so enabling their democratic content and socialist potential to be maintained. This pro-state approach is tested by examining actually-existing worker co-ops in the EMM, where a number of state-sponsored worker co-ops were established from the 2000s; the two most successful co-ops are the subject of this case study. It is shown that, on the contrary, state sponsorship fostered dependency and subtle (and less subtle) forms of state control over the co-ops. Most of the co-operatives failed to survive, as state control foisted upon them impractical goals (e.g. competition in poor community markets with overwhelming rivals,) while creating additional problems (e.g. failing to allocate marketing budgets) and also undermining co-op democracy (e.g. through imposing external priorities on the co-ops). The co-ops that survived remain trapped between state patronage and the capitalist market: unable to ensure accumulation, they remain dependent on the state, but as a result, are continually pushed by the state back into the market. It is not the South African state’s push to constitute the co-ops as black-run capitalist firms that is crucial to this story, but what this push reveals: state sponsorship was irredeemably linked to state control, and it was state control that enabled the state to force its agenda on iii the co-ops in the first place; an alternative state policy framework would simply change the goals imposed. The hierarchical and elitist class logic of the state is fundamentally incompatible with the popular, self-managed logic of worker co-ops. In short, the findings on the interaction of internal co-op dynamics with the state and open market pressures suggest that democratic worker co-ops are basically fundamentally incompatible with both markets and states. They are also fundamentally incapable of transcending either, as their survival requires either emulating capitalism or embracing the state. Lastly, this research report argues that the erosion of democracy in worker co-ops cannot simply be reduced to external forces (the state, the market), although these play a central role in such erosion. Of the two co-ops examined as case studies, one is characterised by authoritarian decision-making, the other by a fairly democratic practice. A key factor in such divergence were the co-operators’ own political and work cultures. Argued Bakunin: while worker co-ops can play a demonstrative role, challenging authoritarian politics by showing the possibility of workers’ self-management, they cannot provide a transformative role, overcoming capitalism or the state. A state-sponsored worker co-ops movement cannot form the heart of a radical, democratic and working class strategy for fundamental change. To answer the research question, the research asks which factors are important in determining the internal democratic or authoritarian form of the co-ops under study. Two state-sponsored worker co-ops are taken as case studies. The first co-op is characterised by authoritarian decision-making, while the other is characterised experiences democratic decision-making. The findings of the research agree with Philip’s (2006) argument that market factors are important in determining the internal form of a co-op. However, this research clearly shows that while market factors are important, they are by no means the sole determinant of the internal dynamics of a co-op. Non-market factors are equally important in determining the internal form of a co-op

Planning Growth - Preserving Character

Gateway communities are the towns, cities, and communities that border public lands such as national and state parks, wildlife refuges, forests, historic sites, wilderness areas, national forests, and other public lands. They offer scenic beauty and a high quality of life that attracts millions of Americans looking to escape traffic congestion, fast tempo and uniformity of cities and suburbs. Gateway communities provide food, lodging, and business for Americans on their way to public lands. They serve as portals to public lands and therefore play an important role in defining the park, forest, or wilderness experience for many visitors. Their beauty, high quality of life, and economic benefits do not come easy. Gateway communities face challenges related to managing growth and development, providing economic prosperity, and preserving their character and sense of place. Parksville, TN is located in extreme southeast Tennessee and is a gateway community to the Cherokee National Forest and the Ocoee River, one of the premier whitewater rivers in the eastern United States. Many rural gateway communities, like Parksville, lack planning and growth strategies. For this reason, among others, they are particularly vulnerable to haphazard growth and development that threaten their economic potential as well as their character and sense of place. The struggles, problems, opportunities, and solutions for gateway communities are explored in this thesis to determine planning and design mechanisms applicable to Parksville. The product of this thesis is a master plan for growth and development as well as conservation and preservation. Embedded in the plan are strategies and mechanisms to build upon and improve the local economy and safeguard natural, cultural, and historic resources. “Proactive Stewardship Planning” is suggested as a useful term to accomplish these ideals

Neither Kha, Tai, nor Lao: Language, Myth, Histories, and the Position of the Phong in Houaphan

In this paper we explore the intersections between oral and colonial history to re-examine the formation and interethnic relations in the uplands of Northern Laos. We unpack the historical and contemporary dynamics between “majority” Tai, “minority” Kha groups and the imagined cultural influence of “Lao” to draw out a more nuanced set of narratives about ethnicity, linguistic diversity, cultural contact, historical intimacy, and regional imaginings to inform our understanding of upland society. The paper brings together fieldwork and archival research, drawing on previous theoretical and areal analysis of both authors

The Evolution of International Order and the Future of the American Naval Presence Mission

Much attention has been given to the role of seapower and naval forces in the conduct of war. The Navy\u27s combat capability is obvious and its rationale is increasingly discussed in terms both of the deterrence of conflict and of the political uses of seapower

The Changing Context of American Seapower

The Expansion of Force. Among the more important of the new complexities confronting both analysis and policy are those surrounding the use of force. For almost 300 years prior to the end of World War II, the pursuit of security by nation-states has been the central dynamic of international politics, The correlative of this condition has been an expansion of the capacity of the nation-state to deploy and use military power. During the last 150 years of this expansionist phase 1 of the role of military power in international politics an important paradox emerged: the use of military power could result in enormous disorder but, under certain circumstances, order as well

A Case Report on Parvovirus B19 Associated Myositis

Introduction. Whilst there are reports of viral myopathies affecting children and the immunocompromised, infective myositis is a relatively rare inflammatory myopathy in adults. The clinical spectrum can range from benign myalgias to more serious complications in certain risk groups. Case Presentation. We present two cases of myositis as a result of parvovirus B19 infection. Conclusion. Viral myositis and parvovirus B19 associated myositis should be considered in adults presenting with significant myalgia

Synthetic Aperture Anomaly Imaging

Previous research has shown that in the presence of foliage occlusion, anomaly detection performs significantly better in integral images resulting from synthetic aperture imaging compared to applying it to conventional aerial images. In this article, we hypothesize and demonstrate that integrating detected anomalies is even more effective than detecting anomalies in integrals. This results in enhanced occlusion removal, outlier suppression, and higher chances of visually as well as computationally detecting targets that are otherwise occluded. Our hypothesis was validated through both: simulations and field experiments. We also present a real-time application that makes our findings practically available for blue-light organizations and others using commercial drone platforms. It is designed to address use-cases that suffer from strong occlusion caused by vegetation, such as search and rescue, wildlife observation, early wildfire detection, and sur-veillance

Fingers in the outlet: a self-reflexive investigation of 'bricolage' as a method of engagement in new media arts, through domestic hacking practices

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, Dramatic Arts, 2013This research report consists of two components: a written report and a practical body of work. The written component is a theoretical examination of the concept of bricolage as put forward by Claude Lévi-­‐Strauss in the text “The Science of The concrete”, as an alternate process of knowledge production in its potential as a methodology for digital arts specifically relating to hardware hacking practices. This first chapter consists of a close reading of this text in which I explore the underlying concepts that bricolage hinges upon to better understand it as a methodology and process of engagement. The second chapter concerns the relationship between digital arts and science in terms of their individual use of ‘method’ and how it affects their conceptualization of ‘knowledge’. This is carried out by examining the philosophical underpinnings of the scientific method, in association with a ‘hacking’ case study looking at art practice as research. In the third chapter I briefly isolate three key characteristics of bricolage as methodology, as a starting point in understanding the movement of bricolage as a process of inquiry. The second component of this report consists of a practical inquiry into the viability of bricolage as method of production within a hardware hacking practice. It is incorporated into my written research in the fourth chapter where I discuss the resulting body of work in relation to bricolage as a model for research based practice, and as a mode of inquiry