Who Uses Virtual Worlds Anyway?

Virtual worlds have grown tremendously in recent years yet little is known about individuals that are working within these worlds. A study of several virtual worlds reveals that members are hesitant to reveal personal information which complicates investigations of such environments. We investigated the role of sex and computer self efficacy on users’ intentions to use Second Life (a popular virtual world environment). We conducted a series of qualitative interviews and developed a survey instrument for a data collection and also conducted an experiment to learn more about the individuals behind the avatars in Second Life. Our interviews suggested that the sex, psychological traits and computer self efficacy of a user will be significant predictors of an individual’s intent to use Second Life. Analysis of the data determined that sex and computer self efficacy were statistically insignificant but further analysis suggests that the sex, psychological traits and computer self efficacy of the respondent may influence intentions to use virtual worlds after all

A Review of Literature on Health-Related Quality of Life of Retinoblastoma Survivors.

Background: Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of the eye that typically presents in early childhood and occurs in approximately 1 in 20,000 births. While active treatment of the tumor is typically completed in childhood, survivors often suffer from long-term effects from treatment including visual impairment, facial deformities, and fear of recurrence or secondary cancer. However, little is known how these long-term effects affect their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Purpose: To review the literature on HRQOL in retinoblastoma survivors. Method: We searched three electronic databases from January 2005 to December 2018 for original research articles reporting on HRQOL or individual domains such as function, cognition, and psychosocial outcomes in retinoblastoma survivors. Results: A total of 59 articles were reviewed and 15 were identified as eligible. Five of the studies reported worse HRQOL in retinoblastoma survivors than controls or general population norms. Parent-proxy ratings were worse than survivors' self-reports. Conclusion: Our findings confirm the need for further HRQOL research to assess the factors influencing long-term outcomes associated with treatment in adolescent and young adult retinoblastoma survivors. By identifying any potential deficits in specific domains of HRQOL, early interventions might be developed to improve HRQOL in retinoblastoma survivors

Renewing industrial regions? Advanced manufacturing and industrial policy in Britain

The UK’s industrial strategy, with local variants, aims to support manufacturing in ‘traditional industrial regions’ (TIRs). Using novel data for advanced manufacturing (AM) industries over several decades, we examine long-term changes in their geography by regions and local authority districts. These industries have shifted away from large urban regions, and local authority districts in TIRs have lost ground relative to those in other regions, although there are variations between industries. Foreign direct investment has tended to locate in non-TIR locations. AM industries have not shifted decisively towards research-intensive regions. We consider the implications for policy initiatives seeking to spark clusters around innovation districts

Industrial Policies, Strategy, and the UK’s Levelling Up Agenda

In the context of the UK economy’s slow and unbalanced growth, this paper discusses the degree to which recent Conservative Governments in the UK have moved towards the adoption of a strategic and coherent set of industrial policies to enhance economic performance across the country. It starts by outlining the priorities and principles of new forms of industrial strategy which emphasises the importance of cross-sectoral goals, intensive dialogue between government and the private sector, co-ordination between different policies and levels of government, directions to address societal and environmental challenges and the role of place-based policy making. The paper discusses the degree to which these principles have shaped, or been largely absent from, recent industrial policy development in the UK and particularly the interface between industrial and regional policies. It discusses the May Government’s move to set up an Industrial Strategy with a place ‘pillar’ and the influence of a mission approach. It then reviews the Johnson’s Government’s ‘Plan for Growth’ industrial policy agenda, focussing on the recent Levelling Up White Paper and examines how far and in what ways it has embedded these reforming principles. It finds that despite reflecting some of these principles in its rhetoric, the current government programme has substituted innovation and infrastructure policies for an actual industrial strategy, and continues to rely mainly on a top-down and technologically driven type of approach. The agenda lacks the capacity to deliver its levelling up goals due to inadequate funding, an incomplete devolution agenda and insufficiently developed place-based capacities and policies. Future development needs to move the principles from rhetoric into industrial policy direction and design, and to remedy the continuing lack of local and regional collaboration and co-ordination

The Hessian fly in Oregon

Published September 1981. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer – collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 58 515 women with breast cancer and 95 067 women without the disease

Alcohol and tobacco consumption are closely correlated and published results on their association with breast cancer have not always allowed adequately for confounding between these exposures. Over 80% of the relevant information worldwide on alcohol and tobacco consumption and breast cancer were collated, checked and analysed centrally. Analyses included 58 515 women with invasive breast cancer and 95 067 controls from 53 studies. Relative risks of breast cancer were estimated, after stratifying by study, age, parity and, where appropriate, women's age when their first child was born and consumption of alcohol and tobacco. The average consumption of alcohol reported by controls from developed countries was 6.0 g per day, i.e. about half a unit/drink of alcohol per day, and was greater in ever-smokers than never-smokers, (8.4 g per day and 5.0 g per day, respectively). Compared with women who reported drinking no alcohol, the relative risk of breast cancer was 1.32 (1.19–1.45, P<0.00001) for an intake of 35–44 g per day alcohol, and 1.46 (1.33–1.61, P<0.00001) for ⩾45 g per day alcohol. The relative risk of breast cancer increased by 7.1% (95% CI 5.5–8.7%; P<0.00001) for each additional 10 g per day intake of alcohol, i.e. for each extra unit or drink of alcohol consumed on a daily basis. This increase was the same in ever-smokers and never-smokers (7.1% per 10 g per day, P<0.00001, in each group). By contrast, the relationship between smoking and breast cancer was substantially confounded by the effect of alcohol. When analyses were restricted to 22 255 women with breast cancer and 40 832 controls who reported drinking no alcohol, smoking was not associated with breast cancer (compared to never-smokers, relative risk for ever-smokers=1.03, 95% CI 0.98–1.07, and for current smokers=0.99, 0.92–1.05). The results for alcohol and for tobacco did not vary substantially across studies, study designs, or according to 15 personal characteristics of the women; nor were the findings materially confounded by any of these factors. If the observed relationship for alcohol is causal, these results suggest that about 4% of the breast cancers in developed countries are attributable to alcohol. In developing countries, where alcohol consumption among controls averaged only 0.4 g per day, alcohol would have a negligible effect on the incidence of breast cancer. In conclusion, smoking has little or no independent effect on the risk of developing breast cancer; the effect of alcohol on breast cancer needs to be interpreted in the context of its beneficial effects, in moderation, on cardiovascular disease and its harmful effects on cirrhosis and cancers of the mouth, larynx, oesophagus and liver

Enhancing Cybersecurity Capability in Local Governments through Competency-Based Education

Local government agencies face significant challenges related to cybersecurity. Advances in cybersecurity threats have been part of the difficulty, but government agencies, particularly communities, also face unique challenges given their broad mandates and challenges. This is particularly true in large metropolitan areas where activities cross many local and county jurisdictions yet require a coordinated and collaborative response. Local jurisdictions face differing cybersecurity challenges related to local issues such as criminal activity, population, and the mix of land use as well as external considerations such as ports, airports and international borders requiring enhanced coordination with state and federal authorities. Rapid ongoing changes in technology also provide a relentless pattern of change which must be managed. These widely differing challenges, along with resource constraints, lead neighboring communities to possess widely varying cybersecurity capabilities. This research project is an effort to speed the process of training and developing talent to meet these challenges

Neither Here Nor There

A public screening of the documentary film followed by a panel discussion featuring one of the filmmakers (Beth Pike) and two local experts on the Bosnian genocide. Part of the Dedicated Semester on Immigrant Experiences

Mixed Tenure, Special Interest/Ethno-Cultural and Campus of Care Projects - 23RD ANNUAL JOHN K. FRIESEN CONFERENCE "Housing Alternatives for an Aging Population" May 28-29, 2014

This video comprises an address to the attendees of the 23rd Annual John K. Friesen Conference, "Housing Alternatives for an Aging Population" held May 28-29, 2014, Vancouver, BC. The Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre (GRC) and associated Gerontology Department are pleased to welcome you to the 23rd John K. Friesen Conference. This year’s conference, organized and hosted in cooperation with the Lifelong Learning Adults 55+ Program, explores a range of tenure arrangements, housing forms, and service models currently available and under development for adults 55+ in British Columbia, including cohousing popular in the USA; life-lease projects, popular in the prairie provinces; mixed-tenure models and models targeted to specific groups (e.g., Performing Arts Lodges; ethno-cultural housing). Assisted Living was discussed as well as housing and service options that do not require people to move from their current home (e.g., the Village Model, United Way’s Better at Home Program, retro-fitting or adding “smart” technologies). Keynote speakers, expert panels and poster presentations discussed the pros and cons of each housing option and the type of resident for whom it is best suited. The objective of the conference was to provide information that enable people aged 55+ to plan ahead and make informed choices. As well, it was designed to provide a forum for developers (private, public &amp; non-profit) to learn what adults aged 55+ are looking for in the way of housing for their later years. Sponsors: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; BC Housing; Retirement Concepts We also gratefully acknowledge a grant from the SFU Library\u27s Scholarly Digitization Fund for videography and post-production editing