Tourism development and public policy: perceptions of the Chuukese community

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019Tourism is a widely used tool for economic development in small insular communities. This mixed methods study examines factors that influence residents' perceptions toward tourism development in Chuuk and the relevance of "complexity theory" in describing the island's stage of development. Empirical evidence and data triangulation corroborate general support for tourism development and sensitivity to cultural impacts, economic impacts, social impacts, environmental impacts, local control and sustainability. Economic and cultural impacts were the strongest factors influencing perceptions and are most significant to sustainable development and destination development. This reflects residents' beliefs that the island will benefit from tourism because of perceived improvements in the economy, infrastructure, tourist facilities and expanded social amenities. It also reflects residents' expectations for long term planning, managed growth, and laws to protect the environment. Some differences and similarities are noted between sampled residents living in Chuuk and Guam. This study is the first of its kind in an isolated region lacking scholarship literature on tourism. As such, basic information gathered is a wellspring, for further research into issues of social justice using a more sequential transformative framework

Implementation of Software Process Improvement Through TSPi in Very Small Enterprises

This article shows an experience in a very small enterprise related to improving software quality in terms of test and process productivity. A customized process from the current organizational process based on TSPi was defined and the team was trained on it. The pilot project had schedule and budget constraints. The process began by gathering historical data from previous projects in order to get a measurement repository. Then the project was launched and some metrics were collected. Finally, results were analyzed and the improvements verified

The unique catalytic subunit of sperm cAMP-dependent protein kinase is the product of an alternative Calpha mRNA expressed specifically in spermatogenic cells

cAMP-dependent protein kinase has a central role in the control of mammalian sperm capacitation and motility. Previous protein biochemical studies indicated that the only cAMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (C) in ovine sperm is an unusual isoform, termed C(s), whose amino terminus differs from those of published C isoforms of other species. Isolation and sequencing of cDNA clones encoding ovine C(s) and Calpha1 (the predominant somatic isoform) now reveal that C(s) is the product of an alternative transcript of the Calpha gene. C(s) cDNA clones from murine and human testes also were isolated and sequenced, indicating that C(s) is of ancient origin and widespread in mammals. In the mouse, C(s) transcripts were detected only in testis and not in any other tissue examined, including ciliated tissues and ovaries. Finally, immunohistochemistry of the testis shows that C(s) first appears in pachytene spermatocytes. This is the first demonstration of a cell type-specific expression for any C isoform. The conservation of C(s) throughout mammalian evolution suggests that the unique structure of C(s) is important in the subunit\u27s localization or function within the sperm

Intraflagellar transport is essential for mammalian spermiogenesis but is absent in mature sperm

Drosophila sperm are unusual in that they do not require the intraflagellar transport (IFT) system for assembly of their flagella. In the mouse, the IFT proteins are very abundant in testis, but we here show that mature sperm are completely devoid of them, making the importance of IFT to mammalian sperm development unclear. To address this question, we characterized spermiogenesis and fertility in the Ift88(Tg737Rpw) mouse. This mouse has a hypomorphic mutation in the gene encoding the IFT88 subunit of the IFT particle. This mutation is highly disruptive to ciliary assembly in other organs. Ift88(-/-) mice are completely sterile. They produce approximately 350-fold fewer sperm than wild-type mice, and the remaining sperm completely lack or have very short flagella. The short flagella rarely have axonemes but assemble ectopic microtubules and outer dense fibers and accumulate improperly assembled fibrous sheath proteins. Thus IFT is essential for the formation but not the maintenance of mammalian sperm flagella

Approach to Identify Internal Best Practices in a Software Organization.

Current approaches to software process improvements (SPI) in software organizations is based on identifying gaps by comparing the way organizations work with respect to practices contained in the reference models. Later, these gaps will be targeted for establishing software process improvements. This paper presents an approach for identifying best practices within the organization. This is considered a key element in order to compare the way software organizations work with the reference models. After that, these practices will be complemented with practices contained in these models depending on the organization's business goals

Diseño de una metodología para la gestión sostenible de los recursos en áreas marinas protegidas

La nueva Política Marina Integrada de la Unión Europea (UE) tiene como objetivo general la optimización y sostenibilidad de la explotación del mar. En este contexto, la figura de las Áreas Marinas Protegidas (AMPs) se plantea como un valioso instrumento para avanzar en la ordenación y gestión sostenible de los recursos marinos, permitiendo una gran variedad de alternativas en función del objetivo de conservación, el nivel de protección y las diferentes posibilidades de aprovechamiento de los recursos. Esta comunicación se centra en el diseño de una metodología de planificación que, incorporada al proceso de creación de un Área Marina Protegida (AMP), permita establecer una ordenación y gestión eficaz del espacio basada en el conocimiento, tanto de las características ambientales del medio marino, como de las presiones e impactos producidos por las actividades humanas. La metodología que se plantea, mediante instrumentos y herramientas de gestión concretas, permite definir objetivos específicos así como indicadores de seguimiento asociados, integrando en todas las fases del proceso a las organizaciones, grupos de interés e instituciones implicadas; de forma específica al sector pesquero, que ha de desempeñar un papel fundamental en el desarrollo de un nuevo modelo de conservación y gestión sostenible del medio marin

Deletion of IFT20 in the mouse kidney causes misorientation of the mitotic spindle and cystic kidney disease

Primary cilia project from the surface of most vertebrate cells and are thought to be sensory organelles. Defects in primary cilia lead to cystic kidney disease, although the ciliary mechanisms that promote and maintain normal renal function remain incompletely understood. In this work, we generated a floxed allele of the ciliary assembly gene Ift20. Deleting this gene specifically in kidney collecting duct cells prevents cilia formation and promotes rapid postnatal cystic expansion of the kidney. Dividing collecting duct cells in early stages of cyst formation fail to properly orient their mitotic spindles along the tubule, whereas nondividing cells improperly position their centrosomes. At later stages, cells lacking cilia have increased canonical Wnt signaling and increased rates of proliferation. Thus, IFT20 functions to couple extracellular events to cell proliferation and differentiation

Calidad en el desarrollo de aplicaciones siguiendo la metodolofgia Team Software Process TSPi

Este artículo presenta un caso de estudio basado en la aplicación de TSPi. Los datos fueron obtenidos de 34 equipos de estudiantes de cuarto curso de la Facultad de Informática de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Todos los equipos desarrollaron el mismo proyecto a lo largo de dos ciclos de desarrollo. Con los datos obtenidos, se ha realizado un análisis por fase del ciclo de vida de TSPi, con respecto a la desviación en la estimación de defectos, la densidad de defectos y la evolución del rendimiento de defectos. Finalmente, se presenta el análisis de los resultados, comparando ambos ciclos, así como propuestas de mejor

Process Deployment: A Taxonomy of Critical Success Factors

Various methods, models and standards for software process improvement have been adopted by organizations to improve their software processes. However, despite these efforts they still encounter difficulties in their process deployment throughout the organization. This is because the vast majority of these efforts focus more on the technical aspects, bypassing the human aspects. There is a set of factors that influence the successful deployment of new or modified processes. This paper presents a taxonomy of critical success factors in software process deployment to achieve the processes institutionalization. The development of a taxonomy related to these critical success factors is based on a systematic review of existing literature on specialized databases and industrial experiences that have deployed or implemented processes