The New News: Journalism We Want and Need

Economic pressures on one hand and continuing democratization of news on the other have already changed the news picture in Chicago, as elsewhere in the U.S. The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times are in bankruptcy, and local broadcast news programs also face economic pressures. Meanwhile, it seems every week brings a new local news entrepreneur from Gapers Block to Beachwood Reporter to Chi-Town Daily News to Windy Citizen to The Printed Blog.In response to these changes, the Knight Foundation is actively supporting a national effort to explore innovations in how information, especially at the local community level, is collected and disseminated to ensure that people find the information they need to make informed decisions about their community's future. The Chicago Community Trust is fortunate to have been selected as a partner working with the Knight Foundation in this effort through the Knight Community Information Challenge. For 94 years, the Trust has united donors to create charitable resources that respond to the changing needs of our community -- meeting basic needs, enriching lives and encouraging innovative ways to improve our neighborhoods and communities.Understanding how online information and communications are meeting, or not, the needs of the community is crucial to the Trust's project supported by the Knight Foundation. To this end, the Trust commissioned the Community Media Workshop to produce The New News: Journalism We Want and Need. We believe this report is a first of its kind resource offering an inventory and assessment of local news coverage for the region by utilizing the interactive power of the internet. Essays in this report also provide insightful perspectives on the opportunities and challenges

Measuring integrated rural tourism.

If the concept of integrated rural tourism, as developed in the SPRITE project, is to be used as an operational tool to assess the all-round value of tourism in rural areas, there needs to be a means of measuring the value of tourism, and changes in it. Statistical, 'objective' methods of achieving this are critiqued. This paper describes the development of an alternative methodology for assessing the changes in the value of tourism witnessed by different groups of stakeholders in the study areas across Europe between 1992 and 2002. The methodology allows for a holistic view of the extent to which rural tourism is integrated into the local economies and cultures. Differences in perceptions regarding change in the value of tourism between actor groups and countries are noted. Illustrative examples are given of specific events and forms of rural tourism that are perceived as being of high value. It is concluded that while tourism is now better integrated than it was ten years ago, further improvements can be made in identifiable areas and dimensions and for particular actor groups

Small-group teaching in geography.

The manual guides staff in geography departments through the purposes, advantages and disadvantages of small-group teaching as an educational device in geography degrees. The manual covers issues of authority, roles, syllabus, learning outcomes and skills. It highlights areas of potential difficulty and how to cope with these. There is a wide range of examples of how small-group teaching can be used with different types of material, students at different stages, and to achieve a variety of learning outcomes and skills

Technology transfer to the broader economy

Approaches to the transfer of government-funded civil space technology to the broader commercial economy were addressed by Working Panel no. 4. Some of the problems related to current strategies for technology transfer and recommendations for new approaches are described in outline form

HYDROLOGIC MODELING AT UNGAUGED LOCATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VULNERABILITY RANKING PROTOCOL SYSTEM FOR ROAD-STREAM CROSSING INFRASTRUCTURE

Recent tropical storms that have resulted in flood events with large economic impacts in the Northeastern US have catalyzed efforts to understand the complex interactions between human and natural systems. Specifically, the resilience of our transportation infrastructure to climate and the impact of our transportation systems on the aquatic environment are of significant interest on both the local and regional scales to state and federal agencies. It is important that new, innovative approaches be developed that consider both the robustness of our infrastructure today and its ability to cope with forecasted extremes due to climate change. Because few streams are gauged to record their flows, road-stream crossings are almost always designed without adequate knowledge of what floods flows that will occur in the future. Hydrologic predictions at these ungauged locations are difficult and few techniques exist that can accurately estimate extreme flows without long-term precipitation and streamflows records. Robust analysis using either statistical or physically based models within a multi-model framework is a useful approach in quantifying the degree of uncertainty and variability across models at these ungauged, road-stream crossing locations. This paper reviews background information associated with the development of a hydrologic vulnerability protocol system for road-stream crossings currently being piloted in the Deerfield River basin, focused primarily on predicting flows in ungauged basins and estimating flood flows for current and future climate scenarios. Finally, a framework for a decision support tool is discussed within the context of providing hydrologic flood predictions at road-stream crossings within an online interactive map interface

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Form and Function in the 21st Century

As representatives of nation-states in global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) share a common form and many functions. Arguably their form and functions owe as much to a shared (global) moment of institutional formation as they owe their form and functions to the hegemony of Anglo-American finance over the late 20th and early 21st centuries. We distinguish between the immediate future for SWFs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, and two possible long-term scenarios; one of which sees SWFs becoming financial goliaths dominating global markets, while the other sees SWFs morphing into nation-state development institutions that intermediate between financial markets and the long-term commitments of the nation-state sponsors. If the former scenario dominates, global financial integration will accelerate with attendant costs and benefits. If the latter scenario dominates, SWFs are likely to differentiate and evolve, returning, perhaps, to their national traditions and their respective places in a world of contested power and influence. Here, we clarify the assumptions underpinning the conception and formation of sovereign wealth funds over the past twenty years or so in the face of the ‘new’ realities of global finance.Sovereign Wealth Funds, Crisis, Market Performance, Long-term Investment

Investment intermediaries in economic development: Linking public pension funds to urban revitalization

It is difficult for large investors, such as pension funds, to make investments in EDMs because they must make very large investments. The investments in communities of need, however, are usually small. The most successful strategy to overcome these two problems is for investors to work in concert with intermediaries that can aggregate the investments and community partners that understand both the need of communities and know how to tell “the story” to investors.

Inflatable stretcher to transport patients

Inflatable plastic bag inside strong, inflexible outer bag facilitates emergency transport of seriously burned or disabled patients. When the bag is inflated the patient is completely immobilized and cushioned from external shock. Air for breathing, temperature controls and communications may be provided by appropriate plug-in connections