Increased demand for rapid access to UK magnetic observatory data : implications for quality control procedures

During the last decade the demand for magnetic observatory data has steadily increased both from the scientific community and in particular from commercial organisations. Not only are the quantity of data products greater now but the speed at which they are delivered is faster and the quality of the data provided better. The modern user requirements for timely data have prompted the need for improved automatic procedures utilising the new technologies available. This has to be balanced against the user requirements for accuracy, which necessitate rigorous quality control procedures. While some of these have been automated, as is shown in the flow diagram, there remains a requirement for human interpretation and action if and when the data contain errors. Software development to reduce this human intervention is on-going

El Niño, Ice Storms, and the Market for Residential Fuelwood in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern U.S.

Extreme weather events such as the ice storm that affected eastern Canada and the Northeastern US in January of 1998 have significant impacts on both human populations and forests. One of the questions currently facing climate scientists is whether or not better forecasting of such events would lessen the economic impacts borne by households, industry, agricultural producers and the public sector when such weather events occur. This case study examines the economic impacts of the ice storm on the residential market for fuelwood. It is hypothesized that demand for fuelwood will increase due to the failure of non-wood heating sources during the ice storm. In addition, damage to trees in the region should increase the supply of fuelwood; the net effect of these outward shifts of supply and demand on price is not known. A household level survey administered to over one thousand households indicates that less than half of the households in the affected region currently rely on wood burning technologies as a source of heat for their homes. However, those households with wood burning technologies were better able to manage during the ice storm. The main policy implication of better forecasting of extreme weather events is the ability of households to alter or substitute home heating strategies and technologies in addition to other mitigative strategies such as storing food etc. In addition, forest managers or forest product producers who have information regarding extreme weather events have the option to undertake various management strategies to lessen the economic and biophysical impacts of ice storms on forests. Forest managers and woodlot owners may also enter or expand into the market for residential fuelwood when the production of other forest produce such as maple syrup and veneer are hindered by ice storm damage.

Agricultural Land Distribution in Vietnam: Emerging Issues and Policy Implications

This paper examines the current distribution of the agricultural land, the issues causing landlessness in Vietnam, assesses present governmental policies and methods and presents key options. The paper relies on the Vietnam Living Household Standard Survey (VHLSS) that were conducted by the General Statistics Office in 2002 and 2004, and qualitative evidence from other studies. It is found that land inequality is increasing. Poor households have small areas of agricultural land and aquacultural water surface, and their lands are also of low quality. Landless poor are dependent on low income and unstable income from labouring in agricultural production. Policies to assist the landless have had limited impact.Land distribution, landless, poverty, Vietnam, Asia

Right to Life Means No Right to Death with Dignity

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Moral Evils v. Health and Safety Evils: The Case of an Ovum ‘Obtained’ From a ‘Donor’ and Used By the ‘Donor’ in Her Own Surrogate Pregnancy

This paper critically examines the amendment made in 2012 to section 10(2)(c) of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, 2004 mandating the screening and testing of “obtained” ovum “donated” by a “donor” and used in her own surrogate pregnancy. The amendment at section 10(1) of the Act cites the federal government’s obligation to reduce harm to human health and safety arising from use of sperm or ova for human reproduction, including the risk of disease transmission. This paper argues that the amendment mandating the screening and testing of surrogate ova when used by the surrogate in her own surrogate pregnancy creates a dangerous liminal regulatory space; one that transforms the surrogate into a third-party donor yet she incurs no health and safety risk to herself as she is the recipient of her own ova embryo. Genetic implications for the surrogate-born child makes a stronger case in support of mandatory testing, however the amendment imposes no similar screening and testing regime on the usual category of traditional surrogates: women who bear genetically-related children conceived through artificial insemination (IUI) rather than IVF. The paper questions the application of a health and safety evil that the amendment seeks to address. It suggests the real evil is a moral one whereby criminal code sanctions are being employed to discourage traditional surrogacy when practiced as a result of assisted reproduction techniques

The "Other" Within: Multiple Selves Making a World of Difference

Diversity challenges us by forcing us into encounters with the Other, the not-like-me/not-like-us. Educating leaders for effective collaboration in diverse settings means leading them through a process of de-centering from their "comfort zones" and helping them stretch to embrace difference. Such education mustconsider not only difference, but also inequality of power - particularly in terms of entrenched social structures that silently reinforce unearned privilege

Stakeholder perceptions of the use and value of computers and technology in an elementary school setting: a case study of the vision and reality of educational technology

The new millennium brings with it the evolution of technology-supported teaching and learning and also the incredible potential for educators to take advantage of incorporating that technology into their teaching. The purpose of this study was to describe the status of classroom computer use at an elementary (K-6) school with a population of 676 students in a rural county in the mid-south. A further purpose of the study included examining and describing the patterns of beliefs or attitudes toward the use of technology in education and the skill levels necessary for use. Teachers, administrators, and parents within one school were observed and surveyed offering qualitative and quantitative data in order to make recommendations regarding the direction of technological development for the school and determining the types of training needed. Results of this study indicate that discrepancies in beliefs regarding the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool exist among the various stakeholders at the participating school in the following area: 1) type/amount of use; 2) teacher training; 3) availability of technology; and 4) purpose of technology use. Results also point to areas of common goals regarding present and future technology use. Implications exist for future technology plans, professional development for teachers, and ways to remove barriers that presently exist to the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool

The Breath of Life: The Importance of Ruah in Heart Rate Variability Training

The gift of life comes from God’s ruah, not just at creation, but ruah continues to breathe within us throughout our lifetime, sustaining us and leading us back to wholeness and communion with God. God desires for us to live an abundant life that involves Christian community, but stress threatens to pull us in a different direction. The physiological arousal from the stress response causes us to go into a self-preservation mode, and this focus on self threatens to create a barrier that separates us from God and others. Most research is focused on the physical dimension, and as we begin to understand more about our physiology, we tend to view this from a medical perspective, giving less attention to the spiritual dimension. We develop a functional dichotomy and fail to recognize the ways that physical and spiritual health are inseparable and contribute to one another. Heart rate variability (HRV) training encourages physiological balance by reducing our stress responses, and breath is the driving force that increases variability through resonance and promotes health. Spiritual practices have long resulted in these same physiological benefits, but we have not had the technology and knowledge to understand them. Now that we understand more about what is happening physiologically, we cannot discard the importance of the spiritual dimension. Integrating a spiritual dimension to HRV training allows the truth of ruah to take on greater meaning. Although stress threatens to become a barrier, ruah constantly works against that, leading us to wholeness and joining us with God and others