BALTIMORE (Stockpickr)
-- Relative strength is one of the most important concepts in technical
analysis, especially when markets are as anxiety-ridden as they are now
-- but it's also one of the most misunderstood. In this Technical Primer, we'll take a look at what relative strength really is, as well as what it isn't.
More importantly, we'll look at how this concept can help you beat the market, even in challenging conditions.
For starters, relative strength isn't the same thing as RSI. RSI, the initialism for Relative Strength Index, is a momentum indicator
based on a stock's recent gains and losses. It measures one point in
time vs. another for a single stock. Relative strength, on the other
hand, is simply the relationship between two securities. Not
surprisingly, the fact that these two separate concepts have nearly the
same name is a major cause for confusion for aspiring technicians.
>>Are Stocks Headed for a Year-End Rally?
At its core, relative strength (also sometimes referred to just as
RS) is a tool for measuring a market's potency just as RSI is, but the
key difference is in how they go about doing it. RS gets its name
because it measures the strength of one security relative to another -- as a result of that, it's primarily a screening and selection tool.
The simplest way to compute relative strength is by taking a
stock's price and dividing it by the price of another security -- most
often a broad market index. The resulting ratio doesn't mean anything in
and of itself (after all, you're dividing one price by another
unrelated price), but a plot of relative strength does. An increasing
relative strength line tells us that a security is outperforming its
denominator security, while a dropping line tells us that it's
The key word in the name is "relative" -- a rising relative
strength line doesn't mean that a stock is increasing in value. It only
tells us that it's outperforming the broad market. We'll get back to
that in a bit.
The Value of Relative Strength
So does plotting the ratio of one security to another really have any
value? According to academic studies, the answer is a resounding "yes."
According to a number of academic research studies compiled by
Professors Charles Kirkpatrick and Julie Dahlquist in their texbook, Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians,
using positive relative strength to pick stocks has historically been a
viable strategy that produces outperformance over the broad market.
In brief, stocks that are outperforming tend to continue to outperform in the future.
As an investor or trader, that's a valuable piece of information,
particularly when the broad market isn't offering many compelling
trades. Obviously, outperformers aren't going to continue to beat the
broad market forever -- time horizon is also an important consideration.
In general, positive relative strength trends led to positive returns
on a three-to-10-month time horizon in the studies compiled by
Kirkpatrick and Dahlquist.
How to Use Relative Strength
Relative strength is most often used as a subchart alongside a
stock's price action. Like other indicators (including momentum), RS can
be used to find divergences and confirmation with a stock's price.
Plots of relative strength can also have technical annotations such as
trend lines applied to them much in the same way price charts can. A
trend line break in a stock's relative strength chart is often an
indication that its outperformance is starting to wane. Because RS is a
ratio, it's also a good metric to put to work when using a quantitative
screen to generate investment ideas.
You don't need to calculate relative strength manually. Most
charting packages are capable of determining relative strength, and
popular sites such as can chart relative strength of a
stock -- let's say the ticker symbol is ABC, for example -- vs. the
S&P 500 by inputting ABC:$SPX into the ticker field.
Keep in mind that relative strength measures the relationship between two
securities. That's helpful to remember when you're trying to find RS in
your charting package; if you're not prompted to enter a second
security as the denominator, chances are you're getting a chart of RSI
As a tool, relative strength can also be applied to a number of different types of markets.
Relative strength can be the cornerstone for a long-term asset
rotation strategy, identifying asset classes that are outperforming
stocks (popular methods combine RS and moving average crossover signals)
and signaling when it's time to shift into a different asset class.
It's also a valuable way to determine which sectors offer the most
upside -- which in turn can help to identify which stage of the
investment cycle we're in at any given time.
Because RS is a numerical ratio, it can also easily be used as a
condition in a quantitative trading system to limit its investment
universe to outperforming names. That versatility makes relative
strength a must-have part of any trader's toolbox.
There is one major caveat, however. Keep in mind that relative
strength is relative, not absolute. So a sector can be outperforming the
S&P 500 but still be losing money. Like most technical analysis
concepts, it's crucial to go back to price to determine if an investment
makes sense.
On the quantitative side, one easy workaround is to require
positive relative strength versus cash, or to add a risk-free asset
(such as treasuries) to the system's investment universe. That ensures
that sectors that are only "less bad" don't make their way into your
As the market continues to lack decisive or directional
signals, tools like relative strength will likely become increasingly
popular -- after all, the current research tells us that RS is one of
the best ways to identify future outperformance. Next time, we'll add to
your technical repertoire with another primer that will bring you
closer to implementing technical analysis for your portfolio.
In the meantime, do you have a burning technical analysis question? Get it answered by heading to Stockpickr Answers.
Jonas Elmerraji, based out of Baltimore, is the editor and
portfolio manager of the Rhino Stock Report, a free investment advisory
outlets, including


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A Commercial Lease Application is a legally-binding document that is filled out by a prospective tenant who wishes to use the property for business purposes. The application is used by the landlord to obtain information about the potential renter and use the information given for background checks and credit checks. The application aids the landlord in the process of deciding who to rent their commercial property to. It is also used as a protection against false claims that a landlord chose an applicant for improper or discriminatory reasons. While a landlord can customize the application, it is important that some key information is included.
The application will generally ask for information such as:
- If the potential tenant is a corporation, a partnership, or an individual
- The business' name, address and phone number
- Federal Tax ID number
- With the application, landlords will often request at least 2 years previous tax information. This includes the last 2 annual reports and corporate tax return if the potential client is a corporation. If the prospective tenant is a partnership or an individual the landlord will request the tax returns from at least the last 2 years.
- A description of the intended use of the property
- Current and/or previous landlord's name, address, and phone number
- The number of parking spaces that will be needed
- The number of employees and projected number of future employees
- A Bank reference, including the name of the bank and account number
- Two or more credit references
- And if there will be any hazardous materials and approximate amounts

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Search results1 – 10 of over 25000
The purpose of this article is to explore the historical differences in wages between different groups (women, minorities, older employees, and other distinct groups) and…
The purpose of this article is to explore the historical differences in wages between different groups (women, minorities, older employees, and other distinct groups) and to analyse whether wage gaps are due to discrimination. Statistical data on wages, population, and education were accumulated from the US Department of Education, the US Department of Labor, and the US Census Bureau. Other reference materials were used to examine various theories for pay differences. Specifically, the gender wage gap is partially due to women's domestic responsibilities and occupational sex‐typing. Race differences were found to have a correlation to education attainment. However, the wage gaps cannot completely be explained by other factors, indicating that negative stereotypes and discrimination do exist. The existence of discrimination is further supported by the growing number of pay discrimination lawsuits. In 2002, over $52 million was paid out by employers found guilty of employment discrimination in cases filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This article will define pay discrimination and examine ways to evaluate whether differences in pay are attributable to discrimination. Historical inequalities between men and women's pay will be presented and evaluated in detail. Race differences between White, African‐American, Hispanic and Asian employees will be thoroughly addressed. Other less common forms of pay discrimination will also be covered. The analysis will reveal the non‐discriminatory as well as discriminatory reasons for differences in pay among individuals with similar aptitude and provide suggestions for improving the situation.
This study aims to examine whether the demographics of the US federal judiciary and the type of employment discrimination charge influence federal employment discrimination…
This study aims to examine whether the demographics of the US federal judiciary and the type of employment discrimination charge influence federal employment discrimination case outcomes.
The outcomes of 401 randomly selected employment discrimination cases were examined by utilizing chi square analysis to test the interaction effects of race and gender along with four different charges of employment discrimination.
The findings suggest that the outcomes of employment discrimination cases are a function of the interaction of the judges' gender and race along with the type of discrimination charge (e.g. gender, race, age, or disability discrimination) involved in the case.
More research studies with larger cell sample sizes for certain discrimination claims should be conducted to ascertain the validity of the current results.
Potential litigants in employment discrimination cases (both plaintiffs and defendants) may find these results relevant in determining their chances for success in the courtroom.
These findings could help judges become more aware of potential biases and help guard against being influenced by them. These findings may also have implications for the selection and appointment of judges and suggest that judicial bodies that are more diverse may render more unbiased rulings.
Previous research regarding the influence of the sex and race of the judge on court case outcomes has yielded contradictory and confusing findings. However, by controlling for the possible influence of the type of charge involved in the cases, the findings of the current study suggest that judges' rulings are a function of the interaction of the judges' demographic characteristics with the type of discrimination charge.
The purpose of this article is to explore new developments concerning marital status discrimination. This will start with the principle of equality among citizens in a…
The purpose of this article is to explore new developments concerning marital status discrimination. This will start with the principle of equality among citizens in a democratic society. The limits of statutory rights, as challenged by personal prejudice and institutionalised systematic practices of discrimination, will be addressed. The historical limitation of some groups of the population in benefiting from statutory equal rights and the attempts to remedy this limitation shall be visited. After exploring the general conceptual issues related to equality, discrimination as related to marital status will be defined and discrimination issues in relation to marital status shall be identified. This will be followed by detailed analysis of the manifestation of discrimination experienced by individuals due to their marital status. Although the types of real or alleged discrimination experienced by people of different marital status are broad, the focus will be on the major ones: housing, employment, credit and insurance. In looking at the new trends and developments, an attempt will be made to identify applicable laws that are meant to prevent or to remedy any marital status related discrimination. Opinions and stands of opposing interest groups, governmental and non‐governmental agencies shall be looked at. Some applicable case law in some states in the United States of America shall be explored. Possible future trends will be pinpointed.
There is scarcity in the literature, both empirically and theoretically, regarding the relationship between transgender discrimination and prostitution. This study aims to…
There is scarcity in the literature, both empirically and theoretically, regarding the relationship between transgender discrimination and prostitution. This study aims to offer a new framework for conceptualizing workplace discrimination and prostitution by examining the mediating role of poverty in the relationship between discrimination and prostitution.
The conceptual framework of this study is based on the social identity theory and the theory of prostitution.
Transgender is a neglected group in society, and more often, they are the ones who are unable to find jobs and when employed, find it challenging to sustain their employment because of their gender identity. This leads them to be discriminated at their workplaces. Subsequently, they are forced to leave their workplace and settle to work as prostitutes for their economic survival.
Further research should empirically test the design model.
Managers play an essential role in eliminating discrimination in the organization. Managers need to take measures in crafting gender-free and anti-discrimination policies. They take steps to design recruitment policies in which there is no need to disclose applicant identity.
Discrimination, on the basis of gender identity, promotes a culture of hate, intolerance and economic inequality in society. Prostitution has devastating effects on society.
In the field of organizational behavior, discrimination as a factor of prostitution was not explored. This study provides a significant contribution to the transgender and discrimination literature along with the prostitution theory and the social identity theory by proposing a model that highlights discrimination as one of the factors that compel the transgender community to be involved in prostitution.
Even more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination toward a number of groups in employment settings in the United States, workplace…
Even more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination toward a number of groups in employment settings in the United States, workplace discrimination remains a persistent problem in organizations. This chapter provides a comprehensive review and analysis of contemporary theory and evidence on the nature, causes, and consequences of discrimination before synthesizing potential methods for its reduction. We note the strengths and weaknesses of this scholarship and highlight meaningful future directions. In so doing, we hope to both inform and inspire organizational and scholarly efforts to understand and eliminate workplace discrimination.
Existing research tends to conceptualize ageand gender-based discrimination as distinct and unrelated social phenomena. A growing body of scholarship, however…
Existing research tends to conceptualize ageand gender-based discrimination as distinct and unrelated social phenomena. A growing body of scholarship, however, highlights the importance of conceptualizing ageism as potentially gendered, and gender discrimination as inherently shaped by age. Using an intersectional theoretical perspective, this chapter examines how gender and age combine to shape women's and men's experiences of workplace mistreatment.
The data are obtained from the U.S. General Social Survey. The analysis begins with descriptive statistics, showing how rates of perceived age and gender mistreatment vary for men and women of different age groups. Multivariate logistic regressions follow.
Experiences of workplace mistreatment are significantly shaped by both gender and age. Among both men and women, workers in their 30s and 40s report relatively low levels of perceived age-based discrimination, compared to older or younger workers. It is precisely during this interval of relatively low rates of perceived age-based discrimination that women's (but not men's) perceptions of gender-based mistreatment rises dramatically. At all ages, women are significantly more likely to face either genderor age-based discrimination than men, but the gap is especially large among workers in their 40s.
Women tend to perceive ageand gender-based mistreatment at different times of life, but a concurrent examination of genderand age-based mistreatment reveals that women's working lives are characterized by high rates of mistreatment throughout their careers, in a way that men's are not. The results highlight the importance of conceptualizing gender and age as intersecting systems of inequality.
Purpose – This study examined the impacts of racial discrimination on the self-reported health among Asian _URL_ – This study investigated a…
Purpose – This study examined the impacts of racial discrimination on the self-reported health among Asian Americans.
Methodology/Approach – This study investigated a subsample of 1,090 Asian Americans from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. Three-category measure of self-reported health was constructed ain. Racial discrimination experiences encompassed (1) interpersonal discrimination, (2) institutional racism, and (3) hate crime. Ordered logistic regression models were employed to test the association between self-reported health and experiences of racial discrimination among Asian Americans.
Findings – With respect to ethnic origin, South Asians showed lower levels of self-reported health than East Asians/Asian Indians. Although the baseline effect of each discrimination indicator was insignificant, there was an interactional effect between ethnic origin and racial discrimination, indicating the more interpersonal discriminatory experiences, the worse health status for South Asians.
Research limitations – There remained some limitations including data and the measures of racial discrimination.
Originality/Value of Paper – Despite the limitations, this study revealed that as a risk factor, how experiences of racial discrimination shape health disparities among ethnic groups in the United States, focusing on the heterogeneity within Asian Americans.
Purpose: The United States became a member of the United Nations' (UN's) core anti-racism treaty, International Convention on the Elimination


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Zydki: Polish Figurines of Jews
Another chapter in Polish-Jewish relations.
They stand in small clusters, praying.
They hold carving boards with pig's heads on them, or haul large canvas bags with money signs on the front. Often, they have long beards and huge noses. Occasionally, they take the form of piggy banks, their insides carved out to make room for coins and dollar bills.
"They" are carved figurines of Jews, hewn out of wood, sculpted from the insides of the branches that shade Polish forests, and are nearly ubiquitous in tourist traps in Poland. Understanding who makes these small wooden zydki (the diminutive, and often pejorative term used for "Jews"), and who buys them, can reveal at least a little bit about contemporary Poland--and its relationship to the 3,000,000 Polish Jews killed in the Holocaust.
A Tourist Reports
On a bitingly cold October afternoon in 2007, I was wandering through a gift shop in Eastern Poland when I stumbled on a shelf full of Jewish figurines. The first one I noticed was a "rabbi" with an oversized nose, a miniature kippah and tallit, and huge, sad, dark eyes. In his hands, he held a carved pig's head and next to him were more figurines, holding other objects: prayerbooks, Torahs, money bags.
My Jewish friends were appalled. When one asked the cashier who bought these figurines, and why, the cashier shrugged and said, "Poles. They keep them in their homes. For luck. They're like lucky charms. People think, for example, if you keep a rabbi with a moneybag in your living room, it will help you get rich."
Are these figurines, I wondered then, Polish rabbit's feet? And if so, were the woodworkers who carve them--and the folks who buy them--guilty of turning Jews into good-luck charms, of fetishizing Judaism?
The History of Jewish Images in Polish Folk Art
Jewish figurines in Poland pre-date the Holocaust and the Holocaust travel industry that emerged in the wake of Communism. For centuries, representations of Jews were commonplace in Poland, used originally as talismans and amulets--folk symbols that occasionally cast Jews in typically anti-Semitic roles, and tended to have some ritual or supernatural function.
For example, at a church festival in Southern Poland it was an annual tradition to hang an effigy of a Jew from a tree and set it on fire. Like effigies and various other representations of Jews in Polish folk art, Jewish figurines represented Polish ideas about and ambivalence toward Jews and Judaism.
According to Dr. Erica Lehrer, an assistant professor of history at Concordia University in Montreal, there's been a process of evolution in the way Jews have been represented in Polish folk art over the past hundred years. She explains that as late as the 1800s, these representations were treated like talismans among Polish peasants. But after the war, when Polish folk art began to be valued by the government, the Communist state started sponsoring competitions on carving--which included figurines of Jews.
Though their form was similar to pre-war figurines, in the 1970s and 80s the symbolic significance of these figurines shifted, and took on political meaning. At this time, public discussion of Jewish culture and history was strictly controlled by the Communist government. Figurines of Jews became a political icon for members of the Polish Democratic movement, representing not only Jews, but the struggle against a government which refused to teach about the Holocaust, or Jews.
The Tchotchke Market
But eventually, as Communism faded in the early 1990s and tourism increased, Jewish figurines transitioned from being politicized to being commodified. Polish artisans discovered there was a market for these figures, which had, in the intervening years, become souvenirs, tourist tchotchkes as likely to be bought by Jewish-Americans as non-Jewish Germans or Austrians.
Perhaps fittingly, Jewish visitors began to have an influence on the newest iteration of Jewish figurines. In conversation with Polish artisans, Jewish visitors began to explain what they found offensive, and what nostalgic. The market shifted to reflect these preferences, and rabbis holding Torahs began to appear on store shelves alongside Jewish figurines playing in klezmer bands. As a result, says Lehrer, "The figures became not just a Polish product but a product caught between Polish and Jewish people's ideas of the mythical Jewish past in Poland."
Today, Jewish figurines are as likely to be shaped by nostalgia as stereotypes. Some--like the ones I saw that October afternoon--still sport oversized noses and hold moneybags, but they are now mixed in with more marketable figurines that romanticize Poland's Jewish past.
Which may, ultimately, reflect the status of Judaism in contemporary Poland. Today, Jews and Poland's Jewish past are treated with a mixture of animus and nostalgia, awe and hostility, and the Holocaust tourism that helps support the Polish economy is both resented and revered. Like Jewish figurines, the real Jews who fill hotel rooms in Krakow and Warsaw occupy a place in the Polish imagination that straddles the line between actuality and fantasy, memory and the desire to forget.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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trait data for a given taxonomic group. These continua quantify and summarize life-history variation at the inter-specific level in multi-specific assemblages. Here we examine whether trait continua can provide a useful framework to link life-history variation with demographic and evolutionary processes in species richness gradients. Taking an altitudinal species richness gradient for Mediterranean butterflies as a study case, we examined a suite of traits (larval diet breadth, adult phenology, dispersal capacity and wing length) and species-specific habitat measures (temperature and aridity breadth). We tested whether traits and species-specific habitat measures tend to co-vary, whether they are phylogenetically conserved, and whether they are able to explain species distributions and spatial genetic variation in a large number of butterfly assemblages. Location Catalonia, Spain. Methods We formulated predictions associated with species richness gradients and adaptive trait continua. We applied principal components analyses (PCAs), structural equation modelling and phylogenetic generalized least squares models. Results We found that traits and species-specific habitat measures covaried along a main PCA axis, ranging from multivoltine trophic generalists with high dispersal capacity to univoltine (i.e. one generation per year), trophic specialist species with low dispersal capacity. This trait continuum was closely associated with the observed distributions along the altitudinal gradient and predicted inter-specific differences in patterns of spatial genetic variability (FST and genetic distances), population responses to the impacts of global change and local turnover dynamics. Main conclusions The adaptive trait continuum of Mediterranean butterflies provides an integrative and mechanistic framework to: (1) analyse geographical gradients in species richness, (2) explain inter-specific differences in population abundances, spatial distributions and demographic trends, (3) explain inter-specific differences in patterns of genetic variation (FST and genetic distances), and (4) study specialist-generalist life-history transitions frequently involved in butterfly diversification processes. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Catalan J., Bartrons M., Camarero L., Grimalt J.O. (2013) Mountain waters as witnesses of global pollution. Living with Water: Targeting Quality in a Dynamic World. : 31-67.EnllaçDoi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-3752-9_2
Mountains lakes, streams, and rivers, collectively known as headwaters, are popularly seen as waters of the highest quality. However, human-related pollution has reached remote areas of the planet everywhere through atmospheric transportation. Mountain freshwater ecosystems are extreme environments for life and thus are particularly sensitive to some new stressors. This chapter begins by summarizing the main features of mountain freshwater ecosystems and then comments on the effects they have historically suffered. It focuses particularly on two environmental problems: (1) acidification and (2) contamination with persistent organic pollutants. These problems are at different stages of development and knowledge. Acidification mechanisms are well understood, and mitigation actions have been applied successfully. The pace of recovery and interaction with climate change are now focusing research interests. In contrast, the environmental problem of persistent organic pollutants in mountain waters has been unveiled only recently. Some initially unexpected findings, such as the increasing concentration of some pollutants with altitude, have stirred further investigations on bioaccumulation processes, which are summarized here. Actions against contamination of sites far from the pollution sources, such as mountains, require the development of international protocols. The fight against acidification constitutes a successful example of such actions, and efforts against other atmospheric pollutants are following suit. These large-scale actions require adequate long-term monitoring networks, models for interpretating the results, and sound understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the observed patterns. Research may focus on: (1) increasing understanding of biotransformation of organic pollutants in natural conditions; (2) better evaluation of toxicological effects on both organisms and ecosystems as a whole; and (3) the ways that climate change influences the transport, accumulation, and toxicity of pollutants, a subject that cuts across all freshwater quality issues. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York. All rights are reserved.
Catalan J., Pla-Rabes S., Wolfe A.P., Smol J.P., Ruhland K.M., Anderson N.J., Kopacek J., Stuchlik E., Schmidt R., Koinig K.A., Camarero L., Flower R.J., Heiri O., Kamenik C., Korhola A., Leavitt P.R., Psenner R., Renberg I. (2013) Global change revealed by palaeolimnological records from remote lakes: A review. Journal of Paleolimnology. 49: 513-535.EnllaçDoi: 10.1007/s10933-_PHONE_-2
Over recent decades, palaeolimnological records from remote sites have provided convincing evidence for the onset and development of several facets of global environmental change. Remote lakes, defined here as those occurring in high latitude or high altitude regions, have the advantage of not being overprinted by local anthropogenic processes. As such, many of these sites record broad-scale environmental changes, frequently driven by regime shifts in the Earth system. Here, we review a selection of studies from North America and Europe and discuss their broader implications. The history of investigation has evolved synchronously with the scope and awareness of environmental problems. An initial focus on acid deposition switched to metal and other types of pollutants, then climate change and eventually to atmospheric deposition-fertilising effects. However, none of these topics is independent of the other, and all of them affect ecosystem function and biodiversity in profound ways. Currently, remote lake palaeolimnology is developing unique datasets for each region investigated that benchmark current trends with respect to past, purely natural variability in lake systems. Fostering conceptual and methodological bridges with other environmental disciplines will upturn contribution of remote lake palaeolimnology in solving existing and emerging questions in global change science and planetary stewardship. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Cernicharo J., Verger A., Camacho F. (2013) Empirical and physical estimation of Canopy Water Content: From CHRIS/PROBA Data. Remote Sensing. 5: 5265-5284.EnllaçDoi: 10.3390/rs5105265
Efficient monitoring of Canopy Water Content (CWC) is a central feature invegetation studies. The potential of hyperspectral high spatial resolution CHRIS/PROBAsatellite data for the retrieval of CWC was here investigated using empirical and physical based approaches. Special attention was paid to the spectral band selection, inversion technique and training process. Performances were evaluated with ground measurements from the SEN3EXP field campaign over a range of crops. Results showed that the optimal band selection includes four spectral bands: one centered about 970 nm absorption feature which is sensible to Cw, and three bands in green, red and near infrared to estimate LAI and compensate from leafand canopy-level effects. A simple neural network with a single hidden layer of five tangent sigmoid transfer functions trained over PROSAIL radiative transfer simulations showed benefits in the retrieval performances compared with a look up table inversion approach (root mean square error of 0.16 kg/m2 vs. 0.22 kg/m2). The neural network inversion approach showed a good agreement and performances similar to an empirical up-scaling approach based on a multivariate iteratively re-weighted least squares algorithm, demonstrating the applicability of radiative transfer model inversion methods to CHRIS/PROBA for high spatial resolution monitoring of CWC. © 2013 by the authors.
Chelinho S., Domene X., Andres P., Natal-da-Luz T., Norte C., Rufino C., Lopes I., Cachada A., Espindola E., Ribeiro R., Duarte A.C., Sousa J.P. (2013) Soil microarthropod community testing: A new approach to increase the ecological relevance of effect data for pesticide risk assessment. Applied Soil Ecology. : 0-0.EnllaçDoi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2013.06.009
In the present study, a new complementary approach combining the use of the natural soil microarthropod community and conventional test methods was used. The effects of soil contamination with the insecticide carbofuran on two geographically distinct microarthropod communities (Mediterranean and Tropical) were evaluated in their soils of origin under controlled laboratory conditions. After contamination of two agricultural soils from Portugal and Brazil, a gradient of concentrations was prepared. Soil cores were taken from the respective uncontaminated surrounding areas and the mesofauna of three cores was extracted directly to the test soil. After extracting the microarthropod communities to the test soil, these were incubated under laboratory conditions for 4 weeks, after which the mesofauna was extracted again. The organisms were assorted into higher taxonomic groups and Acari and Collembola were respectively assorted into order/sub-order/cohort and family. Collembolans were still classified according to morphological traits and used as a case-study of trait based risk assessment (TERA; Baird et al., 2008) of pesticides. The exposure to insecticide contamination caused the impoverishment of the taxonomic diversity in both communities. Significant shifts in the microarthropod community structure in the different carbofuran treatments were found for both soils, although effects were more pronounced in the assay performed with the soil from Brazil. Collembolans were the most affected group with a strong decline in their abundance. A dose-response relationship was observed, showing a consistent decline on


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Emissions from the production of materials as a share of global GHGs are equivalent to the share of GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry and land use change combined.
The report identifies significant opportunities for reducing GHG emissions associated with residential buildings and passenger cars.
Reducing the GHG emissions in the creation of homes and cars could reduce the cumulative life cycle of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 25 Gt in the G7 countries.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a report that finds addressing emissions from the production of materials, such as plastics, minerals, metals and woods, offers a critical opportunity to contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement on climate change. The report identifies significant opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with residential buildings and passenger cars.
UNEP's International Resource Panel (IRP) produced the report titled, 'Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future.' It argues that policymakers should pay increased attention to material efficiency because emissions from the production of materials as a share of global GHGs are equivalent to the share of GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry and land use (AFLOU) change combined. Despite these emission levels, materials production has "received much less attention," even though technologies to increase material efficiency are already available.
The report states that approximately 80% of emissions from materials production come from material use in construction and manufactured goods. The report focuses on the potential to reduce GHG emissions from the creation of homes and cars, the two most carbon-intensive products in the construction and manufacturing industry. GHG emissions reductions for homes and cars could reduce the cumulative life cycle of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 25 Gt in the Group of 7 (G7) countries.
In the G7 countries, for example, material efficiency strategies, including using recycled materials, could reduce GHG emissions in the material cycle of residential buildings by 80-100% in 2050. Meanwhile, material efficiency strategies could reduce GHG emissions from passenger cars by 57-70% in this same subset of countries.
"Paying greater attention to circularity, sustainable consumption and production and resource efficiency can radically improve our ability to meet the Paris Agreement goals," said the UNEP Executive Director.
The report highlights a number of strategies for reducing emissions, from designing buildings that use sustainably harvested timber and less material to improved recycling of construction material. Additional strategies include using less carbon-intensive steel, cement and glass in building homes, and opportunities for looking at the whole building life cycle. In total, the report states that using these strategies could contribute 5-7 Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in the period 2016-2050 in G7 countries. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen explained that strategies to address climate change have primarily focused on accelerating renewable energy use and improving energy efficiency but stressed that "paying greater attention to circularity, sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and resource efficiency can radically improve our ability to meet the Paris Agreement goals."
The report further recommends policy interventions to promote material efficiency benefits. Building codes and standards, for instance, could "encourage or constrain material efficiency." The report therefore recommends cross-sectoral policies that revise building standards and codes, charge vehicle registration and congestion fees, and green public procurement and virgin material taxation, among other revisions. The report suggests evaluating policies on a life cycle basis to identify synergies and trade-offs across life cycle stages and industrial sectors.
The report further recommends policymakers integrate material efficiency into their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to set higher emission targets. To date, the report finds that only China, India, Japan and Turkey identify circular economy, material efficiency, resource efficiency or consumption-side instruments as mitigation measures in their NDCs. [UNEP Press Release] [Report Landing Page] [Publication: Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future]


Deconstructed Pools – Jackie & Anny
Material: Food as structure. We wanted to strip everyday food items of their edibility and change their "behavior". Can we give depth to a solid volume (i.e. a loaf of bread)? Can a plane (of milk) become a portal to a scene beyond?
Visual content: Reversal of reality. Our directional association with sky and sea is up and down. In our manufactured set, we flipped that world– where oceanic images are contained like clouds and hover over a surface of sky.
Setup (before/after)
We used two projectors opposite from each other so that we could capture 5 visible surfaces of the loaf of bread, as well as the tabletop milk pieces. Found videos of aquariums and pools were projected onto the hung loaves of bread, and moving clouds onto the milk.


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Winemakers preserve wine with late pruning
- From: AAP
- November 27, 2012
AUSTRALIAN winemakers can trick their grapes into maturing later in a bid to counteract the effects of climate change, research shows.
Over the past 25 years, the harvest date for Australian wines has come forward almost one day a year, agricultural scientist Professor Snow Barlow says.
Pruning grapevines a month later is one of the tactics being employed by a major Australian winemaker to delay the growth of grapes, so they mature when they did before the seasons started to change.
National viticulturist for the Treasury Wine Estates Paul Petrie will this week present his findings on the delayed pruning of grapevines at the Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries (CCRSPI) conference in Melbourne.
Prof Barlow, the executive director of CCRSPI, said Mr Petrie had had some success in delaying the growth of the wine grapes by delaying the pruning of the vines - which is a key part of the grape growing cycle.
"We've got climate change pressuring the season one way, if we don't prune them until very late we'll push them the other way and maybe we'll end up in the same place as we were," Prof Barlow told AAP.
Prof Barlow, who operates vineyards in the Strathbogie Ranges in north eastern Victoria, said changing weather patterns can affect the quality of wine produced.
"Wine is different from wheat and milk. It's about quality rather than quantity," Prof Barlow said.
"If you have (a grapevine) in the wrong place it might die.
"It might not express itself fully, in that it might not produce that robust wine that you want to produce."
He said this can damage a brand that relies upon producing a consistent flavour year after year.
Climate change is affecting not only the flavour of the grape, but also the capacity of wineries to effectively utilise their infrastructure.
The CCRSPI conference will hear from wine makers and scientists who have turned their minds to the challenge of sustaining a wine industry in the face of rising temperatures.
Prof Barlow said most commercial wineries would expect to use their fermentation tanks three times a year, but because of the shift in seasons growers are experiencing a compression of vintage.
"All the grapes start coming in together," he said.
"It causes some scheduling problems and if it continues they may have to buy more tanks. But that's expensive."
But it's not all bad news.
"People are producing new sorts of wines more in line with the climate conditions they're facing," Prof Barlow said.
"So we can look forward to some different wines, some of which we might like."
UPDATES: NATHAN Lovett-Murray was stabbed when he "defended himself" in an incident involving his girlfriend's ex and another man.
EMBATTLED MP Craig Thomson is facing 19 new charges in relation to allegations he misused thousands of dollars in union funds.
FIRST child victim of Oklahoma's deadly tornado identified as rescuers say they are unlikely to find any more survivors.
MICROSOFT redefines the games console war with launch of the Xbox One as a single device designed to control all your entertainment.


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Essays about: "Andreas Edhag"
Found 1 essay containing the words Andreas Edhag.
1. Consumption of organic fruits among consumers in Sweden : Theroy of planned behavior and the role of the determinants of intentionUniversity essay from Linköpings universitet/Tema Miljöförändring; Linköpings universitet/Tema Miljöförändring
Abstract : The increased global consumption has a severe effect on the environment. In order to reduce the environmental impact, there is a need for more environmentally friendly consumption choices. READ MORE


Rename Balbo Drive! Up with Ida! Down With Fascists!
Image result for ida b wells
This woman stared unflinchingly at evil and made us all look with her.
Like most people in Chicago, I for years thought Balbo Drive, a short street on the south end of the Loop, running from Printers Row and intersecting with history at Grant Park, where hippies and cops clashed in the street in 68, and where, 40 years later, our first African-American President celebrated his election, was actually called Balboa Drive. That's how I always pronounced it, and almost certainly spelled it. That is to say: I didn't think about it at all.
Learning (or remembering) that it was actually called Balbo marked the end of my concern for the street, except for always consciously marking the lack of a Rocky-ifying "a" in the middle, in the same way I mentally make an "L" with my thumb when turning left or think about Alison Milnamow when spelling "their" (don't ask). Even for someone as interested in Chicago history as I am, it seemed unimportant.
Near historic Lou Malnati's, apparently.
That changed in the last few years, when in the wake of the country finally realizing that honoring traitors and murderous racists was bad, people pointed out that the Balbo in question was, well, questionable.
During Chicago's 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair, an Italian airman led a roundtrip flight of 24 seaplanes in formation for an unprecedented flight of its kind from Rome, Italy to Chicago, Illinois for the fair. In honor of the achievement, the Chicago mayor at the time, Edward Kelly, renamed the nearby three block long 7th street after the lead airman, Italo Balbo. During his time in the USA he also invited to lunch by President D. Roosevelt and received a warm welcome from Americans, particularly Italian-Americans as a shining example of Italian aviation. In fact, for a time, 'Balbo' became a common term to refer to a large formation of aircraft.
That might have been the end of it if the Italian government Balbo was representing at the time weren't that of brutal Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Mussolini even donated an ancient Roman column to the city that exists to this day as another monument to the controversial Balbo. Before his aviation fame, Balbo helped institute Mussolini's Fascist rule as a Blackshirt leader, a gang of Fascist thugs that intimidated and assaulted non-Fascists that stood in their way. He spent the rest of his life devoted to both Mussolini and Fascism. Many considered Balbo to be Mussolini's heir before he was killed in 1940 by friendly fire.
Now don't get me wrong: I love that there was a name of a large group of airplanes, and it was the childishly-syllabically pleasing "balbo". It's a balbo of planes! That's fun! Less fun is fascism.
Image result for mussolini balbo
Brutal thuggish dictator Mussolini is the guy on the left
But now comes a movement to rename this street after someone who is genuinely heroic, and who towers over American history: Ida B. Wells.
Balbo Drive would be renamed for Ida B. Wells, an iconic figure in the African-American community who led an anti-lynching crusade, under an aldermanic plan that is certain to stir controversy.
South Side Ald. Sophia King (4th) and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) plan to launch the effort at Wednesday's City Council meeting.
They will introduce an ordinance to rename Balbo Drive in honor of Wells. If colleagues go along with the idea, it would be Chicago's first permanent street renaming since 1968 and the first street in the Loop named after a woman and a person of color, according to King's staff.
Wells was born a slave and died in Chicago, and lived a life of tireless and fearsome advocacy. She was an impossibly brave journalist, traveling at great risk throughout the south to document lynching, calling attention to this terrorist scourge, not letting America pretend that it had moved forward one inch. She called just as much attention to a barely-more-genteel form of racism in the north, particularly this violent and segregated city. She was a pioneering advocate for women's rights, especially at the intersection of race.
In short, she made America look at itself. She was never comfortable, never safe. And she never stopped.
Thankfully, she seems to be having a bit of a moment. A movement to put a monument of her up in Bronzeville seems to be gaining steam. You can (and should!) donate to it, though it is a shame the city won't just pay for it. If anyone deserves to be honored, it is Wells.
Now, there are a few counter-arguments. Maybe the most compelling one is that the Loop already has a street called Wells, and although the two wouldn't intersect, or even really run near each other, that could be an issue. That one is named after William Wells, who was killed in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, a seminal moment in Chicago history, though one that is a tad bit more complex than the heroism on which we were weaned.
Still, Wells is too long to be renamed, and that's a losing battle. I don't think it would be that big a deal, since people would say "go to Ida B and Michigan!" There's only three blocks to choose from. GPS might be the only obstacle here (and it is a substantial one.)
The other argument comes from (or will probably come from) the Italian-American community, which was upset last year when people wanted to remove the Mussolini monument, and there was talk of renaming Balbo to Fermi Drive.
Dominic DiFrisco, president emeritus of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian-Americans… joined Lou Rago, president of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation, in writing a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times defending Balbo's honor.
They argued that Italo Balbo had unfairly become "residual shrapnel from the barrage of bullets the rest of the country is firing over what to do with the approximate 1,500 Confederate place names and other symbols in public spaces."
They wondered why the memory of Balbo's "remarkable accomplishments" was being "swept up into the national wave of removing the past."
(Note: this is really cute wording. It's the people opposed to Confederate monuments that are doing violence, and who are "removing the past." That language isn't exactly dissimilar to the actual Confederate symps. This is what we call a "tell".)
"We want to be perfectly clear. Italo Balbo was an outspoken opponent of the Mussolini tilt towards Hitler and was not the enemy that many in the Chicago City Council are portraying he was," they wrote.
"Despite being a general under Mussolini, when Balbo saw where Mussolini was going with his pro-German policies, he was horrified. He was one of the only fascists in Mussolini's regime to openly oppose Italy's anti-Jewish racial laws and Italy's alliance with Germany."
That's good! Those are definitely good things toward which to be opposed. He wasn't a total monster. Things he wasn't opposed to, though, include: the invasion and destruction of Ethiopia, war in Europe, the crushing of dissent, internal concentration camps, the spread of fascism, being a fascist.
This is him and Benito after "conquering" Ethiopia. The only good person in history to wear a cape like that is Lando.
Now, it is interesting of course, because in America in the 30s, being a fascist wasn't a disqualifier. It wasn't a catch-all term for "my political opponent". Throughout the world, there was a genuine debate if fascism was the ideal form of politics. It was a legitmate political philosophy.
This was true whether it was the personalized authoritarianism of Hitler and Mussolini, the sort of corporatist state envisioned by James Burnham, or a unique American quasi-fascist managed democracy promoted by the likes of Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and for a time even John Kenneth Galbraith.
But here's the thing: they were wrong. They were wrong about how the powerful should run roughshod over the weak. They were wrong about how rights should be subsumed to monetary interest and the dim horizons of national glory. They were wrong about the relationship of people to state, individuals to capital, and blood and soil to ideals.
In other words, they were wrong about everything Ida B. Wells was right about. We're still fighting those battles, as quasi-fascist strongman nationalist rule is taking hold again around the world, and America is staring at a particularly dumbshow type of authoritarianism. That's all the more reason to change the name. We're fighting for what we believe to be good.
This isn't erasing the past. It's celebrating what America should be. It's celebrating the best of us. It's honoring the true forgotten past, and honoring someone who never let us forget our dark present. It might be a small street, but it would be a huge step forward.
In Asking About Washington and Jefferson, Trump Stumbles Onto One Interesting Point
Image result for george washington statue
"Great guy. Owned slaves. Doesn't bother me. I'm more Presidential than him"
I don't think there is much more to say about Trump


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Leading Provider of Blended Learning Solutions
Founded in 2011, Accelerate Education is a leading provider of blended learning solutions for schools as well as an online course provider to individual students through the Academy. Our curriculum is offered at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels in original credit, adaptive credit recovery, and independent study formats. We also provide remediation and intervention through our IDEAL learning library, which houses more than 3,000 learning objects in all content areas.
Teachers have complete control over what students are assigned within a course or the library, while students can work at their own pace to master concepts. Additionally, Accelerate Education partners with schools to provide solutions to meet their specific needs, including hosting, instruction, and training.
Accelerate Education provides broad, flexible, and engaging curriculum and instruction that uses best practices in education to bring success to all students.
Accelerate Education will use research-based instructional design that includes instructional strategies shown to be most successful. The curriculum and instruction will be relevant and engaging, using active learning principles that can be adapted to meet the learning needs of a diverse student body. It will use technology that is adaptable to a variety of learning experiences, including the classroom, home computers, and mobile devices. It will carefully sequence and scaffold learning experiences to help students build upon successes.
Accelerate Education will select, train, and supervise instructors to ensure that they monitor student progress and intervene as necessary to help students find success.


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Primitives are objects that you can render. There isn't really much else in a fluxus scene, except lights, a camera and lots of primitives.
The normal way to create a primitive is to set up some state which the primitive will use, then call it's build function and keep it's returned ID (using with-primitive) to modify it's state later on.
(define myobj (with-state (colour (vector 0 1 0)) (build-cube))) ; makes a green cube (with-primitive myobj (colour (vector 1 0 0))) ; changes its colour to red
So primitives contain a state which describes things like colour, texture and transform information. This state operates on the primitive as a whole – one colour for the whole thing, one texture, shader pair and one transform. To get a little deeper and do more we need to introduce primitive data.
Primitive Data Arrays [aka. Pdata]
A pdata array is a fixed size array of information contained within a primitive. Each pdata array has a name, so you can refer to it, and a primitive may contain lots of different pdata arrays (which are all the same size). Pdata arrays are typed – and can contain floats, vectors, colours or matrices. You can make your own pdata arrays, with names that you choose, or copy them in one command.
Some pdata is created when you call the build function. This automatically generated pdata is given single character names. Sometimes this automatically created pdata results in a primitive you can use straight away (in commands such as build-cube) but some primitives are only useful if pdata is setup and controlled by you.
In polygons, there is one pdata element per vertex – and a separate array for vertex positions, normals, colours and texture coordinates.
So, for example (build-sphere) creates a polygonal object with a spherical distribution of vertex point data, surface normals at every vertex and texture coordinates, so you can wrap a texture around the primitive. This data (primitive data, or pdata for short) can be read and written to inside a with-primitive corresponding to the current object.
(pdata-set! name vertnumber vector)
Sets the data on the current object to the input vector
(pdata-ref name vertnumber)
Returns the vector from the pdata on the current object
Returns the size of the pdata on the current object (the number of vertices).
The name describes the data we want to access, for instance "p" contains the vertex positions:
(pdata-set! "p" 0 (vector 0 0 0))
Sets the first point in the primitive to the origin (not all that useful)
(pdata-set! "p" 0 (vadd (pdata-ref "p" 0) (vector 1 0 0)))
The same, but sets it to the original position + 1 in the x offsetting the position is more useful as it constitutes a deformation of the original point. (See Deforming, for more info on deformations)
pdata-ref procedures are useful, but there is a more powerful way of deforming primitives. Map and fold relate to the scheme functions for list processing, it's probably a good idea to play with them to get a good understanding of what these are doing.
(pdata-map! Procedure read/write-pdata-name read-pdata-name...)
Maps over pdata arrays – think of it as a for-every pdata element, and writes the result of procedure into the first pdata name array.
An example, using pdata-map to invert normals on a primitive:
(define p (build-sphere 10 10)) (with-primitive p (pdata-map! (lambda (n) (vmul n -1)) "n"))
This is more concise and less error prone than using the previous functions and setting up the loop yourself.
(pdata-index-map! Procedure read/write-pdata-name read-pdata-name...)
pdata-map! but also supplies the current pdata index number to the procedure as the first argument.
(pdata-fold procedure start-value read-pdata-name read-pdata-name...)
This example calculates the centre of the primitive, by averaging all it's vertex positions together:
(define my-torus (build-torus 1 2 10 10)) (define torus-centre (with-primitive my-torus (vdiv (pdata-fold vadd (vector 0 0 0) "p") (pdata-size)))))
(pdata-index-fold procedure start-value read-pdata-name read-pdata-name...)
pdata-fold but also supplies the current pdata index number to the procedure as the first argument.
Sometimes retained mode primitives can be unwieldy to deal with. For instance, if you are rendering thousands of identical objects, or doing things with recursive graphics, where you are calling the same primitive in lots of different states – keeping track of all the Ids would be annoying to say the least.
This is where instancing is helpful, all you call is:
Will redraw any given object in the current state (immediate mode). An example:
(define myobj (build-nurbs-sphere 8 10)) ; make a sphere (define (render-spheres n) (cond ((not (zero? n)) (with-state (translate (vector n 0 0)) ; move in x (draw-instance myobj)) ; stamp down a copy (render-spheres (- n 1))))) ; recurse! (every-frame (render-spheres 10)) ; draw 10 copies
Built In Immediate Mode Primitives
To make life even easier than having to instance primitives, there are some built in primitives that can be rendered at any time, without being built:
(draw-cube) (draw-sphere) (draw-plane) (draw-cylinder)
(define (render-spheres n) (cond ((not (zero? n)) (with-state (translate (vector n 0 0)) ; move in x (draw-sphere)) ; render a new sphere (render-spheres (- n 1))))) ; recurse! (every-frame (render-spheres 10)) ; draw 10 copies
These built in primitives are very restricted in that you can't edit them or change their resolution settings etc, but they are handy to use for quick scripts with simple shapes.


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Last modified: 2011-09-02 by bruce berry
Keywords: eritrea | united nations | wreath |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
Image by Mark Sensen and Dov Gutterman, 25 May 2002
This image of an historical flag of Eritrea can be
found in "Flags through the Ages and Across the World" by Whitney Smith [smi75]. It has a light blue background with a green wreath in the center.
Chris Pinette, 11 July 1996
According to The Flag Bulletin [fbn] of May/June 1996, the Eritrean flag with the "UN blue" field and green emblem was adopted in 1952 and used until the territory was absorbed into
Ethiopia in 1959. It continued in use as a "flag of liberation" until 1993 when independence was
Nick Artimovich, 11 July 1996
According to page 88 of Flags of the World by William Crampton (1990) [cra90], this flag was also used as the flag of the Eritrean Liberation Front
(ELF), which I am assuming was the political movement for Eritrean independence.
Randy Young, 29 January 1999
The ELF was founded in 1958, and started the armed struggle three years
later. In 1971, Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) was founded due to disagreements
the ELF. EPLF soon became the main liberation movement.
Ole Andersen, 30 Jan 1999
The opposition movements with Eritrea still use the 1952 flag, as can be seen
The national "emblem" in green over light blue
Dov Gutterman, 25 May 2002


Take the 2-minute tour ×
How can I taken into account the rectangular shape of the screen to ensure that circles are drawn exactly to the padded boundary?
The following works for a 'round' area, but not a rectangular one...
dx = abs(center.x - place.x);
dy = abs(center.y - place.y);
dh = Math.sqrt((dx * dx) + (dy * dy));
radius = dh - padding;
Halo Design: Halo idea
If the problem doesn't seem apparent, the following image represents the current approach which i'm using. Depending on where the place is effects how far it protrudes into the screen space. enter image description here
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
up vote 5 down vote accepted
I think this should work. Not tested.
dx = abs(placeLocationPixels.x - ourLocationPixels.x)
dy = abs(placeLocationPixels.y - ourLocationPixels.y)
ox = dx - ((screenSize.x / 2) - padding);
oy = dy - ((screenSize.y / 2) - padding);
if (ox < 0) ox = 0;
if (oy < 0) oy = 0;
radius = sqrt((ox*ox) + (oy*oy));
edit: this is not in any particular language.
share|improve this answer
I was about to answer, then saw this guy. Super speedy over here. Looks right to me. – Tony R Mar 2 '12 at 2:04
I'm not sure but maybe you can calculate the convex hull, and then circumscribe it into a rectangle, then you will have the scale of your map to ensure that every circle is shown on the screen.
here: you can find information about the convex hull: _URL_
share|improve this answer
"In mathematics, the convex hull or convex envelope for a set of points X in a real vector space V (for example, usual 2- or 3-dimensional space) is the minimal convex set containing X. " – Tony R Mar 2 '12 at 2:07
Your Answer


text:
By Kristen M. Janicki
Lactating mares have drastically increased nutritional requirements in order to keep themselves and their foals healthy.
Do you get tired just watching your new foal gallop around his pasture? Try supplying him with enough energy and nutrition to allow him to frolic and play all day! Lactation is one of the most physiologically demanding stages for broodmares. Their nutritional requirements increase drastically in order to maintain weight while
providing nursing foals with enough critical nutrients.
Lactating mares have the highest nutrient requirements during the first three months of lactation. These requirements decrease as their milk production decreases—in both quantity and quality—during the fourth through sixth months post-foaling.
If a lactating mare's diet is restricted, she will sacrifice her own calorie, protein, and mineral stores for milk production. In severe cases an undernourished broodmare can suffer weight, muscle tone, and bone loss. Thus, it's crucial to provide lactating mares with enough feed to sustain both themselves and their growing foals.
Here are five tips for meeting mares' nutritional needs during lactation:
- Go with Grain. Although high-quality hay and/or grass should remain the basis of the diet, in most cases forage alone cannot meet lactating mares' nutritional requirements. Grain products formulated for broodmares are designed to meet pregnant and lactating mares' nutritional needs. Follow the feeding rates suggested on the tag or bag corresponding to the month of lactation.
- Split it up. Many mares in the first three months of lactation will require between 10 to 15 pounds of a commercial grain mix per day to meet their increased nutrient requirements. Dividing this into two or three meals per day can help reduce the risk of digestive upset and increase nutrient digestion and absorption.
- Building Blocks. High-quality protein is vital to delivering essential amino acids to the foal. Thus, the mare's dietary requirements for lysine, the first limiting amino acid in growth and development, increase from about 38 grams per day in late pregnancy to 85 grams per day in early lactation for an average 1,100 pound mare. When choosing a grain mix, check the feed tag and ingredient list to ensure they include guaranteed levels of lysine.
- Can I have some? Most foals will begin to nibble on their mare's grain within weeks of birth and can easily consume up to four pounds each day by the time weaning approaches. You might need to increase the amount of grain you provide your mare each day to ensure she is still consuming enough to meet her needs. Otherwise, consider raising her feed tubs higher than the foal's reach or providing creep feed for the foal.
- Monitor body condition score. Monitor a lactating mare's body condition frequently, and adjust her diet as needed. Aim to maintain pregnant and lactating mares at a body condition score of 6 to 7, and never less than 5, on the 1-9 Henneke scale. Should a mare's body condition drop substantially, her reproductive performance (for example, cycles per conception) might decrease.
Lactating mares have drastically increased nutritional requirements in order to keep themselves and their foals healthy. Ensuring that your broodmare consumes enough calories each day will help foals start out on the right foot and help keep mares' bodies functioning optimally.


6) was from 2.2 to 3.4. A significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) was found in raw versus cooked meat; this difference expressed as a percentage indicates that linoleic FA (C18: 2 n-6) increases in concentration by 54.5% in cooked meat compared to raw meat, while linolenic FA (C18: 3 n-3) increases by 26.5%. Both acids showing a relative increase in the cooked meat is a result of the decrease in saturated fatty acids, explained above. The greater increase in the concentration of linoleic FA (C18: 2 n-6) with respect to linolenic FA (C18: 3 n-3) is due to the minor heat stability of the linolenic FA(C18: 3 n-3), which is lost to degradation.
The range of linolenic FA (C18: 3 n-3) ranged from 1.00 to 1.55, which is similar to the range reported by Rearte (2001), who described ranges for linolenic FA (C18: 3 n- 3) between 1.07 and 1.37 and for linoleic FA (C18: 2 n-6) between 2.3 and 2.75. In addition, for animals fed only on pasture, the n-6: n-3 ratio had a value of 1.67, and the animals fed pasture plus supplements, the value was 2.57. In this study, the linoleic FA (C18: 2 n-6) / linolenic FA (C18: 3 n-3) ratio, across all cuts, feed treatments and meat states, ranged from a low of 1.95 to a maximum of 2.45 (Table 3).
The existing literature (Rearte, 2001; Rearte, 2002; INTI, 2005) indicates that meat from animals raised on pasture has better properties for human health because it has a higher content of n-3 fatty acids and a healthier ratio of n-6/n-3 compared to animals intensively grain-fed. These fatty acids cannot be synthesized by humans, and consuming them in the correct ratio is essential for maintaining good health. The ideal ratio of these fatty acids (n-6/n-3) in the diet is 4:1, whereas this ratio in the diets of many Western countries is between 1:15 and 1:50 (Hernandez, 2002). In this study, the significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) of linolenic FA (C18: 3 n-3) in meat from animals raised on pasture versus grain supplements supports previous studies showing more polyunsaturated FA in meats from animals raised on pasture only. The achieved differences were on average 40.5%. Rosso (1998) and Frensh et al. (2000), cited by Rearte (2001), have also found important differences. In the present study, the ratio of linoleic fatty acids (C18: 2 n-6) / linolenic FAs (C18: 3 n-3) obtained for different cuts (tenderloin and round), feeding regimes and beef states roasted and raw were between 2:1 and 2.45:1, respectively; these FA ratios can be classified as appropriate.
Round cuts presented lower cholesterol values than tenderloin. Lower cholesterol values were also observed in roasted cuts from animals fed pasture only, although the differences were not significant (P ≥ 0.05) (Table 3). These cholesterol values of meat were within the ranges obtained for animals fed on pasture forage, according to Hernandez (2002), who described values of 66 mg/100 g for cuts such as "bife chorizo" (rib steak); this rose to 73 mg/100 g if animals were fed with grains.
It is worth mentioning that many of our analyses had high variation coefficients; this can be attributed to our method for obtaining theoretically representative samples. A different sampling regime, such as using ground meat of whole cut and taking the appropriate aliquots for analysis, may reduce the variability of the results obtained in this study.
This study concludes that using non-traditional forage mixtures in dryland Andean foothills (consisting of alfalfa, subterranean clover with fescue and a mixture of alfalfa, orchard grass and roadside brome), good daily live weight gains and high live weight gains per hectare can be achieved with Hereford cattle fed only with hay and mineral salts their first winter. Animals slaughtered at 16.5 months of age had an average live weight of 380 kg, showing promise for better production results in an area that traditionally does not produce steers for slaughter.
There was significant variation in the fatty acids analyzed, depending on cut (tenderloin versus round), feeding system (P versus PO), and meat state (raw versus cooked).
The linoleic (C18: 2 n-6) / AG linolenic (C18: 3 n-3) ratio of the meat obtained from pasture can be considered very satisfactory.
Cochran, W., and G. Cox. 1992. Experimental design. Second Edition. New York, Wiley. 613 pp. [ Links ]
French, P., C. Stanton, F. Lawless, E.G.O. Riordan, F. J. Monahan, P.J. Caffrey, and A.P. Moloney. 2000. Fatty acid composition, including conjugated linoleic acid, of intramuscular fat from steers offered grazed grass, grass silage, or concentrate-based diets. J. Anim. Sci.78:2849 - 2855. [ Links ]
Gutierrez, G., M. Figueroa, and P. Soto. 1983. Sistemas de mejoramiento de la pradera natural de la precordillera andina de la VIII Región. Agricultura Técnica (Chile) 43: 305 - 312. [ Links ]
Hernández, R. 2002. Carne Argentina: una especialidad. Publicación Técnica N0 38.INTA. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria "General Villegas", Gral. Villegas, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 36 pp. [ Links ]
INTA. 2003. Logros producción y sanidad animal. Proyecto nacional: Mejoramiento de la calidad de la carne vacuna producida en sistemas intensificados con énfasis en su valor nutracéutico, N° 520102. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Buenos Aires, Argentina. Available online at: Website accessed: March 14, 2005. [ Links ]
INTI. 2005. Es saludable comer carne vacuna. Revista Saber Como, N° 29 - Junio 2005, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (INTI). Buenos Aires, Argentina. Available online at: Website accessed: July 15, 2005. [ Links ]
Klee, G. and J. Chavarría. 2000. Engorda semi-intensiva de novillos Hereford en el secano de la precordillera andina de la VIII Región utilizando praderas no tradicionales. XXV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Chilena de Producción Animal (SOCHIPA A.G.). 18-20 Octubre. Puerto Natales, Chile. p. 123 - 124. [ Links ]
Klee G., J. González, and J.A. Valle. 2001. Evaluación económica de tres sistemas vaca - ternero para la precordillera andina de la VIII Región. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Concepción. Chillán, Chile. 30 pp. [ Links ]
Klee, G. 2002. Producción práctica de carne bovina. Sistemas de recría - engorda de toritos y novillos. Precordillera Andina Región del BíoBío. Chillán, Chile. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Boletín INIA No 89. 208 pp. [ Links ]
Ministerio de Salud Pública de Chile. 1988. Manual de métodos de análisis físicoquímicos de alimentos, suelos y aguas. Ministerio de Salud Pública de Chile. Santiago, Chile. s/p. [ Links ]
Rearte, H. 2001. Beef quality on grazing systems in temperate regions. Sociedad Chilena de Producción Animal. Simposio Internacional en Producción Animal y Medio Ambiente. Proceedings. 25-27 Julio de 2001. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal. Santiago, Chile. p. 259- 273. [ Links ]
Rearte, D. 2002. En la región templada. Calidad de carne


text:
Cooling Therapy for Newborns
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Researchers at Golisano Children's Hospital are among those confirming that therapeutic hypothermia, or cooling therapy, can help reduce the likelihood of death or disability in newborns at risk for brain damage. It's one of the first therapies hospitals can offer full term babies that do not get enough oxygen during birth.
"If we can cool babies from a normal of 37 degree centigrade, or 98.6, down to 33.5 degrees centigrade for a period of 72 hours, we can markedly improve their outcome," said Dr. Ronnie Guillet, neonatologist.
Guillet says that immediately after birth, a baby is identified as at risk for having significant brain damage from lack of oxygen. Once stabilized, the new born is brought to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, and placed on a cooling blanket.
"This is the cooling blanket. There's just a light receiving blanket for the baby's comfort," Guillet said.
After the cooling period, doctors gradually warm the baby's temperature.
Children receiving this therapy were found to be doing extremely well at 18 months of age. However, researchers took the study a step further and continued monitoring these children to ensure there are no setbacks.
"We were very gratified to see that the results were very consistent that the babies who were doing well at 18 months were still doing very well once they got to early school age," said Guillet.
Golisano Children's Hospital has participated in cooling therapy studies since 1999. It's been part of standard care here for about seven years. Doctors say it improves the healing process allowing these at-risk children to go home in better condition.
Lauren Strobel was not able to breathe and didn't have a heartbeat when she was born in 2010 in Elmira. She was rushed to Golisano and treated by Dr. Guillet.
"The way Lauren started, I didn't even know if she was going to survive the hospitalization. At a little over a year, she was meeting normal milestones for a one year old," Guillet said. "So this therapy has made a huge difference for those children who unfortunately have to suffer some asphyxia around the time of birth."
There are new studies underway looking into whether cooling at an even lower temperature or for a longer period of time will further improve the outcomes for these children.


Can you become immune to black widow bites?
 1. 0 Votes
 There is no evidence to suggest that a person can develop an immunity to black widow venom. Although its a very interesting topic, it is not one that is very easy to research because it would involve humans willing subjecting themselves to being bitten by a very venomous spider. Also, with any spider bite, it is not too easy to identify what type of spider (if a spider at all) was responsible for a bite. The human immune system can develop B cells which produce antibodies to help fight off invading pathogens after first being exposed to a certain substance. It is possible that this could occur after first being exposed to a black widow's venom in some rare cases, although it is not very likely and no evidence currently supports this theory.
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text:
EinStylo - Expo 'E' Learn English L3 - C 2 - book
Expo'E' for learning english:
The Viewing and Speaking Syllabus (sound and picture) aims to enable the learner to develop his English Language skills to the desired level in order to compete in the work market and join the higher Education.
This syllabus has been developed in accordance with the basic criteria for teaching language according to the common European Framework Reference for Languages.
It rests on the tow principles of teaching and evaluation as well as dividing the teaching stages according to the level which the language learner desires to reach.
This syllabus has been divided to 6 levels,each level consists of two stages, the total number of books is twelve (12):
- The learner can add hundreds of words to his Language vocabulary.
- There are tens of reading texts with their translations.
- There are tens of conversations in basic different fields which enable the learner to introduce himself, his family and others.
- The learner can ask and answer questions about personal details like where he lives, where he works and where he is from.
- Learning the suitable basic rules of this level.
- Learning hundreds of words which help to pronounce the words properly.
- Hundreds of exercises which measure the level of understanding.
- This series starts from the letters and the rules of pronunciation.
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Saturday, November 30, 2013
Two kinds of Platonism
There are two kinds of Platonism. Both hold that there are properties. But they differ as to the grounding relation that holds between predication and property possession (I will also assume that what goes for properties goes for relations, but sometimes formulate things just in terms of properties for simplicity). Both agree that if there is a property of Fness (there might not be if F is gerrymandered or negative, on sparse Platonisms), then x is F if and only if x instantiates Fness. Deep Platonism further affirms:
 1. If there is a property of Fness, then the fact that x is F is grounded in the fact that x instantiates Fness.
Shallow Platonism denies (1). It is likely to instead affirm:
 1. If there is a property of Fness, then the fact that x is F partly grounds or explains the fact that x instantiates Fness.
Deep Platonism faces two problems. The first is the Regress Problem. For if Deep Platonism is true, then "instantiates" seems non-gerrymandered and positive, and so it should correspond to a Platonic entity, the relation of instantiation. Then, the fact that x instantiates Fness will be grounded in the fact that x and Fness instantiate instantiation. But this leads to a vicious regress where each instantiation relation is grounded in the next.
The second is the Creation Problem. Everything that exists and is distinct from God is created by God. If the properties are all distinct from each other, then at most one is identical with God, and hence all but at most one property are created by God. But explanatorily prior to creating anything, will have multiple properties such as that he is able to do something and that he knows something. But how can he have those properties when there is at most one property at this point in the explanatory story?
Both problems have Deep Platonist solutions. For instance, one might say that "instantiates" is the unique non-gerrymandered and positive predicate that has no Platonic correspondent, or one might say that (1) has an exception in the case of instantiation. And one might say that God has at most one property, say divinity, and he is identical to that property. (But this, too, seems to lead to exceptions for (1), or perhaps an implausible view of what predicates correspond to properties. For there sure seem to be many other non-gerrymandered and positive predicates, like "is wise" and "is powerful", that apply to God.)
But Shallow Platonism has a particularly neat solution to both problems. There either is no regress, or if there is a regress, it is an unproblematic forward regress: because x is F, x and Fness instantiate instantiation, and because of that x, Fness and instantiation instantiate instantiation, and so on. Forward regresses are not at all problematic. And while it may be explanatorily prior to the creation of properties (or of all but one property) that God is wise, it is not explanatorily prior to the creation of properties that God instantiates wisdom.
Mike Almeida said...
Platonists deny that divine ultimacy entails that God creates properties. So, this shouldn't be a problem for them. God creates properties only if his omnipotence extends to doing the impossible: viz., creating necessarily existing objects. But there is no dialectical pressure to extend omnipotence that far. Restrict omnipotence to the metaphysically possible--or something in that ballpark--and you make Platonic properties irrelevant to divine ultimacy. Further, you eliminate this problem for Platonists.
Alexander R Pruss said...
But it's not a question about omnipotence. It's a question about the standard monotheistic doctrine that God created everything other than himself out of nothing.
Sure, you can restrict the quantifiers and say "everything other than himself or abstracta". But that's changing the doctrine. Moreover, you then have to have some sort of an account of abstracta, and that's notoriously problematic.
Mike Almeida said...
It's a question of metaphysical dependence, I understand. Now, whether you move the abstracta into God's mind to secure spme sort of dependence, or you leave the objects on their own, you have objects that are not in any interesting way "created". They are not created in Scotus or Leibniz. Even for Aquinas, they are not created, but in His nature. To get them created, you have to take a radical view of metaphysical dependence. Leftow takes such a view. But Leftow's view, as all such radical views do, is of dubious coherence. I think it's probably not coherent, as I say in a PQ review coming up, but judge for yourself.
Dan Johnson said...
This is really helpful and important, and it parallels the two kinds of Platonism or "erzatsers" about modality that you talk about in your book, the unambitious erzatser and the ambitious erzatser. You are right that the most interesting problems arise mainly for the ambitious sort, or the "deep" Platonist.
Now my question is this: why would you want to be a shallow Platonist? I understand the motivation(s) for deep Platonism. But what good does shallow Platonism do you? Why would you believe that there were such things as Platonic Forms if that wasn't part of the ground or truthmaker of things having properties?
Feels to me like the tradition nominalism/realism debate is a debate over the grounds of ordinary predicative truths, which means Deep Platonism is the only view that really matters. Of course, I would have said that about possible worlds metaphysics, but Plantinga has insisted that he didn't mean to be in the business of identifying grounds for modal truths.
Alexander R Pruss said...
Van Inwagen thinks he can motivate Platonism without any talk of grounding or explanation, and he eschews making any grounding claims (I think he thinks they're nonsense). If so, then his Platonism is Shallow Platonism (of the weaker version that doesn't make the converse explanatory/grounding claim).
For instance, take van Inwagen's argument that there are features spiders and insects have in common, and hence there are features. Nothing about grounding or explanation here.
Heath White said...
I heard PVI give a talk on this once, and the gist was that he didn't really want to be any kind of platonist but felt forced into it by standard Quinean ontological-commitment arguments like the insects/spiders one.


text:
PORTLAND, Ore. May 8, 2003. The 2002 Biscuit Fire in the Siskiyou
NF was one of the largest in Oregon history: more than 499,000 acres
burned. The fire season was the worst in over 140 years, with costs
of over $150 million for the Biscuit Fire alone. Although fire is
a natural part of our environment, there is broad interest in making
it less destructive and less harmful to people, their property,
and forested landscapes.
A team of scientists at the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station,
USDA Forest Service, is leading a postfire data collection effort
at the site of the Biscuit Fire in southwestern Oregon to help fire
managers mitigate future fires similar to the Biscuit.
The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program at the station annually
inventories trees, vegetation, and down wood on public and private
land. Inventory data collected before the Biscuit Fire will be used
as a basis to compare postfire data collected this year. This study
will help forest managers:
- Assess fire severity across the landscape and its effects on
- Identify factors (such as amounts of brush and down wood) that
contribute to high-severity burns.
- Monitor postfire tree survival and recovery and forest succession
"The ability to survive or recover from fire is species dependent.
For example, trees with thicker bark, higher crown base, and deeper
rooting can withstand greater heat," explains FIA scientist
Dave Azuma. "The effect on the aboveground vegetation can be
classified by the length of flame, as evidenced by observations
of scorch height. The effect on the soil surface can be characterized
by the extent of ground char. When these observations are combined
with aerial estimates of fire intensity and additional postfire
composition and structural characteristics, we can provide accurate
estimates of fire severity."
Field work on the Biscuit Fire's 180 existing plots begins near
Grants Pass in May and will continue through October. FIA plots
within the perimeter of last summer's McNally Fire in California's
Sequoia National Forest also will be measured this summer.


_USER_{NBERw6636, title = "What Hides Behind an Umemployment Rate: Comparing Portuguese and U.S. Unemployment", author = "Olivier Blanchard and Pedro Portugal", institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research", type = "Working Paper", series = "Working Paper Series", number = "6636", year = "1998", month = "July", doi = {10.3386/w6636}, URL = "_URL_ abstract = {Over the last 15 years, Portugal and the United States have had the same average unemployment rate, about 6.5%. But behind these similar rates hide two very different labor markets. Unemployment duration in Portugal is more than three times that of the United States. Symmetrically, the flow of workers into unemployment in Portugal is, in proportion to the labor force, less than a third of what it is in the United States. Relying on evidence from Portuguese and U.S. micro data sets, we show that these lower flows come in roughly equal proportions from lower job flows, and from lower worker flows relative to job flows. We then argue that these differences plausibly come from high employment protection in Portugal. We finally show how, looking across countries, higher employment protection is associated with lower flows and higher unemployment duration. In short, high employment protection makes economics more sclerotic; but because it affects unemployment duration and flows in opposite directions, it has an ambiguous effect on the unemployment rate.}, }


Change Management in Education
Published: 2018-02-08 07:03:09
2021 words
7 pages
17 min to read
Carnegie Mellon University
Type of paper:
Teacher's resistances to change are not a new phenomenon, as teachers do fear change not because they do not understand the change recommended but because they fear the consequences of the change. Most teachers usually fear the unknown and would strive to maintain status quo even if the intended change in inevitable and has potential benefits that outweigh the costs. On the other hand, organizations do consider change a major exercise as the change would help the organization realize it is bottom-line.
Support positive changeRestructuring the Community College System
Change in inevitable, but the change may be positive or negative depending on the way it is managed. Teachers perception to change my be positive or negative depending on the way the management handles the change. The American education system is flawed because a lot of time wasted in the community college. For example, most of the secondary students have to study English, math and social sciences instead of directly starting their specific associate degree courses. The community college system involves a waste of time and money wasted maintaining general educational requirements. The fact that all students have to study general education courses such as English, math and sciences make the system more duplicative as these are the same courses done in secondary education. Instead, the community college systems require proper restructuring to allow students diversity their courses by pursuing other courses including the vocational technical training whether they are pursuing skilled trades or not. Restructuring is a process that will attract teacher resistance, as the teachers would have to learn new trades to be taught, and re-engineer their programs, schedules, and schemes of work (Forsyth, 2012).
Many teachers realized that they would not be able to enjoy the slow times they enjoyed and some even feared to lose their job because of redundancy. Many teachers resisted and some even organized a go slow to resist the change. Resistance means that the workers have developed beliefs of thoughts that the proposed change would harm them or affect their peace. If negative thoughts precede a positive change, then the proposed change would be met with resistance. Then again, the negative thoughts and beliefs could be altered in a proactive manner that the teachers would embrace the change (Forsyth, 2012).
Factors that Inhibit Change
Because organizational change would affect the established work processes, practices culture, and behaviors, resistance to organizational change would influence the whole company's performance. Therefore changing the factors that cause resistance to change would promote change adoption. Change adoption is intended to help improve the business performance. No change has ever been targeted at compromising organization productivity
Change may be inhibited by:
a). Lack of commitment
If the management is not committed to the proposed change, teacher's resistance to change may be observed. The teachers would not be convinced about the benefit of the modification. All stakeholders should be involved from the beginning up to the end. In the change process, the stakeholder needs to know the proposed change, why the change is needed, and how the change would affect the management, the teachers, as well as the overall organization's goals and bottom-line (Engel, 2000).
b). Lack of teacher engagement
If the teacher were not engaged in the change discussion, they would not want to be associated with it. Teachers may not like if new processes and change are imposed on them. The management should involve teachers or their representatives.
c). Organizational culture
The first organizational cultures may not be suitable or supportive of the proposed change. If the organizational change were not agreeing with the organizational culture, then the teachers would strike because they are not used to the new norm or processes. Some cultures are rigid and are not aligned with the complex environment that is constantly changing. For example, innovation, technology, and business process are changing and so are the management principles. If the cultures, values, and goals of the organization remain fixed, then the proposed changes would be compromised (Engel, 2000).
d). Contradictory vision and objectives
If the Steering mechanisms of an organizational do not change, are not improved or not aligned with the organizational change then the teacher and their management would not make meaning out of the complex proposed changed. The changes in the marketplace must be perceived and understood by all the workers to modify the organization's steering mechanism
e). Rigid steering mechanisms
The rigid steering mechanism such as values and objectives can also downgrade the organization and compromise the organization's effort towards realizing its goals or realizing the market signals. The validity of organizational goals and values are timed, and once there are outdated, they should be changed to reflect the changes in the market. Most teachers use the defensive mechanism such as resistance to change because of the uncertainty associated with the change.
Identify Reason for change
1. The proposed change was mainly implemented to help the management realize organization-wide goals. To improve teacher productivity, the management had to implement the change.
2. To improve efficiency in the organization. The proposed change would help reduce time, labor and other resources wastage (Bass & Avolio, 1994).
3. The proposed change was also to improve organizational processes and help the teachers meet their daily targets. The increased lessons hours, timetables, and teacher time management strategies were all proposed to help the community college staff effectively executive their duties
4. Technological changes may also necessitate change. For example, new technologies might require ha all teachers must undergo mandatory training.
5. Competition in the market may also necessitate change as competitors adopt new technology, advanced processes and even cost-cutting through retrenchment. Competition is a change driver
6. Government regulation may also drive change. For example, if the new law requires the adoption of electronic records and instructional technology, the organization might be forced to embark on an aggressive training of teachers, recruitment to fill the void created by retrenchment or give mandatory educational leave to its teachers.
Ways to support Stakeholders during the reform
1. There are many ways to support stakeholder during the change. The most effective way to is to involve the speaker in the discussion leading to the change.
2. Stakeholder should be informed about the change. Both internal and external stakeholder should be made to understand the reasons for the change, and the potential impact of the change.
3. Secondly, the management should assure the stakeholder that the change would not adversely affect them. The proposed change may be communicated and acceptable to all the stakeholders (Anderson, 2008).
4. Finally, the change team should in collusive. All the interested parties should be involved and not just a small team. If a small team of change champions is selected, then the change champions should be fully representative.
Resources stakeholders can use for support during the change process.
1. Materialsstakeholders can provide materials such as paper, pens, and whiteboards. These materials are required to draw and provide a guideline for the bigger picture. Documenting everything is necessary foot easier review and amendments
2. Fundssome teachers need to be motivated, and at times, there is a need to pay sitting allowances and per diem. Funds would help motivate the affected personnel to accept change
3. Support—stakeholder need emotional and physical support during the change processes. The support may vary depending on each stakeholder need, but the stakeholder must be supported during the process
4. Removing Barriers to effective change managementany barrier to effective change management is it processes, policies, cultures, funds, language, and or etiquette should be addressed for the stakeholders to accept and adapt to the proposed changes (Amedzro St-Hilaire, 2016).
Essential Elements for change
The major factor for change includes the factors that must be coherent for the organization to achieve its goals. Only planned change succeeds, but unplanned changes can only succeed if the stakeholders are not supportive. Stakeholders must be supportive, and this can only be realized if they have a favorable opinion or beliefs about the proposed change (Wolfe, 1995).
1. Strategythe planned changed must be strategic, and a strategy must be devised that would help maintain and develop the organization's competence
2. Structurethe team must put structures in place that would assist in ensuring the change is a success. This include a reporting structure, laws, policies, guidelines and rules to ensure that
3. Systemsthere should be activities and procedures that are connected in the value chain to get work done. A system includes people, and computers.
4. Shared valuesthe core value must be aligned with the goals, vision, and organizational objectives
5. Leadership Stylesthe top leadership should be supportive. A transformational leader is needed to offer individualized attention.
6. Community college staffstakeholder engagement is necessary for change to be successful. All stakeholders should be included in discussing and implementing the change
7. Skillteachers should be assigned duties depending on their skill and competencies. Al these factors must be coherent with the organizational goals.
8. Power of Vision
Creates the structure, the direction, and the passion for pushing forward to anticipate and accomplish the goal of building a better educational system. The organization's vision is organizations primary direction. Unity of direction can only be achieved through a unifying vision. All the teachers must be aware of the vision and must internalize the vision to make it part of their plans, goals, and focus Wolfe, 1995). The idea would also help sustain the processes and efforts towards the organizational goals. The vision is the direction followed by everyone. It is also the point of reference for the teachers. Any deviation from the vision would mean difference from the organizational goals, and this would signal changes in the business processes and plans.
Types