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Open Journal of Social Sciences > Vol.4 No.10, October 2016
A Study on Guided Peer Feedback in Group Work to Improve Non-English-Majored Graduates' English Writing in Internet-Based Language Laboratory ()
Yougen Lou*, Zejuan Li, Ping Gong, Jianjun Liu*
School of Foreign Studies, Yangtze University, Jingzhou City, China.
DOI: 10.4236/jss.2016.410007 PDF HTML XML 1,577 Downloads 2,885 Views Citations
Peer feedback is a key to the quality of group work in foreign language classrooms. In order to better understand the use of peer feedback in writing, a fifteen-week study was conducted by combining peer feedback in group work with the internet-based language laboratory (IBLL). 80 non-English-majored graduates from Yangtze University participated in this study. 40 non-English-majored graduates in EG were randomly divided into 10 groups and one group member from every group was chosen as the leader in a group. Based on Scaffolding Instruction of Constructivism, this study chose three different tools-a checklist, a qualitative feedback sheet and a grading sheet, to guide peer feedback. Two tests and questionnaires were adopted to investigate the students' views and attitude toward guided peer feedback in IBLL. We found: 1) the method of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL could improve non-English-majored graduates' writing ability; 2) there were significant differences between males in CG and EG, and females in CG and EG; 3) students in EG held the positive response for the combined writing instruction through the data of questionnaires.
Guided Peer Feedback, Group Work, English Writing, Internet-Based Language Laboratory
Lou, Y. , Li, Z. , Gong, P. and Liu, J. (2016) A Study on Guided Peer Feedback in Group Work to Improve Non-English-Majored Graduates' English Writing in Internet-Based Language Laboratory. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 86-96. doi: 10.4236/jss.2016.410007.
Writing ability is important for non-English-majored graduates in writing academic papers to express their academic ideas to readers. However, it is difficult for Chinese non-English-majored graduates to write the academic papers in English to express their academic ideas to foreign readers. To improve Chinese non-English-majored graduates' writing ability is an important subject for studying. Suggestions and new ideas from peers with support of the internet-based language laboratory (IBLL) would improve non-English-majored graduates' writing skills even writing ability. In the framework of the task-based language learning, group work is regarded as a chief organizational form of learning [1] , because it enhance interaction and negotiation of meaning which can lead to language acquisition. However, the quality of group work varies widely in practice, and research into the means of group work enhancement is required urgently.
Peer feedback is a key to the interaction and language learning in groups. Rollinson [2] explains, "In recent years, the use of peer feedback in ESL writing classrooms has been generally supported in the literature as a potentially valuable aid for its social, cognitive, affective, and methodological benefits". In fact, there are a lot of advantages of peer feedback for students in writing. First of all, peer feedback is suggested as pedagogy of providing more self-control to language learners [3] . In additional, replying to peer corrections and giving suggestions allow students to see similar problems and weaknesses in their own writing [4] . The present work focuses on the means of guidance in initiating effective peer feedback in group work for non-English-majored graduates' writing with support of IBLL.
2. Literature Review
2.1. The Role of Peer Feedback in Group Work
2.1.1. Definition of Peer Feedback
Peer feedback can be defined as "the use of learners as sources of information and interactants for each other in such a way that learners assume roles and responsibilities normally taken on by a formally trained teacher, tutor, or editor in commenting on and critiquing each other's drafts in both written and oral formats in the process of writing" [5] . Peer feedback is also regarded as a process in which students evaluate each other's work among themselves [6] .
2.1.2. Functions of Peer Feedback in Group Work
Peer feedback can raise learners' awareness of their strong points and weak points, increase a sense of audience, encourage cooperative learning, and foster ownership [7] . According to Van den Berg, Admiraal, and Pilot [8] small group work is beneficial for learning based on peer feedback if organized well. Many benefits of peer feedback have been claimed: providing an authentic audience to students; increasing student motivation for speaking; enabling students to get different viewpoints; helping students learn to listen critically; helping students gain confidence in their speaking and encouraging students to use oral language skills [9] ; and also helping students learn to evaluate their own speaking better.
2.2. Implementation of Peer Feedback in Group Work
Yang, Richard and Yu [10] identify two main issues as a prerequisite for successful use of peer feedback when implementing it: the size of peer feedback group and the form of training. In peer feedback research, the size of groups varies, while pairs and groups of three and four are mainly adopted. Groups of three or four were used in some studies [11] [12] and it was found that group dynamics could strongly affect peer feedback groups' functioning. Especially in large classes, groups of three or four could help increasing class interaction.
Approaches to training students on how to provide feedback are also prone to variation. The students in the study of Tsui and Ng [7] were only given broad categories when they needed to write comments. Zhu [12] reported that their students received training through watching a video.
3.1. Subjects
In September 2012, 80 first-year non-English-majored Chinese graduates from Yangtze University were volunteers in this study. Among the 80 subjects, they were 42 females and 38 males, average age 23. Their majors were horticulture, agriculture, plant protection, biological technology. All 80 subjects were taught by the same instructor during the whole academic term (September, 2012 to January, 2013). All 80 subjects who passed the College English Test Band 4 were divided randomly into two groups. One group of 40 subjects was regarded as the Control Group (CG) with the traditional graduate English writing method in IBLL, and other 40 subjects were as the Experiment Group (EG) with the method of guided peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL. Both CG and EG, their level of education, family background, age, personality and life experiences and other factors were same, that was to say, their overall learning and cognitive abilities were almost equal. 40 subjects in EG were randomly divided into 10 groups, 4 subjects per group and one student chosen as the leader in every group to organize group members to discuss the peer feedback related to their writing.
3.2. Research Design
The study was to investigate that 1) Compared with CG, did peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL help non-English-majored graduate students improve their English writing skills and writing ability? 2) Compared with CG, after the training of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL, was there the significant difference on the writing scores between the two groups; 3) Was the method of peer feedback in group work beneficial to all graduate students of EG in English writing in this study? A comparative research method was used in this study.
3.3 Peer Feedback Design
3.3.1. The Measures of Peer Feedback
When organizing peer feedback, the following measures [13] were used:
1) Supplying purposeful and proper peer feedback sheets for a given task and purpose.
This depended on whether the focus of each task was on the organization, content, or vocabulary.
2) Helping students to be familiar with peer feedback procedures.
Students were encouraged to ask questions related to peer feedback and teachers provided students some examples of peer feedback such as video.
3) Instructing students to ask proper and right questions.
Unless they were guided to ask proper questions and look for problematic issues, students may not make appropriate comments.
4) Monitoring groups and peer feedback.
The teacher took part in the activity as a peer or stayed in each group for some time to remind students of proper expressions.
3.3.2. Instruments
The instruments used in this study were three tools, two tests (the English writing test before the training of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL, the English writing test after the training of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL) and questionnaires.
Three tools: Three tools were used to assist peer feedback: checklists, grading sheets and qualitative feedback sheets. They were adopted on the basis of the following considerations.
First, they were based on Scaffolding Instruction of Constructivism. The students needed specific guidance in how to provide feedback so that they could understand what to focus on and how to make an evaluation. The three forms were chosen to achieve this purpose.
Second, these forms of peer feedback are strongly operational. For example, a quantitative feedback sheet differs from a peer feedback checklist, which depends on whether the focus of the task is on the content, organization, or vocabulary.
Third, the three tools represent different forms of guidance. The evaluation standard and what they focus on are different. Checklists focus on the content, grading sheets focus on the organization while qualitative feedback sheets focus on details.
English writing applied ability pre-test: All the 80 non-English-majored graduates were attended the English writing test (from College English Test 6 (CET 6) in June, 2011) to gain students' writing level in CG and EG before the experiment.
English writing applied ability post-test: All the 80 non-English-majored graduates were attended the English writing test (from College English Test 6 (CET 6) in June, 2012) to gain students' changes in writing between CG and EG after the experiment.
Questionnaires: The model of the questionnaire from Grace Hui Chin Lin and Paul Shih Chieh Chien [14] was adopted in this study (see Appendix). There were ten questions with levels of three different degrees: 1 for Strongly Agree, 2 for Agree, 3 for Not Agree and 4 for Strongly Disagree. Before the experiment, the questionnaire was tested, the reliability was 0.78. The questionnaires in this study were used to collect the data on guided peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL from non-English-major graduate students.
3.4. Research Schemas
The experiment for EG in this study lasted for 16 weeks and was divided into4 sessions.
1) Session 1 (the first four weeks), the power point files about writing strategies had to be introduced to the non-English-majored graduates in EG.
2) Session 2 (the second four weeks), non-English-majored graduates in EG were guided to write their draft related to the course in class and peer feedback about their drafts in group work with support of IBLL .was executed.
3) Session 3 (the third four weeks), researcher cooperators would be suggested to find a positions toward peer feedback pedagogies. At the same time, non-English majored graduates in EG learned writing strategies with their trainer and their drafts were revised by their peers to provide peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL.
4) Session 4 (the last four weeks), data through survey provided by all the 40 graduates in EG would be transcribed, analyzed and reported.
3.5. Data Collection and Analyses
Before the research experiment (September 2012) and after the experiment (January, 2013), two tests on English writing applied ability were conducted to compare changes between the two groups of students in English writing ability. In this study, social scientific software SPSS 15.0 was used for statistical analysis to the collected data. In order to find out the method of peer feedback in group work in English writing proved superior to the conventional teaching (such as students writing-teachers correcting) method, comparison of Means was adopted to compare two groups of non-English- majored graduate students' average scores of their pretest and after the experiment on the basis of samples. And the independent sample T-test was adopted to exanimate if there were significances between CG and EG before the experiment and after the experiment. Data of questionnaires for 20 volunteers out of the 40 subjects in EG were analyzed.
The results in this study included three parts. The first part was writing test results of pre-test and post-test between the control group (CG) and the experiment group (EG). The second part was that whether there were significant differences between males and females, as a teacher-dominated approach with CG was compared with peer feedback in group work in writing class of EG. The last part was that responses to the questionnaire on the peer feedback in group work in writing class were from subjects in EG
4.1. Peer Feedback in Group Work and Writing
From Table 1, the results showed writing tests' (CET 6) scores between CG and EG taught by different writing methods in the pre-and post-tests. In the pre-tests, no significant difference (P = 0.359) was found between CG (M = 112.85, S = 12.41) and EG (M = 79.18, S = 8.13) in their writing tests. However, in the post-tests, there was a significant difference between CG (M = 80.80, S = 9.31) and EG (M = 86.13, S = −9.270) in the writing test, P = 0.005. After the training of peer feedback in group work in an EFL writing class, the writing scores of subjects in EG (M = 120.88, S = 13.52) were improved than that of subjects in CG (M = 116.18, S = 1 3.01).
4.2. Results of the T-Test about Males and Females in CG and EG
From Table 2, we could see that significant differences were found between males and females in the two groups: CG and EG. Males (P = 0.04) suggested that there was the significant difference between CG and EG in their writing ability after the training of peer feedback in group work in an EFL writing class, and females (P = 0.03) suggested that there was the significant difference between CG and EG in their writing ability after the training of peer feedback in group work in an EFL writing class.
4.3. Results of the Questionnaires of Instructing Writing through Peer Feedback in Group Work with Support in Writing Class from Non-English-Major Graduates in EG
The questionnaires from non-English-majored graduates in EG on the instruction method of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL in class was administered to 20 volunteers out of the 40 subjects in EG at the end of the semester (January, 2013) to gain their responses for this integrated teaching method and to identify the possible benefits and problems of this method.
For Question 1, only 5 (25%) volunteers still needed the teacher's correcting their essays and other 15 (75%) volunteers agreed that their peers also could review and correct their essays as good as the writing teacher if they could discuss peer feedbacks and corrections in group work with support of IBLL in learning writing.
For Question 3, all the 20 volunteers agreed that they preferred peer feedback to teacher's feedback.
For Question 4, only 2 (10%) volunteers strongly agreed that they could learn more from peers than that of the trainer. Only 4 (20%) volunteers agreed that they could
learn more from peers than the trainer. 14 (70%) volunteers thought that they could learn more from the trainer than the peers.
Table 1. Results of the peer feedback in group work on non-English-major graduates' writing scores of pre-test and post-test.
M stands for Mean; S stands for standard deviation; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.
Table 2. Results of the t-test about males and females in CG and EG.
For Question 5, 16 (80%) volunteers agreed or strongly agreed that through the combined writing activity, they felt more confident and supportive because the Process of cognitive interaction among the peers in group work was created.
For Question 6, all the 20 (100%) volunteers felt more comfortable because they found the access from peer feedbacks and peer corrections to know their peer's writing proficiency.
For Question 7, all the 20 (100%) volunteers agreed that they felt social interaction among their peers in group work through writing and peer feedbacks provided them more new ideas and motivations in writing.
For Question 8, 12 (60%) volunteers strongly agreed that their writing skills were improved because of the peer feedback activity in their writing training; 6 (30%) volunteers agreed that their writing skills were improved because of the peer feedback activity in their writing training. Only 2 (10%) volunteers did not agree that their writing skills were improved because of the peer feedback activity in their training.
For Question 9, 16 (80%) out of 20 volunteers agreed that they hoped their articles could be revised and proofread again by their peers.
For Question 10, 16 (80%) out of 20 volunteers believed that this peer feedback pedagogy should be applied in English classes.
This study wants to look for the answers to the three questions. One of the purposes in this study is to know if the writing instruction through peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL in class can improve non-English-majored graduates' writing skills and writing ability. Subjects' improvement in writing ability shows the important role of peer feedback in group work played in their writings.
Through results in Table 1, we could know that after the writing training, both writing scores in CG and EG were improved, but the writing scores in EG were higher than that in CG, it means that the combined writing method of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL can improve non-English-majored graduates' writing skills and writing ability in EG after they were trained by the combined writing method. The results in this study agrees with the results in some research has shown that peer feedback improves learning [15] - [18] The method of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL encourages students to discuss, analyze and correct their essays from new ideas and good suggestion for improving their drafts from peers, and their writing ability can be improved by the training of peer feedbacks in group work and revision methods for essays applied in revising their essays. Linn [19] writes, ''Encouraging students to analyze and build on ideas from peers can introduce new perspectives and motivate students to reconsider their own ideas''.
After instruction and training by the model of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL, male and female non-English-major graduate students in EG successfully learn to provide the proper feedbacks for their peers' essays and revise their essays according to peer feedbacks about their essays, they show better in writing ability, compared with male and female non-English-major graduates in CG. And there are significant differences between Males and Females in CG and EG. The results could be explained by the research, for example, Hovardas et al. [20] cite research suggesting that ''sharing a frame of understanding'' about a problem with one's peers might make peer suggestions more accessible and more readily actionable than suggestions from a teacher [21] [22] . Male and female non-English-major graduate students in EG could have the opportunity to discuss the problems in their essay, which would provide chances for them to improve their writing ability.
Non-English-major graduates in EG generally holding positive response for the peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL training program suggest that the combination of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL into regular EFL curriculum is a worthy try. Non-English-majored graduate students need practice writing and revising more academic-style papers related to their majors, the method of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL is practical method for them to learn how to write and how to revise their essays with the help of peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL in class and apply the writing skills and revising skills they learned into practicing writing essays and academic-style papers. Although subjects in EG could learn the peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL, they also need the guidance from teaches. A teacher in the writing class could guide or organize the students in class and provide the guidance for students such as having difficulties in providing peer feedbacks and proper corrections in essays. It is common that some students could be shy even tense about the face-to-face peer feedbacks, which might be related to the cultural factor (most Chinese students valuing the concept of face). Some students think that students would lose their faces during face-to-face peer feedbacks if they receive the negative peer feedbacks about their essays about their essays in group work. For Chinese students, research has found that the traditional Chinese cultural issues, such as collectivism and group harmony, the concept of ''face'', and power distance could exert negative influence on students' engagement with or participation in peer feedback [11] [23] - [25] .
6. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
This research is in small scale (only 80 subjects) and the time (only 16 weeks) does not last long. Because of the large size of a class, the researcher has difficulties in observing all the groups. Future investigation should be made about the bigger scale and the long-term impact of peer feedback in an EFL writing class.
Guided peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL in an EFL writing class applied in first-year non-English-majored graduate students can improve their English writing ability, but Guided peer feedback in group work with support of IBLL in an EFL writing class also works for other subjects such as high school students, we need further research.
We need further research on how to train students experience peer editing firsthand in order to become proficient reviewers and assist their peers in creating a better final product, defined as one that contained fewer grammatical and organizational errors and whose ideas were clear to the reader [26] .
Survey Sheet of Peer Feedback
Major Age
You are a non-English ?majored graduate in Yangtze University. Please answer the following questions based on your perceptions and feelings in learning writing during the past sixteen weeks. In order to ensure the confidentiality of this study, your name both in English and Chinese will be done anonymously. All of the information you gave me will be treated as completely confidential and it will not be possible for people to recognize the information you gave me when I report the results of this study.
Please give answers honestly and freely to all of the 10 questions.
When answering the questions, please fill in the following number 1. 2. 3. according to your true perceptions in learning writing through peer feedback.
1. Strongly Agree
2. Agree
3. Not Agree
Q1. ( ) I usually feel that my teachers' corrections for my paper influence my emotion and motivation in learning writing. I feel not confident and am nervous after reading my teachers' negative comments.
Q2. ( ) I feel more relax to read my classmate's feedback for my writings.
Q3. ( ) I prefer peer feedback to teacher's feedback.
Q4. ( ) I feel that peer feedback makes me learn more in a relaxing way.
Q5. ( ) Through cooperation and cognitive interaction with my peers, I am able to write more confidently and more supportively.
Q6. ( ) Through exchanging ideas and knowing my peer's writing proficiency, I feel much more comfortable in the writing class.
Q7. ( ) Social interaction through writing and peer feedback, provided me more inspiration (ideas) and motivations in writing.
Q8. ( ) Generally speaking, sixteen weeks, I feel that I have improved my writing skills because of the peer feedback activity in my Advanced (Writing III) English Writing course.
Q9. ( ) Hopefully, my essay and thesis can be revised and proofread by my classmates again because I can learn more.
Q10. ( ) I think peer feedback pedagogy should be applied in English classes if I will work as an English teacher in my future career.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2009.08.004
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2006.09.004
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[12] Zhu, W. (2001) Interaction and Feedback in Mixed Peer Response Groups. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 251-276. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(01)00043-1
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[16] Topping, K. (2000) Peer Assisted Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Parents. New York, Cassell, London.
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[18] Xiao, Y. and Lucking, R. (2008) The Impact of Two Types of Peer Assessment on Students' Performance and Satisfaction within a Wiki Environment. Internet and Higher Education, 11, 186-193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.005
[19] Linn, M.C. and Slotta, J.D. (2000) WISE Science. Educational Leadership, 58, 29-32.
[20] Hovardas, T., Tsivitanidou, O.E. and Zacharia, Z.C. (2014) Peer versus Expert Feedback: An Investigation of the Quality of Peer Feedback among Secondary School Students. Computers and Education, 71, 133-152. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.09.019
[21] Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (2004) The Formative Purpose: Assessment Must First Promote Learning. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 103, 20-50.
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On behalf of Law Office of Stephen L. Richards posted in Felonies on Wednesday, December 11, 2013.
For many children, playing baseball is one of their favorite pastimes and holds fond memories for them well into adulthood. However, one Illinois youth baseball league has recently been rocked by an alleged scandal. The former treasurer for the league faces a felony charge after being accused of stealing almost $80,000 from the league.
While reports indicate the man is no longer the league treasurer, he was recently arrested at his home. Police claim that he wrote himself checks. He now faces charges related to felony theft.
Police claim the money was taken over a five-year period. However, an official for the police department states that he is unsure what the accused man allegedly used the money. It is also unclear what originally brought the alleged theft to the attention of the police.
At this point, there seems to be little known about the Illinois man's action that led to a felony charge. While presumably more information and evidence will be brought to light in the course of the judicial process, the American court system hinges on the presumption that anyone accused of a crime is considered innocent until -- and only if -- proved guilty. In order to obtain a conviction, prosecutors will have to prove the man's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. To reach this high burden of proof, there are many questions that need to be answered -- including how the money was ultimately used. As in all criminal cases, it is important that the rights of the accused are also protected to ensure that an innocent man is not wrongfully convicted.


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The Salvation Army Overview
The Salvation Army is an evangelical Church based on the Bible, motivated by love for God in its practical concern for humanity. Its ministry is both spiritual, encompassing the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and practical, alleviating human suffering and distress without regard for race or creed.
William Booth left the Methodist ministry to preach as an independent evangelist in the slums of London's East side (England). He made many converts, but they didn't feel at home in the churches, so he set up Christian Mission Centres
The Name "The Salvation Army" was adopted for Booth's organization. Missions became corps; members became soldiers; ministers became officers and Booth himself became General
Commissioner G.S. Railton and seven young women began work in New York City, helping the poor and combine gospel teaching with social work
Jack Addie and Joe Ludgate began the work of The Salvation Army in Canada, in London, Ontario. An urgent call was made to International Headquarters for commissioned officers. Captain J. Wass was sent to Toronto and Captain Shirley to London as the first commissioned officers in charge of these Canadian Corps
Captain Abbie Thompson began the work of The Salvation Army in Kingston, Ontario with her first meeting in the Kingston Market Square
During the 1880's, 90's the Army began to spread rapidly to India, Australia, South America, Pakistan and many European countries. The Salvation Army soon had thousands of officers and soldiers in 36 countries
Many services emerged… women's social work (1884), the first food depot (1888), the first day nursery (1890), and the first Army hospital (1901).
THE SALVATION ARMY TODAY
This year, The Army celebrates 150 years of ministry internationally and 125 years in Canada. Throughout its history, The Army has been blessed with countless opportunities to fulfill its ministry, bringing physical and spiritual healing to Canadians of all walks of life.
The Salvation Army operates in 118 countries around the world, continuing to work where the need is greatest, guided by faith in God and love for all people.
As well, the Army in Canada has 737 active officers (clergy), 19,549 soldiers (church members) and 34,724 adherents, that is, people who claim The Salvation Army as their church home. There are 310 corps (community churches), 126 service/social institutions and one university/college. In addition to 138,800 volunteers, almost 10,000 people are employed by The Salvation Army in the Canada and Bermuda Territory. Almost thirty Canadian Salvation Army officers and lay personnel also serve worldwide.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home Economics Should we love Uber and Airbnb or protest against them?
Should we love Uber and Airbnb or protest against them?
Vili Lehdonvirta
Some theorists suggest that such platforms are making our world more efficient by natural selection. The reality is a little more complicated. Reposted from The Conversation.
An angry crowd has attacked Uber cars with bars and stones outside Mexico City airport, the latest in a series of worldwide protests against the ride-hailing app. More than 1,000 taxi drivers blocked streets in Rio de Janeiro a few days ago, and the service has been restricted or banned in the likes of France, Germany, Italy and South Korea. Protests have also been staged against Airbnb, the platform for renting short-term accommodation.
Neither platform shows any signs of faltering, however. Uber is available in 57 countries and produces hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. Airbnb is available in more than 190 countries, and boasts more than 1.5 million rooms.
Journalists and entrepreneurs have been quick to coin terms that try to capture the social and economic changes associated with such platforms: the sharing economy; the on-demand economy; the peer-to-peer economy; and so on. Each perhaps captures one aspect of the phenomenon, but doesn't make sense of all its potentials and contradictions, including why some people love it and some would smash it into pieces.
How Mexican taxi drivers feel about the sharing economy YouTube
Economic sociologists believe markets are always based on an underlying infrastructure that allows people to find out what goods and services are on offer, agree prices and terms, pay, and have a reasonable expectation that the other party will honour the agreement. The oldest example is the personal social network: traders hear what's on offer through word of mouth and trade only with those they personally know and trust.
In the modern world we can do business with strangers, too, because we have developed institutions to make this reliable, like private property, enforceable contracts, standardised weights and measures, and consumer protection. They are part of a long historical continuum, from ancient trade routes with their customs to medieval fairs with codes of conduct to the state-enforced trade laws of the early industrial era.
Institutional economists and economic historians theorised in the 1980s that these have gradually been evolving towards ever more efficient forms through natural selection. People switch to cheaper, easier, more secure and more efficient institutions as new technology and organisational innovations make them possible. Old and cumbersome institutions fall into disuse, says the theory, and society becomes more efficient and economically prosperous as a result.
It is easy to frame platforms as the next step in such a process. Even if they don't replace state institutions, they can plug gaps. For example enforcing a contract in court is expensive and unwieldy. Platforms provide cheaper and easier alternatives through reputation systems where participants rate each other's conduct and view past ratings.
Uber does this with government-licensed taxi infrastructures, for instance, addressing everything from quality and discovery to trust and payment. Airbnb provides a similarly sweeping solution to short-term accommodation rental. The sellers on these platforms are not just consumers seeking to better use their resources, but also firms and professionals switching over from the state infrastructure. It is as if people and companies were abandoning their national institutions and emigrating en masse to Platform Nation.
Downside or upside?
The natural selection theory argues that the government shouldn't try to stop people from using the likes of Uber and Airbnb, nor impose its evidently less efficient norms on them. Let people vote with their feet. But is that an oversimplification?
If buyers switch to new institutions, for instance, sellers may have little choice but to follow. Even if taxi drivers don't like Uber's rules, they may find there is little business to be had outside the platform and switch anyway. In the end, whether the market shifts can boil down to power rather than choice.
Even when everyone participates willingly, the arrangement might be bad for society. It might adversely affect third parties, for example, such as Airbnb guests annoying neighbours through noise, traffic or being unfamiliar with the local rules. In the worst case, a platform can make society less efficient by creating a "free-rider economy".
Airbnb protest in New York in January EPA
If these kinds of conflicting interests are reconciled, it is through the political institutions that govern the markets. Social scientists can often find out more about a market by looking at its political institutions than comparative efficiency. Take the hotel industry. Local governments try to balance the interests of hoteliers and their neighbours by limiting hotel business to certain zones. Airbnb has no such mandate to address the interests of third parties on an equal footing. Perhaps because of this, 74% of Airbnb properties are not in the main hotel districts, but often in ordinary residential blocks.
Of course, government regulators are at risk of being captured by incumbents, or at the very least creating rules that benefit incumbents to the detriment of possible future participants. An example would be taxi-licensing systems that strictly limit the numbers of cab operators. Whatever quality assurance this offers customers, among the main losers are excluded would-be drivers.
Against this background, platforms can look like radical reformers. For example Uber aims to create 1m jobs for women by 2020, a pledge that would likely not be possible if it adhered to government licensing requirements, as most licences are owned by men. Having said that, Uber's definition of a "job" is much more precarious and entrepreneurial than the conventional definition. My point here is not to take sides, but to show that their social implications are very different. Both possess flaws and redeeming qualities, many of which can be traced back to their political institutions and whom they represent.
What kind of new economic institutions are platform developers creating? How efficient are they? What other consequences do they have? Whose interests are they geared to represent? These are the questions that bureaucrats, journalists, and social scientists ought to be asking. I hope we will be able to discover ways to take what is good from the old and the new, and create infrastructure for an economy that is as fair and inclusive as it is efficient and innovative.
ilabour
uberization
Previous articleUber and Airbnb make the rules now — but to whose benefit?
Next articleCurrent alternatives won't light up Britain's broadband blackspots
Can universal basic income counter the ill-effects of the gig economy?
The limits of uberization: How far can platforms go?
Uber and Airbnb make the rules now — but to whose benefit?
Vili Lehdonvirta - 14 April 2017


11-hole mounting pickguard with H/H pickup configuration cut specifically to allow room for a Floyd Rose® tremolo assembly.
Note: Pickguard has two mounting screw holes for each humbucking pickup. Some modification may be required for mounting.
Designed to fit most Stratocaster® models with a Floyd Rose® Tremolo system.


A REALLY DELICIOUS LOAF FULL OF WONDERFUL FLAVOURS!
I have used an electric mixer to make this loaf but you can make it using a large bowl and mixing by hand.
You will need to knead the dough for longer as with the mixer the dough hook does half the work!
1. Using a paddle in the mixer combine 285 gms of flour with the salt, sugar and turmeric.
2. Add the yeast keeping well away from the salt. If using fresh gently rub in with a little flour, if using dried just add.
3. Add the 250mls of tepid milk, the 70 gms of melted butter and 3 Eggs (beaten) plus 1 yolk.
4. Add the rest of the flour (340 gms) and mix with the dough hook until well mixed and leaving sides of bowl. The dough will be fairly sticky.
5. Tip onto a very lightly floured board and knead until smooth and silky.
6. Put in a lightly greased bowl and prove for 1½ hours or until double in size.
7. Whilst the dough is proving, crispy fry the bacon and cut into small pieces, fry the chopped red onion in a little oil until soft but not brown, grate the cheese and chop the basil.
8. After proving tip dough out on to a lightly floured surface and divide three equal pieces.
9. Combine 2 of the pieces so you have two thirds and one third.
10. Add the bacon and basil to the two thirds piece of dough and incorporate thoroughly.
11. Add the cheese and onion to the one third and incorporate thoroughly.
12. Cut the bacon and basil dough into 3 and roll into evenly shaped sausage shapes about 12 to 14 inches in length and plait together making sure the ends are folded over and sealed. Place on your baking tray.
13. Plait the smaller piece in the same way but making your 'sausage' shapes about 6 - 8 inches long.
14. Brush the middle of the larger loaf with egg wash (using your remaining egg) and place the smaller one on the top.
15. Prove until double in size, about 1 hour.
16. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
17. Cook for 25 mins at 200°C Fan. the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
18. Cool on a wire rack and serve with lashings of cold butter!


You went ahead to click the super-straight and towering building positioned on the street from a distance, in a bid to capture its soaring height. Sadly, when you looked at the photo you got the shock of your life to see the tilted and falling on the road! Many of us travel and architecture photographers have been through this experience. It is due to a phenomenon called distortion. So don't worry, it's not your vision that's distorted, it's something else!
You need not need a camera lens to get to know distortion. Remember your epic road trip and how you looked far out at the road ahead, only to see the straight road edges converge at a single point on the horizon? Was the road edges really meeting? Think architectural photography– just tilt your perspective 90º, and you get a similar phenomenon— vertical distortion.
All the blocks in the above architecture design are almost of the same scale. It is the distortion in the photograph that has caused them to create an illusion of varying scales.
Distortion is a result of changing perspective, and properties of the lens. We know that objects that are closer appear to be much larger—remember that selfie with Eiffel tower where you seem to have overgrown the tower itself? Similarly, when you stand in front of a vertical building and try to get the entire high-rise in the frame, the base appears much larger compared to the top, and the building looks as if it's falling back with the edge converging at the top. A case of converging verticals.
1. Optical distortion: This type of distortion is caused by the lens properties or limitations itself, and occur as lack of sharpness, vignettes, chromatic aberrations and curved lines.
2. Geometric distortion: This distortion affects the shape of the subject towards the edges of the frame. For example, a sphere in the centre appears round, whereas the same sphere when present near the edge, appears like an elliptical disk. This is commonly seen in interior photos.
3. Perspective distortion: This arises because of different scales of objects at varying distances from the lens. Often seen in outdoor architectural photographs such as streets or building exteriors.
4. Keystoning distortion: Caused by the viewpoint, this distortion leads to "converging lines". For example, when shooting a tall building its edge appear "caved in" than "straight up".
5. Alignment distortion: Occurs when the camera is not levelled horizontally with a reference line of the subject, making the subject appear skewed.
Distortion may lead to unreal or outright weird images and hence you may want to do away with it most of the times. On the contrary, it can be also used to create surreal effects.
1. Change your viewpoint: The best strategy is to minimize distortion in the field by trying to keep the plane of the camera and the subject aligned i.e. tilt the camera as little as possible. If your subject is at a height, find a high vantage point and shoot from there, parallel to the main subject.
2. Use a tilt-shift lens: If changing the viewpoint is not possible, opt for a perspective control lens or a tilt-shift lens. You will be able to keep your camera at your level while shifting your lens direction to align with all the points of the subject. This may take some practice to master and such lenses are often expensive.
3. Software correction: Lightroom, Photoshop, Perspective Pilot, Ptlens are some common software you can use for lens correction. iPhone too has a perspective correction app for mobile clicks. However, too much correction will lead to pixel loss.
Remember, the human eye is used to some degree of perspective because it's the natural way we see. That's why some images may look weird if you correct them completely!
Distortion can be used to make creative and out-of-the-league images that immediately catch the viewer's eye! Have you seen the typical pics of people "holding" the Eiffel tower in their hands- as a photographer you can use distortion to create such special personalized moments for your clients! A fish-eye lens can give very interesting perspectives (albeit distorted ones!) of common architectural subjects, for example, a scrunched view of the Paris skyline, with the Eiffel Tower in a corner and twisted to give a funny frame!


text:
Q: django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured. Even though I have tried all methods of configuration I receive the same error I am getting the error even though I have configured DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULES accordingly.
Error:django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS, but settings are not configured. You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings.
Here is my views.py:
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from django.shortcuts import redirect, render
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.http import HttpResponse
import os
from models import *
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()
def index(request):
    session=request.Session()
    session.headers={"User-Agent":"Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.google.com/bot.html)"}
    url="https://weather.com/en-IN/weather/today/l/9d531fc505eb4a93a90a7e8303ccaa22a142c9370b68391129de5019ee7adf5b"
    content=session.get(url,verify=False).content
    soup=BeautifulSoup(content,"html.parser")
    for hit in soup.findAll(attrs={'class':'today_nowcard-temp'}):
        head=hit.text
        summ=(hit.next_sibling.text)
        weather=News()
        weather.header=head
        weather.summary=summ
        print(head)
        print(summ)
        weather.save()
    return redirect("../")
def news_list(request):
    weathers=News.objects.all()
    context={
        'object_list': weathers,
    }
    return render(request,'index.html',context)

This is settings.py:
import os
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
SECRET_KEY = 'th9v0%i9^#4a30t3bn*0w_1qm9ci&(8q%xd*q+&*h1amyr77j9'
DEBUG = True
ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'news.apps.NewsConfig',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]
ROOT_URLCONF = 'Learn.urls'
TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'templates')],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'Learn.wsgi.application'
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'News',
        'USER':'postgres',
        'PASSWORD':'gateexam',
        'HOST':'localhost'
    }
}
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
USE_I18N = True
USE_L10N = True
USE_TZ = True
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS=[
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'static'),
]
STATIC_ROOT=os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'assets')
MEDIA_URL='/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT=os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'media')

This is models.py:
from django.db import models
class News(models.Model):
    header=models.CharField(max_length=100)
    summary=models.CharField(max_length=100)[![enter image description here][1]][1]
    def __str__(self):
        return self.header

Below is my workspace:

The other app calc runs without any error.

A: Run Python Manage.py shell and also check this solution

A: There was a problem with the virtual environment; it was by default using another virtual environment and not the virtual environment of the project.
The name of the virtual environment was res I activated it by going to the virtual environment directory and running the command:
Scripts\activate

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"This moment is not worth the hours of television consumed while this Fire burned."
We're launching a traveling bookstore!
Leigh Cuen is a writer from California, currently living beside the Mediterranean Sea. Her journalism about poetry includes groundbreaking reports about emerging Syrian, Afghan and Israeli poets. Her creative wrings have been published by War, Literature & the Arts, the International Museum of Women and many others.
Q: "Why are you passionate?"
A: "Because I was born this way and got older but never grew up."
"I'll pay you back after the war," I whispered.
in return for his trust.
Apples paraded through my dreams.
made my home a stranger.
But we never found the apple farmer.
It is the chain around my neck.
veiled in frizzy red hair.
The lover with the moustache.
gray and wisps of ash.
so I gave him a bargain. 15% off fallatio.
I thought about being a vegetarian.
But then I had breakfast.
The park was empty after midnight.
from the monkey bars. Very romantic. Whimsical.
in the wind, pierced and electrified.
Before her feet landed back in the present.
WHAT IS Books & ShovelS?
N! is launching a traveling bookstore [UPDATE: we're off!] that shall traverse the United States throughout 2014 into 2015. We need your help filling our gas tank & successfully taking off, starting at the 2014 N.Y.C. Poetry Festival & heading West.
We are not planning a concrete tour. We are going to bop from city to city, open mic to open mic, street corner to street corner, distributing independent literature alongside classics to promote 21st century writers & artists. All books we distribute are available at a 'pay-what-you-can' rate to avoid denying anyone literature over monetary incentive. This project will provide N! a physical method of distribution that cultivates community 'cross borders & regions, shines light on great poets of our time, & furthers our ability to live up to pushing Passionate Living > Making a Living.
Adam Tedesco has worked as a shipbuilder, a meditation instructor, a telephone technician and cultural critic for the now disbanded Maoist Internationalist Movement. He is a contributing editor to the online literary journal Drunk In A Midnight Choir. His work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Pine Hills Review, Similar:Peaks::, dcomP and elsewhere. He tweets at @AdamThomasTed.
I read it in a comic book.
I'd smell all of you.
Last night we were in a Bavarian simulacrum.
All the doors locked at two A.M.
We would float over wine streets.
Our hands gripped each other's sweat skinned backs.
Our fluids dripping into revelers' steins.
This morning I looked for the comic.
Upon finding it, I sat reading in the shed.
So you could smell gold like a truffle dog.
Would our texts lack tension then?
By faith in those you'd someday love?
Would I ever be more?
Would I ever hold you?
Especially if you had to crawl around on all fours to find it.
Imagining my feet covered in fur as I fall away.
I will take you to the Spanish coast.
I will lay with you in the grass at the tomb of Hafez.
We'll float through Vondelpark and Storm King.
Steve Brightman lives in Kent, OH and firmly believes in two seasons: winter and baseball.
"I am passionate because my blood won't leave me alone."
You can hear the television and I become the dialogue.
I become the words and the music and the nodding head.
from your hand and its diagonal crash upon the carpet.
I become the carbonated breaths and candied eyes.
I become John Dillinger dancing like Fred Astaire.
I become all of the eyes that have ever cried over you.
I become all of the skies that have ever blued over you.
I become a river of violet, a river of violins, a river of violence.
I become green become green become green become blue.
that listen to too much talk radio and use books as doorstops.
screen doors and silver-scented salamanders.
toes digging into the still warm body of John the Baptist.
I become the blinking digital clock and the loudest alarm.
when you thought you've forgotten it.
"I'm Jeremiah Walton. I'm 20, from N.H., and run traveling pop-up bookstore Books & Shovels. I founded Nostrovia! in 2011, & co-manage it while on the road, performing at open mics / slams / festivals / & street corners across the country."
Michele Seminara lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and three children. She has been practising and teaching yoga, Buddhism and meditation for fifteen years. Her writing has been published in many online and print journals, and she was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her passions are emptiness (the Buddhist kind) and poetry. Michele is on twitter @SeminaraMichele.
***a found poem sourced from Marguerite Duras's "The Lover"
***an erasure poem created from Djuna Barnes's "Nightwood"
Ashlee Beals is 20 year old musician, comic artist, and occasional poet living in Berkeley, California.
"I'm passionate because that's what the world needs- people who are mad to live and do the things they long to do in the world. There are so many people who don't let themselves be passionate about things because they're afraid of failing. I want to reach other human beings and change things, and you can't do that by being half-assed about what you're doing."
inside of me will begin to unravel, a spreading warmth taking its place.
One single thread lingering, you at the other end.
so many more left that he'll be around.
Tonight I am too many shots and a busted heart.
out of place but nobody can quite figure out why.
and then out into another.


If you're someone planning to renovate a home or buy a car and happen to be short on funds, you have probably done the groundwork to find out the best financial tool for the purpose. And needless to say, anybody would agree that secured loans are the best go-to option rather than other forms of fund generations such as help from friends, or even bootstrapping. This is especially because secured loans come with a slew of benefits that are hard to avoid.
Here are seven reasons why we think you should consider taking a secured loan.
This is probably the biggest advantage that a secured loan can give you. This is also because you will be pledging your asset as collateral against the loan secured. Since it means lesser risk for the lender, it translates as a benefit for you as well in the form of lower interest rate. Not to mention that secured loans come with a higher chance of approval as compared to other forms of loans.
The reason why your secured loan gets processed fast is also due to the same reason: less risk for the lender. While other options like unsecured loans may have to go through really tight eligibility checks, only the market value of your collateral needs to be assessed when it comes to secured loans. So you can rest assured that you don't have to break a sweat too much for your financial goals to come true this way.
Usually, the tenure of a secured loan is longer. This means two things: smaller EMIs and easy repayments: both for you. Not to mention that you have the facility to make overpayments, pay the loan off in full without penalty. Who wouldn't love to have a peace of mind without having to constantly worry about huge monthly payments to the bank?
In order to avail a secured loan, it's a no-brainer that you'll be pledging a valuable asset of yours. Doesn't it behove that you also have some say when negotiating with the lender? It does. Not only does it give you the option to scout for a lender who will give the maximum amount against your collateral, but it will also give you the option of negotiating the interest rates as well. Good enough reason for a secured loan, you think?
Since the value of the loan you receive is predominantly based on the collateral you pledge, you will have the option to get really huge amounts when going for a secured loan. This means that even if your business is new or its value not big, you'll be able to avail a huge sum based on the value that your collateral fetches.
A vital factor that has a say in you getting a secured loan is your collateral value. While lenders may be stringent in checking your past credit behaviour in unsecured loans, here the lenders are going to be a bit generous. This is again only because you're liable to go into foreclosure and lose the property to the lender in case of a loan default. With proper knowledge and help from an experienced independent broker, a secured loan offers a great way to raise finance and provides a perfect opportunity to remortgage as well.
Just imagine the possibilities of what you can do with the loan that you take on your residential home or on a BTL house. Refurbishing your home, consolidating outgoings into one monthly repayment, paying your children's tuition, wedding expenses, paying off your tax bills, expanding your property portfolio, buying your favourite car, the list can go on.
Now that you know secured loans are the way to go, you don't have to worry about finding the best deals out there. At GPS Finance, we've had the opportunity to nurture hundreds of dreams to reality with our expert secured loan services. Tell us how we can be of help to you at www.gpsfinance.co.uk!


text:
Okres Drawsko (polsky Powiat drawski) je okres v polském Západopomořanském vojvodství. Rozlohu má 1764,25 km² a v roce 2009 zde žilo 57 454 obyvatel. Sídlem správy okresu je město Drawsko Pomorskie.

Geografie
Na západě sousedí s okresy Stargard a Łobez, na severu s okresem Świdwin, na severovýchodě s okresem Szczecinek, na východě s Velkopolským vojvodstvím (okres Złotów), na jihovýchodě s okresem Wałcz a na jihozápadě s okresem Choszczno.

Gminy
Městsko-vesnické
Czaplinek, Drawsko Pomorskie, Kalisz Pomorski, Złocieniec

Vesnické
Ostrowice, Wierzchowo

Města
Czaplinek, Drawsko Pomorskie, Kalisz Pomorski, Złocieniec

Externí odkazy

Drawsko

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Sierra Leone coach John Keister has announced his squad for this month's Africa Cup of Nations qualifying back-to-back games against Ghana.
The 21-man roster is headlined by striker Kei Kamara, who plies his trade with Major League Soccer club Vancouver Whitecaps.
FC Zurich defender Umaru Bangura makes a return to the side after being forced out of last month's clash with Ethiopia by injury.
Young goalkeeper Alhaji Sesay of English lower division outfit Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers right-back Osman Kakay have also been called up.
Keister's side are set to play away to Ghana on October 11 before returning home for the second leg four days later.
Like the other three teams in Group F, the Leone Stars have three points to their name ahead of matchday three's round of games.


text:
Troubling Women's Studies
Pasts, Presents and Possibilities
By Ann Braithwaite, Susan Heald, Susanne Luhmann, Sharon Rosenberg
Feminist Theory and Politics / Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies / Sociology / Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
The four essays in this collection present a multifaceted conversation about what is at stake in "passing on" the institutionalized project of Women's Studies at this historic moment. The authors come to this conversation from a diversity of histories, commitments and investments in Women's Studies. Framed by the argument that Women's Studies is a project fraught with uncertainty, the authors explore what it means to live within this uncertainty and how one might respond to it intellectually, emotionally, politically, institutionally and pedagogically. In exploring their own responses and taking into consideration responses from other feminist intellectuals, the authors subject their practices to the same kind of academic critique to which they subject the discipline, its location, theories, methods and pedagogies. The purpose of these essays is not to enact these responses nor to fix a firm direction for the future of the discipline; but rather, by looking back and attending to the now, inspire us to grapple with what might be possible.
Introduction: "Passing On" Women's Studies" - Susan Heald, Susanne Luhmann, Ann Braithwaite and Sharon Rosenberg
"Just My Opinion?" Women's Studies, Autobiography and the University - Susan Heald
"Where We've Been" and "Where We're Going": Reflecting on Reflections of Women's Studies/Women's Movement(s) - Ann Braithwaite
Trying Times for Women's Studies: Lost Pasts, Ambivalent Presents and Predetermined Futures - Susanne Luhmann
At Women's Studies Edge: Thoughts towards Remembering a Troubled and Troubling Project of the Modern University - Sharon Rosenberg


The Sam James cowl is a very desirable modification for RV-6's, 7 & 8's. I purchased this cowl before they were "officially" released for production and general sale. I expect that many RV-10 builders will opt for this modification once there are planes flying with round inlets.
I am fortunate that my build started as kit # 570 as early builders had to assemble to exact plans due to very few aftermarket products for the RV-10 market. Because of the early sales & performance success there are many small vendors creating aftermarket items specifically for the -10 market.
I choose the SJ Cowl and Plenum based on it's significant benefit in both aerodynamics and engine cooling characters experienced on the 6's, 7's & 8's. Plus the cowls look so much cooler than the Vans factory cowl. To date there is no empirical evidence that this cowl is an improvement however I am sure adding the SJ Plenum will be a big help in controlling cylinder head & exhaust gas temperatures (CHT/EGT). If you take a close look at Cirrus, Columbia and even the yet to be released Cessna 210 replacement they all use round air inlets vs. the oval/rectangle that Vans still employs. I don't know if there is anything sexier than a SJ Cowl on a military painted RV-8 with a 3 blade prop. Next project???


text:
Dec. 13, 2012, 11 a.m.
Spark Camp's Big Ideas of 2012
Better (not second) screens, document clustering, and mobile-native news: Some of Spark Camp's big ideas of 2012
Amy Webb, Scott Klein, and Jim Frederick share some of the big ideas they'll take away from the year.
By Spark Camp @sparkcamp Dec. 13, 2012, 11 a.m.
Editor's Note: What were the most interesting and provocative ideas in journalism in 2012? We're partnering with Spark Camp to produce a special end-of-year series to ask a group of smart people — Spark Camp's alumni — that question. (Learn more about Spark Camp at the first post in this series.) Here are thoughts from:
— Amy Webb, a Spark Camp co-founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency. Her new book, Data, A Love Story: How I Gamed Online Dating To Meet My Mate, will be out on January 31.
— Scott Klein, editor of news applications at ProPublica, where he directs a team of journalist/programmers building large interactive software projects that tell journalistic stories. Scott is also co-founder of DocumentCloud.
— Jim Frederick, editor of Time International. Jim oversees all of Time's international news coverage appearing in Time's four global editions, on Time.com, and across its other digital and mobile platforms. He is co-author of The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial and 40-Year Imprisonment in North Korea and author of Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death.
Video was what everyone talked about last year, and it will continue to be an important topic in 2013. By the end of 2012, 72 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube alone every minute. We're obsessed with creating video — but do we care as much about watching it?
Some media organizations think so, and they spent tremendous resources last year experimenting with new ways to distribute video content. Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC Universal, New York magazine…I can't think of a single major media outlet that wasn't pushing video in 2012.
One of my favorite projects was the smartly-designed HBO GO, which does a lot of things but is most useful when delivering helpful content during time-shifted viewing. I'd argue that HBO's "Game of Thrones" is nearly unwatchable on my living room television — but when viewed through the HBO GO I'm able to get the critical details about the show's many, many characters who are inexplicably left out of the storyline. (Like, who's this new guy in a lion cloth, and why is everyone so mad at him?)
It brings to mind ongoing conversations about second screens. Why build a second screen experience at all? What we really need is a better screen. HuffPost Live may not have launched brilliant (or sometimes even comprehensible) commentary this year, but the dashboard offers an interesting alternative to traditional broadcast news. So does Fora.tv.
The news cycle is fickle, and broadcast journalists often subject viewers to an echo chamber of buzzwords. (Where, exactly, is this fiscal cliff?) If we must truncate public discourse while a story is active over a period of weeks or months, then news orgs should at least offer viewers the opportunity to get more information from them. If not, the video they're streaming live or putting into elaborate online players will only cause consumers to leave that news site for Wikipedia to learn that the fiscal cliff is a "number of laws that (if unchanged) could result in tax increases, spending cuts, and a corresponding reduction in the US budget deficit beginning in 2013."
Scott Klein
In 2012, as part of our Message Machine project, we started using new (to us) techniques like topic modeling, document clustering, and machine learning. We found these tools to be hugely useful and very powerful, and enable bigger assignments than we ever thought possible, like adding structure to very large sets of unstructured text.
We had conversations with academic computer scientists to make sure we were getting the math right and using the right tool for the job. Out of those conversations came a pretty simple observation: Computer scientists have great tools but sometimes boring data (there's a lot of Twitter firehose out there) and data journalists have great data but aren't using the latest techniques to analyze it. Perhaps most tantalizing: One computer scientist, who was a bit surprised that journalists only pursue a single story at a time when analyzing data, suggested that academic CS can even provide journalists "hypothesis generation at scale."
The missing piece, which it's our endeavor to help develop next year, is the "middleware" between the two disciplines. We need a matching service and coordination assistance so CS folks and data journalists can find each other, and some mechanism by which the collaborations can yield the best, most widely applicable, results.
Jim Frederick
Most mobile sites are still just websites scrunched onto a tiny screen. This is like when TV was new and anchors just read newspaper stories, or when the web was new and sites just posted static articles. Now we're finally getting serious attempts to exploit mobile as a unique medium and create news that is created exclusively for it rather than as a port from a legacy system.
So we have attempts to understand "what is news?" almost in its most elemental sense, to break it down to its atoms so that it can be consumed and shared in far smaller chunks than ever before — but in ways that are still satisfying, both on the go and on an small screen. It's going to take a lot of work before anybody gets it right, but the Circa iPhone app is the best first try I have seen at this.
POSTED Dec. 13, 2012, 11 a.m.
PART OF A SERIES Spark Camp's Big Ideas of 2012
document clustering
Fora.tv
HuffPost Live
Message Machine
mobile-native
topic modeling
Camp, Spark. "Better (not second) screens, document clustering, and mobile-native news: Some of Spark Camp's big ideas of 2012." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Jul. 2019.
Camp, S. (2012, Dec. 13). Better (not second) screens, document clustering, and mobile-native news: Some of Spark Camp's big ideas of 2012. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved July 19, 2019, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2012/12/better-not-second-screens-document-clustering-and-mobile-native-news-some-of-spark-camps-big-ideas-of-2012/
Camp, Spark. "Better (not second) screens, document clustering, and mobile-native news: Some of Spark Camp's big ideas of 2012." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified December 13, 2012. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://www.niemanlab.org/2012/12/better-not-second-screens-document-clustering-and-mobile-native-news-some-of-spark-camps-big-ideas-of-2012/.
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A school is bucking the norm and getting more kids to read.
Gym is usually the loudest class at Kay Carl Elementary School. This year students run, dribble, and jump in what used to be the quietest space in the entire building: the library.
"When the kids came this year it was kind of shock. It was where's library?" said Yancey Tisdale, the physical education teacher at Kay Carl Elementary School.
Tisdale and some volunteers spent their entire summer switching the rooms for the library and the gym. It meant moving thousands of books, putting up a new wall, and redoing the floors.
"They were a mighty group, a small mighty group, that was able to perform miracles," said Brenda Swann, the principal at Kay Carl Elementary School.
They've also implemented some new policies. Now they keep the library open half an hour after school closes and kids with overdue books are allowed to keep borrowing. Bottom line, the principal says more kids are reading.
On the other hand, with the bigger indoor area plus the attached shaded courtyard weather never dampens physical education time.
"I go to meetings and the first thing they say is, 'God, you are living the dream over there, we need what you have over there,'" said Tisdale.
Many Clark County School District elementary schools are built on the same template. Maybe more will start breaking the mold.


Welcome to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
I am delighted to be with you and to be opening this Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries, or LLDCs, in Asia and Europe. I am pleased we can make common cause in our efforts to support the integration of landlocked developing countries into the global economy.
When considering how we do so, it is important to acknowledge these countries' diversity. Different economic systems, natural resource endowment and levels of development make for a heterogenous group. Yet landlocked developing countries do face a common set of challenges.
Due to geographical constraints, these economies face rising transaction and transport costs. This impacts negatively on the competitiveness of their manufacturing sector, prevents structural economic transformation, and stands in the way of the regular productivity improvements which countries depend on to move up global value chains. Put simply, being landlocked makes it harder to effectively access the global economy.
Asia's LLDCs global merchandise exports is lower than the international average and has decreased in recent years. Exports remain highly concentrated in a few commodities, something which has not changed since 2000. This means structural economic transformation is not occurring rapidly enough to diversify exports or ensure competitiveness in a fast-moving international market place.
The Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for 2014-2024 was developed with these challenges in mind. Its comprehensive review lies in your hands, but I would like to briefly touch on areas where progress has been made in Asia and the Pacific.
There have been encouraging developments in transit polices, and infrastructure development and maintenance. Intergovernmental agreements on the Asian Highway Network, the Trans-Asian Railway Network, and on Dry Ports have provided impetus to the planning, development and maintenance of transport infrastructure essential for further intraregional trade. ESCAP's recently agreed digital trade treaty should effectively complement this hard infrastructure to support the electronic exchange of data and documents for smoother commercial exchanges.
ESCAP has also driven forward norm setting and policy advisory work of which a central objective is to provide support for our region's LLDCs.
The Intergovernmental Agreement on International Road Transport along the Asian Highway Network between China, Mongolia and the Russian Federation grants traffic rights for international road transport operations on the sections of the Asia Highway connecting these countries, reducing transport costs.
A clear mandate has been given for work to enhance the access of LLDCs to the sea through international railway networks – with a focus on supporting the electronic exchange of information between railway operators and harmonising customs formalities to make the transport of freight by rail more cost effective.
Many LLDCs in our region have strengthened their efforts to support the soft infrastructure required to facilitate trade - and attract the investment, finance, technology and services needed to improve productive capacity. Eight of the twelve LLDCs in Asia and the Pacific are members of the World Trade Organisation. Kazakhstan and Afghanistan have joined since the Vienna Progamme of Action was adopted. The implementation of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement measures is under way and the rate of implementation is commendable.
All these efforts should contribute to strengthening LLDCs' connectivity and integration into the region's economy. Yet there remains great potential to deepen this integration by harmonising policies to improve transit connectivity and support the creation of regional markets.
The midterm review of the implementation Vienna Programme of Action provides a valuable opportunity to take stock, share best practice and develop recommendations to strengthen the hard and soft infrastructure needed to quicken the pace of economic integration for LLDCs.
The United National Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is committed to working with all landlocked developing countries, transit countries and international organisations to see the Vienna Programme of Action fully implemented. We are looking forward to hearing more about the initiatives and innovative approaches which many of you have worked on. My hope is that we can build on these to agree tangible recommendations to accelerate progress and shape the deliberations of the global midterm review of the Vienna Programme of Action.
Thank you for your attention. I wish you successful deliberations.


text:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/did-trumponomics-get-a-boost-from-comey-1497023818
Wall Street's Best Minds
Did Trumponomics Get a Boost From Comey?
Greg Valliere
The Rorschach inkblot that was the James Comey hearings gave everyone a chance to believe their own narratives prevailed, but we have to conclude that Trump supporters have solid reasons to be relieved this morning.
[Editor's Note: Clearly stock investors were relieved. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed slightly up Thursday. Stocks also gained modest ground on Wednesday after an advance copy of Comey's prepared remarks appeared on the website of the Senate Intelligence Committee.]
1. President Trump said he "hoped" James Comey would drop the Michael Flynn probe. Basing an obstruction of justice case on "hope" is pretty thin gruel; neither the House nor the Senate is remotely closer to ousting Trump, based on what transpired yesterday.
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2. Comey is a leaker. How ironic -- this was the hearing's smoking gun, a revelation that gave Trump's supporters the ammunition they needed against the Washington swamp. Conservative talk radio got a bloody shirt to wave -- Comey was the leaker, and the press, of course, accepts all leaks without questioning motives.
3. Trump wasn't under investigation after all, as Comey verified.
The Democrats got little new and now have to wait for months before Robert Mueller's findings undoubtedly will revive an argument about obstruction of justice. But the Russia scandal hardly will disappear; the focus will shift to Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Jeff Sessions, etc. And you can be sure there will be leaks and more leaks.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR TRUMP'S AGENDA? Assuming Trump can refrain from outrageous tweets, he has a chance to solidify his support within the GOP; most Republicans will stick with him, because they don't dare to repudiate the Trump base. And his base is invigorated by proof that Comey is a leaker with an agenda.
THE BIG FIVE AGENDA ITEMS: 1.) Tax reform is grinding forward; it's way too premature to write an obituary for this centerpiece issue. 2.) Health reform isn't dead but there's a new issue emerging -- increasing federal subsidies to health insurers. 3.) Infrastructure is a story for 2018 or 2019. 4.) Dramatic Dodd-Frank reform passed in the House but has no chance to win 60 votes in the Senate. 5.) And then there are budget issues . . .
RAISING THE DEBT CEILING may not have the sizzle of a Comey hearing, but it's a very big deal, and will gobble up precious time later this summer. Conservative House Freedom Caucus members are adamant that they won't vote to raise the debt ceiling without fresh spending cuts and budget reform, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wants a clean bill.
TIRED OF COMEY OVERKILL? Well, get ready for debt ceiling overkill -- it's good for ratings and it sells newspapers to warn that the U.S. could default on its debt. That won't happen, of course, but the deal to avoid it will give Nancy Pelosi an opening for more spending and will sorely test the Trump administration's ability to govern. The jury is still out on whether Trump can govern -- and the jury is definitely still out on what Robert Mueller may do months from now. He's the wild card, not James Comey.
Valliere is the Washington-based chief global strategist with Horizon Investments.