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Our world-leading ETS actually hikes hydro
May 2, 2012 10:40 pm \ 21 Comments \ by Richard Treadgold
Bluff aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point. This is about as far south as you can get in the South Island. If you insist on continuing and miss Stewart Island, the next stop is Antarctica. Beautiful spot. In silent witness to the smelter's status as the country's largest single electricity consumer, note not one but two rows of high-voltage transmission towers marching up to the door. Anywhere else, such towers would lead you to a major city. Tiwai Pt uses 15% of the country's entire production of electricity — substantially more than Auckland's central business district.
The Bluff aluminium smelter has won an award from a xenophobe group for milking the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme). That's interesting by itself, however the award draws our attention for the unexpected proof it provides of a little-known, hidden effect of the ETS: instead of penalising carbon dioxide "polluters" at source while making wind and solar seem cheaper, it actually increases the cost of all generators by creating windfall profits for them.
It's a testament to years of calculated deception of the electorate and a recipe for ruin.
The ETS was intended to apply a "carbon price" to thermal power generation (using coal, oil or gas) for what are thought to be its dangerous, polluting emissions of carbon dioxide. The ETS, or carbon tax, is also applied to geothermal generation because of the carbon dioxide it releases — despite the fact that most people consider geothermal just as renewable as wind or solar power (but not so the guardians of our national carbon footprint).
The stated intention of the ETS was to provide a financial incentive for operators of these "polluting" power plants to "save" the planet. But that was a smoke-screen, a mere gaseous concealment. The real purpose was fund-raising and along the way some of the worst examples of pork-barrel politics since the Wild West.
The Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation operating in New Zealand has run annually since 1997. It is organised by CAFCA and GATT Watchdog, both Christchurch-based groups.
So says the web site of CAFCA (Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa), whom I've never heard of and who seem overly concerned, even obsessed, with being told what to do by people they don't know. Perhaps if I read some of their material I'd form a different view, but who knows?
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd/Rio Tinto Alcan NZ Ltd (NZAS) (previously Comalco) had been nominated for this strange "Roger Award" for lobbying two governments over several years to secure excessive allocations of free emissions units under the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
CAFCA judged NZAS the winner, saying:
"Between July 1 and December 31, 2010, NZAS was allocated 210,421 free emissions units yet only had to surrender 156,147. This adds up to a new gain of 24,274 free emissions units worth $759,836. [The arithmetic here is faulty and the gain is actually 54,274 units; I don't know if this affects the value – RT] In this regard it appears that NZAS has already been secretly compensated for any electricity price increases associated with the emissions trading scheme. Since this was written, the nominator, at the request of the judges, used the Official Information Act, and has advised that NZAS were provisionally allocated 423,047 New Zealand Units for 2011."
The judges report also said:
"New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd (NZAS) has effectively undermined the purposes of the carbon emissions trading scheme… the New Zealand taxpayer is subsidising a transnational corporate rort of the emissions trading scheme. NZAS has, effectively, abrogated any responsibility to mitigate the incidence of anthropogenic global warming… a major transnational player within New Zealand materially benefits from its non-compliance with a strategy to reduce global climate change…"
But Rio Tinto draws all its electricity from hydro sources, mainly Manapouri. Why, then, did MfE expect the smelter to need compensation against "electricity price increases associated with the ETS" – when the ETS (everybody assumes) only taxes fuels which emit carbon dioxide?
CORRECTION Because, by the way the ETS distorts the spot-price auction system, Because the spot-price auction system lets the highest bid (usually from thermal generation) set the price of electricity. The ETS lifts expectations for all generators because they know it penalises carbon, so the prices of all forms of generation, including wind and hydro, increase. And all the power companies earn "windfall profits."
[There's a good explanation of spot prices in this NZ government Climate Change document (pdf).]
Our world-leading ETS pushes up the price even of clean, "ethical" energy like wind and hydro, and thus average Kiwis provide generous compensation through their power bills to generators and their major corporate customers like Rio Tinto for saving the Earth.
Hurrah.
Posted in: General \ Tagged: CAFCA, Energy supply, ETS, Rio Tinto Alacn
21 Thoughts on "Our world-leading ETS actually hikes hydro"
Alexander K on May 3, 2012 at 9:38 am said:
Of course the ETS pushes up the price of electricity to the private consumer – is that not one of it's design parameters? It is an applied piece of lunacy, written by a committee with a completely warped view of the real world.
Richard Treadgold on May 3, 2012 at 9:50 am said:
Absolutely right, sir. But it's obvious our fellow citizens haven't heard the unexpected fact that the ETS pushes up the price even of wind and hydro. Once the Green Party, Greenpeace and their many loyal environmentalists throughout the land get a whiff of the truth, then we'll see a mighty people's push to put the amazing unintended distortion to rights.
Or ordinary sensible people will learn of it and lobby the gummint for change.
Andy on May 3, 2012 at 7:05 pm said:
I am not sure if you are being ironic here Richard. Persumably the Greens are more that happy for the public to be taxed more on everything. It is part of their political philosophy.
We need more tax to pay for otherwise unemployable eco-activists, like this one who appeared on the ABC recently
http://youtu.be/yGYW7IEIirk
Richard Treadgold on May 3, 2012 at 7:28 pm said:
I was being ironic in suggesting the greens might rush to change things, however it's my understanding that they promote wind and hydro, especially, as being better for society both because they're cheaper and for environmental reasons. Although I've just remembered I heard recently the greens oppose new hydro schemes, and they do drown valleys, so my view could be out of date.
I think the Greens are in general against Hydro. There are many instances where they have objected to hydro schemes, but they never object to wind projects.
Patrick Moore, in Greenpeace Dropout, describes Greenpeace's anti-hydro stance
There are some hydro schemes that are undoubtedly sensitive, The proposed Mokinui scheme on the West Coast springs to mind. However, the backbone of NZ's hydro electricity system, the Waitaki scheme, is a marvel of modern engineering, and the environmental impacts are relatively benign. (No doubt there are issues with the lack of water in the runoff rivers, but big valleys weren't flooded to make these schemes.)
Wind seems to have taken on some kind of religious symbolism with the greens. Maybe the turbines represent an eco-crucifix, or perhaps the wanton desecration of iconic landscapes is some kind of eco-thuggery that appeals to the fascist nature of the followers of this cult.
Paul on May 4, 2012 at 7:26 pm said:
As a matter of interest the Greens did oppose the Turitea wind farm.
http://turiteadocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/479palmerstonnorthbranchgreenpartyaotearoanz.pdf
The scandalous saga of the Turitea wind farm is covered here.
http://nzwindfarms.wordpress.com/
Ron on May 3, 2012 at 10:19 am said:
ETS lunacy indeed.
Submissions on NZ govt changes to ETS close next week
http://www.climatechange.govt.nz/consultation/ets/
It is at least good to see the climate change activists suffering a rebuff here
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/207771/court-will-not-consider-climate-change
Mike Jowsey on May 3, 2012 at 2:31 pm said:
From the ODT article:
Forest and Bird said the decision "ignores serious threats of climate change" and it was considering appealing it. Forest and Bird Top of the South field officer Debs Martin said climate change was the single biggest threat….
So Debs Martin – obviously a CAGW alarmist/activist/evangelist – wants to spend more tax dollars, wrung out of hardworking small businesses and wage earners, on appealing a judge's very sane decision to stick to the immediate environmental impacts of the Bathurst operation rather than get bogged down on what effect if any burning coal in China may have on the West Coast forest and bird environment.
Slightly off topic, but the so called drought in the uk is causing some fun in the public eye. It has been raining for a month, yet the BBC told us last night it is the " wrong kind of rain "
Everyone knows, including the cleaner, that it is lack of investment in infrastructure that is the problem, and that thiere is a political agenda to control, ration, and charge for water.
ChrisM on May 3, 2012 at 9:51 pm said:
A leading light in CAFCA is Murray Horton who has been protesting against anything capitalist since the 70s. This is only the latest of a long line of his re-incarnations.
Without debating the ETS per se, aluminium production produces a lot of CO2 from the carbon anodes. From memory, it is about 2 tonne for every ton of metal and Tiwai make quarter of a million tonnes of metal a year.
Anyway: if they succeed in closing Tiwai, the bauxite will just go to India or stay in Australia and be smelted by coal produced power. Together with the extra unemployment in Southland, this would seem a real own goal.
Richard Treadgold on May 3, 2012 at 10:01 pm said:
"protesting against anything capitalist" — yes, I noticed much of a socialist flavour at the CAFCA web site.
It's a lot of CO2, but it will be processed somewhere. We should go harder on the power price, but not so hard we let the smelter go.
Andy on May 4, 2012 at 12:21 am said:
The expression CAFCAesque springs to mind
Andy on May 3, 2012 at 10:43 pm said:
I remember hearing Laila Harre (now with the Greens) talking about this on the radio some years ago.
She was discussing with another commenter who was complaining that Tiwai would move to another country, so what's the point?
Her response, in that irritating squeak of a voice of hers, was that we would be "fulfilling our obligations to the Kyoto Protocol", which she repeated several times. I could almost hear the other guy pulling his hair out in exasperation.
PeterM on May 3, 2012 at 11:14 pm said:
The Greens are very good at wrecking things. From wiki 'Environmental protests by the Save Manapouri Campaign, against the planned raising of lake levels to feed the station, galvanised New Zealanders and were one of the foundations of the New Zealand environmental movement.' So only half a power station was built. So the foreign exchange earnings is also halved. The Greens and Labour favour a stronger ETS and are opposed to asset sales. This from Federated Farmers – Federated Farmers has used the Crafar Farm sale to highlight the loss of productive agricultural land in New Zealand.
President Bruce Wills says the sale causes a minimal threat to New Zealand agriculture, when compared with the expansion of forestry.
He says 13,000 hectares of dairy land have been sold to foreign buyers since 2002, but in the same period, 1.78 million hectares of forestry have been sold to overseas investors.
Bulaman on May 4, 2012 at 7:52 pm said:
It is mostly only cutting rights that have been sold. The Overseas "owners" pay a land rental of 7 percent of the unimproved land value per annum and most of that money is in trust for treaty settlements.
Even in 1999 72% of forestry land was foreign owned (http://keithwoodford.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/foreign-ownership-of-land/#more-169). The ETS is really a transfer of money to the forestry sector. Also refer to NZCPR – a New Carbon Tax and the Great Green Wash.
Huub Bakker on May 5, 2012 at 12:27 pm said:
Because, by the way the ETS distorts the spot-price auction system, all forms of generation, including wind and hydro, are more expensive. And all the power companies earn "windfall profits."
It would be good to get some hard evidence of this Richard. Any chance of doing so?
Richard Treadgold on May 6, 2012 at 11:34 am said:
My apologies, Huub (and everyone else), I slightly mis-stated this. I'll apply a correction in the post.
This post has been picked up by the NZCPR.
On the Greens' attitude to power prices: I agree they want them all to rise. They don't care about making our lives more abundant. We're a cancer on the earth, after all.
Robin Pittwood on May 14, 2012 at 7:25 pm said:
I noticed an article today in Energy News "New survey tests market on renewables, smart grid, Huntly retirement, Brownlee reforms". I suggest you and your friends might like to take a look. Here's the link, but I think you might need to register to see the article.
http://www.energynews.co.nz/news/renewables/8905/new-survey-tests-market-on-renewables-smart-grid-huntly-retirement-brownlee-ref
The thing that struck me is the retirement of Huntly. That is one large station. Without it NZ is more likely to have shortages and therefore the spot market could go very high. The winners on these occasions are the generators. It seems like market manipulation to me.
Mack on Argo floats improve temperature readings


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EDITORIAL: Follow legal provisions
By The Himalayan Times
Published: 08:52 am Jul 23, 2019
The Himalayan Times logo
While Nepal welcomes foreign investment, it must be borne in mind that there are rules and regulations to follow here just as in the land of the investors
Following a parliamentary sub-committee's report suggesting the government scrap a land-lease deal with Huaxin Cement Narayani, which is coming up with a big cement factory in Dhading, the Chinese company is in a quandary. And this problem would not have surfaced had all the stakeholders pushing for the cement factory followed the law of the land. The report of the sub-committee of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has questioned if Benighat Rorang Rural Municipality had the legal mandate to lease some 200 ropanis of public land to the cement company for a period of 50 years to build its plant. The PAC sub-committee has also found that the company did not carry out the initial environmental examination (IEE) as required to see if the project harmed the environment. This apart, the sub-panel has concluded that the company has breached nearly all of the legal provisions while executing the project. It has flouted requirements about pollution control, road construction, compensation to those affected and employment to the locals, among others. The sub-panel has submitted its report to the PAC, which will be presented at the full committee meeting to take a decision on what action to take against the company.
The cement company would not have hogged the limelight had the recent floods not caused extensive damage worth more than a billion rupees at the construction site. The structure is coming up on an area of 500 ropanis of land at Panikharka in Dhading — 300 ropanis that had turned to waste land during the 1993 floods plus another 200 ropanis that it has leased from the rural municipality. Had an environmental study of the place been conducted, it might have dawned on the company that the river bank was not a suitable place for building the cement plant, prone as it is to annual floods. It is apparent that the cement manufacturer would not have dared flout the existing rules and regulations if there had not been the backing and self-interest of the local politicians, many of whom are from the ruling party. The cement plant has jacked up land prices while boosting local industry, such as the crusher plant. The company is erecting the plant at a cost of Rs 15 billion to produce 3,000 tonnes of cement daily.
While Nepal welcomes foreign investment in different sectors of the economy, it must be borne in mind that there are rules and regulations to follow here just as in the land of the investors. Investment Board Nepal, which facilitates upscale investments in the country, must see to it that the investors follow the rules from the time of the registration of their company. Otherwise, this will only encourage others to flout the rules. To attract FDI, the concerned bodies must create a hassle-free environment for the investor so that he does not have to seek the patronage of petty politicians. One big complaint of foreign investors is that it is a nightmare finding a large piece of land to start a venture in Nepal. It is for the central government to coordinate with the provincial and local governments to make it available easily so that this does not become a problem for the investor when a project is half-way through.
Mitigation plan
Lawmakers pay a visit to the disaster-affected areas as a ritual without any plans. A five-member team of the National Assembly, led by NA chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, paid a visit to Rautahat, the district worst affected by the recent floods, which affected as many as 70,000 houses. The team inspected the dams built on the Lalbakaiya and Bagmati rivers and an Indian-built dam adjacent to Gaur Municipality. They also took stock of the situation with the locals and security officials, who are struggling to provide relief to the affected families.
This is not the first time that floods have wreaked havoc in the Tarai. It occurs every year during the monsoon season. But the government remains indifferent to framing a mitigation plan. The immediate relief and rescue operation is not going to solve this problem unless the three tiers of the government work together. Instead of visiting the flood-affected areas, it would be better if they start discussing in Parliament about ways to mitigate the natural disasters. If the problem of natural disasters is not addressed properly, people will be forced to live in a vicious cycle of poverty, causing huge loss to the national economy.
#National economy #Public Accounts Committee #National Assembly #Gaur Municipality #PAC #legal provisions #Initial Environmental Examination #IEE #Mitigation plan #Huaxin Cement Narayani #land-lease deal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Posted on May 5, 2017 by Anne Seabrook
Richard was the son of Edward, the Black Prince and Joan of Kent, and the grandson of Edward III.
He was born at the Archbishop's Palace in Bordeaux, Aquitaine on 6 January 1367. He was to be known as Richard of Bordeaux.
As Richard was a second son, he was not expected to take the throne, but following the deaths of his elder brother Edward in 1371 and his father the Black Prince in 1376, he became heir to the English throne.
The following year his grandfather, the king died and Richard at the age of ten was crowned King of England on 13 July 1377.
Reign 1377 – 1399
Due to Richard's age the government was managed by a series of councils however his uncle, John of Gaunt held great influence over the throne.
The first major challenge of Richard's reign was the Peasants Revolt in 1381. This was caused by the implementation of the Poll Tax in 1380. The people had already been taxed greatly to fund unsuccessful military expeditions abroad and this further Poll Tax was to cause the people to revolt.
Richard knew he was in a difficult position and decided to negotiate with the rebel's leader Wat Tyler, but even though agreements were reached the rebels continued with their looting and killing. Following the murder of Wat Tyler, the atmosphere of the rebellion intensified, but Richard offered clemency to the rebels and allowed them to return to their homes.
On 20 January 1382 Richard, at the age of fifteen married Anne of Bohemia. This was a political union, but turned into a happy yet childless marriage and Richard was deeply upset when she died in 1394.
Richard was to marry for political reasons again in 1396. He married the six-year old daughter of King Charles VI of France to forge peace with France.
In the early years of his reign, Richard formed a close circle of friend but these were unpopular with the political elite in parliament.
A commission was formed named the Lords Appellant in 1386 to oversee the king's activities.
The members of this were:
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (Richard's uncle)
Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel
Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
These were later joined by:
Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby
Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham
The Lords Appellant had many of Richard's friends executed.
Following the deaths of his friends Richard agreed to work with the Lords Appellant while continuing to plot his revenge.
In July 1397, Richard had the Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of Arundel and the Earl of Warwick arrested. The Earl of Arundel was executed, the Duke of Gloucester was imprisoned and then murdered and the Earl of Warwick was exiled.
Richard knew that the House of Lancaster represented by John of Gaunt and Henry Bolingbroke were a great threat to him and in 1397 Richard exiled Henry Bolingbroke for ten years. He also exiled his Lords Appellant ally the Earl of Nottingham for life.
John of Gaunt died in February 1399 and Richard extended Henry Bolingbroke's French exile to life.
Richard, now feeling safe went on campaign to Ireland. While Richard was in Ireland, Henry Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire in June 1399 and drummed up support for himself with the Earl of Northumberland.
Richard returned from Ireland, landing in Wales on 24 July 1399, however he had lost popular support.
He entered negotiations with the Earl of Northumberland and then surrendered to Henry Bolingbroke and abdicated his throne.
Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV on 13 October 1399.
Richard was imprisoned in the Tower of London then moved to Pontefract Castle where he died.


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Dec 23, 2020 | News Releases
Serious concerns about architects are rare. On the limited occasions they do occur, as the UK regulator we are here to ensure standards, and therefore trust, in the profession is maintained. We hope the information published about conduct and competence decisions provides useful learning points for others.
On 14 December 2020 the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) issued Mr Milan Babic of Milan Babic Architects Ltd, London, with a reprimand following an admission of unacceptable professional conduct (UPC).
Mr Babic had been instructed to submit planning applications for proposals to develop a property owned by his client. Mr Babic was also instructed by the freeholder of the client's property to prepare drawings for the development of the property.
It was alleged that Mr Babic allowed a junior member of staff, who was not an architect, to prepare and submit the planning applications and that he failed to adequately supervise his employee. The applications in question were submitted with a number or errors; for example, the applicant was incorrect, and the address included in the application was incorrect, which resulted in the Council granting planning permission based on incorrect information.
Mr Babic agreed this amounted to UPC. He waived his right to have the case heard at a public hearing and agreed a decision could be made by the PCC on the basis of the papers alone.
In considering the case, the PCC noted Mr Babic's admission and insight into his failings, along with his good disciplinary history, while acknowledging the potential impact of his actions on the reputation of the profession. The PCC concluded there was a low risk of repetition and considered a reprimand to be the appropriate disciplinary order to impose.
A copy of the Consent Order can be found here.
• The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is the statutory body established by Parliament under the Architects Act 1997 to regulate the UK architects' profession in the public interest.
Among other duties, the Act requires ARB to:
– Maintain the Architects Register
– Prescribe the UK qualifications needed to become an architect in the UK
– Issue a code laying down the standards of professional conduct and practice expected of architects
– Investigate allegations of unacceptable professional conduct or serious professional incompetence
– Investigate and where appropriate prosecute unregistered individuals who unlawfully call themselves an architect
– Act as the UK's Competent Authority for architects
• ARB has a Board of 11 members all appointed by the Privy Council. This includes one lay, non-executive Chair and ten non-executive Board members made up of five members of the public and five architects.
• The PCC is established under Schedule 1, Part II of the Architects Act and is required to consider any report referred to it. The PCC determines whether an architect is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct or serious professional incompetence.
Where a guilty finding is made, the PCC will consider whether to make a disciplinary order, which means:
– a reprimand
– a penalty order
– a suspension order (to a maximum of 2 years); or
– an erasure order
• Money raised by fines imposed by the Professional Conduct Committee is paid to HM Treasury.
• Where an architect admits unacceptable professional conduct or serious professional incompetence and the proposed disciplinary sanction, the PCC can impose that penalty by consent, and without the need for a hearing.
• ARB has an Information Pack detailing its key messaging intended for use by the press and other stakeholders.
For further information please contact media@arb.or.uk or 020 7580 5861.


We will meet up at the Brat Stop. It's about a 20 minute drive to the track so it's perfect place to meet even if you're coming from a different direction. Meeting time will be noon. We'll grab a bite to eat and head up. Some of those coming mentioned they will try inviting friends (we might even have a Nissan GT-R tagging along with us) so this is definitely an open event, invite whoever you wish!
if you hit directions and just type in "Greatlakes Dragway" google will give you directions straight to the track.
There are also 2 confirmed Vag-Coms that will be in attendance if anyone needs programming done.
(This was originally posted on GolfMkV forums and is on Vortex too).


Real World Math is a collection of free math activities for Google Earth designed for students and educators. Mathematics is much more than a set of problems in a textbook. In the virtual world of Google Earth, concepts and challenges can be presented in a meaningful way that portray the usefulness of the ideas.
Living Math Book List is a fantastic site that introduces books (mostly fiction) for almost all math concepts. This is a great way to teach ELA standards in a math lesson or vice versa!
Dan Meyer's blog provides many real world problem solving challenges that involve Geometry and Algebra. His technique is a great model for real world math application.
Math is about more than just numbers and equations. Mathalicious lessons teach standards-based math through real-world topics that students care about.


HJI Technologies Review 2019: Is HJI Technologies a Good Hosting?
If you want a company to take your website all the way from initial design to final deployment and ongoing hosting, then HJI Technologies could be that company, but beware that this "full service" doesn't come cheap.
HJI Technologies was founded in 2014 with the motto, "A new, uncompromising experience." Thus, this hosting provider aims to provide a complete hosting service with the total peace of mind that means you can concentrate on your business rather than worrying about your hosting. You can either submit your own website design for HJI to build or get the team to design and develop your website from scratch.
HJI is not your average hosting service provider. It aims to take care of all your hosting needs from the design to the deployment of your website. Not only can you get a complete WordPress-powered website, but also the global CDN will ensure that is loads quickly. And the premium Jetpack subscription comes with SEO, performance optimization, website analytics, and WordPress themes and features that make it an excellent toolkit for any website.
The downside is the high price you pay for just 15 pages and 15 stock pictures. And with a WooCommerce plan, you're limited to a low number of users and a maximum number of sales, although at least your storage and bandwidth is unlimited.
You might get a slight shock when you first look at HJI 's high prices but bear in mind that this company is offering to design and host your website. Some of the things you get for free (which you might usually pay extra for) are a premium Jetpack subscription, CDN, SSL certificate, daily backups, proactive support, fully managed hosting, and ongoing consultancy.
The biggest price differentiator is whether you want HJI to implement your own website design or come up with one from scratch, although – either way – I still think the offerings are expensive unless you really want the convenience of not having to worry at all about managing your website.
For a website without all the hassle of day-to-day operations, HJI Technologies could be the design, development and hosting company for you. The only downside is that you have to pay the price for complete peace of mind.
Let HJI Technologies take the strain of making and managing your website.
Wondering how HJI Technologies stacks up against other Web Hosting companies? Enter any other Web Hosting company and we will give you a side-by-side comparison.


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Sometimes I think I'm real predictable to myself and other times... you always wonder, Is this really what I wanted to do? Did I make a mistake? Should I be doing something else?
Tom Berenger's quotes
I remember seeing Bill Hurt in New York once. I talked to him on the phone around 1988 and that's about it. I was shooting in New York and somebody said Glenn Close came by the set.
I like playing flawed characters, people who aren't perfect.
You can't think that you're playing a villain, or you'll end up with a cartoon. You have to think about him as a person and a hero.
We had training camp for a week, and we used the actual military drills of that period. We didn't have to work out much after hours, because going up and down hills all day was a good workout in itself.
Around mid-life everyone goes maniac a little bit.
I wrote a script. I actually enjoyed writing it more than acting. It's about the Irish rebellion of 1920, which is a fascinating period and place for me.
These days, you can do a TV series for five years and all of a sudden be on top of the business. Features don't even run in theaters very long anymore before going right to television.
I got to talking to an old actor, and he had a bunch of stories about the Rough Riders.
I was kind of confused. I thought, Well, if I get drafted, I'll go. Everybody was very concerned with it. I had friends who went. Some that came back and some that didn't.
I have family obligations and all that stuff. I get my kids six weeks in the summer, which is a real intense period of time. I'm with them every minute of the day.
I feel more comfortable doing films with groups of guys. It's a lot easier for me. There's a difference with women: you can't take them to dinner every night and go crazy.
I don't care about being a star. I can do a supporting role; I don't have to be a lead.
I'm probably satisfied with my career 80 percent of the time.
I've done about six comedies. Oddly enough, the script came to me from one of the guys in Platoon.
The Big Chill is one of those things that everybody can identify with. Between eight characters, they can pick somebody who's somewhat like them.
In this industry, the new owners prefer to kill anything they weren't responsible for.
I had already done a lot of research for Rough Riders, keeping notebooks and old photographs. Some of the books were antiques for that time period, with the covers falling off.
Take characters that Nicholson or De Niro play: they're not always tough.
To people outside, they think, Gee, that's great. You get to go here and there. The other side of that is our expression, This is location, not vacation.
I was so exhausted after fighting for the project for five years, shooting it was like the Bataan Death March.
I don't think a director should have any kids. I don't even think it's good for your physical health. Even guys in their 30s look exhausted because directors never get enough sleep. What I do is stressful enough.
I came in on the tail end of the old school of Hollywood.
My mother, sister and I watched through the windows as my father gambled.
Even my agents say, We don't know what this business is anymore.
Debra Winger doesn't let anything interfere with her performance, which is the way it should be.
I guess if I weren't an actor, I'd be a history professor.
This is all new to me, these re-releases. I don't know how these things do. I don't know if it will be people who saw it originally or young people.
There's a hysterical, tired sense of humor that comes after working 14 hours a day, six days a week. I like those things because they take the pressure off the constant stress.
Every other movie is one of those action things. I mean, 'Lost in Space'? A bunch of good actors running around shooting at special effects on a soundstage? I took my kids to see that and felt like I was on an acid trip.
While I was doing these plays in the beginning, I wasn't getting paid. I thought of it more as a hobby. Then I realized how seriously a lot of these people took what they were doing.
Rough Riders took 13 weeks to shoot, plus a week of training. The same guy trained us trained the cast in Platoon. Except, instead of radios, we used bugles to signal.
Most of what gets made now, you laugh your way through, go home and forget you've seen it.
I didn't know how to go about preparing for the part of someone who can't remember who he is. The frustration angle is written in, but there's also this incredible passive state.
Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.
It's pretty simple, pretty obvious: that people's first impressions of people are really a big mistake.
They all went into the bar business. Which was a mistake, because they began to sip at the merchandise and it set them back, set us all back. Well, them more than I.
The choice is between which mistake is easier to correct: underdoing it or overdoing it.
Timothy Geithner
I've got to keep breathing. It'll be my worst business mistake if I don't.
They think something's gone wrong, but in Don't Look Now, for instance, one scene was made by a mistake. It's the scene where Donald Sutherland goes to look for the policeman who's investigating the two women.
It's a mistake to assume that Islamists always come from the slums. Indeed, many come from affluent families but for some reason just couldn't manage to integrate into Western society, even though they had good opportunities for advancement.
Otto Schily
I find that the best way to do things is to constantly move forward and to never doubt anything and keep moving forward, if you make a mistake say you made a mistake.
The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious.
Lester Bangs
It's a great mistake, I think, to put children off with falsehoods and nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and discrimination excite in them a desire to know about things.
Anne Sullivan
The secularists in Turkey haven't underestimated religion, they just made the mistake of believing they could control it with the power of the army alone.
In traditional schools, you're penalized for making a mistake. But that won't work in the new information culture, in the digital world we live in today.
Daniel Greenberg
You are just as capable of making a mistake as anyone else. By insisting too eagerly upon a small right, you may turn it into a wrong against yourself and also against your neighbor.
Last Friday night, I Twitted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I posted to Twitter I panicked, I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story, to stick to that story which was a hugely regrettable mistake.


text:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Quad
{
	Mesh mesh;
	Material material;
	MeshFilter meshFilter;
	MeshRenderer meshRenderer;
	GameObject quadObj;

	public void Init(Vector3 worldPos)
	{
		quadObj = new GameObject("Quad");

		meshFilter = quadObj.AddComponent<MeshFilter>();
		meshRenderer = quadObj.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>();

		mesh = new Mesh();
		mesh.name = "QuadMesh";

		meshFilter.mesh = mesh;
		meshRenderer.sharedMaterial = Resources.Load<Material>("Billboard/mat_billboard");

		Vector3[] vertices = new Vector3[4]
		{
			worldPos,
			worldPos,
			worldPos,
			worldPos
		};

		int[] indices = new int[6]
		{
			0, 2, 1, 0, 3, 2
		};

		Vector2[] uvs = new Vector2[4]
		{
			new Vector2(0, 0),
			new Vector2(0, 1),
			new Vector2(1, 1),
			new Vector2(1, 0),
		};

		Vector2[] uv2s = new Vector2[4]
		{
			new Vector2(-0.5f, -0.5f),
			new Vector2(0.5f, -0.5f),
			new Vector2(0.5f, 0.5f),
			new Vector2(-0.5f, 0.5f),
		};

		meshFilter.mesh.vertices = vertices;
		meshFilter.mesh.triangles = indices;
		meshFilter.mesh.uv = uvs;
		meshFilter.mesh.uv2 = uv2s;

	}

	public void Update()
	{
//		if(meshRenderer)
//		{
//			meshRenderer.sharedMaterial.SetVector("right", Camera.main.transform.right);
//			meshRenderer.sharedMaterial.SetVector("up", Camera.main.transform.up);
//		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I'm working on my apocalyptothon fic, right? And I realized this afternoon that I've got thirteen characters from two different fandoms to juggle here. And giving each character his or her moment to shine is going to be a task of Hercules-in-the-Augean-Stables proportions. Hopefully with less poop.
I've got three weeks (exactly) to finish it.
I have a few things I want to accomplish in this fic. Spike and Fred have to start heading in the direction of a relationship. So do Jayne and Illyria. (Yes, I just heard all your heads explode. Shut up. They'd be cute together. I don't care if that's a bad reason for shipping a couple.) Somehow or other I have to slip in an apocalypse, which I've just started on the road to by revealing what's in the box. I have to figure out how to activate the Slayers again. I have to build backstory without using the Exposition Fairy too much, because exposition = UGH. And I have to have more action in it, because right now it's just a bunch of people yakking at each other, which is teh dull.
Heh. I wonder how long a vampire can go without blood without going bananas...Because, I think I'm going to have to figure out a way of feeding Spike, otherwise. Which will feed my own cast-iron kink. Argh. Isn't this fic self-indulgent enough?
*kicks Antubis in his fuzzy pants* Let's get a move on here, fangface.


text:
T-CaST: an implementation theory comparison and selection tool
Sarah A. Birken ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0591-48001,
Catherine L. Rohweder2,
Byron J. Powell1,
Christopher M. Shea1,
Jennifer Scott3,
Jennifer Leeman4,
Mary E. Grewe3,
M. Alexis Kirk1,5,
Laura Damschroder6,
William A. Aldridge II7,
Emily R. Haines1,5,
Sharon Straus8 &
Justin Presseau9,10,11
Implementation Science volume 13, Article number: 143 (2018) Cite this article
Theories, models, and frameworks (TMF) are foundational for generalizing implementation efforts and research findings. However, TMF and the criteria used to select them are not often described in published articles, perhaps due in part to the challenge of selecting from among the many TMF that exist in the field. The objective of this international study was to develop a user-friendly tool to help scientists and practitioners select appropriate TMF to guide their implementation projects.
Implementation scientists across the USA, the UK, and Canada identified and rated conceptually distinct categories of criteria in a concept mapping exercise. We then used the concept mapping results to develop a tool to help users select appropriate TMF for their projects. We assessed the tool's usefulness through expert consensus and cognitive and semi-structured interviews with implementation scientists.
Thirty-seven implementation scientists (19 researchers and 18 practitioners) identified four criteria domains: usability, testability, applicability, and familiarity. We then developed a prototype of the tool that included a list of 25 criteria organized by domain, definitions of the criteria, and a case example illustrating an application of the tool. Results of cognitive and semi-structured interviews highlighted the need for the tool to (1) be as succinct as possible; (2) have separate versions to meet the unique needs of researchers versus practitioners; (3) include easily understood terms; (4) include an introduction that clearly describes the tool's purpose and benefits; (5) provide space for noting project information, comparing and scoring TMF, and accommodating contributions from multiple team members; and (6) include more case examples illustrating its application. Interview participants agreed that the tool (1) offered them a way to select from among candidate TMF, (2) helped them be explicit about the criteria that they used to select a TMF, and (3) enabled them to compare, select from among, and/or consider the usefulness of combining multiple TMF. These revisions resulted in the Theory Comparison and Selection Tool (T-CaST), a paper and web-enabled tool that includes 16 specific criteria that can be used to consider and justify the selection of TMF for a given project. Criteria are organized within four categories: applicability, usability, testability, and acceptability.
T-CaST is a user-friendly tool to help scientists and practitioners select appropriate TMF to guide implementation projects. Additionally, T-CaST has the potential to promote transparent reporting of criteria used to select TMF within and beyond the field of implementation science.
In implementation science, theories, models, and frameworks are foundational for generalizing implementation efforts and research findings across diverse settings and to build a cumulative evidence base [1]. Although the three terms are often used interchangeably, Nilsen offered useful definitions for distinguishing among theories, models, and frameworks in implementation science. Unlike theories, which typically posit causal relationships, models and frameworks tend to be "more like checklists of factors relevant to various aspects of implementation"; models are more commonly used to describe the translation of research findings in practice (i.e., in implementation practice) while frameworks are often used to identify implementation determinants (i.e., in implementation research) [2]. Theories, models, and frameworks, collectively referred to hereafter as "TMF," promote generalization of findings by providing common language and constructs that enable consistently articulated explanations of implementation-related phenomena, thus promoting progress and facilitating shared understanding [3]. More specifically, TMF guide the process of implementation and the evaluation of implementation, facilitate the identification of determinants of implementation, and aid in the selection of implementation strategies. They also inform research stages by framing study questions and motivating hypotheses, anchoring background literature, clarifying constructs, depicting relationships among constructs, and contextualizing results [4]. Theoretical approaches to implementation science may delay or inhibit the field's advancement by limiting shared understanding.
The benefits of TMF often go unrealized, due in part to the challenge of selecting from among the many that exist in the field, resulting in superficial use of TMF, use of inappropriate TMF, or TMF going unused altogether [5]. As a first step toward the development of guidance to help researchers select appropriate TMF [6], we recently conducted a survey to identify which TMF implementation scientists report using, how they report using the TMF, and the criteria that they used to select TMF. The 223 implementation researchers and practitioners from 12 countries who responded to our survey reported using more than 100 different TMF spanning several disciplines to inform their work; the most commonly reported included the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) [7], Theoretical Domains Frameworks (TDF) [8], PARIHS [9], Diffusion of Innovations [10], RE-AIM [11], Quality Implementation Framework [12], and Interactive Systems Framework [13]. These implementation scientists reported using an average of 7 criteria to select TMF, including analytic level, logical consistency/plausibility, empirical support, and description of a change process. Despite the many criteria that implementation scientists used to select TMF, there was little consensus on which are the most important. Instead, the selection of implementation TMF was often haphazard or driven by convenience or prior exposure. Similarly, in a recent scoping review, Strifler et al. identified 159 implementation TMF, noting that scholars seldom provided sufficient justification for their use [14].
The results of our survey, bolstered by Strifler et al.'s review, suggest that implementation scientists may benefit from a refined, manageable set of criteria for selecting TMF [6, 14]. The guidance for selecting TMF that such a set of criteria would offer may also promote theory testing and identification of needs around TMF development, contributing to the advancement of the science. Specifically, such a set of criteria would facilitate the meaningful application of TMF, making explicit assumptions about relationships that are otherwise left implicit; providing an opportunity to test, report, and enhance the TMF's utility and validity; and providing evidence to support TMF adaptation or replacement [15, 16]. In this paper, we used results from our survey as a starting point to develop a user-friendly tool to guide TMF selection.
The study involved three stages. First, in a concept mapping exercise, implementation practitioners and researchers reviewed the criteria identified in our recent survey (described above) and engaged in a sorting and rating task that yielded conceptually distinct categories of criteria and ratings of their clarity and importance. Second, we used concept mapping results to develop a tool to guide TMF selection. Third, we assessed the tool's usefulness through expert consensus, cognitive interviews, and semi-structured interviews with implementation practitioners and researchers who tested the tool.
Concept mapping recruitment, procedure, and analysis
Concept mapping is a mixed-method procedure in which stakeholders organize concepts into categories and generate ratings of specified dimensions [17,18,19]. It is useful for structuring the ideas of diverse groups and has been used in implementation research for multiple purposes such as the identification and prioritization of barriers and facilitators [20, 21], organizing implementation strategies [22], generating dimensions of pragmatic measurement [23], and identifying training needs.
We used a purposive sampling approach to recruit 18 implementation practitioners (i.e., professionals who systematically apply lessons and findings from implementation science within human service settings to develop capacity and support performance for the full and effective use of innovative programs and practices) and 19 implementation researchers (i.e., individuals who study "the use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions into clinical and community settings in order to improve patient outcomes and benefit population health" [24]) to participate in an online concept mapping exercise via the Concept Systems Global MAX™ [25] web platform. Implementation practitioners and researchers on the study team identified potential participants from their respective professional networks in Canada, the UK, and the USA. We sent up to three emails offering potential participants a $50 incentive to engage in the concept mapping exercise.
To identify conceptually distinct categories of criteria, we asked participants to sort virtual cards for each of the 21 criteria identified in our recent survey, accompanied by their definitions, into piles as they deemed appropriate. We then asked participants to name each pile. We also asked participants to rate the importance and clarity of each criterion on a three-point scale ("not important/not clear," "moderately important/clear," "very important/clear"). Participants could engage in the activities in the order of their choosing and could do so over multiple online sessions, at their convenience, until their responses were complete.
Data analysis involved the use of multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses to produce visual representations of the relationships among the criteria [18]. Specifically, multidimensional scaling was used to generate a point map depicting each of the TMF selection criteria and the relationships between them based upon a summed square similarity matrix. Criteria frequently sorted together were placed closer together on the point map [18]. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to partition the point map into non-overlapping clusters [18]. The investigative team, joined by one visiting implementation scientist from Australia (HK) and one from Ireland (SM; see the "Acknowledgements" section), considered a range of potential cluster solutions, ranging from two to 10 clusters, to determine which solution best suited the purposes of the current study. Each individual identified the cluster map that they deemed most conceptually clear based on their knowledge of the field. The group then convened to discuss their choice and worked to reach consensus on what the group thought provided the most conceptually clear map. The group also labeled each cluster, a process aided by Concept Systems Global Max™, which suggested potential cluster labels based upon participant responses. In two cases, individual items were moved from one cluster to another to improve the clarity and consistency of the clusters. Model fit was assessed using the stress value, an indicator of goodness of fit between the point map and the total similarity matrix. Cross-study syntheses of concept mapping studies have consistently found mean stress values of 0.28 [18, 19, 26], with higher stress scores indicating poorer representation of the data.
We calculated descriptive statistics for the importance and clarity ratings and plotted them for each criterion. Using the mean of each dimension, we divided the resulting scatterplot into four quadrants to create a "go zone" diagram. For example, quadrant I in Fig. 2 contains criteria that have high importance and high clarity, indicated by values that were above the mean for both dimensions.
A study team member with expertise in visual design optimization (JS) developed a prototype tool based on the clustered criteria derived from concept mapping. The prototype included the list of the criteria with their definitions, organized by cluster. We developed an example project about the role of electronic health records in the implementation of cancer survivorship care plans and described how the prototype tool could be used to identify an appropriate TMF.
Usefulness assessment recruitment, procedure, and analysis
We refined and assessed the usefulness of the prototype in two stages. First, we conducted cognitive interviews to assess the extent to which the tool conveyed its content to potential users as intended. We recruited two implementation researchers and two implementation practitioners via phone and email to participate in cognitive interviews. An experienced cognitive interviewer asked participants to "think aloud" as they read and reflected on criteria in the prototype (see Additional file 1 for the cognitive interview guide). In particular, we solicited feedback on criteria that participants found ambiguous or confusing. Cognitive interviews lasted 30–45 min and were digitally recorded.
Second, we recruited two implementation researchers and two implementation practitioners via phone and email to pilot test the prototype with a specific project and provide feedback on the prototype in semi-structured interviews. We began by sending the prototype to individuals who consented to participate with a request for them to use the prototype for a project at some point during the subsequent 2 weeks. We then conducted semi-structured phone interviews in which we asked participants to reflect on their experience using the prototype and provide suggestions for improving the prototype (see Additional file 2 for the semi-structured interview guide). Semi-structured interviews lasted 30–45 min and were digitally recorded.
Given that the primary purpose of the cognitive and semi-structured interviews was to identify concerns related to the interpretability and appropriateness of the prototype's content, following each of these two stages, qualitative researchers (RT, MV; see the"Acknowledgements" section) listened to the recordings and inductively identified themes, noting concerns related to the prototype's wording, ordering, and format. These themes were then summarized in a table that organized participants' concerns within each of the identified themes. We revised the prototype iteratively to address interview participants' concerns.
Concept mapping
Thirty-seven implementation scientists (19 researchers and 18 practitioners) participated in the concept mapping exercise. Participant demographics are described in Table 1. Participants were located in the USA (n = 30), the UK (n = 6), and Canada (n = 1). The majority had a doctoral degree (n = 29), were affiliated with an academic institution (n = 21), and had been a principal investigator (n = 21).
Table 1 Concept mapping participant characteristics (n = 37)
All 37 participants completed the sorting exercise. We confirmed that sorts were valid by checking 5 participants' responses to ensure that criteria were sorted into generally logical categories. All participants rated the importance and clarity of the criteria, but 4 participants failed to rate clarity for one criterion, yielding an overall total of 99.5% of the criteria's clarity being rated (810/814 across all participants) and 100% of the criteria's importance being rated (814/814 importance ratings of the 21 criteria across 37 participants).
The final concept map included four clusters: usability, testability, applicability, and familiarity. To conceptually distinguish clusters from each other, we moved two criteria from their original clusters to an adjacent cluster: We moved inclusion of change strategies from usability to applicability and degree of specificity from applicability to testability. The stress value was 0.26, demonstrating goodness of fit [18, 19, 26]. Figure 1 shows the final concept map. Table 2 displays ratings for criteria importance and clarity, organized by cluster. Figure 2 shows the "go zone" graph, depicting quadrants of importance and clarity ratings for each criterion.
Table 2 Summary of 22 theory, model, and framework selection criteria, organized by cluster with mean clarity and importance ratings
Importance and clarity
We iteratively refined the prototype based on feedback and reactions during cognitive and semi-structured interviews, as shown in Table 3. For example, practitioners suggested that it would be ideal to have separate tools tailored to practitioners and researchers, respectively. To address that feedback, we tailored separate versions of the paper version of the tool for practitioners versus researchers which include different lists of examples of potential applications provided in the instructions for use. Cognitive interview participants also suggested that the tool should be as succinct, intuitive, and self-explanatory as possible. To address this, we eliminated redundancies, including the conceptual names of each criterion, and shortened their descriptions.
Table 3 Suggestions for T-CaST improvement identified during phase 1
Suggestions for improving the refined tools identified in semi-structured interviews and the subsequent changes made are displayed in Table 4. For example, participants indicated that the tool's usefulness was limited if they did not already have a TMF in mind. Based on this feedback, we reframed the purpose of the tool from identifying a TMF to evaluating or comparing one or more pre-defined TMF. To facilitate comparing, scoring, and ranking TMF, we added columns allowing users to select characteristics most important to their project, a scoring system, and space for assessing two TMF on the same tool.
Notably, cognitive and semi-structured interview participants identified several strengths of the tool. Cognitive interview participants confirmed the importance of various domains in the tool and highlighted ways in which such a tool may enhance the work of implementation researchers and practitioners, such as by helping to bridge research and practice. Semi-structured interview participants emphasized that the tool offered them a way to clarify their priorities with respect to criteria for a TMF under consideration for a project; to be explicit about the criteria that they used to select a TMF; and to compare, select from among, and/or consider the usefulness of combining multiple TMF.
The first version of the Theory Comparison and Selection Tool (T-CaST) resulting from our efforts is displayed in Additional file 3 (tailored to practitioners) and Additional file 4 (tailored to researchers). T-CaST includes hyperlinks to descriptions of the purpose of T-CaST, how T-CaST was developed, and where users can find TMF to use with T-CaST. T-CaST provides instructions for use, examples of its application by practitioners and researchers to multiple implementation projects, fields for describing the project, and a table in which users may select criteria that are relevant to their project, note TMF under consideration for the project, and rate the fit of the potential TMF to their project with respect to each relevant criterion. T-CaST allows users to compare the fit of multiple TMF to their project based on their ratings and to compare ratings across team members. T-CaST also allows users to report how they will apply the information from the completed T-CaST to their project.
In this study, to facilitate TMF selection and encourage their appropriate use in implementation science, we sought to develop a user-friendly tool. Our efforts yielded the first version of T-CaST. After implementation practitioners and researchers have specified their research questions and identified corresponding TMF, T-CaST can guide them through the process of considering the relevance of TMF criteria for their project and rating the extent to which one or more TMF exhibit those criteria. T-CaST also features examples from other practitioners and researchers who have used the tools in several disciplines (e.g., education, health care) and settings (e.g., schools, public health agencies).
Our goal in developing T-CaST was to help implementation scientists select a TMF. However, cognitive and semi-structured interview participants found that the tool was helpful when they had one or more TMF already in mind. In particular, they found the tool helpful for deciding whether a specific TMF was relevant for their project or for deciding which of several TMF was most relevant for their project. Thus, the first version of T-CaST aids in the selection of TMF from among a candidate list; its usefulness in terms of identifying TMF in the absence of a candidate list is limited by the lack of comprehensive lists of TMF for implementation with defined characteristics that can be mapped on to criteria in T-CaST.
To achieve the goal of helping implementation scientists select a TMF without having any candidate TMF for consideration, T-CaST would need to be linked to a comprehensive list of candidate TMF. The Dissemination & Implementation Models in Health Research & Practice website (dissemination-implementation.org) is intended to help implementation scientists select TMF from a list of the TMF identified in Tabak et al. and Mitchell et al. [27] (Additional TMF are added based on expert recommendations.). Users may browse included TMF or search for TMF from among the list by specifying whether they are interested in dissemination, implementation, or both; the socio-ecological level in which they are interested; and up to 45 constructs of interest. These functions represent a substantial contribution to the field. However, three key limitations of the website limit its potential. First, the criteria that the website includes may be too circumscribed to yield relevant TMF. The tool that we have developed could be used to augment the website's criteria. Second, dichotomous evaluations of each criterion (e.g., dissemination focus: yes/no) may be insufficient to capture the nuance associated with the criteria that implementation scientists may consider when selecting a TMF. T-CaST has the potential to improve upon this feature by suggesting a tiered evaluation approach (e.g., poor, moderate, or good fit). Third, the TMF that Tabak et al. and Mitchell et al. identified does not contain every TMF available to implementation scientists, as evidenced by the 159 TMF identified by Strifler et al. A more comprehensive approach is needed to ensure that implementation scientists consider all relevant TMF that pertain to their research question(s). Such a list may help users to avoid defaulting to only the most commonly used TMF—even the most comprehensive of which are not comprehensive of all implementation determinants. Many existing references will be useful to guide implementation scientists to select from among these TMF, including Nilsen's "Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks" [28] and Grol et al.'s "Planning and studying improvement in patient care: the use of theoretical perspectives" [28].
Current efforts to develop a decision support tool for selecting knowledge translation TMF among researchers and practitioners may address some of the aforementioned challenges (personal communication, Lisa Strifler, January 20, 2018). Strifler et al. conducted a scoping review to identify knowledge translation TMF used in practice [14]. The study team is also conducting semi-structured interviews with researchers and practitioners to identify barriers to the use of TMF. They will then use the barriers that they identify to create a decision support tool. This will be followed by heuristic usability testing, individual usability testing, and pilot testing with practitioners. Future studies should compare and contrast our respective tools in terms of usability, appropriateness for diverse end-users, and influence on the use of TMF in the field.
The criteria included in T-CaST overlap somewhat with the criteria for assessing TMF quality proposed by Davis et al. [29] (see Table 5). In some cases, the criteria are extremely similar (e.g., testability). In other cases, however, the relationship is less clear. For example, Davis et al.'s criteria include measurability ("Is an explicit methodology for measuring the constructs given?"), which differs slightly but importantly from our applicability sub-criterion ("A particular method [e.g., interviews; surveys; focus groups; chart review] can be used with the TMF"), with the former referring to clear guidance for measurement and the latter referring to a preferred method of measurement. And, in contrast to Davis et al.'s criteria, our criteria exclude parsimony, which concept mapping participants in our study deemed of insufficient importance for inclusion. Also, in some cases, one of our criteria addressed several of Davis et al.'s criteria (e.g., Davis et al.'s "having an evidence base" and "being explanatory" both mapped onto our criterion of "TMF contributes to an evidence base and/or TMF development because it has been used in empirical studies"). Our criteria may be more parsimonious because our study fulfilled Davis et al.'s call for efforts to "transform the[ir] nine quality criteria into forms, such as reliable scales or response options that can be used in evaluating theories."
Table 5 Comparison of Davis et al.'s [29] criteria for assessing theory, model, and framework (TMF) quality and T-CaST criteria
Some limitations of our study should be noted. Criteria that were unclear may have been eliminated from T-CaST not because they were fundamentally unimportant but because their lack of clarity made their importance challenging to assess. However, the participation of 37 implementation scientists in concept mapping may have guarded against this risk, particularly given that there was some variation in participants' evaluation of the criteria's clarity. Also, the relevance of criteria included in T-CaST likely depends upon a TMF's intended use. For example, the extent to which a TMF provides an explanation of how included constructs influence implementation and/or each other may be more relevant for determinant frameworks than for describing implementation processes [2]. Relatedly, T-CaST users may rate criteria without weighting them by their relative importance. Consequently, high ratings of several potentially less important criteria may outweigh low ratings of potentially more important criteria. Future research should improve upon this feature, perhaps by weighting criteria's importance. For now, researchers and practitioners should determine which criteria are most important for their study or project. For example, researchers and practitioners who seek to describe—not explain—implementation may choose to omit the "TMF provides an explanation of how included constructs influence implementation" criterion. In addition, we developed and tested paper versions of T-CaST, limiting its interactive functionality. For example, the number of case examples that we could provide is limited. Our web-based version of T-CaST, now available at https://impsci.tracs.unc.edu/tcast/, will address many of these and other challenges. In the web-based version of T-CaST, with users' permission, we will crowdsource examples of the tool completed for various projects in research and practice. Also, notably, crowdsourcing will allow us to identify the TMF that implementation scientists consider when using T-CaST, which TMF they decide to use, and which TMF they decide not to use.
T-CaST has several potential benefits. First, by helping implementation scientists to select a TMF, T-CaST has the potential to reduce fragmentation in the literature and promote the use of TMF in the field, which to date has been insufficient [30]. Second, T-CaST may limit the misuse of TMF in implementation science, which has been found to be widespread [30,31,32,33]. Semi-structured interview participants noted that T-CaST helped them to be explicit about the criteria that they used to select a TMF. Indeed, we recommend that T-CaST be used to facilitate transparent reporting of the criteria used to select TMF whenever a TMF is used in an implementation-related study. (See Fig. 3 for a checklist.) This recommendation stems from our finding that implementation scientists' selection of TMF was often haphazard or driven by convenience or prior exposure [6] and perhaps applies even beyond implementation science, since the challenges of TMF selection are unlikely to be unique to our field. Transparent reporting of the criteria used to select TMF may limit the often superficial use of TMF [34]. Third, T-CaST has the potential to curb the proliferation of TMF by encouraging users to consider that a TMF (or multiple TMF in combination) may exist that meets their needs [35].
Checklist of criteria for selecting theories, models, and frameworks (TMF)
T-CaST:
Theory Comparison and Selection Tool
TMF:
Theory/model/framework
Department of Veterans Health Administration's Quality Enhancement Research Initiative [2013] for a taxonomy of theories, frameworks, and models; https://www.queri.research.va.gov/implementation/implementationguide.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2018.
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Aarons GA, Wells RS, Zagursky K, Fettes DL, Palinkas LA. Implementing evidence-based practice in community mental health agencies: a multiple stakeholder analysis. Am J Public Health. 2009;99:2087–95.
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We are grateful for the time and contribution of the implementation scientists who participated in the study, for data collection and analysis support from Randall Teal and Maihan Vu, for the administration and data management provided by Alexandra Zizzi, for assistance with data analysis from Harriet Koortz and Sheena McHugh, and for feedback from Lisa Stifler.
The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health through Grants KL2TR002490, UL1TR0024898, and DK056350; by the National Cancer Institute through Grant P30-CA16086; by the National Institute of Mental Health through K01MH113806, R25MH080916, and R01MH106510; and by Cooperative Agreement Number U48 DP005017-01S8 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Please contact author for data requests.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1103E McGavran-Greenberg, 135 Dauer Drive, CB #7411, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7411, USA
Sarah A. Birken, Byron J. Powell, Christopher M. Shea, M. Alexis Kirk & Emily R. Haines
UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA
Catherine L. Rohweder
North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
Jennifer Scott & Mary E. Grewe
School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
Jennifer Leeman
End-of-Life, Hospice, and Palliative Care Program, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA
M. Alexis Kirk & Emily R. Haines
Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research, Implementation Research Coordinator, Personalizing Options through Veteran Engagement (PROVE) QUERI Program, 2800 Plymouth Road, Building 16, Floor 3, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2800, USA
Laura Damschroder
FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #8180, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-8180, USA
William A. Aldridge II
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sharon Straus
Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8L6, Canada
Justin Presseau
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada
School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier – Vanier Hall, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Sarah A. Birken
Byron J. Powell
Christopher M. Shea
Mary E. Grewe
M. Alexis Kirk
Emily R. Haines
All authors made significant contributions to manuscript. SB, CR, BP, CS, and JP conceptualized the study. SB, EH, MG, and WA collected data. SB, CR, BP, CS, JS, JL, and MG analyzed the data. All authors drafted and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors have read and gave final approval of the version of the manuscript submitted for publication.
Correspondence to Sarah A. Birken.
Before participating in the interviews and concept mapping exercise, subjects read information regarding the study, including their right not to participate. The institutional review board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill exempted the study from human subjects review.
Our manuscript does not contain any individual person's data in any form.
SB, CR, and JL are involved in a multi-site initiative to promote the integration of organizational theory into the field of implementation science. LJD is a lead developer of the CFIR. CMS led development of a measure, ORIC, which is based on Bryan Weiner's theory of organizational readiness for change. SES was involved in the development of the KTA framework. MAK has published a systematic review of the CFIR and is working on another paper to develop best practice methods for applying the CFIR in implementation research.
Additional file 1:
Cognitive interview guide. (DOCX 27 kb)
Semi-structured interview guide. (DOCX 22 kb)
T-CaST: an implementation theories, models, and frameworks (TMF) comparison and selection tool for implementation practitioners. (DOCX 33 kb)
T-CaST: an implementation theories, models, and frameworks (TMF) comparison and selection tool for implementation researchers. (DOCX 34 kb)
Birken, S.A., Rohweder, C.L., Powell, B.J. et al. T-CaST: an implementation theory comparison and selection tool. Implementation Sci 13, 143 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0836-4
Implementation theory
Cognitive interviewing


On Tuesday I was very pleased to welcome clinical staff to the liver education day run by our hepatobiliary and pancreatic team. It was great to see friendly faces from E8 but also to see nurses, dieticians and cancer nurse specialists who had travelled from across the UK to spend a day learning from our teams about liver anatomy, surgery and oncology. It was an excellent showcase for UHS, demonstrating how we can be at the forefront of multi disciplinary working and education.
Whilst I was there I was given a copy of the team's most recent research paper about enhanced recovery after laparoscopic pancreatic surgery (Richardson, J et al., Implementation of enhanced recovery programme for laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy: feasibility, safety and cost analysis, Pancreatology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pan.2015.01.002). This very interesting paper is the first ever published on this topic world wide and shows how a formal enhanced recovery approach improves patient outcomes, reduces length of stay and saves money. The average length of stay for patients with this new approach was only three days (whereas a few years ago it was nearly two weeks). Whilst not included in the paper, the team also told me that patients are now getting back to work much earlier – something that is increasingly recognised as very important for patients and their families.
It was particularly good to see a formal economic analysis included alongside an analysis of clinical complications and length of stay. This confirmed what we would all instinctively believe – that focussing on clinical and operational excellence will save the hospital money. I think we all know how difficult the NHS's financial situation is going to be next year. Along with all other hospitals, we will be facing unprecedented expectations for efficiency savings. We are trying to agree a plan which is realistic – and also ensure that we have enough money to fund essential equipment replacements. Fundamentally I believe that as organisations and individuals, we are not defined by a difficult situation that we find ourselves in, but rather how we react to it. So at UHS I believe that we must stay united, accepting that we will have to make short-term difficult decisions whilst also making the big transformational changes that we need to make happen.
To be successful we will need everyone to be 'on the team' – and we will need everyone's ideas, input and commitment to do things differently.
We could easily become dispirited and despairing, but the reason that I stay optimistic and positive is that I am constantly inspired by staff across the hospital. I am constantly impressed by the intelligent and creative energy across the hospital, and the willingness to keep doing things differently in order that we can be better . The pancreatic surgery example that I have talked about here is just one example of the many, many innovations that teams across the hospital are pioneering in order to improve both quality and efficiency.


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James Siena's exhibit at Gorney Bravin + Lee is his third one-person show in New York City. He is showing 12 small paintings made over the last two years, and a large group of intimate drawings in the back room. This is a tremendous show.
"Windows of Hope", "Taste of Brooklyn", "Concert for New York" – some World Trade Center- related benefits have been more directly related to the attack than others. In October, more than one hundred and fifty art dealers organized group shows of donated work under the name "I Love New York".
Catherine Murphy shows the eight paintings and three drawings that she has completed since her last show in 1998. Her works employ a disconnected realism in the service of fundamentally abstract formal concerns.
In any curatorial effort with regard to a specific theme, it is essential that the works of art chosen appear cohesive as a group. For some time now, the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center has repeatedly mounted indiscriminately curated group exhibits.
Scruffy but fluid, disguised in a wide array of visual vernaculars, Joe Brainard went incognito: the artist, usually identified by a single style or a coherent, lifelong project, is in this case unrecognizable. Brainard moved to Manhattan in 1962 at age 20, where he lived until 1994, when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia.
The retrospective of Joe Brainard's oeuvre at PS1, and seventy-five works at Tibor de Nagy share threads of a vision where intimacy and fear, hilarious fun and ruminative moments mix intangibly with a freshness of execution. In books, drawings, collages, flower paintings and cut-outs, this inclusive artist often assembled or serially ordered his smallish works.
Born in 1903, Alfred Jensen belongs to the heroic generation of Barnett Newman (1905 - 1970), Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956), Mark Rothko (1903 - 1970), Myron Stout (1908 - 1986), and Forrest Bess (1911 - 1977). Jensen is one of the greatest abstract painters of his or any other generation.
"Right as rain" is the expression that came to mind when I visited Kathleen Moroney's installation "Opened Ground".
Even before I began my art education, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the first painters I fell in love with, even though I did not know what it was that attracted me to his work.
Alun Williams, founder of Parker's Box, has a penchant for changing the rules of the game.
In Project Room, a three-person show at P.S.1, and in Work in Progress, a solo show at the new and very small Plus Ultra Gallery, Joe Fig presents his dioramas of artists in their studios.


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Saint-Raphaël puede referirse a:

 Saint-Raphaël, municipio de Quebec (Canadá).
 Saint-Raphaël, comuna de Dordoña (Francia).
 Saint-Raphaël, comuna de Var (Francia).
 Saint-Raphaël VHB, equipo de balonmano de Francia.
 Saint-Raphaël, arrondissement (distrito) de Haití.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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