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Abstract Sustainability in tourism is a topic of global relevance, finding multiple mentions in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The complex task of balancing tourism’s economic, environmental, and social effects requires detailed and up-to-date data. This paper investigates whether online platform data can be employed as an alternative data source in sustainable tourism statistics. Using a web-scraped dataset from a large online tourism platform, a sustainability label for accommodations can be predicted reasonably well with machine learning techniques. The algorithmic prediction of accommodations’ sustainability using online data can provide a cost-effective and accurate measure that allows to track developments of tourism sustainability across the globe with high spatial and temporal granularity.

In a previous issue of this journal, Michael Hicks challenges my critique of Wilfrid Sellars’s arguments against the given and against the foundationalist epistemology that relies on the idea of a sensory given. I had argued that Sellars’s well-known claim that the given is a myth does not succeed because at a critical juncture he misconstrued sense-datum theorists such as Bertrand Russell and H. H. Price. In his response to my argument, Hicks makes the striking claim that Sellars was not targeting foundationalism at all in his discussion of the myth of the given. Hicks reconstructs a key argument in “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind” (EPM) in a way intended both to avoid any reference to foundationalism and to do a more effective job than does Sellars’s original argument in uncovering a dilemma for traditional empiricism. The present paper challenges Hicks on two fronts. First, it argues that Hicks’s reconstruction is not more successful than Sellars’s original argument. Second, a review of relevant passages in makes clear that the critique of foundationalism is a prominent aspect of Sellars’s multi-faceted attack on the given. The conclusion reasserts the significance of Sellars’s place in the history of twentieth-century analytic philosophy.

BackgroundThe proliferation of mobile devices has enabled new ways of delivering health services through mobile health systems. Researchers and practitioners emphasize that the design of such systems is a complex endeavor with various pitfalls, including limited stakeholder involvement in design processes and the lack of integration into existing system landscapes. Co-design is an approach used to address these pitfalls. By recognizing users as experts of their own experience, co-design directly involves users in the design process and provides them an active role in knowledge development, idea generation, and concept development. ObjectiveDespite the existence of a rich body of literature on co-design methodologies, limited research exists to guide the co-design of mobile health (mHealth) systems. This study aims to contextualize an existing co-design framework for mHealth applications and construct guidelines to address common challenges of co-designing mHealth systems. MethodsTapping into the knowledge and experience of experts in co-design and mHealth systems development, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study consisting of 16 semistructured interviews. Thereby, a constructivist ontological position was adopted while acknowledging the socially constructed nature of reality in mHealth system development. Purposive sampling across web-based platforms (eg, Google Scholar and ResearchGate) and publications by authors with co-design experience in mHealth were used to recruit co-design method experts (n=8) and mHealth system developers (n=8). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis along with our objectives of contextualizing the co-design framework and constructing guidelines for applying co-design to mHealth systems development. ResultsThe contextualized framework captures important considerations of the mHealth context, including dedicated prototyping and implementation phases, and an emphasis on immersion in real-world contexts. In addition, 7 guidelines were constructed that directly pertain to mHealth: understanding stakeholder vulnerabilities and diversity, health behavior change, co-design facilitators, immersion in the mHealth ecosystem, postdesign advocates, health-specific evaluation criteria, and usage data and contextual research to understand impact. ConclusionsSystem designers encounter unique challenges when engaging in mHealth systems development. The contextualized co-design framework and constructed guidelines have the potential to serve as a shared frame of reference to guide the co-design of mHealth systems and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration at the nexus of information technology and health research.

The Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project, implemented by the NGO Vi Agroforestry, is breaking new ground in designing and implementing climate finance projects in the agricultural sector. For the first time, while increasing agricultural productivity and enhancing resilience to climate change, smallholder farmers in Africa will receive benefits for greenhouse gas mitigation based on sustainable agricultural land management. The project has developed an activity monitoring system for sustainable agricultural land management (SALM) practices that enables smallholder famers and extension service provider to track and improve farm production. Based on the development of a carbon accounting methodology this system, in combination with a carbon model, is monitoring soil and biomass carbon sequestration consistent with the Verified Carbon Standard. As a result farmers in Africa for the first time can benefit from international voluntary carbon markets. The paper describes the Vi Agroforestry extension approach, outlines the project objectives and activities, and explains the carbon accounting methodology. Project achievements and lessons learned, but also the challenges that still lie ahead are presented. The authors conclude that the project model has great potential for scaling up and provide a potential blueprint for widespread adoption and effective monitoring of sustainable agricultural management in smallholder conditions.

This paper addresses the challenges in community-based management of carbon projects in developing countries. It is based on four years of experience in identifying, developing, implementing, and monitoring mangrove restoration and agroforestry projects in upland and coastal areas of India, Indonesia, and Senegal. While many of the challenges are common to any typical grass-roots development project, we focus on aspects that are more directly related to carbon sequestration activities. To address all of these challenges, the paper proposes some measures that we believe help make implementation and monitoring easier for practitioners in this realm. Our thematic focus of “process”, “participation” and “performance” underscores three key areas we believe merit greater attention in these projects. The process elements are important because of specialized knowledge that is often not familiar to communities such as the process of identifying suitable planting sites and arrangements, and suitable implementation arrangements given stakeholder needs requires significant upfront commitment from all involved. The challenges related to process are highlighted through reference to methodology selection, and the implications it has for site selection through to implementation. The second theme – participation – addresses the peculiar stakeholder interests, interactions and arrangements that arise at all stages of the project. A challenge is meeting all stakeholder expectations and constraints through recognizing that people have different motivations and interests; as examples, active engagement is necessary to find acceptable terms for implementation, revenue sharing, and risk sharing. Again, peculiarities of the carbon market – such as carbon property rights – often create uncertainty that must be handled delicately in such circumstances. The final theme – performance – relates to an ongoing need to accommodate a complex array of monitoring, auditing, validation and quality control requirements over a range of multiple objectives. The challenge in this realm is to implement high-scale projects that are economically viable, but which will stretch the capacity of local community-based systems considering compliance requirements with regards to implementation and carbon accounting standards. Hence the interests and requirements of different stakeholders may not be fully aligned. As an example, many carbon projects now have multiple objectives – carbon, biodiversity, and community welfare – but there are few received protocols for addressing these concurrently. An important insight through all of these dimensions is that no single concept of “community” can be universally applied: the connections among stakeholders and others are never as clear as one assumes them to be.

Abstract Protein kinases of the MARK family phosphorylate tau protein in its repeat domain and thereby regulate its affinity for microtubules and affect the aggregation of tau into Alzheimer paired helical filaments. We are searching for low molecular weight compounds to interfere with the activity of MARK and its pathways. Here we summarize structural features of MARK and cellular pathways of regulation.

Protein kinases of the MARK family phosphorylate tau protein in its repeat domain and thereby regulate its affinity for microtubules and affect the aggregation of tau into Alzheimer paired helical filaments. We are searching for low molecular weight compounds to interfere with the activity of MARK and its pathways. Here we summarize structural features of MARK and cellular pathways of regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large but shallow (3,558 k m{sup}2{end} , up to 15.3 m deep) lake is eutrophic, with Chironomus plumosus and Potamothrix hammoniensisas dominating macroinvertebrates in the profundal. The extensive well-aerated sublittoral with sandy bottom sediments has a mesotrophic appearance and supports a diverse fauna with several oxyphilous species, including a very abundant population of Dreissena polymorpha. The phytophilous fauna is limited to small sheltered areas only. The average abundance of the "small" animals of macrozoobenthos (without big molluscs) was 2,617 ind. m{sup}- 2{end} , their biomass 12.34 g m{sup}-2{end} (corresponding to 52.2 kJ m{sup}- 2{end} ) in 1964-1994. Thesame figures for big molluscs (mostly Dreissena) were 304 ind. m{sup}-2{end} and 238 g m{sup}-2{end} in 1964-1994, and even 864 ind. m{sup}-2{end} and 687 g m{sup}-2{end} in 1985-1988, at the time of their special mapping. The sublittoral zone revealed the lowest biomass of 11 "small" animals but the highest biomass of big molluscs. The southern, shallower lake regions, more enriched with nutrients and better protected from wind, revealed a significantly higher biomass of "small" macrozoobenthos in the near-shore zone than the cleaner and open northern part, while no positive effect of enrichment was observed neither in the biomass of profundal zoobenthos nor in that of big molluscs. The production of the "small" macrozoobenthos was calculated as 111 and 53 kJ m{sup}-2{end} during two annual cycles in Lake Peipsi s.s., the most productive period being the autumn overtum. Lake Peipsi-Pihkva has the highest abundance and biomass of macrozoobenthos among the large lakes of North Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrozoobenthos of the large (3,558 km{sup}2{end} ) Lake Peipsi-Pihkva was monitored at 22-24 sampling spots yearly in. June 1964-1994 aswell as 50 shallow-water profiles in midsummer 1970, 1980, and 1990.No qualitative changes were observed in the bottom fauna, except forthe introduction of a Baikalian gammarid species, Gmelinoides fasciatus. The average total biomass in June (without big molluscs) revealed considerable annual fluctuations, with an insignificant general tendency of increase. The increase was significant in the biomass of several Mollusca (including the highly abundant big clam Dreissena polymorpha), Asellus, Gammaridae, and Hirudinea but not in the most abundant animal groups Chironomidae and Oligochaeta. The low biomass of Ephemeroptera and Hydrachnellae decreased significantly. The mid-summer samples taken from the shallow-water zone in three different years revealed the highest biomass in 1980 and the lowest in 1990 (the latterbeing probably related to the high water level). A gradual decrease in the biomass of the Ephemeroptera and Hydrachnellae as well as the Oligochaeta, Pisidiidae and Bithynia tentaculata occur-red in the shallow-water zone, while the Gammaridae increased on the account of theintroduced species. No coincidence was found with the neighbouring Lake Vortsjarv when comparing the annual fluctuations of biomass. A general tendency to a slow increase in total biomass and a decrease in the biomass of the most vulnerable groups Ephemeroptera and Hydrachnellae, probably due to progressing eutrophication, were common for both lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Peipsi-Pihkva (3555 km{sup}2{end} , mean depth 8.3 m), consisting of three parts, (L. Peipsi, L. Pihkva, L. Lammijarv) is located onthe border of Estonia and Russia. L. Peipsi belongs to unstratified eutrophic lakes with mesotrophic features, L. Lammijarv has some dyseutrophic features, while L. Pihkva is strongly eutrophic. The total annual nutrient load is 15.57 tons N km{sup}-2{end} and 327 kgP km{sup}-2{end} with 74 percent of N and 39 percent of P originating from agriculture. The mean concentrations of total N and P in the lake are 876 mg m{sup}-3{end} -3 and 46 mg m{sup}-3{end} , respectively, both being the highest in L. Pihkva and the lowest in the northern part of L. Peipsi. Average pH is 8.14 and Secchi disk transparency 1.63 m. Diatoms and blue-green algae prevail in phytoplankton biomass. The blue-greens Gloeotrichia echinulata and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae dominatein summer causing the water-blooms. The concentration of Chla was the lowest in the northern part of L. Peipsi (mean 14.7 mg m{sup}-3{end} ) and the highest in the southern part of L. Pihkva (mean 47.9 mg m{sup}-3{end} , median 16.3 mg m{sup}-3{end} ). An increase of Chla and decrease of Secchi depth could be noticed in 1983-1988, while in 1988-1994 the tendency was opposite. The long-term average primary production is 0.8 g C m{sup}-2{end} d{sup}-1{end} . Zooplankton is remarkably rich in species, the average biomass in the vegetative period being 2-3 g m{sup}-3{end} and production 22 g C m{sup}- 2{end}. The role of rotifers in production is 53 percent followed by that of cladocerans (30 percent), copepods (16 percent) and Dreissena polymorpha larvae (1 percent). The total count of bacteria is 1-9 million cells perml. Chironomus plumosus and Potamothrix hammoniensis are dominating in the profundal. The average abundance of macrozoobenthos (without big molluscs) 2617 ind. m{sup}-2{end} , and their biomass 12.34 g m{sup}-2{end} are considered to be the highest among the large lakes of Nort [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]