Rural realities

Synchronized Realities

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) promises future environments that support the well-being of their inhabitants through comfort and assistive environments. For the elderly users, ambient assisted living (AAL) scenarios are targeting safe and independent living at home. Especially the integration of home automation components, such as intelligent light, window, and climate controls seem promising for s...

Parallel realities: exploring poverty dynamics using mixed methods in rural Bangladesh.

This paper explores the implications of using two methodological approaches to study poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh. Using data from a unique longitudinal study, we show how different methods lead to very different assessments of socio-economic mobility. We suggest five ways of reconciling these differences: considering assets in addition to expenditures, proximity to the poverty line, ot...

Looking through the Keyhole: Exploring Realities and Possibilities for School Breakfast Programs in Rural Western Australia

OBJECTIVE To assess the school breakfast program (SBP) in two schools with high Aboriginal student populations in rural Western Australia, their contribution to holistic support, nutritional health education and possibilities for improvement. METHODS The operations and functioning of one regional and one remote SBP were assessed by stakeholder inquiry related to process and challenges, observ...

Hyena Myths and Realities

Hyenas, first of all, were regarded as scavengers and consumers of carrion. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) spoke of them as the only animals that dig up graves in search of corpses (ab uno animali sepulchra erui inquisitione corporum). Conrad Gesner, the great sixteenth-century cataloger of natural history, reported that they gorge themselves so gluttonously after finding ...

Triage: endgame realities.