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Your totally wrong my friend. They are two totally distinctive parts of trademarks. Many of our clients don’t understand this difference as well, so we have decided to dedicate an article just for this issue and explain what actually a Word Mark and Design Mark are. Word mark and Design mark are actually to distinct type of trademarks. On filing a trademark application, you must choose between applying for the mark in standard character format (word mark) or in a stylized/design format (“design mark” or “special form”). A word mark is just typed in standard text format with no regard to the font, style, size or color. When you apply for a word mark, you are only seeking registration of the wording regardless to its style, design, font or any graphic features. In simple words, you are only protecting the wordings, and not the logo of it. Registration of a word mark provides broader rights and basically protects the wording only. So, applications of a word marks must have a Standard Character Claim: “The mark must comprise of standard characters without claim to any particular type of font, style, size or color. When apply for Word mark you can vary the design aspects of your mark (e.g., style, upper/lower case, font) in use without causing a conflict with the trademark application. Trademark applications for word mark provides much more flexibility in terms of how an owner of the trademark can use the mark to support the application or also renew a registration. As long as the specific spelling in the usage, the mark remains the same as the mark applied for. Now let’s see what a Design mark is, when you want to protect a graphic design or image with or without the wordings, such as a stylized logo, then you could apply for a design mark. This is normally called as “Special Form (Stylized and/or Design)” on the USPTO initial application online form. The design mark application would be appropriate for a distinctive logo with a particular graphics and stylized wording. Keep in mind that a registration of a design mark allows you to use the exact same design for the course of the next several years in order for you to maintain and then to renew your registration. Changing the design may require the filing of a new trademark application. The word mark registration, on the other hand, allows you to use the marked word in several different designs so long as the wording (e.g., spelling, number of words/terms, etc.) remains the same. When you claim a design mark, you’ll need to decide whether or not to claim a specific color for it. If you haven’t decided it yet, you must file a black-and-white drawing of the mark, but your usage of the mark may be in any color. If color is claimed, you must then file a color version of the mark and the colors in your actual usage must have an exact match to those colors in the applied mark. When you have a which mark includes both wording and stylistic elements, it’s best filing two trademark applications – 1) word mark, and 2) design mark – but it’s not necessarily compulsory to register both at the same time. You could choose to register one version of the mark before applying for the other one. It actually does not matter whether the letters are represented in uppercase or lowercase letters. Trademark applications for word marks that were filed on paper with the USPTO will show the word mark in ‘ALLCAPS’ to indicate that the wordings are sought to be registered, regardless if they are represented in upper/ lower cases.
rent buy calculator This block renders dynamically on the frontend using React.To view Settings, click this block and any configurable options will appear in the sidebar on the right of your screen. How to use Credit Karma’s rent vs. buy calculator Our rent vs. buy calculator can help you decide whether it’s more affordable to rent or buy a home. It can help you figure out which option may make the most financial sense for your situation. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that the answer this calculator gives you is based on the information you provide. The list below is the information you’ll need to include in the calculation to determine if it’s better for you to rent or buy. - Gross annual income - Tax filing status - General inflation rate - Investment rate of return - Utilities (monthly) - How long do you plan to live there? - Desired home price - Down payment - Loan amount - Estimated interest rate - Loan term - Estimated credit score range - Property tax - Homeowners insurance (monthly) - HOA fees (monthly) - Income tax rate - Estimated maintenance/renovations (monthly) - Buying closing costs - Selling closing costs - Home value appreciation - Capital gains exclusion - Desired monthly rent - Rent security deposit - Renters insurance amount (monthly) - Broker’s fee (if applicable) - Rent appreciation (if applicable) Gross annual income Your gross annual income is your total income before any taxes or deductions are taken out. If you’re considering buying a home with someone else, make sure you include their income too. Tax filing status Select your federal income tax filing status as single, head of household, married filing jointly, married filing separately or as a qualifying widow(er). General inflation rate This is a percentage that represents future annual inflation. Inflation is the increase of the cost of goods and services over time. The U.S. Bureau of Statistics’ inflation calculator can give you an idea of general inflation by comparing the past and present buying power of a specific sum of money. The average annual inflation rate each year from 2012 to 2020 was between 1.7% and 2.2%. Investment rate of return The investment rate of return is a percentage that shows the profit or loss from an investment. Remember that buying a home is a form of investing. But in this case the investment rate of return represents what you might have earned from your down payment funds if you’d invested them instead of using them as the down payment. This represents how much you’d pay every month for essential utilities if you buy a home. Utilities may include electricity, heating and cooling, water, sewer, gas and internet. You may need to speak to a utility provider and real estate agent to get this number. How long do you plan to live there? This is how many years you intend to stay at a property if you buy it. Depending on your long-term goals, your input may be anywhere from a few years to decades. Are you planning to sell the home long before the loan is paid off? Do you anticipate life changes like starting a family or career relocations that might make your stay in the home more temporary? Renting may be a better option to consider, depending on circumstances. Desired home price Desired home price is how much money you expect to spend on a home. If you don’t have a specific home in mind, check out the prices of homes you may like in neighborhoods that interest you. The down payment is the amount of a home’s purchase price you’ll pay upfront. While putting down 20% comes with many benefits, there are mortgages that allow for lower down payments. Remember, the less you put down, the more you’ll typically pay for your home in the long run. This is how much money you’ll borrow to buy a home. It’s your home price minus your down payment. Estimated interest rate The estimated interest rate is how much you might pay to borrow money for a home. Factors like your credit score, home price, loan type and down payment will all play a role in the rate you receive. Also known as the term, the life of the loan is how long you have to pay off your mortgage. Loan terms are typically 15 years or 30 years. Generally speaking, the longer the loan term, the more it’ll cost you in interest. Estimated credit score range You can use the scores listed in your credit reports from consumer credit bureaus, which include Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If you buy a home, you’ll be on the hook for property taxes. These taxes will be based on the value of your property and may change over time. You can contact your local tax office to find out about property taxes in the area you’d like to buy a home. Most lenders require homeowners insurance if you take out a mortgage. It can protect against any covered property damage or losses during an unexpected event — like a fire or burglary — listed in your insurance policy. The exact coverages will depend on your policy. HOA fees (monthly) Homeowners association fees are payments you may be required to make if you buy a home in a neighborhood with an HOA. These aren’t usually included in your mortgage payment and can range from a couple of hundred dollars a month to thousands of dollars per month. You can get an idea about these fees by contacting the HOA directly. Income tax rate Your marginal income tax rate, which is determined by the highest tax bracket that applies to your income, is the amount of additional tax paid for each additional dollar that you earned as income. You can find information on marginal rates for tax year 2022 at the IRS website. It’s a good idea to review last year’s tax returns to see which bracket applied to you. Estimated maintenance/renovations (monthly) When you buy a home, you’re responsible for maintaining and renovating it. This is how much you plan to spend a month on doing so. Buying closing costs Closing costs are the fees you’ll have to pay when you close on your home loan as a buyer. These are expressed as a percentage of your mortgage and may include appraisal fees, title insurance and taxes. Homebuyers will typically pay between 2% and 5% of the purchase price of their home in closing fees. Selling closing costs If you own a home that you plan to sell, you may need to cover some of the closing costs. Closing costs typically include taxes, appraisal fees as well as real estate commissions to the buyer’s agent and to your agent. Buyers and sellers can negotiate who pays certain closing costs, but the seller’s closing cost contribution is typically between 3% and 6% of the sale price. Home value appreciation Home value appreciation is the increase in the value of a home over time, expressed as a percentage. The housing market, age of the home, location and any improvements you make may affect your appreciation rate. You can determine the appreciation of a specific housing market by using the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index Calculator. Capital gains exclusion If you sell your home, you may not have to pay capital gains taxes on up to $250,000 of that gain if you’re single and up to $500,000 of that gain if you’re married filing jointly. Tax laws are subject to change, so consult a tax professional or the IRS for the most current guidance. Desired monthly rent This is how much you’d pay every month to rent a home instead of buy. Rent security deposit A security deposit is what you pay a landlord one time when you rent a property. As long as there’s no damage and you don’t move out before your lease ends, you’re likely to get your deposit back when you move out. Renters insurance amount (monthly) Renters insurance is what you pay every month to protect your belongings in the event of theft, damage caused by others or a natural disaster. It typically costs $350 a year for a $50,000 policy, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Broker’s fee (if applicable) If you use a broker to help you find a property to rent, you may be responsible for a broker’s fee. The broker should tell you how much they’ll charge you upfront. Rent appreciation (if applicable) Rent appreciation is the increase in a property’s rent over time. You may experience it if market rates, property taxes, and/or insurance premiums go up. If you live in an area with rent control, there may be restrictions on how much rent can increase every year. Is it better to rent or to buy? Your specific circumstances and preferences will determine whether you’d be better off as a renter or homebuyer. If you’d like the freedom to renovate or decorate a home and truly make it your own, buying may be a good option, as long as you don’t mind being responsible for maintenance and repairs. It might also be smart to own a home if you have a family and would like some sense of stability. You and other family members like your spouse and children can be a part of a community and develop long-term friendships and connections. But if you prefer that someone else be responsible for home repairs and that you can move more easily, renting is likely the way to go. This may be particularly true if you lead a busy lifestyle or are a single homebuyer who has the freedom and desire to hop around from place to place. Is it cheaper to rent or buy? Your finances will help you decide whether you’ll save more money renting or buying. If you don’t have the best credit scores, you may want to rent until you improve them and are likely to qualify for a lower interest rate on a mortgage. A lower interest rate can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. You’ll also want to consider your budget and how much money you have to allocate toward housing every month. If you buy a home, you may have more upfront costs because you’ll have to pay for a down payment and closing costs as well as things like home improvements, furniture and utility hookups. It may make more sense to rent until you’ve saved up enough for all of them. Additionally, if you plan to stay in a home for a long period of time, buying may allow you to build equity. The longer you remain in the home, the more of your mortgage payment will go toward your principal. If you move within the first few years of owning your home, you may have no equity or even less equity than what you started with.
There is no doubt that math is hard. The reality is that most students find it to be the most difficult discipline at school. At the same time, it is fundamental and you cannot go without it. The good news is that there is lots of help available especially on the web. Now you can use a greatest common factor calculator online to eliminate the need for doing lots of multiplications and divisions to discover the GCF. Find out more about this opportunity and what it will bring to you. Understanding the GCF Concept Finding the greatest common factor is one of the first thing that you learn in mathematics. It is usually taught in third or fourth grade, but this doesn’t make it easy actually. In order to get a clear understanding of the concept, you should know that all the whole numbers which you can divide a whole number by and get another whole number are called factors. For instance, the factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3 and 6. When you have two numbers, the GCF is the largest number which both of them can be divided by. In order to solve the problem without a GCF calculator, you will have to list all the factors of each number. You have to write them in rows one under the other. Then you have to investigate the factors carefully to find the biggest one which the two numbers have in common. There are two possible traps which you can fall into. Firstly, you may miss to list a factor in either one or both of the rows. Secondly, you may get confused and miss to pick the highest common factor. Of course, the risk of making the first mistake is bigger, but you shouldn’t underestimate the second one. Saving Time with the Online Tool With the GCF factoring calculator, you will never have to go through the complicated process described above. You simply need to enter the two numbers and you will get the solution. You just have to fill out the boxes and hit the submit button. It is as simple as this. The really great thing is that there is no limit to how big the numbers can be. In general, if you want to make the most out of the tool, you should use it not only to get help with doing your math homework, but also to practice your skills. This is how you will do well in exams too. You can also use the greatest common factor calculator with variables and exponents. This is a more advanced feature which students in higher grades and college will find extremely useful. The use of variables instead of digits makes students feel uneasy at first and this is perfectly normal. Still, as you get to practice, you will find that the problems are actually not that difficult. Remember that it is all about learning the algorithm for solving a particular type of problem and applying it correctly.
We have all heard about the nutritional benefits of fish, especially those fish high in beneficial omega-3 fats. But a diet high in fish has one often-overlooked downfall—mercury exposure. Mercury is a heavy metal that accumulates in fish up the food chain. Small fish are eaten by medium-sized fish, which are then eaten by large fish, all the while mercury bioaccumulates in higher and higher concentrations. People who eat a diet high in fish—especially large fish—are at increased risk of high mercury exposure well above the Environmental Protection Agency’s reference intake level of 5.8 µg/mL. In a recent study published in the journal Integrative Medicine, researchers studied 384 healthy, well-educated men aged 23 to 65 in an effort to understand whether fish intake was associated with a protective or negative effect on cognitive function, and how mercury levels related to this finding. Their findings were interesting. In men with modestly elevated mercury levels who had an increased intake of fish, the researchers actually found the highest cognitive function. These findings suggest that the nutrients obtained from moderate fish intake may outweigh the negative impact of increased mercury consumption. The researchers also found, however, that as fish intake increased—of tuna, grouper, snapper, bass, swordfish, and shark, in particular—mercury levels rose above 15 µg/mL and so did cognitive dysfunction. “This finding suggests that high levels of mercury can overwhelm the protective effects of omega-3 fatty acids,” stated the researchers. They caution individuals with a high fish intake, “in particular people who eat more than three servings of fish weekly or more than three to four servings per month of large-mouthed fish [mentioned above].” Studies on the harmful effects of mercury are conflicting, and more research is needed to determine what levels pose risk. Although this study found that a moderately increased mercury level did not negatively harm cognitive health, the participants of the study were already very healthy, so we do not know what effect moderately elevated mercury levels would have on people in less-than-perfect health. Also, we only know what effects the mercury had on particular cognitive tests. It may affect other areas of health that were not fully investigated in this study. I have always been in favor of minimizing exposure to mercury. If you want to eat fish, stick with salmon, sardines, and herring, three fish known to be highest in omega-3 while also being low in mercury. And to be sure you are getting enough omega-3, take a high-potency, purified fish oil supplement.
Every Transition to Algebra lesson (except the very first) begins with a brief (5-minute), lively, and highly-focused Mental Mathematics activity. These exercises are strategically chosen to: build mastery of basic number facts, increase students’ capacity to juggle multiple pieces of mathematical information simultaneously, and develop an intuitive, “common sense feel” for basic algebraic properties of operations. Most times, these are verbal exercises with the whole class; sometimes they take other formats such as chorusing one row of students at a time or alternating between the whole class and individual students (without embarrassing that student). Most lessons begin with an introductory activity to set the tone for the class. The goal is not for students to be able to demonstrate mastery after the launch. Instead, students should feel curious enough to proceed on their own, and the launch prepares them to do this by introducing a new puzzle or clarifying instructions for new problem types. Since this is only the launch, it does not give away the punch line. Students find their way to the goals of the lesson through solving more problems on their own and in groups, by reading dialogues together, and through teacher guidance in class discussions. Student Problem Solving Students need time to solve problems on their own, individually and with partners or small groups. Both kinds of work are essential complements to the work they do under teacher guidance. As students work together, the teacher listens for evidence of mathematical thinking that can be highlighted during a subsequent class discussion. Group work allows students to engage with the materials in a less formal, lower stakes setting where they can explore mathematical thinking without the pressure of the teacher’s knowledge of the subject. This benefits all students and particularly those students whose first language is not English, who may struggle to communicate with adults but feel more comfortable communicating with their peers. In group-work, students with different learning styles collaborate to build a common understanding and grapple with the mathematics in a way that the lecture format doesn’t allow. Struggling students can contribute to discussions even if they can’t compute quickly or come to the correct answer reliably; for instance, they may notice a connection, clue, or question that others hadn’t thought of. And students with a better understanding of the content strengthen their knowledge as they explain their thinking to their peers. Student dialogues (labeled “Thinking out Loud”) appear several times in each unit. These scripts model mathematical discussion, address common confusions and misunderstandings, and encourage academic and mathematical language. The three students who appear in these dialogues – Michael, Lena, and Jay – are all good students with distinctive mathematical personalities. Michael asks the most questions and often seeks clarity and validation of his understanding. Lena is generally confident and follows the methods learned in school. Jay tends to see problems in creative ways and shares alternative ideas for working through problems. Pilot teachers have managed the dialogues in various ways. Some just have students read them out loud in class. Others enjoy acting. Students in Chicago classrooms even videotaped their readings and posted them on YouTube! Allowing students to discuss their thinking is crucial to the success of the Transition to Algebra curriculum. Class discussions (labeled “Discussing Together”), support students in making sense of their own work solving problems, understanding other students’ approaches and ways of thinking, and synthesizing their own thinking and understanding. The discussions also set the tone for the class – one which honors the process of learning math, not just correct answers. In class discussions, good thinking is rewarded by thoughtful discourse, and even struggling students can meaningfully contribute. Discussions are also an opportunity for the teacher to encourage a culture that celebrates any answer (right or wrong) that is reached by good mathematical thinking. Having students discuss their thinking will help them develop the clear communication necessary for word problems on tests and other assessments, and they can be fun way to check-in with kids and to catch misconceptions and other errors. TTA includes open-ended, student-directed explorations and many are designed to be done using manipulatives. Manipulatives lower the barriers for entering problems and allow students to arrange and organize information in their own way, which encourages thinking that is not as easily achieved by drawing or writing. The Explorations are designed so that all students can enter into the problem easily, though the mathematics can potentially go far beyond that entry point. For example, these explorations may lead students into discussions about combinatorics, the Fibonacci sequence, triangular numbers, and so on, but these are not the essence of the activity. The point is not the results of the exploration, but learning how to be a mathematical explorer. The question “Am I done?” is non-trivial in explorations, as in all problem-solving. In day-to-day mathematics, students are rarely faced with problems for which it is unclear whether all the cases and possibilities have been considered, yet it is only in these contexts that students have sufficient motivation to develop a systematic process for analyzing their process. The Transition to Algebra curriculum includes two types of assessments: Snapshot Check-ins and Unit Assessments. Primarily a formative assessment tool, the mid-unit Snapshot Check-ins offer teachers and students an opportunity to assess how well students are integrating new content before moving on. The primary purpose of these Check-ins is to gauge what students know, discuss any difficulties as a class or individually, and to learn from those discussions. Teachers may wish to have students discuss the problems and/or use this feedback tool to help select problems for additional practice. The Unit Assessments summatively evaluate students’ success with the Learning Goals of each unit. Additional Practice Materials Optional additional practice materials are included with each lesson for use at any time in the unit. These materials are versatile, so teachers can direct students to specific exercises according to their individual learning needs. Teachers may elect to assign them as homework, review one or two in class, or assign a whole page on a day with a substitute teacher. Additional Practice problems at the end of the unit address all fundamental ideas from the unit and provide review for the Unit Assessment.
Below is Part I in a 3-part series on the physical and psychological effects of the birth control pill. We will share this important article today and the next two Wednesdays. Be sure to read each part so that you can share this information with your friends and family. Their well-being and their lives may depend on it. Breast cancer. Cervical cancer. Depression. Mood disorders. Suicide. Multiple sclerosis. Ulcerative colitis. Venous thromboembolism. Inflammatory bowel disease. Systemic lupus erythematosus. Cystitis. Crohn’s disease. Urogenital effects. Cardiovascular events. Increased chance of HIV transmission. Your doctor rattled off those words like he was calling roll in a classroom. But each one made you cringe a little more than the last. You could feel your eyes widening as the list grew. Side effects—for a drug you don’t even need, for a drug not designed to alleviate a sickness. You look at him dubiously, as if maybe he’s joking. These can’t all be side effects from one drug, you think. But the look on his face tells you that he is not joking. In fact, he is very serious. And luckily for you, he cares enough about you to tell you what could happen if he prescribes the drug you’re asking for. You start to think to yourself: I don’t want to do that to my body. I value my health too much. I respect my body more than that. You wonder why you never heard any of this before, and you realize you’re going to have to rethink your desire for hormonal birth control. In June 2019, 10 doctors and researchers who had formed a Contraceptive Study Group published a document entitled Petition on Hormonal Contraceptives. This document evaluated existing literature and synthesized studies on hormonal birth control in order to present information on their side effects in one comprehensive document. The Contraceptive Study Group’s goal was to not only warn potential users, but also to petition the government to add black box—or warning—labels onto the boxes of contraception and to include warnings on patient-related information so that women know and understand the risks of the chemicals they put into their bodies. This article serves as an overview of just some of the major findings and of the information this group desperately wants to put forward for all to know. The members of the Contraceptive Study Group understand the damage hormonal contraceptives do to women, to the babies they may carry, and to the families who love them. That is why they undertook the daunting task of reading, interpreting, compiling, and then disseminating the information they found. In all, this petition cites 230 outside sources—not counting those related to the environmental impact. This petition was not only a labor of love and compassion for their fellow human beings but also serves as a wake-up call to people who unknowingly—or knowingly—ingest these harmful chemicals. Millions of women take hormonal birth control or receive contraceptive injections without any idea about the poison they’re putting into their bodies. According to the petition, “Based on data from the Guttmacher Institute, a conservative estimate of 11 million women aged 15-44 in the US take some form of hormonal contraceptive each day. A 2015 study reports that about 21 percent of women of reproductive years are using some form of hormonal contraceptive, which equates to about 13 million women (Daniels 2015).” In addition, millions of babies die when these contraceptives thin the lining of the uterine wall, thus preventing the baby from implanting. Hormonal contraceptives have been on the market for over 50 years, yet the scope of the devastation and health ramifications they have caused can never be known. Some women don’t even realize that the causes of the health problems they face may be contraception. If this petition succeeds in its intent, pharmaceutical companies will have to disclose these side effects. The petition begins by listing the side effects of combined estrogen-progestogen contraceptives (COCs). Many are mentioned in the first paragraph above. COCs include oral, intravaginal, and transdermal formulations. The petition lists the brand names of all of these—in six pages. According to the team, progestogen-only contraceptives (POCs) “have not been extensively studied, but one large registry study did show a significantly increased risk of breast cancer with use of POCs.” Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies COCs as Group I carcinogens, meaning they can cause cancer in humans. The petition recommends that the government “remove from the market the injectable contraceptive Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (DMPA; Depo-Provera) based on conclusive evidence that it facilitates the transmission of HIV from men to women.” It then recommends that black box warnings should be added for the following diseases and conditions: breast cancer, cervical cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, depression and suicide, venous thrombosis, and cardiovascular events. In addition, safety information should be added to advertisements and patient-related materials about multiple sclerosis, bone fractures, body mass effects, and urogenital problems. Countless women suffer the side effects of hormonal contraception. Countless women feel duped by healthcare providers, by pharmaceutical companies, and by organizations that tout the benefits of COCs. Rarely do they hear of these side effects—side effects that can appear after long-term use, after a few months, or even after just a few short weeks. In conjunction with the petition, the public is asked to post comments or stories to this site in order to encourage the government to add warnings to contraceptive labels. Many of these comments reference tragic and heartbreaking stories of loss—loss of life, loss of health, and loss of autonomy. You might wonder why many physicians don’t warn their patients about these side effects. Dr. Ken Stone offers some insight: It is common practice that physicians do not discuss any significant adverse effects of oral contraceptives or require an informed consent. Some colleagues have said to me that they do not want to say anything that would deter them from using the pill. Standard adverse effects in formularies for prescribed contraceptive medicines usually do not mention the most severe ones like pulmonary embolus, stroke, breast cancer, liver disease, etc. This petition for removing certain contraceptives from the market, listing those adverse effects that should have black box warnings in prescribed contraceptives, and those that need additional safety warnings in prescribed contraceptives provide[s] more than adequate research data to require the actions requested. As a family practice physician for the past 41 years, I believe the scandal of not informing women of the known side effects of contraceptives is an egregious injustice and needs immediate correction. The members of the Contraceptive Study Group believe that the public should know the truth. Throughout the next several pages, we will discuss some of the findings and data they presented regarding many of the major side effects of hormonal contraception. To read the petition in its entirety, and to see the comprehensive list of side effects, visit the petition’s site.
Via Islam in Europe here is the section on anti-Muslim prejudice from the new Friedrich Ebert Foundation publication, Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report (summary of the study here). After statistical testing, three statements were used to produce the anti-Muslim attitudes mean scale (Table 7, items 18 to 20). These cover the general impression that there are too many Muslims in the country, the charge that Muslims make too many demands, and broad-brush criticism of Islam as a religion of intolerance. Four further statements were surveyed in a random half of the sample. These cover a positive attitude that sees Muslims as an enrichment and the idea that there are great cultural differences between the majority society and Muslims, especially concerning attitudes towards women. We also surveyed the idea that Muslims generally support and condone terrorism. In most of the countries a majority believe Islam to be a religion of intolerance, with agreement just below 50 percent only in Great Britain and the Netherlands. In almost all the countries more than half of respondents said that Muslims make too many demands; Portugal was the only exception with about one third. The statement that there are too many Muslims in the country is affirmed by just over one quarter in Portugal and by about one third in France. In Germany, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands more than 40 percent of respondents complain that there are too many Muslims in their country, in Hungary about 60 percent. Interviewees were also asked to respond to four further statements covering perceived cultural differences and supposed affinity of Muslims toward terrorism (Table 7, items 22 to 25). Despite correlating closely with anti-Muslim attitudes these items represent separate constructs and were therefore excluded from the scale measure. The figures for those who say that Muslim culture is compatible with their own range from 17 percent in Poland and 19 percent in Germany to about half the population in Portugal and France. A majority of more than 70 percent of European respondents find that Muslim attitudes towards women are incompatible with their own values. Overall in the surveyed countries about one third think that Muslims treat Islamist terrorists as heroes, although somewhat fewer believe that terrorism finds moral support in the Muslim community (ranging from under 20 percent in Germany and the Netherlands to nearly 30 percent in Hungary). The scale created from the first three statements clearly illustrates the extent of anti-Muslim attitudes in the studied countries (Figure 5). It is conspicuous that Europeans are largely united in their rejection of Muslims and Islam. The significantly most widespread anti-Muslim attitudes are found in Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland, closely followed by France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The extent of anti-Muslim attitudes is least in Portugal. In absolute terms, however, the eight countries differ little in their levels of prejudice towards Muslims.
Design is surely an science and art of improving the inside of your design to make a far more aesthetically appealing and wholesome ecosystem for those with the place. An inner surface designer is an individual who packages, studies, and coordinates these types of enhancement tasks. The idea of ‘interior designer’ refers back to the industry in the structural market that concentrates on the organizing, making, and developing of interiors. These jobs transpire in the form of property renovating, office design and style, reseller style, restaurant layout, or another identical task. The actual result is the fact that person active in the task delivers jointly a bunch of their expertise and data to make a bedroom that fits the needs of people inside a offered composition when conforming tonationwide and native, or maybe international rules and restrictions. Creating your living area all over the requirements of the you reside with is the purpose of interior creators. They normally use a range of solutions and tools to accomplish this intention. Quite a few interior designers will work strongly with designers to determine which building regulations the actual structure matches and to develop a strategy to make certain the latest building matches these specifications. Following these regulations are authorised, the inner creators can obtain home furniture as well as other devices to totally match the surrounding. Immediately after purchasing these home furniture, they will assist the house owners so that the bedrooms are very effective with each other. The next thing within the job involves the completing a degree program. Graduate students will accomplish various key courses that get ready them to the different areas of the profession. Central lessons may include spacedesign and preparing, psychology of room organizing, design concepts, illumination style, and home furniture design and style. Pupils will also need to get general schooling lessons that cover administration, rules, organization and connection and promotion. Lots of internal makers get started on their employment opportunities as household furniture technicians. These folks can also collect on-the-occupation education through a corporation or an person expert. After a couple of years on this exercising, inside creative designers qualify to try to get a certificate, which may be shown by business employers as proof of the applicant’s understanding of the niche. The most common area an decor university student will center on through his or her scientific studies is job operations. Venture management involves the entire process of coordinating and dealing with various jobs simultaneously. Graduated pupils will learn many tips and techniques that refer to making a successful undertaking managing scheme. To become an excellent home design tech, graduate students need to in addition have a strong aptitude for coloration and carpentry. Learners will discover how to use color and finishes to make a vision impression in the room. They can also learn to decide on ideal carpets and carpets for almost any area, which include both equally commercial and residential locations. An associate level in design makes it possible for graduates to apply their specialized expertise to making a wide array of home design alternatives. Once a learner has finished his / her Associate amount, the individual can bring an check-up to certify that he / she matches all of the the very least instructive necessities. Right after passing the accreditation exam, graduates will then be able to make an application for jobs with furniture makers, interior design firms, home designing companies, carpet companies, manufacturers of window covers, and interior planning newspapers and newsprint. Nevertheless, it is very important understand that these roles do not can come without having restrictions. Graduated pupils should really expect to have to get results for a long period inside their picked niche. Most roles requires at the very least 2 years of experience from the field. People that get their Associates education are viewed as pros into their industry and their beliefs are valuable to recruiters. Today’s employment situation is a wonderful chance of those that have a scholar degree in home design. Work opportunities within the discipline typically contain managing the production and servicing of interior surroundings. Graduate students may possibly devote their weeks drafting and constructing the styles of pieces of furniture and inside components. They may also be included in tracking down products, conducting quality regulate inspections of concluded merchandise, and testing the strength of paints and floor coverings. Graduates could also serve as general job managers, overseeing tasks from conceiving to installment and outside of.
Many people are surviving with joint problems. They have different diseases of joints that have different causes and some are associated with certain other medical conditions. But when we talk about osteoarthritis, it has some stages. In this disease, the flexible tissues that are present at the bone end start wearing down. It occurs gradually but becomes worse as time passes. There are five stages of osteoarthritis. Stage 0 refers to the normal stage in which people have healthy knees. The highest stage is stage 4 in which people get severe issues of osteoarthritis (OA). It causes significant pain and the disruption of the function and movement of joints. Stage 0 (Normal) It refers to normal knee health. No specific symptoms of OA appear in this stage and the joint keeps functioning without any pain or impairment. No treatment is required for this stage. Stage 1 (Minor) Minor growth of bone spur appears in this stage. Bone spur refers to bony growths that can develop where your bones meet each other in the area of the joint. A minor cartilage loss can occur. People do not experience any discomfort and pain at this stage usually. Most doctors do not recommend any treatment without the appearance of symptoms. But if you have some risks of increasing the disease, your doctor may suggest you do exercise in routine in order to reduce the symptoms. Stage 2 (Mild) It is called a mild stage of osteoarthritis. Doctors perform x-rays to detect the growth of bone spur. People with mild stages have greater growth of bone spur. But the size of cartilage is still healthy. You can say in other words that bones have normal space in between them. Bones do not scrape and rub with one another. The synovial fluid is present at this stage at a moderate level for the normal motion of the joint. People with this stage may experience pain, tenderness, and stiffness in the area of their joints. Discuss the symptoms of OA with your doctor in order to get the best treatment. It is important to diagnose this issue at early stages to stop the progression of the disease. The doctor might suggest some therapies and give you pain relievers. Exercise is recommended for overweight people. You can do low-impact aerobic exercises. Moreover, your doctor may ask you to visit a physical therapist. Stage 3 (Moderate) Stage 4 of OA refers to the moderate stage. Damage to cartilage occurs and the space between your bones becomes reduced. People with this stage get frequent pain when they walk, bend joints, or start running. Your doctor may prescribe you glucocorticoid injections if pain relievers and certain home remedies do not work for you. A hormone is present in corticosteroids which helps to relieve the pain of OA. Stage 4 (Severe) This stage is considered a severe stage. People with this stage get much pain and discomfort in the area of their joint when they move it or walk. The reason is that the space present between the bones is reduced dramatically. Cartilage is almost gone. It makes the area of your joint stiffer. Moreover, it can become immobile, and synovial fluid starts decreasing. Doctors usually recommend surgery for Stage 4 of OA. Bone Realignment Surgery Osteotomy or bone realignment surgery is the one option for individuals who have severe OA of the knee. A surgeon tries to cut the bone above during this surgery. He also cuts it below the knee to shorten it. Sometimes surgeons change the alignment of the bone. Total Knee Replacement (TNR) Arthroplasty or total knee replacement is recommended for people with severe and persistent pain. It is good for individuals who have decreased functions with severe OA of their knee. A surgeon removes and replaces the damaged area of the joint using a mental device and plastic. You may get an infection at the site of the incision after the surgery. People may also have blood clots. After surgery, you may need several weeks or even months to recover. Physical therapy and certain extensive occupational therapies help to recover. Sometimes surgery won’t work. In this case, your doctor can recommend you another surgery to deal with the severe OA.
FRANK X. MULLEN JR. (03/02/09) For the Reno Gazette The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research into Morgellons disease, called the "unexplained dermopathy" investigation, is in the ninth month and results may be released by the end of the year, officials said. The CDC Web site says: "the suffering that many people associate with this condition is best addressed by a careful, objective scientific analysis. Considering the complexity of this condition, we believe that a measured and thorough approach offers the best chance for finding useful answers." The agency awarded a contract to Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Division of Research to assist in the investigation. The $545,000 study is being designed and led by CDC, moved to action after inquiries from the public, health care providers, public health officials, Congress, and news media, according to the agency. Celebrities also get the disease; singer Joni Mitchell last week told Billboard magazine that she is being treated for the illness. Doctors who believe the disease exists say it may be an syndrome that thrives in people with compromised immune systems. At least one researcher has been studying the condition for years. Randy Wymore, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology who directs the Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, has been examining the "fibers" that seem to sprout from patients' skin lesions. Although many doctors insist the fibers are merely bits of clothing fabric stuck to patients' scabs, Wymore found that samples from patients hundreds of miles apart were similar and were not known textile fibers. He said the "black spots" called "seeds" by some patients aren't pepper grains, as some dermatologists have assumed. Wymore could not immediately be reached for comment, but in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal last year he said that Morgellons is a real disease and patients' suffering is made worse by doctors' disbelief. He said some self-diagnosed Morgellons patients may be delusional but others definitely have the disease. Yet, there is no accepted universal treatment or cure. Many patients find they are on their own. "It's a lonely, isolated existence," said Mel Friedman, a Reno man who said he used two drugs and three homeopathic remedies to successfully treat the disease. "You find out who your friends are. Because no one knows how it spreads, some people won't get anywhere near you." He said he hopes the CDC study bears fruit but doesn't have a lot of faith in the agency's ability to solve the medical mystery. He sees it as a plodding bureaucracy and part of the medical establishment that denies the illness exists. But his doctor, Shannon Zamboni, said she's glad the federal agency is taking the disease seriously. "Doctors want to help patients," she said. "But they can't do that if they don't know what's happening to them."
The N-methyl- d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-induced apoptosis is implicated in the pathological mechanisms of neural tissues, increasing the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in a type of apoptotic cell death called excitotoxicity. Although intrinsic mechanisms to remove ROS, such as antioxidant enzymes, are provided by the tissue, the association between NMDA-induced excitotoxicity and antioxidative enzymes is not well understood. In this study, we focused on superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), an antioxidant enzyme, and investigated the role of SOD1 in the NMDA-induced neuronal cell death in the retina. NMDA was intravitreally injected into wild-type (WT) and SOD1 total knock-out (SOD1-deficient) mice. The number of TUNEL-positive cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner nuclear layer (INL) counted in the retinal sections and flatmount retinas were significantly higher in the SOD1-deficient mice than the WT mice after NMDA injection. Visual function assessed by dark-adapted electroretinogram (ERG) showed that the amplitudes of a-wave, b-wave, and oscillatory potential 2 were significantly reduced in the NMDA-injected SOD1-deficient mice. The level of ROS in the GCL and INL, measured using dihydroethidium, and the number of positive cells for γ-H2AX, a marker for DNA double strand breaks, and 8-OHdG, a marker for DNA oxidation, in the GCL were significantly increased in the SOD1-deficient mice after NMDA injection. We also measured mRNA and protein levels of SOD1 and SOD2 in the retina of WT mice, to find that mRNA and protein levels of SOD1, but not SOD2, were significantly reduced after NMDA injection. SOD1 deficiency exacerbated NMDA-induced damage to the inner retinal neurons, and NMDA reduced SOD1 levels in the retina of WT mice. Therefore, SOD1 protected retinal neurons against NMDA-induced retinal neurotoxicity, and NMDA-induced SOD1 reduction may be involved in neuronal vulnerability to excitotoxicity.
Canceled four years ago by a president who considered global warming a hoax, climate crisis information has returned to the website of the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of Joe Biden’s promise to “bring science back”. The revival of a page dedicated to the climate emergency reverses Donald Trump’s order in 2017 to drop all references to it from government websites, and prioritises the Biden administration’s pledge to “organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis”. In a statement, Michael Regan, confirmed by the US Senate last week as the federal agency’s new head, said: “Climate facts are back on the EPA’s website where they should be. Considering the urgency of this crisis, it’s critical that Americans have access to information and resources so that we can all play a role in protecting our environment, our health and vulnerable communities.” Trump’s decision to drop the EPA’s climate informational page was just one of many controversial moves that angered environmentalists during his single term of office. He pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement, rolled back countless environmental regulations and protections and appointed a scandal-ridden climate change denier, Scott Pruitt, to lead the EPA. Analysts, however, considered the Orwellian removal from the world wide web of scientifically accepted climate data and information to be especially heinous. In a Guardian article last October, Michael Mann, one of the world’s most eminent climate experts, likened the following month’s presidential election to “a Tolkienesque battle between good and evil” and said Trump’s re-election would have made it “essentially impossible” to avert a global climate catastrophe. The EPA’s climate change page relaunched on Thursday, featuring a prominent graphic stating that the agency “is restoring the role of science” in addressing the emergency. “Trustworthy, science-based information is at the foundation of strong, achievable solutions,” Regan said. So far, the site appears sparsely populated, containing details of a couple of executive actions concerning the climate that Biden signed in his first week in office in January, and restoring links to previous EPA reports and other related federal agencies, such as Nasa and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. A short video features Regan laying out the agency’s priorities: “Americans in every corner of our country are seeing and feeling the effects of climate change, wildfires out west, back to back hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, extreme heat and rain in the heartlands and historic flooding in the east,” he said. “Combating climate change is not optional, it’s essential at EPA.” The site promises more content to come, urging viewers to “return in the coming weeks as we add new information and features”. Biden made tackling the climate emergency a cornerstone of his election campaign and acted quickly to deliver on the promise, restoring the US to the Paris agreement and enacting early executive orders covering a range of environmental initiatives. They include creating a position for a special presidential envoy for climate, and hosting an Earth Day climate summit in April. “Science is back,” the president said during a tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on Friday. “We’re not going back to the old days. When you have a crisis you’re prepared to meet it because you speak the truth and science to power.”
If you’re planning a painting project and you’re concerned about humidity levels while you paint, you’ve come to the right place. Since paint needs to dry properly to have a beautiful and smooth-looking result, moisture in the air is certainly an issue. So, is painting in humid weather possible? While the answer to that question is yes, we’re going to discuss some of the concerns and tips for dealing with humidity and painting indoors or outdoors. Moisture in the air means that there’s moisture on the surface you’re about to paint. A damp surface is not ideal for painting, and you will find that your overall result doesn’t look as great as you’d hoped. Let’s dig into the specifics of how high humidity negatively impacts your paint job. Moisture could lead to mold growth When you’re dealing with high humidity, surfaces tend to dry slowly. When you’re painting indoors, for example, you always want to wash your walls before slapping down a coat of paint, so high humidity could slow down the drying process. If your walls are damp when you start to paint, this could lead to mold growing between the wall and the paint. The mold will eventually grow through the new layer of paint, and you will need to clean the area and paint again. Paint will struggle to dry For a coat of most paint types to dry, the water in the paint needs to evaporate more quickly than the solvents. In high humidity, the water struggles to evaporate, making for a gunky, gel-like layer of paint. Eventually, when the humidity level falls, you’ll find that this type of consistency will dry with a wavy texture since it has not been set properly, and you won’t be satisfied with the result. Wood surfaces could swell As you may know, moisture on wood causes it to swell. If you’re painting wood when there’s a lot of moisture in the air, the wood could start to swell a bit after you’ve put on a coat of paint. This swelling could cause cracks or chips in your coat of paint which will eventually lead to the surface needing to be repainted. Paint may not adhere to metal surfaces Painting metal objects can be difficult enough, since paint doesn’t adhere to them as easily as it does to wood. Humidity can worsen this, so if you’re trying to paint something metal, it might be best to leave that for a drier day. The perfect humidity level for painting, particularly outdoors, is between 40 and 50 percent relative humidity. Some moisture in the air is a good thing when you’re painting since you don’t want the paint to dry too fast and start to crack or peel. While painting in humidity levels above 50 percent is possible, you have to take some additional precautions to ensure a smooth and clean result. However, painting in humidity levels over 85 percent is highly discouraged since the paint will have such a difficult time drying. Thoroughly dry surface before painting If you’re painting indoors after you’ve washed your walls, be sure to wipe them thoroughly with a dry cloth to soak up any excess water. Then, set up some oscillating fans or even industrial blowers in the room for up to several hours to rid the walls of any residual moisture. It’s also a good idea to run a dehumidifier in the room for several hours after washing the walls and before painting. Paint at the right time of day Particularly if you’re painting outdoors, the time of day plays an important role in your paint job’s success. As you approach mid-day, temperatures rise, and humidity falls, so begin painting during the early morning hours. That way, your paint will begin drying as humidity is getting lower. As the day goes on into the late afternoon, humidity levels increase as the temperature lowers, and you run the risk of condensation building up on your newly applied coat of paint. It’s best to stop painting as the day gets later. Follow the sun You don’t want to have freshly applied paint in direct sunlight since the paint will dry too quickly and not adhere properly, but the sun does help with warming surfaces and reducing moisture. When you’re starting your outdoor painting job, plan to begin with the surfaces that have been previously sitting in the sun but are now moving into the shade. These areas will be warmed and less moist but will not be in the sunlight as they dry. Paint in thin layers This one may be obvious, but thin layers dry more quickly, so if you’re facing highly humid conditions that will slow down the drying process, this is one way you can combat it. In the spirit of full disclosure, painting thin layers will require additional coats, but you’ll be more pleased with the outcome overall. In a perfect world, you would only be painting when the humidity levels are ideal. However, since that’s not always a possibility, you may find yourself needing to paint when humidity is high. That doesn’t mean your paint job needs to suffer—painting at the proper time, taking the right precautions, and using the right products will go a long way in combating the moisture in the air so that you can enjoy a properly dried, evenly distributed, and beautiful coat of paint.
In this article, I’m going to cover 2 main subjects of the networking domain for the Docker Certified Associate DCA certification. To move on to multi-host networking, we need to make sure we understand a few concepts related to Docker Swarm. Swarm never creates individual containers. Instead, all Swarm workloads are scheduled as services, which are scalable groups of containers with added networking features maintained automatically by Swarm. Here, we see that a service named webAPI and a service named catalog are both deployed to a swarm that consists of many nodes. Each of the services has a certain number of replicas; 3 for webAPI and 4 for catalog. To experiment with Docker Swarm without having to install or configure anything locally on our computer, we can use Play with Docker. PWD is a website that can be accessed with a browser and which offers us the ability to create a Docker Swarm that consists of up to five nodes. Basically, it is a playground with a fully functional Docker environment, that is ideal to demonstrate some features. Although the time for which we can use it is limited to 4 hours per session, we can open as many sessions as we want, but each session automatically ends after 4 hours. To access the site go to https://labs.play-with-docker.com. You will be presented with a welcome and login screen. Use your Docker ID to log in. There are already some templates defined. I’m going to use one template to create a swarm with 3 managers and 2 workers. A service can be created either as part of a stack or directly using the Docker CLI. Still, it’s recommended that all Swarm objects to be described in text files called stacks. A stack is used to define a collection of services that are related, most probably because they are part of the same application. In turn, each service has a collection of tasks. These stack YAML files describe all the components and configurations of your Swarm app and can be used to easily create and destroy your app in any Swarm environment. To begin, make sure you are on one of the manager nodes. Then create a file called web-stack.yaml and open the vi editor: touch web-stack.yaml vi web-stack.yaml Place the following in the file and then enter “:x” to save the file. version: "3.8" services: webAPI: image: nginx ports: - '8080:80' deploy: replicas: 2 In this example we see what’s the desired state of a service called webAPI: To create the preceding service, we use the docker stack deploy command. docker stack deploy -c web-stack.yaml sample-app A default network was created for us, together with a stack called sample-app that consists of one service, webAPI. If we list the services defined in our swarm, we get the following output: docker service ls ID NAME MODE REPLICAS IMAGE PORTS 1gt2w6t67zrs sample-app_webAPI replicated 2/2 nginx:latest *:8080->80/tcp Furthermore, we can see the list of the 2 tasks that correspond to the requested 2 replicas of our webAPI service by issuing the following command: docker service ps sample-app_webAPI In the NODE column, we can also see the node to which each task has been deployed. The corresponding tasks have been scheduled on worker2 node and manager3 node. More specifically, task 1, sample-app_webAPI.1, landed on host worker2 while task 2, sample-app_webAPI.2, landed on host manager3. The webAPI service has been deployed and it resulted in the fact that an instance of the service web was installed on two nodes worker2 and manager3. You can expose this service externally by using the –publish flag when creating or updating the service. Publishing ports in Docker Swarm mode means that every node in your cluster is listening on that port. But what happens if the service’s task isn’t on the node that is listening on that port? Let’s test the application using curl from the manager node 1. docker@manager1: curl localhost:8080 And, indeed, the application works as expected. Yet, we were able to access the web service on manager 1 with localhost. But the application was deployed on worker 2 and manager 3. How is that possible? Well, this is due to the so-called swarm routing mesh. The routing mesh makes sure that when we publish a port of a service, that port is then published on all nodes of the swarm. Thus, network traffic, internal or external, that hits any node of the swarm and requests to use the specific port, will be forwarded by routing the mesh, to one of the nodes that contain the containers of the service. Let’s see how that works. Previously, I created a service web with two replicas. The corresponding tasks have been scheduled on Host A and Host B. More specifically, task 1 landed on host A while task 2 landed on host B. Now, the routing mesh exposes port 8080 on each host in the cluster. To be able to publish a service port, Docker Swarm has to combine several sophisticated network building blocks as we’ll see. Returning to our example: First, a request comes from a client and it goes through an external load balancer (LB) and it wants to reach port 8080. (1) This traffic destined for the service webAPI can enter on any host. (2) In this case, the external LB sends the traffic to a host without a service replica. Since this host can serve the request it has to redirect the request. To achieve this, Swarm uses a Linux component, called IP Virtual Server load balancer (IPVS), which redirects traffic on the ingress overlay network to find a healthy service replica. And now begins the service discovery process. (3) Docker uses embedded DNS to provide service discovery for tasks(containers) running in a Docker Swarm. This internal DNS server provides name resolution to all of the containers on an overlay network. When a request comes for a service, Docker Engine looks up the IP address that matches a task name, or service’s name in its key-value store and returns that service Virtual IP (VIP) back to the requester. These VIPs are automatically assigned when services are created in a Docker Swarm cluster, and they are attached to the ingress network. (4) This approach avoids any application-level load balancing because only a single IP is returned to the client. Docker takes care of routing and equally distributing the traffic across the healthy service tasks. (5) Therefore, the virtual IP of that service is load-balanced by the operating system network stack to the individual task IP addresses. In our case, it picked task 2, with the IP address 10.0.0.2. (6) To recap. When traffic reaches a cluster node on port 8080, Docker Swarm reroutes that traffic to the service VIP attached to the ingress network. Then, IPVS forwards traffic from the VIP to the real endpoints, which are Docker service tasks. What’s important to note here is that it doesn’t matter which swarm node the external request is forwarded to by the external LB. The routing mesh will always handle the request correctly and forward it to one of the tasks of the targeted service. In short, the overlay network allows containers attached to the same overlay network to discover each other and freely communicate with each other. The overlay network driver creates a distributed network among multiple Docker daemon hosts. This network sits on top of (overlays) the host-specific networks, allowing containers connected to it (including swarm service containers) to communicate securely when encryption is enabled. Docker transparently handles the routing of each packet to and from the correct Docker daemon host and the correct destination container. Now, that we understood how network port publishing works on a multi-host network, we are ready to compare the “host” vs “ingress” publishing modes. Ingress (traffic originating from outside) and egress (traffic from inside to outside) for services do not depend on centralized gateways but distributed ingress/egress on the host where the specific service task is running. There are two modes of port publishing for services, host mode, and ingress mode. Ingress mode port publishing utilizes the Swarm Routing Mesh to apply load balancing across the tasks in a service. Ingress mode publishes the exposed port on every UCP/Swarm node. Ingress traffic to the published port is load-balanced by the Routing Mesh and directed via round-robin load balancing to one of the healthy tasks of the service. Even if a given host is not running a service task, the port is published on the host and is load balanced to a host that has a task. docker service create --replicas 2 --publish mode=ingress,target=80,published=8080 nginx mode=ingress is the default mode for services. This command can also be written with the shorthand version -p 80:8080. Port 8080 is exposed on every host on the cluster and load balanced to the two containers in this service. Publishing a port establishes a stable ingress point for a Docker service that is independent of the transient locations of that service’s tasks within the Swarm cluster. Therefore, in this mode, you can rely on the routing mesh. When you publish a service port, the swarm makes the service accessible at the target port on every node, regardless of whether there is a task for the service running on that node or not. This is less complex and is the right choice for many types of services. An alternate publishing mode, called host, bypasses the routing mesh. When using this mode, clients connect directly to the service task on a given host. If a task is deployed there, it can handle the connection; otherwise, the connection attempt will fail. It does not apply load balancing, so traffic to those nodes is directed only to the local container. docker service create --replicas 2 –publish mode=host,target=80,published=8080 nginx To prevent port collision only a single task of a given service can run on each host. Therefore, you can publish a service task’s port directly on the swarm node where that service is running. This bypasses the routing mesh and provides maximum flexibility, including the ability for you to develop your own routing framework. However, you are responsible for keeping track of where each task is running and routing requests to the tasks, and load-balancing across the nodes.
During the summer I spent time as an Eva Koch scholar at Woodbrooke – the Quaker study centre in Birmingham. I was researching the subject of Simplicity, which is a Quaker Testimony alongside Peace, Truth and Equality. This is the fifth in a series of six articles that I wrote based on my research and the one-to-one interviews I conducted. These articles have previously been published in the Friend magazine. HAS QUAKERISM LOST ITS RADICAL EDGE? Has the Quaker approach to simplicity has become lukewarm? Simplicity is not an easy testimony. For a start the roots and meaning of the word are unclear. Early friends urged plainness of dress and speech, printing and distributing testimonies ‘against excess in these things’, and in The Priests Fruits Made Manifest George Fox asked of the wealthy clergy ‘are these marks of a Christians life?’ But what does it mean to live out the testimony of simplicity as we understand it today? Frances Irene Taber, in the 2009 Pendle Hill Pamphlet Finding the Taproot of Simplicity, talks about how the first generation of Friends did not have a testimony for simplicity, instead focusing on stripping away ‘superfluities’ that got in the way of what they experienced as true. ‘It is this radical process of stripping for clear-seeing which we now term simplicity’ she says. In the 1850s, when Friends in Yearly Meeting debated plain dress and speech, people began to speak about being simple in inward ways as well as outward. Amongst the Friends I interviewed the testimony meant a range of different things, from ‘taking away the surplus’ to seeing the world as it really is, avoiding distorted relationships, and challenging injustice. Some struggled with the testimony, one Friend saying this was because it’s a personal challenge and less easy to see how to change ‘without being very radical’. For one Friend it meant taking what’s happening in their spiritual life and putting it at the centre. These processes chime with ‘stripping for clear-seeing’, but do we act boldly or are Quakers, as one Friend suggested, ‘not radical enough’? What do we change for simplicity? I asked participants what changes they had made in response to the testimony of simplicity. Half said their lifestyle hadn’t changed. These people recognized Quaker values as important but said they fitted or chimed with their existing situation before they encountered Quakerism. One Friend said the testimony ‘just seems to be so in keeping with my beliefs’, another that ‘this is what I’ve been doing anyway, all my life.’ A Friend who previously lived in a religious community felt his life was already simpler than Quakers. Only one participant said they had changed their life significantly, describing it as a ‘Quakerly challenge.’ So how were Friends applying simplicity today? Some wanted to dispel the stereotype of a rural life of self-sufficiency or isolation such as lived by Henry Thoreau, famously outlined in his book Walden. The answers given weighed towards the practical, the most popular being: buying less, shopping ethically, using charity shops, travelling on public transport, not owning a car, avoiding flying, and mindful spiritual practice. Some Friends felt guilt that they should be doing more. For Jonathan Dale, guilt has a positive part to play: ‘If we do not see, or feel, any need to change our conduct, from where will the motivation come to change it?’ he asks in his 1996 Swarthmore Lecture Beyond the Spirit of the Age. He goes on to say that we need not fear guilt, but instead ‘receive it as a messenger of Truth’. Dale appears to exemplify the testimony in action. He moved with his family from an affluent suburb to the inner-city estate in Salford where he worked, saying ‘…we need to share something of what poverty and marginalization mean if our faith is to be real’. In Quaker Social Testimony in our Personal and Corporate Life (Pendle Hill) Dale explains that the decision to move took ten years due to fear of theft, violence and vandalism. Ultimately, though, he feels the experience was ‘an opening and a liberation’. Social activism is not for everyone Of the 26 people I interviewed, seven expressed a dislike of, or disinterest in, activism and politics. ‘There are other ways of getting your voice heard,’ one Friend said, pointing out that ‘lifestyle is the biggest witness you can do.’ Many Friends combined action with a spiritual focus. When asked about the spiritual implications of simplicity, about two fifths of participants spoke of contemplative practices such as meditation, reflection, yoga and non-attachment. There was also an appreciation of the Quaker form of worship and silence. From the 1930s to the1960s American Quakers seemed particularly concerned about the rise of consumerism and some issued a strong call to a simple life. Pendle Hill output included pamphlets from Mildred Binns Young who wrote about her choice of a life of ‘functional poverty’ and Richard B Gregg’s 1936 essay The Value of Voluntary Simplicity. Gregg acknowledged that ‘voluntary simplicity involves both inner and outer condition’ and described a conversation with Gandhi who advised him against giving up his books ‘in a mood of self-sacrifice’, saying: ‘Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you’. This echoes George Fox’s advice to William Penn concerning his sword: ‘wear it as long as thou canst.’ These accounts remind us that even radical external simplicity originates with something inward – a process of discernment and attentiveness to the leading of God/the divine. One Friend said that ‘the root of everything is the spiritual side’ and another that ‘I don’t really separate spirituality from living.’ ‘Spiritual discipline is important’ another Friend reminded us. Activist, radical, Quaker? The role of political action/activism causes discord. ‘It’s the only area that some people… in Quakers feel they’ve got the excuse to wag the finger’ one Friend told me; another felt there’s a Quaker problem of ‘activists criticizing navel-gazers’ and ‘spiritual people criticizing activists’. Personal choices are political one participant pointed out, saying a simple life is about economics – who has and who has not – and using resources wisely. The younger adults took a more radical stance, seeing the need for a cultural shift and for radicalization to be ‘normalised’. One was interested in ‘anarchist’ and ‘bottom-up’ peace-building and activism. He had lived in several forms of community and felt it was liberating not to own things. He acknowledged, however, the security net of his middle class family but felt security can also be found through relationship networks. In his experience, Quaker meetings did not support radical simplicity and he felt that comfortable middle-class Quakers have lost their radical edge. Another said that to ‘not choose work’ is also radical. A third felt a ‘religious moral imperative’ to ‘live in solidarity’ with the people Jesus called ‘the least of these’: ‘I have everything to lose… from challenging that system, and of course everything to gain from being in greater solidarity with the entire rest of the world.’ Are we practicing ‘safe simplicity’? It is a luxury to be able to choose ‘voluntary simplicity’ and many are forced to live complex lives juggling insecure work and responsibilities for dependents. One Friend spoke of ‘safe simplicity’ versus living precariously, saying that rough sleepers, prisoners and people struggling with alcoholism are all practicing simple living, and that ‘there is a dangerous smugness in Quakers.’ She spoke of her working class background, and how Quakers sometimes treat poor and working class people as ‘them’. Forced poverty – an ‘evil’ which ‘should be renounced’ according to Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline – was mentioned by several Friends. The problems we face are systemic and require imagination and spiritual bravery if we are to address them. ‘Simplicity,’ says Parker J Palmer in his introduction to Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity by Catherine Whitmire, ‘can impel people to plunge into the world’s most intractable problems.’ As Advices and Queries 27 encourages, perhaps we need to ‘live adventurously’ and let our lives speak.
Getting a medical marijuana card can help you purchase cannabis without restrictions. But how to get a medical marijuana card for hypothyroidism? Since USA authorities won’t allow more than 0.3% THC in cannabis products, you’ll require a medical card to unlock this facility. However, your medical card is based on what condition you are facing. You’ll require a card specifically for this disease if you have hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition that happens when your body can’t create thyroids and releases more hormones into your bloodstream. It slows down your metabolism: you’ll feel tired, gain weight, and find it hard to handle cold temperatures. It can happen at any age, and even your kids can develop this. They’ll show less energy and fatigue, making it hard for them to sleep. Many treatment options are available for this condition, including unconventional remedies. Medical marijuana can help manage hypothyroidism symptoms, and with proper usage, it can help get rid of this problem entirely. Regardless of who experiences the issue, for using marijuana, getting a medical marijuana card is a requirement. Symptoms of Hypothyroidism If your body can’t create enough thyroids, it will release the hormones in your blood instead of regulating them. One can develop this condition with age or are born with it. In some cases, the chances are high that a child already has it but do not exhibit severe symptoms. Since children’s bodies are full of energy and still evolving, they can create immunity against it. However, if they cannot fight it naturally, you need to consider medicines. Here are the symptoms of hypothyroidism. The common ones are lack of energy, weight gain, and fatigue; these symptoms are visible early. If your kid has gone past 13 years, hypothyroidism can cause a delay in puberty, and girls might experience irregular menstrual cycles. The child cannot bear cold temperatures and have weak muscles. Other symptoms include constipation, hair loss, dry skin, and hoarse voice. Not all kids will present these symptoms since every child is different. Causes of Hypothyroidism Anything that messes with thyroid hormone production can cause hypothyroidism. Your family history is the most significant cause. Moreover, if your thyroid or pituitary gland is damaged, it can also lead to this issue. The thyroid gets damaged due to surgeries or autoimmunity. Therefore monitor your symptoms if you have ever had surgery. The pituitary gland gets damaged due to brain injuries, and these are all severe problems that can cause permanent damage to your body. On the other hand, some medicines also alter thyroid production, and adding extra iodine to your food is another reason. Consult your doctor to find the exact cause of hypothyroidism to use the precise dosage for managing your problem. Effects of Hypothyroidism Hypothyroidism can also affect your children’s mental health. Children will have a hard time interacting socially if their mental health is compromised. They’ll feel depressed, anxious, frustrated, and an outcast among their peers. They will find it difficult to concentrate, resulting in low grades at school despite their efforts to try and focus. You’ll notice a change in your child’s mood, and they will get frustrated easily. Children are delicate, and experiencing the trauma resulting from the condition can impact their lives immensely. Marijuana for Hypothyroidism Medical marijuana is currently used to treat hypothyroidism, but you’ll need permission. Doctors prescribe marijuana as it helps improve the health of your central nervous system and thyroid. The cannabis binds with your cannabinoid receptors to regulate, improve, and maintain the health of your vital organs. Your body can’t function prosperity with hypothyroidism, and marijuana can target the endocannabinoid system to help manage the condition. As your body keeps getting marijuana, it regulates the health of the thyroid gland without causing any adverse side effects. However, you only opt for marijuana products that have CBD without any THC. Your child cannot bear the effects of THC, and people already suffering from hypothyroidism will have an increase in their anxiety if they use THC. CBD can control an overactive thyroid and helps increase the hormones. Marijuana might not cure this problem, but it can lower the symptoms and effects. In conjunction with other medication, you can overcome hypothyroidism. How to Get Medical Marijuana Card for Hypothyroidism The procedure is the same as getting a regular medical marijuana card, and you’ll require medical consent from your doctor on paper. If you use a portal, you’ll need a certificate to present to authorities. Once you have the certificate or your doctor’s consent, you can visit your government marijuana website. - Fill out the necessary information, and if they ask for an ID, you might have to get a scanned copy. Usually, you’ll have to provide a copy of your driver’s license. If you want a medical card for your kid, you’ll need to enter details from their birth certificate. - Once all the documents are uploaded, and you supplied all the details, pay the fee that govt demands to provide you with the card. You can use a debit or credit card to pay. Once the payment is made, you can download the soft copy of the medical marijuana card. - Remember to take this card with you while carrying the medical marijuana. You can show that card at any medical store and purchase medicine for your child. However, the pharmacy won’t provide you with your desired product; instead, you’ll get the necessary dosage. That dosage will help manage the symptoms and effects of hypothyroidism. - If you lose the card, you can apply for a new one or renew it if you have kept it for more than a year. However, you don’t have to enter all the details again the second time around. The website allows you to review all the details or make changes. Pay the fee, and you’ll get the medical card the same way you got it before. What Side Effects of Hypothyroidism Marijuana Can Easily Treat Hypothyroidism comes with many side effects. Some are common, while others are rare. Marijuana can take care of the most common ones, but you’ll need proper medication to get rid of rare ones. Since marijuana contains CBD and THC, it can help improve depression and anxiety. These compounds enhance mood and confidence, so your kid won’t have to face an inferiority complex when having the condition. Moreover, THC is an excellent compound for reducing the signs and effects of inflammation. Taking a low THC amount can reduce inflammation and help your kid stay calm and sleep better. Also, cannabis can reduce fatigue, allowing your kid to regain energy to play and exercise. Hypothyroidism is a severe disease, and you’ll require a medical card if you want to use marijuana to manage it. There is no reason why you this condition should impact your quality of life and that of your child. You can still have a relatively normal life and the symptoms can be managed. We shared details about the condition and how to get a medical marijuana card for hypothyroidism. Be sure to follow your doctor’s advice to avoid getting adverse side effects.
There are a few tricks that can help to write your essay. Below, you will find tips to write an outline, a thesis statement your essay and check your work for proofreading. By following these guidelines to follow, you’ll be well the path to writing a great essay. Read on! These are the best features of an essay. If you master these, you’ll be well in the process of getting an excellent grade. Create a thesis statement When you write an essay, you must create a compelling thesis that holds your whole essay together. Make sure your thesis is precise and short, as otherwise, your readers won’t get an understanding of the topic of the content of your essay. The thesis should be supportive of the main idea and include logic factual evidence, logic, and facts. Your audience will be drawn to your thesis statement and then they’ll continue reading it. When writing an essay, you’ll need to write a compelling thesis statement that will guide your ideas. 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Then, based on the length of your essay the precise position could differ. It is best to place it near the start of the introduction. It gives the author time to present the concept while ensuring that it doesn’t annoy readers their attention. This way, they’ll be more likely to remember what the primary idea is of the essay. The outline of an essay The process of defining an essay can be an effective method of writing your academic piece. Outlines can help you organize the content of your essay and arrange it according to logic between subpoints and points. Most outline are written using an alphanumeric structure. Important points are highlighted with roman numerals. The outline follows with lowercase, capital, and order of words. There are other templates available including staggered bullet point and decimal outline. It is not necessary to write your own outline. It can be used as a basis for your suggestions you make in your essay. 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The outline has a similar arrangement to paragraphs. The typical outline is composed comprised of an introduction and several paragraphs for body, and finally the final paragraph. While the structure of each body paragraph is the same The topic sentence must link to the previous body paragraph to aid the reader in connecting concepts from paragraph to paragraph. The basis of a properly-structured essay is as follows. Once the outline is completed the essay will become much easier to write. When you outline your essay, the body of your essay should be the main focus of the essay. The subheadings of three can be used to define the essay’s main body. Your opening paragraph should include the main ideas. The body paragraphs should include your supporting information. A strong thesis statement is sure to draw the attention of the audience and get them to take a look at the rest of your article. You should make it persuasive, argue for the position give enough details to engage them emotionally, and provide enough details. If you are writing large research or academic papers, an outline can prove to be very useful. Outlines help you make a plan for your research, and also to identify what you need to do. The outline also allows you to draft a general outline for your essay. The outline should contain short thesis statements, introduction, main part, as well as a conclusion in addition to bullet points. An example outline is accessible on the site of an essay writing service. There’s also a range of other uses for an outline for your essay. It’s an essential part to write. A thorough proofreading session can reveal any errors or typos that might go unnoticed. Text references must be proofread and this is essential because they are susceptible to becoming obsolete following a few rounds of editing. Verifying spelling, grammar, and punctuation is an additional requirement. It is important to ensure that your final edits are accurate and reflect how many sections you have modified. References to cross-references must be verified. It is possible to get busy writing your first draft, which you neglect to edit your essay. It can result in some lack of originality. If write my college admissions essay you are proofreading your essay, be sure to check only for glaring mistakes or easy fixes. Make sure to type without fear, and you will begin to form thoughts more quickly. Additionally, it is important to allow your self enough time to proofread. Doing your best to finish proofreading your essay 30 minutes before the deadline won’t be enough. It is recommended to begin proofreading your essay at least one day prior to the date you have to send it in. Grammar checkers can be helpful in identifying mistakes but they might not fully understand the meaning of your essay. Therefore, it is important to read your essay aloud. Speaking out loud helps you catch mistakes that spellcheckers could not be able to detect. Also, reading an essay aloud helps to slow down and prevent errors that you would miss if you were reading it within your head. You can also use the services of a translator like Google Translate to read your essay. Proofreaders improve the quality of your work by rectifying spelling mistakes. Proofreaders can assist you to increase the clarity and the flow of your writing. An experienced proofreader can make your appearance less lazy and also catch errors that spellcheck can’t detect. You will be able to detect mistakes you could miss. It is the aim to enhance your writing skills and ensure that your writing stands out from the rest. Requesting friends to proofread your essay for you is another way. They will catch common mistakes and improve the quality of your writing. It’s also an excellent idea to seek the help of someone at your institution or online. You can ask a classmate or your friend for assistance. A collaborative editing process can help you understand what to look at and where to find these issues. A proofreader will spot any mistakes in grammar, structure as well as the concepts of your writing. Proofreaders can identify places that require corrections. An editor can help you spot mistakes you may miss in your first draft. It will also provide you with valuable information on how to improve your writing from them. Be sure to remember to thank your proofreader! They will be thankful for their help. It will be a pleasure to have pay someone to write my essay taken the time to proofread and edit your article!
Clerodendrum Wallichii Care. Flowers white, appear in late summer and early fall, fragrant; Insert the plant into the hole and press soil firmly around the roots and just covering the root ball. The plant list (2013) gives c. In bangladesh, the plant is usually found in. Full sun to partial shade How To Care For Clerodendrum Plants Meet The Bleeding Heart Vine. When all the plants are potted, water. Plant in free draining soil rich in organic matter. My post today is dedicated to mr aaron ang from the southern state of johor, malaysia, of aaron's gardening blog. Make A Small Hole In The Soil Slightly Larger Than The Root Ball Either By Hand Or Using A Trowel. Rambling tropical shrub with white flower clusters during autumn. Clerodendrum in local market 5. Lamiaceae) is an evergreen, bushy shrub which is widely distributed in all around the indian subcontinent. Wallich Described The Species In 1829 By The Name Clerodendrum Nutans, And In 1952 Elmer Merrill Renamed The Species To Its Current Name, Clerodendrum Wallichii, Because The Name Had Been Previously Used By Jack In 1820 ( Rueda, 1993; A starburst clerodendrum root sucker. The differences between the two species however are very distinctive. Justify their use in health care system (foye et al., 2008). The Leaves Are Dark Green, Glossy, And Narrowly Oblong In Shape, Reaching Up To 7 Long. For the best flowering results, choose a location with full sun when planting starburst clerodendrum. Starburst (clerodendrum quadriloculare) is a member of the mint family (lamiaceae). Wallichii as a synonym of clerodendrum laevifolium blume, but usda. In Bangladesh, The Plant Is Usually Found In. Admire bleeding heart vine flowers. The one exception is the hardy variety bungei.this one can grow in more temperature zones than the other clerodendrum plants. Find help & information on clerodendrum wallichii from the rhs
We switch on engineering from the minute we start our days—but envision if it was already integrated into every day objects all-around us. In the College of Interactive Art and Technology’s Everyday Style and design Studio, established a ten years back by SFU professor Ron Wakkary, researchers are infusing textiles with technology—weaving ‘threads’ of Wi-Fi into fabric—as a way of pushing boundaries to more have an understanding of how technology impacts our life. Doenja Oogjes, who just lately concluded her PhD in SFU’s Faculty of Interactive Arts and Technological know-how (SIAT) brings together the tangibility of textiles with technologies to examine how we shape our interactions with connectivity. Oogjes’ research, carried out in the studio, focuses on the relationships among human beings, matters, and our surroundings. As these relationships continue on to expand, her fascination in discovering them via textile fabrication led to the style and design and generation of two Each day Layout Studio projects—one, a textile Wi-Fi antenna, and another task called Wifi-no-Wifi. During her layout and advancement system, Oogjes says the supplies typically information the path. “As a designer I am in no way thoroughly in handle of the processes,” she says. “This presents a lot more voice to supplies of layout practice.” Oogjes incorporates “materials speculation” in which unanticipated or various elements can convey forward broader or diverse issues. The antenna, produced by weaving a conductive content specifically into a tapestry fabric, was conceived as a way to realize our marriage with household routers and the online. Normally, gadgets like house routers or modems are concealed as they can be visual eyesores. “The internet has turn out to be a part of our lifestyle, but we by no means materially practical experience it,” suggests Oogjes. The workforce ideas to grow its venture to glance at ecological relationships in between technologies and other species—specifically bees—by researching the detrimental results that Wi-Fi indicators bring about to them making use of the textile Wi-fi antenna. Oogjes produced the to start with woven prototypes and the group is continuing to get the job done on the job with Milou Voorwinden, a jacquard weaver at the Dutch-based mostly EE Label, with other workforce-associates like SFU college student Henry Lin and Wakkary. The Wifi-no-Wifi task requires a engage in on the plan of the Net-of-points (IoT). IoT units are every day things that have wise functions constructed into them, like lightbulbs or wise household speakers. Oogjes worked with Pauline van Dongen, a trend designer and postdoctoral researcher at Eindhoven University of Technological innovation, to style a woven, flower-like object with an origami composition that pops open up when it detects that there are no close by wireless networks about it. The operate associated expending several 4-hour periods at Emily Carr University of Artwork and Design’s TARP Lab doing the job with its TC2 jacquard loom. The notion driving the piece is to understand how a individual would treatment for it—either to actively open up the item or to retain it shut. “We required to think about what it’s like to carry one thing with you that has the likely to shock you,” suggests Oogjes. “We wished to participate in with the notion of care and awareness around how significantly connectivity there is close to us in our every day modern society.” The WiFi-no-WiFi project staff also consists of van Dongen and SFU college students Henry Lin, Tiffany Wun and Mandeep Mangat, and Wakkary. The studio, because its founding, managed an open-doorway coverage of global companions coming to perform with the studio. “For persons who want to do the job listed here and collaborate with us we will uncover the place for them,” claims Wakkary. “The form of research we do is very palms-on and style and design-oriented it is extra than just exchanging words and phrases in a text in a paper.” “Looking at the evolving relationships we have with technologies, our style and design operate is continually asking, what do we definitely want out of technologies, and what are the effects that they have on our working day-to-working day lives? To evolve and have a very long standing, sustainable partnership with systems, we want to comprehend technologies as they are.” – Ron Wakkary, Professor, University of Interactive Arts and Technology The studio thrives on attracting designers with various backgrounds and innovative and essential views, claims Oogjes. “We really do some exciting, risky and occasionally foolish work which I constantly take pleasure in, that there is area for that in academia.” Oogjes, who graduates in June, hopes to keep on operating in textile fabrication exploration and academia, incorporating, “I would really like to develop a layout room with the similar power and the capability to develop these forms of projects.”
Background: Ambient air pollution is a major environmental cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Cities are generally hotspots for air pollution and disease. However, the exact extent of the health effects of air pollution at the city level is still largely unknown. We aimed to estimate the proportion of annual preventable deaths due to air pollution in almost 1000 cities in Europe. , Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 66, March 2021 The climate emergency and population growth are challenging water security and sustainable urban design in cities worldwide. Sustainable urban development is crucial to minimise pressures on the natural environment and on existing urban infrastructure systems, including water, energy, and land. These pressures are particularly evident in London, which is considered highly vulnerable to water shortages and floods and where there has been a historical shortage of housing. However, the impacts of urban growth on environmental management and protection are complex and difficult to evaluate. , Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 66, March 2021 Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely regarded as the key to finally making private mobility clean, yet virtually no research is being conducted on their potential contribution to the expansion of impervious surfaces. This study aims to start a discussion on the topic by exploring three relevant issues: the impact of EVs’ operating costs on urban size, the space requirements of charging facilities, the land demand of energy production through renewables. , Geography and Sustainability, Volume 2, March 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has stalled and rolled back progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ecosystem services (ESs), defined as the contributions of ecosystems to human well-being, underpin the achievement of SDGs. To promote SDG achievement in post-pandemic era, we teased out the links between ESs and SDGs while examining the impact of COVID-19. We found that ESs benefited all SDGs, yet man-made pressures led to degradation of ecosystems and their services. There is broad consensus that the virus lurks in degraded ecosystems and generates spillover due to human interference. , Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 65, February 2021 This study presents a critical review analysis of greenery systems research through a bibliometric approach. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic overview by (i) the development of the field; (ii) the research trends and the main issues; and (iii) the main gaps still observed in the literature. Therefore, this paper provides the past, the present and the potential future of this scientific topic and serves as an orientation and guide for researchers who aim for a better understanding of the main progress and gaps. Building and Environment will host a series of free webinars on COVID-19 Control. The second webinar of the series will feature 2 presentations from experts in the field on the following topics: COVID-19 and indoor and outdoor sports, presented by Bert Blocken, Professor of Civil Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands & KU Leuven, Belgium. Efficient reduction of airborne transmission by advanced ventilation, presented by Arsen K. Melikov, Professor of Ventilation and Air Distribution, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark. , Digital Geography and Society, Volume 2, January 2021 These are uncertain times in the Anthropocene, where the health and resilience of all urban inhabitants should be key themes for cities striving for sustainability. To this end, local councils in Australia are applying digital technologies with increasing complexity as components of their urban forest management. This paper applies a more-than-human lens to analyse Australian local council urban forest policies, documents and project information for their inclusion and application of digital technologies. , Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 26, December 2020 Buildings consume vast amounts of energy and pollute the environment in various ways. Façade is a part of building's architecture that can play a significant role in reducing energy consumption, as well as alleviating its negative environmental effects. Although using smart materials in buildings' facades can help dramatically to attain the mentioned goals, very limited studies have been conducted regarding the mentioned issues. Moreover, existing studies have investigated only a few number of smart materials simultaneously. , Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Volume 26, December 2020 Food waste valorization is a hot topic due to the cornucopia of waste generated and the ensuing detrimental environmental effects. Food is lost or wasted in a variety of means on its way from field to mouth. Once deemed inedible, it is considered a waste, but it still contains first-rate organic material that can be processed and used to create a host of new products, chemicals, or energy. Upgrading food wastes can be performed in a variety of processes. Deterioration of water quality due to economic development, climate change and other factors has become a challenge to human beings and the ecosystem. Most countries have recognized this problem and have resorted to actions for improving water quality. However, the effect on water quality improvements due to these actions is uncertain due to the plausibility of multiple scenarios like climate change scenarios and socio- economic scenarios.
If you’ve got a little scratch on your car that you want to fix yourself, don’t worry — it’s easier than you think! In this article, we’ll teach you how to apply paint to touch up your vehicle. This process is simple and can be done in just a few minutes. We’ll walk you through the steps of repairing your car’s paint job, so don’t worry if you’re not experienced with this kind of thing. Follow these instructions, and your car will look good as new in no time. 1. Clean the Surface of Your Car Before you begin, you’ll need to ensure that your car’s surface is clean. Wash the area around the scratch with soap and water. Then, use a soft cloth to dry it off. If the scratch is in an area with a lot of dirt or grime, you may need to use a stronger cleaner. You can purchase a car-specific cleaner at your local auto parts store. 2. Identify All the Damage Now that the area is clean, you can better assess the damage. Look closely at the scratch to see how deep it is. If it’s just a surface scratch, you’ll be able to fix it with touch-up paint. You may need to use a different repair method if the scratch is deeper. For example, if the scratch has gone through the paint and into the metal, you’ll need to use an auto body filler. 3. Sand the Area Around the Scratch Once you’ve determined that touch-up paint will suffice, you’ll need to sand the area around the scratch. This will help the paint adhere better and make the repair less noticeable. Use fine-grit sandpaper to lightly sand the area. If you’re not sure how much pressure to use, err on the side of caution. You don’t want to sand too much and create more damage. 4. Apply Paint Thinner to the Area After you’ve sanded the area, you’ll need to apply paint thinner. This will remove any dust or debris that’s left on the surface. It’s important to make sure the area is clean before you apply the touch-up paint. Otherwise, the repair won’t be as effective. 5. Apply the Touch-Up Paint Now, it’s time to apply the touch-up paint. Start by shaking the paint well to mix the contents. Then, use a toothpick or other small object to apply the paint to the scratch. Be sure to fill in the scratch completely. You may need to apply several coats of paint before it’s fully covered. 6. Apply the Clear Paint Coat After the touch-up paint has dried, you’ll need to apply a clear paint coat. This will protect the repair and help it blend in with the rest of the car’s paint job. Use a small brush and the dub method — that is, apply the paint to the brush and then dab it onto the car. 7. Polish the Paint Finally, you’ll need to polish the paint. This will help the repair blend in even further and will give your car’s paint job a nice shine. Use a polishing cloth and apply a small amount of polish to the area. Rub it using circular motions.
In the countryside around Aleppo and Idlib, children used to meet on rooftops to catch up on the schooling they missed as a result of Syria’s eight-year civil war. The initiative, interrupted when Turkey initiated Operation Peace Spring in October, is one of several pedagogic initiatives led by Salman Ibrahim, who, in his pre-civil war days, was a high school teacher of Arabic in Aleppo. In 2011, that hopeful time when it felt as though a wave of popular uprisings could topple the entrenched authoritarian regimes across the Middle East, Ibrahim joined the anti-regime protests. Once the protests were brutally stopped, he continued to express his resistance to Bashar al-Assad’s regime by teaching children how to think critically and express themselves creatively — both in classrooms and on stage. In 2014, Ibrahim founded Aleppo-based Bread Ways, a theater group for children that provides them with a framework for engaging with abstract concepts like censorship and propaganda, both of which are among the defining features of Assad’s dictatorship. Bread Ways was intended as a platform to introduce the children, whose education was interrupted by the civil war, to critical thinking. He drew his inspiration from the methods of Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed, using theater as a forum for social change. Bread Ways staged its first play in Aleppo in 2014, with a troupe of 15 young actors, writers and musicians who vented their frustrations over their experiences of oppression and injustice — such as violence in aid distribution lines. When Aleppo was the most dangerous city in the world, Ibrahim's Theater of Dreamers provided an educational framework and some grounding for the children. “Children mostly respond positively due to the fact that other people are interested in their future and education, which also makes them feel responsible,” Ibrahim told Al-Monitor. “Those who are part of this initiative believe that everyone has to be a part of saving those children’s future, to offer them a decent life.” Ibrahim worked with schools run by Turkish authorities together with local councils. His wife works with Swa’adna al-Souria, the nongovernmental group founded by Ibrahim and his friends in 2014 and registered in Turkey as a civil society group. The group focuses on education and provides livelihood to the people in need in northern Syria. Ibrahim worked with Swa’adna al-Souria to hold interactive theater classes both in Idlib and in the countryside. The lessons took place in repurposed damaged buildings, including schools, some of which were converted to housing for the internally displaced. Often, they would use the rooftops — and end up staging plays in makeshift tents. To make his theater initiative sustainable, Ibrahim also educated the students’ parents about socially conscious arts curricula. Funding for his projects comes from international donors, such as PAX, a Dutch aid organization. “How brave these people are and how important their work is, although at first it looks like something small. And the incredible pressure that is on them from all sides, that’s always good to realize,” Evert-Jan Grit, the Middle East program officer for PAX, told Al-Monitor. Despite the difficulties in Syria, Ibrahim simply refused to leave his country for many years after the start of the civil war. Asked why he had not emigrated to Turkey once the war started, he explained that staying in Syria was the only way to push for the rights of the Syrian people. “Syrian people have rights. We demand those rights. It doesn’t make sense to demand those rights from outside Syria. I want to be there beside those people, fighting for those rights,” he said. Nour, who met Ibrahim at a 2012 anti-regime demonstration at Aleppo University and now lives in Turkey, told Al-Monitor on condition her last name not be used, “We felt we had the power to change things, to make things better for ourselves and for others for generations. When I think about the kids inside [Syria] now, I feel that we [those who fled] left them behind.” At the end of 2016, Ibrahim applied for temporary a protection status in the Turkish southeastern city of Gaziantep, and received an identity card. Until the beginning of Operation Peace Spring, he divided his time between Gaziantep and village schools around Aleppo and Idlib. The migration office opens at select times, during holidays for example, for Syrian migrants to return home temporarily. But if they overstay, their ID cards can be canceled. When asked if he is afraid that Turkey might deport him due to his frequent crossings to Syria, Ibrahim laughed, saying he wished they would so that he would not have to endure the bureaucratic rigamarole every time he returned home, including once for his own wedding. Ibrahim, however, has been unable to return to Syria ever since Turkey’s latest military offensive that started on Oct. 9. But that has not stopped him from fundraising and planning curricula for when he returns. The offensive displaced nearly 200,000 civilians, including 80,000 children. The corridor of land, which was increasingly destabilized by the Turkish military, is slated to host up to 2 million deportees following the latest resettlement deadline on Oct. 30. The majority of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees now in Turkey will be crammed into the territory, designated a “safe zone” to be administered by Turkey. “People who are living in Turkey don’t want to go there,” said Nour, an activist from Aleppo who has been living in Turkey for the past six years. “People are running away from what [Turkey] is trying to create as a safe zone. It feels hopeless.” Fewer than 40,000 Syrian refugees now living in Turkey have work permits. In Istanbul, where an estimated 1 million Syrian refugees live, only half are registered. Since at least December 2017, the Turkish authorities have deported thousands back to conflict zones. This winter, Syrian families are bracing for a rise in deportations. “If the Turkish government wants to send them back, they will put them on a bus to hell. They don’t care about saving a [safe] area for them. They are doing this to negotiate [political] deals,” said Ibrahim, who is worried that his initiative will end due to the incursion. On Oct. 22, the Syrian government regained control of parts of Idlib, just two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw US forces from the area. Given the regime’s brutal suppression of any type of anti-regime activism, whether it is armed resistance or peaceful protest, all the people involved in Ibrahim’s teaching initiative are now in serious danger. Two months ago, the European Union cut some of its educational funds designed to reach over 3 million people in Idlib for the current academic year. Families unable to send their children to school have become desperate; they are scraping by with insufficient financial handouts from Turkey, and with nominal support from the EU. Ibrahim and Nour are working together with international activists in Istanbul to raise funds for school supplies, a new initiative for Swa’adna al-Souria. These learning materials will be distributed to children living in the areas that are in the impoverished, insecure “safe zone” that will be administered by Turkey. If they can afford the essentials that keep them living from day to day, families will be better positioned to send their children to school rather than out to work. “I believe in people supporting people,” said Ibrahim. “People believing in other people’s rights brings more stability and empowers people to change this world.”
When Malcolm Marshall and several other Black and Latino students were sent letters excluding them from a Harvard University information session at their public high school in Georgia, Marshall’s outraged mother called the university. Recruiters assured her that it was not their policy to exclude students and that all those who had been banned from attending were allowed to join in. Marshall, now a junior at Rutgers University, remembers the vice principal of his high school telling him, “It’s so hard to get in. You probably won’t get in anyway.” Marshall credits his mother for helping him reach his educational goals, saying she never took no for an answer. He is now in the process of applying to graduate programs in education, with the goal of promoting access to higher education for students of all backgrounds. He hopes to work as a college administrator or in the U.S. Department of Education. “I guess I was always preoccupied with that burning question: Why was I more successful than some of my … peers in school that look like me and came from similar backgrounds?” he says. While surfing the Web, Marshall came across an initiative that is probing that same issue. Dr. Shaun Harper, a professor of higher education, Africana studies and gender studies at the University of Pennsylvania, launched the Grad Prep Academy in 2009 to create a pipeline of Black males for graduate programs in education. Marshall applied to the Academy and is now part of its second class. The initiative prepares eight to 10 Black men every year to enter master’s and/or doctorate programs in education by providing funding for a GRE class, mentorship, and guidance through the admissions process. “I don’t want to just be a researcher who researches Black male access and equity,” Harper says. “I want to actually contribute to increasing access and moving us closer to equitable outcomes, equitable participation rates and so on.” Black male enrollment in doctoral programs is alarmingly low, says Harper. Just 2.1 percent of doctorates were awarded to Black men in 2007. With the help of Dr. Andrew Porter, dean of Penn’s education school, Harper has gotten the project up and running. “We see this as a multi-pronged response to an important education problem,” Harper says. “I was bothered by the dismal participation rates in graduate schools.” A dean from the University of Maryland expressed interest in replicating the project’s model, and Harper says he has gotten resounding support from his peers and the university. All marketing has been done through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook, which has brought in more than 350 applications for the 18 spots he has filled thus far. Supported by the Provost’s Diversity Fund at the university, scholars also benefit from an all-expenses-paid trip to the Philadelphia campus. Demetri Morgan, a University of Florida senior and a member of Grad Prep’s first class, says the trip helped him build relationships with academics. “If he can create this network and grow it every year, by the time we are professors and administrators we’ll have strong connections across the country,” Morgan says. “It really advances the educational agenda and actually gets things done.” Harper says he hopes to use the Academy to create a fraternal network of Black education researchers and leaders. Each class, he hopes, will mentor the next. Mauriell Amechi, also a member of the first Grad Prep class, says he’s excited to work with the next group of Academy students. “I thought that it would be a good resource for me as an African-American male who has aspirations to become an educational researcher,” says the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign senior. Amechi has now been admitted to three master’s programs and is waiting to hear back about doctoral program admissions. When he becomes a professor, he plans to study access to higher education with regard to all underrepresented minorities. “I know for a fact that it was my ACT score that held me back,” Amechi says. If it were not for his ACT score, he says he would have been admitted to UI’s business school. It’s a common problem that Harper has seen first-hand as a professor: students who have a great deal of potential but not the right score. “If you put your thumb on their GRE scores, everything else about them would have rendered them undeniably admissible,” he says. While Harper says he would love to have all the Academy scholars attend Penn’s Graduate School of Education, he’s realistic that the 18 students will choose the best programs for themselves, fanning out across the country. “We all feel extremely responsible to turn around and give back to our communities,” Morgan says.
It is the first public straw building in Hastings and will act as a community facility and cafe with interpretation that showcases Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve. Read More UP STRAW: Urban and Public Buildings in Straw STRAW: premium biobased building material Creating a healthy and comfortable inner climate in buildings and reducing CO2 can go hand-in-hand! Building with straw, in combination with clay, has this effect. CO2 reduction takes place by optimal insulation and by the CO2 contained in the natural material straw itself. The use of straw and clay creates a healhy, dampopen inner climate. Straw is widely available and can be applied in new constructions (houses, offices, schools, public buildings). Straw is also applicable for the insulation of existing buildings. Straw can be used immediately from the production location (farmland), without a further processing. This makes straw the premium biobased building material. UP STRAW: a collaborative approach to creating straw awareness and use Heating all of the buildings in NWE accounts for about 15% of the GHG emissions. The implementatie/application of straw as building insulation helps to reduce that in a natural way. We will demonstratie that in five projects: buildings made of bales, wrapped in straw and created with prefab straw panels. Ready for implementation in the building industry. Educational programs for architects, constructors and straw craftsman will facilitate knowledge development. University modulair program elements make students aware of the possibilities and application conditions. Implementation of straw elements in building methodology and Building Information Modelling software will facilitate the use of straw elements in the building industry. Communicating the advantages, application and the effects of building with straw will create interest in the possibilities and application. The project is progressing towards concrete phases with a first meeting to establish the planning of the realisations. It is the Vivarchi architectural firm and the Treenergy thermal and fluid design office that will be working with us to restore the CNCP shed and build a new building to house training courses. Read More From now on, building decision-makers and building experts can get an overview of existing straw-insulated houses in Europe with a simple mouse click. The new register of houses contains about 1300 entries and can be found online at Read More - The construction of the Visitor Centre in Hastings in structural straw. - Renovation and straw insulation of the sports hall in Roomley in Tilburg. Technique: blown-in straw, prefabricated panels. Watch the vide Read More The European UP STRAW programme launches a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) all about building with straw: Building for change - Naturally. Six weeks of free training: time to build sustainably! Read More Salzkotten, July 15th 2019. One of the first straw insulated family homes in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia opened its construction site to the public on July 14th 2019. About 600 visitors participated in the presentations about straw bale building and showed high interest in the technique. “If I would build a home I would choose building with straw”, was a statement often heard by visitors when asked about their opinion. The mayor of the city of Salzkotten was very interested in the construction technique as well as other local authorities such as members of the County Council, the board of works and the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Among the visitors were several crafts people, some of which asked about straw bale building courses. The event programme included practical demonstrations and a fair with stands of the Professional Association of Straw Bale Building (FASBA), the builders’ merchant Baustroh GmbH, the straw producing farmer and a local eco building supplies store. Children experimented with straw and clay, local musicians played and the guests could purchase eco-foods from regional produce. Several media paid attention to the open day at the construction site. Five local newspapers and the main local radio station reported about straw bale building covering about 185.000 people in the region. For 10 days, many events are organized in the Centre-Val de Loire region to discover straw construction! Construction sites, conferences, visits to buildings, activities are on the program... We presented the straw bale construction at a festival dedicated to the preservation of the environment. We had an information and awareness stand for the general public. Barbara gave a talk about UP Straw and natural building at the sustainability group meeting. Eileen Sutherland spoke at this event and described the work of UP Straw to an audience of more than 40 people, comprising architects, activists and others with an interest in natural building. Barbara Jones made a presentation to the Natural Fibre Insulation Group. This year's 2019 Agricultural Show was held from February 23rd to March 3rd, 2019. Official figures indicate that 633,213 visitors walked the show aisles in 2019, CNCP and its sub partners were able to present for 9 days the benefits of straw construction in Hall 3 which is the liveliest of all the living room. Several presentations to the microphone a day, meeting with straw producers. Detailed presentations of the straw construction and qualities of the material to the general public, to several groups of students, and some curious professional Meeting with the institutions in this case the IDF region president who is already familiar with straw construction. During the first stone event for the beginning of a new school building, was organize by the City council, the first bale ceremony to introduce this new technic to local actors. We present straw bale building to children and local actors. We had a dedicated space for Straw bale building in the Regional government Headquarter of New-Aquitaine while the big strategic meeting of building sector’s leader for setting up the new strategic plan for building sector in the Region. For 5 days, 15 construction professionals learnt about straw construction with two French trainers. One part of the training was dedicated to theoretical knowledge: acquire knowledge of professional standards for wood frame construction insulated with straw, learn about thermal insulation and building physics or be able to explain technical details. A significant part of the training was focused on practice: implement straw bales, build a wood frame, implement bays and equipment, facing and maintenance.
Architecture or any other field’s innovations are credited to the research as that is the only factor that addresses knowledge gaps and alters the way that design professionals operate by providing solutions to previously unanswered questions. There can be no doubt that research is crucial to ensuring the maximum efficiency of our existing approaches and the development of new ones. One of the most fascinating and difficult learning disciplines is architecture. Few people can connect to the excitement of just creating and developing rooms. A home is not at all a simple task to complete. There are several considerations, from functionality to safety. However, architectural research is a completely distinct aspect of the same coin. The process, product, and performance of architecture, are specifically three steps of research. Research is essential as it runs the whole cycle from concept to execution and again as a base to start a new design. In the abstract, Site analysis comes first for the overview of the location and feasibility of the type of project. The next step starts with the research which can be categorized in many ways. Here are the starts we can say from the How, Why, What, and When, these are kinds of information gathering. Then it comes to the functions and typology so research for that, the material exploration, climatic conditions, relevant innovations, construction methods, and so on. In another way, architectural research is a kind of inquiry carried out intending to produce information, insights, and understanding based on capabilities, techniques, and instruments appropriate to the field of architecture. Its information base, approach, breadth, methods, and strategies are unique. It is imperative to look at references before creating anything to understand their benefits and drawbacks, not to copy them. We need to research to understand the impact of certain elements on our design and also to construct wonders. Analyzing and analyzing other architects’ projects is where architectural students begin their journey. In the same way, professionals design buildings by referencing previous work or by studying a particular case in depth. To obtain certification on a building, for example, an environmentally friendly or LEED-certified building, the members also had to research the building. This is how every individual is directly or indirectly involved in architectural research. In this regard, we have to keep in mind that architecture is a very technical field. It is therefore recommended that the hours for a subject called ‘Research program’ be long enough to cover all aspects of it, regardless of whether a student wants to conduct further research to advance his professional career or to enhance his career prospects. There is a clear difference between the outcome of the projects with and without research. Research plays a vital role in everything. Whether it is about the design or the permission for the building use or the rating, even to buy any developed property. Research exists everywhere from different sources and various perspectives. The meaning of research in true essence indeed is different from professionals but if we go to all resources, everyone has a little part before concluding anything. The person synthesizes the component alternatives into a useful resolution by using the tools provided by research to examine the issue components and their linkages. The design offers ideas for resolving upcoming issues, and the research gives information to make it acceptable and useful. The technique of psychological inquiry has always been connected to architectural education. A person must gain knowledge before they may share it. The more critically someone examines a topic, the more important it brings to design as a profession. In the field of architecture, there are no right or incorrect decisions; instead, each person’s perspective serves as the standard by which their conscience is assessed. A mind that asks questions and conducts research is essential for rationalizing the viewpoint. Architectural practice requires research. Statements regarding the need and utility of research may be found across many architecture websites and brochures. Architects must be clear about their goals for their studies. The majority of architectural companies are eager to “move upstream” and develop unique expertise that will help them attract customers and increase their fees. However, there are a few things that tiny businesses and architectural teams may do to improve their research capacities. Some of these research-related tactics might be useful for even bigger architecture companies. The research entails gaining information or competence in a certain field. But the firm as a whole needs to absorb this information. Because of this, it’s logical for an architectural firm to direct its research activities in a manner that is consistent with its strategic plan. For instance, the firm’s research activities should be in line with this if it wants to create a competitive edge in the areas of health, facade design, sustainable design, or any component of urban design.
In this glossary post I have listed definitions of commonly used terms in the Sensory Lifestyle Blog. Alerting activities: These types of activities aim to get your body and mind more active. Auditory Sense: This sense processes and interprets information that is heard. Bilateral Coordination: The ability to use both sides of the body together in a smooth and coordinated manner. Body Awareness: This is the mental image of one’s body parts. Where they are, how they relate to each other and how they move. Calming activities: These types of activities help to calm your body and mind. Crossing Midline: It’s the ability to cross over the invisible line in the middle of the body with legs, hands or eyes to the opposite side. This skill is needed for things such as reading, writing, many dressing tasks and many sports activities. Directionality: The awareness of right/left, forward/back and up/down. It also includes the ability to move your body in all of these directions. Eye Hand Coordination: The ability for the eyes and the hands to work together to complete specific movements. These are necessary for activities such as dressing, writing, throwing, catching a ball and playing with toys. Fight or Flight Response: The instinctive reaction that one has to defend themselves from real or perceived danger. This may result in a person being aggressive or withdrawn. Fine Motor Skills: The ability to skillfully use your hands and fingers. Fine motor skills can be used while writing, eating, playing with toys, dressing etc. Finger Isolation: The ability to move each finger, one at a time. It is part of fine motor skills and is important for things such as using a writing instrument, typing, playing a musical instrument, tying shoelaces etc. Gustatory Sense (taste): A sense that takes in information through the tongue. The information is about characteristics of food such as salty, sour, bitter or sweet. Gross Motor Skills: It is the ability to skillfully use your large muscle groups. Gross motor skills can be used while walking, running, hopping, jumping, climbing etc. Hand Arches: Development of arches on your hand allows you to grasp objects and helps with the skilled movement of fingers. Hand Eye Coordination: See Eye Hand Coordination In hand manipulation: This refers to the ability to move and position objects within one hand without the assistance of the other hand. Also part of Fine Motor Skills. Interception Sense: This sense tells us what is going on inside our body through the senses within our organs. Midline: Imaginary line dividing the two halves of the body. Crossing the midline is the ability to use a body part (hand, foot or eye) from one side of the body and being able to use it the space of the other side. (See Crossing Midline) Modulation: The brain’s ability to regulate its own activity. For example calming down when going to sleep and staying focused when doing homework. Motor Coordination: The ability to use your body parts such as arms and legs to complete movements in a coordinated way. Motor Planning: It’s the ability to conceive of, organize, sequence and carry out an unfamiliar and complex body movement in a coordinated manner. Object permanence: This is the understanding that objects or people still exist even when we can’t see them. Understanding this concept is an important cognitive milestone. To review the specific stages of object permanence, check out the Wikipedia page Olfactory Sense (smell): This is a sense where the information is inhaled through the nose. It helps us recognize whether smells are dangerous, strong, faint, pleasurable or foul. Organizing activities: These types of activities will calm a child down who is very active, and alert a child who is feeling low and tired. Pincer grasp: This is the ability to use the thumb and the index finger to pick up small items. Plasticity: The ability of the brain to change or be changed as a result of activity, especially as a person responds to sensations. Position in space: Awareness of spacial orientation of letters, words, numbers or drawings on a page or of an object in the environment. Postural Adjustments: The ability to shift your body in order to change position for a task. Postural Insecurity: A fear of body movement that is related to poor balance, and deficient body awareness. Pre writing Skills: This is a group of fundamental skills that are needed before a child is able to write. Proprioception: The unconscious awareness of sensations coming from the person’s joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. It provides awareness of our body position in space. Reflex: An action that is performed as a response to a sensory input. Self Regulation: The ability to control your activity level and state of alertness, as well as your emotional, mental or physical responses to senses. Sensory Modulation: Term used to describe the brain’s ability to adjust, regulate, limit or enhance sensory input. Sensory Processing Skills: The ability to take in and process sensory information, then respond to that information in a purposeful manner. For example: You hear something behind you. Your brain organizes and interprets that information and you then respond by turning your head around to see what it is Spatial relationships: Understanding of how objects relate to one another and to the space around them. Tactile Sense: This is a sensory system that receives information through the skin. It provides information about temperature, pressure, vibration, size, texture, pain and movement through the hairs on the skin. Thumb Opposition: This refers to the ability to move your thumb so it can touch each fingertip of the same hand. It allows you to grasp and manipulate many tools such as tying your shoes or holding a pencil. This skill is part of the Fine Motor Skills. Tracking: Ability to follow a moving object or a line of print with the eyes. (SEE Visual Tracking) Vestibular Sense: This sensory system responds to changes in head position and to body movements through space. It provides information about movement, balance and body’s relation to gravity. Visual Motor Skills: This is the ability to visually take in information, process it and coordinate your physical movement in relation to what is seen. It involves the combination of visual perception and motor coordination skills. Difficulties in this area can impact proper grasping, pointing, drawing, cutting, dressing etc. Visual Sense: This sense interprets what we see. Visual Tracking: (SEE TRACKING) Visual tracking involves the ability to follow moving objects with smooth, coordinated eye movements. This skill is important for future reading and writing skills Visual Perception: The ability to perceive and interpret what the eyes see.
Following the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s July 12 ruling on the South China Sea territorial dispute, my colleague, an international relations expert, posted a message to his WeChat Moments timeline. He wondered if the ruling would negatively affect the way the Chinese public views the outside world, similar to the anti-American demonstrations that followed the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and domestic reactions to the disruptions to the Olympic Torch Relay in 2008. His concerns were shared by many observers. Some worried that the one-sided ruling would provoke serious popular protests. In 2012, anti-Japanese protests broke out when both countries escalated territorial disputes. Many sushi restaurants and Japanese-made cars were damaged. One banner even read “We must kill all Japanese, even if China is littered with graves.” The developments of the past two months, however, have proven that observers tend to overestimate the strength of Chinese nationalism. Although there have been isolated protests against American brands like KFC and Apple, the protests are incomparable to those of 2012 in terms of scale and violence. In fact, the more jingoistic nationalists have found that it has become increasingly difficult to defend their patriotic rhetoric. Recently, I watched a video shot in a KFC restaurant by a female protester calling for people to boycott the company and trying to humiliate those eating there. Naturally, the response of many customers was to simply evade the camera. What surprised me, however, was that a few customers actually confronted her. One young woman hit back by recording the protester on her own phone. Another customer tersely pointed out that the protester herself was using an Apple iPhone: “Smash up your iPhone, and I’ll leave!” she yelled. Similar behavior also met with severe backlash online. Some netizens posted photos of themselves eating KFC chicken with axes, toy guns, and signs reading, “Patriotic hooligans, try to harass me and I will take you out.” Since the 1990s, Chinese popular nationalism, and occasionally violent protests against Japan or the U.S., have attracted the attention of academics and the media alike. Some analysis has proposed a top-down model, maintaining that the government plays an important role in whipping up popular nationalism. In contrast, other analysis emphasizes that popular nationalism has taken on a life of its own, and that the government is losing its monopoly over the nationalist discourse. Although these two views reach different conclusions, they have one thing in common: They both take popular nationalism as a given. The former proposition suggests that the Chinese government is able to stir up popular nationalism whenever doing so is in its interest, whereas the latter implies that existing nationalism may spur the government on to pursue expansionist foreign policies. However, the extent to which those angry protesters represent the Chinese population as a whole is uncertain. The attitudes of the quiet majority are actually more diverse than many observers assume, but tend to be overlooked. The current debate between nationalists and their opponents on whether it is justifiable to boycott KFC further illustrates this diversity of opinion. There are also interesting intergenerational differences to consider. People born between the 1960s and the 1980s seem more likely to share emotionally charged, fiercely nationalistic articles than those born after 1990. In comparison, the so-called post-’90s generation tends to be more confident in China’s capacity to defend its territory. Moreover, the domestic growth of KFC, McDonald’s, Apple, and other foreign brands presents these people with a problem: How can you justify your decision to boycott some brands but not others? How about travelling abroad, or working for foreign companies? Some news reports also claimed that anti-Philippines sentiment is widespread in China, referring particularly to the boycotting of dried Filipino mangoes on Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace. But many people I know actually talked about such boycotts with a hint of self-mockery. One friend shared a screenshot of an online chat log between a Taobao seller and a customer, in which the customer asks if the dried mangoes are real Filipino products. An argument ensues as the seller first says that they are, but then denies it in the face of an impassioned nationalistic onslaught. Incensed, the customer finally writes: “Then you are either a traitor or a seller of fakes! Which is it?” This conversation reveals that for many Chinese, the arbitration tribunal is certainly not high on their list of problems. Other issues, such as low-quality products, food security, and air pollution, are much more closely related to their daily lives. As uncontrolled nationalism can make a country more likely to accept war as a solution, it is not difficult to understand why observers are so concerned about the rise of popular nationalism in China. Some Western scholars, such as Jack Snyder, have even drawn parallels with Chinese nationalism and its role in prewar Germany. However, the public’s response to calls to boycott Apple, KFC, and Filipino mangoes represents a check on unbridled Chinese nationalism. It is also imperative to distinguish nationalist sentiments from nationalist behavior; the prevalence of the former does not guarantee that ordinary people will actively rally behind the nationalist cause. While it is easy to express nationalist sentiments from behind a keyboard, many would surely think twice before supporting any policy that demanded personal sacrifice.
A 118-year-old painting by a celebrated south pole explorer has been discovered in a historic Antarctic hut hidden by penguin poo. Dr Edward Wilson, who died with Captain Robert Scott and three others in 1912 as they battled to return from their trip to the south pole, painted the watercolour of a small bird. The watercolour was found among a portfolio of papers inside a bunk at the hut at Cape Adare, says the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which is restoring 1,500 artefacts from the hut. The trust conservator, Josefin Bergmark-Jimenez, was shocked by the painting’s beauty when she discovered it in September. “I opened it and there was this gorgeous painting ... I got such a fright that I jumped and shut the portfolio again. I then took the painting out and couldn’t stop looking at it – the colours, the vibrancy, it is such a beautiful piece of work. I couldn’t believe it was there.” The discovery of the painting, labelled 1899 Tree Creeper, has been kept confidential until now to enable the team to focus on restoring all of the 1,500 artefacts from Cape Adare. It was not immediately clear who painted the mystery picture or how it came to be among the papers. The team from the trust knew it was likely to either be from Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink’s expedition in 1899, which built the two huts at Cape Adare, or the 1911 Scott expedition that also used them. It was not until Bergmark-Jimenez attended a lecture on Wilson at Canterbury University in New Zealand and recognised his distinctive handwriting that she knew who had been the painter. Wilson was integral to Scott’s 1911 and 1912 expeditions to Antarctica as a scientist and medical doctor, and also a talented painter. He was also known to have visited Lyttleton, near Christchurch, where he may have seen the tree creeper bird depicted in the watercolour. The trust’s program manager for artefact conservation, Lizzie Meek, said it was not entirely clear how the painting came to be in Antarctica. “It’s likely that Wilson painted it while he was recovering from tuberculosis in Europe,” Meek said. “Clearly, he could have taken the painting to Antarctica on either of Scott’s expeditions but we think it’s more likely the artwork travelled with him in 1911, and somehow made its way from Cape Evans to Cape Adare.” Bergmark-Jimenez said the painting had survived in excellent condition because, while watercolours are susceptible to light, it had been tightly packed between other sheets of paper in dark and cold conditions. “[It] is actually an ideal way to store it,” she said. The Antarctic Heritage Trust will return the 1,500 artefacts to their original places once the two Cape Adare huts containing them have also been restored.
Halogen lamps, like traditional incandescent lamps, use a tungsten filament, but they’re also filled with a small amount of halogen gas (such as iodine or bromine) in a capsule. Keep reading to learn more. How Do Halogens Work? The combination of tungsten filament and halogen gas causes a chemical reaction known as a halogen cycle to take place. This reaction then causes the evaporated tungsten to form a halide – a compound made of two elements – with the halogen gas. When it reaches a high enough temperature, the halide breaks apart and deposits tungsten back into the filament, thereby extending the life of the lamp. This reaction also keeps the lamp clear, whereas in an ordinary incandescent lamp, the filament is deposited on the inside of the glass bulb, reducing its clarity over time. Halogen bulbs come in two varieties: - Low voltage (but not low energy) bulbs recessed into ceilings (known as ‘down-lighters‘) and walls. These are usually MR16 bulbs, and they have a hidden transformer that steps down from mains 230 voltage to the 12 volts of the bulbs. They are also called ‘reflectors’ because they give directional light. - Bulbs that are put in open mounts, typically GU10 mounts. These are normally found in kitchens, on spotlight ceiling bars, or ceiling plates. Although popular, they are not necessarily the most practical, as they cast shadows and generate a lot of heat. However, it is possible to buy compact-fluorescent (‘low energy’) bulbs to replace these, giving a more energy-efficient and less directional light. For an even more energy efficient solution you can also fit LED replacements. For more information, please see our Ultimate Guide to Buying LED. Replacing Incandescent Bulbs with Halogens Energy-saving halogen technology is widely used in retrofit products designed to replace incandescent bulbs, many of which have been phased out by recent EU legislation. Halogen technology produces a marginally cooler, brighter-looking light than the old technology, and is better than incandescent light at rendering short wavelength colours (i.e. violets and blues). Energy-saving halogen bulbs are available as an economical alternative to incandescent GLS bulbs, candles, ‘R’ reflectors, globes, and golf balls because halogen typically has twice the lifespan of an incandescent equivalent. Types of Halogen Bulbs & Their Uses Halogen bulbs are available in a variety of different types and styles, each suited for a different use. Mains-Voltage Halogen Spotlights Halogen is one of the primary technologies used in spotlighting, partly due to the fantastic choice of products available. Another reason for its popularity is its superb colour rendering. A halogen bulb includes all colours of the visible spectrum in its light, which means colour is displayed with more consistency than is possible in LED or fluorescent technologies. The GU10 spotlight is by far the most common type of mains-voltage halogen reflector. It is used in accent lighting, task lighting and general lighting. GU10 bulbs use what is known as a ‘twist and lock’ base, introduced by Sylvania in 1996. This base provides a very secure electrical contact, similar in principle to a bayonet cap. One defining factor in a GU10 is that infrared heat is always projected forward in the beam, whereas many MR16 low-voltage bulbs of the same size (50mm diameter) use a dichroic filter to dissipate heat through the back of the bulb. The GZ10 bulb is a relatively rare mains-voltage bulb that dissipates its heat using a dichroic filter through the back of the bulb. The GZ10 is unsuitable for use in most GU10 light fittings – despite having the same pin arrangement, it will not fit because a GU10 bulb has a bevelled base, whilst the GZ10 is square. Light fittings normally carry a ‘no cool beam’ symbol to signify incompatibility with the GZ10. Low Voltage Halogen Spotlights Halogen AR111 spotlights are often used in shops or showrooms, and normally have a metal block over their filament to prevent glare. The massively popular MR16 is universally loved, partly for its wide variety of designs and beam angles. Low-voltage spotlights are available with an aluminium-coated reflector to project infrared heat forwards, or with a dichroic filter that allows infrared heat to pass through the back of the lamp. Because of this, a dichroic spotlight is useful for displaying heat-sensitive objects like food, artworks, or textiles. One advantage of low-voltage spotlights is their sharper, brighter quality of light over their mains-voltage counterparts. In addition to display lighting, low voltage halogen spotlights are common in downlights and wire lighting systems. Low voltage halogen spotlights use the following caps: - AR111 = G53 - MR8 and MR11 = GU4 - MR16 = GU5.3 Unlike mains-voltage halogens, all low voltage halogen lamps require a 12V transformer, which is used to step down mains-voltage to individual or multiple low voltage bulbs, depending on maximum load. Linear halogen lamps with R7S bases are found in floodlighting and security lights. The filament of the lamp is supported along its complete length, and the round bases at either end fit into sprung contacts. The filament must remain horizontal to maintain the bulb’s lifespan, hence their name. Specialist halogen R7S heat lamps include jacketed and non-jacketed versions. Jacketed lamps tend to last longer because they’re protected from contaminants such as food. Heat lamps are available in clear, ruby, or gold finishes; a clear finish is used where the bright white light of halogen is required in addition to heat, while ruby or gold finishes subdue light output for applications where heat is predominantly needed. Halogen capsules are used in applications such as caravan lighting, boat lighting, pelmet lighting, or desk lighting. They come in low-voltage G4 or GY6.35 types, or a mains-voltage G9 format. The suffixed numbers in their names are based on the distance in millimetres between their two pin centres. The G9 is the most compact mains-voltage halogen bulb available, and because it requires no 12V transformer it’s widely used in extremely small light fittings. High-powered specialist halogen capsules are also available for applications such as theatre, TV, film, or projector lighting.
Did you know there are more than half a million Kenyans living abroad? Majority of them are in the United States and the United Kingdom, while others dwell in other countries around the world. Each year, these diaspora Kenyans remit billions of shillings into the country’s economy. Remittance inflows have increased more than 10 times in the past 15 years, hitting a staggering $3,718 million (KSh 438.2 billion) last year. But that’s not all. The money also contributes to basic needs like education, food, healthcare, and shelter livelihoods for vulnerable people in the nation. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) estimates show that by March 2022, Kenyans living abroad remitted a whopping KSh 42 billion, which is about KSh 3 billion more than January 2022. The largest source of remittances came from the US which accounted for 63.2% last year, besides other major source markets like Canada, the UK, and Germany. That’s a lot of money streaming into the country. Yet, some Kenyans in the diaspora still feel the need to invest in certain instruments or vehicles that can bring them more income or help their loved ones back home. If you’re a diaspora Kenyan thinking of investing but you’re not sure where to start, here are some excellent opportunities to consider. The government of Kenya, through CBK, issues Treasury bonds to raise money for projects like infrastructure and other national priorities. In short, you’re lending money to the government and you earn interest from the principal you invest. It’s a safe haven for your cash, which comes with regular, predictable returns at a certain percentage over time. Like bonds, Treasury bills are also a way of raising income for the government. The government issues this paperless, short-term instrument via CBK, to borrow and raise funds on a short-term basis of up to one year. You can buy them at a discounted price to reflect your return. If you’re not sure how to get started, let Co-operative Bank’s diaspora banking find out how they can help you invest in T-bills. Want to own a piece of a listed company in Kenya? You’re free to do that as a Kenyan living abroad by investing in shares and growing your income. Co-operative Bank offers a quick and convenient way to do this through its Kingdom Securities Ltd arm, which helps investors in: - Transferring shares. But wait, how will you ensure your financial assets are safe from potential harm? That’s where Co-op Bank’s Custody & Registrar Services shine. You no longer have to worry that someone will steal or waste your assets while you’re away. The bank will safeguard your financial assets and manage them prudently on your behalf through custodial and safekeeping services. Moving abroad without a financial plan to invest back home could leave you stuck without funds to return home quickly—especially if you’re not planning to grow roots in a foreign country.
The third largest global economy is taking reckless steps to jumpstart its languishing economy. Specifically, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is taking unprecedented monetary action in an effort to reduce the value of the yen. The near-term effects may be positive for the weak Japanese economy. But the global economic impact could be disastrous for Asia … and the rest of the world. Japan has just kicked off a dangerous regional currency war, and there is no end in sight. Even investors here in the U.S. must take note, because the global economic impact could be severe. Recently, the G20 warily approved Japan’s new economic plan. The plan calls for the country to double its monetary base … and then continue to pump more money into the system until the country reaches an inflation rate of at least 2%. Taken in a vacuum, this move is understandable. Japan has suffered through two decades of economic doldrums. While there are many reasons for the malaise, the chief culprit is Japan’s deflation that has persisted since the 1990s. With deflation, goods cost less tomorrow than they do today – so no one spends anything. As a result, economic activity grinds to a halt. So in that context, Japan’s actions make a lot of sense. The yen has been too strong for a long time now – and the only way Japan can get out of its 20-year rut is to force the yen lower. But this presents a few major problems. The first problem is that Japan has a staggering amount of debt – well over 200% of GDP. As inflation increases, bond yields will rise to keep pace. And when bond yields go up, Japan will have to pay higher and higher interest on its debt. In other words, within a few short years, Japan’s economy will be choked by interest payments alone. And don’t even think about the country managing to pay off the principle! This might sound bad enough. But the second problem is actually much worse. There have been several currency skirmishes since the financial crisis of 2008. The Euro has yo-yoed … China gets accused of currency manipulation every year or so…and America has raised eyebrows and whitened knuckles with each new round of quantitative easing. But this is different. Japan’s monetary plan dwarfs all the quantitative easing the U.S. has done since the financial crisis … by an order of magnitude! Consider this … by 2015, Japan’s monetary base will have ballooned to almost 50% of GDP. By comparison, after all the quantitative easing in the U.S., America’s monetary base is still less than 20% of GDP. The Eurozone’s base– even with all the bailouts of all the underwater countries – has grown to only about 15% of GDP. I’ve just never seen this much money flood a developed nation before. And this, more than anything else, could be the opening salvo of a new currency war. While the G20 approved Japan’s plan, numerous members are privately concerned that this is an aggressive move to devalue the yen above all else … and may need a response in kind. In short, there’s no upside to this move for an investor. This latest wave of monetary easing highlights the considerable risks in government issued debt.
The Hungarian National Archives Győr-Moson-Sopron County Győr Archives include the Archives of Győr and Moson Counties and the Archives of Magyaróvár privileged market town [oppidum]. The first written document about Győr County’s [comitat] jointly handed writings dates back to the minutes of the nobility’s General Assembly in 1622, when Gáspár Grebechy Deputy-Lieutenant gave that suitcase, which contained the documents of the County courts, to the County’ s notary. The “Archivum Comitatus”, was only mentioned one hundred years later, in the proceedings of General Assembly in 1721. The “Archivum Comitatus”, was presumably quite huge because it took two weeks to categorize the records and it also needed a separate chamber to store the documents. However, it was not an independent Archives until 1805, when Kristóf Schedius was appointed as the Head Archivist by the Lord Lieutenant. The first significant categorization of the documents of the Archives was carried out by him and this was important, because the former County Notaries only organized the documents based on their types and not their contents. Kristóf Schedius made easy-to-use elenchuses and indexes to categorize the records. The number of the records in the Archives increased considerably by the end of 1860s, that is to say, the years of Absolutism and Provisorium, when the documents of the offices in the territory of the County were bailed out to the Archive. One of the most significant archivists of this period was the historian Károly Ráth. Even though he only worked there some years (1861, 1867-1868), he categorized and published the valuable records with great enthusiasm. This institute functioned as the Archives of Győr-Moson-Pozsony administratively unified County from the January 1, 1924. The Archives was not destroyed at all during the Second Word War. The body of the collection was gathered between 1950 and 1960 and the 1990s and 2000s years. In the former period the documents of the civic period and later the documents of the socialist periods were handled by the Archive. The Archives of Moson County were first mentioned in the minutes of the General Assembly in 1683, when the Estates of the Realms took the most important documents to the house of the Lord Lieutenant. During the Rákóczi’s War for Independence the Archives was transferred first (1707) to the Győr Chapter, and later the Pozsony Chapter. The collection was taken back from Pozsony to Magyaróvár only in 1712. The Vice-Notary, Ferenc Zichy became the Head of the Archives in 1748. In 1792 a chamber was given to store the records in the County Hall. From 1832 to 1840 the County Registrar, József Schott was responsible for dealing with the records. After Moson and Győr Counties were unified (1924), the records of the Archives was closed down. The Archives was moved to its current location in 1968. In Magyaróvár market town the first Archives was established in 1776. In 1787 a new job was created within the City Chancellery in order to deal with the documents. The Notary, József Fakler made the indexes of the documents created between 1581 and 1806. Because the town was organized into a municipality, the collection was carried to the County Archives.
Institutional racism in healthcare directly linked to poor health outcomes The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the national agency for statistics and information about health and welfare in Australia, recently stated that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to wait much longer than non-Indigenous people for elective surgery . Dr Chris Bourke The AIHW has previously reported that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 20% less likely to get the best care when they go to a hospital emergency department with a heart attack . Furthermore, the Medical Journal of Australia reported that Aboriginal and Torres Strait people are much less likely than non-Indigenous people to get a kidney transplant when needed and that this difference is not explained by individual patient factors or their kidney disease; it was concluded that barriers within policy and practice produced this poor outcome . These findings are just the tip of the institutional racism iceberg in Australian health care. Institutional racism is about how organisations are governed, staffed, develop policies and are held accountable in ways that do not include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The inevitable result is poor health care outcomes. It is important to appreciate that the effect is independent of the behaviour or intentions of individual staff, health care professionals and leaders. The ‘behind the scenes’ aspect of institutional racism also masks its presence from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people during their visits and treatment. The Australian Government’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023 recognises the poor outcomes produced by institutional racism and demands that health care in Australia is ‘free of racism and inequality’ . At the state level, the Queensland Health Department has partnered with the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council and the Queensland Human Rights Commission to deploy an institutional racism measurement tool for the public health system. This tool is built upon the cutting-edge work of Henrietta and Adrian Marrie who developed a quantitative matrix to assess financial accountability, inclusion in governance, service delivery, policy implementation and employment in Queensland hospitals. The Queensland Health Minister has now brought forward a bill into the Queensland Parliament to require Queensland health and hospital services to develop equity plans for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health and have an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person on their board. In South Australia, similar work is underway where the South Australian Health Department has partnered with the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association to adapt the Queensland initiative for the local jurisdiction. Other states and territories need to follow the Queensland and South Australian lead. At the organisational level hospitals and health care services can reduce institutional racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and produce better health outcomes by: - Including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the governance of the organisation - Implementing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy - Publicly reporting on their outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - Employing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff at all levels and occupations - Enabling accountability, and in particular financial accountability, for the policies and outcomes of the organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Equity in a public health care system that is free of institutional racism will deliver better health care outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people and make a significant contribution to closing the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people. When I joined the Australian Health Care and Hospitals Association (AHHA) in 2017 it already had a long history of engagement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health including advocacy to ameliorate institutional racism. I am pleased that during my time with AHHA we have not neglected our own organisation with changes to include: - An Aboriginal person on our board - An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment policy - Partnerships and MOUs with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations - A Reconciliation Action Plan - Advocacy and publications on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues - Workforce development scholarships - Employment of an Aboriginal person as executive lead on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Other non-Government organisations (NGO), small and large, can learn from this example of how a peak NGO has engaged with reducing its internal institutional racism to enable a better contribution to Close the Gap. - AIHW in Better Cardiac Care measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - Second national report 2016. - Khanal N, Lawton PD, Cass A, McDonald SP. Disparity of access to kidney transplantation by Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians. Medical Journal of Australia. 2018 Sep;209(6):261-6.
Health Evolution CEO Julie Murchinson challenged Liberation attendees to gather with their personal tribes to drive change in the healthcare industry. “Tribes are about leading and connecting people and ideas.” At Liberation 2019, leaders and disruptors in the healthcare industry came together to discuss innovations needed in the industry and bold moves to drive those changes. As the closing speaker at the two-day Liberation conference, Julie Murchinson, CEO of Health Evolution challenged attendees to use the passion of groups to build forward momentum and transform the industry. Murchinson focused her reflections on the theme of tribes, which she defined as groups of people linked and motivated by common interests. Tribes come in all forms and fashions—there are cultural tribes, athletic and sports tribes, religious and spiritual tribes, and of course, work and vocation tribes. A company can be considered a tribe, as can departments and teams within companies. Tribes form because people want to connect with others who share the things they value. Tribes, and tribal leaders, often have the power to align and connect people to drive change. Using examples of famous political and social leaders who were the heads of significant cultural movements, Murchinson suggested that each of those leaders, or “heretics,” challenged the status quo and moved society forward. She encouraged the audience to cultivate their tribe’s passion for a better healthcare system to drive toward a vision of connectedness and improvement. Challenging the status quo is about doing the right thing not just for the healthcare industry, but also for each other. Murchinson challenged Liberation attendees to ask themselves if they and their companies—their tribes—were doing the right things for their members, patients and consumers. And if the answer was no, she encouraged her audience to lead their tribe and connect with others who share their vision and passion for positive change.
What are URLs, domain names? A URL stands for the Uniform Resource Locator, it’s the address of your webpage that people type in the browser address bar to visit your website. It’s also called a web address. The format of an URL will be: protocol + subdomain + domain + path + filename. A domain name is a part of the URL, is a user-friendly text form of IP address. For example Like this URL, host.com.tw is a domain, and it’s much easier to remember instead of a long IP number. What is a subdomain? The difference between a subdomain and a subdirectory? Subdomain is an extension of your main domain name, its position before the domain, like store.host.com. Store.host.com is the subdomain of host.com, some URLs include www, this prefix is also called the subdomain. A subdomain is often used for child-site under the same main domain name or special content that needs to be made separately from the main website like blog, marketing campaign pages, shopping cart pages, etc. A subdirectory (or subfolder)， in the URL address, the category is positioned after the domain and extensions and is preceded by a slash symbol. It allows you to create a folder that has the same server as the main domain. Unlike subdirectory, subdomain has a different server and it’s independent. What is a Top-level domain? How to choose TLD? A top-level domain (TLD) is the last segment of a domain name, the part that follows after the final dot of a domain name. With this domain name google.com, .com is the top-level domain. A top-level domain recognizes a certain element regarding the associated website, such as its objective (business, government, education), or the geographical area from which it originated. TLDs themselves are also classified into one of several groups and some of them are reserved for specific situations. .com is usually used for commercials, .org for organization, .edu for education and .gov for government agencies, etc. Otherwise, not all TLDs are registered by an individual, you’ll see some domain names with a specific country like host.com.tw , .com.tw is a second-level domain for Taiwan, which is the domain for commercial enterprises in Taiwan, you need to have a company registration number to complete the registration. Mistakes to avoid when registering a domain name
Decoding the nucleoid organisation of Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli through gene expression data BMC Genomics volume 6, Article number: 84 (2005) Although the organisation of the bacterial chromosome is an area of active research, little is known yet on that subject. The difficulty lies in the fact that the system is dynamic and difficult to observe directly. The advent of massive hybridisation techniques opens the way to further studies of the chromosomal structure because the genes that are co-expressed, as identified by microarray experiments, probably share some spatial relationship. The use of several independent sets of gene expression data should make it possible to obtain an exhaustive view of the genes co-expression and thus a more accurate image of the structure of the chromosome. For both Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli the co-expression of genes varies as a function of the distance between the genes along the chromosome. The long-range correlations are surprising: the changes in the level of expression of any gene are correlated (positively or negatively) to the changes in the expression level of other genes located at well-defined long-range distances. This property is true for all the genes, regardless of their localisation on the chromosome. We also found short-range correlations, which suggest that the location of these co-expressed genes corresponds to DNA turns on the nucleoid surface (14–16 genes). The long-range correlations do not correspond to the domains so far identified in the nucleoid. We explain our results by a model of the nucleoid solenoid structure based on two types of spirals (short and long). The long spirals are uncoiled expressed DNA while the short ones correspond to coiled unexpressed DNA. As Lovett and Segall point out in their meeting report on the recently held "Keystone Symposium on Bacterial Chromosomes", we know a lot about the bacterial DNA replication, recombination, repair and other aspects of cell biology, but still rather little about the organisation of bacterial chromosome. The difficulty lies in the fact that the system varies and is difficult to observe directly. A number of different techniques are being employed to answer the problem. The following is meant to give a brief overview and has no claim to be exhaustive: • Cytology-based approaches include the use of DNA fluorescence microscopy, optical sectioning and FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation). These techniques were applied in order to localise within the cell a set of chromosomal segments or to see the relationship between the shapes of the nucleoid and the underlying arrangements of DNA . • Cunha et al approach the question from a cytometric point of view, in order to study the compaction and the internal dynamics of the nucleoid. • An example of a classical genetic approach is the work by Valens et al who have used a site-specific recombination system in order to reveal spatial proximities of distant DNA sites. • Various genomic approaches have been adopted. Some authors, like Audit and Ouzounis , have taken a sequence-based point of view, in which they face the issue of gene localisation and orientation using 89 complete microbial chromosomes from eubacteria and archeabacteria. This approach leaves aside any physiology-based consideration. • Other authors have examined the physiological constraints operating placed upon the cell in order to infer chromosomal structure. The idea is that genes which use the same type of resource (e.g. a particular tRNA pool) or which are involved in a part of metabolism that needs a particular environment (e.g. genes involved in sulphur metabolism which is highly sensitive to free radicals) should be in close proximity in the cell, even if they are far away on the chromosome [7, 8]. The approaches mentioned above can be spilt in two groups: (i) large-scale analyses, aiming at deciphering the global chromosome organisation; (ii) small-scale analyses, which take a particular point of view (some genes or markers are chosen). The introduction of microarrays has added yet another way to study the chromosomal structure, allowing simultaneously the analysis on small and large scales . Microarrays allow the measure of relative expression levels of the whole genome and therefore the identification of those genes that are co-expressed. Usually the co-expressions observations are used to elucidate the structure of operons and other regulatory structures, see for example [10, 11]. The present work aims at understanding the nucleoid structure with the help of microarray data. As transcriptionally active DNA is located near the nucleoid surface or on DNA loops extending from the nucleoid , the co-expressed genes which are identified with microarrays probably share some spatial relationship. However, microarrays give significant information only for those genes the level of expression of which varies across experiments. Consequently, the experimental conditions should be diversified in order to obtain a list of gene correlations as exhaustive as possible and thus an accurate image of the chromosomal structure. To this end, we gathered a number of currently available microarray data from the literature. The data were then pooled together, and treated as just one large data set. This "pooling of information" has already been carried out successfully from human expression data for a study of gene function , and from yeast or bacterial data for regulation studies [11, 14]. We applied this method to two distant bacteria: Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Audit and Ouzounis had the same approach, expecting that if observations made on one organism also hold true for the other, it would be reasonable to assume that the inferred chromosomal organisation is indeed a general characteristic of bacteria with double stranded, circular DNA. The aim of this work is to delineate how the co-expression intensities (correlations) of pairs of genes vary as a function of the inter-gene distance along the chromosome. The co-expression intensity for each couple of genes was evaluated with a non-parametric correlation: the Kendall tau [15, 16] (see methods and figure 1 part 2) which depends only on the sign of the observed variation and not on its magnitude. Is is thus a "weaker" describer of the data than the linear correlation coefficient (also called Pearson coefficient of correlation) or the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The Kendall tau points specifically to monotonic correlations. A high Kendall tau between two genes indicates that their levels of expression vary in the same way: when the expression level of the first gene increases, the expression level of the other one increases also. Then the variation of the Kendall tau coefficient as a function of the distance between genes was measured with a standard linear autocorrelation function [15, 16] (see methods and figure 1 part 3). The linear autocorrelation enables to point to regularities in a gene Kendall tau vector and therfore to regularities of expression correlated with particular inter-gene distances. Bacillus subtilis regularities of co-expression across the genome The analysis of the B. subtilis transcription data was performed on a set of 262 experimental conditions gathered from eleven independent experiments measuring expression data over the whole genome. A global view of the regularities of co-expression was obtained by summing up the autocorrelation vectors of all the genes (see figure 1 part 4 and results in figure 2 -blue curve). The averaged linear autocorrelation of changes in gene expression varies as a function of the inter-gene distance. The green curve in figure 2 corresponds to the averaged autocorrelation evaluated after random permutation of the gene positions on the chromosome. Here the variations are small and independent of the inter-gene distances. Those points where the autocorrelation (blue curve) departs from the random signal (green curve) correspond to couples of genes, for which changes in expression levels are statistically correlated (when the blue curve is above the green one) or anti-correlated (when the blue curve is below the green one). The autocorrelation function shows regular oscillations at large scale, with maxima at a distance of 200, 650, 850, 1300, 1500 and 2050 genes and minima at a distance of 550, 900 and from 1750 to 1950 genes. Note that the inter-gene distance 2050 corresponds to diametrically opposite genes on the B. subtilis chromosome. The autocorrelation function can be seen as the resultant of four oscillations of periods 600 ± 55, 240 ± 21, 113 ± 21 and 60 ± 6 genes. This representation explains 85% of the autocorrelation oscillations (figure 2 – red curve). The averaged autocorrelation was analysed on a smaller scale with an inter-gene distance comprised between 1 and 150 genes (figure 3 – blue curve). Closely spaced genes on the chromosome show changes in expression levels that are highly correlated. The averaged autocorrelation of two contiguous genes is 0.4. The low-scale autocorrelation can be decomposed into two regimes: (i) inter-gene distances between 1 and 5 (or 6) genes are characterised by a high and rapidly decaying autocorrelation; (ii) beyond a 6 inter-gene distance the autocorrelation shows a regular and slower decay with periodic oscillations of 14 to 15 genes (figure 3 – red curve). The autocorrelation merges with the noise background around an inter-gene distance of 100 genes (corresponding roughly to 100 kb). The oscillations of the averaged autocorrelations of the 4108 B. subtilis genes shown in figure 2 may result (i) either from regularities specific to some genes or some regions; (ii) or from an overall property that would be shared by all the genes regardless of their positions on the chromosome. In order to ascertain which hypothesis is the correct one, the sums of the autocorrelations of continuous groups of 10, 100 and 500 genes were calculated. All the curves obtained are highly similar (data shown for groups of 500 genes, figure 4). The peaks obtained with these groups of genes are identical to those found in the global signal. Hence they do not depend on any particular position on the genome: in other words, the results show that any gene A has its changes in expression level correlated with the changes in expression levels of those genes that are 200, 650, 850, 1300, 1500 and 2050 genes apart and anti-correlated with those that are 550, 900 and 1750–1950 genes apart. This property is independent of the position of gene A. Escherichia coli regularities of co-expression across the genome The same work was performed on E. coli with a data set of 106 experimental conditions. This data set is therefore smaller than that used for B. subtilis. In addition there are more missing data for E. coli than for B. subtilis. Figure 5 represents the variations of the averaged autocorrelation of all the genes as calculated with the actual gene positions (blue curve) and with random gene positions (green curve). The points where the autocorrelation (blue curve) departs from the random signal (green curve) correspond to couples of genes, the change in expression levels of which are correlated (when the blue curve is above the green one) or anti-correlated (when the blue curve is below the green one). The main characteristics of figures 2 and 5 are similar. Both bacteria share the steep decay of the averaged autocorrelation curve for inter-gene distances lower than 100 genes and two maxima at a distance of 200 and 650 genes. However there are some differences between B.subtilis and E.coli for long-range peaks since some of them are shifted: maxima at 1300 and 1500 in B.subtilis correspond to peaks at 1100 and 1400 in E.coli, respectively. The minimum at 900 in B.subtilis is shifted to 850 in E.coli. Some peaks and troughs, however, are specific to one specie such as those located at 1380, 1700 and 2180 in E.coli and at 550, 850, 1750–1900 and 2050 in B.subtilis. Probably due to the greater number of missing data the autocorrelation function is noisier for E.coli than for B.subtilis. Comparison of our results to already published observations What has already been observed The present study of gene expression data from B.subtilis and E.coli has allowed us to confirm and extend some previously published observations: • We show for both bacteria that closely spaced genes exhibit highly correlated expression levels. This correlation decreases rapidly with oscillations having a period of 14.5 ± 1 genes corresponding to 14.5 ± 1 kb. Short-range correlations are obvious in the study by Sabatti et al of gene expression data from E.coli. Jeong et al have also observed short-range correlations up to 16 kb in their analysis of expression changes during replication in various E. coli strains. • In this work the averaged autocorrelation function for E. coli may be seen as the resultant of two main oscillations (with periods of 557 ± 30 kb and 100 ± 18 kb). In B. subtilis we observe four oscillations (with periods of 600 ± 55 kb, 240 ± 21 kb, 113 ± 21 kb and 60 ± 6 kb). Rocha et al analysed the distribution of the genes involved in sulphur metabolism in the genome of E.coli and found a number of them to be clustered into statistically significant islands located 650 kb apart. In their study of transcriptional activities in E.coli, Jeong et al have observed significant correlations for genes located 690 kb or 523 kb apart (depending on physiological conditions) together with a clump of periods around 115 kb. • We show here that the long-range and short-range correlations are similar in E. coli and B. subtilis. That the observed regularities should be shared by two widely distant bacteria immediately suggests that it could be a property common to other bacteria as well. • In addition, our results are indicative of an unexpected property that may well modify the current model of the nucleoid organisation: the changes in the level of expression of any gene are correlated (positively or negatively) to the changes in the expression level of other genes, located at well-defined long-range distances and regardless of their localisation on the chromosome in both organisms. • The long-range periods of the autocorrelation function do not correspond to the 100 kb domain organisation, which may result from the control of topological constraints on the rotation of the double helix and was observed in a study of the positions of genes that are controlled by a sequence-specific transcriptional regulator and the genes encoding this regulator . They do not correspond either to the macro-domain of 1 or 2 Mb proposed by Niki et al and by Valens et al . As all the genes exhibit the same long-range correlations, the phenomenon cannot be explained by some process involving regulators. Conversely, the observations made by Jeong et al may be the result of the general phenomenon observed in this study. Gene transcription can occur only on the nucleoid surface. Thus the expression correlations that we observed imply that the involved pairs of genes lies on this surface. However all the genes cannot be on the nucleoid surface at the same time. Therefore depending on the external conditions and/or physiological requirements of the cell, different groups of co-expressed genes should be accessible to the transcriptional machinery. Such constraint seems hardly compatible with an unstructured spatial organisation of the chromosome. Similarly a disordered or random packing is very unlikely to result in the significant periodicities described above. Rather, our observations suggest that the nucleoid must be packed in a fairly structured way. Knowledge about the nucleoid and ribosomes sizes The genome sizes of E. coli and B. subtilis are respectively 4.6 Mb (4425 genes encoding proteins) and 4.2 Mb (4108 genes encoding proteins). Half of the genes belong to an operon. The operons have an average size of three genes [12, 19]. The nucleoid (the chromosome) shows up as a cylinder of approximate size of 0.5 × 0.7 μ m [12, 20]. Its circumference of 1.5 μ m corresponds approximately to 16 kb of uncoiled DNA, or 16 genes. The diameter of a ribosome is 0.025 μ m , hence 25 to 30 ribosomes can be juxtaposed along the cylinder length of 0.7 μ m. The possible chromosome configuration We assume that the nucleoid structure consists of a solenoid with two types of spirals (figure 6): • Large spirals of uncoiled DNA, containing the genes that are transcribed, that lie on the surface of the nucleoid and define its diameter. • Small spirals of coiled untranscribed DNA that lie inside the nucleoid. Cellular elements, in particular the ribosomes on the surface of the nucleoid, impose limits to the number of large expressed spirals. The distance between two large spirals cannot be shorter than the diameter of the ribosome; hence a maximum of 25 to 30 uncoiled DNA large spirals may stand on the nucleoid surface (see knowledge about the nucleoid and ribosomes sizes). Short-range correlations show that contiguous co-expressed genes do not span more than 100 kb, hence no more than 6 large spirals. We can therefore assume that the average length of contiguous uncoiled DNA is 3 large spirals (see figure 6). This will make 8 to 10 groups of three consecutive large DNA spirals distributed along the chromosome. Explanation of our results by this nucleoid representation • The short-range correlations may be seen as resulting from two phenomena: - The co-ordinated expression of the genes within operons. This explains the correlations in the expression of pairs of genes that are less than 5–6 genes apart. - The presence of one or more consecutive DNA large spirals of approximately 16 genes on the nucleoid surface. The 14.5 ± 1genes period observed in the variations of the autocorrelation function points to those genes that belong to successive spirals and lie on a generatrix of the nucleoid cylinder. • For long-range correlations we find 10 maxima in E. coli and 11 maxima in B. subtilis. These maxima probably result from groups of large DNA spirals on the nucleoid surface. However, such a static representation of the nucleoid does explain neither the alternating pattern of maxima and minima nor their positions. The dynamic of the nucleoid: a phenomenon, which is not fully explained The dynamic of the nucleoid structure corresponds to the shift between small spirals of unexpressed coiled DNA to large spirals of expressed uncoiled DNA, and vice-versa. The large spirals are present only when there is effective transcription . The transcription process can explain some of our observations: - Long-range anticorrelations can result from coil-coiled DNA in small spirals next to large expressed spirals. It has been shown indeed that the opening of the double-stranded DNA during transcription leads to waves of compression of those regions of the chromosome that are close to the transcribed DNA . It can therefore be speculated that the expression of the genes in large spirals leads to the super-coiling of the neighbouring small spirals, hence to the impossibility of opening its DNA and to its transcription. The pattern of maxima is more difficult to explain since it does not correspond to multiples of a single inter-gene distance. In the case of B. subtilis for example, the maxima are at inter-gene distances that are multiples of 650 and multiples of 650 plus 200 (200; 650, 850; 1300, 1500). We speculate that this pattern is a consequence of the dynamic of the nucleoid structure but we currently have no explanation for it. Current work is in progress to try to explain the maxima and minima of the correlation function, which is reminiscent of a beat phenomenon between two stable waves that could be generated by the transcription process. The analysis of gene expression data compendium provided information on the nucleoid organisation in circular double stranded DNA bacteria. Our results confirm and complete other observations like those obtained by microscopy. Co-expression variations of neighbouring genes on the chromosome suggest that large DNA spires of 14 to 16 genes length stay on the nucleoid surface. This estimation of a large spire length corresponds to the estimation by microscopy of the nucleoid circumference. The contiguous DNA on the nucleoid surface does not exceed around 100 genes (which is equivalent to 100 kb). This segment is organised in several large spirals of 14 to 16 genes. The long-range correlation pattern is more surprising: the changes in level of expression for any gene are correlated (positively or negatively) to the changes in expression level of genes, located at well-defined long-range distances independently of their location on the chromosome. This original observation is based on the analysis of several independent sets of gene expression data, which put together a great variety of physiological conditions. However the long-range correlations do not correspond to the domains identified so far in the nucleoid. We are currently exploring a model where the long-range correlations could result from a beat phenomenon between compression and decompression waves generated by the transcription process. The data were normalised (mean equal to 0 and variance equal to 1) according to the experimental conditions (figure 1 part 1). They were concatenated for each organism leading to a file of gene expression levels made of 262 experimental conditions for B. subtilis and 106 experimental conditions for E. coli. Estimation of the correlations and the regularities (figure 1) The aim of this article is to observe how gene co-expressions vary as a function of the inter-gene distance. To define the Kendall tau τ, we start with the N data points (xi, yi), the expression levels of the genes x and y in the experimental condition i, respectively. Considering all the 1/2N(N - 1) pairs of data points (xi, yi) (xj, yj), we call a pair "concordant" if the differences (xi-xj) and (yi-yj) have the same sign and "discordant" if the differences have opposite signs. If (xi-xj) is equal to zero, we call the pair an "extra y pair." If (yi-yj) is equal to zero, we call the pair an "extra x pair." If both (xi-xj) and (yi-yj) are equal to zero the pair is ignored. Kendall's tau τ is the following simple combination of these various counts: 2. For each gene, we evaluate its distances from those other genes, the expression levels of which vary simultaneously. The variations of co-expression according to inter-gene distance (figure 1 part 3) are evaluated with the linear autocorrelation on the gene's Kendall tau vector. The autocorrelation for an inter-gene distance of j is calculated as followed: with y the Kendall tau vector of a gene and the mean of y, N the number of genes Note that the bacterial chromosome is circular, so there is no boundary problem. Note that the distance between two genes used in this article is the difference their ranks on the chromosome (approximately equivalent to the number of kb). Signal deconvolution and estimation of the periodicities The variation of co-expression according to the inter-gene distance is a superimposition of several periodicities (from small to large scale). To identify these periodicities the averaged autocorrelation signal was deconvoluated with Peakfit 4.06 (Jandel Scientific, San Rafael, CA). The percentage of the autocorrelation that this representation explains is calculated as follow: with y the autocorrelation vector and x the signal generated by the sum of the deconvolution periodicities and N the number of genes. 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AMONG THE UNSETTLING effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the anthrax mailings that followed is their triggering, seemingly overnight, of a national debate over whether the United States should practice torture — as a matter of national policy — to combat terrorism. The pro-torture camp wants to authorize law-enforcement agents to inflict intense physical pain in order to extract information from suspected terrorists (the word "suspected" is often conveniently omitted by the law’s proponents) where that information might pinpoint the location of a "ticking bomb" or otherwise avert some imminent act of mass carnage. So imagine the surprise of many long-time legal observers when Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz published an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times on November 8, arguing that "if we are to have torture, it should be authorized by the law" and that the authorities should be required to apply to judges for "torture warrants" in each case. A careful reading of his op-ed indicates that Dershowitz did not actually go so far as to say he favors torture. And in subsequent lectures and interviews he placed on record his personal opposition to torture. But the piece drew a firestorm of criticism from both liberals and libertarians, who argued that Dershowitz had indirectly sanctioned the use of torture and should now be regarded as a turncoat in the battle to preserve civil liberties. Nonetheless, Dershowitz’s op-ed makes a fairly powerful, though flawed, argument that torture would be ruled constitutional. Under the right circumstances, he claims, torture, while "very troubling," would pass a test the Supreme Court has sometimes used to determine the constitutionality of the government’s use of an extreme law-enforcement technique: whether it "shocks the conscience." "Consider a situation in which a kidnapped child had been buried in a box with two hours of oxygen," suggests the law professor, ever the master of the difficult hypothetical. "The kidnapper refused to disclose its location," he continues. "Should we not consider torture in that situation?" Dershowitz, clearly uncomfortable with his own rhetorical question, does not quite give a direct answer. In order to avoid an ugly answer to an impossibly difficult moral and legal question, he takes another route. Since there is "no doubt that if an actual ticking bomb situation were to arise, our law enforcement authorities would torture," he says, "the real debate is whether such torture should take place outside of our legal system or within it." The answer to this question is clear and easy for Dershowitz: "If we are to have torture, it should be authorized by law" because "democracy requires accountability and transparency." Besides, Dershowitz argues, the Constitution poses no obstacle to legal, court-authorized, supervised torture. That’s because the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination does not protect against requiring someone to testify and disclose information; it merely protects against the use of such information against the person interrogated. Thus, in the face of a court-issued "immunity" order, any citizen may be forced to testify in a judicial forum, or suffer imprisonment for the refusal to do so. Nor does Dershowitz believe that any "right of bodily integrity" that might be read into the Bill of Rights prohibits, say, the injection of "truth serum," since the Supreme Court has already authorized the forcible drawing of blood from a suspect for alcohol testing. "Certainly there can be no constitutional distinction" he argues, "between an injection that removes a liquid and one that injects a liquid." (This particular argument is spurious, and Dershowitz should know better: he is a long-time opponent of the death penalty, where the current preferred method of execution is the injection of deadly poisons into the veins of the convict.) Dershowitz fails to mention altogether another amendment — the Eighth, which states quite plainly that no "cruel or unusual punishments [shall be] inflicted." The modern-era Supreme Court has ruled that this standard, which is inherently subjective, must be interpreted according to society’s evolving standards of decency. It is likely that the pre–September 11 Court would have ruled that techniques all would agree constitute "torture" would qualify as "cruel" and (for our society, at least) "unusual." But in the atmosphere created by the ghastly attacks of September 11, the Court might now rule that it is neither cruel nor unusual to torture a convict, a prisoner, or even a mere suspect, if the information that might be wrung from that person could save thousands of innocent lives. (After all, the Supreme Court did uphold the constitutionality of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s transfer of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast into "relocation camps" after Pearl Harbor, and of his using a military tribunal to try — and execute — German saboteurs who landed on our shores intending to destroy strategic targets.) War does change mindsets, even of the courts — and understandably so. But leaving aside his interpretation (or neglect) of inherently vague constitutional provisions, Dershowitz’s conclusion is clear: if torture is to be administered, it should require "torture warrants" issued by judges before whom the government must lay out reasons why torture — and only torture — could extract life-saving information. "Thus we would not be winking an eye of quiet approval at torture while publicly condemning it," he says.
Map of Alzheimer’s Genes May Lead to Novel Therapies Dr. Rudolph Tanzi Speaks at International Conference on Alzheimer’s Breakthrough genetic research to map all the genes connected to Alzheimer’s, which could lead to more aggressive treatment and a potential cure for the disease, was the focus of a presentation by leading Alzheimer’s researcher Dr. Rudolph Tanzi at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) in Chicago. Tanzi, Chairman of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Consortium and the Joseph and Rose Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, was one of eight featured speakers discussing the genetic factors of Alzheimer’s disease as part of ICAD. Tanzi discussed his work on the “Alzheimer’s Genome Project” (AGP), identifying all of the genes that work individually or together to influence one’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease. A paper on AGP is currently under peer review at a prestigious science journal. “With the innovative developments in genetic technology, completion of the human genome project and the advances in statistical analyses, we are on the cusp of a rare ‘science moment’ that should greatly accelerate our efforts to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Tanzi told conference attendees. “Every new Alzheimer’s gene we identify provides clues to the cause of this dreadful disease. The knowledge gained from the Alzheimer’s-associated defects in these genes should guide the development of novel therapeutics.” Tanzi highlighted two specific areas of the AGP, funded by the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. The genome-wide association screen is the largest such family-based screen ever conducted. Tanzi and his team collected genetic data from more than 1,300 families affected by Alzheimer’s disease to determine gene variants that influence one’s life time risk of Alzheimer’s. His presentation will cover a ‘novel’ gene, one of the top genetic hits for Alzheimer’s emerging from that screen. In addition, Tanzi discussed AlzGene, a publicly available web database () for researchers working to uncover the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease. Spearheaded by Dr. Tanzi’s colleague, Lars Bertram, Assistant Professor of Neurology at MGH, AlzGene provides a comprehensive and systematic display of all published Alzheimer’s genetics research over the past 30 years. In addition, through analysis of the collective genetic data, Tanzi and Bertram have determined 30 genes that increase one’s lifetime risk for Alzheimer’s as well as others that protect against it. Their overarching goal is to combine the results of the AlzGene project and the genome-wide association screen to ultimately identify all the genes that significantly influence one’s lifetime genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The first set of breakthroughs in this project will be presented by Dr. Tanzi at ICAD. “Research findings in the past year alone have generated tremendous excitement in the field of neuroscience, genetics and especially in Alzheimer’s research,” said Tanzi. “Ultimately, the combined results of the family-based genome-wide screen and AlzGene should allow for the reliable prediction of Alzheimer’s disease while also guiding the development of novel therapies. These studies will someday lead to the development of therapies aimed at treating and preventing Alzheimer’s according to one’s personal genome.”
Permaculture is an approach to design that mimics the relationships found in natural ecologies. It operates by a set of principles: care of the Earth, care of people, and sharing surplus. Any design that is based on these principles will promote sustainability. Permaculture Design began in the 1970s as a principle and was coined by Bill Mollison. He was upset by modern society’s industrial methods of food production and distribution, which he believed was destroying Earth’s ecosystems. Permaculture became a movement focusing on training people to design their environments so they could become self-sustainable agricultural systems. Permaculture in the high desert has completely different challenges and design guidelines than in other ecological systems. In the high desert water is the key component to all forms of sustainability. Most permaculture design implementation requires a certain amount of energy and resource input before the system can ultimately “take care of itself.” It can be implemented successfully on the smallest or the largest of sites as long as the sustainable cycle is intact.
“Professor Martha Few’s For All Humanity: Mesoamerican and Colonial Medicine in Enlightenment Guatemala (University of Arizona Press, 2015)describes the implementation of public health reforms in late eighteenth-century Guatemala and the diverse ways that indigenous communities engaged and resisted these programs. Contrary to expectations, colonists were often ahead of administrators in Spain in adopting new medical methods, such as inoculating patients against smallpox. But bringing these to rural communities, some with a significant degree of autonomy, required adaptation and compromise; and if resistance was stiff, medical officers reacted with the persecution of indigenous practices in ways that mirrored the church’s anti-idolatry purges. By bringing Guatemala and its native residents into the networks of Atlantic medicine in the eighteenth century, For All Humanity illuminates the plurality of medical cultures that interacted in the production of the Enlightenment. Martha Few is Professor of Latin American History and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University.”
Explore the exhibition Great friends as well as pioneering artists of the American postwar period, Larry Bell (b. 1939) and John Chamberlain (1927-2011) each forged history-making careers by harnessing the new technologies of their time to transform everyday industrial materials into works of art that expanded the definition of what sculpture can be. Yet the formative dialogue between these two titans – an intensive artistic and intellectual exchange that helped shape their respective practices and the wider language of 20th-century art – has yet to be fully explored. In the ‘60s, Los Angeles was the center of the aeronautics industry that had burgeoned during the war, and Bell was one of the first artists to apply its commercial manufacturing processes to his work. One of the signatures of his artistic approach is its use of a vacuum deposition chamber, which Bell first acquired in the late ‘60s. Called ‘The Tank,’ this tool permitted him to coat sheet glass in specific ways that alter how absorbent, transmissive, or reflective it appears to the eye. With the aid of ‘The Tank,’ both Bell and Chamberlain explored the possibilities of form, materiality, and color – experiments that resulted in the exceptional artworks on view in the exhibition. In September 1962, Larry Bell and John Chamberlain met by chance at the famed Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. Over the following years while both shuttled between the artistic circles of New York and LA, Bell and Chamberlain formed a close friendship predicated upon a mutual penchant for technical innovation, and an intensive cross-pollination of ideas and discoveries. In the late 1960s, Chamberlain moved back to Los Angeles and lived with Bell. Working side by side, the men pushed one another to expand the material and formal possibilities of their respective practices.
· Japan has revitalized its economy and is narrowing economic gaps · Japan’s focus on “womenomics” and introduction of measures to allow more foreign workers are among several key strategies to address the country’s ageing population · “Society 5.0”, one premised on borderless data and championed by Japan, is seen as “great gap buster” · Watch the special address here · For more information about the Annual Meeting, visit www.weforum.org Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 23 January 2019 – “Defeatism about Japan is now defeated,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphatically declared in a special address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, before expounding upon how the Asian power has been reinvigorated and transformed – infused with a fresh sense of hope. With its rapidly ageing population, five years ago Japan was once seen as a “wall of despair”, acknowledged Abe, but the country’s focus on “womenomics” and new legislation to allow more foreign workers are among several innovative policy changes that have enabled Japan’s metamorphosis. “Hope is the most important factor for growth. A country ageing can still grow as a ‘hope-driven’ economy,” Abe announced. “We are not widening the gap, we are narrowing it.” Japan’s new policies are bearing positive economic fruit. The country’s push to increase the number of women entering the workforce – “womenomics” – has driven participation rates up to a record high of 67%, surpassing that of the US, and boosting the number of women in the labour force by 2 million. To address the decline in its working population, Japan has recently approved measures to increase the number of foreign workers – as many as 340,000 skilled workers will be invited to Japan from abroad – drawn up plans to expand its free education programme and introduced policies to empower elderly workers. Under Abe’s government, Japan’s GDP has grown by 10.9%, and now the country can proudly say that, out of every 100 college graduates, 98 find employment, while child poverty rates have plummeted – both new records for Japan. “A long-awaited positive feedback cycle is taking root, with growth in employment and income generating greater demand and even more employment,” explained the Japanese leader, “In order to make our growth long-lasting, we are encouraging investment, which will enhance productivity.” Alongside the important economic shifts taking place, Abe told the Davos meeting that, for the first time in 200 years, the Japanese emperor will abdicate this year, with a new emperor to take the throne in 2019. Together with a revitalized economy, Abe hailed what he described as “the new dawn of a new era” for Japan. Elucidating his vision for “Society 5.0”, the Japanese leader stressed the importance of a society driven by borderless data and worldwide data governance to leverage future growth. Every day, he noted, more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data come into being, which, according to one estimate is as much as 250 times the printed material in the US Library of Congress. “In Society 5.0, it is no longer capital but data that connects and drives everything, helping to fill the gap between the rich and the less privileged. Services of medicine and education, from elementary to tertiary, will reach small villages in the sub-Saharan region,” he explained, “Our task is obvious. We must make data the great gap buster.” At the Annual Meeting, where this week celebrated British naturalist Sir David Attenborough sounded a distress signal on climate change, warning the “Garden of Eden is no more,” Japan’s leader concurred. Pledging to nurture a facilitating environment for innovation, science and technological evolution, Abe said that investing in a green Earth and blue ocean could generate growth and that “decarbonization and profit-making can happen in tandem.” The prime minister reiterated Japan’s commitment to a free, open and rules-based international order, acknowledging two important recent trade deals, the 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11), which came into effect on 30 December 2018, and the EU-Japan Economic Partnership, effective as of 1 February this year. The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting brings together more than 3,000 global leaders from politics, government, civil society, academia, the arts and culture as well as the media. Convening under the theme, Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, participants are focusing on new models for building sustainable and inclusive societies in a plurilateral world. For further information, please click here.
For those operating in the industrial, commercial, and institutional (IC&I) sectors in Ontario, it is important that you know about the Ontario Regulation 102/94 and how it can impact your company's operations. The Ontario Regulation 102/94 is a document that encompasses and addresses regulations for waste audits and waste reduction work plans. It is also known to be a sister regulation closely linked with the Ontario Regulation 103/94, which mandates that your business operating in IC&I will also need to maintain a source separation program. In this post we will cover On. Reg. 102/94 and will update our blog with more information on On. Reg. 103/94. On. Reg. 102/94 is provincial legislation used to enforce proper waste management practices for these sectors utilizing waste audits and waste reduction work plans. It uses threshold indicators to help owners determine when a waste audit needs to be conducted and mandates that your waste audit reports, and work plans must be updated every year. Why is this relevant? As a component to the Province of Ontario's commitment to sustainability and waste diversion, they are seeking to encourage businesses in these sectors to “reduce the amount of waste they produce, to reuse whatever waste they can and to recycle the rest.” But why? Well, it's to help Ontario achieve its overall goal of reducing the amount of waste going to waste disposal (landfill). It is estimated that Ontario produces the largest amount of non-residential waste generated in the country! Now, we can be sure population has a major role to play seeing how Ontario’s population estimate is approximately 14 million persons, but still, it must also bear the responsibility to reduce its waste management inefficiencies where it can. What is a Waste Audit and Waste Reduction Plan? A waste audit is a systematic approach to identify the materials that are disposed of at a specific location, and different types of waste audits can be completed (structured or unstructured). Waste Reduction Work Plan A waste reduction work plan is a plan to reduce, reuse and recycle waste. The plan sets out who will implement each part of the plan, when each part will be implemented and what the expected results are. The WRWP plan is based on the results of the completed waste audit. How would RecycleSmart help? RecycleSmart is a waste management company driven by innovation and technology. We are experts in waste and recycling in Canada and specialize in industrial, commercial, and institutional waste management and diversion. Our proven waste management process begins with a waste audit to identify operating inefficiencies and ends with operational cost savings. Our services include value-added features such as reliable data and concise audit reporting, waste optimization recommendations, sustainable alternatives, innovative technology applications, and ongoing waste diversion rate tracking. RecycleSmart offers waste audit and waste consulting services conducted in accordance with Ontario Regulation 102/94 – Waste Audits and Waste Reduction Work Plans and Ontario Regulation 103/94 – Source Separation Programs. Learn about all the other benefits of partnering with RecycleSmart: - To gain a clear and precise understanding of the waste and recycling currently being generated. - To identify existing problem areas. - To identify new opportunities for recycling. - To assist in diverting recyclable materials from the waste stream. - To decrease overall waste management costs through the identification of inefficiencies. - To assist in improving capture ratios and diversion rates. - To promote a positive, proactive, environmentally conscientious image. - To contribute to ISO 14001 documentation, BOMA BEST, LEED, RCO 3R Certification, Zero Waste, etc.
Capsaicin, a major constituent of cayenne peppers, reduces the amount of substance P, a chemical that carries pain messages to the brain. Cayenne is used topically to relieve many different types of pain, including shingles, migraine headaches, back aches, menstrual cramps and other aches and pains. Studies have shown that cayenne pepper relieves pain after surgery. It also alleviates pain from nerve damage in the feet or legs from diabetes (diabetic neuropathy), lower back injuries, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as fibromyalgia pain. Cayenne is a premier herb for warming and stimulating digestion. It can be added to foods, taken as tea or a capsule (careful not to take too much!) or used in a tincture. Under-active digestion results in difficulty transforming food into nutrients. This is a common cause of fatigue as the poor digestion reduces the nutrients needed for energy. Signs of poor digestion can include belching, sour regurgitation, nausea, foul breath, gas, lack of appetite, loose stools and heartburn, and cayenne can relieve all of them. Cayenne and other spicy peppers were once blamed for causing ulcers, but research has shown that they are a natural treatment for ulcers. Cayenne supports the health of the lining of the stomach, promotes tissue healing by bringing blood to the area, and addresses secondary infections like the H. pylori bacterial infection that are often seen concurrently with ulcers. It also blocks substance P which transmits pain, thus relieving the pain associated with ulcers.
DISCOVERING BELGRADE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS The task of arranging for the participants in the 27th Annual Conference to discover Belgrade and its main attractions was entrusted by the organisers to the BTA (Belgrade Travel Agency) which organised the visits to the various destinations during the conference. So it was that on Tuesday November 18th, after the morning spent at the opening ceremony, a sightseeing tour of Belgrade had been planned. The eight coaches, carrying around 400 people, set off to explore the city, each coach with a professional guide on board. We saw the embassy quarter, known as ‘Belgrade Beverley Hills’, the city centre including some pedestrian streets, the magnificent orthodox church dedicated to St Sava, still under construction. And, as night was falling, we had a view over the Kalamegdan fortress, the destination for the following day’s visit. The Kalamegdan Fortress and the Military Museum The fortress towers above the Sava which runs into the Danube, and is the strategic point around which Belgrade has developed over the centuries. This fortress, an emblem for Serbia, has seen a number of invaders march past, from the Romans to the Ottomans, and this explains the diversity of styles, right down to the Second World War bunkers! Moreover the military museum sets out in an educational fashion everything that man has invented to slaughter their contemporaries. This is all located in a magnificent park which the burghers of Belgrade understandably visit very often. Standing above the site is the statue of Victory on its column, commemorating the Serb victory over the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War. Belgrade Mixer House and Eagle Hill On Thursday November 20th there was an excursion to Belgrade’s ‘Mixer House’. It seems that this is one of Belgrade’s hot-spots for entertainments. You can find a heterogeneous collection of craft objects, opportunities to taste all kinds of food and drinks, and, the day we visited, a deafening brass band putting its heart into a performance. Just beside it stood Eagle Hill, a very prestigious twentieth century block built in 1905 which has accommodated many official bodies including the Institute of Geophysics, until it was recently bought by the Emirates. On show there is a large model of the future shape of the city, and even a show-flat which will be installed in ten years time in the designated buildings. The model is entitled ‘Beograd Waterfront’ and includes ‘developments on the banks of the Danube and the Sava’. According to the inhabitants of the Serb capital, this waterfront has the advantage of a microclimate, cooler in summer and more clement in winter than the upper part of the city. The Belgrade Royal Palace The icing on the cake was a visit to the Serbian Royal Palace; this took place on Friday November 21st on the Belgrade heights in an enormous park, and was a fine discovery for the visitors. Not only did we admire the sumptuous decoration of the rooms we visited, where no doubt political conversations and meetings of great importance took place; but also His Excellency the Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia and his wife came to greet the visitors without any pomp! Other visits took place at the same time, namely to the Museum of Yugoslavia, the House of Flowers and also the Mausoleum of Marshal Tito. In a country where culture is so important it was a good idea to offer an outing to the theatre or to the opera. Moreover the person in charge of the programme was surprised at the success of the proposal when they placed the order for the tickets which they had estimated at 50: after the second day of estimating the demand they had to order 50 extra tickets! The words were sung in Serbo-Croat but the participants were delighted after seeing a performance of Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood). Some of them had even taken the trouble to obtain Wikipedia documents in advance giving the text of the libretto so that they could understand the plot better … and follow what was going on!
Current management of river blindness depends on mass distribution of a single drug known as ivermectin - also referred to as Mectizan - which has been successful in decreasing incidence of the disease wherever it has been used. Once again, nonetheless, their detection isn't definitive proof of a present, viable infection as antibodies can persist for months, even years, after elimination of the parasite, for example by drug therapy. For grownup horses, frequent rotation of several types of dewormers is no longer really helpful, as it could actually usually lead to overtreatment and subsequent drug resistance. The patients taking the anti-parasitic agent often complain of pores and skin reactions (together with dry skin, burning sensation, pores and skin irritation or pruritus), diarrhea, nausea, or dizziness. In rare cases, Stromectol is indicated for mixture remedy of crusted (Norwegian) scabies or for monotherapy of sarcoptic scabies. In rare circumstances, the next undesirable results of Stromectol could be noticed: somnolence, asthenia, fatigue, constipation, anorexia, hives, abdominal ache or cough. Helminthic infections can cause abdominal ache, diarrhea, muscle ache, cough, skin lesions, https://www.dnjinvestmentltd.com/ivermectin-tablets-for-humans-price malnutrition, weight reduction, neurological and plenty of other signs relying on the particular organism and burden of infection. Heavier infections may cause a variety of signs together with intestinal manifestations (diarrhoea and abdominal ache), malnutrition, general malaise and weakness, and impaired growth and bodily growth. Specifically, T. trichiura may cause diarrhoea and dysentery. The diseases caused by these intestinal protozoan parasites are generally known as giardiasis, amoebiasis, cyclosporiasis, and cryptosporidiosis respectively, and they are related to diarrhoea (8). G. intestinalis is the most prevalent parasitic cause of diarrhoea in the developed world, and this infection is also quite common in creating countries. Diagnosis at the extent of clonal varieties is now attainable by DNA sequencing and the serological identification of antibodies to polymorphic toxoplasma peptide sequences, and these are useful instruments for each clinical and epidemiological research. We suggest that, due to latest research at both the inside-host (e.g. immunological) and between-host (e.g. epidemiological) scales, researchers are poised to reveal the processes that generate the observed distribution of parasite communities among hosts. Parasitic infections of the CNS are often ‘silent’, with the classical neurological symptoms (e.g. headache, seizures, coma) showing long after the preliminary invasion of the brain and, importantly, when considerable, generally irreversible, harm has occurred. For example, S. mansoni glycosphingolipids have extended difucosylated oligosaccharides, but these structures are absent in S. japonicum glycosphingolipids. Schistosomes, particularly the cercarial glycocalyx and eggs, generate big quantities of membrane-certain glycoproteins and glycosphingolipids. In addition to schistosomes, Dictyocaulus viviparous, a parasitic nematode in cattle, is likely one of the few helminths to synthesize the Lex antigen. Brugia malayi is a filarial nematode with widespread distribution in South and South East Asia. Infections are broadly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, with the greatest numbers occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, China and East Asia. Neutralization of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus has also been achieved utilizing monoclonal antibodies. In case of lowered host immunity, the parasite could cause the hyperinfection/dissemination syndrome that's invariably fatal if not promptly and properly cured and is often fatal despite the treatment. Giardia intestinalis is also a standard parasite present in drinking water. The excessive prevalence charges noticed in peri-city farmers call for specific interventions focusing on this inhabitants group. These STH species are normally addressed as a bunch because they need related diagnostic procedures and respond to the same medicines. The parasitology group at NEB has been working, in collaboration with quite a few scientists from varied universities and establishments, to discover new potential targets for anti-parasite chemotherapy. Intestinal protozoa multiply quickly in their hosts, and as there may be a scarcity of effective vaccines, chemotherapy has been the only practised option to deal with people and cut back transmission. In areas that lack sufficient sanitation, these eggs contaminate the soil. Former residents As a result of antibody responses to schistosomes are primarily directed against antigenic glycan motifs, and antibodies to such glycans can kill and inhibit parasite development and egg deposition, such glycans may be targets of vaccine growth. Within the United States, CDC educates the public on the way to develop healthy swimming habits and protect their private nicely water from parasites. Both recreational water (water used for swimming and other activities) and drinking water can turn into contaminated with parasites and trigger illness. Follow the 6 Steps for Healthy Swimming to avoid recreational water illnesses (RWIs). There are simple steps you may take to protect yourself and your family from zoonotic diseases brought on by parasites. Fucosylated antigens are a typical function of most schistosome glycoconjugates, together with Lewis x (Lex), LacdiNAc (LDN), and fucosylated LacdiNAc (LDNF) constructions, and polyfucose branches (Determine 43.8). Glycoconjugates from helminths lack sialic acids. Ivermectin induces heterogeneous vacuolation in the pharynx that seems slowly and accumulates over several days. Detectable ranges of skin mf 18 months after remedy in 83%, 73% and 65% of members handled with 2 mg, 4 mg and eight mg, respectively, show that a single dose of moxidectin did not stop pores and skin repopulation with mf in all participants and thus didn't kill or sterilize (completely or to month 18) all macrofilariae stromectol overnight in all individuals. However, the rapid rise in prevalence at month 12 highlights that an MDA program, where utilised, needs to be included with a multi-faceted control program and ongoing surveillance locally. Nevertheless, this system is time-consuming, requiring 2-3 days, which could also be too lengthy a interval as soon as the prognosis is suspected in an immunocompromised host. About ninety % of animals in parks and deer farms and 60-70 % of wild cervidae are administered these two drugs yearly. It shows that mass-remedy with a pores and skin mf decreasing drug can result in elimination by increasing the threshold biting charge (TBR), i.e. the annual biting fee (ABR, variety of vectors taking a blood meal from one particular person/12 months) below which onchocerciasis can't stay endemic. In the Americas, by help of the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program in the Americas (OEPA), a technique of bi-annual ivermectin therapy of not less than 85% of the eligible populations in all endemic communities is exhibiting superb outcomes and guarantees to be effective in eliminating onchocerciasis within the region.The Conference concluded that onchocerciasis will not be eradicable utilizing present tools because of the key barriers to eradication in Africa. These results are in good agreement with the few knowledge identified from nonstandardized checks for a similar or associated soil invertebrate species. There aren't any established guidelines and few data in the literature concerning the prevention and management of S. stercoralis infection in immunocompromised patients. Moreover, because the serological results may stay optimistic for months to years after a efficiently treated infection, and will even cross-react with other helminth infestations, its position within the prognosis of severe strongyloidiasis stays secondary. I discover that for C. elegans even transient publicity to ivermectin can result in irreversible pharyngeal paralysis. The Conference really useful that the place interruption of transmission is possible and value efficient, packages should purpose for that objective using all acceptable and accessible interventions so that the Onchocerca volvulus can finally be eliminated and interventions halted. In 1987, Merck dedicated to donate Mectizan - as much as needed, for as long as needed - with the purpose to assist eliminate river blindness. This may also help resolve the question of the extent to which cumulative doses of ivermectin have an effect on macrofilariae reproductive capacity and viability. The histology knowledge don't permit further conclusions about the biological foundation of the long term variations in pores and skin mf densities between the therapy teams, because of the pre-remedy imbalance between remedy teams in the share of lifeless and/or dead and calcified female macrofilaria (Supporting Table S5) and since the macrofilariae in the palpable onchocercal nodules were not representative of all macrofilariae within the body (Figures 9, 10). This isn't surprising given the small pattern dimension, chosen primarily based on safety issues, and not in view of permitting conclusions on therapy variations in the effect on the macrofilariae. Relapse price was outlined as the share of patients who relapsed inside the course of the 36-week extension study. A masters scholar who had been assigned to read the paper as a part of his diploma observed that all the introduction appeared to be copied from earlier scientific papers, and further analysis revealed that the study's datasheet posted on-line by the authors contained obvious irregularities. Parasitology in cats. What is the part of ivermectine in feline dermatology? Secondary outcomes had been investigator-assessed improvement in rosacea severity, as measured by IGA score, patient-assessed enchancment in rosacea severity, measured on a global 5-point scale (worse, no improvement, average, good, or glorious) and quality of life, as measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire. After 40 weeks of continued therapy, 71.1% and 76.0% of ivermectin recipients had an IGA rating ≤ 1 in research 1 and examine 2, respectively, as in comparison with 59.4% and 57.9% of azelaic 15% gel recipients. Relapse was outlined as an IGA rating ≥ 2. The first efficacy outcome was time to first relapse, outlined as the time between week 16 and the primary relapse through the 36-week extension period. Given that the participants have been recruited from an space in Ghana with out mass-treatment with ivermectin on the time of recruitment for this examine, it's unlikely that this displays drug pressure-induced selection of parasites with low susceptibility to ivermectin's microfilaricidal exercise. The man had massive plans - to work for a year, then recuperate on the institute, get a job at the plant to work in his specialty.
In home-based care environments, medication oversight is an important aspect of high quality care and services. What exactly does medication oversight mean for care providers and health care agencies? States regulate what home health care aides and services can provide in regard to medications and medication oversight. A majority of home health care agencies provide the bulk of services classified as non-medical care. That means that companions, home health aides, and others who do not have licensure to dispense medications are not allowed to actually dole out medication for your loved one. What are they allowed to do? According to most state standards regarding home health care when it comes to medication dispensation, a home health care provider must be a certified nursing assistant or licensed nursing assistant, but only those with a medication licensure (which follows a 50 hour course), are allowed to pass medications. This scenario is not commonly found in home health care. Every state is different. For example, some home health care agencies and state guidelines allow a home health aide to “assist” in taking medications, but not to set up or administer those medications. That must be done by a nurse. The home health aide can provide medication assistance through reminders, cues, and helping a client to handle or open a pill bottle or so forth. They can help provide assistance in the taking of the medication through, for example, offering the client a tablespoon of applesauce to help with the swallowing of medications. Home health care aides who provide nonmedical care are certainly capable of providing medication oversight. What this means for clients and family members is that the medications must be contained in adequate dosages prior to the arrival of a home health care aide. The home health care aide can remind clients to take their medications as required by caregiver instructions, and can place pillboxes or medications within reach of the client, but they are not allowed to actually take the pills out of prescription bottle and hand medications to the client. Keeping track of a patient’s or client’s compliance with medications is also a responsibility that can be requested. To increase cooperation and adherence to medication schedules, caregivers at OptimumCare Home Care Services are trained to impress upon clients the importance of following their prescription routines. Family members or spouses are reminded to place adequate dosages of the medications in multiple compartment pillboxes with separate labels that specify the time of day these pills are to be taken. Some pillboxes can hold daily dosages while others have enough compartments that medications last an entire week. So, while many home-based care providers are not allowed to actually dispense medication, they provide a valuable service in ensuring that clients take their medications on time when you can’t be there to supervise.
Schematic view of the proposed method. In the first step, for each gene (target gene) a model tree is generated, which provides a partition of the space. Linear regression functions are built in the leaves of the tree. These linear regression functions can be seen as prototypes to estimate the value of the target gene. Genes involved in the linear regression functions might be identified as potential dependencies. This is an iterative process that is made for each gene taking the remaining genes as input to build the model tree, and it provides a set of hypothetical gene-gene interactions. Only the model trees with low prediction error will be conserved. Next, the Benjamini-Yekutieli statistical procedure is applied in order to assess the significance of the dependencies.
· Pikes Peak Pikes Peak stands at 14,110 feet above sea level and provides a beautiful backdrop for the Colorado Springs area. This popular tourist destination does provide for some good montane birding. There are many trails that can be hiked where typical montane species can be found. Also, Dusky Grouse, White-tailed Ptarmigan and all three Rosy-Finches can be found on the peak (Brown-capped Rosy-Finch in summer, the others in late fall and early spring). The higher elevations are also an excellent place to find the cute little hampster-like animal called the pika, which is a relative of the rabbit. A cog railway ascends the mountain in the summer months. County: El Paso Attractions: Scenery, driving above 14,000 feet Habitat: Mixed-Conifer Forest, Lodgepole Forest, Spruce-Fir Forest, Alpine Tundra Directions: From I-25 go west on Highway 24 (exit 141) approximately 9.5 miles to the Pikes Peak Toll Road exit. There are stop lights at this intersection and you will turn left and follow the signs directing you to the Pikes Peak Toll road. Delorme: 62 B2 Roads of Colorado: 104 C1 Dates of Access: Open all year, but snow may block access in winter Ownership: US Forest Service, managed by city Restrictions: Hiking can be a hazardous activity; bring raingear and water, and avoid thunderstorms Parking: Paved lots Lodging: Tent camping Handicapped Access: Some car viewing and easy walking trails
Papers by various research groups have suggested relationships between (inter alia) suicide, dementia, and aggressive behaviour, with the (ultra-low) levels of lithium (Li) in reticulated drinking-water supplies (‘tap-water’). The notion of adding Li to drinking water supplies has even been mooted and covered in the mass media. However, Li in tap-water is only a small proportion of the total dietary Li intake. There are no data in these population studies confirming the crucial question of whether there are actually different blood levels of Li, and 24 hr Li excretion, in subjects from the different areas that have different Li tap-water levels, who are included in such associative epidemiological analysis. This commentary clarifies these fundamental errors with relevant data from the scientific literature which has not been cited previously in this context. Such data clarify certain key points about Li intake, and the regulation of usual, but very low, endogenous Li levels. These data indicate clearly and unequivocally that such ‘associative epidemiology’ is conceptually flawed, methodologically unsound, incorrect, as well as being naïvely over-interpreted. It constitutes yet another example of science that would never have been published if editorial and refereeing standards of journals were adequate, or up to proper scientific standards. There are an increasing number of publications that can be described as ‘associative epidemiology’ trying to link lithium (Li) in reticulated tap-water with various aspects of nervous system functioning, such as dementia, mood states and suicide, aggressive behaviour, and onychocryptosis. I refer to these studies as ‘associative epidemiology’ because the scientific and logical observations and requirements that might indicate even a slight chance of an actual causal link are absent. The old trope of ‘association is not causation’ endures because each new generation of researchers repeat the same mistakes, with dispiriting and tedious regularity. This expanding area of investigation is an example of ignorance of basic science, of methodology, and misunderstanding of statistics and P-values (1). A Bayesian would want to think about the ‘prior probability’ and require rather better evidence. See: I have previously discussed concepts related to establishing cause-and-effect relationships (the Bradford Hill ‘criteria’), which are not well-observed in psychiatry (2). The above link contains a summary about this — my previous discussion (3, 4) was related to criticism of the weak cause-and-effect nexus between neuroleptic drugs and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). The principles enumerated by Sir Austin Bradford Hill, that are often referred to as the Bradford Hill criteria, have sometimes been used a little simplistically and have been further refined more recently (5-7). There are major misunderstandings in the published studies concerning regulation of the usual trace-amounts of dietary Li intake in humans, and the sources of the ingested Li. This review discusses how these errors and misconceptions demonstrate that the studies thus far are invalid. Endogenous Lithium: trace levels and their regulation The best replicated and most recent data indicate that typical human ‘endogenous’ serum Li levels (i.e. background levels arising from obligate-ingestion from food and water) are around 0.0003 mmol/L and show low variation (~ 0.0001 -0.0005) in relation to dietary ingestion amounts. Current best estimates of dietary daily intake are 0.1-3 mg/day, of which ~30% is from ‘water’ (see below). We were taught that naturally (i.e. in people not taking any form of Li treatment) there was no Li the body, and many doctors may still think that. It is, of course, a question of limits of detection/quantification (LODs/LOQs): usual laboratory methods are insufficiently sensitive to measure such low Li levels, and they are therefore not detected by medical laboratory tests. The measurement of microgram levels of endogenous Li (and other trace metals) in biological tissues and fluids involves technical challenges and difficulties (8-10) and some older (<1996) reported measurements are probably best discounted. The use of the measurement of fractional Li excretion in hypertension research, which involves measuring endogenous Se Li and 24 hr. Li excretion, has produced large samples of endogenous serum Li levels in humans (well in excess of 1,000 subjects). As a result, the group at the Studies Coordination Centre, Laboratory of Hypertension, Leuven, Belgium (11, 12), have concluded ‘These observations suggest that serum lithium is tightly regulated (at ~0.0003 mmol/l), despite large variations in dietary intake’. All subjects had 24 hr urine Li estimated, which had, in the Belgium sample an average of 5 µmol of Li, equating to a daily intake of ~0.3 mg of Li, and in a South African sample 1 µmol, equating to a daily intake of ~0.06 mg: yet the mean Se Li levels in these two groups were almost identical, and within a narrow range. Cwynar et al. found almost identical results in 130 subjects in Poland (13). Since Li intake can be inferred from the 24-hour urine samples, these data also represent the largest body of values approximating typical dietary intake, and they suggest an intake of ~0.2 mg/day: the French TDS estimate was 0.05 mg. Incidentally, out of 1278 subjects 36 were excluded because of a ‘very high Li concentration in serum (>0.001 mmol/L)’ which they considered indicated ‘external contamination’ (i.e. ingestion of ‘supplements’, e.g. Li-rich mineral water, see below). In view of the size of the above sample, discussion of other results (especially those using older assay methods), is superfluous. However, Miller found serum Li levels around 0.00016 mmol/L for normal subjects dwelling in the Denver metropolitan area. The mean 24-hr excretion rate was 0.005 mmol/day (14), identical to the value found by the Leuven group. Folkerd (15) found a mean 0.00027 +/- 0.02 mmol/l (n = 25, range 0.00013-0.00055 mmol/l). In summary: at usual levels of dietary intake (~0.1-3 mg/day), which are now rather more reliably established, Se Li is tightly regulated between about 0.0001-0.0003 mmol/L. Se Li is not proportional to daily intake in this range. These data are informative concerning how unscientific some research has been: Nunes et al. gave 0.3 mg/day to try to help dementia. Since this is in the normal dietary intake range, it is a misconceived trial, since it is unlikely to have significantly altered pre-existing levels (16). Shiotsuku’s study (17) of subjects drinking large amounts of Li-rich mineral-water at a spa, although methodologically weak and lacking key data, seems to be the only study with Se Li estimations in subjects (n=43) ingesting Li in doses of around 20-50 mg/day — despite the poor description and methodology (one can hardly believe this fellow is really a ‘professor’) the Se Li averaged 0.07 mmol/L, which is 100 times higher than usual endogenous levels. NB. An insight into the lax methodology in this study “After drinking lithium mineral water, body weight was increased but not significantly (57.6±10.0 to 59.3±9.1 kg, p<0.08). If you drink one liter of water you will be one kilo heavier — physics! Their analysis is irrational. These data indicate that the tight regulation of Se Li levels at endogenous Li intakes of 0.1-3 mg/day breaks down once intake reaches around 5-20 mg/day, when it becomes proportional to the daily dose, as it is when Li is used therapeutically for BPD at doses of around 1,000 mg/day. Tap-water: small proportion of daily intake The above data demonstrate that dietary Li intake below ~5 mg/day is tightly regulated and variations within this range will not much affect serum Li levels. Furthermore, all the epidemiological research relates to average levels in the reticulated water supply (viz. tap-water). But that tap-water constitutes only a minor proportion of typical daily dietary Li intake. That is clear from data in the Second French TDS (18) which has produced a figure for daily Li intake of 0.05 mg/day, and water contributed only 35% of Li intake in adults, i.e. only 0.015 mg — not all of which is ‘tap-water’ — a significant % is bottled water (which, of course, does not come from the area where the subject lives, it may even come from a different continent). It is reasonable to deduce from those data that tap-water constitutes only about 10% of total daily Li intake in most people, and less in many others (e.g. those people who drink mainly bottled water). The extensive data that now exist on Li levels in reticulated water (which usually comes from surface water, rather than subterranean water) is reviewed elsewhere. It is notable that psychiatric publications are unaware of these data (the seminal citations herein do not appear in the ‘Psych’ literature — poor research and 3rd-rate refereeing yet again). Levels in surface water are generally extremely low, usually a few thousandths of a mg/L (<0.002 mg/L) and often as low a few millionths of a mg/L (0.000,005 mg/L) (19-21, 25), but levels in bottled mineral water from springs and underground supplies can be quite high: this has been assessed at 884 different European sites which had a median level of 0.010 mg/L. Thus, a typical bottled mineral water is equivalent to 5 L of tap-water which indicates that even low levels of consumption would substantially alter the Li intake from ‘water’. A large proportion of subjects live in areas where the concentration in tap-water is only a few millionths of mg/L, and they therefore do not ingest a significant amount of Li from tap-water. These data demonstrate that it is certain a majority of the subjects in these samples will have been ingesting far more Li from bottled mineral/spring-water than from tap-water. That is, without any doubt whatsoever, enough to make a complete and utter nonsense of this supposed ‘epidemiological’ data. Two fatal flaws In summary, there are two fatal flaws invalidating research concerning endogenous Li in tap-water and its effect on humans. First, at endogenous levels of intake serum Li is not proportional to intake, it is tightly regulated within a narrow range. Second, even if the ingested amount of Li made a difference, it would not be as a result of varying Li levels in the reticulated tap-water supply, because that is a minor contributor to total dietary Li intake. Therefore, trying to correlate Li in tap-water with suicide, or any other state or condition, in different geographical areas with different water supplies is, a priori, irrational and without any scientific basis. For those out there who still think that the refereeing system for scientific articles in journals is functioning adequately I suggest the example of the multiple papers that have been refereed (obviously inadequately) on this subject constitutes a solid refutation of that notion. Serotonin toxicity, my area of special expertise, proves this proposition even more decisively — the literature in this field has become a stream of utter nonsense; e.g. see here for the most egregious example to cross my desk for some time: Further publications about Lithium and Suicide Here are yet more recent publications (subsequent to my initial posted comment a few years ago) about Li and suicide etc. to add to the steady trickle from the last two decades, which now seems to be turning into a flood (26-48) The only critical and negative study I recall seeing was Parker et al. (27). There are yet more studies and comments, but since they are largely pointless, and mostly a waste money, and paper, it is hardly worth expending the effort to search multiple databases for them. All sorts of ill-considered suggestions have been aired, and picked-up by the media: e.g. McGrath and Berk recently stated: ‘… the prospect that a relatively safe, simple, and cheap intervention (i.e. optimizing lithium concentrations in the drinking water) could lead to the primary prevention of dementia is a tantalizing prospect (30): and there are other similarly ill-informed and ill-judged comments, which will have the social conspiracy theorists in a frenzy in no time (cf. fluoride). Lastly, the failure to measure serum levels of Li in a sample of subjects in different areas (exposed to different levels of Li in their tap-water) and to (attempt to) establish a correlation between the two variables, is a quite extraordinary omission which speaks to the lack of methodological competence of these various authors. One has to wonder where these researchers learnt their science and what they were thinking when they planned their projects. I will not even comment on the perspicacity of reviewers who approved the grants for these projects, or the fact that it is likely few, if any, of these papers underwent expert statistical review. Some of these projects/papers must have cost a great deal of money — all utterly wasted. The irony is that they did not even need to do those measurements for themselves, because, as explained above, it has already been done for them, in more than 1000 subjects (11, 12). But none of these researchers recognized that fact. 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J Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone Syst, 2016. 17(2): p. 1470320316655669. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27339867 14. Miller, NL, Durr, JA, and Alfrey, AC, Measurement of endogenous lithium levels in serum and urine by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry: a method with potential clinical applications. Anal. Biochem., 1989. 182(2): p. 245-9. =Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=2610339 15. Folkerd, E, Singer, DR, Cappuccio, FP, Markandu, ND, et al., Clearance of endogenous lithium in humans: altered dietary salt intake and comparison with exogenous lithium clearance. Am. J. Physiol., 1995. 268(4 Pt 2): p. F718-22. =Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=7733329 16. Nunes, MA, Viel, TA, and Buck, HS, Microdose lithium treatment stabilized cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimers disease. Curr Alzheimer Res, 2012. =Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=22746245 17. 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Res., 2018 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29895414 27. Parker, WF, Gorges, RJ, Gao, YN, Zhang, Y, et al., Association Between Groundwater Lithium and the Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and Dementia in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29799907 28. Ishii, N and Terao, T, Trace lithium and mental health. J Neural Transm (Vienna), 2018. 125(2): p. 223-227. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29234900 29. Brown, EE, Gerretsen, P, Pollock, B, and Graff-Guerrero, A, Psychiatric benefits of lithium in water supplies may be due to protection from the neurotoxicity of lead exposure. Med. Hypotheses, 2018. 115: p. 94-102. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29685207 30. McGrath, JJ and Berk, M, Could Lithium in Drinking Water Reduce the Incidence of Dementia? JAMA Psychiatry, 2017. 74(10): p. 983-984. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28832875 31. Knudsen, NN, Schullehner, J, Hansen, B, Jørgensen, LF, et al., Lithium in Drinking Water and Incidence of Suicide: A Nationwide Individual-Level Cohort Study with 22 Years of Follow-Up. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2017. 14(6): p. 627. 32. Liaugaudaite, V, Mickuviene, N, Raskauskiene, N, Naginiene, R, et al., Lithium levels in the public drinking water supply and risk of suicide: a pilot study. J. Trace Elem. Med. Biol., 2017. 33. Kessing, L, Gerds, T, Knudsen, N, Jørgensen, L, et al., Lithium in drinking water and the incidence of bipolar disorder: A nation-wide population-based study. Bipolar disorders, 2017. 34. Fajardo, VA, Fajardo, VA, LeBlanc, PJ, and MacPherson, RE, Examining the Relationship between Trace Lithium in Drinking Water and the Rising Rates of Age-Adjusted Alzheimer’s Disease Mortality in Texas. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2017(Preprint): p. 1-10. 35. Kavanagh, L, Keohane, J, Cleary, J, Garcia Cabellos, G, et al., Lithium in the Natural Waters of the South East of Ireland. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2017. 14(6). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28587126 36. Kessing, LV, Gerds, TA, Knudsen, NN, Jorgensen, LF, et al., Association of Lithium in Drinking Water With the Incidence of Dementia. JAMA Psychiatry, 2017. 74(10): p. 1005-1010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28832877 37. Kessing, LV, Gerds, TA, Knudsen, NN, Jorgensen, LF, et al., Lithium in drinking water and the incidence of bipolar disorder: A nation-wide population-based study. Bipolar Disord, 2017. 19(7): p. 563-567. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28714553 38. Grof, P, Old treatment and new curiosity: Lithium in drinking water. Bipolar Disord, 2017. 19(7): p. 597-598. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29131495 39. Kanehisa, M, Terao, T, Shiotsuki, I, Kurosawa, K, et al., Serum lithium levels and suicide attempts: a case-controlled comparison in lithium therapy-naive individuals. Psychopharmacology, 2017. 234(22): p. 3335-3342. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28849243 40. Ando, S, Koike, S, Shimodera, S, Fujito, R, et al., Lithium Levels in Tap Water and the Mental Health Problems of Adolescents: An Individual-Level Cross-Sectional Survey. J Clin Psychiatry, 2017. 78(3): p. e252-e256. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28394506 41. Devadason, P, Is there a role for lithium orotate in psychiatry? Aust NZ J Psychiatry, 2018: p. 0004867418810185. 42. Szklarska, D and Rzymski, P, Is Lithium a Micronutrient? From biological activity and epidemiological observation to food fortification. Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 2019. 189(1): p. 18-27. 43. Pompili, M, Gonda, X, Serafini, G, Innamorati, M, et al., Epidemiology of suicide in bipolar disorders: a systematic review of the literature. Bipolar Disord, 2013. 15(5): p. 457-90. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23755739 44. Pompili, M, Serafini, G, Innamorati, M, Ambrosi, E, et al., Antidepressants and Suicide Risk: A Comprehensive Overview. Pharmaceuticals (Basel), 2010. 3(9): p. 2861-2883. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713380 45. Pompili, M, Vichi, M, Dinelli, E, Pycha, R, et al., Relationships of local lithium concentrations in drinking water to regional suicide rates in Italy. World J Biol Psychiatry, 2015: p. 1-8. 46. Vita, A, De Peri, L, and Sacchetti, E, Lithium in drinking water and suicide prevention: a review of the evidence. Int. Clin. Psychopharmacol., 2015. 30(1): p. 1-5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25025988 47. Shiotsuki, I, Terao, T, Ishii, N, Takeuchi, S, et al., Trace lithium is inversely associated with male suicide after adjustment of climatic factors. J Affect Disord, 2016. 189: p. 282-6. 48. Ishii, N, Terao, T, Araki, Y, Kohno, K, et al., Low risk of male suicide and lithium in drinking water. J Clin Psychiatry, 2015. 76(3): p. 319-26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25700119 PsychoTropical is funded solely through generous donations, which has enabled extensive development and improvement of all associated activities. Many people who follow the advice on the website will save enormously on doctors, treatment costs, hospitalization, etc. which in some cases will amount to many thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands — never mind all the reduction in suffering and the resultant destruction of family, work, social, and leisure capability. A donation of $100, or $500, is little compared to those savings. Some less-advantaged people feel that the little they can give is so small it won’t make a difference – but five dollars monthly helps: so, do not think that a little donation is not useful.
The Anglican Collider will be out of action for months or even years, according to The European Cern (TEC). A large magnet, located at Pittsburgh, USA, has malfunctioned. Apparently it has slipped away, and may only now be useful for attaching to a different, lesser collider. The fault seems to be in a nut, essentially characterising a bishop, and bishops are notorious for having a screw loose. This blog recently recorded how Anglican particles are sent spinning round the collider in opposite directions, causing huge outbursts of energy that generate more heat than light. Some hope that the experiments will lead to an understanding of how Christianity began, whilst others just replace hope with despair. Some are more limited in ambition, rather like most clergy become, just waiting to see what fundamental questions arise, like why Anglicanism exists at all. The problems emerged on Friday. The magnets, also called bishops, have to be super cool in order that the particles stay within the collider. It seems that a number of magnets have been heating up. A critical point was passed when the Presiding Bishop particle was set off, causing ruptures in a number of places and an immediate dislodging of that one magnet at Pittsburgh. Scientists, of course, have noted which magnets stayed cool and in place. The rupture of the magnet let out a huge amount of stinky gas, although a number of scientists have warned before about the amount of hot air being generated. The detection of helium led to a number of high pitched voices on Friday. The actual problem can be easily fixed: it just needs a replacement magnet. However, the whole TEC needs warming up slowly and then cooling down again, and this takes considerable time. The Archbishop of Canterbury provides the model for this slow operation. He is known to be in deep freeze most of the time, is slowly warmed up, makes an ambiguous statement and then cools down again back to freezing point. His one utterance when warm is said to keep the Anglican Collider going for months. Fortunately he has said nothing recently since a pastoral letter generated some activity but less than expected due to particles nudged in all sorts of unclear directions and lacking sufficient energy. The failure at Pittsburgh, known as a "quench", could be repeated elsewhere, and in any case is not the first failure in these systems. However, with each failure, scientists say they become more practised in making the necessary replacements.
- Crop Production: cover crops, pollinator habitat - Education and Training: on-farm/ranch research - Pest Management: biological control - Production Systems: agroecosystems, organic agriculture, organic certification - Soil Management: organic matter Organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing agribusinesses in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) and the LRGV has the highest concentration of certified organic farms in the state of Texas. Farmers, collectively, rank weeds and pests as the two major barriers to successful and economically viable organic production (Finney and Creamer, 2008), and managing weeds and insect pests with acceptable techniques is considered a major challenge and potentially requires the highest labor input. Cover crops have proven to provide multiple agroecosystem services, however, there is relatively little information available for farmers to be able to make informed decisions about the right strategy for their farms, especially regarding cover crop selection (Snapp et al., 2001), management (Singer et al., 2007), and evaluation of benefits (Bergtold et al., 2009). This information gap is quite obvious and severe in the subtropical South Texas. We believe that right selection and establishment of single or a mixture of cover crop species has the potential to suppress weed and pest populations, and to break crop associated pests and weed build up, thereby assisting the farmers to overcome these critical challenges in organic vegetable production systems. Project objectives from proposal: With a participatory approach, we will conduct on-farm research to decipher and quantify the benefits of single species cover crops and cover crop mixes examining three key aspects of sustainable crop production: soil health, indicated by soil compaction, organic matter content, carbon-nitrogen ratios, and soil microbial community; pest and weed management; and yield of subsequent cash crops. The specific objectives are to determine the right cover crop species or cover crop mix; by evaluating the agronomic, environmental and economic benefits; and ultimately address the local farmers' priorities to overcome the barriers, weeds and pests, to organic agriculture in this region.
The Rosgarten Museum in Constance Rosgarten Museum is located right in the middle of Constance’ historic centre. The building alone that accommodates the museum is worth seeing, built in 1454 as a guild house for butchers in Constance. The museum has been here since 1870, when it was founded by a Constance pharmacist. A broad spectrum of topics is covered from Ancient History through the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. Special features of the museum are the Richtenthal Chronicle about the events that took place during the Council of Constance (1414-1418) and a model of medieval Constance. The museum also has changing special exhibitions and offers very lively guided tours. Our tip: only a few steps from the hustle and bustle of the pedestrian precinct is the courtyard of the museum’s cafe: a peaceful oasis of birdsong and the delicious smell of roasting coffee beans.
Giving What We Can no longer conducts our own research into charities and cause areas. Instead, we're relying on the work of organisations including J-PAL, GiveWell, and the Open Philanthropy Project, which are in a better position to provide more comprehensive research coverage. These research reports represent our thinking as of late 2016, and much of the information will be relevant for making decisions about how to donate as effectively as possible. However we are not updating them and the information may therefore be out of date. According to the World Health Organization, in 2015 there were about 214 million cases of malaria. The disease caused 438,000 deaths, of which 306,000 were of children under 5.[^fn-1] However, the total number of deaths could be as high as one million since, due to diagnostic limitations, malaria incidence is hard to assess. About 3.2 billion people --- almost half the world’s population --- are at risk of malaria. Nintey-one percent of all malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. Severe malaria may manifest in different ways, including: impaired consciousness, prostration, multiple convulsions, deep breathing and respiratory distress, acute pulmonary oedema and acute respiratory distress syndrome; circulatory collapse or shock. It can also lead to cerebral malaria, which can lead to serious neurological and cognitive deficits and is fatal for 15 to 25% of African children suffering of the disease. As of 2011, a minimum of 575,000 children in Africa developed cerebral malaria annually. Malaria is also extremely dangerous for pregnant woman: risks of malaria in pregnancy include maternal anemia, low birth weight (LBW), preterm delivery and increased infant and maternal mortality. Research also shows that malaria affects educational and economic outcomes. Long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets have prevented around 450 million cases of malaria in the last 15 years. The effectiveness of LLIN distribution in reducing malaria prevalence is very strong. Their role in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality has been shown for areas of both high and low endemicity. A Cochrane meta-study, which consolidated high quality randomised controlled trials on LLINs, found that, for each 1,000 children protected with a net for a year, 5.53 deaths were averted. Extrapolating from these figures, GiveWell estimate that the cost per child life saved through an AMF-funded LLIN distribution at about $3,461 (this includes distribution and monitoring costs). We address some common concerns about negative and offsetting effects of bed nets distributions, including: insecticide resistance, possible negative effects of free bednet distribution on recipients’ usage rates and private markets, and whether bednets reduce malaria immunity. We also conclude that bednet distribution do not have a substantial disruptive effect on the wider economic and health system. It is not easy to estimate the global gap in bed net provision, but evidence suggests that, at the minimum, in 2016 there is likely to be a gap of about 60 million nets (343 million dollars). However, the gap could be much larger, since estimates vary considerably: for instance, for 2015, the Roll Back Malaria estimated a gap of around 39 million nets and the WHO estimated a gap of about 146 million nets. Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium. The parasite is transmitted via the malaria-infected Anopheles mosquitoes. When the mosquitoes bite, the parasites are transported through the human body to the liver, where they multiply and infect red blood cells. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If untreated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening as it disrupts the blood supply to vital organs. The most deadly strain of malaria, P. falciparum is particularly prevalent in Africa. P. vivax is the dominant malaria parasite in most countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organisation in 2015, there were about 214 million cases of malaria. The disease caused around 438,000 deaths, of which 306,000 were of children under five. 91% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. About 3.2 billion people --- almost half the world’s population --- are at risk of malaria. Due to diagnostic limitations, malaria incidence is hard to assess. A recent study used a more sensitive test for asymptomatic malaria than the one usually employed and showed that malaria is more common than previously thought: the prevalence of the disease in the study’s population had been underestimated by 8%. A review has recently concluded that the morbidity burden of the disease has been underestimated, in particular with regards to adult morbidity. The total number of deaths could be as high as one million. In the developing world, malaria accounts for about 10% of all deaths of children under the age of five (see figure 1). If neonatal mortality is excluded, this figure rises to about 25%. Figure 1: Malaria makes up a large proportion of infant mortality in the developing world Most of the morbidity and mortality burden of the disease is highly concentrated: in 2015, it is estimated that 15 countries accounted for 80% of cases, and 15 countries accounted for 78% of deaths. Figure 2: Estimated proportion, and cumulative proportion, of the global number of (a) malaria cases and (b) malaria deaths in 2015 for countries accounting for the highest share of the malaria disease burden Severe malaria may manifest as impaired consciousness, prostration, multiple convulsions, deep breathing and respiratory distress, acute pulmonary oedema and acute respiratory distress syndrome; circulatory collapse or shock, systolic blood pressure, acute kidney injury; clinical jaundice plus evidence of other vital organ dysfunction; and abnormal bleeding. Severe malaria can lead to cerebral malaria, which causes abnormal behavior, impairment of consciousness, seizures, coma, or other neurologic abnormalities. It mainly affects pre-school children and, as of 2011, a minimum of 575,000 children in Africa developed cerebral malaria annually. Case fatality rates among African children with cerebral malaria are in the range of 15 to 25%. Cerebral malaria can lead to serious neurological and cognitive deficits, which we discuss below. Malaria is also extremely dangerous for pregnant woman: risks of malaria in pregnancy include maternal anaemia, low birth weight (LBW), preterm delivery and increased infant and maternal mortality. There is strong evidence linking malaria with anemia, low birthweight, and neurological problems. More recent studies have also suggested a link with HIV and high blood pressure in children, although this is more uncertain. A recent article argues that malaria has serious consequences also in absence of symptoms such as fever and chills. These include increasing the risks of anemia, maternal and neonatal mortality, bacterial co-infection, and cognitive impairment. Malaria has been linked with anemia in vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, young children and HIV patients. Meta-analyses of intervention trials suggest that successful prevention of malaria infections reduces the risk of severe maternal anaemia by 38% and a recent paper showed a significant association between anemia and asymptomatic malaria among pregnant women. Observational epidemiologic studies have also demonstrated that malaria is an important correlate of anemia in young children. These findings suggest that global health strategies to reduce the burden of anemia should prioritize malaria prevention. Another affected group are HIV positive patients: a recent study found that almost all the HIV patients in a sample with malaria infection were anemic. Few studies have looked at the effect of malaria on anemia in non-pregnant, non HIV-infected adults. However, one study in Cameroon suggested that in adult patients with fever, malaria parasitaemia contributes to anaemia. There is strong evidence suggesting malaria affects neonatal and maternal health, increasing chances of low birth weight and perinatal mortality. A 2007 Lancet article argues that successful prevention of malaria infections reduces the risk of low birth weight by 43%, and perinatal mortality by 27% among paucigravidae. The evidence shows that sleeping under nets increased mean birth weight by 55g, reduced low birth weight by 23%, and reduced miscarriages/stillbirths by 33% in the first few pregnancies. Another more recent large scale observational study found that first-trimester falciparum and vivax malaria both increase the risk of miscarriage. A study from Liberia found that one percent increase in maternal infection risk lead to 044 percent increase in one-year mortality. This strongly suggests the need for pregnant women to sleep under nets in Africa. However, as of 2010, insecticide-treated nets were used during pregnancy for only 10.5 million of 26.9 million births across 37 countries. Evidence suggests that malaria leads to neurologic and cognitive deficits, and an increased risk of behavioural disorders. Cerebral malaria has also been associated with epilepsy. A recent meta-analysis showed that survivors of cerebral malaria are five times more likely to suffer from epilepsy. We place weight in this meta-analysis as it controlled for publication bias and had a clear criteria for study inclusion. As such, we believe that, as preventative measures to reduce malaria are very cost-effective, donating to a charity in this area represents a good opportunity to reduce the burden of mental health disorders in the developing world. Our model suggests that the distribution of long-lasting insecticide treated bednets averts one case of epilepsy for about $25,000. This is comparable to the most cost-effective interventions to treat epilepsy and ignores all other additional benefits. There is some evidence that malaria increases HIV transmission. In 2006, a paper published in Science showed that people who are HIV positive have shown a spike in HIV viral load during a malaria fever episode. They found that, a malaria fever can increase HIV viral load by almost one log (10 times) --- and stay at an increased level for a duration of up to six weeks. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis found that acute malaria increases HIV viral load by only 0·67 log10. According to a recent review, the higher viral load increases the risk of transmitting HIV in communities with high HIV prevalence, though it has no effect in areas with low HIV prevalence. Another study showed that individuals who live in areas with high malaria parasite rate have about twice the risk of being HIV positive compared with individuals who live in areas with low malaria parasite rate, after controlling for important socioeconomic and biological factors. Some researchers have suggested that it is high HIV viral loads in Sub-Saharan Africa, partly because of high rates of coinfection, may have been one of the drivers of the “explosive” epidemics seen in that region. However, a very recent study modelling the coinfection of HIV with malaria and other diseases such as schistosomiasis argues against this thesis, on the grounds the duration of coinfection is too short and/or the viral load elevation is too modest to explain the epidemics. Independently of whether and by how much HIV transmission risk is increased, coinfections might have implications for AIDS progression. One study suggested that people with HIV that were provided with bednets had slower progression to AIDS. Another study showed that people with HIV who were provided nets and water filters delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy, potentially due to this slower progression to AIDS. This study estimated this intervention to be highly cost effective: when combining the benefits due delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy with other health benefits due to fewer malaria cases, this intervention costs $99 USD per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted (with net cost savings for the health system). However, a recent review concluded the data regarding the impact of net provision and/or use on malaria morbidity reduction in people with HIV were limited. In sum, more research needs to be done to investigate this interaction, but there is good reason to think that malaria prevention can help limit HIV infection, even though it is difficult to estimate by how much. Research suggests that malaria during pregnancy might affect blood pressure in children and that this might may contribute to the African burden of hypertension, which is higher than in developed countries. However, it is unclear whether this effect is causal or merely correlational at this point. Burkitt’s lymphoma is the fastest growing human tumour. The annual incidence has been estimated at 40–50 per million children younger than 18 years. The disease is associated with Epstein-Barr virus. Chronic infection with Plasmodium falciparum has been epidemiologically associated with endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma for over 50 years. The distribution of endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma across Africa and Papua New Guinea corresponds to areas of holoendemic malaria and the early acquisition of Epstein-Barr virus. In these high-risk areas endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma comprises about half of all childhood cancer diagnoses and up to 90% of lymphoma diagnoses. Acute renal injury occurs when kidneys abruptly lose their functionality. Following World Health Organization criteria of the disease, acute renal failure occurs as a complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in less than 1% of cases, but the mortality rate in these cases may be up to 45%. A systematic review of observational studies found that most studies find no association between malaria and subsequent malnutrition in Plasmodium falciparum areas, but in Plasmodium vivax endemic areas malaria was associated with malnutrition in children. However, one study provides evidence that malaria episodes strongly increased risk for childhood stunting. Recent studies have highlighted that anti-malaria programs have a positive effect on educational outcomes, and might in fact be cost-effective educational interventions. A recent study examined the effects of the Global Fund’s malaria control programs on the educational benefits to primary schoolchildren in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a quasi-experimental approach, they found that in 14 of 22 countries, the program led to substantial increases in years of schooling and grade level as well as reductions in schooling delay. Another study examined whether the Roll Back Malaria campaigns affected the educational attainment of primary schoolchildren across 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It found that the campaign substantially improved schooling attainment in 13 of 14 countries, at an average cost of $13.19 per additional year, which is highly cost-effective as compared to standard educational interventions. Various other studies also support the causal link between malaria eradication and improvement in educational outcomes using natural and quasi experiments, by connecting malaria eradication with improved years of schooling, literacy, and primary school completion, lifetime female educational attainment literacy, schooling rates for both adults and children, increases in Raven Progressive Matrices test scores (measuring abstract thinking skills), cognitive abilities and school performance. These results are plausible due to malaria’s affecting school absenteeism and cognitive function. There is some evidence suggesting that people exposed to malaria earn substantially less over their lifetime. One influential study reported a 25% increase in future earnings for areas in which malaria was eradicated in Latin America and a 12% increase in the U.S. These are very substantial results (the increases apply to the whole population rather than just those infected with malaria) but have limited external validity because the data examined were from Latin America and the U.S. (where the predominant strain of malaria differs substantially in its effects to the predominant strain of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa), and the 1920s in the U.S. and 1950s in Latin America (when the economic ecosystem was very different). However, more support to the thesis that malaria affects household earnings comes from more recent studies. A 2010 study found that malaria eradication in India lead to modest increases in household incomes for prime age men, though lead to no increase in education.. A more recent study in Uganda estimated the gains at between 3% and 11% The paper is important for two reasons. First, it has greater external validity in Sub Saharan Africa. Second, because the prevalent strain of malaria in Uganda has a higher mortality rate, the results include the countervailing selection effect of removing lower lifetime income people from the population. The study found that the long term impact of malaria prevention on productivity is substantial, even net of this selection effect. The paper thus lends credence to the belief that malaria eradication could have long term productivity effects although we would welcome further research in this area. The most direct economic benefit to reduced malaria prevalence is the associated reduction in household health expenditures. Getting malaria is not only potentially deadly but it’s also very expensive. This cost is relatively easy to measure. A review found that malaria treatment can account for a significant proportion of low income households’ expenditures. In Malawi, malaria treatment accounts for 2% of monthly income for the average household, and 28% for poor households. In Kenya, malaria accounts for 7.2 percent of household expenditure on average in wet seasons and 5.9 percent in dry seasons; however, for households in the bottom quintile the ratios increase to 11 percent in wet seasons and 16.1 percent in dry seasons. Where healthcare costs are subsidised, the direct costs of treating malaria fall on the government. The 2015 WHO World Malaria report estimates that, since 2000, 263 million cases of malaria which would have been treated in the public sector have been averted. This is equivalent to a $900 million saving for government budgets, of which $610 million is attributable to distribution of ITNs/LLINs. The 2011 version of the same report noted that “in Rwanda it has been estimated that while it would cost $265 million USD to sustain the malaria control programme over the next five years, the public health system could avert about $267 million USD in the costs of diagnosing and treating malaria; and households could avert about US$ 547 million in direct and indirect costs, equivalent to about 7% of household income.” The economic cost of malaria is not limited to the direct costs of treatment. Working when you are seriously ill is very difficult. As a result, the sick take time off work (or at least are less productive) and those with sick children take time off to care for them. Time lost per episode varies significantly across settings due to the variability of different types of malaria strains, type of economic activity and access to treatment amongst other factors. The average time lost per adult varies between 1 and 5 days. One recent RCT found that a group of farmers who were assigned bednets increased their harvest value by 15% (although Givewell have questioned the validity of this result due to baseline imbalances between the treatment and control groups). However, there remains considerable debate as to how much malaria impacts short term productivity. For example, in Malawi, only 52% of adults reported that their illness affected their work. Moreover, a larger RCT which looked at 81,597 smallholder contract farmers in 1,507 clusters found no significant impact on cotton production from bednet distribution. One possible explanation for this result is that when people are ill they deprioritise less lucrative activities such as basket weaving rather than cotton farming. It seems likely that people who have malaria are less productive in the short term but the scale of this impact is highly uncertain. Macroeconomic impact of health improvements is particularly difficult to measure. Early attempts used simple country cross-sectional regressions of health on GDP per capita but these seem likely to be methodologically unsound because of omitted variable bias and the causal circularity of health and income (improved health may lead to increased income but increased income also leads to improved health). As a result, much of the literature prefers to extrapolate overall macroeconomic impact from microeconomic productivity gains. More promising is the use of time-series data and simulations to evaluate the impact of a health shock on income per capita. Ashraf et al. simulated the impact of the immediate eradication of two diseases, malaria and tuberculosis. They found that, while the eradication of tuberculosis may lead to immediate increases in income per capita, the eradication of malaria may lead to short term reductions in income per capita. The difference is explained by the different demographic effects of the two diseases. While tuberculosis primarily affects workers in their prime, malaria disproportionately kills children under the age of 5. Malarial eradication therefore increases the dependency ratio of children to workers in the short term, leading to a fall in income per capita. In the long term, declining endogenous fertility rates, combined with the productivity improvements discussed above mean income per capita rises again (see Figure 3). Malaria control is carried out through a combination of interventions such as vector control, chemoprevention and case management. Vector control consists of preventing mosquitoes from infecting people and acquiring the infection. The two main ways to achieve this goal are insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). Case management consists in process including detection, diagnosis, treatment and cure of the infection. Chemoprevention prevents the infection from developing in people by administering antimalarial drugs, and it is especially used for pregnant women and children. Of these, it seems that insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are the best opportunity for donors due to their cost-effectiveness, and strong track record of achieving results. Recent research suggests that anti-malarial interventions have prevented about 663 million malarial fevers from 2000–2015. Globally, 6.2 million fewer people died of malaria over the last 15 years because of malaria interventions. Long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets stand out as being particularly effective --- being responsible for around 68% of the malaria reduction. This means that bednets have prevented around 450 million cases of malaria. Aside from bednet distribution, vector control can be achieved by indoor residual spraying. The WHO recommends (as well as universal coverage with LLINs of at-risk population), targeted indoor residual spraying for the control and elimination of malaria. Evidence shows IRS is effective in reducing malaria transmission and recent estimate suggests IRS averted 6.8 million clinical cases of malaria in Africa since 2000 (10% of the cases averted overall). Another tool in the fight against malaria that has attracted attention in the last years is mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin. Ivermectin can kill biting malaria vectors and lead to reduction in the parasitetransmission. A recent review shows that single ivermectin MDAs is associated with a significant reduction in malaria transmission and another study argues that ivermectin MDAs should be seriously considered as a new tool against malaria, since nets do little to prevent outdoor transmission. However, it should be stressed that ivermectin MDAs is not presented as a replacement to bednet distribution, but rather an additional tool in the fight against the disease. Recently, a new vaccine, Mosquirix, has passed Phase III trials and was recommended by European drugs regulators. A 2015 analysis based on mathematical modelling estimates that, depending on the area of implementation, the vaccine could potentially prevent 6%–30% of deaths in children younger than 5 years, when added to existing coverage of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and with moderate levels of malaria treatment. Mosquirix is expected to be rolled out in 2017. It is important to note that the vaccine is only 35% effective, that it is likely not much more or even less cost-effective than bednets, and that experts agree that it should be used in combination with bednets. Thus, we believe the new vaccine is not a replacement for bednets nor should it be prioritized for the time being. Much attention has recently been received by the development of a new technique for malaria prevention through genetically modifying mosquitoes. For a while, scientists have been able to isolate genes that could confer resistance to P. falciparum. Recently, significant progress has been made in developing “gene drives,” which is a way to ensure these genes are transmitted to the wider mosquitoes population. However, gene drives have the potential for altering entire ecosystems, and are thus a controversial technique: safety nets would thus be needed before it could be implemented in the field. An insecticide treated net (ITN) is a net, usually intended to be hung over the bed at night. As the mosquitoes responsible for spreading the parasite usually feed at night, this provides a high level of protection against infection. ITNs are treated with insecticides which kill mosquitos and are estimated to be twice as effective as untreated nets at reducing infections. Long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) are nets designed to remain effective for longer periods without retreatment. Distribution of LLINs is undertaken by Ministries of Health, NGOs, and distribution partners. Activities include a pre-distribution survey to assess need, delivery of LLINs, promotion of the use of LLINs, and post-distribution surveys to monitor usage. In particular, the WHO stresses that behaviour change communication strategies are needed to ensure that nets are properly maintained and used. The evidence for the effectiveness of LLIN distribution in reducing malaria prevalence is very strong. Their role in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality has been shown for areas of both high and low endemicity. A Cochrane meta-study, which consolidated 22 high quality randomised controlled trials on LLINs, found that, for each 1,000 children protected with a net for a year, 5.53 deaths were averted. This result was broadly consistent across a range of different settings. The author of this study has suggested that further RCTs on ITN effectiveness would be unethical, as it would be denying the control group a treatment which is known to be beneficial. How does this figure align with other estimates in the literature? Cost–benefit analysis of ITN delivery in Kenya between 2003 and 2008 suggests that the cost per infant death averted by ITNs was $1011.87. A model called "Lives Saved Tool" was used to quantify the likely impact that malaria prevention intervention scale-up has had on malaria mortality over the past decade (2001-2010) across 43 malaria endemic countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The model estimated that the scale-up resulted in $2,770 per life saved. A 2011 article systematically reviewed the published literature on the costs and cost effectiveness of malaria interventions. The graph below shows shows the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) of anti-malarial interventions against deaths averted, DALYs averted and cases of malaria averted. ICER is defined by the difference in cost between two possible interventions, divided by the difference in their effect. These figures are similar to the one published in a recent Lancet article, which estimates that, in low-income countries, it costs $4,205 to save a child’s life. They are also comparable to the figure that health economists estimate it will cost in the coming years to prevent a death in low income countries from 2015-2030: $4-11k per death prevented. For comparison, a recent study estimated the "Value of a Statistical Life," i.e., what people are willing to spend to prevent a death in the United States, based on what is spent on airbags. The study suggests that between $7 million and $13 million is spent to prevent one death. A simulation of the cost effectiveness of different interventions in Rachuonyo South District, western Kenya, lead to the following results: Figure 6: Simulation of the cost-effectiveness of different interventions in Rachuonyo South District, western Kenya The 2011 systematic review found that, from a provider perspective, the median incremental cost effectiveness ratio per disability adjusted life year averted for ITNs was $27 for ITNs The "Lives Saved Tool" estimated that the cost per DALY averted thanks to malaria intervention scale-up from 2001 to 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa was $111. Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by parasitic worms. Severe disfigurement is a common symptom. LF is transmitted, amongst other vectors, by the same type of mosquito as malaria (see Table 1 (adapted from). There is some evidence that suggests that bednet distributions are effective at reducing prevalence of lymphatic filariasis and synergistic effects of using nets to prevent both malaria and lymphatic filariasis have been investigated. For this reason, Nigeria has recently launched the first nationwide lymphatic filariasis and malaria co-implementation plan, which incorporates distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets and bednet distributions have been suggested to halt transmission of LF in Nigeria. In Gambia, LF elimination was achieved only through bednet distributions even without any other intervention such as mass drug administration. A similar effect was seen in Kenya, where LF infection prevalence went down after bednet distributions even though mass drug administration rounds were missed and LF elimination can be achieved with even after mass drug administration is discontinued. However, the exact impact of bednets on LF is hard to quantify. Some modelling data suggest that if bednet coverage is sustained for a long time it can lead to local elimination of LF, even at lower levels of coverage and other modelling data suggests that even moderate levels of coverages can lead to a dramatic decrease of LF in the time to reach elimination. One recent paper estimated the cost effectiveness of mass drug administration for LF elimination and eradication, which might be comparable to bednet distributions for LF elimination, and found it to be very cost-effective at $72.94 - $219 per DALY averted, depending on scale up. Note that these cost effectiveness estimates are often very rough and should not be taken literally, however, they might indicate that LF elimination is likely to be quite cost effective. Figure 7: Risk, burden, and vectors of malaria and lymphatic filariasis, by WHO region A recent paper also suggests that it is likely that the distribution of ITNs will have positive effects on the prevention of cutaneous leishmaniasis, in areas in which the disease is co-endemic with malaria. However, evidence on the precise effect of ITN on cutaneous leishmaniasis is limited, and more research needs to be conducted in the area. Resistance is a serious and growing problem in malaria treatment. Out of 78 countries that reported data since 2010, 60 reported resistance to at least one insecticide in one malaria vector from one collection site, and 49 reported resistance to insecticides from two or more insecticide classes. Figure 8: Reported pyrethroid resistance status of malaria vectors, measured with insecticide bioassays since 2010 However, a meta-analysis concluded that LLINs are still more effective than nets that are not treated with insecticides regardless of resistance and distributing nets remains a cost-effective health intervention, even in areas with strong insecticide resistance. The WHO recommends that, even in areas where resistance has been identified, countries should continue to scale up or maintain universal coverage with LLINs, since the nets work as a physical barrier against mosquitoes and, even if not lethal, the insecticide is likely to contribute to malaria control. We refer the interested reader to a recent Givewell conversation note with an expert on insecticide resistance for more detailed information on this topic. The effectiveness of bed nets is also threatened by changes in biting behaviour- mosquitoes start biting during the day, when people are not protected by nets. Several studies have observed this change. For instance, a study in rural southern Tanzania compared mosquito biting behaviour in 1997, before bed nets were introduced, and 2009, where ITN coverage was 47%. It found a shift from a tendency to bite humans inside houses late at night toward a greater proportion occurring outdoors and around dusk or dawn. However, the authors note that bed net use has reduced malaria transmission by 94% in the area studied, and that it is only the residual transmission which will not be affected by further indoor insecticidal measures. The authors conclude that the findings should not undermine confidence in ITN use. A study from Benin shows evidence mosquitoes change biting behavior after the implementation of LLIN at universal coverage. Relatedly, the use of bednets might lead to change in species composition. A study from Senegal found that LLINs distribution favoured species that are able to feed outdoors and on cattle and that, after two years, a species whose proportion had previously decreased, was resurging, possibly having developed insecticide resistance. Once again, however, the authors stressed that the results did not mean LLIN had failed, since they had reduced the densities of the vectors that are most often in contact with human hosts. Finally, Part of the nets funded by AMF will be LLINs treated with a pyrethroid insecticide and the synergist piperonyl butoxide (PBO). Some evidence suggests this type of net might be more effective against mosquitoes developing resistance to pyrethroid (the insecticide generally employed on LLINs).. The AMF distribution in Uganda will be the first large-scale distribution using the new type of LLINs. It has been hypothesized that people who purchase nets will use them more than those who receive them for free and thus that free bednet distributions are not as good as selling them. A recent Cochrane meta analysis reviewed the evidence on this and found that there is probably little or no difference in net use among those who receive a free net compared to those who pay for one. They suggest that providing free insecticide-treated bednets probably increases the number of people who own bednets compared to providing subsidized bednets or bednets offered at full market price. Another study showed that children who receive their nets through NGOs or government likely receive some education about bednets and are more likely to use them in comparison to those children who receive nets that are bought privately through private health centers, market, shops and street vendors. Two recent studies tried to answer the question of whether providing free bednets affects private net sales negatively. However, evidence on the matter is conflicting. One study showed 34% monthly decline immediately after a free bednet distribution campaign compared to ‘normal’ sales. They found that after 6 months, the total unsold nets reached 45% of normal sales, or 347,000 nets nationwide in Tanzania. They caution that free campaigns can hinder private net sales much more than previously observed in recent experimental trials and thus can cause trouble with continuous coverage delivery channels of bednets through private sales. In contrast, another study also in Tanzania, showed distribution of free insecticide-treated nets do not interfere with continuous net distribution. The authors argue that the discrepancy between the two studies is likely because they used to different data from different time points. A 2014 paper found that a one-time, targeted subsidy on the long-run adoption of a new antimalarial bed net increased short-run adoption rates among both subsidy recipients and their neighbors, and subsequently increase willingness to pay for bednets. Even if stronger evidence supported the thesis that free distributions of nets displace private sales, there are still strong reasons in favour of distributing bednets for free (as recommended by the WHO) rather than charging for them. First, bednets do not only benefit the user but also others in their community by reducing the rate of infection. Second, evidence shows that charging even small amounts for bednets decreases coverage rate by about 75%. In the 1990, there had been some debate in the academic literature that by protecting children from malaria (through bednets), one will only reduce the short-term burden of malaria, but people will not acquire immunity to malaria in childhood and thus malaria will increase in the long-term. This “delayed mortality” hypothesis has since been discredited and there is a strong consensus among malaria experts that there is no delayed mortality effect due to lack of evidence. In the last years, a few reports have suggested that bed nets had been used for fishing and a 2015 article in the New York Times “claimed countless [people in Africa] are not using their mosquito nets as global health experts have intended,” most often for fishing, which causes harm to fish stock due to the nets insecticides and fine gauges. We could only find one study that quantified the extent of bednet use in fishing: a small survey study with 196 respondents in seven villages surrounding a Lake Tanganyika reported that 87% of households surveyed have used a mosquito bed net for fishing at some point. However, another much more comprehensive analysis of 14 surveys in several countries with 14,196 households showed that that the overwhelming majority of nets were used for malaria prevention, and only 255 nets were repurposed (which make up less than 1% overall). Furthermore, the majority of the repurposed nets were already considered too torn, indicating they had already served out their useful life for malaria prevention. The authors conclude that national programmes and donor agencies should remain confident in the appropriate use of bednets. It is not easy to estimate the global LLINs gap. The WHO’s Roll Back Malaria Harmonization Working group has recently updated their estimates of the net gap for Sub-Saharan Africa. They estimate that in 2015 there was a gap of about 39 million nets. They suggests that the gap in 2016 will be around 64 million nets, which translates to a funding gap of about 343 million dollars (for our calculation see our excel spreadsheet and Table 1). Table 1 : Overall commodity and funding gaps for bednets, based on GiveWell's estimate of the average cost per net in the countries that AMF is considering future distributions - $5.31 (also using ) However, the WHO estimates indicate a much larger gap. The WHO estimates that, if nets were allocated to households with maximum efficiency and nets were retained in households for at least three years, 200 million nets are required each year to achieve universal access. However, the number is higher if we take into account the current distribution patterns of nets in households and the loss of nets estimated from distribution and survey data. Under these more realistic assumptions, as many as 300 million new nets would be required each year to ensure that all persons at risk of malaria had access to an LLIN in countries in which the use of LLINs is the primary method of vector control. Employing the Roll Back Malaria estimates of the number of financed bed nets, this translates in a gap of about 112 million nets in 2015. In sum, it is difficult to estimate the global funding gap for LLINs, but evidence suggests that, at the minimum, in 2016 there is likely to be a gap of 64 million nets (343 million dollars). Figure 9: Number of ITNs/LLINs delivered and distributed, and the estimated number of LLINs needed annually to achieve universal access in sub-Saharan Africa, 2014-2015 The above estimates are calculated on the assumption that net durability is about three years. However, this assumption has recently been challenged. Insecticide treated nets with holes in them are less effective at protecting people from malaria than intact nets. In line with this, monitoring of durability of nets in Rwanda showed greater than anticipated bednet loss, associated with poor fabric integrity, during year two of a three year LLIN distribution-replacement cycle. The proportion of the remaining nets in need of replacement, after two years, was large enough to suggest that the intervention would lose impact during year three of the distribution-replacement cycle and this might be one of the reasons for resurgence of malaria in Rwanda in 2009, following a 2006 under-five, country-wide bed net campaign. Similarly, another study suggests that bednet distribution conducted every three years, which is a key intervention of Benin’s malaria control strategy, is insufficient and a two-year serviceable life for the current LLIN intervention would be a more realistic program assumption. Importantly, durability seems to change across sites. A cross-sectional study from Northeast India found that that the serviceable life of the nets was slightly less than three years in terms of waning residual bio-efficacy and durability that warranted replacement. A recent study from Tanzania found that, 2–4 years after a mass campaign, only 39% of distributed nets remain both present and in serviceable physical condition, which is below WHO assumptions of 50% survival after three years. A recent study from Zambia found that the median functional survival time for LLINs observed the study was 2.5–3 years and insecticide activity and content were markedly decreased by two years. A study undertaken in three states in Nigeria found that the proportion of surviving nets in serviceable condition differed dramatically, resulting in an estimated median net survival of 3 years in Nasarawa, 4.5 years in Cross River and 4.7 years in Zamfara.
ARCHITECTURAL BARRIERS ACT (ABA) Requires buildings and facilities that are designed, constructed, or altered with federal funds, or leased by a federal agency, to comply with federal standards for physical accessibility. ABA requirements do not address the activities conducted in those buildings and facilities. California has a set of laws providing access to individuals with disabilities. Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations encompasses a comprehensive set of requirements for almost all areas of accessibility for persons with physical and sensory disabilities. California requires that all buildings, structures, sidewalks, curbs and related facilities constructed in California, beginning in 1968, using state, county, or municipal funds, and used by the public were accessible and usable by disabled people Buildings constructed before 1968 must have been made accessible when any alterations, structural repairs, or additions were made – the accessibility requirement applies to the altered area, the path of travel and key facilities which serve it (i.e. bathrooms). California requires that facilities built with private funds after July 1, 1970, which are open to the public, be accessible to disabled people. Facilities constructed before July 1, 1970 must have been made accessible when any alterations, structural repairs, or additions were made – the accessibility requirement applies to the altered area, the path of travel and key facilities that serve it (i.e. bathrooms).
Premature ejaculation, the most common among ejaculation-related diseases and called by names such as "premature ejaculation" and "ejaculatory precox" in medical language, is a disease that affects 22.7% of men aged 18-70 worldwide, and therefore the same proportion of couples. According to this figure, there are an estimated 4,829,901 men who have premature ejaculation problems in Turkey as of 2009. This number is an estimated figure calculated for Turkey with foreign data, and in order to calculate the actual figures for our country, a study of 2700 men in 16 provinces has been initiated by the Turkish Andrology Association, which will allow premature ejaculation in the general population to be calculated for the first time in Turkey. The first evidence-based definition of premature ejaculation, which has various definitions in medical language, was made by the International Society of Sexual Medicine in 2008. According to this definition, premature ejaculation is the inability to delay ejaculation from the onset of sexual intercourse and is characterized by the following disorders of sexual function. Ejaculation is always or almost always before the male genitalia merge with the female genitalia, or about 1 minute. It does not have the ability to delay ejaculation in all or almost all vaginal mergers. It has negative personal consequences, such as stress, demoralization, boredom, and/or avoidance of sexual intercourse. The numerical expression of premature ejaculation is that the time after the male genitalia merges with the female genitalia is less than 0.9 minutes (54 seconds) until ejaculation or withdrawal to avoid ejaculation. This definition refers to severe premature ejaculation, while this time is likely to be between 0.9-1.3 minutes(78 seconds), indicating the problem of premature ejaculation. It is possible to divide premature ejaculation into ‘life-long’ and ‘a disease that occurs later when it is not before’. Causes of premature ejaculation problem that occurs later; it is usually hormonal disorders such as prostate inflammation, hyperthyroidism, psychological and Nervous Diseases, and improvements in premature ejaculation are observed with the treatment of these diseases. But the treatment of lifelong premature ejaculation, which makes up the vast majority of patients, is more complex and difficult. Treatment of premature ejaculation with medication: the most commonly used method for treating PREMATURE EJACULATION is oral medications. For this purpose, drugs known as SSRIs are used, and the general use of these drugs is to take an oral tablet every day. The delay in ejaculation with this method of treatment begins to occur 5-10 days after the start of treatment and continues as long as the drug is used. Side effects such as fatigue, nausea, sweating, yawning may occur and occur in the first week after the start of treatment, decrease and disappear within 3-4 weeks. Disadvantages of this treatment are the need to use medications every day by the patient and the side effects that occur. "Dapoxetine", a new form of the same type of drugs, has been developed as a result of the low rate of patients continuing treatment due to the need for daily use and side effects, despite the effect of SSRI-type drugs in treatment. This drug is used 1-3 hours before the relationship, the absence of daily use and thus less side effects increase patient satisfaction and treatment success. In addition to "dapoxetine" treatment for premature ejaculation, a PDE-5 inhibitor can also be added to the treatment in men with erectile problems. PDE-5 inhibitors, which can usually be used in combination with SSRI inhibitors, are believed to have an effect by increasing the level of hardening, shortening the time required for re-hardening after ejaculation, and thus reducing performance anxiety. Use of local anesthetic creams in treatment: another method used to treat premature ejaculation is the use of creams containing local anesthetic. Creams/ gels/ sprays applied to the penis before intercourse delay ejaculation, creating a loss of sensation in the penis. Psychological treatment for premature ejac
As sports-loving New Yorkers recover from the hoopla surrounding Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII, and prepare for the opening of the XXII Winter Olympic Games on Friday, cautionary words from 1869 are worth reviewing. In a front page story entitled “The Abuse of Athletic Games” that appeared in the January 28, 1869 issue of the Malone Palladium, a doctor warned readers about the dangers of allowing children to overdo athletics—the “compound evil of our school system.” According to the doctor, because young bodies are “growing, unfinished and weak,” excessive athletic training will lead to one part of the body being developed at the expense of the other. He said, “either the joints, the lungs, the heart, or the spinal system suffer in the unequal struggle.” The doctor put some of the blame for overdoing athletics in school on the “caprice” of coaches who he described as “physical sages, ignorant of physiology and hygiene.” However, he placed the major share of the blame on the “pest of our school system”—“misdirected emulation of the adult world.” What sports were dazzling the adult world in 1869? Walking, rowing and baseball. The doctor wrote, “He who walks, must walk for a wager, he who rows, must row for a prize, he who plays baseball, must dislocate his fingers or break his nose in the false ambition to outdo his antagonist.” The sport of long distance walking or pedestrianism became prominent in America largely because of the feats of Edward Payson Weston. He first appeared on the sports scene in 1861 when he announced that he would walk from Boston to Washington, D.C. in ten days and attend Abraham Lincoln’s presidential inauguration. Newspapers hyped Weston’s walk, cheering spectators stood along his route, and gamblers took bets hand over fist on whether Weston would make the swearing-in ceremony in time. He arrived in Washington on March 4 at 4 pm, 208 hours after he had left Boston, but a few hours too late to see Lincoln sworn in as president. Known in the sports news as “Weston, the pedestrian,” he gained more publicity for himself and the sport by accepting numerous walking challenges. In 1867, he walked 1326 miles from Portland, ME to Chicago in 26 days. The next year, he walked 100 miles in a little over 22 hours. Soon, pedestrian events were being held throughout the nation in halls where athletes would walk around a track for hours at a time to the cheers of tens of thousands of sports fans and gamblers. Weston became a star in the U.S. and Europe and his professional walking career stretched from 1861 to 1922. Professional rowing was the second sport that prompted the doctor’s warning about the abuse of athletic games in 1869. Rowing races first began to gain prominence in American sports circles in the late 1850’s. Joshua Ward of Newburg, NY was one of the early rowing stars who competed for money and drew thousands of spectators and gamblers to the sport. He won a championship regatta in Boston on October 24, 1859 and continued winning professional matches throughout the 1860’s. There were two major races in 1868. On June 24, John Tyler of Boston defeated Walter Brown, a native of Madison, NY, in a two-mile race on the Hudson River that finished across from the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, NJ. Tyler won a purse worth about $17,000 in today’s money. The second major contest of the professional rowing season was a championship four-man crew race held on October 22, 1868 on the Connecticut River across from Springfield, MA. The four Ward brothers from Newburg, NY competed in a six-mile race against a crew from St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada for a purse worth about $50,000 in today’s money. Before a huge crowd which had surged into Springfield from all across New England, Philadelphia and New York, the Canadians easily defeated the Ward brothers by about one minute or 50 lengths. The third adult sport that stimulated “misdirected emulation” by youngsters in 1869 according to the doctor, was baseball. The game’s popularity in New York State had mushroomed after the Civil War. It seemed as though almost every community of any size had at least one baseball team it could call its own. Some of the most well-known teams in 1868 included: the Buffalo Niagaras, Brooklyn Atlantics, Syracuse Central City Club, Lansingburgh Haymakers, Albany Nationals, and the New York Mutuals. In addition to individual games, sports fans in 1868 thronged to baseball tournaments that were held in all corners of the Empire State. Among the most publicized that year were those in Niagara Falls, Rochester, Albany, Troy, New York City and Brooklyn. Perhaps the biggest baseball news of 1868 was a story in September that the Cincinnati Red Stockings planned to come east and would play New York State teams on their tour. A year later, according to most baseball historians, the Red Stockings would become the nation’s first fully professional baseball team when its management paid a salary to each of the ten men on the team for eight months from March 15 to November 15. In his article about the abuse of athletics, the doctor made it clear he was not opposed to “reasonable athletic activity.” However, he warned young athletes not to make athletics “the business of life.” He urged them to cultivate both their bodies and their minds. He said, “If you overdevelop one, you will seriously dwarf the other. Intellectual culture alone will make you a nervous, unbalanced, precocious man. Physical culture alone will make you strong as a hod carrier—and as dull.”
Bullying is a word synonymous with the type of conduct expected in school playgrounds. It is not a word that is usually associated with the workplace. However, bullying in the workplace is prevalent such that the new Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Harassment in the Workplace (Code), which took effect on 18 March 2022, has placed a positive duty on employers to play their part in preventing bullying in the workplace. In terms of the Code, bullying involves the abuse of coercive power by an individual or group of individuals in the workplace and may involve aggressive behaviour in which someone repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying includes a wide range of insulting, demeaning or intimidating behaviour that lowers the self-esteem or self-confidence of an employee and may be an escalating process in the course of employment in which the complainant ends up in an inferior position and becomes the target of systematic negative social acts. Verbal bullying may include threats, shaming, hostile teasing, insults, constant negative judgment and criticism, or racist, sexist or LGBTQIA+ phobic language. Bullying is a form of harassment In South Africa, all forms of harassment related to one or more of the listed grounds set out in section 6(1) of the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (EEA) or any other ‘arbitrary ground’, are regarded as unfair discrimination. Harassment constitutes a barrier to equity and equality in the workplace. As such, harassment, including bullying, must be eliminated from the workplace and in any activity linked to, or arising out of work. The Code describes harassment, among others, as unwanted conduct which impairs dignity and which creates a hostile or intimidating work environment for one or more employees. A hostile work environment will be present where conduct has a negative impact on the employee’s ability to work and/or on their personal well-being. Whether an employee has been a victim of bullying will depend on the impact of the alleged bullying on the employee. The test is subjective, however, there may be circumstances where employees believe they are being bullied and this perception is not consistent with the views of a ‘reasonable person’ in the situation of the complainant. The Code highlights that employers are under an obligation in terms of section 60 of the EEA to take proactive and remedial steps to prevent all forms of harassment in the workplace. This includes conducting an assessment of the risk of harassment to employees; creating and maintaining a working environment in which the dignity of employees is respected; adopting and implementing an appropriate policy addressing harassment in the workplace; conducting training to educate employees about the various forms of harassment; implementing ongoing awareness initiatives and programmes; and investigating allegations of harassment. Employers who fail to take adequate steps to eliminate bullying within a reasonable time of being notified about alleged acts of bullying by an employee may be found liable in terms of section 60 of the EEA. Employees who are found guilty of harassment including bullying, may, in certain circumstances, and depending on the severity of the conduct that is complained of, be summarily dismissed. In the Labour Court case between Centre for Autism Research and Education CC v CCMA and others, two employees had referred a constructive dismissal to the CCMA arising from, among others, bullying that they allegedly suffered from their manager. The CCMA found that they had been unfairly dismissed. On review, the Court held, among others, that what the evidence discloses is a workplace operated by a narcissistic personality whose offensive and unwelcome conduct had the effect of creating a toxic working environment in which discrimination, degradation and demeaning behaviour became the norm. The Judge had no hesitation in finding that the nature and extent of the workplace bullying suffered by the employees was such that for the purposes of section 186(1)(e) of the LRA, their continued employment was rendered intolerable and the review application was dismissed with costs. Employers can assist employees who are being bullied at work to report such conduct by implementing the proactive steps outlined in the Code; ensuring that employees are aware that there is a zero tolerance towards bullying and any other form of harassment in that workplace; and assuring that employees who report allegations of any form of harassment will not be victimized or subjected to any reprisals. It should also be stressed that those employees who make false allegations in bad faith may also be subjected to disciplinary action. Employers are encouraged to seek advice on how to implement the mandatory steps set out in the Code to avoid falling foul of the EEA.
Across nearly every culture and subculture people are finally talking directly about race, and about whether their corner of the world is welcoming to folks with different backgrounds and experiences. Many of us in the mountain bike industry and broader cycling culture are ready to ask the hard questions around race and gender in our sport. Yes, these discussions and changes undoubtedly should have taken place long ago, and folks are prepared to listen, learn, and make important changes. The resulting conversations need to include everyone, from community members, people looking in from the outside, industry leaders, advocacy groups, everyday riders, and many others. I recently had a chat with IMBA Europe General Manager Mark Torsius about what the MTB advocacy and education association can do to promote a more welcoming trail environment, and he had several candid insights to share. The following is not meant to be a direct action plan, nor a precise set of answers around everything IMBA EU wants to focus on. This is the very beginning of a much longer learning process that IMBA EU and other powerful players in the industry are eager to engage in. What is IMBA EU’s action plan for encouraging and welcoming a more diverse range of riders and industry members to the European MTB community? I’d be honest about this, we don’t have a real action plan in place right now. Partly because of the limited capacity we have, partly because we’ve been advocating for easy access for everybody. We have realized that our board is not an accurate reflection of society and even of the MTB community with white men only. So we need to be proactive and work towards a more diverse board. Does IMBA EU have a philosophy or mission statement that focuses on making mountain biking more welcoming for underrepresented groups? We have changed our mission and vision slightly during our last General Assembly because we believe we should address more of today’s societal challenges. This was at the end of March, before the protests started in the US. In the new mission, we see a role for mountain biking to improve people’s lives, advocate for easy access, and growing the diversity of cycling and the quality of mountain bike communities. At the end of this year, we’re planning another General Assembly to adopt a new strategic plan. That new strategy should provide more guidance on how to work on diversity or underrepresented groups. Are there IMBA projects currently in the works to welcome more women and more people of color to the sport of mountain biking in Europe? IMBA US is doing this a bit better than us when it comes to women. For instance with International Women’s MTB Day, the first Saturday of May. We’re about to join that initiative but skipped this year due to the corona crisis. Better well prepared than half baked. The initiative highlights women already involved in the sport who can be good ambassadors. Women’s skills training is becoming more common as well. But I haven’t witnessed a specific project in Europe to get more people of color into mountain biking. I wouldn’t start that from scratch to be honest. If there are specific needs or barriers for specific underrepresented groups, let’s learn about that first. I believe people need to get the feeling that they are welcome, that a certain community embraces diversity. Setting up specific projects for people of color feels a bit strange as well, that’s not really bonding or bridging is it? This whole process needs time as well. We are still a relatively young sport and a lot of people started with mountain biking as their 2nd, 3rd or 4th ‘sport career,’ meaning they practiced more traditional European sports when they were young and switched to mountain biking at a later age. Football [soccer] was completely white in the beginning and it took quite some time to reach the levels of diversity it has right now. What are some organizations or groups that IMBA EU would like to partner with for future diversity engagement? As a European umbrella, we monitor EU funding schemes. Funding for sport-related projects is limited but inclusion and diversity are topics that have been addressed by the European Commission. I think you will need a strong consortium of project partners including universities or other educational institutions that have the right knowledge and experience in the field of inclusion, (gender) diversity and ethnicity. This is not an easy topic and I believe there’s more research needed to better understand why people of color are underrepresented. What are the main barriers, what are the kind of sports they prefer, what is considered as a safe sporting environment? I’m living in the Netherlands and here, everybody cycles to go to school, work, to do groceries. There are no exceptions based on gender or ethnicity. But as we enter the sport / recreation dimension of cycling and mountain biking, we’ve lost most of this diversity we see on a daily basis on our streets. So there’s still a lot to learn. And this is just the Netherlands, the situation can be completely different in other European countries. What athletes, industry members, or organization leaders can IMBA EU support as role models for underrepresented groups of riders? Good questions, and the fact that I don’t have a direct answer says it all. We don’t have the right people on our radar that could be that role model. I’m glad to see a number of industry partners like SRAM, Specialized and currently, Endura showed leadership here and pledged to work on this. So it would be obvious to team up with them because they won’t have all the answers as well. We’re open to suggestions and like to hear more about potential role models or good practices. It’s important that the EU mountain bike industry starts working together on these big themes that are important for all of us. This is not about competition, it’s in the general interest of the industry and mountain biking to make this a joint effort. How is IMBA EU working to lower the economic barriers to mountain biking? There are only a few things we can try to influence but one thing is to bring mountain biking closer to the people and make it more accessible. We think it’s important that our sport becomes more visible in urban areas as well. The best examples are the companies that have been building pump tracks all over Europe. That helps enormously to reach out to a younger and more diverse target group, both in terms of gender and ethnicity. It creates a bit of a new subculture, something we’ve seen happening in other younger urban lifestyle sports like skateboarding. Our biggest challenge here is to keep this new generation engaged. This young generation has way more diversity in it than our current mountain bike community so I have high hopes that we are going to witness a whole different MTB community in about 10 years. Better connections and green corridors from urban to peri-urban or rural is another logical next step that will help to lower the barrier to mountain biking as well. As far as the economic barrier of buying a bike, the bike industry is constantly improving the quality of entry, low budget mountain bikes so that should now be the biggest barrier. It might still be a bit more expensive than the annual contribution of a football club but you’re not only investing in a piece of sports equipment, you can use it for your daily commute as well. This young generation has way more diversity in it than our current mountain bike community so I have high hopes that we are going to witness a whole different MTB community in about 10 years. What are some steps that the European bike industry could take to make the sport more inclusive and welcoming? The bike industry is the predominant factor when it comes to creating the image of our sport. In their ads, videos, you name it. With their communication power, they could work on creating this more inclusive image as a start. In the beginning, that won’t reflect the real situation but it’s a start. We’ve seen more women coming into our sport in the last decade and I think this is partly due to the increased interest of the bike industry and showing more women in their advertising campaigns. It’s not perfect because there’s still a tendency of showing picture-perfect people only. But it’s important to work on a critical mass, that gender and ethnicity are represented at a level that people start to identify with that community. That won’t happen if only 1% of the mountain bike community is women or black, of whatever background you have. In that situation, people might participate for a while but are quite likely to drop out again. But as stated earlier, start young, with a new generation, and embrace diversity.
While Eskom is struggling with strikes, defective boilers and unsuitable electronic control equipment to finish its mammoth coal-fired Medupi power station in Limpopo – the first phase will hopefully start producing toward the end of 2014 – renewable power plants are quietly being completed and starting to produce power. Mainstream Renewable Power, a large renewable energy company based in Ireland, this week announced that it is to build another 3 wind farms in SA at a total cost of R9bn, in addition to 3 projects the company is already constructing in SA. These new wind farms will have a total generating capacity of 360 megawatt. Two new wind generating plants with capacity to produce 140MW each will be situated near Loeriesfontein in the Northern Cape and a smaller facility 80MW will be constructed near Noupoort, some 50km from Colesberg in the Karoo. Mainstream is currently completing 3 other renewable electricity installations that have been awarded by the National Energy Regulator of SA in 2011. The wind farm near Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape is nearly completed, while work on two solar plants near De Aar and Droogfontein in the Northern Cape Province is progressing well. Total generating capacity of these projects amounts to nearly 600MW, which is enough electricity to provide power to about 300 000 typical houses. Although all the wind and solar plants in SA are very small compared to any of Eskom’s power stations (Medupi’s first generator sets will produce 4800MW), they are starting to make an important contribution to SA’s electricity supply. Even more important is that these plants are erected and put into commission quite fast. Mainstream CEO Eddie O’Connor says that all Mainstream’s new projects have financing in place and have received planning permissions. Connections to the national power network are currently being finalised. Barry Lynch, MD of the Mainstream’s Onshore Procurement, Construction and Operations, told Fin24 that it is noteworthy that renewable energy is starting to become economically more competitive in comparison with traditional power stations. “The recent bidding round clearly demonstrates that wind and solar are now more competitive than coal due to technology advancements and aggressive local and international investors who are backing quality projects,” said Lynch. “In addition, wind and solar have the added advantage in that they can be deployed quickly and at a scale that South Africa needs.” It makes sense to place these smaller renewable plants close to where electricity will be used and reduce the pressure on the new power stations to transmit electricity around a huge, sparsely populated country like SA. A host of smaller projects are also under construction to generate electricity directly where needed. The Black River Office Park in Cape Town has installed the largest solar system on a building’s roof yet in SA. The first phase of the project was completed at the end of June. Joubert Rabie, developer of the office park, says it makes good business sense as the pay-back period is only 7 years based on current trends in electricity prices. Electricity is used within the office buildings and excess electricity will be fed into the national power grid once legislation allows it. Current legislation does not make provision to sell electricity back to municipalities – effectively running your electricity meter backwards. A change in legislation will be a boom for the industry and will see a surge in investment, as it will reduce the size of expensive battery banks and make projects even more economically attractive.
How to Switch Grade Levels and Keep Your Sanity In my first year of teaching, I had exactly two days to prepare to teach 9th-12th grade math and literature after having student taught in 1st grade. Halfway through the school year, a teacher was let go and I had exactly 20 minutes (!!!) to prepare to teach her 6th/7th grade combo for the remainder of the school year. Talk about being forced out of your comfort zone! Switching grade levels, regardless of how much time you have to prepare, can be a major stressor. Since my first year of teaching I have either taught or worked with every single grade (yep, K-12). Here are some things about switching grade levels that I’ve learned along the way: Have a growth mindset Switching grade levels, especially when it’s not your choice, can be scary. It is totally common to go through a period of grieving. Know that switching grade levels is going to be a learning experience. It will stretch you as an educator. Be open to that stretch. Think of the new ideas you’ll be able to try. Remember that you can (and will) get better at teaching any grade level you are asked to teach. Take risks and be open to making mistakes. Changing grade levels prevents you from falling into a teaching rut, which is so important to each new group of kids you work with. If you still aren’t convinced that your new grade level will be a great experience, check out this post where we had teachers from all grade levels share what makes their grade level the best. Use what you’ve learned in other grade levels Having experience in one grade level will definitely come in handy when you make a move to another grade. There are MANY aspects of teaching that are universal from Kindergarten through high school. Kids value the personal connection you make with them. They want to be engaged. They need structure and feedback. If you’ve previously taught an older grade, you will know where students should be by the time they reach that grade. You will be able to use backward planning more strategically than a teacher who has never taught an older grade before. You can think about the things your students had never mastered before reaching you (weren’t they SUPPOSED to learn multiplication facts in third grade?) and make an effort to focus on these areas in your new assignment. You may discover that some of your previously-held notions about teachers of a certain grade level were inaccurate. If you’ve previously taught a younger grade level, you will have a definite advantage that you can use when differentiating. You’ll be able to set up centers and cooperative group activities while keeping the developmental stages of your students in mind. You may be able to reach those kiddos who are less confident or need a more gentle approach. Any previous teaching experience will serve as an advantage in your new grade level. Just be sure to check in with yourself every now and again to remember all of the knowledge you’ve gathered along the way. Gain as much knowledge as you can The unknown is uncomfortable. One thing you can do to help alleviate some of this discomfort is to learn more about the grade you are going to be teaching. - Read about the grade level – read books, read blogs, read papers written by the age you are going to be teaching. - If you are able, observe the age you will be teaching. If you are at the same school, ask your principal if you can shadow another teacher for a day. - Go on Google and Pinterest. Plug in “third grade ______(list subject)” or “common behavior problems _______ (list age)”. - Find a Facebook group specific to your new grade level. Other teachers will be happy to answer questions, point you in the direction of useful resources, and give you advice. - Follow Instagram accounts for teachers in your grade level. You will receive visual inspiration and tons of positive vibes. If you are at a school with more than one teacher per grade level, make an effort to get to know your new team. Share your apprehension and ask for help. Seriously. Ask. For. Help. Your grade level team members will be able to share practical tips and resources to make the transition to your new grade level smoother. Do what your grade level is doing as much as you can in terms of long-term planning, units of study, assessment, etc. Trust the experience of the people who have experience at the grade level. It will save you time and save your sanity. If you are the only teacher at your grade level, reach out to the vast, network of teachers from your city or state, both in person and online. You can do this through conferences, Facebook groups, school visits, etc. Whether your school uses Common Core, TEKS, or some other sort of standards, get to know what is expected at your new grade level. Read the standards thoroughly before diving into year-long planning. A common problem when changing grade levels is expecting too much or too little of your new batch of students. Familiarizing yourself with the standards in language arts, math, science, and social studies will increase your confidence and (hopefully!) get you excited for teaching some fresh content. Share work samples with your grade-level team to find out what is considered “proficient” at your particular grade level. If you are looking for a Common Core/NGSS parent, student, and teacher-friendly standards checklist, we have them created for grades K-8 (phew!). You can check them out here. If it is your first time teaching a certain grade level, know that you will not be able to “do it all” the first year. Learn to be okay with that. Choose a focus for the beginning of the year and add in additional elements as you get a handle on your new grade level. Once you have reached a solid comfort level (which may take an entire school year), start adding in some “extras.” If you try to do too much, too fast, you won’t master anything and your students will may begin mirroring your scattered behavior. Changing grade levels can be scary and nerve-wracking, while also exciting and invigorating. Just remember, anything that takes you out of your comfort zone will make you a better teacher. We can’t wait to hear your tips and experiences. Feel free to share a comment below!
Note- I wrote this blog in January of 2012. All links and references may not be relevant. Most cities are instituting Anti-Sit laws which prohibit people to sit on sidewalks and streets. Anti sit laws are design to prohibit individuals from obstructing commerce. In a report by NationalHomeless.org, the study found 30 percent of the major cities in the United States have criminalized sitting or lying on the sidewalk (). Homeless people have very little places to go and therefore must be on the move to avoid criminal charges. It is a documented fact that the human body burns up to 2000 calories a day, depending on body weight. The estimated 2000 calorie count does not include calories a person burns up in physical activity. A person can burn an additional 100 calories per mile to increase their calorie burn (http://walking.about.com/cs/howtoloseweight/a/howcalburn.htm). If a homeless person is on the move, carrying their possessions, how much calories are being burned in the process? And are those calories being replaced? People who I have worked with in the past have given out bottled water and granola bars when outreaching to the homeless. The consensus among my former peers is that health should be the primary concern when helping people in need. Additional, former colleges of mine have given out vitamins to help replenish lost vitamins and nutrients. Granola bars typically have about 118 calories (http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-granola-bars-plain-i19015) which might replenished 1 mile of walking. Water contains no vitamins. Vitamins are a poor substitute for vegetables, but at least do provide some kind of nutrition. So the person who is forced to walk on the streets because of anti sit law are not getting the calories the human body needs. When a person is deprived of calories, several things happen. Calorie deprivation causes- - Thin or hair loss - Reduced vision - Tongue splitting - Gingival hemorrhage - Decreased sense of taste - Dry mouth - Weight gain - Slower reflexes - And the inability to feel warm Link:Diet Myths — What Your Doctor Hasn’t Told You- homeless outreach is about providing temporary relief to those in need. Relief comes in different forms, such as communication, providing clothing, or even providing temporary shelter. But addressing calorie intake needs to be considered when providing a meal. By providing high calorie food, a person can help replenish calories burned by the activity of the street person. I have found that purchasing fast food, chips and soda can help alleviate temporary hunger for one meal. The foodstuff is not a source of nutrition. However, nutrition is the least of concern to a person on the street. Homeless people have more issues to deal with than whether or not the food they are eating is health. In my experience, providing comfort foodstuff helps to restore the sense of humanity that consumers take for granted. Providing brand name foods or fast foods is a luxury that street people cannot afford on their own. Personal outreach is a very difficult thing to do, especially when a person is limited to their own finances. But when considering what to buy, think about the activity level of people who do not have a place to sit. Providing foods that are luxuries help in reminding homeless people that they are still people. And by restoring a person’s sense of self, that person may decide to seek out better solutions to their situation rather than remaining where they are at.
Woodrow Joseph Bergeron Jr. was born in Louisiana. He received an Air Force commission in 1967 to fight in the Vietnam War, but also served in Germany, Korea, England, and multiple stateside locations. Bergeron served aboard an F-4 (part navigation, part pilot) for half of his career, and the other half in an A-10 (pilot and test pilot). During the Vietnam War, Bergeron was part of the biggest rescue mission of the Vietnam War. While in flight, his trailing aircraft was shot after dropping its ordnance on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Ban Phanop, Laos. This trail was used to connect supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. First Lieutenant Bergeron and the pilot, Captain Benjamin Danielson, had ejected 65 miles away from the Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base in a jungle surrounded by limestone cliffs. As the United States tried to send helicopters in to rescue the soldiers, the enemy continued to shoot down their rescue attempts. Bergeron was cluster-bombed, napalmed, and shot at during this time but was never hit. This three-day rescue mission had a total of 336 sorties flown by Skyraiders and HH-3 and HH-53 helicopters. Bergeron earned a Silver Star for his intelligence on enemy operations. After the war, he flew A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jets, then retired in 1987 as a lieutenant colonel.
How To Cook Beef Tongue While not too popular in America, beef tongue is quite popular in Europe and Latin America. If you have never had it before it can be quite intimidating and even a bit off putting. However, if you can find the time and courage to put in the work you’ll end up with the most beefy piece of beef you’ve ever had. In my opinion, it is one of the most delicious pieces of cow you can eat. In this post I’m going to go over a classic way showing you how to cook beef tongue, along with a recipe and alternative suggestions. 1. What Is It? What Is Beef Tongue? Beef tongue is the tongue of a cow usually severed from the base. It can range in color from black to pink and believe it or not feels quite like a human tongue. It is commonly described as the most tender piece of beef available and when cooked properly has an almost foie gras consistency. Beef tongue is most often served braised with a reduction (or a gravy) in Europe, while in places like Mexico they make it into tacos or soup. Some ranchers in Argentina will even BBQ or smoke it for a very unique flavor and texture. Where To Buy Beef Tongue? These days you should be able to find a beef tongue at most major grocery stores. If not in the butcher section it will be in the freezer section. The tongue will weigh in at around 2-6 pounds (1-3 kg) depending on the age and size of the cow. I am partial to smaller sized tongues less than 1.5 kg as they cook faster and are more tender. How To Clean And Prep Beef Tongue So to start cooking a beef tongue it is actually extremely simple. Just rinse the tongue under a cold tap for a bit to wash away any undesired bits and then braise the tongue in beef stock for 3-4 hours. My stock is homemade by boiling cow bones with an onion, a bulb of garlic, 2 carrots, oregano, mushroom powder, mustard seed, black peppercorns, thyme, and a cup of red wine. If you don’t have some stock on hand you can just use bullion, store-bought, or add the rest of the ingredients with water since the tongue is basically the beef component. Add the tongue and stock to a pot and bring up to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and put on the pot lid. Let simmer for 3-4 hours. You should check the pot every hour or so and skim away some of the scum that comes on the surface. This isn’t necessary, it just provides for a cleaner broth at the end. Peeling The Tongue To check for done-ness stab the tongue with a thin knife. If the knife goes in and comes out with no resistance then it is ready to be peeled. What?!? Are you shocked you have to peel the tongue? Well, you do, and many people don’t like this part. Fortunately for me, this activity is my partner Alona’s favorite part. Just make a small incision right down the center of the beef tongue and peel the skin layer away. Now the tongue at this point is perfectly edible, but there’s one more thing I like to do when cooking tongue European style. And that is another half hour of braising with the skin off to make the beef tongue even richer and more tender. European Style Tongue Simmer the tongue for another 30 minutes in the stock. Then, remove the tongue and let rest for 10-15 minutes while making the reduction. In a small saucepan on medium heat add two tablespoons of butter and when melted, two tablespoons of flour. Whisk around for a minute then add in a cup of the beef tongue braising liquid. Turn the heat to medium low and let reduce for 10 -15 minutes or until desired thickness. Next it is time to prepare the beef tongue. I like to cut about 1 cm slices starting from the bigger end. This part is the most tender and juicy and is what you should serve people if you are entertaining. I usually clean up the slices a bit so they are more uniform and appealing, but you can absolutely just slice and eat. The meat is super tender and can easily shred if you wanted to make shredded tongue, but if you want to keep the slices then try for a long sweeping cut. Beef Tongue With Reduction - 1.5 kg Beef Tongue - 2 liters Beef Stock if you use store-bought it is fine, just get reduced salt since they tend to be too salty. - 250 ml Red Wine - 2 tbsp Butter - 2 tbsp Flour - 1 pinch Salt optional (taste for seasoning) - 1/2 tsp Black Pepper freshly cracked - Rinse your tongue under cold water to remove any unwanted particles. - In a pot add the tongue and the stock and the wine and bring everything to a boil. Once boiling reduce to a simmer and place the lid on. Braise for 4 hours, or until a thin knife can go in and come out with no resistance. - Pull out the tongue and make a small incision right down the middle. Use this incision to peel the skin off the tongue. - Place the tongue back in the pot and braise for another 30 minutes. Remove to a board and let rest for 10-15 minutes while you made the reduction. - In a small pan on medium heat add the butter and flour. Whisk together for a minute and then add about a cup of the braising liquid. Whisk together and reduce until desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper and season as needed. Tacos de Lengua One of the most popular beef tongue recipes is the Mexican Tacos de Lengua. You can check my recipe in a separate article if you want to see more pictures. It is honestly one of my favorite things to make and so tasty. Normally these are street food, but it is common for Mexican households to make tacos de lengua at home. I keep my recipe real simple, just simmering the chopped up tongue meat in a bath of blitzed stock and serrano chilies.
Islamic finance aspires for more fertile ground Roughly one-third of those suffering from extreme poverty worldwide live in member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In 21 of those 57 countries, fewer than half of the population has access to adequate sanitation. Four per cent of infants born in these countries die before they reach the age of five. Simply put, despite great potential, many OIC countries have struggled to achieve broad-based development. For many countries, the infamous “resource curse” is at work; in others, weak leadership and failed institutions are to blame. It does not help that the vast majority (some 71 per cent) of the 125 million people affected by conflicts and natural disasters reside in OIC countries. Instability places enormous strain on national budgets. But these countries have options. In particular, the capital that has accumulated in some of the OIC countries’ financial systems could play an important role in helping them to meet their development goals — especially if Islamic finance is used to its full potential. Islamic finance has important advantages over conventional financial products. Its prohibition of interest and requirement that investments be linked to the real economy, together with its approach to profit- and loss-sharing, add stability to the financial sector. Islamic finance can also enhance financial inclusion, as it incorporates people who, for cultural or religious reasons, are excluded from the traditional financial system. This is perhaps one reason why Islamic finance has been expanding at 10-12 per cent per year over the last decade or so. If Islamic finance is to play its full part in revitalising and diversifying the economies of the OIC countries, governments will need to undertake important reforms. Topping the list is the need for stronger legal institutions that protect property rights and ensure that contracts are enforced. If people are to have full confidence in Islamic financial products, moreover, the industry will need to be standardised and regulated. National tax policies will also need to be tweaked, to prevent discrimination against Islamic financial instruments. The World Bank Group is working with partners to help realise these reforms. Furthermore, it has introduced investment projects that use Islamic financing across the region. The World Bank Treasury has issued a variety of Islamic financial instruments, including two Sukuk (bonds that meet Islamic strictures on interest), which have raised $700 million (Dh2.5 billion). Similarly, the bank’s private-sector arm, the International Financial Corporation, has established the IFC Sukuk Company, which issued $100 million in trust certificates in 2015. The bank’s political risk insurance arm, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), has provided a $427 million Sharia-compliant investment guarantee for an infrastructure project in Djibouti and $450 million in political risk insurance for a telecommunications investment in Indonesia. And, together with the Islamic Development Bank Group, the UN, and other donors, the World Bank has created a joint facility to assist the countries hardest hit by instability with concessional financing, which includes an Islamic-finance instrument for Lebanon and Jordan to help them bear the costs of supporting refugees from Syria. New technology can play a vital role in making financial systems more inclusive, particularly for groups that face greater barriers to access. For example, some 90 per cent of Syrian refugees have access to smartphones, through which they could access financial services. Efforts must be made to ensure that we make the most of such technologies. Finally, there are humanitarian objectives. And, indeed, work is already under way to address how waqf (charitable endowments), zakat (the obligatory alms tax), and a variety of Islamic financial instruments can be channelled effectively and efficiently to meet humanitarian needs. Islamic finance can help deliver much-needed solutions to the Muslim world’s development challenges. Its ability to enhance financial stability, promote financial inclusion, and drive sustainable development could spark transformative change across the region. To realise this potential, Islamic finance, no less than its conventional counterpart, needs an appropriate enabling environment, one characterised by a level playing field, an adequate regulatory framework, and effective partnerships.
There are three types of scorpions you can take care of – emperor, dictator, and cave clawed. Scorpions are fascinating pets, and they come in both forest and desert varieties. A forest variety of Emperor and Dictator scorpions are native to Africa. In general, they are calm and reserved, only displaying aggressive behavior when triggered. If you love exotic animals and you are looking to have a scorpion soon, and you have Pet queries, then you have come to the right place. Scorpions have eight legs, two giant pincers, and a segmented tail with a telson or stinger. The venomous scorpions can sting or pinch. The sting might be moderate or severe, depending on the species. Some people are allergic to Emperor scorpions, while most are not. Scorpions are nocturnal, and they molt twice a year. Female scorpions give birth live and carry their babies until their first molt. Creating A Scorpion Habitat You must know how to create a livable and comfortable habitat for your scorpion. It would be best if you mimicked the living environment that they would have in the wild. Here are the essential parts of your scorpion habitat that you need to consider. - Activity Areas. They love to climb and hide, so you should have areas for these activities using nontoxic plants, branches, and logs. Make sure that you keep the hiding areas away from the heat source. - Scorpions will need photoperiod lighting for 8 to 12 hours a day. You mustn’t leave the white light on at all times. At night, use a low-wattage nocturnal or infrared light. - Ensure that the temperature difference between the heated and cold ends is maintained, 90°F for the warmer end, and 78°F for the cooler end. Warmth is best provided by an under-tank heater or a low-wattage incandescent bulb. A scorpion’s diet should include gut-loaded crickets, roaches, mealworms, super worms, hornworms, and waxworms. For juveniles, you must feed them daily and adults biweekly. Always have clean, chlorine-free water available. They are nocturnal creatures so you should only feed them at night. Dust your pets with calcium, vitamins, and minerals once or twice a week. Make sure to remove unconsumed crickets before they attack a scorpion. Also, wait until the scorpion’s exoskeleton hardens after molting before you start feeding it. Are You Ready To Own A Scorpion? Exotic pet ownership is now a trend. Scorpions are one of the most popular yet challenging wild creatures to take in as a pet. That is why you need to fully understand everything about taking care of scorpions and what it entails to own one.
Good morning Year 4 home learners! We are missing you in class but look forward to seeing you on our daily Google classroom at 10am. Mr Patterson will have sent you details – any problems please just get in touch with the school. Each day I will be setting you three pieces of work. Today I have English, Maths and History for you. I hope you enjoy it. Please send you work back to me before 6pm each day to [email protected] – thank you so much. Hopefully we will be back together soon. Today in Maths we are practising our area skills. Listen carefully to the lesson and then complete the worksheet below. In this lesson we are practising our English skills by looking at homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings – for example: their, there and they’re or where, were, wear and we’re. You have 4 worksheets. Read the instructions carefully and then decide what the missing word is in each sentence. My tip is to say each sentence out loud. When it comes to sentences where you think a contraction might be missing – for example: we’re, you’re – then try saying the two words the contraction replaces – ‘we are’ and ‘you are’ and see if it makes sense. Challenge yourself by writing some sentences of your own using each of these homophones! Today we are learning about the Aztecs. First, read the slide deck and make notes of any important facts you would like to remember. Then, try to see if you can guess where the Aztec period happened in the timeline (don’t peek to the next slide.) Then, you are going to create your own timeline. You can do this by either printing off the dates and pics or – if you don’t have a printer – by having them up on your screen and deciding which date goes where. Remember, when working with the timeline, first put Year 0 in the middle. When you move to the left you are in the time before Christ (BC). When you move to right you are in the time after Christ was born (AD). Remember the further away you get from 0 the higher the numbers get and the closer the numbers get to Year 0 the smaller they are. I have also included a completed piece of work in case you get stuck to help you along! Aztecs History Work1 – then first cut out the dates and pictures and arrange them in chronological order on a timeline. If you don’t have a printer you can draw the timeline yourself. If you want to challenge yourself answer the questions on the additional worksheet. I hope you enjoy your day. See you at 10am.
Industrializing Illinois (1877-1917) Following the Civil War, Illinois continued to grow in population, diversity, and complexity. Large-scale heavy manufacturing and a growing commercial sector joined agriculture as major employers of a rapidly growing population. Immigration continued, with African Americans from the South and southern and eastern Europeans joining more established groups. Conflicting interests sometimes led to unrest, strikes, and even violence. During this period, Illinois also became a center of exciting new movements in art, architecture, and literature. In 1907, Mrs. James C. Fessler of Rochelle suggested to state officials that Illinois schoolchildren vote for a state tree and flower. Senator Andrew J. Jackson of Rockford introduced a bill making it official, and in 1908 the blue violet became the state flower, and the oak became the state tree. Identification guidebooks put information about plant and animal species in the palm of our hands. This identification guide, however, is quite unique. Instead of a book, this field guide is a box. Local ornithologist Benjamin T. Gault created this portable guide to help him with his fieldwork. Kerosene and a mechanical crank powered this peanut-roasting machine owned by John Coleman of Mt. Carmel. The kerosene tank provided light to work by and powered the burners under the roasting chamber. A steam jacket under the glass dome kept the peanuts warm. This canary’s name is Nicodemus. He belonged to an Illinois woman in the 19th century. Nicodemus was free from his cage and sitting on a window sash one day when someone threw open the sash and smashed him. His owner was so distraught that she had him stuffed and mounted, and he sat on display in the family parlor for the next several decades. The Chicago Century of Progress Exposition of 1933-34 celebrated the alliance between science and industry, conveying a message of hope for a better future in times of depression. The most dramatic and anticipated moment of the opening ceremony in the evening of May 27, 1933, was when the illumination of the fair was turned on, unfolding as a spectacle of light and color.
A new report from the Ponemon Institute, an organization that publishes the annual “Global Report on the Cost of Cyber Crime,” recently announced that the cost of a data breach has jumped 23% from last year. Here’s what your small to medium sized business needs to know about being prepared in case of a data breach. The Data Breach by the Numbers The report revealed that a data breach will cost a large company about $640,000. This price tag includes hefty costs, such as business disruption, information loss, and detection. The report also revealed that it takes a company an average of 31 days to recover, yet experts advise that the time to remediate from a breach should only be less than one week. Interestingly, small organizations have a higher per-capita cost than large organizations. So, what can your business do to be more prepared? Have a Data Breach Incident Response Plan An Incident Response is an organized approach to responding to and managing the aftermath of a security breach or attack. The goal of such a plan is to limit damage and reduce recovery time and costs. An Incident Recovery plan should include a clear-cut definition of what your company constitutes as an incident and a subsequent step-by-step process that should be followed carefully after an incident occurs. Consider Hiring an Information Security Firm If you contact an Information Security firm after a data breach occurs, your organization will have to pay more money and wait longer to recover. You may not be prepared to remediate and respond in time. Knowing who to call helps your organization avoid loss of downtime, loss of reputation and other potential damages. Investing in preventative measures in the possible event of a data breach is one of the smartest things your business can do to protect itself and its money. If you need help assessing your risk of data breach, contact your trusted IT advisor today.
The answer is likely “Yes” that you are deficient in Magnesium. Magnesium is the eighth most abundant mineral on earth, and the third most abundant in sea water. More importantly, it is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body and it is necessary in over 300 reactions within the body. Magnesium isn’t just abundant in the body, but vitally important too. As this article explains: Every single cell in the human body demands adequate magnesium to function, or it will perish. Strong bones and teeth, balanced hormones, a healthy nervous and cardiovascular system, well functioning detoxification pathways and much more depend upon cellular magnesium sufficiency. Soft tissue containing the highest concentrations of magnesium in the body include the brain and the heart—two organs that produce a large amount of electrical activity, and which can be especially vulnerable to magnesium insufficiency. Proper magnesium ratios are important for the body to correctly use calcium in the cells. Even a small deficiency can lead to a dangerous calcium imbalance and lead to problems like calcification and cell death. This manifests itself with symptoms like heart trouble, migraine headaches, muscle cramps and premenstrual cramping. Where Has All The Magnesium Gone? Unfortunately, most modern farming processes tax the soil, depleting it of its natural magnesium. On top of that, many hybrids are selectively bred to survive low levels of magnesium and most conventional fertilizers use nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and do nothing to replenish magnesium levels. Water was once a good source of magnesium, but now: Fluoride in drinking water binds with magnesium, creating a nearly insoluble mineral compound that ends up deposited in the bones, where its brittleness increases the risk of fractures. Water, in fact, could be an excellent source of magnesium—if it comes from deep wells that have magnesium at their source, or from mineral-rich glacial runoff. Urban sources of drinking water are usually from surface water, such as rivers and streams, which are low in magnesium. Even many bottled mineral waters are quite low in magnesium, or have a very high concentration of calcium, or both. These additional dietary factors can also deplete magnesium: - Consumption of caffeine - Consumption of sugar (It takes 28 molecules of magnesium to metabolize a single glucose molecule! source) - Consumption of processed food - Consumption of alcohol - Consumption of produce from depleted soil - Consumption of foods high in phytic acid Additionally, drugs like birth control pills, hypertension medicine, diuretics, insulin, and certain antibiotics (among others) deplete magnesium levels. Sweating often from exercise or other causes can also deplete magnesium. What Does Magnesium Do? Magnesium is necessary for hundreds of functions within the body, but is especially important for: - Gives rigidity AND flexibility to your bones (more important than Calcium in many cases) - Increases bioavailability of calcium - Regulates and normalizes blood pressure - Prevents and reverses kidney stone formation - Promotes restful sleep - Helps prevent congestive heart failure - Eases muscle cramps and spasms - Lowers serum cholesterol levels and triglycerides - Decreases insulin resistance - Can prevent atherosclerosis and stroke - End cluster and migraine headaches - Enhances circulation - Relieves fibromyalgia and chronic pain - Treats asthma and emphysema - Helps make proteins - Encourages proper elimination - Prevents osteoporosis - Proper Vitamin D absorption - protection from radiation - To aid weight loss - Lessen or remove ADD or ADHD in children - in proper digestion of carbohydrates - emerging evidence is showing a preventative role in many cancers Even though magnesium deficiency is rarely addressed in medical settings, the National Institutes of Health website states that: Some observational surveys have associated higher blood levels of magnesium with lower risk of coronary heart disease [50-51]. In addition, some dietary surveys have suggested that a higher magnesium intake may reduce the risk of having a stroke . There is also evidence that low body stores of magnesium increase the risk of abnormal heart rhythms, which may increase the risk of complications after a heart attack . These studies suggest that consuming recommended amounts of magnesium may be beneficial to the cardiovascular system. Are You Low in Magnesium? As I said above, the answer is likely ‘yes’ in today’s world, as over 80% of tested adults are. Unfortunately, blood tests are relatively ineffective in gauging magnesium levels as less than 1% of magnesium is in the blood. Low magnesium levels are often diagnosed by symptoms alone, and the following symptoms can point to low magnesium levels: - Inability to sleep or insomnia - Sensitivity to noise - Mental disturbances - Anxiety, depression or restlessness - Muscle soreness or spasms - Infertility or PMS - High levels of stress - Heart “flutters” or palpitations - Fatigue or unusual tiredness - Coldness in extremities - Fuzzy brain or difficulty concentrating - Allergies and sensitivities - Lack of appetite - Back pain - Body odor - Bad short term memory - Poor coordination - Insulin resistance - Carbohydrate cravings - Frequent cavities or poor dental health - Gut disorders - Kidney stones - Thyroid problems If you have more than one of the above symptoms and especially if you have more than five, it is highly likely that you could benefit from magnesium supplementation. How To Get Enough Magnesium Unfortunately, magnesium is often not well absorbed by the digestive tract, and is even more difficult to absorb if you are deficient or are low in vitamin D, have poor gut bacteria or suffer from a number of other conditions. On top of that, most foods are depleted of their natural magnesium levels and the water supply is lacking also. For this reason, I often use topical magnesium supplementation for our family. There are several ways to supplement, and a mixture of more than one type of magnesium supplementation seems to be most effective. It is important to start slow and work up, as high doses will not be completely absorbed at first and most will be wasted. Oral Magnesium Supplements Leafy green vegetables, sea vegetables, kelp, and especially nettle are good dietary sources of magnesium, though if you have a deficiency, it will be difficult to raise your levels enough through diet alone. There is also evidence that over half of all magnesium taken internally is not used and leaves the body as waste. I take this timed release formula and B-vitamins and folate for better absorption. (I like it so much I reached out to them and they offered a 10% discount for Wellness Mama readers with the code wellness10.) Another great magnesium option is from BiOptimizers. Transdermal Magnesium Supplements Unlike internal doses of magnesium, topical magnesium does not have to pass through the digestive system and kidneys and can more quickly enter the blood and tissues of the body. I now cycle a quality magnesium supplement like the one above with topical magnesium spray. I find topical to be the most effective (and cost effective!). You can make your own magnesium spray using this recipe or can try these hand-crafted jars of Magnesium Lotion as well. Healthy Magnesium Levels: Bonus Benefit! In fact, I was suffering from low vitamin D for years despite spending regular time in the sun and taking supplemental D3 at the suggestion of my doctor. Magnesium is needed for proper vitamin D absorption and it wasn’t until I increased my use of magnesium on my skin that my vitamin D levels finally went up. If you’d like to learn more about the importance of magnesium and its various actions in the body, I’d suggest the book The Magnesium Miracle by Carolyn Dean.
EC-MENz is a New Zealand-based national network for men in early childhood education. Every year a summit is held in different parts of the country, a get-together for men in the profession to share and acknowledge the importance of gender balance and role modelling for children during their early years. The summit this year was held at Karaka Learning Centre in the Auckland region. The next one, will be in Queenstown in March 2018. Russell Ballantyne, the President of EC-MENz, opened the summit with a short address and presented the Adam Buckingham Award to Sarah Alexander of ChildForum as a recognition of her continuing support towards the need for more men in early childhood education. It was also brought to our attention that Sarah had highlighted the fact that around 2% of teaching staff were men and that she wanted the Government to introduce policy to attract more men into the profession. The response from the Ministry was that, "It has been confirmed by the Human Rights Commission that we cannot discriminate through affirmative action or by providing scholarships on the basis of gender, because men are not a disadvantaged group" (Source: Laura Dooney 2016, Stuff Education article). Apparently, it was discovered later that the Ministry had not confirmed this matter with the Human Rights Commission at all! A forum was held to discuss strategies at the work place to help tamariki settle down, tidy up, and manage behaviour. Participants offered a number of suggestions that included singing, negotiation, modelling appropriate behaviour and offering a sense of responsibility. Other suggestions included the importance of predictable routine, yoga sessions, storytelling, and, especially for children on the autistic spectrum, puppets as a prop. The conclusion was that most importantly there must be an element of humour and playfulness. Before the next session Robin Christie of Childspace enlightened us on how to make a tree with six sheets of newspaper. This was an interesting session as all of us attempted to create these paper trees. I’m sure it will be great making these alongside children in the work place. Robin’s energy and laughter made this short workshop fun, which highlighted the conclusion of the previous forum to suggest that there must be humour and playfulness in activities with tamariki. The next session was held by two international speakers who were visiting Auckland to attend the World Forum. Ron Blatz from Winnipeg, Canada, and Jerry Parr from Houston, Texas. Ron presented Russell with a woven pendant made by a native American Indian. This pendant had a bear claw, which symbolised courage, strength, and leadership. He opened the address by stating that gender balance was good for children in early childhood settings. His observation was that male staff are involved in playfulness and like to have fun, whereas female staff are more involved with relationships with children. Ron also said that at his early learning centre in Winnipeg he employed young and older staff, both male and female, to offer that balance for children. Based on his observations over the years, Ron suggested that male role models for boys are very important. Ron also discussed the content of a book titled ‘Essential Touch’ by Francis Carlson. She stated that children who experienced touch in their early years were less aggressive when they got older than those who had not experienced touch. Apparently Francis stated that in her studies she noticed that when males were present there was a higher level of touch through rough and tumble play, play fighting, and so on. Ron mentioned that at his centre they had a written policy that mentions the benefits of men touching children and that some children respond to men and some to women. There must be that diversity offered to children during this developmental stage. Jerry Parr complimented EC-MENz on their effort to promote and support men in early childhood in New Zealand. Jerry spoke about his experience with children during their early years at Harvard and his work with Head Start, a program of the US government that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. He mentioned that the programme is funded and received tremendous assistance during the Obama presidency, as he was an advocate for early childhood education. A discussion was held around strategies to get more men into the workforce and Ron suggested targeted advertising that worked, something on the lines of, “Looking for a few good men to work in childcare. Research shows us that gender balance is important in ECE”. There was also evidence to suggest that two men in the workplace offered support to each other and he suggested that women should be invited to discussions as they are the gatekeepers for employment in the sector. David Wright, from Karaka Learning Centre, was the next speaker and talked about how presentation and delivery to children was so important. He also emphasised the fun aspect and suggested that children will be attentive if you can make them laugh. He thought that teaching through story, puppets, sounds, and action was important in the context of delivery towards children’s learning. The day ended with a final discussion forum on how to promote ECE in schools, how to encourage younger men into the profession, and mentor programmes. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this summit as it was quite laid back and relaxed. The sessions weren’t too hurried and intense, as they were filled with laughter and fun. From a personal perspective, the day offered me support as I met other male teachers in similar working environments. I didn’t feel alone and isolated, a feeling that can creep in sometimes when working alongside all female staff in the workplace. Gender balance is so important to role model for children and the question remains, how do we get more male teachers in ECE?
Have you ever wondered what it takes to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and how you may obtain crypto tokens without having to purchase them on an exchange? Many were drawn into the crypto ecosystem by a fast rise in cryptocurrencies exchange rates such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin. While most individuals purchase and trade them on exchanges, it may also be feasible to ‘mine’ tokens using your computer. The promise of getting paid with Bitcoin is a major lure for many miners. But, to be clear, you do not need to be a miner to possess bitcoin tokens. Instead, you can buy cryptocurrencies with fiat currency. These, you can trade with other cryptocurrencies at an exchange. You may also earn them by shopping, writing blog posts on platforms that pay users in cryptocurrency, or even setting up interest-earning crypto accounts. What is Crypto Mining? Crypto mining refers to gaining cryptocurrencies by solving cryptographic equations with the use of high-power computers. It is a formula with a set of specific properties that makes it extremely useful for encryption. The solving process involves verifying data blocks and adding transaction records to a public record (ledger), a blockchain secured by applying complex encryption techniques. Cryptocurrencies use a decentralised method of distribution. For verification of transactions, it takes the help of cryptographic algorithms. Hence there is no central authority, nor is there a centralised ledger. To get new coins on the ledger involves solving complicated mathematical puzzles that assist in verifying virtual currency transactions and then updating them on the decentralised blockchain ledger. As the outcome of this work, the miners receive pay with cryptocurrency. This is mining as it allows new coins into circulation. How Does It Work? Computers solve complex mathematical equations while mining cryptocurrencies. The first coder to crack all codes can authorise the transaction. As an outcome of the service, miners earn small amounts of cryptocurrency. Once the miner solves the mathematical problem and verifies the transaction, they add the data to the public ledger called a blockchain. How Can You Start Mining? If you are thinking of embarking on your mining journey, you would want a high-performance computer. Also, create a wallet for popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and join a mining pool to accelerate profitability. These pools are groups of miners who join their resources to enhance their mining power. The profit created from mining is then distributed evenly to all members in this pool. Thus, mining pools permit individuals to work together more effectively. The algorithm acquires several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. In addition, it guarantees that no single authority becomes so powerful that it starts to run the show. This mining process is crucial for adding new blocks of transaction data to the blockchain. A new block is only added to the blockchain system if a miner appears with a new winning proof-of-work. It occurs every 10 minutes in the network. Proof-of-work aims to prevent users from printing extra coins they didn’t earn. Coin Mining in India Mining has increased dramatically in India in the last few years, where companies like Easyfi Network provide mining facilities and blockchain development. However, mining in India is expensive and not very profitable. Successful mining for coins requires high-performance computing, which consumes lots of power, raising your power bill. The cost of electricity in India ranges between Rs 5 per unit on average, and cryptocurrency mining consumes about 67.29 terawatt-hours a year, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. Moreover, not all types of equipment are available in India, so it has to be imported from countries like China, which adds additional costs and reductions in profit. In addition, India does not have any explicit rules for cryptocurrencies, which makes any investment into the space risky. At one time, the government hinted at launching a digital currency. However, in 2017, India banned the import of ASCI machines mainly designed for crypto mining, which pushed Bengaluru-based blockchain technology company AB Nexus to halt mining Bitcoin and Ethereum.
When I look at Franklin Roosevelt’s leadership, I think the most important quality he had during the Depression and the war was this absolute confidence in himself, in his country, really in the American people. He was able to exude that confidence and almost project it. So when the people in the country heard him speak in these fireside chats, they said, “Yeah, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get through this depression,” or “We’ll win this war.” I think confidence comes from doing something well, working at it hard, and you build it up. It’s not something you’re born with. You have to build the confidence as you go along. So I would say energy, vitality, confidence, being willing to take risks at certain times if it’s something you believe in. That’s probably the hardest thing you have to figure out, and that’s where courage comes in. I think in the long run, these qualities somehow all meld together in a way that it’s hard to speak about them separately.
How to Cut Sunflowers to Put in a Vase - Dissolve one part bleach in 10 parts water. - Select sunflowers for cutting when the petals begin to open but before they unfurl off the face completely. - Fill the bucket with hot tap water. - Cut through the stem of the selected flowers with the shears. What do you do with a sunflower bouquet? How to Care for Sunflower Bouquets - Expose to sunlight. If there is one thing we can tell you about sunflowers, it’s that they love, love, love sunshine. - Fill a vase. - Cut stems. - Get rid of excess foliage. - Time for a swim. - Give them nutrients. - Find the perfect home. - Recondition every day. How do you arrange sunflowers in a vase? I’d suggest you take a couple of sunflowers out of your vase and trim them shorter so they bridge the gap between the rim of your vase and the heads of your remaining sunflowers. You’re aiming to cover up the some of your stems to create a vase with more dynamic appeal – creating ‘movement’ in your vase. What are the rules of flower arranging? 5 Basic Rules of Flower Arranging - Balance: When assembling flowers into your vase, make sure you are maintaining a balance throughout the arrangement. - Scale: One of the most important things to keep in mind when arranging flowers is scale. Can you replant a cut sunflower? Newly rooted softwood cuttings need extra care before transplanting, and sunflower cuttings are not different. Keep them under light, dappled shade for the first week, and then slowly acclimate them to direct sun. Transplant the cuttings once they can stand direct sun for at least six hours without wilting. Are sunflowers cut and come again? Branching sunflowers last weeks longer than single cut sunflowers because they keep sprouting new stems, even if they go uncut for a week. They are a true ‘cut & come again’ cut flower. The multiple-bloom heads are just extravagant! How long does a sunflower bouquet last? Care Tips: With proper care, sunflowers should last from six to twelve days. To maximize the vase life, look for flowers that are just starting to fully open. Choose strong, straight stems with perky flowers that look at you. How do you keep cut sunflowers upright? While holding the stem under water, cut 2 to 3 cm off the stems. Do not let the freshly cut stem dry out. Fill a vase with water and add the flower condition, which came with your bouquet. Place your sunflowers in a tall vase to provide adequate support for their height. How do you keep sunflowers upright? Strong stakes and canes are ideal. Push them into the ground next to each sunflower plant and gently prop the stem against them. Next wrap twine or plastic coated garden wire tightly around the canes and loosely around the stem of the plant. Can you put sunflowers in Oasis? Make a sunflower topiary with a small container (containing a block of Oasis), sunflowers, ribbon, and some greenery to cover the Oasis at the base. Make a sunflower topiary with a small container (containing a block of Oasis), sunflowers, ribbon, and some greenery to cover the Oasis at the base. What are the 6 principles of floral design? Six Principles of Floral Design - Final thoughts. What are the four elements of floral design? Colour, shape, texture, and space are the raw materials with which floral designers work. A basic understanding of how these elements affect a design is essential to creating satisfying arrangements. Colour is the most important element of design and must be carefully chosen to create visually appealing arrangements.
A new concept to degrade polythene has been discovered by scientists of Botany department, Savitribai Phule Pune University. The researchers have found that polythene can be degraded by fungi. They have identified certain fungi with high polythene degradation potential from mangrove rhizosphere soil. Dr AB Ade, Researcher, Savitribai Phule Pune University: “We have focused on the biodegradable concept. For biodegrading, microbial degradation is one of the parts. During microbial degradation, bacteria and fungus come to the fore that are also known as scavengers of the ecosystem. They convert big pollutants into simple molecules. There are enzymes in microbes which are biocatalyst.” “If polythene strip is inserted into food material medium of microbes or plastic material is inoculated into it, microbes’ enzymes will release into that compound and help in degradation,” he said. Polythene contributes to around 64 per cent of the total plastic waste and takes about 1,000 years to degrade under natural environmental conditions. India generates about 25,940 tons of plastic and more than 97,000 tons of solid waste per day, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had revealed in June 2018. In order to combat plastic pollution and other environmental issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of World Environment Day had also pressed for the need to reduce usage of plastic.
The first collaborative online platform about emergency faecal sludge treatment and disposal. Faecal sludge disposal and treatment is a significant problem in rapid onset emergencies. Low consideration is given to this issue when deploying emergency responses, and while general guidance and resources exist, improper decisions are often made. This generates health and environmental risks. Compare, improve, learn The main objective of the OCTOPUS collaborative platform is to improve practices! OCTOPUS ensures the link between theory and practice, and helps sanitation stakeholders adapt their interventions to the different specific contexts of the crises they operate in. Each practitioner has the opportunity to document his or her experiences, to discover those implemented by other partners, and to compare the solutions and technologies used. The OCTOPUS platform is part of a learning process The advantages of OCTOPUS - Crisis-focused practices and guidance - One-stop emergency FSM website linking theory to practice - Links to sanitation resources and initiatives - Collaborative platform for peer-to-peer learning - Turning experience into guidance through the OCTOPUS learning experience.
How Vaporizers Are Improving Consumer Safety In the past, vaporizer safety has led to a number of concerns over the quality and effectiveness of the user. While at one point, this fear was regarded as legitimate, technological advancements continue to develop safer products while increasing user enjoyment. Vaporizers Had A Bad Reputation When The Industry First Started This is to say that it wasn't warranted. When vaporizers first hit the market they were crudely developed. The amount of education that users needed to understand before making the switch was much harder than it is today. On top of that, there were a number of faulty issues that came even when vapes were used properly. Once again, vaporizer technology was simple and required extreme caution when being used. One of the biggest problems that came up, in the beginning, was the reports of vaporizers exploding randomly. After a number of consistent reports, the issue stemmed from a lack of resistance from the heating element to the battery. To put this in simple terms - if a user was vaping too long and too often, the heating element would overheat and ha the potential to cause an explosion - this wasn't something people wanted to hear, especially when the item exploding was meant to be placed inside the user's mouth. Vaporizers at the time did not have any regulators inside of them. They were simply flat copper plates that attached themselves from the battery to the heating element. If someone had their vape in their pocket and sat down, they ran the risk of their leg sitting on the button until a large boom occurred. Modern vapes have done away with this incredibly crude form of vaping. Now there are microchips in everyone that provides an auto shut-off if the vaporizer is on for too long. It also allows the user to adjust how long they can have the button held down before the product cut itself off. Trace Metals Inside The Coil Provides Limited Vaporizer Safety While vaping is regarded as particularly safer than smoking, there have been reports of other harmful particulates from vaporizer coils that can lead to a number of health concerns. The first is trace metals. These come from lackluster vaporizer coils. When lower-end companies have the choice to make a profit, sometimes they can cut corners. This is more likely for black market vaporizers due to the small-scale nature of production. Spend small = make slightly more. Many times, these under-the-radar concentrate companies weren't concerned with user safety, thus buying cheaper and less developed products in order to push their sales was the bottom line. Many of them contained metal coils that would create a number of metallic particulates which, when inhaled, would find their way into the person's lungs and bloodstream. It was later found that in order to use these products, the temperatures had to be lower and the metallic coil needed to be replaced with a ceramic coil. Ceramic provides clean vaporization at many different temperatures. High-profile coil manufacturers will also lab test every single product in order to ensure user safety guidelines are met. You should never purchase from "that guy making it in his garage". Knowing What Is In Your Prefilled Cartridge Or Pod As we mentioned in the heading above, there are a number of reliable sources to purchase your products. On the flip side of the coin, there are a lot of unreliable sources to purchase your product. Many of these are from your friend who is just starting out and trying his hand at making cartridges or extraction at home. He doesn't have the proper lab equipment nor does he extract is probably, but he definitely wants you to try it out. The reason he's looking to you is that he doesn't want anything to happen to him. If the concentrates are not extracted properly then they will leave trace elements of the solvent. Depending on what solvent they use it could mean there is extra alcohol or even butane residual still in the mix. Vaping these residual chemicals can cause a number of issues for your lungs and wellbeing. One of the most important factors that have come from legalization across the United States has been lab-tested and approved vape products. Nobody really knows what the random person is using to make their concentrates from home. This is why high-profile vaporizer companies send each and every one of their products to meet the same high-quality assurance standards for productive and effective vaporizer safety.
ركن الهندسة الميكانيكية - Mechanical Engineering The use of energy varies over time depending on the level of economic growth, weather conditions, energy prices and many other factors. The world's energy consumption began to increase with a drop-in energy prices. It is easy to conclude that as demand for oil increases, prices will rise as a result of the increasing rate of energy consumption and the depletion of other sources of energy, such as renewable energies. And enjoy the Nile River and especially the city of Atbara excellent solar card can be used for thermal generation through flat solar complexes and you experience a solar complex at the Faculty of Engineering Atbara through the flow of water naturally. The aim of the research was to study the performance of the solar complex. The temperature curves of the 96C system were upgraded and the efficiency of the system was increased by 45%. It was observed that the efficiency increased gradually since the morning. It reaches its peak in the afternoon and gradually decreases in the evening.
History of Wine an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice. "he opened a bottle of red wine" vin de table, vin ordinaire, vin du pays; informalplonk, vino, the grape · The earliest wine archaeobotanical evidence was found in Georgia, and date back 8,000 years to approximately 6,000 B.C. · The earliest historical evidence of wine dates back 9,000 years to 7,000 B.C. China. Grapes were also wined with rice and other fruits. · The spread of wine culture westwards is credited to the Phoenicians some 2,750 years in the past. The main vessel of transportation was the clay amphora. · The use of wine in religion was significant in ancient mythology and religion. 3100 BC till 30 BC, wine symbolized blood in ancient Egypt. · Ancient Romans planted vineyards in almost every settlement they’ve established. · Up until the Iron Age 900 B.C. there were no wooden barrels for wine transportation. · 77 AD The Roman Pliny the Elder writes “vino veritas” or “In wine there is truth” in Naturalis Historia. The Romans were also the first to talk about how "terroir", the concept of where and how you plant the vines will affect the wine. They were also among the first to use sulfur as a wine preservative some 2000 years ago. · In 380 AD Rome adopts Christianity; wine symbolized “the Eucharist”. * 1000 AD Château de Goulaine is built. Possibly the oldest operating winery. * 1629 AD Spanish missionaries introduced vitis vinifera to America. * 1500 AD wines that may have been sealed and stored in stoneware jugs re-fermented causing them to have spritz. These creamy or “Crémant” style led to the creation of French sparkling wine and British cider. · * 1600 AD the most highly desired wines of the day are sweet white wines such as Sauternes of Bordeaux, Riesling of Germany and Tokaji from Hungary. Enlightenment to Modern History · 1600AD glass wine bottles were first popularized in Portugal in an attempt to age Port wines, inspired by records of amphorae. Unfortunately, bottles stood upright and the corks would dry out and lose their seal. · 1650 AD Somewhere in Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc naturally cross to create Cabernet Sauvignon. · 1737 AD the first demarcated wine region of the world is Tokaj in the foothills of the Zemplén Mountains of Hungary. · 1740 AD bottles were redesigned to be laid on their side, creating the ability to age wines long term. · 1855 AD the demarcated Bordeaux wine region was established. · 1862 AD Louis Pasteur discovers oxygen’s harmful effects on wine causing the industry to adapt to wine bottles. · 1900 AD 70% of vineyards in France were killed by the Phylloxera, and to a lesser extent in the rest of Europe. · 1950 AD French wines, in particular "Bordeaux" are popularized in the United States. AD the first bag-in-a-box wines are introduced. · 2010 AD Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s most planted wine grape. · 2013 AD China becomes the world’s largest consumer of dry red wines in the world. Lebanese Wine History · Wine has been produced in the region since its discovery 6000 BC · Jesus turned water into wine in a marriage in Cana, a southern village in Lebanon · Wine culture survived ottoman occupation in Christian territories · Pre-French colonization Lebanon had only two types of wine, cooked sweet wine and cooked dry wine (Faqsh) 1839 AD Moussa Riachi founded Riachi Winery & Distillery. · 1920’s the French bring with them the Phylloxera to Lebanon, killing off most of the indigenous grape varieties · 1923 – 1943 the French export French wine culture and French winemaking processes to Lebanon · 1940-2000 Riachi produced wine for several brands, most notably Touma, Kefraya, Asrar, Cave St. Jean, etc. · 1975 – 2000 most of the old family wineries of Lebanon close down · 1980 – 2000 wine mass marketing takes off · 2000 – Present more than 50 new wineries open · 2005 Michael Karam published his fist book “Wines of Lebanon” · 2007 The first exhibition dedicated to wine “Vinifest” was launched. · 2010 – National wine production at 7 million bottles per year · 2017 – National wine production at 10 million bottles per year What are the different types of wine? er Wine can be classified according to color, sweetness, and winemaking style (sometimes called regional style).The main wine colors are red, white, and rose. - Red wines are made from red grapes where the juice and skin are fermented together. - Red wines that have a lot of tannins are called full bodied and those that don't are light bodied. - Full bodied reds are usually darker than light bodied ones. - Red wines can be either sweet or dry - Red wines can be drank fresh if they are light bodies - Dry red wines have a maximum aging potential of 25 years, and that depends on the tannins content. - Their color gets lighter tending to brick red as they age. - Average drinking temperature ranges from 14 C to 21 C. - Red wines can be aged in oak barrels. - Red wines are made from red grapes where the grapes are pressed or bled and the juice is fermented without the skin. - Rose wines that have more of tannins are called full bodied and those that don't are light bodied. - Bled or ( Saignée ) rose wines are usually darker and more full bodies since they've had a longer contact time with the skin. - Full bodied rose are usually darker than light bodied ones. - Rose wines can be either sweet or dry depending on sugar content. - Rose wines can get darker as they age - Dry rose wines have a maximum aging potential of 7 years, and that depends on the tannins content. - Their color gets darker as they age. - White wines are made from white grapes where the grapes are pressed and the juice is fermented without the skin. - White wines are more acidic than red wines, and that's where they get their freshness from. - Some white wines are made from red grapes, where the grapes are pressed using a technique that removes the juice with minimal color effect from the skin. - Full bodied white wines are usually darker and less acidic than light bodied ones. - White wines can be either sweet or dry depending on sugar content. - White wines can get darker as they age - Dry white wines have a maximum aging potential of 15 years, and that depends on the tannins content. - Some white wines can be aged in oak. - Their color gets darker as they age. - Sweet wines are wines that have sugar content after fermentation if done. - There are several techniques used to produce sweet wine. - Sweet wines can be made from white grapes and red grapes. - Late harvest sweet wines are made from grapes that are harvested past their due and have higher sugar content. - Straw wines are made by drying the grapes after their are harvested. - Fortified wines have sugar and spirit added to them after fermentation is complete. - Cooked sweet wines have the juice cooked pre-fermentation. - Sweet wines have the longest aging potential, which can reach up to 100 years, and that depends on the tannins, sweetness, and alcohol content. - Some sweet wines can be aged in oak. - Their color gets darker as they age. - Lebanese wines are wines that are made in Lebanon. - Lebanon produces red, white, rose, sweet, and faqsh wine. - Sweet wines are usually cooked wines, where the grape must is boiled pre-fermentation. - Faqsh wine is the traditional dry wine of Lebanon. It is cooked pre-fermentation, however when it comes to a simmer, it is removed off the heat and fresh grapes are crushed on their surface, in order for wild yeast to activate the fermentation. - Red Lebanese wines are known for their intense black fruits flavor due to the warm climate of the Bekaa valley. - Obaidi is the dominant white grape that is used for white wine and also for the production of arak. - White wines are fresh and zesty, especially those that are coming from high altitude vineyards. The above illustration summarizes how most dry and still white, red, and rose wines are made. Both white and rose have the juice fermented without the skin. Both can either have the grapes pressed directly after they are crushed or macerated for a few hours with the skin before they pressed. The juice undergoes alcoholic fermentation at a cool temperature with an average of 17 C. The majority of white and rose wines don't undergo malolactic fermentation and are usually fined quickly with minimal aging and bottled to preserve freshness and acidity. Sparkling wines have a similar fermentation method, but usually at the end of the alcoholic fermentation a small percentage of sugar is added into the wine and then bottled, the wine referments in the bottle producing a bit more alcohol and CO2 gas, which is where the bubbles come from. As for red wines, the grapes are crushed and alcoholic fermentation usually occurs with the grape skin in contact with the juice. Alcoholic fermentation in red wines is called primary fermentation and usually occurs between 21 C and 32 C. After the alcoholic fermentation occurs, red wine usually undergoes a secondary fermentation called malolactic fermentation (MLF) after the wine is pressed, which converts the malic acid into lactic acid. This usually makes red wines more silky and savory. Then full-bodied red wines are usually aged in oak and light bodied wines are fined and bottled. Some wines also undergo bottle aging at the winery (also called cellaring) before they are released into the market. · Always use stemware glassware to drink wine · Never put ice in your wine · Always hold the glass by the stem or base · When opening the bottle, do it quietly · When clinking: clink glasses bell to bell (it reduces breakage) and look your clinking-buddy in the eye. · When Pouring wine, hold the bottle at the base · Always fill your glass less than halfway · Pour wine for others before pouring to yourself · Avoid Flavor Interference: avoid strong flavors like gum, coffee, smoking, or other strong flavors when tasting wine. Photo credit: Winefolly: Wine Tasting Wine tasting involves most of your 5 senses, it's an immersive experience that helps you drown out the noise from the world around you and lets you focus on the wine that's in your hands. The steps are as follows: Step 1: Look In this step you look down at the wine to identify the color, which can indicate the age and body. Then you swirl and look at the legs which indicated the alcohol content, it's scientific name is called the Gibbs-Marangoni effect, simply put, its when alcohol evaporates from the wine. So when more legs/tears form faster, it means that the wine has higher alcohol content. Step 2: Sniff This step helps you identify the aromas that are present in the wine. In general wine aromas are classified into primary, secondary, and tertiary aromas. The primary aromas are usually fruit aromas and reflect the varietal/grape expression. The secondary aromas reflect the terroir and winemaking process, and the tertiary aromas are aging aromas that develop as the wine matures. Even though most tertiary aromas are desirable, like wood notes, earthiness, etc. also some of them are wine defects, like acetic, moldy, chemically, etc. Step 3: Taste Tasting involves both the tongue and the nose, since the majority of taste is also smell. In other words, you can only taste salt, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory/umami without getting your nose involved. That's why you might have noticed a lot of wine geeks doing all sorts of weird things with their mouth as they taste the wine. However, to keep it simple, take a sip, swirl it in your mouth, then inhale from your mouth and exhale from your nose after you swallow, and marvel at what you've just tasted. The role of air and smell Moreover, it can also be aerated in the mouth, which boosts the dispersion of the wine on the tongue and release the odor while inhaling. For an optimal sensory experience, inhalation should be done with both the mouth and the nose at the same time. · Body or heaviness. If the food is rich and heavy, choose a full-bodied wine that won't be overwhelmed. If the food is light and delicate, go with a light, delicate wine. · Acidity. If you have an acidic food, maybe with a lemon sauce, choose an acidic wine. · A light-bodied wine like a fruity white wine may taste like water when paired with a steak or roast. · Light acidic white wines including champagne with varying degrees of dryness are generally good aperitifs that go well with appetizers. · The goal of pairing wine with food is to have the two reach a pleasing balance, without one overwhelming or clashing with the other. · Contrast is usually good, especially when it’s a balancing act. Sweet red wine goes perfectly well with blue cheese and chocolate truffles. Wine aromas are the odors expressed by the wine. Aromas fall into 12 odor groups which are: · Even though most animal notes are negative or reducing, there are some that are positive. · Negative – defect : horse sweat – wet dog – fish – sweat · Positive: Leather – tender meat · However, if positive notes are over powering, they can be indicative of wine defect. 2. Aromatic Herbs · Most herbal notes are positive, however there are some that are negative · Negative – defect: Turpentine – camphor (waxy) · Positive: Thyme – mint – rosemary – basil · Ethereal odors are odors similar to chemicals, and usually are negative and reducing. · Negative – defect : paint – soap – iodine – ethanol – acetone – solvent – wax – Acetic – iron – sulfur · Floral notes are odors that resemble flowers and are almost always positive. · Positive: Rose – lily – iris – violet – elder – citrus blossom – Melissa – peach flowers – dill 5. Dried Fruit – Jam · Dried fruit notes are aromas that are also found in jam and cooked fruits. · Positive: dates – blackberry jam – strawberry jam – dried figs – peanuts – almonds · Such notes are almost always positive, pleasant aromas and flavors that are sometimes mistaken for sweetness in dry wines · Positive: plum – wild berries – strawberry – peach – apple – banana – melon – coconut – guava – passion fruit – cherry – mandarin – papaya – grapefruit · Such notes are also desirable in wines, they add complexity and character. The main flavoring agent is the wood barrel that is used in the aging process. · Positive Notes: oak – cedar – sandal wood – bark – chestnut – walnut · Mineral or earthy notes are desirable when they are faint, however they can become reductive odors when they become too strong and mask other aromas in the wine. · Negative – defect : chalk – iodine – silica – pencil · Positive: amber – river stone – mineral – wet clay – wet forest · Such notes usually accompany wood notes; however some grape varieties that aren’t aged in oak can have some spice expressions, such as Syrah and Malbec. They are generally positive, but can become negative if they mask the other wine aromas. · Negative – defect : graphite – garlic – cumin – onion – green pepper – bell pepper · Positive: nutmeg – ginger – cardamom – tea – tobacco leaf – licorice root – cinnamon 10. Toasted – Empyreumatic · Such notes also usually accompany wood notes. They are generallym positive, but can become negative if they mask the other wine aromas. · Negative – defect : gun powder – burning rubber – cigarette smoke – tar – rubber – burnt plastic · Positive: roasting – coffee – chocolate – caramel – toast – frankincense – wood smoke – cocoa – toasted almonds 11. Vegetal – Herbal · Notes resembling vegetables and legumes, sometimes unripe fruits and zest. When subtle, they are generally desired in white and rose wines; they can complement some fruity reds, but will become a defect when they mask other aromas. · Negative – defect : raddish – geranium – cooked asparagus – cooked cabbage - artichoke · Positive: cut grass – celery – green coffee – fern – cucumber – hummus 12. Wide – Different – Miscellaneous · Since smell is a subjective olfactory perception, people might pick up much more aromas that are not encompassed by the categories below, which can lie on either end of the sensation spectrum. · Negative – defect: celluloid – oxidized notes – ink – oyster – gasoline – ash – medicine – plastic – etc. · Positive: candy – ginger bread – honey – cookie – croissant – praline – beeswax – yeast – brown sugar – gum – macaroon – volcanic soil – etc.
A modern history of Macedonia through music The Gypsy wedding band was slightly the worse for booze, the perpetual pom-pom-pom of the davul drum rhythmical, insistent, throbbed like a fever pulse in the sizzling heat, while the zurna — a kind of trumpeted clarinet with stops instead of keys and the instrument of choice among Turkified Roma — emitted a kind of dirge-like, screechy, piercing Oriental whine in a 9/8 Gypsy rhythm (“My head is like a zurna,” is what the Turks use to express a hangover). Meanwhile, at the church of Sveti Spas, an Orthodox wedding was taking place — Old Skopje offered up a mosaic of impressions. Skopje is a divided city. The west is modern and Macedonian. The east has a Turkish air and is predominantly Albanian and Muslim. The Vardar flows through the middle and divides the old town from the new town. Old Skopje looks Eastern and smells Eastern, maintaining a bit of the old Turkish flavor it had when Old Skopje was called Üsküp during the Ottoman period. Most of the people whom you see in its narrow streets are Albanian Muslims. In Turkish times nearly two-thirds of the whole population of Skopje was Muslim. Many of the Muslims left in the ’20s. The Christian newcomers settled on the south bank of the Vardar, and the old town remained, and remains to this day, predominantly Muslim. Some of the Muslims are Islamicised Slavs, but mostly they are Albanians. On the one hand, the clash of cultures in Skopje makes its street life colorful. However, it has its dark side. National identity is a big issue in Skopje and in Macedonia and almost everyone, cosmopolitan artists and intellectuals included, has a chauvinistic streak. You could say history is to blame. Everyone wishing for a Greater Greece, Greater Bulgaria, Greater Serbia, Greater Romania, or Greater Albania, it seems, has laid claim to Macedonia. Typically, in Macedonia these ethnic divisions are played out in an ongoing and never-ending war of national monuments, with each ethnicity unwilling to be cowed by the others’ hectoring memorials and sometimes tampering with history by erecting or dismantling historical monuments that confirmed or refuted their thesis. In 2001, following the war between Albanian separatists and the Macedonian army, a huge cross, dubbed the Millennium Cross, was erected on the Vodena mountain which towers above Skopje to the east. Not to be outdone, the Albanians countered with a bronze equestrian statue of the 15th-century Albanian warrior and national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderberg (1405-1468) in the c[h]ars[h]ija in 2006, which rears up facing the Macedonian part of town across the old stone bridge spanning the Vardar. We came naked into this world and we will go back naked. And we don’t want to have a homeland. All the world is our homeland. Caught between the Albanians and the Christian Slavs is Macedonia’s third biggest minority, the Roma. In fact, low standard of living aside, compared to their populations in many East European countries the Roma do not have it so bad in Macedonia. Macedonia is the Balkan nation with the most integrated Roma populations. In Skopje there is Roma TV and radio and schooling in the Roma language, and Macedonia is the only country in the world with Roma political parties, as well as Roma MPs. There are two main Roma mahalas — quarters — on the periphery of Skopje, both of which were founded after the 1963 earthquake when a lot of makeshift housing was erected to accommodate those left homeless by the disaster. The first settlement is Topana, where Esma Redzepova was born. Redzepova is probably Macedonia’s most famous living celebrity and, along with crooner Muharem Serbezovski, a living icon of Macedonian Roma music. She’s the Queen of the Gypsies, like the late Saban Bajramovic was the King. Born in 1943, at the age of twelve she composed “Chaje Shukarije” (Beautiful Girl), which became her most popular song, and by the age of thirteen had composed 30 songs in Romanes and in Macedonian. In the ’60s her songs swept Yugoslavia. She performed for Tito, was crowned Queen of the Gypsies by Indira Gandhi, crisscrossed the globe with gigs in China, Africa, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Mexico, Japan, all the time publicly fighting for world peace and open borders. She is today one of the most important Roma emissaries. I met up with Esma before a show in Skopje. Small and sprightly, a veritable bundle of energy, she had just been awarded a prize by the Macedonian government for lifetime achievement and had this to say about Macedonia and the Roma: I like to be very real. Not to push the things up or down. But I like to tell you the truth. Macedonia is the only country in the world where Roma people are a part of the constitution. We have ministers in the government. There are a lot of people working under the ministers in the government. Macedonia did a lot in education of Gypsy people. And which is very important Macedonia doesn’t assimilate them. The first Gypsy alphabet is coming from Macedonia and also the first Gypsy song in Gypsy language. The first Gypsy singer sang a Gypsy song on Radio Skopje. So the life of Gypsy people in Macedonia is very, very good. All other world countries may take Macedonia as an example and treat Gypsy people the same way. Gypsy people are cosmopolitan. They have never been involved in a war with any other nation. They are unique in this way. And they never occupied another country. There is one sentence which is very common for Gypsies: We came naked into this world and we will go back naked. All the world is our homeland. Sometimes I like to say that animals are more clever than people are. An animal may cross a border without showing any document. As well as the most poisonous snake may move without any barrier. But we the human beings make barriers between us. I am cosmopolitan. The second and by far the most famous Roma mahala is Shutka. With 30,000-40,000 Roma inhabitants, it is sometimes called the biggest Gypsy village in the world and was elevated to fame with Emir Kusturica’s 1987 film Time of the Gypsies, many of whose most colorful scenes were shot in Shutka. But Kusturica’s film presents a by-and-large deceptive picture of Shutka, one of squalor and third-world favela-like conditions. In fact, Shutka is not a slum. It is rather the abode of a kind of Roma middle class, with many, albeit gaudy and tasteless, four-story “villas” complete with rampant stone lions and Ionian columns constructed by successful returned Roma gastarbeiter, or local entrepreneurs. It must be said, however, that the well-off in Shutka are only so by Macedonian norms. One inhabitant I spoke with, the Shutka rapper Al Alion, feels he is not bad off at all, though he only makes 300 euro a month, which is enough to live on when one considers that the only ones in Macedonia who earn more than 500 euro are employees of foreign firms. It was the beginning of July when I found myself in Shutka, and so at the height of the wedding season. As evening fell, everywhere I turned it seemed there was a wedding party going on, with Christmas lights strung out across the streets and Roma women got-up in fancy Oriental gowns, dancing arms linked with pimped-up, sharp-dressing Roma men, some hoisting gin bottles, and children darting to and fro between the legs of the adults. The singer, blinded in one eye by money, cried: “I’m blinded in one eye! God help me become blind in the other!” The stereotypical image of a mahala Gypsy wedding in the West never omits a Balkan brass band. Popularized by the music of Goran Bregovic and the films of Emir Kusturica, in fact this kind of music died out in Shutka with the ’80s. As all over the Balkans, the days of big wedding bands with traditional brass instruments are numbered. Up until recently, the king of Roma wedding music was gnome-like sax maestro Ferus Mustafov with his brand of electric wedding music: sax, clarinet, accordion or keyboards, electric guitar, bass guitar and drums, and a singer, of course. At the same time, Turkish Arabesque music was big among the elderly Roma population. With the war in Kosovo, Albanian Roma refugees, fleeing persecution by Kosovo Albanians, started pouring into Shutka, and with them came tallava, a kind of psychedelic Oriental wedding music popular in the regions of Peja and Gjakova in Kosovo. Tallava features a singer who is likely to go on for hours improvising praises of the newlyweds, the guests, describing in detail the wedding presents, all this to the accompaniment of — to a Western ear — fairly monotonous keyboard improvisation and clarinet solos. Some “songs” can go on for 40 minutes, the rhythm very groovy and just staying that way interminably, inducing a kind of trance-like atmosphere and ending with the singer and musicians positively plastered with baksheesh. I saw a lot of this while in Shutka. Peter Barbaric is a Slovene DJ, who put on the first Balkan Parties in Slovenia in ’91, the year Slovenia split with Belgrade. In the ’80s he brought Ferus Mustafov to Slovenia, extracting Balkan Roma music for the first time from the Gypsy mahala and presenting it for an urban, intellectual audience. He has made numerous trips to Shutka and lately discovered a lot of young Roma who’d spent time living in Germany practicing hip-hop in Shutka. His discoveries led to a CD compilation of Roma hip-hop from Shutka, featuring brass and Oriental samples, blending East and West in a really compelling fashion. According to Barbaric: Before I had this idea of blending the two genres there was a gap. The brass band didn’t have any idea about the rappers even though they lived 200 meters away from that studio where this guy recorded rappers every day. They didn’t want to have anything to do with them. They are some bizarre guys. The rappers at that time didn’t want to have anything to do with the brass band musicians. They were ‘primitive’. They were ‘not urban’. I merged these two musicians and now they feel it’s fun to play together. I left Shutka with the setting sun. A wedding was in progress in front of a half-finished house of exposed brick. Roma women elaborately coiffed and dolled up in glittering sequined dresses danced hand in hand to the tallava of a Gypsy wedding band. As the singer praised the beauty of the bride, elastic bands were stretched over the heads of the musicians and bank notes stuck underneath until the singer, blinded in one eye by money, cried: - “I’m blinded in one eye! God help me become blind in the other!” Sure enough, a generous wedding guest came up and stuck some more baksheesh over his second eye, and the singer went on oblivious to what was going on around him. As I left Shutka behind me I could see the snow atop the Shar mountains, now glowing purple in the setting sun as the sound of tallava wailed away in my head like a drug, the sound of yet another Gypsy wedding, the sound of the East, the soundtrack of Macedonia.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally approved a drug that offers great hope to breast cancer patients worldwide. The drug was synthesized by Harvard University’s Yoshito Kishi from Halichondrin B, an anti breast cancer compound found in sea sponges. FDA has approved Halaven for use against breast cancer The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug that may prove essential for breast cancer treatment. According to reports appearing in the authoritative Nature, the highly complex breast cancer drug known as Halaven (eribulin mesylate) is a culmination of a marathon research that began 25 years ago. The drug was synthesized and isolated from several possible isomers of eribulin by the famous Harvard University Organic Chemist Yoshito Kishi together with his team. Halaven is closely related to Halichondrin B, found in sea sponges The drug is closely related to halichondrin B, a compound found in Sea sponges, scientifically known as Halichondria okadai. Halichondrin B was found to be an effective tumor fighting agent way back in 1986. Its concentration in the sea sponge wasn’t enough to enable commercial production for use in chemotherapy, prompting researchers to try and synthesize synthetic alternatives. For example a ton of Sea sponges could only produce 300mg of Halichondrin B. Halichondrin B was found to be potent against breast cancer Halichondrin B kicked off a marathon research into synthesis of various synthetic alternatives that could mimic its potency against breast cancer and other cancers so as to enable mass production and this is what finally became a success after nearly a quarter century of trying and trying again. Side effects of Halaven Despite Halaven’s importance in treatment of metastatic cancer, the drug has several side effects that may prove a little overwhelming. A decrease in white blood cell count, numbness, peripheral neuropathy, irregular heart beat, and possible harm to unborn babies are some of the dangerous side effects identified by the FDA.
ENZYMES: Speedy Proteins! IMPORTANCE OF ENZYMES Enzymes are biological catalysts that: Increase reaction rates by lowering the amount of energy needed for the reaction to occur 100 -1000 x faster!!! Lowering Activation Energy IMPORTANCE OF ENZYMES Enzymes are biological catalysts that: are NOT changed or used up DO NOT participate in the reaction, simply make the reaction go faster ENZYME STRUCTURE Active Site: Site where reactant binds to enzyme Substrate: The reactant the enzyme can work on The substrate fits like a “key” into the enzyme’s “lock” (active site). Enzymes are very specific about which types of substrates they can work on. Turn to a partner Explain why only the red shape will work in this enzyme. Include the terms enzyme, substrate, active site, and specific. Most enzymes are named after the substrate they work on (usually ending in “-ase”). Lactose (substrate) Peptide bonds (substrate) Lactase (enzyme) Peptidase (enzyme) Product Chemical produced by the reaction. Turn to a Partner Enzymes can bind substrates together …Or break them apart Anabolism “Adding” small units together, making large molecules Catabolism Breaking up large molecules into smaller ones Factors that affect enzyme activity COENZYMES Substances that help the enzyme do its work EX: vitamins INHIBITORS Substances that interfere with the action of the enzyme EX: poisons, toxins 2 Types of Inhibitors Noncompetitive Inhibitors Do NOT block the active site but bind at a different site causing the shape of the active site to change so the substrate can no longer bind. Competitive Inhibitors Block the active site so the substrate cannot bind. Denaturing Changes the shape of the active site Substrate can no longer fit in the active site p. H There is a range of tolerance specific to each enzyme Temperature There is a range of tolerance specific to each enzyme
Imagine having to do number one and two (urinate/defecate) inside a bucket in your room or backyard? Imagine also having to dispose of the contents of that bucket in broad daylight with passersby staring at you in disgust. In fact, you might even inhale the stench from that bucket all night long because it is too late at night and unsafe to go outside to dispose of it. Do you feel disgusted with the scenario painted above or think it is one of those pranks played by a comedian-turned journalist? Unfortunately, this is not a prank and not an imaginary story to make you feel bad either. It is a normal way of life for some residents of Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, once rated Africa and Nigeria’s cleanest and greenest city. This is the story of Odamba East community of Akim Qua town right in the heart of Calabar. Calabar is not only the capital of Cross River State but also the first capital of Nigeria because it served as the first capital of the Southern Protectorate, the Oil River Protectorate, and Niger Coast Protectorate. This was until the late 19th century, when the administrative center of the Southern Protectorate was moved to Lagos in 1906. But Calabar has lost its glory, its beauty, and its pride of place as one of the most pleasant cities in Nigeria. Currently in in many communities within the metropolis, access to toilets and safe water are luxuries only the rich can afford. Even when some households can afford to dig soak-away pits for their toilets, they fill up with more water than waste in less than six months, regardless of their depth. While in the process of providing one for his family, a retired soldier, Johnson Umoren, and his 18-year-old daughter, Grace, shared their experiences of living without a toilet. One could see clearly the picture of shame and disgust in their eyes as they spoke. Many have, however, blamed the topography and the failure of successive governments of the state to provide a central sewage disposal system for the people of the area. Due to this challenge, residents of Odamba East with an estimated population of over 500 have resorted to open defecation or using buckets which are disposed of in very unsanitary ways. To be able to empty one’s bowels, one must be an expert in the art of squatting in dark corners, gutters, or bushes. And the Odamba people, young and old, have mastered the arts and are unbeatable. The Chairman of Odamba East community, Emmanuel Effiong, recounted how difficult life is for the residents of the area. He said not only do they have to unwillingly defecate in the open, they also do not have access to safe and clean drinking water, refuse disposal bins or even good roads. “We cannot get clean water from boreholes because of the ground not giving us what we want. “I cannot count how many people have tried to dig boreholes in these communities, but they can’t achieve it. “The government has failed us because if the government provides us with clean water, toilet facilities and waste disposal bins, people will change their attitude and start practicing good hygiene,” Mr. Effiong told our reporter. Emmanuel Effiong, Odamba Chairman Edet Asuquo, another resident, bemoaned the high cost of drilling and re-drilling boreholes just to get water that is unsafe for use by the people. He said, “Sometimes it would not be up to 15 minutes after fetching, the water will turn to brown because the land is swampy. “I spent two hundred and fifty thousand naira to dig the first borehole which was not good and three hundred and fifty thousand to dig this second one which is still not good. “The water surface is always covered with a reddish-brown substance. It is not good for storage or washing of whites. It is painful that I have a borehole but still must buy water.” A drink of cholera Our reporters spotted some tell-tale signs that there may be a body of water nearby as they explored the inner recesses of Odamba community. On getting there they saw someone drinking from a small dirty body of water which the residents refer to as a stream. Samuel Ekpo was on his way back from work on a hot afternoon and was feeling thirsty and decided to stop by the stream and bent over to scoop the water with his two hands and drank. One of our reporters captured the moment he drank from the dirty stream, and it seemed Mr. Ekpo and other residents of the area have little or no choices. While interacting with Guardpost, Ekpo, argued that there was nothing wrong with drinking from the stream since most residents of the community drank from the stream. He responded in the negative, and added that many people build houses without toilets in the area. Just like Ekpo, most residents of Odamba do not understand that there are consequences for living the way they do. But the importance of proper hygiene practices and access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities cannot be overstated. They help to prevent illnesses that impact families and livelihoods and most importantly, kill children. GuardPost subjected the samples of water collected from three boreholes that service the community and the stream where Mr. Ekpo confidently The test was conducted by Chance Consult Nigeria Limited, a Calabar-based firm that supports Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes in the state. Applying the Nigerian standard for drinking water quality (NSDWQ)-NIS 554:2015, the result revealed heavy metals in proportions higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) and NSDWQ prescribed standards. Water sample from the borehole in Edet Asuquo’s compound Result of water sample test from Edet’s borehole The sample showed 6.45 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of iron, 0.08 mg/l of manganese, 56.0 mg/l of nitrate, 0.28 mg/l nitrite, 0.11 mg/l of chromium, 162.0 mg/l of chloride, 0.12 mg/l of ammonia and 0.02 mg/l of nickel. The sampled water is not only highly contaminated but also has unusual color, odour and turbidity and contains high level of iron, manganese, nitrate, ammonia, sulphide, and chromium. It is, therefore, not suitable for domestic purposes and can only be improved by conventional treatment processes. Sample from the borehole in Eno Paul’s compound The water showed turbidity at 64.4 per mg/l; iron at 0.64 per mg/l; aluminum at 0.12 per mg/l; sulphide content at 0.012 per mg/l, chromium at 0.24 per mg/l; phosphate at 8.43 per mg/l; calcium at 21.4 per mg/l, and chloride at 41.0 per mg/l. The water source is putrid and has higher concentrations of physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters. It is not safe for consumption Sample from Joseph Emmanuel’s borehole The above sample revealed 0.00 mg/l of iron; 0.00 mg/l chromium; 12.8 per mg/n of nitrate, 0.02 mg/l of nitrite and a PH level of 5.9 mg/l. While the water is slightly acidic, the PH level is within acceptable level for ambient water and the rest of the parameters tested are also within acceptable concentration for drinking water. The borehole in Joseph Edem’s compound is rated suitable for drinking and domestic use. Water sample from Odamba stream The sample contains coliform count of 50 per 100 ml; fecal coliform count of 22 per 100 ml; nitrate of 0.21 per mg/l; ammonia of 0.11 per mg/l; sulphide of 0.12 and chromium of 0.06 mg/l. This water source looks harmless because of the satisfactory physical parameters of color and turbidity. However, chemical parameters of nitrate, sulphide and chromium are indications of decaying organic matter. The stream is contaminated with microbial pathogens but can be purified via filtration and chlorination. Experts say that long term exposure to high levels of chromium as shown in the test results cause asthma, bronchitis, contact dramatis, lung cancer and hypersensitivity. According to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, high levels of nitrates in water can cause heart attack, cognitive impairment and delay in development Although iron is needed in drinking water for the heart, its high level in drinking water can cause diabetes and hemochromatosis which can damage the liver, the heart, and the pancreas. Long-term ingestion of water with high levels of ammonia can lead to ammonia poisoning, fever, chest pain, difficulty in breathing and cough. Samples collected from Odamba stream showed high count of coliform and fecal matter. Drinking such water can result in stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever, kidney failure and hepatitis in people with weakened immune system like children and the elderly. The concept of portable drinking water is that it has to be safe for drinking and cooking, but two out of the three borehole samples collected are not suitable for domestic purposes unless through purification while the stream is highly contaminated. There was a strong campaign using the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, to trigger and empower community members to change their attitudes towards hygiene and sanitation. Financial support was also made available to enable households to construct toilets. In 2018, the state came up with a draft roadmap for elimination of open defecation by 2025. The roadmap had plans, activities, and investments to be made in the WASH sector. But sadly since 2018 up till 2022, there has been no increase in the number of local governments that have attained ODF status. The reality on ground makes it difficult to believe the government is still committed to ending open defecation. Guardpost.ng visited the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) being the key agency handling ODF campaigns in the state to ascertain the readiness to walk the talk on ODF. Our correspondent had a joint interview with the Director General (RUWASSA), Etta Ikpeme and the Head of Department, Sanitation and Hygiene, Sarah Odey. “The agency has the capacity, training and enthusiasm to follow through with the roadmap to eliminating OD in Cross River by 2025 but the only thing holding us back is finance,” Mr. Ikpeme said. “The state government is still committed to ending open defecation by 2025 because that is the national roadmap which the state has keyed into.” The RUWASSA boss admitted that to help most of the ODF communities keep up with their new way of life, provisions were made for construction of public toilets and boreholes. Reacting to the situation in Odamba community, Mr. Etta suggested that the local government should pass a byelaw insisting that anybody that builds a house must have a toilet and periodic inspection taken to ensure compliance. He insisted that the excuse that the area is waterlogged and under the sea level should not be accepted. Goodwill without action A WASH activist, Nanpet Chuktu, argues that after 2018, Cross River State has not invested in ODF nor engage new communities in ODF initiatives. Mr. Chuktu said, “The level of investment is the problem. You don’t engage a few communities and stop. “The Cross River State Government had demonstrated goodwill, made declarations at the international and national levels that they will be the first state to become open defecation free in Nigeria. “But that commitment was not matched with funding. That is where we are because funding gives cross cutting advantage if we really want to achieve ODF by 2025.” He, however, expressed optimism in the goodwill and commitment the state has demonstrated in the past and with renewed efforts by RUWASSA to push ODF activities in Obudu and Abi. Mr. Chuktu said he is dissatisfied with the pace of work done and called for improved funding and spread beyond one local government area at a time. For him, the situation in Odamba East is one out of several unique situations that can be addressed if public water from the state water board is available to the community. He added that the community was right in the heart of the state capital, arguing that there is no reason why residents be denied pipe borne water by the water board. He urged the residents of the area to still dig toilets but make plans to evacuate more frequently. He suggested that the government can also help by providing public toilets and implementing lessons and models from the ODF communities in the state to champion the use of toilets. President Muhamadu Buhari had in 2018, declared an emergency in the WASH sector and launched a national campaign called “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet.” The campaign that was geared towards Nigeria’s journey to becoming open defecation free (ODF) come 2025. If efforts and goodwill put into achieving ODF status in other parts of the country are extended to Odamba East and Odamba West communities and other unreached areas, Nigeria would have been sure of achieving an ODF status in 2025.
Today is the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution. In an attempt to bury the memory of that revolution, bourgeois writers and commentators have poured mountains of filth over it. The truth is that the world is pregnant with revolution and the bourgeoisie fears that the lessons of October 1917 can be used by the workers and youth of today to put an end to this rotten system once and for all. The year 2007 marks nine decades since the greatest event of the 20th century and, arguably, of all human history. On 7th November 1917 (25th October, Old Style), the workers, army units, and sailors of Petrograd rose in armed insurrection and captured the seat of the Russian Provisional Government - the Winter Palace. This act was a key moment in a revolutionary movement that was instrumental in shaping the whole of the 20th century, and beyond. The tremendous impact of the Russian October Revolution was due to one irrefutable fact: the working class, for the first time in history, had captured state power and used it to overthrow the existing order and transform society and existing social relations. Nobody will ever be able to erase this powerful fact from the memory of humanity. The October Revolution was not artificially engineered by a clandestine terrorist organization as many historical revisionists have attempted to claim; on the contrary, it was one of the most popular revolutions in history. The working class whole-heartedly supported it, as was shown by the courageous behavior of the Petrograd sailors and soldiers, that is, workers and peasants in uniform. Of course, the October Revolution of 1917 was not totally without precedents; the Paris Commune and the Russian Revolution of 1905 are well-known examples, but these were all short-lived. The Russian Revolution, however, was extremely successful in this regard. All power in the factories and workplaces was taken away from the bosses and appointed managers and passed into the hands of democratically elected local soviets (soviet being the Russian word for "council"). In turn, these were united into larger bodies of soviets, culminating up to the All-Russian Soviet. Thus, the flow of power in Russia, in the first years after the revolution, proceeded from the bottom up. Soviet officials were directly elected by the workers and were subject to immediate recall if they went against the interests of those who elected them. Revolution was, indeed, the only way forward for Russia. Due to its belated development, Russia was in the same position as Latin America, Asia, and Africa are in today - its bourgeoisie willingly sold itself to Western foreign capital. The Russian capitalists were incapable of making their own revolution and acted as a fetter on their country's development. The task of moving the country forward fell, instead, into the hands of the Russian workers. The 1917 February Revolution brought down the hated Tsarist regime but was unable to go much further. The Provisional Government which came to power after the revolution, did not even proclaim a democratic republic, did not solve the land question, nor introduce political freedoms - all of which are the basic tasks of the national democratic revolution. Instead, from February to October, the Provisional Government only succeeded in destroying itself. During the February Revolution, its grave-digger already came into existence; alongside the "legal" Provisional Government, the real organ of popular power arose - the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In the interim months between the February and October Revolutions - known as the period of "dual power" - the masses of Petrograd struggled with the Provisional Government. The masses were not yet organized enough to remove the Kerensky Provisional Government, which in turn did not have enough support to put down the revolutionary workers. Russian society was becoming increasingly polarized. No bourgeois democracy was possible in Russia since the bourgeoisie did not want a democracy, but a dictatorship. Only two paths were possible for Russia: either a workers' democracy, or a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie under the heel of the White generals. If the Bolsheviks had not taken power, the reformist Socialist Parties would have succeeded in preparing the way for a fascist general to take power instead. Kornilov, a former tsarist officer, decided that Kerensky had let things go too far and with his "savage division", took the road to Petrograd to restore "order" in the city. In vain did Kerensky appeal to the Russian bourgeoisie, who smugly smiled and prepared flowers for the would-be Russian Napoleon. They were a thousand times more inclined to sing "God Save the Tsar" rather than grant an ounce of freedom or income to the workers and peasants. Kerensky, with no one else to cry to, was compelled to turn to the soviets for protection, lest he lose his head. The soviets complied. They carried out a whole-scale arming of the Petrograd population and created detachments composed almost entirely of the factory workers. The soviets showered the advancing enemy with leaflets, calling on them to make peace with their brothers. Kornilov's soldiers deserted with each mile they marched. He never made it to Petrograd. As soon as his army met the first workers' divisions, the soldiers had had enough and Kornilov became a general without an army. Kornliov's coup failed. The Revolution was even so peaceful as to let him and other coup plotters, like General Krasnov, remain free. Later, all of them would repay the revolution for this mistake by becoming its bitter enemies. This shows that the revolution was not violent in 1917 but only became so as a result of the civil war when 21 foreign armies (including Canada) invaded Russian territory to support the anti-Bolshevik White Army. The responsibility for violence rests solely with the counter-revolution. The enemies of the revolution aren't shy in pouring calumnies over its head and one old lie is that October 25 was a militarily organized conspiracy carried out without the support of the masses. But if it was so simple for the Bolsheviks to take power without the support of the masses, why couldn't Kornilov do it? Why didn't the supporters of "order" shower the revolutionary workers with leaflets calling on them to continue being slaves? If Kornilov's army suffered, eroded, and was without discipline, under the white heat of the revolution, why were the Bolsheviks able to muster an army? The fact is that in storming the Winter Palace the Bolsheviks relied mainly on workers, whose revolutionary élan created a new, proletarian order within the army. In particular, the Red Guard, which first came into being in 1905 and was to rapidly grow into the nucleus of the future Red Army, played a key role in the seizure of power. The use of force was therefore carried out on the authority of the Workers' and Soldiers' Soviets, and was accountable to them. Apathy and drunkenness of the tsarist period were transformed into proletarian discipline. In fact, as John Reed tells us, the workers, soldiers and sailors storming the Winter Palace spontaneously checked themselves and put an end to looting, even though they only took items they genuinely needed, such as clothing. What a contrast it was to the drunken and criminal behavior of the Junkers defending the Winter Palace with bottles and cigars! The Russian Revolution was the most democratic and popular event in human history. Freedom of discussion prevailed in the meetings at the factories and in the soviets. Everyone was eager to debate: meetings often proceeded for several days and nights, uninterrupted. Recent cynicism about the Russian revolution in Russia itself can only be explained by decades of Stalinist degeneration and the ultimate betrayal of capitalist restoration. This is why it is even more important to stress the democratic, popular and working-class nature of the Russian Revolution. The workers of Russia in 1917 truly considered themselves to be masters of society. The tsarist and bourgeois culture of subservience was being destroyed. It became forbidden for the superiors to address their subordinates as "thou." The workers were learning to take the reins of power into their own hands. Once the Bolsheviks had gained a majority in the soviets Lenin summoned the party to take the power. Through the soviets the Bolsheviks organized armed insurrections in Petrograd and Moscow to overthrow the Provisional Government before the generals could strangle the revolution in its infancy. The insurrection was enormously successful. The Provisional Government was deserted by almost everyone - even by some of its ministers - before the government was actually overthrown! In a matter of hours, the city of Petrograd was in the hands of the soviet. Moscow followed suit. Soon, most of European Russia was firmly under soviet control. As a matter of fact, the October Revolution was almost bloodless as very few people were willing to defend the rotting corpse of the Kerensky Government. In fact, more people were killed in the filming of Eisenstein's classic film "October." The ease with which the Bolsheviks eventually took power is explained by the fact that 9/10ths of the work of taking power had been carried out before the seizure of power. This leadership can be summed up in Lenin's advice to the Bolsheviks to "patiently explain." The Bolsheviks persuaded the workers and soldiers on the basis of their own experience of the need to take power to end the war and solve the land question under a Soviet government. The role of the Bolshevik party is therefore the key lesson of 1917 and distinguishes the October revolution from all other revolutions in history. As Trotsky explained in his history of the Russian Revolution: "Just as a blacksmith cannot seize the red hot iron in his naked hand, so the proletariat cannot directly seize the power; it has to have an organization accommodated to this task." This is why 1917 will remain forever in the memory of the workers of the world, and why the history of how the party led the working class to power must be studied by all class-conscious workers and youth. With the absolute support of the working class, the soviet government proceeded to act. The old institutions were torn down. The regular army was replaced by the armed people in the form of workers' militias. In the first weeks after October, the soviet government passed hundreds of laws and resolutions, proclaiming women's equality with men, redistribution of land, securing all factories under workers' control, abolishing all ranks and social distinctions, introducing the right to work, and later nationalizing all industry, transforming Russia forever. It seemed that the workers' regime could never be destroyed. A revolutionary wave swept across Europe and Asia. Revolutions sprang up in Germany, Hungary, Iran, and other countries. Sadly, however, the world revolution that the Bolshevik leaders were counting on, was betrayed in country after country by the reformist leaders. Thus, the Revolution was faced with huge obstacles. Isolated and surrounded, the young workers' state did everything in its power to spread the revolution. After four years of war, Russian industry had largely been destroyed, but more importantly, the civil war had taken its toll on the most heroic elements of the Russian working class. A revolution requires active and class-conscious workers to push it forward, but after so many years of struggle, the vanguard of the working class of 1917 was either exhausted or dead. The low cultural level of the population, where only a small minority could read and write, meant that the young workers' state had to rely on the old Tsarist bureaucrats to run society. As workers moved out of politics, a bureaucratic stratum began to dominate politics and put their man, Stalin, in control. This is not the place to deal with the rise of Stalinism, which caused the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. This tragedy for the people of Russia and the world working class has been better dealt with elsewhere, such as in Ted Grant's book, Russia: from Revolution to Counter-Revolution. Today we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Russian workers. This event proved that workers can win and fight back against the combined forces of imperialism. This is why the ruling class does everything in its power to pour filth on the memory of October, for fear that it could happen again. Now, new sections of workers, in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and elsewhere, are re-discovering the lessons of the October Revolution. Re-reading the writings of Lenin, Trotsky, and John Reed on the Russian Revolution one finds ideas that seem very modern when we consider the tasks workers and youth face today. We are confident that this generation will see its own October, learn the lessons of the past, and move to fulfill the destiny that the Russian workers of 90 years ago left unfinished.
From routine cleanings and fillings to bruxism devices, The Dental Dimensions is equipped to handle all your general and cosmetic dentistry needs. To help you understand your options, we've included descriptions of some of our leading services on this page. Dr. Deepak Shetty and Dr. Kavita Bhatia, are a husband and wife team providing quality dental services to Bay Area families. At the Dental Dimensions we offer a full range of general, cosmetic and advanced dental services for all ages with the ultimate goal of providing the highest customer satisfaction-for you-the patient. Amidst all the methods modern dentistry has provided to replace the missing, dental implants have proved to be the best and most preferred. Dental implants are said to be a tooth-replacement option that can give you a long-lasting result. Also, implants help in protecting the tooth-supporting bone from further deterioration when it loses a tooth. One of the major consequences of teeth loss is loss of bone. A dental implant takes the form of a screw-shaped titanium post that serves as a root of a missing tooth. The surgical procedure involved to place an implant is quite minor and requires only local anesthesia. Once the patient crosses the healing period, the implant will be topped with a custom-made permanent crown that will match the appearance of your existing natural teeth. With the help of a minor surgical procedure, our dental implant dentist will place the implants directly into the jawbone of the missing teeth. For a period of months, the dental implants will be left to heal before the permanent crown is fixed. It is during this period of healing, the implants fuse with the jawbone surrounding it. There are a variety of ways, dental implant treatment can help to replace a tooth or teeth: Replace one tooth: If you have one missing tooth, a single implant will be inserted into the bone which will act as a root; a crown is then placed on the top to simulate the natural tooth. This method of treatment has the highest success rate and considered to be the best long-term investment for tooth-restoration. It is said to be a cost-effective solution because the implant tooth will never get impacted due to tooth decay and you will never need any treatment for that for that tooth. It feels and functions very much like a natural tooth. Replace multiple teeth: Implants can provide you with an ideal replacement mechanism if you have more than one missing tooth. The good news is, you don't need an individual implant for every missing tooth. Instead, fixed bridgework can be placed with the help of implant teeth. For example, if you are having three missing teeth in a row, two implants can be placed on either side of the gap; the crown in between will not need an implant underneath. This way, your natural teeth will not be used as a bridge support. Replace an entire arch of teeth: Famously known as all on four dental implants require only four implants to replace an entire of missing teeth per jaw. If the jaw bone density has deteriorated, five to six implants may be used. Dental implants help to protect your jawbone; it does not slip and last for a lifetime. An implant can detach and fail only through two ways: excessive biting forces or poor oral hygiene. Lack of regular cleaning can lead to peri-implantitis which is a destructive bacterial infection. Regular professional cleaning and proper brushing and flossing can help to prevent this. Clenching or grinding of teeth can lead to excessive bite force; an insufficient number of implants cannot handle this force. Probably a night guard can help you with this. After all, implants are a long-term investment and worth to be taken care.
What is Coffee? A coffee tree is actually a shrub, and coffee beans are actually seeds. Coffee trees, which can live up to 100 years, are pruned short to conserve their energy and aid in harvesting, although wild coffee plants can grow to nearly 30′ in height. The average coffee tree produces about 10 pounds of coffee cherry per year, or 2 pounds of green beans. A coffee bean is comprised of 5 primary components: pulp (skin), mucilage (sugars), parchment and silver skin (chaff) and seeds. After harvesting, every part but the seed and silver skin is removed via a variety processes, all of which influence the bean’s flavor characteristics in much the same way as roasting seeks to bring them out. There are over 6000 documented species of coffee, with Arabica and Robusta being the most widely cultivated. Arabica represents approximately 70% of the world’s coffee production with Robusta at nearly 30%. Arabica is the finer of the two varietals, used in specialty coffeeshops, but for a small percentage of Robusta often added to espresso to enhance the crema. Robusta is most notable for its high caffeine content, nearly double that of Arabica. It is also used for instant coffee or farmed for its caffeine which serves as an additive in sodas, energy drinks , caffeinated marshmallows during the holiday season and medical research, among other fine examples. Natural or Dried in the Fruit Process [Dry]: Coffee cherries are sun-dried on brick or cement patios or in raised drying beds, then raked or turned by hand to ensure uniformity. Sugars from the drying cherry imbue the coffee bean with sweetness and impart more soluble solids to the bean that amplify its body. Natural process method is often used in countries where rainfall is scarce and long periods of sunshine are available to dry the coffee properly. Benefit: Sweet, complex and heavy in body. Esselon Coffee: Brazil Cerrado, Ethopia Sidamo Oromia Honey Process: Skin and pulp are removed, but some or all of the mucilage (Honey) remains. Beans are then dried one of 3 ways: on patios or beds, in partial shade, or full shade. The beans they produce are classified as yellow, red or black, displaying the degree to which sugars caramelize on the parchment. This in turn affects sweetness, acidity and body. Benefit: Decreases acidity, increases sweetness and body depending on drying time. Washed Process [Wet]: Skin, pulp, and mucilage are removed using water and fermentation. Coffee beans are sun-dried on a cement patio or waist-high drying tables. The Kenyan wash process, the most complex and labor-intensive of all, involves (2) fermentation cycles, a water scrub then a 24 hour soak which produces remarkably complex and clean coffee beans. Benefit: Clean, bright, and fruity. Esselon Coffee: Colombia Santa Barbara Estate Excelso E/P, Costa Rican SHB E/P, Guatemala Huehuetenango Adiesto SHB, Mexico H/G, Sumatra Aceh Ketiara Drying is critical to the quality and stability of green coffee. Coffee that has been over-dried will become brittle and produce too many broken beans during hulling. On the other hand, coffee that has not been dried sufficiently will be too moist and fall victim to rapid deterioration via fungi and bacteria. Beans are dried to approximately 11% of the original moisture though either natural means (sunlight) or mechanical dryers as needed. This moisture dissipates during the roast process, most notably at 1st Crack where the bean rapidly expands as the remaining moisture is converted into steam and released from the bean. E/P (European Preparation) European Preparation refers to the hand process of removing defective beans and foreign matter (pebbles) from a given amount of green beans. European Preparation allows up to 8 defects per 300g of beans. A/P (American Preparation) American Preparation also refers to the hand process of removing defective beans and foreign matter from a given amount of green beans. Unlike the European Preparation method, A/P allows up to 23 defects per 300g of beans, a standard not generally seen in single-origin specialty coffees.
In-Saeng Suh, Grant J. Mathews, J. Reese Haywood, N. Q. Lan, "Analysis of the Conformally Flat Approximation for Binary Neutron Star Initial Conditions", Advances in Astronomy, vol. 2017, Article ID 6127031, 12 pages, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6127031 Analysis of the Conformally Flat Approximation for Binary Neutron Star Initial Conditions The spatially conformally flat approximation (CFA) is a viable method to deduce initial conditions for the subsequent evolution of binary neutron stars employing the full Einstein equations. Here we analyze the viability of the CFA for the general relativistic hydrodynamic initial conditions of binary neutron stars. We illustrate the stability of the conformally flat condition on the hydrodynamics by numerically evolving ~100 quasicircular orbits. We illustrate the use of this approximation for orbiting neutron stars in the quasicircular orbit approximation to demonstrate the equation of state dependence of these initial conditions and how they might affect the emergent gravitational wave frequency as the stars approach the innermost stable circular orbit. The epoch of gravitational wave astronomy has now begun with the first detection [1, 2] of the merger of binary black holes by Advanced LIGO . Now that the first ground based gravitational wave detection has been achieved, observations of binary neutron star mergers should soon be forthcoming. This is particularly true as other second generation observatories such as Advanced VIRGO and KAGRA will soon be online. In addition to binary black holes, neutron star binaries are thought to be among the best candidate sources gravitational radiation [6, 7]. The number of such systems detectable by Advanced LIGO is estimated [7–14] to be of order several events per year based upon observed close binary-pulsar systems [15, 16]. There is a difference between neutron star mergers and black hole mergers; however, in that neutron star mergers involve the complex evolution of the matter hydrodynamic equations in addition to the strong gravitational field equations. Hence, one must carefully consider both the hydrodynamic and field evolution of these systems. To date there have been numerous attempts to calculate theoretical templates for gravitational waves from compact binaries based upon numerical and/or analytic approaches (see, e.g., [17–26]). However, most approaches utilize a combination of post-Newtonian (PN) techniques supplemented with quasicircular orbit calculations and then applying full GR for only the last few orbits before disruption. In this paper we analyze the hydrodynamic evolution in the spatially conformally flat metric approximation (CFA) as a means to compute stable initial conditions beyond the range of validity of the PN regime, that is, near the last stable orbits. We establish the numerical stability of this approach based upon many orbit simulations of quasicircular orbits. We show that one must follow the stars for several orbits before a stable quasicircular orbit can be achieved. We also illustrate the equation of state (EoS) dependence of the initial conditions and associated gravitational wave emission. When binary neutron stars are well separated, the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation is sufficiently accurate . In the PN scheme, the stars are often treated as point masses, either with or without spin. At third order, for example, it has been estimated [28–30] that the error due to assuming the stars are point masses is less than one orbital rotation over the ~16,000 cycles that pass through the LIGO detector frequency band . Nevertheless, it has been noted in many works [25, 31–42] that relativistic hydrodynamic effects might be evident even at the separation (~10–100km) relevant to the LIGO window. Indeed, the templates generated by PN approximations, unless carried out to fifth and sixth order [28, 29], may not be accurate unless the finite size and proper fluid motion of the stars are taken into account. In essence, the signal emitted during the last phases of inspiral depends upon the finite size and the equation of state (EoS) through the tidal deformation of the neutron stars and the cut-off frequency when tidal disruption occurs. Numeric and analytic simulations [43–51] of binary neutron stars have explored the approach to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). While these simulations represent some of the most accurate to date, simulations generally follow the evolution for a handful of orbits and are based upon initial conditions of quasicircular orbits obtained in the conformally flat approximation. Accurate templates of gravitational radiation require the ability to stably and reliably calculate the orbit initial conditions. The CFA provides a means to obtain accurate initial conditions near the ISCO. Here, we summarize the original CFA approach and associated general relativistic hydrodynamics formalism developed in [32, 34, 53, 54] and illustrate that it can produce stable initial conditions anywhere between the post-Newtonian to ISCO regimes. We quantify how long this method takes to converge to quasiequilibrium and demonstrate the stability by subsequently integrating up to ~100 orbits for a binary neutron star system. We also analyze the EoS dependence of these quasicircular initial orbits and show how these orbits can be used to make preliminary estimates of the gravitational wave signal for the initial conditions. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 the basic method is summarized and in Section 3 a number of code tests are performed in the quasiequilibrium circular orbit limit to demonstrate the stability of the technique. The EoS dependence of the initial conditions and associated gravitational wave frequency are analyzed in Section 4. Conclusions are presented in Section 5. 2.1. Field Equations The solution of the field equations and hydrodynamic equations of motion were first solved in three spatial dimensions and explained in detail in the 1990s in [31, 32] and subsequently further reviewed in [53, 58]. Here, we present a brief summary to introduce the variables relevant to the present discussion. One starts with the slicing of space-time into the usual one-parameter family of hypersurfaces separated by differential displacements in a time-like coordinate as defined in the () ADM formalism [59, 60]. In Cartesian , , isotropic coordinates, proper distance is expressed aswhere the lapse function describes the differential lapse of proper time between two hypersurfaces. The quantity is the shift vector denoting the shift in space-like coordinates between hypersurfaces. The curvature of the metric of the 3-geometry is described by a position-dependent conformal factor times a flat-space Kronecker delta (). This conformally flat condition (together with the maximal slicing gauge, ) requires where is the extrinsic curvature tensor and are 3-space covariant derivatives. This conformally flat condition on the metric provides a numerically valid initial solution to the Einstein equations. The vanishing of the Weyl tensor for a stationary system in three spatial dimensions guarantees that a conformally flat solution to the Einstein equations exists. One consequence of this conformally flat approximation to the three-metric is that the emission of gravitational radiation is not explicitly evolved. Nevertheless, one can extract the gravitational radiation signal and the back reaction via a multipole expansion [32, 61]. An application to the determination of the gravitational wave emission from the quasicircular orbits computed here is given in . The advantage of this approximation is that conformal flatness stabilizes and simplifies the solution to the field equations. As a third gauge condition, one can choose separate coordinate transformations for the shift vector and the hydrodynamic grid velocity to separately minimize the field and matter motion with respect to the coordinates. This set of gauge conditions is key to the present application. It allows one to stably evolve up to hundreds and even thousands of binary orbits without the numerical error associated with the frequent advocating of fluid through the grid. Given a distribution of mass and momentum on some manifold, then one first solves the constraint equations of general relativity at each time for a fixed distribution of matter. One then evolves the hydrodynamic equations to the next time step. Thus, at each time slice a solution to the relativistic field equations and information on the hydrodynamic evolution is obtained. The solutions for the field variables , , and reduce to simple Poisson-like equations in flat space. The Hamiltonian constraint is used to solve for the conformal factor [32, 62]In the Newtonian limit, the RHS is dominated by the proper matter density , but in strong fields and compact neutron stars there are also contributions from the internal energy density , pressure , and extrinsic curvature. The source is also significantly enhanced by the generalized curved-space Lorentz factor where is the time component of the relativistic four velocity and are the covariant spatial components. This factor, , becomes important near the last stable orbit as the specific kinetic energy of the stars rapidly increases. We note that, in early applications of this approach, the source for the shift vector contained a spurious term due to an incorrect transformation between contravariant and covariant forms of the momentum density as was pointed out in [34, 52]. As illustrated in those papers, this was the main reason why early hydrodynamic calculations induced a controversial additional compression on stars causing them to collapse to black holes prior to inspiral . This problem no longer exists in the formulation summarized here. 2.2. Relativistic Hydrodynamics To solve for the fluid motion of the system in curved-space time it is convenient to use an Eulerian fluid description . One begins with the perfect fluid stress-energy tensor in the Eulerian observer rest frame, where is the relativistic four velocity one-form. By introducing the usual set of Lorentz contracted state variables it is possible to write the relativistic hydrodynamic equations in a form which is reminiscent of their Newtonian counterparts . The hydrodynamic state variables are the coordinate baryon mass density the coordinate internal energy density the spatial three velocityand the covariant momentum density In terms of these state variables, the hydrodynamic equations in the CFA are as follows: the equation for the conservation of baryon number takes the form The equation for internal energy evolution becomes Momentum conservation takes the formwhere the last term in (15) is the contribution from the radiation reaction potential as defined in [32, 57]. In the construction of quasistable orbit initial conditions, this term is set to zero. Including this term would allow for a calculation of the orbital evolution via gravitational wave emission in the CFA. However, there is no guarantee that this is a sufficiently accurate solution to the exact Einstein equations. Hence, the CFA is useful for the construction of initial conditions. 2.3. Angular Momentum and Orbital Frequency In the quasicircular orbit approximation (neglecting angular momentum in the radiation field), this system has a Killing vector corresponding to rotation in the orbital plane. Hence, for these calculations the angular momentum is well defined and given by an integral over the space-time components of the stress-energy tensor ; that is, Aligning the -axis with the angular momentum vector then gives To find the orbital frequency detected by a distant observer corresponding to a fixed angular momentum we employ a slightly modified derivation of the orbital frequency compared to that of . In asymptotically flat coordinates the angular frequency detected by a distant observer is simply the coordinate angular velocity; that is, one evaluates In the ADM conformally flat () curved space, our only task is then to deduce from code coordinates. For this we make a simple polar coordinate transformation keeping our conformally flat coordinates, so Now, the code uses covariant four velocities, . This gives . Finally, one must density weight and volume average over the fluid differential volume elements. This givesThis form differs slightly from that of but leads to the similar results. A key additional ingredient, however, is the implementation of a grid three velocity that minimizes the matter motion with respect to and . Hence, the total angular frequency to a distant observer , and in the limit of rigid corotation, , where . For the orbit calculations illustrated here we model corotating stars, that is, no spin in the corotating frame. This minimizes matter motion on the grid. However, we note that there is need at the present time of initial conditions for arbitrarily spinning neutron stars and the method described here is equally capable of supplying those initial conditions. As a practical approach the simulation of initial conditions is best run first with viscous damping in the hydrodynamics for sufficiently long time (a few thousand cycles) to relax the stars to a steady state. Subsequently, one can run with no damping. In the present illustration we examine stars at large separation which are in quasiequilibrium circular orbits and stable hydrodynamic configurations. In the initial relaxation phase the orbits are circularized by damping any radial velocity components. During the evolution, the rigorous conservation of angular momentum is imposed by adjusting the orbital angular velocity in (20) such that (17) remains constant. The simulated orbits described in this work span the time from the last several minutes up to orbit inspiral. Here, we illustrate the stability of the multiple orbit hydrodynamic simulation and examine where the initial conditions for the strong field orbit dynamics computed here deviates from the post-Newtonian regime. 3. Code Validation 3.1. Code Tests To evolve stars at large separation distance it is best to decompose the grid into a high resolution domain with a fine matter grid around the stars and a coarser domain with an extended grid for the fields. Figure 1 shows a schematic of this decomposition from . As noted in it is best to keep the number of zones across each star between 25 and 40 . This keeps the error in the numerics below 0.5%. It has also been pointed out that an artificial viscosity (AV) shock capturing scheme has an advantage over Riemann solvers because only about half as many zones are required to accurately resolve the stars when an AV scheme is employed compared to a Riemann solver. The time steps are taken as the minimum of the time step as determined by several conditions. Each condition is also multiplied by a number less than one to accommodate the nonlinear nature of the equations. The first condition is known as the Courant condition, that is, a search over all zones for the zone with the minimum sound crossing time: where is the sound speed in the th zone. The Newtonian sound speed is given by the variation of pressure with density. In relativity the wave speed is given instead by the adiabatic derivative of the pressure with respect to the relativistic inertial density. In terms of relativistic variables the local sound speed in zone then becomes The second condition is a search for the zone with minimum time for material to flow across a zone This constraint is introduced to ensure stability and accuracy in the numerical advection calculation. The third condition is introduced to maintain stability of the artificial viscosity algorithm. The viscous equations are analogous to a diffusion equation in four velocity with a diffusion coefficient , where . We then can define a minimum viscous diffusion time across a zone derived from the stability condition for explicit diffusion equations The time step is then assigned to be some fraction (referred to as the Courant parameter) of the minimum of these three conditionsObviously, smaller values for increase the accuracy of the calculation but also increase the computation time. Figure 2 shows a plot of orbital velocity versus time for various values of the Courant parameter. This figure establishes that the routines for the hydrodynamics are stable (e.g., changing the Courant condition has little to effect) as long as . Figure 3 illustrates the difference between the central density and the central density () at the highest resolution of 52 zones for single isolated stars. This is expressed as the fractional error as a function of the number of zones across a star. This plot was calculated using the relatively soft MW EoS, that is, the zero temperature and zero neutrino chemical potential limit of the EoS that has previously been used to model core-collapse supernovae [32, 53, 65]. This figure illustrates that here is only a 1% error in central density with ≈15 zones across the star, while increasing the number of zones across the star to >35 produces less than a 0.1%. In the illustrations below we maintain and ≈25 zones across each star as the best choice for both speed and accuracy needed to compute stable orbital initial conditions. 3.2. Orbit Stability As an illustration of the orbit stability Figure 4 shows results from a simulation in which the angular momentum was fixed at cm2 and the Courant parameter set to . For this orbital calculation the MW EoS was employed and each star was fixed at a baryon mass of and a gravitational mass in isolation of . Figure 4 shows the evolution of the orbital angular velocity versus computational cycle for the first 30,000 code cycles corresponding to ≈20 orbits. The stars were initially placed on the grid using a solution of the TOV equation in isotropic coordinates for an isolated star. The stars were initially set to be corotating but were allowed to settle into their binary equilibrium. Notice that it takes ~5,000 cycles, corresponding to ~3 orbits, just to approach the quasiequilibrium binary solution. Indeed, the stars continued to gradually compact and slightly increase in orbital frequency until ~10 orbits; afterward, the stars were completely stable. Figure 5 shows the contours of the lapse function (roughly corresponding to the gravitational potential) and corresponding density profiles at cycle numbers, 0, 5200, and 25800 (≈0, 5, and 19 orbits). Figure 6 shows the contours of central density and the orientation of the binary orbit corresponding to these cycle numbers. One can visibly see from these figures the relaxation of the stars after the first few orbits and the stability of the density profiles after multiple orbits. We note, however, that this orbit is on the edge of the ISCO. As such it could be unstable to inspiral even after many orbits. Figures 7 and 8 further illustrate this point. In these simulations various angular momenta were computed with a slightly higher neutron star mass ( and ), but the same MW EoS. In this case the binary system was followed for nearly 100 orbits. Figure 7 illustrates orbital angular frequency versus cycle number for three representative angular momenta bracketing the ISCO. The orbital separation for the lowest angular momentum ( cm−2) shown on Figure 7 is just inside the ISCO. Hence, even though it requires about 10 orbits before inspiral, the orbit is eventually unstable. Similarly, Figure 8 shows the central density versus number of orbits for 6 different angular momenta. Here one can see that orbits with cm−2 are stable. Indeed, for these cases, after about the first 3 orbits the orbits continue with almost no discernible change in orbit frequency or central density. As mentioned previously, the numerical relativistic neutron binary simulations of all start with initial data that are subsequently evolved in a different manner compared to those with which they were created. One conclusion that may be drawn from the above set of simulations, however, is that the initial data must be evolved for ample time (>3 orbit) for the stars to reach a true quasiequilibrium binary configuration. That has not always been done in the literature. 4. Sensitivity of Initial Condition Orbital Parameters to the Equation of State 4.1. Equations of State One hope in the forthcoming detection of gravitational waves is that a sensitivity exists to the neutron star equation of state. For illustration we utilize several representative equations of state often employed in the literature. These span a range from relatively soft to stiff nuclear matter. These are used to illustrate the EoS dependence of the initial conditions. One EoS often employed is that of a polytrope, that is, , with , where in cgs units, , and g cm−3. These parameters, with g cm−3, produce an isolated star having a radius = 17.12 km and baryon mass = . As noted in previous sections we utilize the zero temperature and zero neutrino chemical potential MW EoS [32, 53, 65]. The third is the equation of state developed by Lattimer and Swesty with two different choices of compressibility, one having compressibility MeV and the other having MeV. We denote these as LS 220 and LS 375. The fourth EoS has been developed by Glendenning . This EoS has MeV, which is close to the experimental value . We denote this EoS as GLN. Table 1 illustrates the properties of isolated neutron stars generated with each EoS. For each case the baryon mass was chosen to obtain a gravitational mass for each star of . In Figure 9 we plot the equation of state index versus density, , for the various EoSs considered here. These are compared to the simple polytropic = 2 EoS often employed in the literature. 4.2. EoS Dependence of the Initial Condition Orbit Parameters Table 2 summarizes the initial condition orbit parameters at various fixed angular momenta for the various equations of state. In the case of orbits unstable to merger, this table lists the orbit parameters just before inspiral. These orbits span a range in specific angular momenta of ~5 to 10. The equations of state listed in Tables 1 and 2 are in approximate order of increasing stiffness from the top to the bottom. As expected, the central densities are much higher for the relatively soft MW and GLN equations of state. Also, the orbit angular frequencies are considerably lower for the extended mass distributions of the stiff equations of state than for the more compact soft equations of state. These extended mass distributions induce a sensitivity of the emergent gravitational wave frequencies and amplitude due to the strong dependence of the gravitational wave frequency to the quadrupole moment of the mass distribution. 4.3. Gravitational Wave Frequency The physical processes occurring during the last orbits of a neutron star binary are currently a subject of intense interest. As the stars approach their final orbits it is expected that the coupling of the orbital motion to the hydrodynamic evolution of the stars in the strong relativistic fields could provide insight into various physical properties of the coalescing system [58, 69]. In this regard, careful modeling of the initial conditions is needed which includes both the nonlinear general relativistic and hydrodynamic effects as well as a realistic neutron star equation of state. Figure 10 shows the EoS sensitivity of the gravitational wave frequency as a function of proper separation between the stars for the various orbits and equations of state summarized in Table 2. These are compared with the circular orbit condition in the (post)-Newtonian approximation, hereafter PN, analysis of reference . In that paper a search was made for the inner most stable circular orbit in the absence of radiation reaction terms in the equations of motion. This is analogous to the calculations performed here which also analyzes orbit stability in the absence of radiation reaction. In the (post)-Newtonian equations of motion, a circular orbit is derived by setting time derivatives of the separation, angular frequency, and the radial acceleration to zero. This leads to the circular orbit condition where is the circular orbit frequency and , is the separation in harmonic coordinates, and is a relative acceleration parameter which for equal mass stars becomesEquations (26) and (27) can be solved to find the orbit angular frequency as a function of harmonic separation . The gravitational wave frequency is then twice the orbit frequency, . Although this is a gauge-dependent comparison, for illustration we show in Figure 10 the calculated gravitational wave frequency compared to the PN expectation as a function of proper binary separation distance up to km. One should keep in mind, however, that there is some uncertainty in associating proper distance with the PN parameter (). Hence, a comparison with the PN results is not particularly meaningful. It is nevertheless instructive to consider the difference in the numerical results as the stiffness of the EoS is varied. The polytropic and stiff EoSs begin to deviate (by >10%) from the softer equations of state (MW and GLN) for a gravitational wave frequency as low as ~100 Hz and more or less continue to deviate as the stars approach the ISCO at higher frequencies. Indeed, a striking feature of Figure 10 is that as the stars approach the ISCO, the frequency varies more slowly with diminishing separation distance for the softer equations of state. A gradual change in frequency can mean more orbits in the LIGO window and hence a stronger signal to noise (cf. ). Also, for a soft EoS the orbit becomes unstable to inspiral at a larger separation. At least part of the difference between the soft and stiff EoSs can be attributed to the effects of the finite size of the stars which are more compact for the soft equations of state . We note that, for comparable angular momenta, our results are consistent with the EoS sensitivity study of based upon a set of equations of state parameterized by a segmented polytropic indices and an overall pressure scale. Their calculations, however, were based upon two independent numerical relativity codes. The similarity of their simulations to the results in Table 2 further confirms the broad validity of the CFA approach when applied to initial conditions. For example, their orbit parameters are summarized in Table II of . Their softest EoS is the Bss221 which corresponds to an adiabatic index of for the core and a baryon mass of and an ADM mass of per star for a specific angular momentum of cm2 (in our units) with a corresponding gravitational wave frequency of 530 Hz at a proper separation of 46 km. This EoS is comparable to the polytropic, MW, and GLN EoSs shown on Figure 10. For example, our closest orbit with the polytropic EoS corresponds to a specific angular momentum of cm2 and an ADM mass of compared to their ADM mass of at cm2 for the same baryon mass of . Although, for the softer EoSs, their results are for a closer orbit than the numerical points given on Figure 10, an extension of the grey line fit to the numerical simulations of the soft EoSs would predict a frequency of 540 Hz at the same proper separation of 46 km compared to 530 Hz in the Bss221 simulation of . The main parameter characterizing the last stable orbit in the post-Newtonian calculation is the ratio of coordinate separation to total mass (in isolation) . The analogous quantity in our nonperturbative simulation is proper separation to gravitational mass, . The separation corresponding to the last stable orbit in the post-Newtonian analysis does not occur until the stars have approached 6.03. For stars, this would correspond to a separation distance of about 25 km. In the results reported here the last stable orbit occurs somewhere just below 7.7 at a proper separation distance of km for both the polytropic and the MW stars. The relativistic hydrodynamic equilibrium in the CFA remains as a viable approach to calculate the initial conditions for calculations of binary neutron stars. In this paper we have illustrated that one must construct initial conditions that have run for at least several orbits before equilibrium is guaranteed. We have demonstrated that beyond the first several orbits the equations are stable over many orbits (~100). We also have shown that such multiple orbit simulations are valuable as a means to estimate the location of the ISCO prior to a full dynamical calculation. Moreover, we have examined the sensitivity of the initial condition orbit parameters and initial gravitational wave frequency to the equation of state. We have illustrated how the initial condition orbital properties (e.g., central densities, orbital velocities, and binding energies) and location of the ISCO are significantly affected by the stiffness of the EoS. - P. B. Abbot, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott et al., “Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 116, no. 6, Article ID 061102, 2016. - P. B. Abbot, R. Abbott, T. D. 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What is a marketing channel? A marketing channel, also known as a distribution channel, is the way in which individuals or businesses deliver their product or service to the consumer. What is the purpose of using marketing channels? The purpose of using marketing channels is to enable producers of goods and service to create an efficient strategy to get the correct products to their target customer/s. What is the principal structure of a marketing channel? A marketing channel always consists of a producer and end user. Between the producer and end user there can be various contributions made by people or businesses who add value by making the product or service more readily available to the end user. Components that make up a marketing channel are: 1. a producer 2. end user/consumer 3. “middle men” – people or businesses who get a product or service closer to the end user. What are the different types of marketing channels? Producer > end user (direct) Producer > Retailer > End User (indirect) Producer > Distributer > Customer (indirect) Producer > Broker > Retailer > Customer (indirect) Where does the selecting of a Marketing channel fit into the process of establishing e-commerce marketing? Researching and modelling potential marketing channels should come directly before the selection of a marketing channel is made. Once a marketing channel is chosen, setting the price of the product or service should immediately follow. Once this is done e-commerce marketing can be established, as there will now be the required information to market the products or services suitably within the e-commerce market place. How does the selecting of Marketing channels impact on e-commerce marketing? If a producer is selling via an indirect marketing channel, for example: (producer > distributer > customer) and also selling via e-commerce there is the potential for the producer to be both a supplier, as well a direct competitor to a reseller. This is known as “channel conflict”. What specific terms are used when selecting Marketing channels? - Deal registration Used to prevent channel conflict where producers and resellers may start to undercut each other, potentially leading to resellers finding other producers to purchase from. - Duel Distribution Using more than 1 distribution channel to direct products and services to customers. - Supply chain management Managing the course of everything involved in the supply, development, production, finances and information systems needed in the creation of a product or service to the delivery to the customer. - Multichannel Marketing Using a combination of platforms to interact with customers. This can be direct (websites, TV, commercials, magazine ads) and indirect (blogs, word of mouth, videos) More information about Marketing Channels
‘Sea snot’ bloom off the Turkish coast A thick jelly-like carpet of ‘sea snot’ is spreading off the coastline of Turkey’s Sea of Marmara. The thick, slimy substance is not only a stinky eye-sore: it can make people sick and simultaneously also devastate the economy of the region. First seen in 2007, the inland sea’s record-breaking marine bloom stretches from Istanbul, Europe’s most populated city, to the tourist hotspot of the Aegean. The heavily industrialised shoreline on one of the planet’s smallest seas is also a source of pollution. Agricultural runoff and ineffective waste disposal, coupled with increasing temperatures, have led to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the waters. These nutrients provide the perfect environment for phytoplankton, tiny, floating sea plants that release oxygen in the oceans – normally a good thing. But with excess levels of nutrients they rapidly increase in numbers, consume all of the available oxygen then die. The resulting rotten mass is the slimy sea snot now bobbing along side coastline and washing ashore. This raft of microorganisms also contains bacteria and other toxic microorganisms harmful to human health. David Kline from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute noted that, “sea snot epidemics are a big concern all around the world. With global climate change one of the only things we can do locally to help corals and coastal ecosystems is to remove nutrients and control the pollution that ends up in our waters.” The issue is greater than skin-deep though, because, as the dead slime sinks, it continues to suffocate sponges, fish, crabs and coral. These animals then exude mucus in their death throes, and their rotting flesh attracts bacteria, which also use oxygen, accelerating the vicious - and viscous - cycle. It’s "snot" all doom and gloop though. Kline recalls the recovery of Hawaii’s Kaneohe Baya, “when they removed the sewage outflow and made a water treatment plant, the coral reefs came back. They were able to reverse the decline caused by the nutrients.” Let's hope Turkey can stifle it's snot problem too, and soon.
With the increasing focus on customer experience as a competitive differentiator, many companies should adopt design principles based on human senses to create a ‘gestalt’ experience, one in which all the senses are engaged. The role of the human senses in this customer experience design, while present, has not received focal attention until recent research on the subject. This area of research, referred to as the study of “embodied cognitions” or sense-based marketing, is getting more popular and will (if it hasn’t already) influence how we go about understanding our customers at a level of intimacy that will help drive the business outcomes of acquisition and retention of customers, loyalty and advocacy, revenues and profitability, among many. Simply stated, what this means is that as companies think about crafting their customer journey maps, whether in a traditional brick and mortar environment or in the digital web environment, key ‘sensory’ design principles must be part of the blue print. Each point of contact with the brand, whether that contact occurs on a website, in a retail store, during a telephone conversation in a call center, or while using a product, presents opportunities to influence the behavior of customers. Communication has been taken to another level with this approach- it appeals to deep subconscious elements of human thinking. Perhaps, most importantly, it offers opportunities to influence how customers think, feel, and behave at the point of experience. And let’s not forget to carry these through “after purchase engagement” of those same senses. To create better perceptions of products and services, marketers have been experimenting with appeals to our five human senses in interesting and, sometimes, surprising ways: - Chuck Jones1, Chief Design and R&D officer at Rubbermaid, notes that they pay close to the ‘hand’ or ‘feel’ of packaging material for their pens, the sounds of the paper unfolding, and the way the package opens as an unveiling (but very pleasant) mystery. - Even a potato chip has the properties of sound (crunching), smell, taste, sight (packaging) and touch (Krishna2). Creating an environment of sensory appeal is essential for staging positive experiences. - In a digital web journey, a sense of ‘taste’ can be created with appropriate language and visuals. Online florists can create powerful emotional connections by using language such as “fresh aromas and vibrant colors..”. instead of “beautiful flowers…” - Supermarkets have introduced smell in their physical stores to increase sales; the scent in Nike stores has increased the propensity to spend. The color scheme, space configurations and furniture design in the Cleveland Metropolitan Library has created more readers. Williams and Ackerman3 provide ample evidence of the value of the sensory strategy. - Bed Bath & Beyond, for example, designs customers’ journeys to “feel” their way through curtains, linens, and other home furnishings, thereby creating warmth. Whole Foods is another retailer highlighting organic feel by offering taste stations throughout their stores. Consumers touch and taste foods to build trust for their products. Williams and Ackerman3 further report that people would pay 43% more for a product that they felt was warm to their touch; people offered less for a car when they sat on hard chairs as opposed to soft ones. The evidence is compelling and suggests that creating or staging a memorable experience through the senses is itself an innovative journey, and one that all customer experience professionals should adopt. Pirch is an example of a company that has taken the purchase of kitchen and bath products to an entirely different sensory level, one filled with appeals to all the sensory touch points. Watch the engaging Pirch Advert at the beginning of this post to see for yourself how Pirch is using the senses in experience design. All of the above are examples of the application of design thinking. Kolko4 notes that applying these principles that embody as many senses as possible would lead to a responsive and flexible customer-centric organization culture. Creating a customer-centric culture is the new imperative for an engaged organization. It aligns with customers, as well as employees, and doing that is the future.
\|Appointer\|\|Election Commission of Pakistan through General Elections:\| by a Convention that is held in the National Assembly, based on appointee's ability to command confidence among the majority of the members. \|Term length\|\|5 years, renewable\| \|Constituting instrument\|\|Constitution of Pakistan\| \|Inaugural holder\|\|Liaquat Ali Khan\| \|Formation\|\|14 August 1947\| \|Deputy\|\|Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan\| \|Salary\|\|₨24.12 lakh (US$11,000), annual[n 2]\| The prime minister of Pakistan (Urdu: وزِیرِ اعظم پاکستان , lit. 'Grand Vizier of Pakistan', Urdu pronunciation: [ʋəˈziːr-ˌeː ˈɑː.zəm]) is the constitutional head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, designated as the "Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic". Pakistan's prime minister leads the executive branch of the federal government, oversees the state economy, leads the National Assembly, heads the Council of Common Interests as well as the Cabinet, and is charged with leading the National Command Authority over Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal. This position places its holder in leadership of the nation and in control over all matters, both internal affairs and foreign policy. The prime minister is elected by the members of the National Assembly and is therefore usually the leader of the majority party in the parliament. The Constitution of Pakistan vests executive powers in the prime minister, who is responsible for appointing the Cabinet as well as running the executive branch, taking and authorizing executive decisions, appointments, and recommendations that require prime ministerial confirmation. Constitutionally, the prime minister serves as the chief adviser to the president of Pakistan on critical matters; and plays an influential role in appointment in each branch of the military leadership as well as ensuring civilian control of the military through chairman joint chiefs, although this does not necessarily happen in tandem. Prime ministerial powers have significantly grown with a delicate system of check and balance by each branch. The position was absent during the years of 1960–1973, 1977–1985, and 1999–2002 due to imposed martial law. In each of these periods, the military junta led by the president had the powers of the prime minister. The office of the prime minister was created on immediate effect after the partition and the establishment of Pakistan in 1947; the prime minister existed alongside the governor-general who was the representative of the British monarchy. The first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, exercised central executive powers until his assassination in 1951. The powers slowly began to be reduced as a result of constant intervention by the governor-general. Despite the first set of the Constitution giving central power in 1956, the next six prime ministers were dismissed by the governor-general from 1951 till 1957. The first set of the Constitution had evolved the governor-general into the president of Pakistan whilst declaring the country an "Islamic republic". In 1958, President Iskandar Mirza dismissed the seventh prime minister to impose martial law in a mere two weeks, President Mirza was ousted by army chief General Ayub Khan who had for a brief period held the post of Prime Minister. In 1962, the second set of the Constitution completely dissolved the office of prime minister as all powers were transferred to the president of Pakistan. Criticism over the presidency after the presidential election held in 1965 over the centralizing of powers. After the general elections held in 1970, the office was established with Nurul Amin becoming the prime minister who was also the vice-president. Negotiations that fall apart between Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mujibur Rehman, and Yahya Khan that prompted to liberation movement in the East Pakistan. With India intervening in East Pakistan and Pakistan conceding defeat to end the war led to the collapse of the presidential system in 1971. As the comprehensive Constitution reinstated in 1973, the post was reestablished with more central powers as the constitution provided a parliamentary system with President of Pakistan as figurehead. Amid agitation instigated by the right-wing alliance invited the military intervention in 1977 which suspended the post. The general elections held in 1985 restored the post, with Muhammad Junejo becoming the prime minister. Later that year, the National Assembly passed the controversial eighth amendment to the Constitution, giving the president the power to dismiss the prime minister and the National Assembly without prior consultation. The general elections in 1988 resulted in the Pakistan Peoples Party's Benazir Bhutto becoming the first woman prime minister elected in a Muslim country. With no party gaining a majority, a coalition was formed with the PML(Q) – a breakaway of the PML(N) and a pro-Musharraf party – leading with MQM. After some political wrangling, Zafarullah Jamali became the prime minister, and passed the XVII amendment which partially restored the power of the president to dissolve the National Assembly, but made the dissolution subject to the Supreme Court of Pakistan's approval. Over the authority issues,[clarification needed] Prime Minister Jamali resigned in 2004 and Shaukat Aziz was eventually appointed as Prime Minister, securing 151 out of 191 votes in the National Assembly. The XVII amendment featured a semi-presidential system allowing the presidency to keep the interference[clarification needed] executive and the judiciary. The general elections in 2008 resulted in the PPP coming to power and supporting the movement to oust Pervez Musharraf. A populist intellectual movement leading to the departure of Pervez Musharraf allowed Asif Zardari to become president. In 2010, the XVIII Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was passed to reverse the XVII amendment; it returned the country to being a parliamentary democratic republic. The XVIII Amendment removed all powers of the presidency to dissolve the Parliament unilaterally and sweep away the powers amassed by the former presidents Pervez Musharraf and Zia-ul-Haq to maintain a delicate check and balance. Following a contempt of court case, the Supreme Court permanently disqualified Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. Originally, the PPP nomination was Makhdoom Shahbuddin, but he was forced to withdraw after the ANF issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf became the prime minister and remained in office until 2013. The general election held in 2013 saw the PML(N) almost achieve a supermajority. Following this, Nawaz Sharif was elected as Prime Minister, returning to the post for the third time after a fourteen-year absence, in a democratic transition. In July 2017, Nawaz Sharif disqualified as prime minister following corruption charges against him resulting from Panama papers leak which also forced Iceland prime minister to resign. On 18 August 2018, Imran Khan was sworn in as the country's 22nd prime minister. On 10 April 2022, a constitutional crisis culminated in Khan losing a motion of no confidence with 174 votes cast against him, ending his premiership and making him the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to be removed from office through a motion of no confidence. On 11th April 2022, Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the country's 23rd Prime Minister. He won by majority 174 votes in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Sharif will serve a term, at most of almost one year to fulfill Imran Khan's term until the 2023 Pakistani General Election, though the election may be called earlier. The Constitution envisages a scheme of affairs in which the president of Pakistan is the head of state who represents the "unity of the Republic." The system of government in Pakistan is based on codified constitution which sees the prime minister as "chief executive of the Republic." Subject to the Constitution the Federation shall be exercised in the name of the President by the Federal Government, consisting of the Prime Minister and the Federal Ministers, which shall act through the Prime Minister, who shall be the chief executive of the Federation." The prime minister is also the chairman of the Council of Common Interests as set by: 1 There shall be a Council of Common Interests, in this Chapter referred to as the Council, to be appointed by the President (2) The Council shall consist of- (a) the Prime Minister who shall be the Chairman of the Council; (b) the Chief Ministers of the Provinces; (c) three members from the Federal Government to be nominated by the Prime Minister from time to time. As in most of the parliamentary democracies, a head of state's duties are mostly ceremonial. The prime minister of Pakistan is the head of government and has the responsibility for executive power. With Pakistan following a parliamentary system of government, the Prime minister is generally the leader of a party (or coalition of parties) that has a majority in the National Assembly —the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan. The prime minister, in common with all other ministers, has to be a member of National Assembly. The principal workplace of the prime minister is the Prime Minister's Office located in northeast Islamabad. The official residence, known as Prime Minister Enclave, is near the Prime Minister's Office. The prime minister is the chief executive who heads and exercises the authority of the Government of Pakistan. After obtaining a vote of confidence, the prime minister is invited by the president to take the oath of office and form the government. In practice, the prime minister nominates the members of the Cabinet who supervise the important functions and ministries of the Government of Pakistan and communicates to the president all decisions of the Cabinet relating to the administration of affairs of state and proposals for legislation. The prime minister, in consultation with the Cabinet, schedules and attends the sessions of the Parliament and is required to answer questions from members of parliament to the ministers. The prime minister makes appointments on various important positions, including: Some specific ministries are usually allocated to the prime minister: The prime minister is vested with command authority over the Pakistani nuclear arsenals and represents the country in various delegations, high-level meetings, and international organisations that require the attendance of the highest government office and also addresses the nation on various issues of national importance. The Constitution of Pakistan requires that the prime minister be a member of the National Assembly. As well as this, one must: The candidates for the prime minister are members of the National Assembly who were chosen through direct elections by popular vote following campaigning on the party platforms. Usually, the leader of the majority party in the parliament retains the office of prime minister, and forms the government either by coalition or by simple majority. The candidate must retain the vote of confidence of the members of the parliament before being invited by the president to form the government. The prime minister can be removed before the expiry of the term through a vote of no confidence in the parliament. If the vote of no confidence is passed by the National Assembly by a simple majority, the prime minister ceases to retain the office. In the past, prime ministers (and their governments) have been dismissed by the president exercising the VIII Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan (1985), but this was repealed by the XVIII Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan (2010). The prime minister has absolute constitutional immunity from criminal and civil proceedings, and no proceedings can be initiated or continued against him during the term of his office. In 2012, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has ceased at least one prime minister from retaining the office due to contempt of court after retroactively disqualifying the membership of the parliament permanently. On 28 July 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified the prime minister Nawaz Sharif from retaining the office due to his failure in fulfilling the eligibility requirements as enshrined in Articles 62 of the Constitution. This was in the aftermath of the Supreme Court hearing regarding the Panama Papers Case. This also resulted in him being permanently disqualified from membership of the parliament. The prime minister is elected by the National Assembly. The National Assembly meets on the twenty-first day after a general election (at least every five years) unless the president calls for a vote of no confidence. Whichever member of the National assembly is chosen serves as the prime minister until the next election or until he fails to maintain the confidence of the National Assembly. 91. The Cabinet: (1) There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers, with the Prime Minister at its head, to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions. (2) The National Assembly shall meet on the twenty-first day following the day on which a general election to the Assembly is held unless sooner summoned by the President. (3) After the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the National Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its Muslim members to be the Prime Minister. (4) The Prime Minister shall be elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly: Provided that, if no member secures such majority in the first poll, a second poll shall be held between the members who secure the two highest numbers of votes in the first poll and the member who secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting shall be declared to have been elected as Prime Minister: Provided further that, if the number of votes secured by two or more members securing the highest number of votes is equal, further poll shall be held between them until one of them secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting. (5) The member elected under clause (4) shall be called upon by the President to assume the office of Prime Minister and he shall, before entering upon the office, make before the President oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule: Provided that there shall be no restriction on the number of terms for the office of the Prime Minister. The prime minister is required to make and subscribe to, in the presence of the president, an oath or affirmation that they shall protect, preserve and defend the Constitution as follows: I, ____________, do swear solemnly that l am a Muslim and believe in the Unity and Oneness of Almighty Allah, the Books of Allah, the Holy Qura'an being the last of them, the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last of the Prophets and that there can be no Prophet after him, the Day of Judgment, and all the requirements and teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah: That I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan: That, as Prime Minister of Pakistan, I will discharge my duties, and perform my functions, honestly, to the best of my ability, faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well- being and prosperity of Pakistan: That I will strive to preserve the Islamic Ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan: That I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions: That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: That, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favor, affection or ill- will: And that I will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as Prime Minister except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as Prime Minister. میں (وزیراعظم-منتخب کا نام) صدق دل سے حلف اٹھاتا ہوں کہ میں مسلمان ہوں اور وحدت و توحید اور قادر مطلق اللہ تعالیٰ کتاب الہٰیہ جن میں قرآن پاک خاتم الکتب اور نبوت حضرت محمد ﷺ بحیثیت خاتم النبیین جن کے بعد کوئی نبی نہیں آسکتا روز قیامت اور قرآن پاک اور سنت کی جملہ مقتدیات و تعلیمات پر ایمان رکھتا ہوں۔ کہ میں خلوص نیت سے پاکستان کا حامی اور وفادار رہوں گا کہ بحیثیت وزیر اعظم پاکستان میں اپنے فرائض و کارہائے منصبی ایمانداری اپنی انتہائی صلاحیت اور وفاداری کے ساتھ اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکستان کے دستور اور قانون کے مطابق اور ہمیشہ پاکستان کی خودمختاری سالمیت استحکام یکجہتی اور خوشحالی کی خاطر انجام دوں گا۔ کہ میں اسلامی نظریے کو برقرار رکھنے کے لیے کوشاں رہوں گا جو قیام پاکستان کی بنیاد ہے کہ میں اپنے ذاتی مفاد کو اپنے سرکاری کام یا اپنے سرکاری فیصلوں پر اثر انداز نہیں ہونے دوں گا۔ کہ میں اسلامی جموریہ پاکستان کے دستور کو برقرار رکھوں گا اور اس کا تحفظ اور دفاع کروں گا اور یہ کہ میں ہر حالت میں ہر قسم کے لوگوں کے ساتھ بلا خوف ورعایت اور بلارغبت و عناد قانون کے مطابق انصاف کروں گا اور یہ کہ میں کسی شخص کو بلاواسطہ یا بالواسطہ کسی ایسے معاملے کی نہ اطلاع دوں گا اور نہ ظاہر کروں گاجو بحیثیت وزیر اعظم پاکستان میرے سامنے غور کیلئے پیش کیا جائے گا یا میرے علم میں آئے بجز جبکہ بحیثیت وزیر اعظم اپنے فرائض کی کماحقہ انجام دہی کیلئے ایسا کرنا ضروری ہو۔ اللہ تعالیٰ میری مدد اور رہنمائی فرمائے آمین— Article 91 in Chapter 3: The Federal Government in Part III: The Federation of Pakistan in the Constitution of Pakistan \|Peoples Party\|\|5\|\|Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto (2 times), Yousaf Raza Gillani, and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf\| \|Muslim League (N)\|\|4\|\|Nawaz Sharif (3 times) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Shehbaz Sharif\| \|Muslim League (Q)\|\|3\|\|Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Shaukat Aziz\| \|Independent\|\|1\|\|Muhammad Khan Junejo\|
The Kingston and Pembroke Railway (K & P) was a Canadian railway that operated in eastern Ontario. The railway was seen as a business opportunity by business people in Kingston, Pembroke, Montreal and New York. It would support the lumber (especially pine lumber which was in high demand across Canada and the United States) and mining industries, as well as the agricultural economy in eastern Ontario. Incorporated in 1871, the K&P was intended to run from Kingston to Pembroke. By 1884, approximately 180 km of mainline and sidings had been laid, reaching Renfrew where it ceased after 12 years of construction. The K & P never did reach Pembroke. On January 1, 1913, the K & P Railroad officially became part of the CPR. The line was gradually abandoned beginning in the 1950s, with the last operating section from Kingston to Tichborne closing in 1986. The K & P is affectionately remembered as the Kick and Push railroad. In the 1880s the Kingston and Pembroke railway completed its last leg. The K & P ran three trains daily but only the day train went as far as Renfrew. Altogether within the 24 hour period there were many passenger trains daily on the mainline, as well as the freight trains. The K & P coming northward from Robertsville stopped at many of the little villages along the way such as: Mississippi, Clarendon, Snow Road, Wilbur, Lavant etc. The Kingston and Pembroke railway was nicknamed “The Kick and Push’ because the railway twisted through the rugged Frontenac Hills and the old steam engine had little chance to display its full power.
Just over six months ago, in December 2021, I asked the question that is always on the tip of the tongue of everyone who follows the topic of the massive “green” transition to unused energy. fossil fuel. Actually, it was a lie. The question I asked was Not on the tongues of all thematicians, or even most thematicians, for reasons that to me are completely inexplicable. The question is: “Which US Country or State will be the first to achieve a Green Energy Wall?” The candidates I nominated in that post who are likely to be the first to hit the “green energy wall” are California, New York, UK, and Germany. At the time, I thought it was clear that one of those jurisdictions would be broken sooner than most people expected. Indeed, I was pretty daring in the short amount of time I anticipated: Prolonged adverse weather (calm and overcast) could cause severe energy declines to one or both Germany or the UK as soon as this winter. Or they might get lucky and go another year or two. Now here we are in June 2022, and I think it’s hard to deny that Germany has in fact achieved a “green energy wall”. Let’s consider. First, here is the definition of “green energy wall” that I gave in the post: [O]ne or other of [those states or countries] A “wall” is most likely to occur – that is, a situation where the electrical system stops working, or the price of electricity breaks through the roof, or both, forcing drastic changes or even abandonment of the whole plan. And here’s my take on why one or the other (or all) of the nominated jurisdictions will soon meet the “wall”: All of these places, despite their wealth and seeming sophistication, are embarking on their ambitious plans without ever conducting any kind of detailed engineering study of how energy systems work. their new proposed will work or their cost. Sure, the wind/solar grid can work with 100% natural gas backup, if you’re willing to ask the fee payer to pay the bill for two overlapping power generation systems and redundancy when you There can be only one system. But “net-zero” emissions mean no more fossil fuel reserves. What’s the plan to keep the grid running 24/7 when coal and natural gas run out? As (or should) be obvious to everyone, a predominantly wind/solar power generation system needs adequate backup from several sources to keep the lights running 24/7. Very few options: fossil fuel (coal, oil or natural gas) plants, nuclear or storage (e.g. batteries). Germany has ruled out fossil fuel and nuclear options. It never had much in the way of generating electricity from oil, and it has spent the past ten years phasing out coal and nuclear plants. So that leaves the repository. Sure, you might think, after embarking on a trillion dollar transition to a system that’s mostly wind/solar and has excluded both fossil fuels and nuclear As a backup, Germany would have focused like a laser on the storage issues that make the whole thing run. You will be wrong. It’s really unbelievable the extent to which Germany – seemingly the most technically sophisticated country in the world – would bury its head in the sand and ignore the storage problem until they run the power system into the wall. . Compare the amount of energy storage Germany will need to back up its wind/solar system with the amount of storage actually developed so far or in the pipeline. At this site, I have closely followed the question of energy storage, and discussed and linked to the most authoritative calculations of the amount of storage required to back up a wind/solar power system. heaven primarily or entirely to various jurisdictions, including Germany. In this post was in november 2018 I have linked and discussed extensively the work of someone named Roger Andrews, who calculated the storage requirement for Germany to back up an entire wind/solar system to be around 25,000 GWH. In that post, I also looked at some of the reasons why Andrews’ calculation might be low – for example, Andrews assumes 100% return from energy put into storage (which is not realistic) and also based his calculations on actual generation and weather data for one year (2016), which may prove to be more favorable than other years. But that said, Andrews’ calculations seem to me on the right track. More recently, in a post in March 2022, I discussed and linked to the work of two German scientists named Oliver Ruhnau and Staffan Qvist. Ruhnau and Qvist calculated the storage requirement for Germany to back up an entire wind/solar power system to be 56,000 GWH. If you think Andrews could be on the low side and Ruhnau/Qvist on the high side, that gives a good rough estimate of Germany’s grid-scale energy storage needs to support wind/solar systems. somewhere in the range of 40,000 – 50,000 GWH. So how much stock does Germany currently have or is in the process of shipping? Here’s an April 11, 2022 article from the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, excitedly reporting on Europe’s plans to tackle the wind/solar link with storage, “Europe’s grid-scale energy storage capacity will increase 20-fold by 2031.”: Europe has set some of the world’s most ambitious decarbonization targets. And the rate of change is accelerating. . . . [T]The region’s nascent grid-scale energy storage segment is growing rapidly. We forecast total capacity to increase 20 times between now and 2031. Here’s their chart showing what “expanding 20x” will mean in 2031: For Germany, this massive expansion is supposed to mean a full 8.81 GWH of grid-scale energy storage. Is there a decimal place error here? Unfortunately there isn’t. For their claim of 45,000 GWH +/- grid-scaled storage, they don’t plan to use 9000 GWH, not even 900 GWH or 90 GWH, but 9. They’re about 5000 off what they need. . In other words, they haven’t even begun to tackle the storage problem that needs to be solved to make their wind/solar system work, and they’re unlikely to solve it by 2031. Indeed, the problem may be completely unsolvable, and they have not yet made a meaningful effort to figure it out. As we all know, as a result they were completely dependent on natural gas from Russia. Currently, Russian gas is not effectively available, and other potential sources have been under-supplied and prices have spiked. Here are a few comments on Germany’s current energy predicament. From Walter Russell Mead in the Wall Street Journal, June 27, “End of the German Idyll”: Most recently in 2020, almost the whole world agreed with the complacent German remark that Germany has the most successful economic model in the world, [and] is embarking on an ambitious and largely successful climate initiative – around the world. . . . [Now we understand that] German energy policy is a mess, a shining example to the rest of the world about what not to do. . . . Green energy, despite massive German investment, will not be able to provide German industry with cheap and reliable electricity for a long time.. From Energy Intelligence Group, June 28, “King Coal is back in Europe”: [German] Officials are working on emergency legislation that would allow about 9-10 gigawatts of idle coal and lignite capacity to return to service through 2024, replacing some of the 16% market share currently held by gas. The country is home to seven of the 10 most polluting power plants in the EU, according to NGO Ember. . . . Economy Secretary Robert Habeck said legislation that would allow more coal to be used and less gas production would be passed by the Senate – the upper house – in early July. . . . The government says there are no plans to change the coal phase-out date, with the final units still set to close in 2030. It completely reversed the previous policy of closing coal plants. Economy Minister Habeck says the change is temporary, and that they are still on track to close all coal plants by 2030. And how exactly is that going to be achieved, given all of it. Is GWH hosted on grid scale? There is only one possible method, which is to go back to natural gas, or use alternative suppliers (US?), or because Russia rejoins the world’s good opportunities. But using natural gas as a backup is like giving up the “net zero” illusion altogether like using coal. So I say that Germany has practically hit a “green energy wall” and is not going back, no matter what they are saying at the moment.
How Dentists Clean Your Teeth If you want your teeth to last as long as possible, it is important for you to take good care of them. Even though you brush and floss regularly, it is also important to visit the dentist for regular cleanings. In general, you should go to the dentist’s office every six months. At Aria Dental, we are always available to help you clean your teeth, and it is our job to prevent oral health problems from developing. Learn more about what you should expect when you visit the dentist below, and reach out to us to schedule an appointment. The Hygienist Will Brush and Floss Your Teeth When you visit the dentist, the first step is for the dental hygienist to brush and floss your teeth. While you probably do this on your own already, the hygienist simply has a better angle. He or she can make sure that all areas of your mouth are properly cleaned, and this is the first step in cleaning your mouth. This will also make it easier for the hygienist to see what other parts of your mouth deserve a bit of extra attention. That way, you know that your teeth will be as clean as possible when you leave the office. Plaque and Tartar Are Removed After flossing your teeth, the next step is to remove any plaque or tartar that might be present. This is one of the biggest reasons why you need to go to the dentist regularly. No matter how well you brush and floss your teeth, you will not be able to remove all of the plaque and tartar from the surfaces of your teeth. This is a biofilm that is incredibly difficult to remove, and that is why the dental hygienist will use a tool called a scaler. The scaler is used to remove plaque and tartar that otherwise will not come off. During the process, the dental hygienist will do everything in his or her power to keep you comfortable. Fluoride Is Applied Once the scaler is done, the dental hygienist may apply fluoride to your teeth. Even though you probably already use toothpaste that has fluoride in it, it is important to make sure your teeth are properly protected. Fluoride plays an important role in this. Fluoride is critical because it gives your teeth an extra layer of protection. It binds to the enamel on the surface of your teeth, making it harder for bacteria get to dig into the enamel and cause oral tooth decay. During this process, the dental hygienist may also talk with you about the specific type of toothpaste you use. That way, you use toothpaste that can protect your teeth from harm. The Dentist Checks Your Teeth Once the dental hygienist is done, the dentist will come into the room and do a thorough check of your teeth. Of course, the dentist will also check the job of a dental hygienist to make sure your teeth have been cleaned appropriately. Then, the dentist will look at a few key components, including: - The dentist will take a close look at your teeth for any signs of oral tooth decay. If there are any cavities present, the dentist will let you know what the process will be like to fill them. - The dentist will also take a look at your gums to make sure there are no signs of gingivitis. If the dentist has concerns about the health of your gums, he or she will talk with you about them. - Finally, the dentist will also take a look at your cheeks and tongue to make sure there are no unusual growths. Even though this is highly unusual, the dentist is in the perfect location to check the inside of your mouth. The dentist will take a few minutes to talk with you about the results of the check. Then, the dentist will also explain to you what you need to do to protect your teeth moving forward.
Last weekend in the midst of reading the buzz about Sheryl Sandberg’s much-lauded Lean In, I caught Chris Anderson’s SXSW interview with Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors. When asked about work-life balance, Musk made it clear that he doesn’t have much, and also doesn’t suffer guilt about not seeing his kids much and working when with them. Perhaps an extreme example, but Musk sheds light on why men more consistently “lean in” while many women don’t—he just doesn’t feel the conflict. Yet women “face a lot of inner barriers—voices that, as [Sandberg] puts it, urge you to ‘leave before you leave.’ ” wrote Arianna Huffington in the Wall Street Journal. It’s no wonder, then, that a recent report by the American Psychological Association found more women feeling stressed at work than men, and that a recent Harvard University study found that women who are stressed are more likely to suffer heart disease. What is finally surfacing is that it’s not just having the proverbial ‘two jobs, family and work’ that’s causing stress—it’s the significance these roles and responsibilities play in our self-worth and what it means to us to be successful. Cisco’s Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior, when she spoke at Wisdom 2.0 last month said that the mere term “work-life balance” makes it seem like always in conflict: “What causes stress is often not the decision itself but the guilt associated with the decision to work or be home.” The beliefs that encourage us to lead, nurture or “lean in” are a mix of foundational beliefs, solidified early in life, that make us who we are. They aren’t “bad” per se; they’re what help inform and shape our priorities, our expectations, and our goals—as well as what we do to live up to them. They define for us what it means to be a good leader; a loving mother; caring wife; a supportive employee. But these barriers can also hold us back. I call them Iceberg beliefs because these ideas, formed in childhood, loom large beneath the surface of your mind and drive your behavior. In fact, often you don’t even know they’re there (and even if you do, you’re only seeing the tip of it). Here are some examples of how these icebergs trip you up: “Being a good mother matters most in life” will create problems when it collides with “I must achieve at all costs.” Or, “You must be available at all times for all people,” which runs squarely against “It’s wrong to put your own needs first.” Throw these two in with “Being a good mother matters most in life” and you’re going to be stressed indeed, whether you run a public company or a sales department. Women aren’t the only ones who struggle with icebergs—but theirs become particularly relevant in a discussion around workplace stress. The good news is that you’re not stuck with these for life—you can begin to change the power of one of these icebergs by examining its role and relevance in your everyday life. For instance, by replacing “To be a good leader means being available 24/7,” with “Being a good leader means being there for my team when it makes sense and without enabling their dependence on me.” (You could easily swap out “leader” for “mother” here, too.) Here’s another one that may trip you up: “Taking time for myself to exercise is selfish.” Rework that belief to support instead of vilify your efforts: “Investing in my own health by taking time to exercise helps me be at my best, which also makes me a better leader (or parent).” In order to enact real change we must collectively adjust the way we in which we perceive and conceive of success, obligation, ambition, fulfillment. Since we acquire these beliefs early on in life, the sooner we begin to collectively reshape our values around work, work life balance, family time, the sooner we can begin to shape the beliefs, and thus the behaviors, of the next generation.
NFTs are digital assets that are becoming popular on the web. If you’re not involved in cryptocurrency, it’s likely that you aren’t following the trends. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are inextricably linked and, therefore, before you know how people make money by using NFTs Here are the definitions and main distinctions between NFTs and cryptocurrency: NFTs represent tokens that are not fungible. They are digitally encoded assets that can range from works of art, like paintings, to various other things like music, ebooks photos, videos, and more. Every NFT is unique and has its own code, making the tokens unique. It is also a digital asset. It is a form of currency or money that is not regulated by the federal government. It can be used for buying and selling on online marketplaces. The major difference between NFTs and cryptocurrency is that they are not the same. Although NFTs, as well as cryptocurrencies, are made using the same technology fungibility is their main difference. Cryptocurrencies are fungible, just like regular money. This means they can be exchanged as long as the tokens are evaluated based on their different levels of worth. They are not fungible. This means that they cannot be exchanged for another like cryptocurrencies because each is unique and unique. Each has its own digital identity. Each one of the NFTs is the same. These are some of the many ways to earn money using NFTs. A few people are interested in NFTs due to the current trend, but there’s an enormous amount of money to be made if you take it seriously. Here are some of the successful methods that you can employ to earn income with NFTs. Playing NFT games (play-2-earn) This is a great opportunity to earn money if you’re already a good gamer. If you’re not into games, then see it as a chance for you to earn money while having fun. You can win tokens to show your ability to play role-playing games. You could also rob banks and take a large amount of cash. The NFT equivalent could be yours in real world. Many of the most well-known games have been able to get this done and lots of people are making a lot of money. NFT games are here to stay , so you should join them. Buy low, sell high The method of earning profits through NFTs is commonly called flipping, as it’s typically a short-term deal. An NFT can be bought at a bargain price and put aside for a period of time until its value grows. Based on the amount your NFT is worth, you could make anywhere from 10% to 100% profits. You could actually make more than 100% profit by flipping an NFT. It’s primarily based on the NFT’s utility, general appeal, popularity as well as a few other factors in the NFT marketplace. Put your money into businesses that are into NFTs More companies are including cryptocurrency and NFT into their operations as they have witnessed an increase in value as well as earnings. You can earn profit by investing in such businesses and gaining a good return for yourself. This method is extremely secure and serves as a substantial source of income that is passive for you. You should be HODLING your NFTs If you are not familiar with trading in crypto it is easy to assume that “hodling” is an incorrect spelling for “holding”. Crypto traders will explain that they keep a token until it attains an extremely significant value. In NFTs Flipping is like hodling, however in this case it’s not a short term approach. You can earn money hodling by purchasing your preferred NFT and not selling it. A lot of people believe that this is the most efficient method since the day you sell that NFT the token will be worth more than the amount you bought it for. This is why this is the most popular method to earn money using tokens. Before you HODL, keep in mind that you need to be patient, as a number things could cause you to wish to sell your home at the wrong time. It could take years to reap the rewards of this strategy, but it will be worth the wait. It is a good idea to invest in NFTs which are brand new Although the majority of NFTs aren’t very valuable when they are first created, over time their prices will rise , and lots of buyers will want to buy them. When you are able to identify new NFTs that are expected to increase to the point that you are capable of investing wisely and acquire them at low cost in comparison with what their costs would be in a matter of months. In the period between 2017 and 2021, the cryptoPunks NFT went from 34 dollars to 24 million dollars. It is possible to invest in next cryptocurrency and then smile at your bank account if you make use of this method to earn cash through NFTs. Make an NFT from your own With this method you can make your own NFT and make it available for sale. Instead of buying an NFT to make money, you will be creating an NFT that people can purchase and earn money. It doesn’t matter what you do so long as you’re skilled at it, you are able to make an NFT and offer it for auction. Begin by digitizing your masterpiece. You can digitize any type of creation, including music, painting book, ebook, video, or even a recipe for a meal. Once your asset has been digitally transformed, it can be put on the blockchain to trade in any of the NFT marketplace. This is the most suitable alternative for those who are creative. You’ve got everything you need to create the next NFT worth millions.
3M Food Safety has teamed up with The Acheson Group (TAG) for a monthly educational webinar series on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA) to provide food-related businesses clearer understanding of compliance requirements and how they can manage and possibly reduce operational, regulatory and reputational risk. FSMA is the most extensive reform of food safety laws in the United States in more than 70 years. It was signed into law in 2011, but the first phase of final rules only recently took effect. Those rules, totaling 1,600 pages, include provisions relevant to the entire global food supply chain, from growers and processors to point of sale. They include requirements to maintain food safety plans, perform hazard analysis, institutionalize, monitor and verify the effectiveness of preventive controls for mitigating those hazards, take corrective actions and keep appropriate records. Upcoming dates and topics include: - ‘How to Build an Environmental Monitoring Program’ (March 21) - ‘Preventive Controls for Human Food – What Does This Mean to Those Making Food for Animals?’ (April 5) - ‘Foreign Supplier Verification Plan (FSVP) rule – Do I Need to Comply? If not – Who does?’ (May 3) WHO: Host: John Wadie, 3M Food Safety U.S. marketing development manager, has over 30 years of food safety experience. He is a recognized authority on food quality and safety issues, having witnessed dramatic changes due to globalization, changing diets and increased consumer awareness and concern for the issue. “This webinar series is addressing many questions and concerns food processors have about FSMA and how to best address them to ensure compliance with the new regulations,” said Wadie. Presenter: Dr. David Acheson is the president and CEO of the Acheson Group, a consulting firm providing strategic advice, as well as recall and crisis management support to food companies and ancillary technology companies on a global basis on all matters relating to food safety and food defense. Dr. Acheson graduated from the University of London Medical School in 1980 and, following training in internal medicine and infectious diseases in the United Kingdom, moved to the New England Medical Center and Tufts University in Boston in 1987. As an Associate Professor at Tufts University, he undertook basic molecular pathogenesis research on foodborne pathogens, especially Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. Previously, Dr. Acheson was the Chief Medical Officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and a partner at Leavitt Partners managing the Global Food Safety Solutions group. He founded The Acheson Group in 2013. “The FDA is seeking to adopt a more modern, preventive, and risk-based approach to food safety regulation,” said Acheson. “With this new approach comes many new requirements and deadlines. The goal of this webinar series is to unravel the mysteries of FSMA compliance.”
Plants fulfill an ancient, profound need. This is Biophilia In 1984, Harvard biologist Dr. Ed Wilson named our natural human affinity for nature, Biophilia. When referring to humans’ “love of living things” Wilson describes Biophilia as the “innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes” More recently Dr. Stephen Kellert ,Author & Professor of Social Ecology at Yale University noted in his latest book, The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life, that human dependence on nature goes far beyond our reliance upon material and physical sustenance. This dependence, he wrote in 1993, includes “a human craving for aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual meaning and satisfaction.” This intrinsic connection, forged during our evolutionary development, plays a central role in our capacities to think, feel, communicate, create, and find meaning in life. (Quote and notes from Yale School of Forestry website) At ByNature, we know how important plants are in our day to day life. This is why we created our own vision of interior design with plants and mosses. Our Design Team focuses on the effects plants and greeneries will have on each individual space.
As the country starts to emerge from the COVID-19 shutdowns, it’s time for businesses to start considering how this “new normal” will affect the way they do business. None of us know for sure what this “new normal” will be or what it means for business, which makes this time incredibly difficult and stressful for everyone. What’s important to understand as we move forward in that, while we cannot give people CERTAINTY right now, we can give them CLARITY about what the plan is today and that the plan could change tomorrow. How do we do that? For one, we need to revamp our business structure. We need to implement an emergency response team that is dedicated to looking at the best ways to pivot during this reopening and at ways to be prepared for future emergency situations. It’s also a good idea to establish a separate team to make sure that the recommended changes are being implemented. Meanwhile, the “normal” business must be started up again. The number one way to ensure our employees and customers that we are responsive to the changing situation while continuing to return to the new normal is to communicate so much that we are tired of it. Communicate when we make changes. Communicate about when we. expect to make changes. Communicate when we have a plan and communicate that we know the plan could change. Don’t underestimate how much our employees and customers need to hear from us, now more than ever. In addition to businesses beginning a return to normal, the country needs to have a plan about how we move forward from this. This five-point plan for opening America back up can also be helpful for business leaders and owners as they move forward in the coming weeks. 5 Point Plan to Restore America to the “New Normal” ACCESS: Get the facts out there. It’s important as we move forward to acknowledge the facts about COVID-19. So far, the death rate for people 18-50, without pre-existing conditions is 10 times less than the flu, and the overall death rate is the same as the flu based on recent antibody studies from Stanford University. The flu kills children and, to date, COVID-19 does not. Every year, car wrecks, suicide, and heart disease kill more Americans than COVID-19 has. Putting Coronavirus in context can help to lessen the fear and panic surrounding this novel disease. ACKNOWLEDGE not everyone will agree. Currently, there are competing points of view about how we move forward. Businesses desire to open so they avoid bankruptcy and further disruptions to people’s lives. The healthcare industry wants to continue social distancing and shutdown measures to limit the deaths from COVID-19. (This point of view is admirable but not logical and the cost of achieving this will exceed the cost of opening up our economy.) Our governments don’t want to be blamed for not reacting, so they WILL be OVER conservative as they make decisions. Thus, we as leaders and Americans must make the best overall decision: This is not a popular statement, but as Dr. Spock once said on Star Trek years ago: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few.” ANTICIPATE when and how much to re-open is the single biggest and the most difficult decision to make. As we think about this decision, it’s important to consider the downsides of not re-opening: 1. Death from suicide, the cost of mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness, drug addiction, divorce, and abuse as a result of the shutdown and stay-at-home orders. 2. Cost of Unemployment at 20% and the negative ramifications of an unemployment rate that high. 3. Taxes to pay for the effects of these impacts. A MEASURED PLAN: It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Reopening can happen in a way that protects those at risk while allowing others to go about their daily lives unimpeded. 1. Re-open now to all who are 18-60 and do not show any symptoms. 2. Take temperatures at the entrance to every large gathering place. Continue to mandate masks until people feel safe and encourage people to be creative and make their own. 3. Those 70 and older or those with pre-existing conditions remain under shelter-in-place orders with the full support of the government. For those not at risk, embrace herd immunity and resume daily activities. 4. Save tests for the elderly and those defined as at-risk. Mandate weekly testing for anyone working with groups of elderly. 5. Gatherings of 200 or less can start up again as long as everyone in attendance is 60 and under 6. All restaurants, bars, small businesses, etc. can re-open as long as they stick to the current gathering methodology to keep people safe. 7. If you are 70 or older, you must have a weekly certificate stating you are healthy if you want to go to public gatherings where social distancing is not practiced. 8. ALL RESOURCES need to go to help the 60 and older population OR those with a pre-existing condition. 9. Those who can return to work must return to work or they cannot continue to collect unemployment. 10. At-risk children will receive tutoring and/or a stay-at-home online curriculum. All other children should return to school to help build immunity and decrease the stress, anxiety, and depression caused by being at home. 11. Stop the six-foot distance requirement unless there is a hospital capacity issue. 12. All essential employees (health care, garbage haulers, etc.) have no income tax this year. RE-ASSESS consistently based on new information. Just like with businesses, the government should be clear and consistent in how they change their plans based on new information. For example, as long as hospital capacity is under control keep moving to gradually expand gathering sizes. It’s also important to ensure that industries that rely on large gathering sizes also have sufficient plans in place so specific reopening plans should be required from sports leagues, airlines, cruise ships, etc. We knew after 9/11 that life would never be the same; that flying and/or being in tall buildings would change forever, and it did. The same is true for COVID-19. Until there is a vaccine or the virus is better understood, our experience with large crowds will be fundamentally different. It’s important that we as leaders demonstrate to those that trust us that we understand this and are doing everything in our power to adjust accordingly.
LEED v3 BD+C (Core & Shell) Gold In the month of April 2014, Nestlè Italy inaugurated its new headquarters in the building called U27, completed two years from construction start in the Milanofiori Nord area, Assago (MI) . The architectural project was committed by society Milanofiori 2000 to Park Associati while executive project and management work have been taken in charge by the engineering firm General Planning. The architectural design by Park Associati is based on an analytical approach to the articulated system of access to the Milanofiori Nord area, the pedestrian walkways and roads, climatic factors relating to the context and the goal of properly integrating the building into the overall masterplan. Its position as a link to an area of forest towards the north led to the development of a complex that while being based on a closed courtyard layout, enables a visual permeability to be maintained in terms of the routes that surround the building. The building has been designed in such a way as to create a visual continuity between the natural landscape of the wood at the north and the designed landscape of the site itself. The courtyard, reserved for users of the building, relates to the external landscape and is conceived as a kind of “secret garden”. The entrance, that faces onto a semi-urban piazza, has been conceived as a continuation of the main pedestrian access from the south-west of the site (directly connected to the metro station) while service vehicles are directed to the opposite end of the complex to an area that is completely hidden by ground. The main entrance hall is in direct visual contact with the internal courtyard and is flooded with natural light by a large, north-facing rooflight. The canteen area is a place for relaxing and an important area for social interaction that adds to the quality of the environment. While the building appears compact and rational in plan, the elevations are articulated in a series of blocks allowing for a lighter and more fragmented composition. This is achieved by dividing the whole building into a number of segments, ‘suspended boxes’ that vary in size and height and each with a slightly inclined facade. The elevations establish a link with the context through the nature of the surfaces, perceived from different angles, they are sometimes made neutral allowing light to filter through, other times compact and reflective giving continuity to the natural surroundings. At certain points the composition is enriched with the addition of vertical blades in coloured glass that further articulate the volumes without affecting the level of transparency. The raised part of the building is embedded into the ground in a natural way to create a secluded internal space on top of which sit volumes at different levels that house the building’s main facilities. The articulation of the building envelope and the rhythm of the structure relate to the open-planned interior spaces and act as a grid for generating different configurations for the internal circulation, enabling a high degree of flexibility. Considerable importance has been given to energy issues and levels of energy consumption. The building is certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) “Core and Shell” in Gold class. High efficient façade Water-saving sanitary appliances Low-emitting materials and finishes Landscaped areas with no irrigation No light pollution Waste reduction commitment Among the building’s key sustainability strategies: 87.17% of the on-site generated construction waste was diverted from landfill. Water Efficient Landscaping: the landscaping and irrigation systems have been designed to reduce potable water consumption for irrigation by 100% and to reduce the total water used for irrigation by 91.24% from a calculated baseline case. Water use reduction: the potable water consumption has been reduced by 36% using low flow rate water fittings. The installed glass façade components were produced by using a large quantity of pre-consumer recycled content. Over 77% of the building materials applied within the project have been sourced regionally (manufactured and extracted within 500 miles of the project site). Low-VOC materials and finishes: All interior paints, coatings, interior flooring materials and finishes applied on site are low/zero VOC emitting materials and comply with the most stringent regulations on indoor air quality. Sustainable transportation means: Alternative transportation is encouraged and the bicycle storage racks and parking dedicated to low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles are provided within the project. A combination of SRI roofing materials and the vegetated roof area helps drastically reduce the Heat Island Effect.