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If you’re buying a secure and convenient security password manager, you might have perhaps already tried some of the many options available. These kinds of programs generate it simple to keep your accounts and other data secure, because they make it more difficult for hackers to steal these people. And many of such applications come with useful features, such as integrated form-filling features. Here are five of the best password https://windscribevpnreview.com/free-vpn-vs-paid-vpn/ managers on the market. Nevertheless which one if you decide to use?
If you’re on Cpanel, you’ll probably want to decide on a free security password manager. Many users take Debian-based distros, but there are numerous excellent security password manager applications for RPM-based distributions as well. When choosing a password administrator for Linux, make sure to look for value and security features. Also, have a look at price when compared to free adaptation. Some username and password managers offer money-back guarantees, while some do not.
Security password security is an important factor when it comes to online security. Using a pass word manager can increase your reliability by creating strong accounts and keeping track of used again passwords. Advanced password managers also monitor online databases to protect the login credentials. If you use a password supervisor, you should choose one that offers several 2FA strategies, such as two-factor authentication. Zoho Vault possesses half a dozen different 2FA methods.
Typically, password managers work well with regards to Linux. Some password managers even give cloud-based storage, although KeePassXC places security in the hands. Also to offering 1GB of encrypted data file storage and one-to-many posting, it also noesn’t need a lot of bells and whistles. So if you use Linux, Windows, or any type of other main system, a pass word manager can make your life easier. | <urn:uuid:14da6d67-4a3d-4706-9c6f-663b5e30dd69> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://deadfastcars.co.uk/five-of-the-best-password-managers-that-you-can-buy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.933686 | 396 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The eLearning Blog supports the elearn Initiative on the UMKC Campus. Tutorials, eLearn Academy presentations, and other support materials are available.
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IS Advisory Council
The UMKC IS Advisory Council is comprised of a representative from each academic unit.
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myVITA is a web-based faculty activity reporting system that allows faculty members at all four campuses to report on their research, teaching, service, scholarship and creative works. This system has replaced the Faculty Accomplishment System (FAS).
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Online Learning Training & Support
UMKC's Instructional Technologies offers training and support for our online learning delivery systems and courseware tools. We will customize training sessions to fit your need. To request a visit at your campus office or make an appointment with us for one-on-one or small group training please email firstname.lastname@example.org. Training and support are offered several ways.
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Panopto Coursecasting & Podcasting
Panopto is a lecture-capture platform that provides the ability to combine audio, video, PowerPoint/Keynote, and screen capture into one recording. Panopto can be used in ILE classrooms on the UMKC campus, or from any desktop, laptop, or mobile device where the Panopto software is installed.
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Pathway is a service for students that allows users to register for classes, add/drop classes, pay fees, access and update your personal information and more.
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment program (like Microsoft Word) or moved from one eLearning system to another. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus can save you hours on each project. For more information regarding Respondus please see the Blackboard site "Information for UMKC Blackboard Instructors." All UMKC faculty are automatically enrolled in this site.
Respondus LockDown Browser
The Respondus LockDown Browser is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard. When students use LockDown Browser, they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. When an assessment is started, students are locked into it until they submit it for grading. For more information regarding Lockdown Browser, please see the Blackboard site "Information for UMKC Blackboard Instructors." All UMKC faculty are automatically enrolled in this site.
The Turnitin Suite makes grading student papers paperless and efficient. It is comprised of the Turnitin Originality Checker, GradeMark and PeerMark. The Originality Checker compares each student's submitted paper to millions of print and online resources. GradeMark allows instructors to easily insert comments into student papers online. PeerMark facilitates a peer review of a Turnitin assignment based on criteria set by the instructor. As all three tools are tied together, the instructor can toggle between the Originality Report, PeerMark peer reviews (if applicable) and GradeMark pages while grading a student's paper, making it easier to get a 'big picture' of each student's performance without jumping between programs and windows. The grade can be entered on the same page and will automatically be entered into the Blackboard Grade Center. With one click of an arrow, the instructor can move to the next student's submission.
UM Web Applications
UM System Web Applications and Employee Directory.
- Launch: UM Web Applications | <urn:uuid:5fd6b2ed-d25a-45c6-b7cf-83f162633c2f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.umkc.edu/is/services/?cat=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.872955 | 786 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Surely, most folks who are aware of William Friedkin know him only as the director of The Exorcist and The French Connection. Some may also know him for the controversies surrounding his movie Cruising, but virtually no one still knows him as the director of the subject of this article. The Night They Raided Minsky’s is a comedic (fictionalized) account of the unintentional invention of striptease dancing by a young Amish dancer at a burlesque theater in New York City in 1925—a film apparently saved from mediocrity in the editing room by Ralph Rosenblum.
People vaguely aware of the terms ‘vaudeville’ and ‘burlesque’ might be tempted to think of the former as old-fashioned comedy and the latter as old-fashioned pornography, but neither category is that narrow and there’s lot more overlap than one might think. Both are forms of live variety entertainment (meaning they freely incorporate musical numbers, comedy acts, and dancing in a non-narrative format), but you would only hear strings of lewd jokes and see women removing articles of clothing in burlesque. To put things in the terms of the modern American cinematic-moral paradigm, when it came to theatrical variety shows on late-19th-century and early-20th-century American stages (adapted from French theatrical concepts), vaudeville was like PG or PG-13 entertainment, whereas burlesque was R.
The Night They Raided Minsky’s is a touching tribute to the often-misunderstood practice of American burlesque, including all of its textures: its whimsical joys, its seedy inauthenticities, and its relationships to the morals and economics of its time. And that unique blend of dirt and glamor, lust and love, greed and sincerity—admirably spreads out of the substance of the film and into its style.
Raiders of the Lost Art: | <urn:uuid:0a6b58b5-5cc7-4be4-8777-f18f4ffd2298> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://thegemsbok.com/category/art-reviews-and-articles/your-thursday-theater/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.967956 | 411 | 1.867188 | 2 |
S. Korea reports 9,435 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday
Updated: 2022-06-15 11:29:32 KST
Back here in South Korea.
The daily COVID-19 tally is hovering BELOW the 10-thousand for the second straight day on this Wednesday.
Over 9-thousand new infections have been reported the lowest for a Wednesday in 21 weeks.
Critical cases stand BELOW one hundred and the death toll remains in the single digits.
Meanwhile starting July 4th for precisely one year COVID-19 patients will be offered 60-percent of the minimum wage.
The measure follows findings that show fewer than half of COVID-19 infected workers are receiving PAID SICK LEAVE. | <urn:uuid:05dbdcad-b39d-440d-b03e-e7f0790ba3d6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://arirang.com/mobile/News_Detail.asp?nSeq=301327&NCate=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.912112 | 152 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Women make up two-thirds of the paid ‘care workforce’. (Photo: Katie G. Nelson/Oxfam)
World’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa
The world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 per cent of the planet’s population, revealed a report from Oxfam in 2020 ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Inequality puts heavy burden on poor women and girls
Global inequality is shockingly entrenched and vast, and the number of billionaires has doubled in the last decade. Oxfam’s report, ‘Time to Care’, shows how our sexist economies are fuelling the inequality crisis—enabling a wealthy elite to accumulate vast fortunes at the expense of ordinary people, particularly poor women and girls:.
Key findings from the report:
- The 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all the women in Africa.
- Women and girls put in 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work each and every day—a contribution to the global economy of at least US$10.8 trillion a year, more than three times the size of the global tech industry.
- Getting the richest one per cent to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth over the next 10 years would equal the investment needed to create 117 million jobs in sectors such as elderly and childcare, education and health. This could help lift the responsibility of care from women and tackle poverty and inequality.
Women and girls are among those who benefit least from today’s economic system. They spend billions of hours cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly. Unpaid care work is the ‘hidden engine’ that keeps the wheels of our economies, businesses and societies moving. It is driven by women who often have little time to get an education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, and who are therefore trapped at the bottom of the economy.
Amitabh Behar, the Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam India who was in Davos to represent the Oxfam confederation in 2020
Climate change and AN aging society: A looming crisis for carers
The pressure on carers, both unpaid and paid, is set to grow in the coming decade as the global population grows and ages. An estimated 2.3 billion people will be in need of care by 2030—an increase of 200 million since 2015. Climate change could worsen the looming global care crisis—by 2025, up to 2.4 billion people will live in areas without enough water, and women and girls will have to walk even longer distances to fetch it.
Women do more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work. They often have to work reduced hours or drop out of the workforce because of their care workload. Across the globe, 42 per cent of women of working age cannot get jobs because they are responsible for all the caregiving, compared to just six per cent of men.
Women also make up two-thirds of the paid ‘care workforce’. Jobs such as nursery workers, domestic workers, and care assistants are often poorly paid, provide scant benefits, impose irregular hours, and can take a physical and emotional toll.
Oxfam's Advocacy: Improve public services and infrastructure to protect carers
At the same time, governments are underfunding vital public services and infrastructure that could help reduce women and girls’ workload. For example, providing access to an improved water source could save women in parts of Zimbabwe up to four hours of work a day, or two months a year.
‘Governments created the inequality crisis—they must act now to end it. They must ensure corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax and increase investment in public services and infrastructure. They must formulate policies to tackle the huge amount of care work done by women and girls, and ensure that people who do some of the most important jobs in our society are paid a living wage. Governments must prioritise care as being as important as all other sectors in order to build more human economies that work for everyone, not just a fortunate few.’ said Behar.
Impact Story: Who Cares - Creating a Fairer World for All
‘With my Husband's help, Our relationship as a family became better. We’re happier. I am now closer to my children.’
Rowena Abeo is from Salcedo Town, Tastern Samar in the Philippines, and is a day care worker. After receiving training from Oxfam and learning about unpaid care work, her husband started sharing the housework.
(Photo: Jed Regala / Oxfam)
My name is Rowena and I am a day care worker from Salcedo Town in the Philippines. In the past in my community, women used to just work in the house–cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. They also fetched water … With all the work that was assigned to women … [t]here would always be a gap between women and men–with the amount of money they earned, with the education they got or with the time they could spend on things outside the house.
I’ve been a day care worker in a school for ten years. And I’m also a housewife. Being a housewife takes so much time … The heaviest housework is fetching water. It takes us three to four hours to go and get water because our water source is far. We have to go to the river and lift our own water cans.
In the past, my husband didn’t help in the household at all. It was a lot of work that I had to do on top of what I did in the school, but my husband and I didn’t question it. That changed when we started to attend trainings and seminars and learnt about unpaid care work. Now he always helps around the house. We also have water tanks now through the help of Oxfam and SIKAT. We finally have taps and a hose, so we don’t have to carry water cans and pails anymore.
There are many communities where women are still struggling a lot. I am happy that now there is equality here between women and men. Women are more empowered. Someday I hope this will happen not just here in Salcedo, but hopefully in the whole Philippines.
Alarming inequality in Hong Kong
Women’s labour force participation rate only accounts for 20.7% of that of poor households, which is far less compared to 35.5% among men.
(Photo: Ko Chung Ming/Next Plus)
Inequality in Hong Kong is a spiralling crisis.
- Hong Kong’s Gini coefficient in 2016 reached 0.539 – the highest in 45 years.
- According to the data Forbes published in 2019, the 50 richest people in Hong Kong’s assets amounted to HK$2.23 trillion, an 18 per cent increase from August 2016 (HK$1.89 trillion).
Further, many women are still trapped in poverty due to their family responsibilities.
- According to the Census and Statistics Department the labour force participation rate among poor women only accounts for 20.7 per cent of that of poor households compared to the 35.5 per cent among men.
- This is 30.1 percentage points lower than the 50.8 per cent rate among women from the average household.
- The female labour force participation rate further drops to 10.8 per cent if there are children aged 15 or below and seniors aged 65 or above in poor households. This indicates that women in poor households cannot find employment because they have to take care of their families.
The Hong Kong government should invest more in public services and pass laws to protect casual workers
Oftentimes, women from poor households can only work part-time jobs. This limits their career choices, and a lot of them end up taking up casual work that only pays meagre wages and offers little to no protection. Despite this sizeable problem, the Hong Kong government has failed to provide them with adequate labour protection.
According to the Employment Ordinance, being employed under a continuous contract refers to an employee who has been employed continuously by the same employer for four weeks or more, with at least 18 working hours per week. An employee must be employed under a continuous contract and fulfil various requirements as stipulated in the Ordinance to be eligible for employee benefits other than the basic protections such as rest days, statutory holidays, annual leaves, paid maternity leaves, sickness allowance, severance payment and long service payment. Casual workers are also known as non-418 employees, as they work continuously for the same employer for fewer than four weeks and/or fewer than 18 working hours per week.
Although the Hong Kong government has recently introduced various policies to alleviate poverty, the low public recurrent expenditure will not help improve the situation of these women. According to the latest figures from the Hospital Authority, patients must now wait an average of 70 and 68 weeks respectively to see an orthopaedic doctor and internist at a public hospital. Further, figures from the Social Welfare Department shows the average waiting time for Care-and-Attention places and Nursing Home places is 20 and 22 months respectively. Moreover, Oxfam calculated that on average, only 1 in 156 children aged 0 to 2 receive subsidised full-day childcare services. With insufficient public services available, carers in Hong Kong are placed at an even greater disadvantage.
To address these issues, Oxfam has the following recommendations for the Hong Kong government:
- Spend additional recurrent expenditure on initiatives such as increasing the quota for occasional child care services, Care-and-Attention places and Nursing Home places for the elderly, and the public health care.
- Improve labour protection and benefits, to ensure people who work can provide for themselves and their families, and live with dignity. The government, as the biggest employer, should also take the lead and pay its workers a living wage, and amend the Employment Ordinance so that casual workers who work 72 hours a month are also protected.
- In the long run, review the current tax system and implement ability-to-pay taxation in order to better redistribute resources, narrow the gap between the rich and poor, and create a more equitable society. | <urn:uuid:c716f432-a28d-4ef9-8e46-df0416eb3a63> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/what-we-do/advocacy-and-campaign/global-advocacy/gender-equality-time-to-care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.9634 | 2,147 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Dogs excel in a variety of jobs. They help us relax, ease our pain, and add joy to our lives. They, too, are silent. This is because they do it naturally. Predators are known to prey on weak animals in the wild. So, animals will cover any symptoms of illness, discomfort, or harm. The urges to hide are strong, even if your dog happens to be an affectionate pet with nothing to fear in the security of his own home. Because of this, dental problems are usually not noticed until they develop into a dental infection and the resulting discomfort becomes acute.
Oral care for dogs is one of the areas where pet owners fall short. Even with routine cleanings, the possibility of infection can remain in the dog’s mouth. Dental diseases are now recognized as among dogs’ most frequently occurring health problems.
Manifestations of a Possible Tooth Infection
To ensure that our pets’ dental health is at its best and healthiest, we’ve provided a list of symptoms to help recognize the signs of the onset of dental disease. If untreated, the germs and illnesses may move through the gums and bloodstream and trigger serious health issues; that’s why it’s crucial to have it checked out whenever you can.
1. Bad Breath
If your dog’s mouth is smelly foul, it could signify that they are being treated for periodontal diseases. In the building of plaque and tartar within your dog’s mouth, there’s a surge in the number of bacteria present. This leads to decay, which produces smelly sulfur compounds. Bad breath is sometimes misinterpreted as “doggie breath,” it is, in fact, a well-known myth. However, dental disease is the most frequent reason for bad breath.
If you want to know the services offered by a reputable overall service veterinarian, you can check websites like dmvet.net. These type of vets can take care the overall wellness of your pet.
2. Refusal to Eat
If your dog suffers from a tooth disorder, it becomes difficult for him to chew, and as a result, the dog may spill food on the floor. It is possible to examine your dog’s teeth when they suddenly drop more food than they usually do. Another sign of dental disease is changes in your dog’s appetite or their inability to consume dry meals. Your dog will become pickier about its meals and often leave behind the more significant food portions.
If you want to cure your pet’s dental problems, you can search the web and type in “pet dental care for dogs” in the search bar for the best results. Immediate precautions are needed to remediate the dental problem of your pet, otherwise it can lead to a more serious ailment.
3. Facial Swelling
The upper jaw is a common area of infection. It can cause swelling of the face, which should be examined by your doctor as soon as possible. Because the teeth of the upper jaw are near the nasal passages, certain dental infections may cause symptoms of upper respiratory illnesses. But, a lower premolar or Molar tooth root infection can cause swelling in the lower jaw. This may rupture, causing an injury if it is not treated.
If the problem cannot be solved by medicine or normal dental procedures, you might need to consider pet surgery. If you are looking for surgical pet services, you can search for “veterinary surgeon near me” on the internet.
4. Red Swelling or Bleeding Gums
The healthy gums’ color is pink. Once your finger is removed from the gum, the gum color should change to its standard pink color. Your dog’s gums might be colored red for a variety of causes. Gingivitis (inflammation of gums) and periodontitis may result in bright red gums. Your dog’s gums can become more sensitive and more prone to bleeding due to dental disease. The dog’s owners might discover blood in their dog’s saliva and chew toys or bedding.
5. Discolored Teeth
Another way to assess your dog’s dental health could be by lifting their lips and observing the color of their tooth. Are their teeth shining white, or do they show a yellow or brown tinge to them? It’s normal to observe these changes in color on your dog’s front teeth as a sign of tartar accumulation. Periodontal disease can worsen and become more severe with time as tartar builds up around the gum line areas. | <urn:uuid:83beecc2-f65c-4760-b440-6bb340aad7fc> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://millennialmotivator.ca/pertinent-clues-in-determining-tooth-infection-in-pets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950596 | 959 | 2.5 | 2 |
What does it mean to be adjusted by a chiropractor?
Chiropractic adjustments correct the alignment, range of motion and/or function of a partially dislocated joint.
Are chiropractic adjustments safe?
Chiropractic adjustments are completely safe when performed by someone trained and licensed to deliver chiropractic care. Dr. Leybovich has been performing chiropractic adjustments and manipulations for nearly two decades, and is sought-after for his caring hands from Richardson, Dallas, Plano, Garland, and all other surrounding areas.
But are adjustments safe for children and elderly?
Adjustments are safe and beneficial for all ages. It is safe for children, especially those complaining of back pain. However, the chiropractor should be experienced with working with children as there are other issues such as developmental circumstances, that need to be noted in a spinal adjustment. Chiropractic adjustments are ideal for elderly patients who may be on an array of prescribed medications. Since chiropractic manipulation doesn’t involve medications, there isn’t a risk of “overmedicating” the patient.
What happens during and after a chiropractic adjustment?
Immediately after your adjustment you might notice changes in breathing patterns, or sensory perceptions such as tingling, warmth, and itchiness. You may notice blood pressure and even hormonal changes as your spine and nervous system are restored. For some people, laughter. As tension releases from your spine, it’s entirely common to have an emotional discharge. Emotions may naturally gush forth, freeing you from their weight and control. Laughter and tears are common in people of all ages, as subluxations patterns are eliminated. The reducing of subluxations, and the accompanying increased range of motion and improved spinal function is an indication of the positive changes that you are feeling.
Does a chiropractic adjustment require any medication?
No, and this is one of the main reasons that patients inquire about a chiropractic adjustment for back pain relief. A spinal adjustment involves hands-on techniques akin to massage therapy. Sometimes chiropractic manipulation involves the use of handheld instruments. The overall goal of an adjustment is to decrease pain while increasing the patient’s range of motion. This treatment method is used in place of medication, such as narcotics or opioid painkillers. Patients interested in a nonaddictive treatment for back pain that won’t cloud their mental judgment can seek relief with a chiropractic realignment.
Is it normal to feel sore after a chiropractor adjusts me?
It’s completely normal to feel a little sore after your first adjustment. New patients are often concerned about mild soreness after their first adjustment when seeing the chiropractor. Not to worry, as your body heals itself, and as we add mobility to parts that have been “stuck,” there may be some mild soreness for the first few hours after the adjustment — it’s completely normal and should dissipate within 24 hours. Most people don’t mind this because this kind of soreness comes with positives, like a noticeable change in mobility, range of motion, or a reduction in the initial pain after a well-performed adjustment.
How do I prepare for my first chiropractic adjustment?
Before a patient comes into Dr. Leybovich’s office for the first time, they should be ready to discuss their previous health history. This is important for the doctor to note when choosing the best treatment method. Also, the patient should be prepared for a spinal adjustment, in the sense that this is typically a hands-on treatment. By being knowledgeable about the process, the patient will already understand what to expect regarding the treatment. Finally, while a single chiropractic adjustment may be satisfactory for certain patients, other individuals will likely need to complete multiple chiropractic adjustment sessions to achieve total pain relief.
Did you find this article helpful?
Call us to find out if this treatment is suitable for you. Schedule your free consultation with Dr. Leybovich today. | <urn:uuid:25613c43-7dac-4865-a7bc-5aac06ef944e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.alexcare.com/services/chiropractic-adjustment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.943702 | 842 | 1.84375 | 2 |
With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic activities have been impacted, and changes have had to be made, particularly in terms of digitalization, teleworking and contactless services. To address these changes, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) has decided to revise the Patent Law by lending weight to the following aspects:
- developing new procedures (e.g., digitalization of procedures) to cope with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic;
- adapting Patent Law to the changes in business activities that accompany the advance of digitalization and of other technologies; and
- strengthening the basis of intellectual property systems, including the review of litigation procedures and revision of the fee structure.
A bill to revise the Japanese Patent Law was passed on 14 May 2021 and the revised Patent Law was enacted on 21 May 2021. The main revisions are listed below.
- A new Amicus Brief system has been introduced. This new system allows courts to seek the opinions of third parties as Amicus Curiae in cases of patent infringement litigation.
- The conditions for the restoration of rights lost due to the expiry of a time limit have been considerably relaxed. This revision applies to several procedures, such as the submission of the translation for the opening the Japanese national phase, the priority claim and the filing of a request for review. The procedures concerned can be reinstated if the lapse was purely unintentional (as is the case in the USA). Only a brief statement is required and no proof is needed. However, reinstatement costs of approximately $2700 must be paid.
The previous time that the Japanese law was amended was in 2015, following the Fukushima nuclear accident. A rights reinstatement procedure had then been introduced, but only in the event of serious external circumstances (natural disaster, fire, etc.).
- The patentee is not required to obtain the consent of non-exclusive licensees to correct or abandon a patent.
- Parties summoned to an oral hearing in patent invalidation proceedings are allowed to attend via a video conferencing system without physically appearing before the JPO.
- The fee structure has been revised. The specific annuity amounts are to be increased (amounts to be determined at a later date). This revision aims to address the increasing cost of reviews and of digitalized procedures, and attempts to balance income against expenditure.
- Patent holders are exempted from annuity surcharges if their failure to meet the due date for annuity payments is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters or other similar reasons.
The revised Law shall be applied on a date to be determined by Order within a period not exceeding one year for items 1., 3. and 5., two years for item 2., and six months for items 4., 6., from the day of the enactment of the Law. | <urn:uuid:8ba2e402-8fb0-44c5-8018-f64b6eeed119> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.marks-clerk.com/insights/articles/revision-of-the-japanese-patent-law/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.945918 | 573 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Knee Pain – What causes it and how Osteopathy, Myotherapy and Massage can help
What causes Knee Pain?
With Summer around the corner, everyone from beginners to long distance runners should now be well into their training regime to get their bodies ready for the summer season. If this is you, and you’ve increased your activity quickly you may now be experiencing Knee Pain.
One of the most common causes of knee pain in runners is Runners Knee, and the most common cause is ITB Friction Syndrome.
What is the ITB – Iliotibial Band?
The ITB (Iliotibial Band) is a long, thin band of fascia (connective tissue) that runs down the outside of your thigh. At the top end it attaches into the front of your hip via the TFL (Tensor Fascia Latae) muscle and Gluteus Maximius and at the bottom end it attaches on the Tibia (Shin bone) crossing over the outside of your knee. The ITB is crucial for knee stabilisation during running.
What is ITB Friction Syndrome?
ITB Friction Syndrome is a non-traumatic overuse injury to the soft tissue structures on the outside of your knee.
At the point where the ITB crosses the knee it sits over a bony protuberance and slides over this during movement. During running this flexion and extension repetitive movement can cause excess friction and lead to inflammation and knee pain during;
- climbing up/down stairs.
Some of the symptoms are:
- Sharp or burning pain on the outside of your knee whilst running or cycling (lateral knee pain)
- Usually worse during longer distances
- Some swelling around the knee.
What Causes ITB Friction Syndrome?
In most cases, ITB Friction Syndrome is caused by altered running biomechanics due to an underlying muscle imbalance that ultimately result in knee pain. However, what causes the muscle imbalance is what can vary from person to person.
Some causes include:
- Poor running technique
- Sudden/quick increase in distance
- Low hip stabilisation
- Weak Glutes
- Weak inner quadriceps leading to
- Weak core stability
- Poor foot and arch stability
- Old and worn out shoes
How Osteopathy, Myotherapy and Remedial Massage can help?
Your Osteopath will carry out a detailed history and physical examination to determine the cause of your knee pain. They will then devise a treatment plan that will address any issues you have such as
- tight shortened muscles
- leg length discrepancy
- weak postural muscles
- poor foot stability
Osteopathy, Myotherapy and Remedial Massage all involve deep soft massage and stretching techniques to release tight shortened muscles, which can improve strength and function of the muscles.
Your practitioner can also provide advice on appropriate footwear, lifestyle and diet, ergonomics and prescribe a home exercise program that includes;
- dynamic warm ups
- rehabilitative strengthening exercises
For some helpful exercises to warm up properly and loosen off tight muscles read our following blogs! | <urn:uuid:3af50ad4-7be2-4f00-ae89-99d6bc5860de> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.holisticbodyworks.com.au/knee-pain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.907381 | 658 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Recent Village Updates
Did You know pakistan has the world's sixth largest population (149 milion people in 2002)
"Pakistan's Literacy Rate = 35%."
" Reason - most children don't get a chance to study & are forced to work by their family.
ZINDAGI takes such children to schools, and pays them Rs. 20/- to attend a class; as a compensation for what they would earn otherwise. Every child gets a chance to gain something from life, and a platform to grow.
************* HELP US HELP PAKISTAN *************
VOLUNTEER and/or DONATE to make better people out of these children, so that they can help make a better PAKISTAN.
For further information: "www.zindagitrust.org." www.zindagitrust.org
still i wanted to help and encourage disadvantaged kids quit
working or begging, and instead, attend school and college.
We SHOULD Promote this organization by talking about it with our
friends and families.
Ramzan are also here, we can even give zakat to Zindagi Trust :) | <urn:uuid:c990c75e-a318-4d4c-9539-9d44ec117f2a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.naseeb.com/villages/pakistan-histry-421 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.941414 | 245 | 1.648438 | 2 |
We must consider this with respect to individual states’ economic realities before sweeping federal legislation upends small business owners’ lives in states that happen to have lower costs of living. ENTERING THEWORKFORCE I got my first official job when I was 12. That summer, I worked 40 hours a week as a swimming and sailing instructor at a local community center up in Maine... 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. In fact, many minimum- wage jobs are where young folks get into the workforce for the first time. I made $25 a week. Heck, that wasn’t even minimum wage – even then! In retrospect, I’m not even sure how the organization managed that unless I was considered some kind of volunteer (probably). Anyway, the point is... I was so proud to have that job and earn that $25 check every Friday. I remember how I’d pick up my check at work, stash it in my pocket, and ride my bike all the way into town so I could deposit the money in my passbook savings account every week. That job taught me some basics... including the reality of just having a job , which entailed being there on time before my shift started early in the morning, working with others, and having responsibilities. All of those facets are crucial for a young person to learn.
But here’s the thing... We’re not the perfect little country of Denmark, flush with oil reserves and an entire population roughly 30% less than that of New York City’s. We’re the United States of America. We’re a massive country, with a diverse, hardworking, brilliant, and entrepreneurial population – and we need opportunities for upward mobility and yes, low-paying jobs are part of that. The federal minimum wage first came to be in 1938 under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal government’s initial instance creating a baseline for workers’ pay. And nearly a century ago, America’s minimum wage was only 25 cents an hour. Yes, imagine working for quarters. The minimum wage has increased 22 times since then, climbing to today’s $7.25 rate. And though raising the minimum wage would undoubtedly help some Americans, it’s crucial to note that its potential effects vary by geography and relative living standards. Just like so much of our pandemic response has revealed the apparent tensions between state and federal policies, this minimum-wage argument is no different. States like California and New York already have a minimum wage floating around $15, whereas Alabama and Kentucky’s state minimum wage matches the current federal rate. More than doubling the minimum for these latter two states would create shockwaves for their small businesses since the cost of living there is already low.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online | <urn:uuid:8c174961-cadb-4d6f-a07c-93db5a36a281> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://online.flippingbook.com/view/700394508/73/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.958434 | 598 | 1.859375 | 2 |
As experienced chiropractors, we like answering the questions we receive from our patients. A common inquiry is “what is the difference between a sprain and a strain?” Sprains and strains are injuries to the musculoskeletal system that are common diagnosed conditions. Sprains and strains are two separate issues people frequently mix up. We will attempt to explain away some of the confusion today.
Let’s look at three ways sprains and strains differ from each other.
1. Sprains and strains afflict different parts of the body.
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH), a sprain is a stretch or tear of a ligament which provides joint stability. A strain is a stretch or tear of a muscle or tendon in the area where it is turning into a muscle.
2. Sprains and strains are most often caused from different actions.
Falling or twisting the wrong way typically causes a sprain, because the movement forces a joint into an awkward position and ends up stretching or tearing the ligament. Twisting an ankle, falling down the stairs, or trying to catch yourself on an icy walkway are all ways to end up with a sprain.
A strain often results from overexertion or trauma, and repetitive movement. Lifting an item that is too heavy, jumping into an exercise routine that is too strenuous, or performing repetitive movements in either a sport or work are ways an individual can end up suffering from a strain.
3. Sprains and strains generally affect different areas of the body.
Sprains occur to parts of the body that are injured when falling or suddenly twisting. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, ankle sprains alone number around 2 million each year.
Ankles, wrists, knees, and fingers are all areas that are frequently sprained. Strains commonly occur in the back, shoulder, or hamstring, as these areas are affected by overexertion or repetitive movement.
Although sprains and strains are different injuries, they do have some similarities.
Let’s discuss a few commonalities of sprains and strains.
Both share common symptoms. Both injuries can bring on pain, swelling, and limited movement at the injury site. The pain can be moderate or intense, depending on the severity of the injury. Sprains and strains both benefit from ice packs, rest, and elevation.
They can require surgery. Most diagnosed strains and sprains heal on their own with time, but a serious tear can require surgery to repair. With both injuries, it’s important to visit a doctor if an individual experiences severe pain and swelling, and decreased mobility.
The benefits of seeing a chiropractor for both sprains and sprains are twofold. Chiropractic treatments promote healing of the injured area as well as help strengthen the areas around the injury to decrease the chance of future injuries.
Sprains and strains can sideline individuals from their activities, no matter if they are athletes or regular guys doing yard work. It’s vital to take steps to avoid sprains and strains in the first place.
Always properly stretch and avoid overexertion to prevent strains. Take pains to clear walkways and stairways to avoid falls or sudden twisting movements to decrease the risk of sprains.
If you end up with a strain or sprain, contact us for a consultation. We have extensive experience in working with patients suffering from sprains and strains. | <urn:uuid:9c027c97-f1c4-42e7-91a1-f24269c9f4db> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://activestl.com/3-differences-in-sprains-and-strains-how-chiropractic-can-help/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.947868 | 723 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Mr Bernard Hogan-Howe recently stated that victims of online fraud should not be refunded. It worries me that a man of your power and position is incapable of understanding that being safe from fraud is not just a case of updating your software. The biggest factor in any hack is the human factor. The attacker is specifically hoping to take advantage of a weakness, whether he may pretend to a relative of the victim, or targets an employee of the financial institute to bypass any protection procedures in place. It’s common knowledge that in order for a claim of fraud to go through, and to protect the bank from malicious users, banks must do everything to protect their customers, in this case it could mean asking for additional confirmation with unfamiliar transactions. The user also has to show there was no negligence, e.g. pins were covered. The banks should be the people trying to prevent the fraud happening in the first place. If somehow the user has committed fraud, does that not point to flaws in the detection of these crimes? If the banks did their job, they would be able to stop these transactions going through in the first place.
People get smarter, they learn from their mistakes. The same thing happens with criminals. Credit card fraud isn’t a small crime. It’s big, there are gangs making millions. Do you really think that your systems would stop them? They’ve been milking your financial institution for ages, yet not one company has looked at resolving fraudulent transactions, or at least looking at how to reduce them.
I know certain online payment methods ask for additional verification when completing transactions, so why can’t this be done for banks or online credit card payments? It’s not always the user that is at fault. No matter how good your software is, or how good you think you are with your personal information, these people have proven time after time that your virtual security does not mean anything. If they are able to find one weak link, especially a human one, then you never stood a chance in the first place. It’s not a case of just updating your systems, it’s about educating people on safe practices.
Use HTTPS, make sure the green padlock is there. Don’t use your information on sites which don’t have a good reputation, you’ll have no recourse. Look at additional safer methods to protect your card details, can you buy a gift card? Even in a case like this, what happens when the company themselves get breached, who protects the cardholders then?
“My broad point is that if you are continually rewarded for bad behavior you will probably continue to do it.”
These people aren’t doing this on purpose. Have you ever been a victim of fraud? Have you any idea how daunting it could be? Do you really think someone will be the victim of fraud twice through their own doing? They’ve been victims because it’s your own system that has failed them in the first place. If you looked after your customers information, encrypted them accordingly, you wouldn’t have breaches like the ones we’ve had that resulted in thousands of credit card details being leaked. If that information was encrypted, it wouldn’t even be a problem right now. Your systems get abused on a daily basis by these criminals and you want to shift the blame on the user? You can only do so much to educate the user, you can implement policies that protect both parties but at the of the day, the weak point in this chain is not the user, it’s the failure to detect these fraudulent transactions in the first place. I agree that if I was told that if I didn’t protect my PIN, if I’m hit by fraud then I am liable for charges.
The problem is, you’re assuming everyone is breached because of their own fault. Almost every single case of credit card fraud has happened because the people committing the crime have been smarter, they’ve been duped into handing over CC details on what they believed was secure communication lines, or they were just unlucky and got affected like the victims of the Target breach. As part of the police, your job is to provide the public with the tools so they can be more aware of these scams and learn to protect themselves better. The public look to you to provide them with the support they need, instead you tell them their pretty much on their own if they didn’t know. It’s not like these people are committing crimes when they get targeted, they’ve not been aware of what’s been happening to them. Do you know how credit cards get harvested? Either through breaches of cardholders, ie online stores, or when cards have been intercepted, ie, skimming. Neither of these were the customers fault so would you put the blame on them?
You should be making your ATMs more secure so criminals can’t install unauthorized devices and making mandatory regulations that anyone who holds certain information must be handling it securely. Failure to comply with those regulations and you get fined for endangering customers. The same way courier scams take advantage of the fact that a customer is not protected if he hands over his card and pin to anyone else, the fraudsters take advantage of weaknesses in your system. The courier scam victim would have to pay back all the losses, but why should they be held responsible if you allowed a stolen transaction to go through approval, despite the transaction appearing from a device that’s not familiar, or from a different location. These people get away with it because people let them. They take advantage of gift shipping options as to avoid conflicts with billing & shipping addresses, that’s not an issue with the people, it’s an issue with the system processing the payment. Credit card fraud happens because your own payment systems get abused and tricked. The same way Amazon protects me by asking me for my full credit card number, if I log in from another device or a different location, banks need to offer more protection, so just having a set of details doesn’t mean the abuser is always going to get away with it. Focus more on educating and preventing rather than shifting blame. It also helps if you look at the root cause of an issue rather than assuming you can update your systems and be safe, if that was the case, no one would be getting hacked. | <urn:uuid:89155edf-0bc3-4338-8a64-46c5ea74f24d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://xch4ng3.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.963541 | 1,366 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Bread Burfi is an Indian dish. There are many ways to make ice cream. But today we are going to build in the easiest way. That means we are going to make bread today. Very easy to make.
- 2 cups of bread crumbs (take about 4-6 slices of sandwich)
- 3 Tablespoons of butter
- 1 cup of milk made from powdered milk
- One Cup of sugar
- 1 Cup of crushed cashews
- 1/4 teaspoon of crushed cardamom
How to Make:
First, you need to take the bread slices and cut them into pieces. This is to make it easier to blend the bread slices. When cutting this, you do not need to remove the edge around the bread slices.
OK! Then we have to put the sliced bread in a blender or grinder and grind it well. Don’t be afraid to buy sandwich bread or sliced bread. The bread does not stick to the moco blender when blended, even though the bread is slightly moist.
Then take these bread crumbs and put them in a pan/pan and fry it a little. At this time, reduce the heat to medium and fry while stirring. This process takes about 5-6 minutes. When the bread crumbs are mixed, it turns a little golden.
Then add sugar to the bread crumbs and mix well while still in the pan. After a while, the sugar melts and turns brown and mixes well with the bread crumbs. We have to keep spooning until this time. It’s not like you’re just bored with sugar! (Dissolving sugar like this is what we call “sugar caramelizing”. Do not overdo the sugar when doing this.)
Once the sugar is caramelized like this, add some milk and cardamom and mix the whole mixture with the bread crumbs until it becomes a smooth mixture. Reduce the heat of the stove a little at this time.
Then add some butter and cook for another minute.
It’s like a mixture of sand paste now. Next we need to add some ground cashews and mix well.
Now put this mixture in a buttered tray and thin it a little. Don’t go for less that your full potential. It’s hot! Use a flat spoon like a spatula for this work.
Then you can cut it into pieces and leave it to dry for a while. that is all! | <urn:uuid:a11961a9-0971-4320-93c2-44e297aacd86> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.hwtomake.com/how-to-make-bread-burfi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.942853 | 515 | 1.523438 | 2 |
6. Analysis of Oligosaccharide Ligands by High Performance Liquid Affinity Chromatography
WeiTong Wang~GlycoTech Corporation, Rockville, Maryland 20850
High performance liquid affinity chromatography (HPLAC) is a useful technique for investigation of the interaction between a carbohydrate binding protein and its ligands. HPLAC operates in the physiologically relevant association constant range for carbohydrate binding proteins of 10-2 to 10-4M-1. The technical requirements of this method are similar to conventional HPLC. One of the major applications of HPLAC is to screen and separate natural ligands from complex biological mixtures such as detecting, purifying and determining the binding constant of a carbohydrate ligand from bodily fluids. HPLAC is also useful in the rational design and synthesis of new carbohydrate drugs by providing a fast, sensitive, and simple method for the determination of KD values.
The critical requirement to perform a successful HPLAC analysis is to construct an appropriate affinity column. There are many methods to construct such a column. The following protocol describes an effective and simple method including in situ coating an IgG or an IgG-chimeric protein to a perfusion chromatographic column of protein A followed by an optional cross-linking procedure.
Boric acid-sodium borate buffer (0.2M), pH 8.2
Triethanolamine HCl (TEA), (0.2M), pH 8.2
Freshly made dimethylpimelidate dihydrochloride (DMP) (10 mM) in triethanolamine (0.2M)
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS, 20 mM sodium phosphate, 150 mM NaCl, pH 8.0)
Column of HPLAC A (Dynamic Coupling of IgG- HPLAC-A Column)
IgG or Ig chimeric protein
Coating IgG or IgG-chimera to HPLAC-A column
1. Dialyze IgG or IgG-chimera with PBS buffer. The protein concentration is adjusted to 0.5-1 mg/ml PBS. One ml of packed column binds about 10 mg of IgG or IgG chimera.
2. Condition the HPLAC-A column on a conventional HPLC system with the same PBS buffer at a flow rate of approximately 0.5 ml/min for 30 min at l0°C.
3. Pass the solution through the column at a flow rate of approximately 0.5 ml/min, l0°C. Monitor the eluant with a UV detector (280 nm).
4. Increasing absorbance at 280 mm indicates saturation of the column. At this time switch back to the PBS buffer.
5. The amount of IgG coupled to the column is obtained by subtracting the unbound IgG from the total IgG passed through the column.
Chemical Cross-linking IgG to the HPLAC A column (optional)
1. Keep HPLAC-A column at 10°C, and wash it with 10 column volumes of borate buffer at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min.
2. Pass 10 column volumes of TEA solution through the column at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min, 10°C.
3. Pass 15 column volumes of DMP solution through the column at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min, 10°C.
4. Condition the cross-linked column with PBS buffer (0.5-1.0 ml/min) for 30 min. and the column is ready for affinity chromatography.
Run HPLAC and KD Value Determination
1. HPLAC is operated in a conventional HPLC mode with the exception that physiologically compatible buffers are used (e.g. PBS or Tris buffer with pH>7). A relatively lower linear velocity (~0.04 cm/sec or 0.3 ml/min for 250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d. column) is highly recommended
2. The KD value can be calculated according to the simplified equation:
where Bt is the total amount (moles) of immobilized ligand sites, Vm and Vo are the maximum retention volume (liters) and the void volume (liters), respectively. t'-to represents the time (minutes) that the elution of the peak of active material is retarded by the column, and v is the elution flow rate (liter/min).
1. Zopf, D.A., and Ohlson, S. (1990) Weak affinity chromatography. Nature 344: 87-88
2. Wang. W., Lundgren, T., Lindh, F., Nilsson, B., Gronberg, G., Brown, J.P., Dibert, H., and Zopf, D.A. (1992) Isolation of two novel sialyl Lewis X-active oligosaccharides by high-performance liquid affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody onc-M26. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 292: 433-441.
3. Zopf, D.A., and Wang, W-T. (1993) Purification of oligosaccharide antigens by weak affinity chromatography. ACS symposium series 519, Carbohydrate Antigens, 80-91, American Chemical Society, Washington, D. C.
4. Arnold, F.H., Schofield, S. A., and Blanch, H.W. (1986) Analytical Affinity Chromatography. I. Local Equilibrium Theory and the Measurement of Association and Inhibition Constants. J. Chromatogr. 355Z:1-12.
Copyright © 1996-99 by GlycoTech Corporation. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:5c85fba8-5578-4b3a-8897-d36991bf4094> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.glycotech.com/protocols/Proto6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.806157 | 1,246 | 1.53125 | 2 |
QRF works with Sierra Leonean armed forces to safely dispose of unstable munitions. Photo courtesy of Golden West.
The Quick Reaction Force (QRF) is a team of civilian EOD technical experts that serve as PM/WRA’s first responders to unexpected CWD-related emergencies across the globe, including munitions depot explosions, ammunition depots at risk of imminent explosion, and ERW that pose significant threats to civilians. These situations require immediate action to secure or dispose of poorly-secured or unstable munitions, prevent loss of life, protect critical infrastructure, and conduct needs assessments for further CWD activities. The QRF can begin to respond to these threats worldwide in as few as 48 hours.
Since 2001, the QRF and its precursor the Quick Reaction Demining Force have deployed to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Federated States of Micronesia, Guatemala, Iraq, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Liberia, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Philippines, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
“Some contents of these foreign depots are akin to time bombs,” observes Stanley L. Brown, Director of PM/WRA. “We can’t ignore the terrible threat posed by decrepit ammunition whose stability is compromised by age, heat, rough handling, and overall poor storage. When we get a call for help after a depot accident or when a foreign government needs an urgent depot assessment, we must respond immediately. In these cases, time is not our friend.”
The Golden West, implementing partner for the QRF, is a U.S. NGO specializing in demining, BAC, and PSSM.
Charlie joined the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation in 2013 as the QRF Task Manager. He is responsible for managing, planning and deploying teams of fully trained and certified explosive remnants of war (ERW) technical specialists. He and his teams mobilize within 48hrs and rapidly implement short-term conventional weapons destruction and mitigation solutions designed to reduce or eliminate threats posed by explosive hazards to civilian populations. Contact Charlie to learn more about Golden West’s QRF. | <urn:uuid:2b384391-5cd8-448c-93ca-7d9ca4b5a34b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://goldenwesthf.org/goldenwest/operations/qrf/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.916876 | 490 | 1.992188 | 2 |
This graphic shows Canada's current citizenship revocation system as compared to a streamlined revocation process that is proposed under the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.
Citizenship could be revoked if:
A person obtained, retained or resumed citizenship by false representation, fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances (for example, information that could have impacted his or her eligibility for citizenship or permanent residence).
And could be revoked from dual citizens if the person:
- served as member of an armed force or organized armed group engaged in an armed conflict with Canada;
- was convicted of treason, high treason, spying offences and sentenced to imprisonment for life; or
- was convicted of a terrorism offence or an equivalent foreign terrorism conviction and sentenced to five years or more imprisonment.
Under the old, three-year process:
- Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister indicates intent to revoke citizenship.
- Federal Court (FC) finds that citizenship was obtained fraudulently or applicant chooses not to go to FC.
- Governor in Council decides whether to revoke citizenship.
Under the new, less costly, more efficient process:
The vast majority of cases (those related to residence fraud, concealing criminal inadmissibility or identity fraud) are decided by the CIC Minister. More exceptional cases, such as those involving war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as cases regarding security, human or international rights violations and organized criminality, would instead be decided by the FC. | <urn:uuid:56567305-b868-4946-9554-d6fdb19c1e39> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2014/03/graphic-strengthening-canadian-citizenship-streamlining-citizenship-revocations.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.957203 | 297 | 2.234375 | 2 |
What does Ata mean?
In Turkish, Ata means forefather. Ata Health recognizes that achieving population health involves systems- level change to the antecedents to health. This means working to optimize health systems the drive public health and clinical service delivery, and addressing systematic drivers of health, such as social determinants of health, or animal and environmental health threats (i.e. One Health).
Alexandra Zuber, MPP, DrPH
Founder & Principal
Experience in designing and leading health workforce and organizational capacity-building programs.
Ata Health Strategies was created in 2019 by its Principal, Dr. Alexandra Zuber, who leads all project-based teams. Through a career spanning nearly two decades, Dr. Zuber is recognized as a global expert in health workforce development and health systems strengthening, and has served in key leadership positions throughout the federal government, where she repeatedly designed, piloted, and scaled innovative public health programs that resulted in significant impacts in the U.S. and around the world.
In a ten year career at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Dr. Zuber served as the agency’s lead for human resources for health. She created and led a ten-person team and secured over $20 million in funding for programs advancing human resource information systems, nursing regulation and policy, field epidemiology training programs, and national public health institutes (NPHIs). She led the design of the first Project ECHO virtual community of practice under PEPFAR, in partnership with University of New Mexico, a model that is now mainstreamed across the global initiative. And she partnered with World Health Organization (WHO) to put forward the first Minimum Data Set for Health Workforce Registry, a key input to the current National Health Workforce Accounts.
For seven years, Dr. Zuber Co-chaired the PEPFAR interagency Human Resources for Health (HRH) Working Group, where she guided PEPFAR investments in over 30 countries and designed and led the strategy to achieve the Congressional target to produce 140,000 new health workers globally. In 2012, Dr. Zuber was appointed to a three person team responsible for design and launch of the $160 million Saving Mothers, Giving Life initiative, a signature program of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which reduced maternal mortality by 27% in program districts in 2 countries.
With Ata Health, Dr. Zuber has continued this leadership and focus. She is one of four 'key personnel' leading the $85 million USAID One Health Workforce- Next Generation Initiative, where she is responsible for guiding the five year program to support two regional training networks to build organizational sustainablity and become direct USAID funding recipients. She continues to support the design and evaluation of virtual communities of practice, such as through the CDC Leadership and Management ECHO and the Long Covid and other Fatiguing Illlness Recovery Program. And she leads important research and analysis to inform the development of CDC guidance for NPHIs, MOH strategic planning for human resources for health (HRH), and USG planning for HRH programs.
Dr. Zuber has lived and worked in over 20 countries, and holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government and a Doctorate of Public Health in Public Health Leadership from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.
Affiliated, Project-based Consultants
A national leader studying the supply, demand, distribution, use, and education of the health workforce for more than 35 years.
Dr. AKANI Bangaman Christian
A medical doctor with a public health background working as a medical officer at the national public health institute in Cote d’Ivoire.
An epidemiologist with a clinical background in medical dentistry based in Tunisia.
Chelsea Austin, MPH
A monitoring and evaluation professional, with substantial experience assisting a range of public and private organizations in meeting their learning needs. | <urn:uuid:c667875b-fe60-482c-a5c0-5159bc5c40b0> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.atahealthstrategies.com/about-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.940575 | 850 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Mises Daily Articles
The Myth of Natural MonopolyTags Free MarketsWorld HistoryMonopoly and Competition
[Originally published in The Review of Austrian Economics 9 (2), 1996.]
The very term "public utility" … is an absurd one. Every good is useful "to the public," and almost every good … may be considered "necessary." Any designation of a few industries as "public utilities" is completely arbitrary and unjustified.
— Murray Rothbard, Power and Market
Most so-called public utilities have been granted governmental franchise monopolies because they are thought to be "natural monopolies." Put simply, a natural monopoly is said to occur when production technology, such as relatively high fixed costs, causes long-run average total costs to decline as output expands. In such industries, the theory goes, a single producer will eventually be able to produce at a lower cost than any two other producers, thereby creating a "natural" monopoly. Higher prices will result if more than one producer supplies the market.
Furthermore, competition is said to cause consumer inconvenience because of the construction of duplicative facilities, e.g., digging up the streets to put in dual gas or water lines. Avoiding such inconveniences is another reason offered for government franchise monopolies for industries with declining long-run average total costs.
It is a myth that natural-monopoly theory was developed first by economists, and then used by legislators to "justify" franchise monopolies. The truth is that the monopolies were created decades before the theory was formalized by intervention-minded economists, who then used the theory as an ex post rationale for government intervention. At the time when the first government franchise monopolies were being granted, the large majority of economists understood that large-scale, capital-intensive production did not lead to monopoly, but was an absolutely desirable aspect of the competitive process.
The word "process" is important here. If competition is viewed as a dynamic, rivalrous process of entrepreneurship, then the fact that a single producer happens to have the lowest costs at any one point in time is of little or no consequence. The enduring forces of competition — including potential competition — will render free-market monopoly an impossibility.
The theory of natural monopoly is also ahistorical. There is no evidence of the "natural-monopoly" story ever having been carried out — of one producer achieving lower long-run average total costs than everyone else in the industry and thereby establishing a permanent monopoly. As discussed below, in many of the so-called public-utility industries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there were often literally dozens of competitors.
Economies of Scale During the Franchise Monopoly Era
During the late 19th century, when local governments were beginning to grant franchise monopolies, the general economic understanding was that "monopoly" was caused by government intervention, not the free market, through franchises, protectionism, and other means. Large-scale production and economies of scale were seen as a competitive virtue, not a monopolistic vice. For example, Richard T. Ely, cofounder of the American Economic Association, wrote that "large scale production is a thing which by no means necessarily signifies monopolized production."1 John Bates Clark, Ely's cofounder, wrote in 1888 that the notion that industrial combinations would "destroy competition" should "not be too hastily accepted."2
Herbert Davenport of the University of Chicago advised in 1919 that only a few firms in an industry where there are economies of scale does not "require the elimination of competition,"3 and his colleague, James Laughlin, noted that even when "a combination is large, a rival combination may give the most spirited competition"4 Irving Fisher5 and Edwin R.A. Seligman6 both agreed that large-scale production produced competitive benefits through cost savings in advertising, selling, and less cross-shipping.
Large-scale production units unequivocally benefited the consumer, according to turn-of-the-century economists. For without large-scale production, according to Seligman, "the world would revert to a more primitive state of well being, and would virtually renounce the inestimable benefits of the best utilization of capital."7 Simon Patten of the Wharton School expressed a similar view that "the combination of capital does not cause any economic disadvantage to the community. … Combinations are much more efficient than were the small producers whom they displaced."8
Like virtually every other economist of the day, Columbia's Franklin Giddings viewed competition much like the modern-day Austrian economists do, as a dynamic, rivalrous process. Consequently, he observed that
competition in some form is a permanent economic process. … Therefore, when market competition seems to have been suppressed, we should inquire what has become of the forces by which it was generated. We should inquire, further, to what degree market competition actually is suppressed or converted into other forms.9
In other words, a "dominant" firm that underprices all its rivals at any one point in time has not suppressed competition, for competition is "a permanent economic process."
David A. Wells, one of the most popular economic writers of the late 19th century, wrote that "the world demands abundance of commodities, and demands them cheaply; and experience shows that it can have them only by the employment of great capital upon extensive scale."10 And George Gunton believed that
concentration of capital does not drive small capitalists out of business, but simply integrates them into larger and more complex systems of production, in which they are enabled to produce … more cheaply for the community and obtain a larger income for themselves. … Instead of concentration of capital tending to destroy competition the reverse is true. … By the use of large capital, improved machinery and better facilities the trust can and does undersell the corporation.11
The above quotations are not a selected, but rather a comprehensive list. It may seem odd by today's standards, but as A.W. Coats pointed out, by the late 1880s there were only ten men who had attained full-time professional status as economists in the United States.12 Thus, the above quotations cover virtually every professional economist who had anything to say about the relationship between economies of scale and competitiveness at the turn of the century.
The significance of these views is that these men observed firsthand the advent of large-scale production and did not see it leading to monopoly, "natural" or otherwise. In the spirit of the Austrian School, they understood that competition was an ongoing process, and that market dominance was always necessarily temporary in the absence of monopoly-creating government regulation. This view is also consistent with my own research findings that the ''trusts" of the late 19th century were in fact dropping their prices and expanding output faster than the rest of the economy — they were the most dynamic and competitive of all industries, not monopolists.13 Perhaps this is why they were targeted by protectionist legislators and subjected to "antitrust" laws.
The economics profession came to embrace the theory of natural monopoly after the 1920s, when it became infatuated with "scientism" and adopted a more or less engineering theory of competition that categorized industries in terms of constant, decreasing, and increasing returns to scale (declining average total costs). According to this way of thinking, engineering relationships determined market structure and, consequently, competitiveness. The meaning of competition was no longer viewed as a behavioral phenomenon, but an engineering relationship. With the exception of such economists as Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and other members of the Austrian School, the ongoing process of competitive rivalry and entrepreneurship was largely ignored.
How "Natural" Were the Early Natural Monopolies?
There is no evidence at all that at the outset of public-utility regulation there existed any such phenomenon as a "natural monopoly." As Harold Demsetz has pointed out:
Six electric light companies were organized in the one year of 1887 in New York City. Forty-five electric light enterprises had the legal right to operate in Chicago in 1907. Prior to 1895, Duluth, Minnesota, was served by five electric lighting companies, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, had four in 1906. … During the latter part of the 19th century, competition was the usual situation in the gas industry in this country. Before 1884, six competing companies were operating in New York City … competition was common and especially persistent in the telephone industry … Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, among the larger cities, had at least two telephone services in 1905.14
In an extreme understatement, Demsetz concludes that "one begins to doubt that scale economies characterized the utility industry at the time when regulation replaced market competition."15
A most instructive example of the non-existence of natural monopoly in the utility industries is provided in a 1936 book by economist George T. Brown entitled "The Gas Light Company of Baltimore," which bears the misleading subtitle, "A Study of Natural Monopoly."16 The book presents "the study of the evolutionary character of utilities" in general, with special emphasis on the Gas Light Company of Baltimore, the problems of which "are not peculiar either to the Baltimore company or the State of Maryland, but are typical of those met everywhere in the public utility industry."17
The history of the Gas Light Company of Baltimore figures prominently in the whole history of natural monopoly, in theory and in practice, for the influential Richard T. Ely, who was a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, chronicled the company's problems in a series of articles in the Baltimore Sun that were later published as a widely-sold book. Much of Ely's analysis came to be the accepted economic dogma with regard to the theory of natural monopoly.
The history of the Gas Light Company of Baltimore is that, from its founding in 1816, it constantly struggled with new competitors. Its response was not only to try to compete in the marketplace, but also to lobby the state and local government authorities to refrain from granting corporate charters to its competitors. The company operated with economies of scale, but that did not prevent numerous competitors from cropping up.
"Competition is the life of business," the Baltimore Sun editorialized in 1851 as it welcomed news of new competitors in the gas light business.18 The Gas Light Company of Baltimore, however, "objected to the granting of franchise rights to the new company."19
Brown states that "gas companies in other cities were exposed to ruinous competition," and then catalogues how those same companies sought desperately to enter the Baltimore market. But if such competition was so "ruinous," why would these companies enter new — and presumably just as "ruinous" — markets? Either Brown's theory of "ruinous competition" — which soon came to be the generally accepted one — was incorrect, or those companies were irrational gluttons for financial punishment.
By ignoring the dynamic nature of the competitive process, Brown made the same mistake that many other economists still make: believing that "excessive" competition can be "destructive" if low-cost producers drive their less efficient rivals from the market.20 Such competition may be "destructive" to high-cost competitors, but it is beneficial to consumers.
In 1880 there were three competing gas companies in Baltimore who fiercely competed with one another. They tried to merge and operate as a monopolist in 1888, but a new competitor foiled their plans: "Thomas Aha Edison introduced the electric light which threatened the existence of all gas companies."21 From that point on there was competition between both gas and electric companies, all of which incurred heavy fixed costs which led to economies of scale. Nevertheless, no free-market or "natural" monopoly ever materialized.
When monopoly did appear, it was solely because of government intervention. For example, in 1890 a bill was introduced into the Maryland legislature that "called for an annual payment to the city from the Consolidated [Gas Company] of $10,000 a year and 3 percent of all dividends declared in return for the privilege of enjoying a 25-year monopoly.22 This is the now-familiar approach of government officials colluding with industry executives to establish a monopoly that will gouge the consumers, and then sharing the loot with the politicians in the form of franchise fees and taxes on monopoly revenues. This approach is especially pervasive today in the cable TV industry.
Legislative "regulation" of gas and electric companies produced the predictable result of monopoly prices, which the public complained bitterly about. Rather than deregulating the industry and letting competition control prices, however, public utility regulation was adopted to supposedly appease the consumers who, according to Brown, "felt that the negligent manner in which their interests were being served [by legislative control of gas and electric prices] resulted in high rates and monopoly privileges. The development of utility regulation in Maryland typified the experience of other states."23
Not all economists were fooled by the "natural-monopoly" theory advocated by utility industry monopolists and their paid economic advisers. In 1940 economist Horace M. Gray, an assistant dean of the graduate school at the University of Illinois, surveyed the history of "the public utility concept," including the theory of "natural" monopoly. "During the 19th century," Gray observed, it was widely believed that "the public interest would be best promoted by grants of special privilege to private persons and to corporations" in many industries.24 This included patents, subsidies, tariffs, land grants to the railroads, and monopoly franchises for "public" utilities. "The final result was monopoly, exploitation, and political corruption."25
With regard to "public" utilities, Gray records that "between 1907 and 1938, the policy of state-created, state-protected monopoly became firmly established over a significant portion of the economy and became the keystone of modern public utility regulation."26 From that time on, "the public utility status was to be the haven of refuge for all aspiring monopolists who found it too difficult, too costly, or too precarious to secure and maintain monopoly by private action alone."27
In support of this contention, Gray pointed out how virtually every aspiring monopolist in the country tried to be designated a "public utility," including the radio, real estate, milk, air transport, coal, oil, and agricultural industries, to name but a few. Along these same lines, "the whole NRA experiment may be regarded as an effort by big business to secure legal sanction for its monopolistic practices."28 Those lucky industries that were able to be politically designated as "public utilities" also used the public utility concept to keep out the competition.
The role of economists in this scheme was to construct what Gray called a "confused rationalization" for "the sinister forces of private privilege and monopoly," i.e., the theory of "natural" monopoly. "The protection of consumers faded into the background."29
More recent economic research supports Gray's analysis. In one of the first statistical studies of the effects of rate regulation in the electric utilities industry, published in 1962, George Stigler and Claire Friedland found no significant differences in prices and profits of utilities with and without regulatory commissions from 1917 to 1932.30 Early rate regulators did not benefit the consumer, but were rather "captured" by the industry, as happened in so many other industries, from trucking to airlines to cable television. It is noteworthy — but not very laudable — that it took economists almost 50 years to begin studying the actual, as opposed to the theoretical, effects of rate regulation.
Sixteen years after the Stigler-Friedland study, Gregg Jarrell observed that 25 states substituted state for municipal regulation of electric power ratemaking between 1912 and 1917, the effects of which were to raise prices by 46 percent and profits by 38 percent, while reducing the level of output by 23 percent.31 Thus, municipal regulation failed to hold prices down. But the utilities wanted an even more rapid increase in their prices, so they successfully lobbied for state regulation under the theory that state regulators would be less pressured by local customer groups, than mayors and city councils would be.
These research results are consistent with Horace Gray's earlier interpretation of public utility rate regulation as an anticonsumer, monopolistic, price-fixing scheme.
The Problem of "Excessive Duplication"
In addition to the economies of scale canard, another reason that has been given for granting monopoly franchises to "natural monopolies" is that allowing too many competitors is too disruptive. It is too costly to a community, the argument goes, to allow several different water suppliers, electric power producers, or cable TV operators to dig up the streets. But as Harold Demsetz has observed:
[T]he problem of excessive duplication of distribution systems is attributable to the failure of communities to set a proper price on the use of these scarce resources. The right to use publicly owned thoroughfares is the right to use a scarce resource. The absence of a price for the use of these resources, a price high enough to reflect the opportunity costs of such alternative uses as the servicing of uninterrupted traffic and unmarred views, will lead to their overutilization. The setting of an appropriate fee for the use of these resources would reduce the degree of duplication to optimal levels.32
Thus, just as the problem with "natural" monopolies is actually caused by government intervention, so is the "duplication of facilities" problem. It is created by the failure of governments to put a price on scarce urban resources. More precisely, the problem is really caused by the fact that governments own the streets under which utility lines are placed, and that the impossibility of rational economic calculation within socialistic institutions precludes them from pricing these resources appropriately, as they would under a private-property competitive-market regime.
Contrary to Demsetz's claim, rational economic pricing in this case is impossible precisely because of government ownership of roads and streets. Benevolent and enlightened politicians, even ones who have studied at the feet of Harold Demsetz, would have no rational way of determining what prices to charge. Murray Rothbard explained all this more than 25 years ago:
The fact that the government must give permission for the use of its streets has been cited to justify stringent government regulations of 'public utilities,' many of which (like water or electric companies) must make use of the streets. The regulations are then treated as a voluntary quid pro quo. But to do so overlooks the fact that governmental ownership of the streets is itself a permanent act of intenention. Regulation of public utilities or of any other industry discourages investment in these industries, thereby depriving consumers of the best satisfaction of their wants. For it distorts the resource allocations of the free market.33
The so-called "limited-space monopoly" argument for franchise monopolies, Rothbard further argued, is a red herring, for how many firms will be profitable in any line of production
is an institutional question and depends on such concrete data as the degree of consumer demand, the type of product sold, the physical productivity of the processes, the supply and pricing of factors, the forecasting of entrepreneurs, etc. Spatial limitations may be unimportant.34
In fact, even if spatial limitations do allow only one firm to operate in a particular geographical market, that does not necessitate monopoly, for "monopoly" is "a meaningless appellation, unless monopoly price is achieved," and "all prices on a free market are competitive."35 Only government intervention can generate monopolistic prices.
The only way to achieve a free-market price that reflects true opportunity costs and leads to optimal levels of "duplication" is through free exchange in a genuinely free market, a sheer impossibility without private property and free markets.36 Political fiat is simply not a feasible substitute for the prices that are determined by the free market because rational economic calculation is impossible without markets.
Under private ownership of streets and sidewalks, individual owners are offered a tradeoff of lower utility prices for the temporary inconvenience of having a utility company run a trench through their property. If "duplication" occurs under such a system, it is because freely choosing individuals value the extra service or lower prices or both more highly than the cost imposed on them by the inconvenience of a temporary construction project on their property. Free markets necessitate neither monopoly nor "excessive duplication" in any economically meaningful sense.
Competition for the Field
The existence of economies of scale in water, gas, electricity, or other "public utilities" in no way necessitates either monopoly or monopoly pricing. As Edwin Chadwick wrote in 1859, a system of competitive bidding for the services of private utility franchises can eliminate monopoly pricing as long as there is competition "for the field."37 As long as there is vigorous bidding for the franchise, the results can be both avoidance of duplication of facilities and competitive pricing of the product or service. That is, bidding for the franchise can take place in the form of awarding the franchise to the utility that offers consumers the lowest price for some constant quality of service (as opposed to the highest price for the franchise).
Harold Demsetz revived interest in the concept of "competition for the field" in a 1968 article.38 The theory of natural monopoly, Demsetz pointed out, fails to "reveal the logical steps that carry it from scale economies in production to monopoly price in the market place."39 If one bidder can do the job at less cost than two or more,
then the bidder with the lowest bid price for the entire job will be awarded the contract, whether the good be cement, electricity, stamp vending machines, or whatever, but the lowest bid price need not be a monopoly price. … The natural monopoly theory provides no logical basis for monopoly prices.40
There is no reason to believe that the bidding process will not be competitive. Hanke and Walters have shown that such a franchise bidding process operates very efficiently in the French water supply industry.41
The Natural-Monopoly Myth: Electric Utilities
According to natural-monopoly theory, competition cannot persist in the electric-utility industry. But the theory is contradicted by the fact that competition has in fact persisted for decades in dozens of US cities. Economist Walter J. Primeaux has studied electric utility competition for more than 20 years. In his 1986 book, Direct Utility Competition: The Natural Monopoly Myth, he concludes that in those cities where there is direct competition in the electric utility industries:
Direct rivalry between two competing firms has existed for very long periods of time — for over 80 years in some cities;
The rival electric utilities compete vigorously through prices and services;
Customers have gained substantial benefits from the competition, compared to cities were there are electric utility monopolies;
Contrary to natural-monopoly theory, costs are actually lower where there are two firms operating;
Contrary to natural-monopoly theory, there is no more excess capacity under competition than under monopoly in the electric utility industry;
The theory of natural monopoly fails on every count: competition exists, price wars are not "serious," there is better consumer service and lower prices with competition, competition persists for very long periods of time, and consumers themselves prefer competition to regulated monopoly; and
Any consumer satisfaction problems caused by dual power lines are considered by consumers to be less significant than the benefits from competition.42
Primeaux also found that although electric utility executives generally recognized the consumer benefits of competition, they personally preferred monopoly!
Ten years after the publication of Primeaux's book, at least one state — California — is transforming its electric utility industry "from a monopoly controlled by a handful of publicly held utilities to an open market."43 Other states are moving in the same direction, finally abandoning the baseless theory of natural monopoly in favor of natural competition:44
The Ormet Corporation, an aluminum smelter in West Virginia, obtained state permission to solicit competitive bids from 40 electric utilities;
Alcan Aluminum Corp. in Oswego, New York has taken advantage of technological breakthroughs that allowed it to build a new power generating plant next to its mill, cutting its power costs by two-thirds. Niagara Mohawk, its previous (and higher-priced) power supplier, is suing the state to prohibit Alcan from using its own power;
Arizona political authorities allowed Cargill, Inc. to buy power from anywhere in the West; the company expects to save $8 million per year;
New federal laws permit utilities to import lower-priced power, using the power lines of other companies to transport it;
Wisconsin Public Service commissioner Scott Neitzel recently declared, "free markets are the best mechanism for delivering to the consumer … the best service at the lowest cost";
The prospect of future competition is already forcing some electric utility monopolies to cut their costs and prices. When the TVAwas faced with competition from Duke Power in 1988, it managed to hold its rates steady without an increase for the next several years.
The potential benefits to the US economy from demonopolization of the electric utility industry are enormous. Competition will initially save consumers at least $40 billion per year, according to utility economist Robert Michaels.45 It will also spawn the development of new technologies that will be economical to develop because of lower energy costs. For example, "automakers and other metal benders would make much more intensive use of laser cutting tools and laser welding machines, both of which are electron guzzlers.46
The Natural-Monopoly Myth: Cable TV
Cable television is also a franchise monopoly in most cities because of the theory of natural monopoly. But the monopoly in this industry is anything but "natural." Like electricity, there are dozens of cities in the United States where there are competing cable firms. "Direct competition … currently occurs in at least three dozen jurisdictions nationally."47
The existence of longstanding competition in the cable industry gives the lie to the notion that that industry is a "natural monopoly" and is therefore in need of franchise monopoly regulation. The cause of monopoly in cable TV is government regulation, not economies of scale. Although cable operators complain of "duplication," it is important to keep in mind that "while over-building an existing cable system can lower the profitability of the incumbent operator, it unambiguously improves the position of consumers who face prices determined not by historical costs, but by the interplay of supply and demand."48
Also like the case of electric power, researchers have found that in those cities where there are competing cable companies prices are about 23 percent below those of monopolistic cable operators.49 Cablevision of Central Florida, for example, reduced its basic prices from $12.95 to $6.50 per month in "duopoly" areas in order to compete. When Telestat entered Riviera Beach, Florida, it offered 26 channels of basic service for $5.75, compared to Comcast's 12channel offering for $8.40 per month. Comcast responded by upgrading its service and dropping its prices.50 In Presque Isle, Maine, when the city government invited competition, the incumbent firm quickly upgraded its service from only 12 to 54 channels.51
In 1987 the Pacific West Cable Company sued the city of Sacramento, California on First Amendment grounds for blocking its entry into the cable market. A jury found that "the Sacramento cable market was not a natural monopoly and that the claim of natural monopoly was a sham used by defendants as a pretext for granting a single cable television franchise … to promote the making of cash payments and provision of 'in-kind' services … and to obtain increased campaign contribution."52 The city was forced to adopt a competitive cable policy, the result of which was that the incumbent cable operator, Scripps Howard, dropped its monthly price from $14.50 to $10 to meet a competitor's price. The company also offered free installation and three months free service in every area where it had competition.
Still, the big majority of cable systems in the U.S. are franchise monopolies for precisely the reasons stated by the Sacramento jury: they are mercantilistic schemes whereby a monopoly is created to the benefit of cable companies, who share the loot with the politicians through campaign contributions, free air time on "community service programming," contributions to local foundations favored by the politicians, stock equity and consulting contracts to the politically well connected, and various gifts to the franchise authorities.
In some cities, politicians collect these indirect bribes for five to ten years or longer from multiple companies before finally granting a franchise. They then benefit from part of the monopoly rents earned by the monopoly franchisee. As former FCC chief economist Thomas Hazlett, who is perhaps the nation's foremost authority on the economics of the cable TV industry, has concluded, "we may characterize the franchising process as nakedly inefficient from a welfare perspective, although it does produce benefits for municipal franchiser."53 The barrier to entry in the cable TV industry is not economies of scale, but the political price-fixing conspiracy that exists between local politicians and cable operators.
The Natural-Monopoly Myth: Telephone Services
The biggest myth of all in this regard is the notion that telephone service is a natural monopoly. Economists have taught generations of students that telephone service is a "classic" example of market failure and that government regulation in the "public interest" was necessary. But as Adam D. Thierer recently proved, there is nothing at all "natural" about the telephone monopoly enjoyed by AT&T for so many decades; it was purely a creation of government intervention."54
Once AT&T's initial patents expired in 1893, dozens of competitors sprung up. "By the end of 1894 over 80 new independent competitors had already grabbed 5 percent of total market share … after the turn of the century, over 3,000 competitors existed.55 In some states there were over 200 telephone companies operating simultaneously. By 1907, AT&T's competitors had captured 51 percent of the telephone market and prices were being driven sharply down by the competition. Moreover, there was no evidence of economies of scale, and entry barriers were obviously almost nonexistent, contrary to the standard account of the theory of natural monopoly as applied to the telephone industry.56
The eventual creation of the telephone monopoly was the result of a conspiracy between AT&T and politicians who wanted to offer "universal telephone service" as a pork-barrel entitlement to their constituents. Politicians began denouncing competition as "duplicative," "destructive," and "wasteful," and various economists were paid to attend congressional hearings in which they somberly declared telephony a natural monopoly. "There is nothing to be gained by competition in the local telephone business," one congressional hearing concluded.57
The crusade to create a monopolistic telephone industry by government fiat finally succeeded when the federal government used World War I as an excuse to nationalize the industry in 1918. AT&T still operated its phone system, but it was controlled by a government commission headed by the postmaster general. Like so many other instances of government regulation, AT&T quickly "captured" the regulators and used the regulatory apparatus to eliminate its competitors. "By 1925 not only had virtually every state established strict rate regulation guidelines, but local telephone competition was either discouraged or explicitly prohibited within many of those jurisdictions."58
The theory of natural monopoly is an economic fiction. No such thing as a "natural" monopoly has ever existed. The history of the so-called public utility concept is that the late 19th and early 20th century "utilities" competed vigorously and, like all other industries, they did not like competition. They first secured government-sanctioned monopolies, and then, with the help of a few influential economists, constructed an ex post rationalization for their monopoly power.
This has to be one of the greatest corporate public relations coups of all time. "By a soothing process of rationalization," wrote Horace M. Gray more than 50 years ago, "men are able to oppose monopolies in general but to approve certain types of monopolies. … Since these monopolies were 'natural' and since nature is beneficent, it followed that they were 'good' monopolies. … Government was therefore justified in establishing 'good' monopolies."59
In industry after industry, the natural monopoly concept is finally eroding. Electric power, cable TV, telephone services, and the mail, are all on the verge of being deregulated, either legislatively or de facto, due to technological change. Introduced in the United States at about the same time communism was introduced to the former Soviet Union, franchise monopolies are about to become just as defunct. Like all monopolists, they will use every last resource to lobby to maintain their monopolistic privileges, but the potential gains to consumers of free markets are too great to justify them. The theory of natural monopoly is a 19th century economic fiction that defends 19th century (or 18th century, in the case of the US Postal Service) monopolistic privileges, and has no useful place in the 21st century American economy.
- 1. Richard T. Ely, Monopolies and Trusts (New York: MacMillan, 1990), p. 162.
- 2. John Bates Clark and Franklin Giddings, Modern Distributive Processes (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1888), p. 21.
- 3. Herbert Davenport, The Economics of Enterprise (New York: MacMillan, 1919), p. 483.
- 4. James L. Laughlin, The Elements of Political Economy (New York: American Book, 1902), p. 71.
- 5. Irving Fisher, Elementary Principles of Economics (New York: MacMillan, 1912), p. 330.
- 6. E.R.A. Seligman, Principles of Economics (New York: Longmans, Green, 1909), p. 341.
- 7. Ibid, p. 97.
- 8. Simon Patten, "The Economic Effects of Combinations," Age of Steel, Jan. 5, 1889, p. 13.
- 9. Franklin Giddings, "The Persistence of Competition," Political Science Quarterly, March 1887, p. 62.
- 10. David A. Wells, Recent Economic Changes (New York: DeCapro Press, 1889), p. 74.
- 11. George Gunton, "The Economics and Social Aspects of Trusts," Political Science Quarterly, September 1888, p. 385.
- 12. A.W. Coats, "The American Political Economy Club," American Economic Review, September 1961, pp. 621637.
- 13. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, "The Origins of Antitrust: An Interest-Group Perspective," International Review of Law and Economics, Fall 1985, pp. 7390.
- 14. Burton N. Behling, "Competition in Public Utility Industries" (1938), in Harold Demsetz, ed., Efficiency, Competition, and Policy (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1989), p. 78.
- 15. Ibid.
- 16. George T. Brown, The Gas Light Company of Baltimore: A Study of Natural Monopoly (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936).
- 17. Ibid., p. 5.
- 18. Ibid., p. 31.
- 19. Ibid.
- 20. Ibid., p. 47.
- 21. Ibid., p. 52.
- 22. Ibid., p. 75.
- 23. Ibid., p. 106.
- 24. Horace M. Gray, "The Passing of the Public Utility Concept," Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, February 1940, p. 8.
- 25. Ibid.
- 26. Ibid., p. 9.
- 27. Ibid.
- 28. Ibid., p. 15.
- 29. Ibid., p. 11.
- 30. George Stigler and Claire Friedland, "What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity," Journal of Law and Economics, October 1962, pp. 116.
- 31. Gregg A. Jarrell, "The Demand for State Regulation of the Electric Utility Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, October 1978, pp. 269295.
- 32. Demsetz, Efficiency, Competition, and Policy, p. 81.
- 33. Murray N. Rothbard, Power and Market: Government and the Economy (Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1977), pp. 7576.
- 34. Murray N. Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1993), p. 619.
- 35. Ibid., p. 620.
- 36. Ibid., p. 548.
- 37. Edwin Chadwick, "Results of Different Principles of Legislation and Administration in Europe of Competition for the Field as Compared With Cmopetition Within the Field of Service," Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 22 (1859), pp. 381420.
- 38. Harold Demsetz, "Why Regulate Utilities?" Journal of Law and Economics, April 1968, pp. 5565.
- 39. Ibid.
- 40. Ibid.
- 41. Steve Hanke and Stephen J.K. Walters, "Privatization and Natural Monopoly: The Case of Waterworks," The Privatization Review, Spring 1987, pp. 2431.
- 42. Walter J. Primeaux, Jr., Direct Electric Utility Competition: The Natural Monopoly Myth (New York: Praeger, 1986), p. 175.
- 43. "California Eyes Open Electricity Market," The Washington Times, May 27, 1995, p. 2.
- 44. The following information is from Toni Mack, "Power to the People," Forbes, June 5, 1995, pp. 119126.
- 45. Ibid., p. 120.
- 46. Ibid., p. 126.
- 47. Thomas Hazlett, "Duopolistic Competition in Cable Television: Implications for Public Policy," Yale Journal on Regulation, vol. 7 (1990).
- 48. Ibid.
- 49. Ibid.
- 50. Ibid.
- 51. Thomas Hazlett, "Private Contracting versus Public Regulation as a Solution to the Natural Monopoly Problem," in Robert W. Poole, ed., Unnatural Monopolies: The Case for Deregulating Public Utilities (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1985), p. 104.
- 52. Pacific West Cable Co. v. City of Sacramento, 672 F. Supp. 1322, 13491340 (E.D. Cal. 1987), cited in Hazlett, "Duopolistic Competition."
- 53. Hazlett, "Duopolistic Competition."
- 54. Adam D. Thierer, "Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments in the Development of the Bell System Monopoly," Cato Journal, Fall 1994, pp. 267285.
- 55. Ibid., p. 270.
- 56. Ibid.
- 57. G.H. Loeb, "The Communications Act Policy Toward Competition: A Failure to Communicate," Duke Law Journal, vol. 1 (1978), p. 14.
- 58. Thierer, "Unnatural Monopoly," p. 277.
- 59. Gray, "The Passing of the Public Utility Concept," p. 10. | <urn:uuid:bf45a95b-b9c5-4eef-88af-a10f519cfbb0> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://mises.org/library/myth-natural-monopoly?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dcd873009e7b785%2C0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.951624 | 8,141 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Kitty parties are parties for adult women who want to get out and get to know new people. You can host a kitty party for women in your neighborhood, church or office to help people make new friends. In addition to providing good food and time to chat, kitty parties also usually have games that offer party goers a way to get to know each other and to feel more comfortable together. Prepare one or more of these one-minute games to break the ice at your kitty party.
Video of the Day
Speed Word Search
Prepare a word search with kitty-related words such as cat, kitten, yarn, milk, calico, purring and feline. Pass out pencils and paper and instruct the participants to keep the paper face down until you say "Go." Time them for one minute and give a prize to the participant who finishes the word search first.
Baby Picture Guess
Since kitty parties are used to help women get to know one another, showing baby pictures is a great way to break the ice. Collect a baby picture from each person coming to the party and pin the pictures to a bulletin board or a piece of foam core. Glue or pin a number next to each picture. Give each participant a piece of paper numbered with as many pictures as you have. Give them 60 seconds to guess which picture belongs to each person. The person with the most correct guesses wins a prize.
Candy Bar Game
Buy an assortment of candy bars and lay them out on a table where everyone can see them. Make up funny definitions that go with the candy bars. For example, for the Mars bar you could say, "Red Planet," or for the O'Henry bar you could say, "A famous author." When everyone is ready, read one of your definitions. The first person to shout out the appropriate candy bar gets to keep it.
Paper Bag Pick-up
Have all the ladies sit in a circle and place a brown paper grocery bag in the center of the circle. Have people take turns standing on one leg and trying to pick up the bag with their teeth. If they touch the floor with their hands or fall down, they're out. All the survivors of the first round advance to the second round. To make the second round more difficult, cut about two inches off the top of the bag. Cut more off the bag for each subsequent round. The winner is the person who survives the longest. | <urn:uuid:3924ab1e-75a6-41c1-a8b1-3033918f76fe> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ehow.com/info_12094487_oneminute-indoor-kitty-party-games.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950233 | 500 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Companies in the Republic lost nearly S$2 billion last year due to data loss or unplanned downtime arising from illicit cyber activities — a fact not lost on insurance companies, which are beginning to offer protection to firms here as cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated.
But as the industry gears up to offer coverage, which can include the cost of investigative work and rectification, market watchers say a general lack of awareness, underestimation of the risks of security threats and few precedents for designing and setting premiums are impediments.
While interest is on the rise, insurers offering such policies here said uptake rates remain low despite Singapore having seen a string of high-profile online intrusions in both the public and private sectors in recent years.
Hackers illegally accessed SingPass accounts last year, while cyber thieves stole customer data from karaoke chain KBox. In 2013, statements of hundreds of Standard Chartered Bank’s clients were stolen from a server of a printing company. The incident was discovered only after the data were found on a laptop seized from James Raj Arokiasamy, who was sentenced to jail last month for hacking into the Ang Mo Mio Town Council website.
Last year, 66 per cent of businesses here suffered data loss or unplanned downtime due to illicit cyber-activities, costing them an estimated S$1.9 billion, a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) spokesperson told TODAY.
To enhance the industry’s capabilities in providing cyber insurance coverage and manage cyber risks, the authority is working with the industry to create a test bed for cyber risks. “Such events are more than capable of inflicting significant reputational and financial damage. In efforts to develop greater cybersecurity resilience, insurance can play an important role in helping organisations improve cyber controls and manage the financial impact from such events,” the spokesperson said.
CYBER INSURANCE MARKET STILL SMALL
Despite the risks such attacks present, the cyber insurance market remains small. EY estimates the size of the global marketplace for cyber insurance at between US$600 million (S$812 million) to US$1.3 billion in gross written premiums in 2013.
By comparison, the global commercial insurance market is worth about US$1 trillion annually, said Boston Consulting Group. An EY study in 2013 found that only 31 per cent of respondents globally said their firms had cyber insurance coverage.
Cybercrime coverage can include forensic investigation expenses, legal and public relations costs, business income loss and internet media liability coverage. In Singapore, at least three international insurers — AIG, Chubb and Zurich Insurance — offer such policies. Globally, premiums range from US$20,000 to US$25,000 a year for about US$1 million worth of coverage.
Chubb said its first clients were mostly financial institutions, but its customer base has expanded to include firms from manufacturing, retail, healthcare and professional services.
Mr Andrew Beven, senior underwriter at AIG New Zealand, said: “The landscape for cyber insurance in Asia has changed quickly and dramatically in the past year.” Singapore has been a big driver for the 82 per cent growth seen in AIG’s cyber insurance take-up throughout Asia excluding Japan.
“Following the attacks against Sony and Target ... directors are increasingly aware of this exposure and the impact it can have on an organisation’s reputation and balance sheet,” he said. AIG did not elaborate on the take-up rate.
LACK OF AWARENESS A ROADBLOCK
Experts say apart from a lack of awareness, firms are unwilling to spend on such products, while security threats continue to evolve. Another hurdle is the risk management culture in Asia, which is weaker than that in the West, said Mr Vincent Loy, cyber-risk leader of PwC Singapore, adding that the Asian market expects cheaper premiums.
Another speed bump is the lack of a risk model and historical data to help the industry design and set premiums for cybersecurity policies. Unlike, for example, natural catastrophes, for which there is data, there is little precedent for cyber infringements.
The MAS test-bed for cyber-risks seeks to address this issue, by simulating loss events and generating data to improve pricing and coverage, while raising awareness of cyber-insurance.
Mr Noel Tan, vice-president and regional manager at Chubb, welcomed the MAS effort. “This may help breach the gap between what businesses perceive as the risk of a possible loss event and what could ultimately be the actual costs they would have to bear in the event of a data breach,” he said. | <urn:uuid:da075e27-2464-4750-ae30-9f22a9641a87> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.campusrock.sg/publicaffairs/cybercrime-costs-hit-s2-billion-but-insurance-adoption-low | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950301 | 966 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Monday, November 25, 2019
The federal government has always contracted with private entities for mundane goods and services (e.g., pencils, laundry service, construction, and so on). Today, however, private actors implement major federal programs and exercise decisional authority in ways traditionally performed by federal actors. Public-law scholars have decried privatization’s distorting effects on constitutional rights, separation of powers, and administrative law. Missing from the literature, however, is a corresponding account for federalism. This Article pivots into that neglected space, with some urgency. In statehouses and courthouses around the county, politicians and advocacy groups aim to hold federal contractors accountable to state law. For example, recently enacted state laws seek to regulate private immigration detention facilities and student loan servicers operating within their jurisdictions. Against these initiatives, the federal government and its contractors argue that state law is displaced not only by federal law, but also by federal contracts and implied constitutional immunities.
Asked whether federal contracts can displace state law, most if not all jurists and scholars would say ‘no'—only federal law can trump state law. That is right in theory but wrong in practice. In undertheorized and outmoded precedents, the Supreme Court has held that federal contracts can preempt state law (“preemption by contract”), and that federal contractors can be constitutionally immune from state regulation (“privatized immunity”). Following the Court’s lead, the federal government and its contractors portray these doctrines of “Supremacy, Inc.” as everyday federalism.
This Article rejects that premise and sounds the alarm. In our era of privatized governance, contractors may stand in for federal officials. But contracts need not, and should not, substitute for federal law. Efficiency is the coin of federal outsourcing, and the most efficient way to displace state law is by contract. Although the Supremacy Clause has been liberally construed in other contexts (for example, to give preemptive force to administrative regulations), the displacement of state law by federal contracts is a step too far. If accountability to state law interferes with programmatic efficiencies, that is a fair constitutional price for outsourced governance. Should the nation not wish to pay it, the government can shield contractors with federal laws—which are the “supreme Law of the Land.” | <urn:uuid:9aa20351-b72f-4435-86ff-f2a76f65507a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/11/immigrtaion-article-of-the-day-supremacy-inc-by-david-s-rubenstein.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.94528 | 543 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Reef Builder raises carbonate alkalinity (KH) without immediately impacting on pH. With long term use there will be a tendency to stabilize at pH 8.3. Used as directed, Reef Builder will not deplete calcium, magnesium, or strontium which usually tend to precipitate with increasing alkalinity.
- Raises carbonate alkalinity (KH) with minimal impact on pH
- A blend of carbonate sources that will not lower pH as competing bicarbonate only products can
- Will not deplete calcium, magnesium, or strontium
Use 3g (1/2 level teaspoon) per 150L (40 US gallons) twice a week. Dissolve in at least 250mL (1 cup) of freshwater. Check alkalinity every 2 weeks and adjust amount or frequency accordingly. For precise dosing, use the Seachem Digital Spoon Scale.
Check alkalinity, then follow addition regimen above until alkalinity is adjusted to 3-6 meq/L (8-17 dKH). Each 3 g/150 L will raise alkalinity by about 0.25 meq/L. Quantity or frequency can be adjusted, but do not exceed 12 g/150 L per day. Thereafter, use as required to maintain alkalinity. | <urn:uuid:fd5434ac-c270-4f48-9574-4bd19dbfa28b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://triopetcare.ae/product/reef-builder-300g/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.832844 | 285 | 1.609375 | 2 |
A digital portfolio is already spoken out by many students. Supporters of this innovation argue that this is an exceptionally useful service for all students. So, what is it and how can it help?
Student Digital Portfolio is a service that allows students to manage their academic and personal achievements. With it, you can track educational, sports, creative, and even social success.
What useful functions do digital portfolios perform?
- The student has a convenient opportunity to track and analyze their achievements in educational activities.
- Awards and successes that are recorded in the digital portfolio will remain there forever. Thus, you cannot be afraid that this data may be lost as is the case with print media.
- It is easier for a school graduate to collect documents and apply for admission to the chosen university. This saves time and effort not only for the future student but also for university staff who scan and analyze the applicant’s progress.
- Parents can also track their child’s progress and note what they are doing better and what needs to be worked on.
- Teachers have the opportunity to adjust the educational material to focus on what the student is not doing well enough.
The following information is included in the digital portfolio:
- Diplomas of the winner of academic competitions;
- Victory in competitions of national importance;
- Participation in scientific conferences;
- Any sports achievements;
- Letters of recommendation from supervisors, teachers, etc.
All student data in the digital portfolio are securely protected. Access to them can only be obtained by certain organizations, such as universities and schools, or those who are granted access by the child or parents.
Digital Portfolio Features
A candidate who has a successful digital portfolio that demonstrates high achievements and acquired skills will be in demand all over the world in highly paid positions. Millennials need a digital portfolio to showcase their talents and find like-minded people. In today’s world, resumes and e-portfolios help students stand out from the crowd.
To create a good first impression with employers, the student should consider adding reflections of the work done to their portfolio. This will give a clear idea of a person’s readiness for new difficulties. Therefore, just a large number of achievements does not guarantee that such a student will be able to effectively solve the pressing problems of the modern world.
Modern technologies allow any student to easily use multimedia tools to set up a digital portfolio. Another important thing is to create unique portfolios showing presentations using text, sound, images, and video to present yourself to a university committee or employer.
A digital portfolio is one of the best inventions in education. To create a first-class digital portfolio, its author will need to spend a lot of time and effort. However, the result of such work will exceed all expectations. It depends on the student’s desire whether they will be able to use their childhood achievements in the future. | <urn:uuid:6f564f70-6b25-449a-8057-76b30be7001f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/how-do-digital-portfolios-help-students/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.940367 | 596 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Curated by Omar Berrada
4- 6 May 2018
‘There is less and less living room’, June Jordan laments in Moving
towards Home, ‘and where are my loved ones?’ This may seem
paradoxical within a fiercely political poem from 1982 written in
solidarity with the Palestinians in Lebanon. But home is a capacious
place, and fighting the powers of war begins by nurturing communities
of affect. It begins, literally, in the living room. A poem is an embrace.
If oppression is embodied, then how do bodies become free? How do
they enact performances of survival, performance as survival? This is
about black intimacy. It is about resilient bonds on the verge of breaking.
How do you build a sense of belonging? How does the invention of new,
communal forms of life contribute to a reinvention of one’s own existence?
There are histories and herstories waiting to be exhumed. There are
ancestors longing in silence. Our work is the work of generations.
Over three afternoons, FORUM will strive to make more living room
by exploring the political potentials of intimacy. We will honour black
feminist traditions and listen to the voices that have called upon us to
liberate ourselves. We will dwell on the politics of African and diasporic
bodies, as it finds expression in practices of language, ritual, protest, craft
and care. We will consider the uses of solidarity in revolutionary Algiers
and the possibilities of healing in post-apartheid South Africa. We will
stage virtual encounters with intimate strangers, practice site-specific
exercises in ‘getting well soon’, and reflect on rituals as modes of making
kin, ways of resisting together.
Speakers, contributors, and performers include Derrick Adams, Sophia
Azeb, Babirye Leilah, Hatim Belyamani, Phoebe Boswell, Aruna D’Souza,
Emmanuel Iduma, NIC Kay, Lawrence Lemaoana, Joiri Minaya, Elaine
Mokhtefi, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Nkiru Nzegwu, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Jay Pather,
Serubiri Moses, Ekow Eshun, Lyle Ashton Harris and Neelika Jayawardane. | <urn:uuid:86130c4a-1b4d-45f5-a1a3-5a0a116be9e4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.1-54.com/new-york/living-room/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.892324 | 509 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Coming to On Demand And Digital on February 16, 2021, Shout!Factory’s ‘Woman In Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek And The Remaking Of NASA’ is a great addition to Black History Month, and it gives insights into how one person can change the course of history. When Star Trek: TOS originally aired, “astronaut” was a job that only Caucasian men were doing; then one Black woman spoke out and firmly took the opportunity to make change.
To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson in the trailer, “What is a change in society? A change is — you cannot even imagine a world any other way!”
In the role of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura of Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols was involved in many important “firsts”: the first interracial kiss on American television; the first American live-action series with an interracial cast; the first American science fiction series with a continuing cast that told stories aimed at adults rather than children; the first African-American to place her handprints in front of the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Born in a village suburb of Chicago, and at heart a stage actress who loved doing musical theater, Ms Nichols had intended to leave the series after the first season, to pursue a job offer of a Broadway role in a musical. As fate would have it, the same day she handed in her resignation to Gene Roddenberry, she was introduced to “her greatest fan”, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. He made her aware that she was part of something of historical proportions. She stayed.
After ST:TOS had been off the air for a decade, Ms Nichols gave a speech in Washington DC under the auspices of the National Space Society, entitled, “New Opportunities for the Humanization of Space” or “Space, What’s in it for me?” In that speech, she chided NASA for multiple rejections of applications from qualified women, who had then felt disenfranchised and discouraged. NASA responded by contacting her with the offer of a position that would help them recruit women and People of Color.
In her own words, her response to NASA’s job offer (as told to the Smithsonian Magazine) was, “OK. I will do this and I will bring you the most qualified people on the planet, as qualified as anyone you’ve ever had and I will bring them in droves. And if you do not pick a person of color, if you do not pick a woman, if it’s the same old, same old, all-white male astronaut corps, that you’ve done for the last five years, and I’m just another dupe, I will be your worst nightmare.” She spent the next ten years as a NASA Recruiter.
In addition to Ms Nichols herself, ‘Woman In Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek And The Remaking Of NASA’ features a large number of celebrities, activists, scientists and astronauts who discuss and reminisce about the influence of this woman, who was not only at the right place at the right time, but who seized the opportunity to change our world. | <urn:uuid:2d3f4c35-fb02-4392-b19e-1c25f956e4d5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://scifi.radio/2021/02/11/woman-in-motion-how-lt-uhura-changed-nasa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.961692 | 680 | 1.890625 | 2 |
SINEBase is a database of short interspersed elements and tools for their identification and analysis. It is intended to:
SINEBase is not intended to:
Retro(trans)posons are genetic elements that can amplify themselves in eukaryotic genomes via an RNA intermediate, which requires their transcription and reverse transcription. Retroposons are divided into three classes: LTR elements, LINEs, and SINEs. The elements that encode reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme providing for the reverse transcription and integration of the DNA copy into the genome, are called autonomous transposons. Nonautonomous retroposons rely on the RTs of autonomous transposons. LTR transposons and LINEs can be autonomous or nonautonomous; and their genomic copies are transcribed by the cellular RNA polymerase II.
Short interspersed elements (SINEs) are defined as relatively short (< 700 bp) nonautonomous retroposons transcribed by the cellular RNA polymerase III (pol III) from an internal promoter, while their reverse transcription depends on the RT of partner LINEs. Eukaryotic genomes can harbor hundreds thousands (sometimes more) of SINE copies; copies originating from a common ancestral SINE can differ from each other by single-nucleotide alterations as well as by longer internal deletions or duplications (SINEs with such duplication are called quasidimeric). Some of them can become founders of new SINE subfamilies.
SINEs consist of two or more modules; typically, head, body, and tail. The 5'-terminal head originates from the cellular RNAs synthesized by pol III: tRNA, 7SL RNA, or 5S rRNA. The origin of the body is either unknown or it descends from a partner LINE. SINEs with a LINE-derived region mimic LINE RNA in the reverse transcription (such SINEs belong to the stringent group). It can also contain a domain shared by distant SINE families (CORE and similar domains). The 3'-terminal tail is a sequence of variable length consisting of simple (often degenerate) repeats. In addition, two SINEs can combine into a dimeric SINE, thus, giving rise to a new SINE family. SINEs consisting of the head and tail only are called simple, while dimeric, trimeric, etc. are complex SINEs.
We consider SINEs as:
SINEs should be distinguished from RNA pseudogenes: the pseudogenes are generated by the reverse transcription of the cellular RNAs (e.g., 5S rRNA) rather than of SINE RNAs transcribed from their genomic copies. In practical terms, most SINEs have extra (body) sequences, while simple SINEs have characteristic substitutions/indels shared with their source gene but not with the cellular RNA gene. In addition, SINEs significantly outnumber RNA pseudogenes.
The notion of ‘SINE family’ is widely used but not clearly defined. We consider SINE family as a set of SINEs
Thus, similar SINEs with different LINE-derived regions belong to different families. Long insertions are considered as modules. At the same time, internal deletions or duplications within modules do not give birth to a new family; although a combination of complete or almost complete SINEs (complex SINEs) is considered as a new family (thus, pB1 and quasidimeric B1 are subfamilies of the same family, while dimeric Alu represents a distinct family). Finally, there are а few SINEs with quite similar structure but of independent origin (certain simple SINEs), which are considered as different families.
Database of SINE families is presented as a Table integrating the following data:
The Table contents can be filtered and sorted in many ways. E.g., you can limit it to mammalian SINE families with a LINE-derived region and sort them by length (see Tips & Tricks)
Note that SINEs of the same family have the same modules in the same order; at the same time, they can have relatively small deletions or internal duplications. The tail length and even sequence is not a marker of SINE families.
SINESearch is a FASTA-based search tool that utilizes simple parameters to select sequences of interest instead of the internal FASTA's statistical significance test. This obviates two limitations of FASTA (as well as BLAST etc.) in the case of relatively short and degenerate similarities between nucleotide sequences of SINEs:
Finally, the parameters used, overlap length and sequence identity, are biologically sensible and allow easy adjustment of hit selection.
SINESearch is simple to use and fast. Specify the search parameters, bank to search, and query sequence, and press the '' button to start search. If error message appears, press the ' ' button, enter correct data (' ' button can be used to reset all fields), and press the ' ' button again. The results are sorted by the best fit coefficient (reflecting correspondence between the total lengths of the sequences and the overlap length; note that it does not directly depend on the sequence identity). However, the results can be sorted by other parameters (sequence name, identity, or overlap) by clicking on column headers marked with . In the case of the SINEBase bank, the output contains links to the SINE Table, where you can find details about the SINE families found. If you are not satisfied with the results, try to adjust parameters or redefine the query sequence limits.
SINESearch input fields:
Sequence identity. Allowed range: 40-100%. Generally, it is not recommended to decrease this value below 65%. The default value is 65% but it automatically changes to 60% for the RNA banks.
Min overlap lenght. Allowed range: 30-1000 nt. Use 90% of the query sequence length as the starting point; 60 nt is recommended for the RNABase bank; use common sense: some modules can be as short as ~30 nt, while others are longer. The default value is 70 nt but it automatically decreases to 60 and 40 nt for the RNA and CORE banks, respectively.
Sequence Entry. Query sequence can be entered manually (typed or pasted) or uploaded from a local file. The sequence must be in FASTA format. Only IUPAC nucleotide symbols are allowed. The maximum sequence length is 2 kb. Multiple query sequences are not supported. Either enter or upload query sequence; when a sequence file is uploaded the manual sequence entry field is disabled and vice versa (use the '' buttons to reset the file upload box or the manual sequence entry fields; while ' ' resets all fields). The query sequence can be shortened from both ends using the Offset parameters (notice that the numbering of the full-length sequence is preserved).
TSDSearch is a tool to search for relatively short target site duplications of genomic DNA that commonly frame retrotransposons including SINEs. Found repeats are shown as arrows below the sequence ruler and as sequences with coordinates. TSDs are sorted by a compromise between total length and length of matches, so that 'best' TSDs are list first.
Search Area. A typical task in SINE analysis is to identify TSDs framing SINE sequence(s). In this context, the region where TSDs are searched should not include the proper SINE sequence as well as areas too distant from it. Blind analysis of the whole region not only substantially increases the computation time but also complicates data intepretation. Setting the 5' and 3' offset values as well as the lengths of regions to analyze (ranges) makes it possible to focus on the desired areas. Bear in mind that the tails can substantially vary in length, so it is a good practice to increase the 3' range relative to the 5' range. On the other hand, the 5' range has the greatest impact on calculation time so do not increase this value unless nessesary.
TSD parameters. The search algorithm considers TSD as three blocks of nucleotides (subrepeats) identical between the 3' and 5' TSDs (i.e., subrepeat 1 in 5' TSD is identical to subrepeat 1 in 3' TSD etc.). Subrepeats can be separated by variable spacers. For instance, 5' TSD: (ACCT)a(GGG)(TAC) and 3' TSD: (ACCT)(GGG)ac(TAC); subrepeats are shown in parentheses and spacers are in lowercase. Subrepeats cannot be shorter that the subrepeat min lengths specified, while spacers cannot be longer than the max length of spacers. Min length of total match (without gaps) and max total mismatch length allow fine tunung of TSD length and similarity, respectively. Finally, the number of displayed TSDs for a query sequence is limited by the max number of TSDs (specify '1' to show the best TSD only).
Sequence Entry. Query sequence can be entered manually (typed or pasted) or uploaded from a local file (if you use a recent browser that supports HTML5 file operations). The sequence must be in FASTA format. Only A, C, G, and T nucleotide symbols are allowed in the search area. Notice that U, N, and X are not allowed. Gaps ('~', '–', & ' ') are allowed and ignored. Multiple sequence query can be analyzed, but all sequences must have unique names. For good reason, all sequences should be longer than the sum of the left and right offsets and ranges. Either enter or upload query sequence; when a sequence file is uploaded the manual sequence entry field is cleared and vice versa (use the '' buttons to reset the file upload box or the manual sequence entry fields; while ' ' resets all fields).
All parameters and sequences are checked prior to TSD search. Analysis will not start if any parameter or sequence does not conform to the requirements. In this case, balloon message(s) appear near the field to be corrected.
We encourage the submission of new data on SINE families. Please, make sure that your SINE comply with the requirements and provide all nessesary information, which includes submitter's data (name, affiliation etc.), SINE data, and publication (if any). SINE data includes the SINE family name, consensus sequence, taxonomic distribution, copy number, tail repeat unit, and comments.
As you proceed to the next field (as well as when you press the '' button), error prompts may appear (e.g., 'This field is required' or 'Invalid email address'). You won't be able to send data without fulfilling all the requirements. Please, contact us if you find some requirements irrelevant (e.g., you have discovered a 55-nt SINE). If no (more) errors, pressing the ' ' button sends your data to the SINEBase. You will promptly recieve an automatic confirmation e-mail. Please, allow some time for us to review your submission. | <urn:uuid:adf7542b-8da9-40c2-8ffe-3d950feaeff8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://sines.eimb.ru/Help.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.902396 | 2,418 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Two short poems that can be read as allegories of a poet’s creative life, fifteen years apart in the career of Mark Strand. “The Midnight Club” originally appeared in his 1991 collection The Continuous Life; “I Had Been a Polar Explorer” in Man and Camel, in 2006.
The Midnight Club
The gifted have told us for years that they want to be loved
For what they are, that they, in whatever fullness is theirs,
Are perishable in twilight, just like us. So they work all night
In rooms that are cold and webbed with the moon’s light;
Sometimes, during the day, they lean on their cars,
And stare into the blistering valley, glassy and golden,
But mainly they sit, hunched in the dark, feet on the floor,
Hands on the table, shirts with a bloodstain over the heart.
I Had Been a Polar Explorer
I had been a polar explorer in my youth
and spent countless days and nights freezing
in one blank place and then another. Eventually,
I quit my travels and stayed at home,
and there grew within me a sudden excess of desire,
as if a brilliant stream of light of the sort one sees
within a diamond were passing through me.
I filled page after page with visions of what I had witnessed—
groaning seas of pack ice, giant glaciers, and the windswept white
of icebergs. Then, with nothing more to say, I stopped
and turned my sights on what was near. Almost at once,
a man wearing a dark coat and broad-brimmed hat
appeared under the trees in front of my house.
The way he stared straight ahead and stood,
not shifting his weight, letting his arms hang down
at his side, made me think that I knew him.
But when I raised my hand to say hello,
he took a step back, turned away, and started to fade
as longing fades until nothing is left of it.
Listen to Mark Strand reading “The Midnight Club.”
More about New Selected Poems
More about Man and Camel
Meet Mark Strand in New England and New York this month | <urn:uuid:2d6737e9-c8c8-45f6-a70d-b21bce7566a1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://knopfdoubleday.com/tag/the-continuous-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.963711 | 470 | 1.570313 | 2 |
There’s always been misconceptions on what is legal with salon booth rental situations. Are booth renters employee’s? Do they pay their own taxes? How does the owner of the salon deal with certain rules of conduct when someone within their business is self- employed? The answer is, get it in writing.
Here’s a simple least agreement that salon owners can use, so there are no surprises in the management of the overall salon.
_________Salon, grants to the Leasee the right to use one space inside the premises. This space is rented for the purpose of cosmetology, manicuring or aesthetics. The Leasee is allowed to use common areas such as, the waiting area, the shampoo area, break room and restrooms. ________Salon will provide all utilities, heat, air conditioning, electricity, and water.
This agreement is for a one year period. From,_________to_________. Renewal is at the end of this term, and the amount of rent is subject to change.
Rent, in the sum of, ____________, per week, shall be paid at the end of each work week. Failure to pay rent on time, will result in a monetary penalty of _____per day until full rent is paid.
*the Leasee understands that they are an independent contractor and are not an employee. The Leasee is responsible for paying all taxes related to their income according to the state and local authorities.
The Leasee waives any right or claim to any workman’s compensation or unemployment benefits.
*____________Salon will provide a clean atmosphere in all common areas and the Leasee is responsible for keeping their work area clean and sanitized.
*the Leasee is responsible for purchasing their own supplies relating to their business.
*the Leasee as well as their clients are responsible for respective behavior and
__________Salon has the right to refuse service to anyone with disruptive behavior.
*____________Salon has zero tolerance for drug use during working hours and can result in a cancellation of this lease agreement.
*Leasee must have their own professional liability insurance and must show proof of purchase to__________Salon.
*Leasee has the right to advertise using the salon name.
*Leasee acknowledges all rules of the salon in conducting oneself with professionalism.
*Leasee acknowledges that, at any time, a client is not satisfied with a service, the Leasee is responsible for rectifying the situation. If the situation is not corrected by the Leasee,__________Salon reserves the right to immediately terminate this agreement.
*Continuing education is required to uphold the skill level, __________Salon has a reputation for. (personalize hours, classes, or shows for continuing education)
*violations to this lease agreement may result in termination of this lease.
*in the event a Leasee has to terminate this agreement, a 30 day written notice must be provided and all rent be paid in full up to that date.
Judy DeLuca’s latest novel, Towel Dry and a Good Cry
It’s about two Italian bff’s doing hair in the 80’s and the lives they touch through their clients. Guaranteed to make you laugh your ass off and shed a little tear.
Or your favorite ebook store
View the book trailer: www.youtube.com/toweldryandagoodcry
Follow me on Pinterest for more beauty info and tips | <urn:uuid:2f728c1d-88c6-42de-a507-664154c4f163> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://judydeluca.com/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.933809 | 778 | 1.539063 | 2 |
What do we mean by news literacy?
News literacy is the ability to think and speak for ourselves about current affairs. In order to do this, we need to develop the knowledge and skills needed to form an accurate picture of what is happening in the world and justify opinions about the news with sound arguments.
Our news literacy model
The news literacy model has been created by The Economist Educational Foundation as a way to support the development of news literacy in young people. It outlines the knowledge and skills needed to engage with the news.
The model includes a News Curriculum which details the specific knowledge required to understand the news. It also sets out four essential critical-thinking and communication skills: speaking, listening, problem-solving and creativity. These skills form part of the Skills Builder Universal Framework*.
We’ve created resources for teachers to help them to use the news literacy model in their classrooms. The resources are suitable for use with students aged 9-16.
Develop your learners' news literacy with our resource toolkit:See toolkit
*The Skills Builder Framework is a tool to develop and measure progress in the essential skills for school, university and employment. It can be found at skillsbuilder.org/framework.
Why these skills?
Good listeners learn more.
To understand the news, we need to gather all the important information. That means we need to be able to listen well. Sometimes, we don’t really listen to things that we don’t agree with. That can mean that we miss out on hearing important perspectives or being able to hear the truth. Other times, we can be too easily persuaded by information that isn’t true, because we don’t listen well enough to spot that it’s false. Listening well means really trying to understand what you’re hearing, so that you can learn new things.
Good speakers have discussions that help everyone to learn, including themselves.
Speaking is an important part of news literacy for two reasons. Firstly, it helps us to work out what we think about the news, by enabling us to join discussions about it. In discussions, we can hear different people’s opinions, ask questions to find out more and think hard to answer questions that people ask us. This all helps us to learn. Secondly, speaking helps us to express our opinions about what’s happening in the news and what should be done about it.
Good problem-solvers can work out what’s really going on and what should be done about it.
Problem-solving is an important part of news literacy because it enables us to work out what we think about the news. It helps us to work out whether information is true or false. Also, when we hear about problems in the news such as climate change, problem solving helps us to work out how those problems could be solved. Problem-solving helps us to decide between different points of view, too. Sometimes there are lots of different opinions about a news story and problem-solving helps us to work out which ones make most sense, which ones we agree with and why.
Creative people can come up with ideas about what might be going on and what could be done about it.
Creativity helps us to come up with ideas that help us to understand the news. For example, we might come up with ideas about why something is happening in the news. Or we might come up with ideas about how different events in the news might be connected, which helps us to understand the reasons for things. It also helps us to work out which points of view on the news we agree with, by enabling us to imagine the consequences of those points of view. Creativity and problem-solving go together. Just like problem-solving, creativity helps us to work out what we think and come up with ways to solve problems that we hear about in the news.
How does news literacy improve young people’s lives?
The skills and knowledge that make up our news literacy model also impact a young person’s success in education, employment and democratic engagement.
News-literacy skills are identified by employers as essential to succeeding in the workplace.
- Essential skills are required by “almost everyone [...] to do almost any job. They are the skills that make specific knowledge [...] fully productive”1
- Skills which cannot be automated, such as the news literacy skills, support a long and prosperous life in the future2
- Employers consistently call for these skills across all educational and experience levels3
- 74% of teachers say employability skills are now the most important way to improve pupils’ career prospects4
A focus on communication skills and discussion supports academic success in school and beyond.
Giving young people accessible, relevant information about societal issues and space to practise discussing them supports democratic engagement.
- Building young people’s access to relevant political and societal information builds confidence in political engagement. Only 37% of young people currently feel the issues are relevant to them7
- The Fake News and Critical Literacy report recommended regular exposure to, and discussion of, the news to help foster trust in journalism and democracy8 | <urn:uuid:a3e815e4-65eb-4a9e-b352-30f290abb566> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://economistfoundation.org/about-news-literacy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950232 | 1,089 | 3.71875 | 4 |
It’s always fun to see what Kenneth Maxon is up to lately on his robot projects. He has a well equipped CNC workshop and does intricate work that is beautifully detailed. Here’s a photo essay of his latest project he sent along so everyone could see:
Here’s a view of the mold which is in 4 parts. It’s capable of making parts in 2 different configurations…
Mold parts clamped together and ready for the 2-part polyurethane treatment…
The 2-part plastic is not poured, it is injected. Kenneth says:
I’m often asked how one gets the material to ‘pour’ with such a high surface area to cross section aspect ratio. The trick comes in using a large bore syrenge to push the material through the tool. This also helps to cary some of the smaller air bubbles through and out by letting excess material overflow from the air relief.
Here’s what the parts look like after the plastic has cured, first configuration…
And here’s the second configuration. Kenneth writes:
After the first part comes out it is pretty easy to get a nice surface finish on all of the parts that follow. The first part comes out a bit ratty as, no matter how well the tool is cleaned, the molding process pulls ‘magic’ chips out of it. Additionally, the 2-part materials and the mold release wax have a small chemical inter-action with the soap film left when washing the tool. Once the first part is pulled from the tool, all of the following parts come out with a great surface finish like those shown in the photo.
This photo shows the molded parts installed on Kenneth’s robots.,.
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100% Privacy: We will never Spam you! | <urn:uuid:4a327902-f76a-490e-826b-b540a48c851e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.cnccookbook.com/molding-robot-parts-from-2-part-polyurethane-plastic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.92567 | 469 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Stack addAll(int, Collection) method in Java with Example
The addAll(int, Collection) method of Stack Class is used to append all of the elements from the collection passed as a parameter to this function at a specific index or position of a Stack.
boolean addAll(int index, Collection C)
Parameters: This function accepts two parameters as shown in the above syntax and are described below.
- index: This parameter is of integer datatype and specifies the position in the Stack starting from where the elements from the container will be inserted.
- C: It is a collection of ArrayList. It is the collection whose elements are needed to be appended.
Return Value: The method returns True if at least one action of append is performed, else False.
Below program illustrate the Java.util.Stack.addAll() method:
The Stack is: [Geeks, for, Geeks, 10, 20] The new Stack is: [Geeks, A, Computer, Portal, for, Geeks, for, Geeks, 10, 20]
The Stack is: [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] The new Stack is: [10, 20, 1, 2, 3, 30, 40, 50] | <urn:uuid:cdb06373-4aef-4bed-b278-eb7828cd6a5d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/stack-addallint-collection-method-in-java-with-example/?ref=rp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.707399 | 275 | 2.875 | 3 |
New York Canada Goose Zones CENTRAL LONG ISLAND
New York CENTRAL LONG ISLAND - Unit Overview
Unit CENTRAL LONG ISLAND for Canada Geese covers approximately 304,577 acres, and limited sections of this unit are comprised of public land. The dominant land cover for Unit CENTRAL LONG ISLAND is developed, open space. From September through December, this unit receives an average of 3.75 inches of precipitation a month and the heaviest rainfall is in November. Temperatures during hunting seasons typically range from 35°F to 65°F. | <urn:uuid:34b85044-c20d-4e0f-8bb1-43af681fae28> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.gaiagps.com/hunting/new%20york/goose/CENTRAL%20LONG%20ISLAND/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.890507 | 112 | 1.679688 | 2 |
by Mr Mohammed Humran. Founder
Truth is power, so why did the UN and Arabian league not seek the knowledge of what is going on in Yemen, by forming an international committee to investigate war crimes in Yemen.
I think the majority of people around the world are not interested in political issues, but nonetheless there is an international growing lack of trust in the UN as a body. UN employees and missions have been affected by maladministration in UN offices and misdeameanors by UN officials; these stories are often seen in the social media. The results of these problems at the UN is an increase in dishonesty and manipulation of the truth, a lack of balance, inequality, racism, war crimes, and an absence of justice. This is now recognised by a number of nations throughout the world.
Out of a population of 28 millions Yemeni people, 90% of them are not political nor are they linked to fighting forces, but they have been shocked by attitude of the UN -Security General and UN envoys to Yemen in this conflict. All the things that have been destroyed in Yemen seems to be for no purpose; thousands of Yemeni innocents including women and children have been killed for no reason; we have personally witnessed hundreds of despicable war crimes and they cannot see any reason why they needed to happen. Who will compensate all Yemeni individuals, or the Yemeni nation, for everything from the destruction of homes to the destruction of vital projects that have been bombed out of existence. What kind of international courts or international organization will dare to stop war crimes in Yemen, and ensure justice for Yemen innocents?
We heard of UN conferences, statements and announcements on social issues, such as ensuring justice for all and helping the world’s youth. It is almost laughable when this is compared with our reality today. In the UN strategic plan for 2030 they say they want to achieve so much in their youth programmes. Yet they have made no effort to protect Yemeni women and children from Saudis aggression, nor have they stood beside the victims to publicise the facts on the ground. How exactly will the UN be able to convince Yemeni youths about justice, truth, alleviating poverty, and the need for clear law, whilst the UN was not able to stop a Saudi dictatorship; their support of this regime that those in Yemen believe is associated with a form of religious extremism that spawns hate, revenge, lies, racism and discrimination all over the world.
What we learn is opposite what we live and face on our lives. This important announcement by a Yemen Mental illness team motivated me to write this article. They sent a message and an appeal to UN; please UN general assembly and all members and representatives to UN, can you pressure Saudi Arabia to open the international Sanaa airport so that sick people can travel outside Yemen for treatment?
On September 9, 2016, The UN stated that ” the United Nations has included “mental health and wellbeing” in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.4, with the aim of reducing deaths from mental health issues by one third by 2030. It is time to turn this SDG into reality. At a side event held 7 September, ahead of the General Assembly, at UN Headquarters in New York, member states and UN representatives, civil society members, as well as mental health experts discussed implementation of this Goal on a global scale”
Yemeni civilians call to you, if you couldn’t stop war crimes in Yemen, please could you discuss how to lift the blockade that was imposed by Saudi Arabia on 25th March 2015, and open Sanaa International airport that has been closed by Saudis.
According to UN reports in 2016, 2017 Yemenis are encountering horrible war crimes at all kind of levels such ruined homes, schools and hospitals. So more than 20000 of Yemeni innocents killed and around 18 millions are facing famine . I know many Yemeni friends of mine who have sick children. One of them has a daughter with cancer and he wants to travel to Egypt for treatment; he sold his home to pay for the tickets. Earlier, other he sold part of his land to get tickets to go Jordan to treat his son. Unfortunately, they found Sanaa International Airport has been closed by the Saudis. Really horrible and shocking stories are appearing from Yemen, whilst the UN Secretary General only stated that he regretted and condemned killing of children and women in Yemeni hospitals and schools. The previous UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon and UN Envoys to Yemen hadn’t any choice nor the new one who appointed in 2017. They feel under pressure by international and regional powers. By comparison, the GCC or one of Saudi monarchs has the ability to overthrow decisions made at UN conferences, and invalidate all the statements by Ban Ki-Moon. For example, the UN envoy to Yemen Mr Gamal Benomar stated in his last report that all Yemeni parties were about to find a solution to their political differences, and they had agreed to end all conflicts, but before his plan was put into practice, Hadi fled to Riyadh, the Saudis started their bombing campaign against Yemen, and Benomar resigned in protest at the lack of support for Yemen by the international community, and he was replaced by another envoy.
The Republic of Yemen is a sovereign and independent state that has been a full member of UN since 1947. It has an internal political system and is ruled by free elections according to the Yemen Constitution that was formed after the unification of Yemen in 1990. All Yemeni domestic political issues are subject to the Yemeni Constitution and the laws in Yemen. The internal conflict within Yemen did not need external coalitions to launch war against Yemen.
In the modern era, every democratic state is ruled by domestic constitutions and laws that are devised to protect the integrity of nations and states. Yemen is one of the countries which ruled by three powers, judicial power, legislative power and executive power. Since the Yemen uprising in 2011 and the handover of power by Saleh to Hadi, these had been under scrutiny. This review was driven internal political groupings that were backed by international powers such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These countries had also financed Yemeni political groups and militias and that action in itself had furthered the destabilisation of Yemen; they worked to change the basic Yemeni democratic system and principles of law and replace them with contracts and treaties that appeared to favour the GCC.
In the name of freedom and democracy the Saudi-led coalition has only caused chaos and instability. Because of international pressure the UN was not neutral, many of their announcements and decisions appeared to be against the needs of Yemeni people. If we noticed carefully what happened after the Saudi led bombardment began, while the events on Yemen were horrific and deserved concern, the UN was silent. Evidence was collected by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Oxfam, the ICRC amongst other organisations of many war crimes that violated humanitarian and human right laws, directly caused by the actions of the Saudi led coalition, but UN seems unable to respond to these violations. While the international community has been blinded about the war crimes against Yemen, there are many background issues that fire the anger of the ordinary man in the street in Yemen. It seems that the UN Security Council and the UN’s most prominent officials have been influenced by Saudi money and stand behind Saudi policies, rather than standing up to wealth and power. If UN officials don’t appear to respect the UN charters, then how can the Yemeni nation and Yemeni people respect UN decisions. We feel powerful GCC nations have flounted UN rules in order to gain advantage, and Yemeni lives and property has not been considered important. Super Power policy is simply not fair on the weak and poor.
The UN needs reform. It is clear, that UN Security Council is biased to serve the permanent members of that council. The UN forgets its real missions; they have left behind their responsibilities towards humanity. They don’t care about the world’s other nations, as if they are only half human. While there are many reports of illegal actions in the UN, such corruption and racism. All nations have right to be part of UN Security Council according to the human right rules, all nations suffering should be treated equally. The UN Charter needs review to ensure it is fit for purpose, and matches the dreams of new generations.
The UN needs to respond to a changing world. The UN charters and rules were formulated in 1945 and are not appropriate for 2017. It is not fair that notions, ideas and thinking of the five permanent members of the UN security council that were appointed in1945, are unchanged and unchallenged in 2017. Globalisation has meant that all the world has become as one village – the UN needs to be more connected by developing different instruments and finding easier ways to understand what is happening around the world.
The world is changing. For example, according to the last population survey, the Indian nation has a population of about 800 millions, whilst Islamic nations are more than one billion people around the world. They have no adequate representation in the UN. These nations want reform. People are the same around the world no matter what gender, ideology, nationality or colour. Modern technology seemed to be enjoyed by a few rich countries, whilst other nations are banned from getting advantages of the best developments and modern technology. Bad and good people are everywhere, and no nation has more than its fair share of dangerous people. It is not fair that individual states have right to gain modern, terrible weapons for self-defence and the right to use them how, when and where they want, whilst other nations such as Yemen are denied the right to gain any sort of weapons for their self-defence. Why should some nations have access to uranium and the right to nuclear power, even though they have acted aggressively in many part of the world, while others who haven’t demonstrated such aggressive behaviour have nonetheless been denied the right to develop their own weapons. There is a race for the development of armaments and weapons that is becoming more and more unequal; arms treaties for non-proliferation seem to be ignored by powerful states.
Ideology is used to justify past war and present war, and hides illegality of what is happening. Ideology helps some favoured nations to gain dirty privileges and further their political interests. This same scenario has happened in Yemen. Yemeni women and children have been killed on a false pretext; they have imagined a situation where Yemenis support Iran, but it was never so. Saudi bombs have destroyed roads, bridges, ports, airports, factories, farms, schools, hospitals, ancient monuments, all in the name of helping Yemen. Logically, that cannot be true. According to the UNDP Report in 2008 the majority of Yemeni people were living in poverty. The average income was 300 dollars per months. The whole Yemeni government’s budget around 6- 8 billion dollars. The biggest form of employment of the Yemeni population is farming, and 80% of the main income for Yemen is oil. Now Yemen doesn’t export anything. They can’t farm because lack of oil and electricity, so they can’t pump irrigation water. Yemenis have been living without electricity, under siege since 26 March, 2015 till today.The Yemeni situation could easily be solved without war, but external actors are creating a situation which means the war is forced to continue. Thousands of families have lost their loved ones, relatives, brothers and sisters because of war. Many Yemenis who are fighting think they are fighting in self-defence, because naturally no one will surrender their own country to a foreign power, especially when that foreign power is conducting a war against them and they can see with their own eyes the war crimes that have been committed
All international constitutions allow nations the right to self-defence against any physical threats. Every human has the right to free speech, to practice any religion, and live independently according to the law. No country in this world has the right to terrify, threaten, to imposed a blockade, to kill innocents, to use the language of force and threat. We in Yemen believe that Saudis’ foreign policy and money calls the shots at the UN. For example, the UN envoy to Yemen Mr. Gamal Benomar described the Saudis involvement in Yemen; he stated that because of the onset of their military involvement, it caused the negotiations between Yemeni groups to cease and directly stopped the Yemeni parties from finding an agreement.
UN charters are clear, they to promote international security, peace and cooperation, to prevent the scourge of war. The Yemeni Constitution doesn’t allow for a President to ask an outside nation to bomb his own people. The UNSC resolution 2216 does not give permission for any nation to attack Yemeni infrastructure and indeed, it stated that member states should refrain from taking any actions that undermine the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen. To most Yemeni people, 2216 was a one-sided and flawed document, because it was written in April 2015 when Saudi Arabia had already started its campaign of destruction against Yemen, but this was ignored in this resolution, instead the document focussed on the actions of one party, the Houthis.
Last year , the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon removed Saudi Arabia from a blacklist, where it was placed because of the deaths of Yemeni children caused by them dropping bombs on homes and schools. Ban Ki-Moon stated that he was pressurised to remove Saudis from the blacklist, who threatened to stop funding other programmes in the Middle East if they remained on the blacklist. Surely this threat should not have affected UN decisions. Similarly, whilst 2216 called for an arms embargo, it did not allow for an embargo against the Yemeni people, yet UN has not moved to stop the embargo that is causing famine and death in Yemen. They were not given the rights to stop flights to Sanaa International Airport, nor was Saudi Arabia mandated to force all flights bound for Yemen to land at Baishah Airport, where Yemeni passengers are searched and humiliated.
Saudi Arabia’s excuses for war were to offer support for Hadi whom the international community see as the legitimate President, but within Yemen this is and was an contested issue; the alleged involvement of Iran in Yemen although in Yemen the Iranians have had no presence and have little influence, and Saudi security, although this is hard to understand as Saudi security has worsened since this war began. It is an imagined proxy war, for which Yemeni are paying a very high price. The conflicts in the Middle East are for hegemony and control of the Middle East by world super powers, using the UN for decisions to justify their power games, to give a veneer of legality on their illegal operations in Yemen and the Middle East, and using Saudi Arabia as a puppet to implement their will and buy weapons from the powerful West to do so.
Finally, all Yemeni people clearly understand that Saudi Arabia is backed by the West; USA Obama and TRUMP administrations and UK government are implicated in the destruction of Yemen and the killing of Yemeni civilians, including children. The blood of Yemen will chase them year after year. Justice will happen one day; the facts will appear sooner or later. Our nation had rejected Hadi’s dictatorship, and the Yemeni nation will never forget Saudis’ war crimes nor to give up on their determination to bring war criminals to justice. The Yemeni nation will one day live free and independently on Yemen lands. And they will keep on searching to unmask war criminals, in Yemen, the Middle East, and all over the world. We ask the Arabian members of summit 2017 to see Yemeni issue and stop Saudis war anti Yemeni innocents . Only the Yemeni women and children are paying the price of this illegal war . | <urn:uuid:023b3dd3-2fbe-4e44-9e2f-044f3cfcb653> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://albahreah.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.970372 | 3,211 | 2.046875 | 2 |
1: What is Tazkeer and Tazkeer Fi Al-Quran? 2: Is this some particular way of Tafseer or what? 3: Are there any books on this topic?
According to the source I consulted is that Tazkeer means reminder to both muslims and non-muslims.
So Tazkeer fi Al-Quran means a reminder that is stated in the Quran.
You could say there is the Quran about this topic. Because it's full of reminders for muslims to obey.
This might not be an answer as I've said in my comment above that it seems unclear to me what you are referring to and the people who used this term should know it better.
Tazkeer or better Tadhkeer (or tathkeer) تذكير in Arabic means reminder of something.
Tadhkeer fi al-Qur'an التذكير في القرآن from a linguistic perspective might be correct if it refers to a reminder of something in the Qur'an. But one would ask himself a reminder of what? It might refer to verses that remind us about hell or death or jannah or punishment or of Allah in general etc.
Or might be linguistically rather incorrect if it means reminding each other using the Qur'an or helping each other remind parts one memorized from the Qur'an. The later is often used by jama'at a-Da'wa wa tabligh they remind each other of the last 10 surahs of the Qur'an and help each other memorizing the Qur'an: one of them recites and the other verifies the correctness and vice versa.
A better term in this case would be at-Tadhkeer bil Qur'an التذكير بالقرآن especially the linguists of al-Kufa would accept the first version too | <urn:uuid:d3be8d89-610f-479e-886d-d5c015c3bca3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/49290/what-is-tazkeer-and-tazkeer-fi-al-quran/49291 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.905966 | 425 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A comprehensive, lavishly illustrated guide to tying popular trout flies.
This book is aimed at all fly tyers, from those with modest experience to those with more advanced skills. The author’s intention is to focus on certain important elementary techniques, and then share some of his favorite contemporary twists on old, tried-and-true techniques. Many of the flies in this book are based in his own techniques and patterns, ones that he has developed in more than thirty-five years of tying.
The book is arranged in sections to give readers the opportunity to easily locate the pattern or technique they are looking for. Patterns are not grouped alphabetically, but by technique. For example, the section on dry flies has categories demonstrating a particular dry fly style or technique such as mastering the use of deer hair, parachute, CDC, and so on.
If you are fairly new to fly tying, the opening chapters on materials and special techniques and tricks will familiarize you with some basics and help you get started. Seasoned tyers will similarly find information here to help them raise their tying skills to a new level.
Each pattern is listed with a recipe, recommended hook style, size, and materials. They are listed in the order that that author uses them, and illustrated by the book’s step-by-step images. This will help you plan each pattern and assemble materials your beforehand.
Included are lushly illustrated photos for such well-known trout flies as:
Pheasant tail nymph
Deer Hair Irresistible
CDC Mayfly Spinner
And much more.
A special feature of this one-of-a-kind books is that its the first tying book to have a video link for all the patterns featured. Watch the author tying online, then turn to the matching chapter in the book to follow the step-by-step instructions so that you can tie your own fly in your own time. Author Barry Ord Clarke will respond online to your questions.
About the Author
Barry Ord Clarke is an English-born fly tyer, photographer, and writer who has won multiple awards for his exquisite fly tying. In 2016 he won the prestigious Claudio D’Angelo Award for Best International Fly Tyer, which he won at SIM Fly Festival. He has written a number of books on fly tying, including The International Guide to Fly-Tying Materials and Flies for Pike. He lives in Norway.
Flyfishing and Flytying magazine Oct 2019
A big handsome book, quality printing and paper, loads of colour photographs. The book is nicely laid out, a preamble through ‘How to use this book’, tips and tricks, materials etc. Then into the flies, each pattern illustrated with stage by stage pictures of the fly being tied. And each fly comes with a Youtube code to that same fly being tied as a video. I can’t recall another project like this crossing my desk. His flies are carefully planned and executed with taste. Having both stills and video works surprisingly well, I tend to watch the video and tie to the stills. The tying is both straightforward and at times quite technically challenging… modern tying explained and demonstrated in an exceptionally approachable way. A third and distinct aspect of this project… I have access to the author through his Youtube channel, so if I really need to know something, I can ask him. This is the sort of access to the author is exceptional. Highly recommended.
Flydresser magazine, October 2019 issue
This book has been long awaited. Barry is a talented photographer and each of the flies is clearly illustrated in a step by step format. However, the most innovative aspect of this volume is that they all have a. QR code and by simply scanning this with your phone, you have the video of the fly being tied by Barry. This is the first book that links print and digital media in this way. For anyone who follows thefeatherbender.com Barry’s regular blog and flytying videos on YouTube, this book is an essential addition. For those who don’t know Barry’s work, this would be a great introduction to someone who I consider to be amongst the world’s best modern fly tyers.
Orvis September 2019
With a mission to explain, Barry’s book doesn’t focus on flies to tie for the sake of tying, but rather those we use day in, day out – the Klinkhamer, Pheasant Tail Nymph, and Midge, to name three of his 28. Naturally he has his own take on each, but in addition to the beautiful photographs, Barry has enlisted modern technology. Use your mobile phone to scan the QR code on the relevant page and up will pop a video showing Barry tying the very pattern.
Today’s Flyfisher Winter 2019
World class fly tyer Barry Ord Clarke has put together a superb and unique fly tying book which brings the traditional hard back book into the 21st century by linking to modern day technology. This is a ground-breaking book where you can follow the tying sequences for the patterns shown in the book by using the QR code or YouTube link to follow online! This publication is pure quality – a well thought-out tying book with 28 excellent patterns. And if that isn’t enough there is an online link to Barry if you run into any problems when tying the flies! What more can you ask for! | <urn:uuid:d2513048-fb17-4fdf-8489-15e7cbe87c3c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bkwrks.com/book/9781510751507 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.947798 | 1,133 | 1.640625 | 2 |
A Formula One car is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formula One racing events.
What car is most like an F1 car?
The Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is the closest one can get to a road-legal F1 car, with unprecedented fuel efficiency levels. Mercedes simply lifted the powertrain used in the W08 F1 car (turbocharged hybrid 1.6-liter V6) and plonked it into the road-going AMG Project ONE – albeit some mild detuning.
Are F1 cars AWD?
All-wheel drive systems require all wheels to be the same size for optimum power transference ratios between all the wheels. … AWD systems are illegal in Formula 1, as modern regulations for Formula 1 prohibit more than two driven wheels. For these reasons, F1 cars are not AWD and make excellent use of their RWD systems.
Is F1 car street legal?
No. Because F1 cars don’t meet the requirements of a road legal vehicle. If you asked this question after watching Top Gear s20e06, they must have taken special permissions or something like that.
Is F1 road legal?
The F1 car you can legally drive on the road: This 370bhp Lola is about as close to the real thing as you can get – but with indicators and registration plates. Just like Lewis Hamilton, you could be clambering into your very own F1 car on a Sunday morning.
How heavy is an F1 car?
F1 car weight over the years
Are F1 cars automatic?
Formula One cars use highly automated semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with paddle-shifters, with regulations stating that 8 forward gears (increased from 7 from the 2014 season onwards) and 1 reverse gear must be used, with rear-wheel-drive.
What type of engine does F1 use?
Formula One currently uses 1.6 litre four-stroke turbocharged 90 degree V6 double-overhead camshaft (DOHC) reciprocating engines. They were introduced in 2014 and have been developed over the subsequent seasons.
What car is faster than a F1 car?
Porsche’s new 919 Hybrid Evo Le Mans Car is Faster than an F1 Car After retiring from the top tier of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) last year, Porsche have released their LMP1 car of any regulations and made it faster than an F1 car. Now, that’s how to have ‘one last hoorah’.
Is Nascar faster than F1?
When it comes to speed, NASCAR undeniably falls behind the other two popular races, IndyCar and Formula 1. … Despite being powered by a V-8 engine, NASCAR vehicles average out at a top speed of just over 321 kmh (200 mph), which is quite a bit slower than the top speeds recorded in F1 and IndyCar vehicles.
What is the cheapest F1 car?
If you thought supercar clubs were expensive, the PF1 club puts them into perspective with a joining fee of £302,500. Mind you, it’s still the cheapest way to own an F1 car, which is exactly what’s on offer.
How much is a F1 car cost?
The Halo, a titanium structure above the car’s cockpit, is a brilliant F1 invention which protects the drivers from debris flying off from other cars. The cost of it is estimated to be around $17,000.
Chase Your Sport. Sports Social Blog.
|Total F1 Car Cost||$12.20 million|
How fast is an F1 car?
How fast is a Formula 1 car?
|Race||Top Track Speed (km/h)||0-100km/h in seconds| | <urn:uuid:d4634555-85e6-4616-a043-e094d1fd4d72> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://jrdc.org/tournaments/what-type-of-car-is-f1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.931057 | 935 | 2.015625 | 2 |
This post is a footnote to the point already made by Columbia PhD student @SimonMStevens
(which I saw via Africa is a Country
), about the ubiquity of the acacia tree silhouetted against an orange sky on the covers of works of African literature.I had my interest piqued by the collage Simon put together, and
I wondered about what might be revealed by further comparison with non-fiction
books on the topic of ‘Africa’. Because of my research interests, I narrowed my search to include books only about Kenya. Here is what I found:
The majority of the covers of non-fiction books I saw conformed to the stereotypes that were suggested by the original post. There was more variety in the book covers than I was expecting, but a number of commonalities emerged.
In the above collage, aside from the acacia trees and sunsets, there are also numerous elephants and giraffes; and any African people who are pictured are what might be described as dressed stereotypically ‘traditionally’ * (notably the depictions of Masai men on the covers of Corinne Hofmann’s memoirs, in the bottom right of the collage, which seem to refer to the British colonial perception and treatment of Masai people as noble savages).In addition to the images
used on the covers, I think it is interesting to note the use of Kiswahili words and phrases in the book titles (i.e. kwa heri
). These titles in part serve to establish the (white-western) author as an authoritative source of information on Kenya.
A sub-genre of non-fiction books about Kenya are those which deal with animals, safaris, conservation, and veterinary medicine; or (auto)biographies of people who worked in these fields. Born Free is the most famous example of these. Interestingly, although animals feature more frequently and more prominently on these covers (with good reason), the overall look is not that different to the non-fiction books about Kenya in the previous collage. Note the dominance of orange and yellow tones, and more sunsets, and yet more tree silhouettes.On these book covers, white people are depicted communing with animals as their equals, in ways that remind me of Binyavanga Wainaina’s observations in ‘How to Write About Africa’ (which is always relevant, afaiac): “Animals … must be treated as well-rounded, complex characters. They speak … and have names, ambitions and desires. … conservationists are Africa’s most important people…” (2005: 94).
A further interesting sub-set of non-fiction books about Kenya are the colonial biographies and memoirs.** While faded portraits and black and white photographs have largely replaced the sunny photos of animals (but the two are combined on the cover of the Elspeth Huxley biography), on the whole little has changed.
In this sub-category, book cover designs depart from the orange-sky-and-acacia-tree template to the extent that they recall the glamour and romance of the 1920s & 30s in the faded photographs they use. These photos are suffused with what Particia Lorcin identifies as imperial and colonial nostalgia
.In colonial contexts, nostalgia transcended/transcends individual loss and longing to incorporate a more collective sense of “resistance of tradition to modernity” (Lorcin 2012: 9). Imperial nostalgia
allows the British Empire to be remembered as a glorious period, while conveniently forgetting the violence that produced and sustained it — while colonial nostalgia
mourns and longs for a “vanishing Africa”, an “epic pioneering past”, or a gone-but-not-forgotten Britain (Lorcin 2012: 125, 159, 161).
These senses of nostalgia, located by Lorcin in fictional and non-fictional writing in a range of genres, are palpable in the images on the covers of these colonial biographies and memoirs. But such nostalgia is also traceable on the covers of the other books pictured, despite the books’ focus on more recent times, particularly in the empty landscapes, a romantic vision of an Africa that might soon be (has been?) effaced by modernity.
* Noting that, of course, the idea of ‘traditional’ is highly contested and somewhat unhelpful – I use the word here to denote what I perceive to be the designers’/publishers’ idea of African peoples’ non-European/non-Western attire and self-presentation.
** Laibon is perhaps a more rigorous academic piece of work than the other books here, but it is included since the point is not to judge the book by its cover (ha).
Particia Lorcin (2012). Historicizing Colonial Nostalgia: European Women’s Narratives of Algeria and Kenya 1900-Present. Palgrave Macmillan.
Binyavanga Wainaina (2005). ‘How to write about Africa.’ Granta: The Magazine of New Writing 92: The View from Africa, 92-95. | <urn:uuid:1587ba75-b737-40ae-8e42-460ca2c45c8d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.aroomofourown.org/acacia-trees-and-nostalgia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.937358 | 1,111 | 1.992188 | 2 |
If you intend to become a successful Digital Marketer, you need to know how to create an approach. You can do this by producing an email campaign that sends out a collection of emails. Each e-mail consists of crucial info to bear in mind, such as the target market and the cost of the item. It’s additionally essential to have a cohesive message throughout all networks. If possible, work together with various other organizations. You can get to brand-new audiences with these partnerships and also obtain even more credibility and awareness for your brand name. You’ll additionally be able to pick up from others’ experiences.
A Digital Marketer works with every one of the advertising devices offered in today’s electronic world. They analyze internet site traffic to figure out exactly how to ideal target prospective clients. They make use of social networks systems to involve with their target market and also make certain that their products and services are being seen. They additionally see to it that they’re making use of paid marketing, such as Google AdWords, to produce traffic. They may deal with paid advertisements too, however aren’t necessarily limited to them.
A Digital Marketer’s job is to convert website traffic into on the internet sales. They make certain that the client experience is smooth, as well as introduce new products and also special deals. They additionally take care of the brand name’s presence online. These experts typically make use of social media systems to engage with their target market and also educate them of brand-new items and offers. Whether you’re an eCommerce entrepreneur or a start-up, a Digital Marketing expert can aid you grow your business.
Depending upon the size of your business, the role of a Digital Online marketer might require a range of abilities. A few of these include working with different devices like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, Facebook Ads Supervisor, Zapier, and Mailchimp. A digital marketer may also be in charge of the material of the business’s internet site. The ideal material will certainly aid make sure that the company gets to the target audience and assists it be successful. For example, a Digital Marketing professional might be responsible for taking care of the site’s social media visibility, while a Look Advertising and marketing expert could be in charge of determining web site web traffic.
A Digital Marketing professional need to have a strong understanding of all the major electronic modern technologies. A Digital Marketer is responsible for measuring internet site web traffic as well as optimizing advertising and marketing projects. They might additionally use social networks and also pay-per-click advertising and marketing to reach your target audience. The electronic marketing expert needs to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of both SEO and SEM to be efficient in the duty of a Digital Marketer. In the modern globe, a Digital Marketing expert must know the fundamentals of SEO and SEM.
A Digital Marketer may specialize in a specific location, such as copywriting or social media marketing. Nevertheless, it prevails for a Digital Marketing expert to be experienced in numerous various areas. In addition to SEO, an electronic online marketer could specialize in an additional location, such as email advertising or social media. A Digital Marketing professional’s primary focus is to guarantee that the internet site pertains to the target market. The goal of this setting is to develop a connection with consumers and increase income.
A Digital Online marketer has many skills. They might deal with organic and paid channels. They may make use of allocated funds to run their projects. They should have the ability to work in a range of settings and be able to meet different goals. For example, a digital marketer ought to have the ability to review the staminas as well as weak points of a brand name and also examine how they can enhance the brand name. They should additionally be able to determine and also analyze site traffic to ensure it is targeted.
A Digital Marketing professional can operate in various areas. A Digital Marketing expert might deal with paid and organic networks, as well as they might use budgeted funds for particular tasks. The task of a DigitalMarketer is crucial to the success of a business. It is vital to understand the goals as well as purposes of your business as well as your competitors. An efficient DigitalMarketer can boost your site’s performance as well as get to brand-new clients and also customers with a selection of methods.
A Digital Marketing expert can be a really vital part of a service. An electronic marketer is in charge of converting internet site visitors right into online sales. They develop an experience for consumers that is easy to complete. They manage the online presence of a brand name. A DigitalMarketer may likewise be responsible for handling social networks systems. They can assist companies interact with their target market and notify them of upcoming deals. They can likewise make use of social networks devices to get in touch with their target market.
The job of a Digital Marketing professional is to develop as well as apply advertising campaigns. She or he is in charge of establishing brand name recognition. The digital room permits businesses to engage with target audiences and obtain brand-new leads. The work of a Digital Online marketer is demanding, yet the rewards are considerable. It is the work of a Digital Manager to develop brand awareness and drive sales. The complying with are several of the obligations of a successful Digital Advertising Supervisor. They will also manage a firm’s social media existence and also develop strategies to promote a brand name and its items.
As a Digital Marketing expert, you will be in charge of creating methods for the advertising initiatives of a company. You will work with paid advertising and marketing as well as natural channels, depending on the needs of your service. You will use logical tools to assess the performance of your business. The Digital Account Supervisor is responsible for assessing the outcomes of advertising and marketing campaigns, while a Look Advertising Supervisor will certainly analyze web site traffic and also change their projects and methods as required. A Digital Online marketer might collaborate with a single customer or a team of a number of clients, yet bigger companies may employ professionals.
A Bachelor’s level in advertising and marketing, advertising and marketing, interaction, journalism, or any other associated area can lay the structure for a profession in digital advertising and marketing. A bachelor’s degree will permit you to develop an organized program and also discover a field of expertise in a certain area. The majority of companies will certainly require a Bachelor’s degree for entry-level positions in the field, but some might not. So a Bachelor’s degree in advertising and marketing or advertising is the primary step in safeguarding an occupation as a Digital Marketing professional. Helpful site
As a Digital Marketer, you’ll need to grasp several skills. Because of this, you will certainly work with lots of devices and have a wide understanding of search engine optimization, SEM, and also the most effective practices for all of these. No matter what sort of position you would love to go after, it is essential to discover as long as possible. There are lots of sources online that will assist you start your profession. Look into our free overviews for beginning a job in electronic advertising and marketing! | <urn:uuid:4a7aa0bf-2dc7-4908-9a77-56fb82bc07e7> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://suggestrss.com/2022/04/09/why-you-should-experience-digital-marketing-expert-at-least-once-in-your-lifetime/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.958378 | 1,474 | 1.578125 | 2 |
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format much like MP3, but lossless, which means that audio is compressed in FLAC with none loss in quality. Fre:ac is one other open source mission that has the most options for changing between audio formats. It contains a number of encoders by default, so you don’t have to go and download separate recordsdata for WAV, FLAC, and many others. This has labored for me in some instances, however in different circumstances – includingflac information – didn’t open the files.
Last but not least, you may choose the file identify of the resulting file and where it should be modified. The defaults are the same file name (but totally different file extension) and the save folder because the supply file. As soon as you are feeling confident in your choices, go ahead and click on on Convert. Relying on the scale of the source file and the standard settings that you just selected, the period of time it’s going to take for the conversion to complete will differ greatly. Sadly, it nonetheless appears that you would be able to only convert one file at a time using this system, but I am positive there are some scripts floating around where you can convert a batch of information at once.
Any Audio Converter is a versatile audio converter and audio extractor with person-pleasant interface and highly effective features. As an audio converter, Any Audio Converter can convert audio between MP3, WMA, WAVE, AAC, M4A and OGG formats in addition to convert other unprotected audio codecs. As an audio extractor, Any Audio Converter can extract audio from all common video formats and online movies from YouTube, Google Video and Nico Video.
Wish to convert from OGG to FLAC? Look no additional, supplies one of the best experience. Just upload your OGG file, followed by choosing FLAC as the output file format. Then click on on convert and just look ahead to a short while because the conversion takes place. This will take a short while and you will have the FlAC file able to obtain. You possibly can as effectively send the file download link to your electronic mail. This is dependent on your preferences. Converting from OGG to FLAC is a safe course of. OGG is a free open container format created below unrestricted software program patents. FLAC is a file which incorporates audio samples compressed with FLAC audio encoding algorithm.
That is a complicated on-line instrument to transform audio, video, image, document, and so on. Talking of FLAC conversion, www.audio-transcoder.com this FLAC converter provides 4 methods to add FLAC files: from pc, from URL, from Dropbox and from Google Drive. You possibly can convert your FLAC to MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, WMA, M4A, AMR, AAC, AIFF, CAF, AC3, APE and DTS at will. Nonetheless, I’ve tested that a 10MB file needs about 20 seconds to add and 30 seconds to convert, which is quite time-consuming indeed. Besides, you can’t configure the quality, bitrate, frequency, etc of the audio.
Not only can Hamster convert multiple audio files in bulk, but it can merge the files into one, much like Freemake Audio Converter. On account of safety know-how DRM, MP4 recordsdata can’t be easily distributed, whereas it’s a lot easier to copy information in M4A; that’s the reason Apple Lovers” want the latter format. With M4A, it’s attainable to buy music in iTunes, as well as obtain it into smartphones or other gadgets.
Supported Audio File Formats: WMA, FLAC, AAC, WMV, MP3, OGG and etc. WMA – Windows Media Audio is Microsoft’s personal proprietary format, much like MP3 or AAC. It would not really provide any benefits over the opposite formats, and it’s also not as nicely supported. There’s little or no reason to tear your CDs into this format. Click on Convert button after which download the transformed file to your laptop.
Complete Audio converter is a versatile software program that’s capable of converting even the rarest codecs such as OPUS to MP3. A number of the output audio codecs it assist contains MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, MP4, MPC, OPUS, and over 20 extra formats. Along with that, it may possibly additionally rip audio from CDs and convert YouTube videos to the assorted output codecs it supports. Complete has been on-line for over 10 years and is being utilized by tens of millions of users.
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec , an audio format much like MP3, however lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC with none loss in quality. This is just like how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get significantly better compression as a result of it’s designed specifically for HD audio. Specifies the temporary directory to storewav files in. Abcde may use as much as 700MB of non permanent area for every session (though it is rare to make use of over 100MB for a machine that may encode music as quick as it could possibly learn it).
We beforehand checked out method to make Home windows 7 Media Player and WMC play FLAC files , however that methodology takes a bit longer. Right here we check out Open Codecs which is a free obtain that permits you to play Flac and different formats in WMP easier. My library is made from FLAC recordsdata. I decided to make use of again a COWON J3 participant in MSC mode as a result of my iphone is out of order. | <urn:uuid:e3c04f17-98e2-4431-bf9f-08ef0fbcc8be> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://vll-solutions.com/convert-flac-to-ogg-4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.913323 | 1,223 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Electron microscopy is a valuable tool used to obtain high-resolution images in a variety of applications, including biomedical research, forensics, and technology. Electron microscopes can capture much higher resolution images than light microscopes, contributing information that is otherwise unattainable.
Every electron microscope works by accelerating a focused stream of electrons in a vacuum towards a sample. Interactions between the electron beam and the sample create an image, similar to how optical microscopes use light to capture images. The image created reveals details of a sample’s surface or internal composition, depending on the type of electron microscope that is used.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) are the two most common types of electron microscopy. TEM and SEM differ in how they work and what types of images they are able to capture. This article will overview SEM and TEM, including what they are, how they work, and how they compare to one another.
What is SEM?
SEM can stand for either Scanning Electron Microscopy or Scanning Electron Microscope. An SEM is a kind of electron microscope that uses a fine beam of focused electrons to scan a sample’s surface. The microscope records information about the interaction between the electrons and the sample, creating a magnified image. SEM has the potential to magnify an image up to 2 million times.
A closer look at an SEM microscope.
SEM images give insight into a sample’s topography and elemental composition. SEM is able to capture 3-D black-and-white images of thin or thick samples. The sample’s size is limited only by the size of the electron microscope chamber.
How does SEM work?
To obtain a high-resolution image, an electron source (also known as an electron gun) emits a stream of high-energy electrons towards a sample. The electron beam is focused using electromagnetic lenses. Once the focused stream reaches the sample, it scans its surface in a rectangular raster.
The interaction between the electron beam and the sample creates secondary electrons, backscattered electrons, and X-rays. These interactions are captured to create a magnified image.
What is TEM?
TEM can stand for Transmission Electron Microscopy or Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). A TEM is a type of electron microscope that uses a broad beam of electrons to create an image of a sample’s internal structure. A beam of electrons is transmitted through a sample, creating an image that details a sample’s morphology, composition, and crystal structure.
A closer look at a TEM microscope.
Samples must be incredibly thin, often less than 150 nm
thick, to allow electrons to pass through them. After the transmission of the electrons through the sample, they arrive at a detector below and a 2-D image is created.
TEMs have an incredible magnification potential of 10-50 million times. The details provided are at the atomic level, the highest resolution of any electron microscope. TEMs are often used to examine molecular and cellular structures.
How does a TEM work?
An electron source sends a beam of electrons through an ultrathin sample. When the electrons penetrate the sample, they pass through lenses below. This data is used to create images directly on a fluorescent screen or onto a computer screen using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera.
SEM vs TEM
SEM and TEM are both valuable tools in the biological, physical, and chemical sciences. By understanding the differences between these two electron microscopes, scientists can choose the correct type of microscope for their needs.
SEM vs TEM advantages
Scanning Electron Microscopes and Transmission Electron Microscopes each contain unique advantages when compared to the other.
In comparison to TEMs, SEMs:
- Cost less
- Take less time to create an image
- Require less sample preparation
- Accept thicker samples
- Can examine larger samples
In comparison to SEMs, TEMs:
- Create higher resolution images
- Provide crystallographic and atomic data
- Create 2-D images that are often easier to interpret than SEM 3-D images
- Allow users to examine more characteristics of a sample
SEM vs TEM similarities and differences
There are many similarities between SEMs and TEMs. The components of these two high-resolution microscopes are very similar. Each has an electron source/gun that emits an electron stream towards a sample in a vacuum, and each contains lenses and electron apertures to control the electron beam and capture images.
But the differences in function between the two are vast. They differ in how they work, the types of samples that they require, the resolution of images that they create, and more. Even the basic microscope setup is different. In SEM, the sample, located at the base of the electron column, is scanned and the resulting electron scattering is analyzed to produce an image. In TEM, the sample is placed in the middle of the microscope and electrons pass through the sample before being collected. TEM offers information on ultrathin samples' inner structure, while SEM records information about a sample's surface.
The below table summarizes the differences between SEMs and TEMs.
|Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM)||Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM)|
|Electron stream||Fine, focused beam||Broad beam|
|Image taken||Topographical/surface||Internal structure|
|Resolution||Lower resolution||Higher resolution|
|Magnification||Up to 2,000,000 times ||Up to 50,000,000 times|
|Sample thickness||Thin and thick samples okay||Ultrathin samples only|
|Sample restriction||Less restrictive||More restrictive|
|Sample preparation||Less preparation required||More preparation required|
|Cost||Less expensive||More expensive|
|Operation||Easy to use||More complicated; requires training| | <urn:uuid:cf58a22e-71d6-49af-a13f-31965e3b1f9b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.technologynetworks.com/analysis/articles/sem-vs-tem-331262 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.887906 | 1,292 | 3.875 | 4 |
Private Equity Fund set-up
Client Size: Targeting over 20 investments in 5 years
As part of a larger investment strategy the client wanted to set up a direct private equity channel. The intent was to establish a private equity fund to invest and support growth for an investment return.
- Developed the strategy and rollout plan.
- Implemented a private equity fund that included an operating model for how investments were identified, prioritised, assessed and managed through to final return.
- This process included facilitating and driving the investment process for the first cohort of investments.
- Building awareness with investor stakeholders to support the development of a robust and repeatable approach to PE investments.
- Developing the operating model including investment criteria that filtered investment opportunities.
- Establishing a transparent decision-making process and working closely and collaboratively with investors, Board Members, and Investment Committees.
- Developing tools such as online application forms, and establishing communication channels for investors, business applicants, and stakeholders.
- Following the implementation of the PE fund Active Directions was able to continue to work alongside the business-as-usual team to ensure the fund operated in line with expectations. This included conducting assessments on all opportunities to help prioritise and manage the volume of applications.
Top 3 Tips
Clients that propose to implement a private equity fund should:
- Provide a business plan which calculates cash flow expectations and establishes their private equity fund’s timeline including the period to raise capital.
- Understand clearly the levels and complexity of regulatory compliance.
- Define and understand their business strategy and identify the sectors they want to target. | <urn:uuid:ee64977c-1370-4f4e-8e40-dbdb4ea26c41> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://activedirections.com.au/cases/private-equity-fund-set-up/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.936275 | 353 | 1.554688 | 2 |
30 January 2014
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) added new content relating to the income tax treatment of transactions involving virtual currencies to its website on 27 January 2014.
Businesses that choose to accept virtual currencies, such as Bitcoins, for their remuneration or revenue are subject to normal income tax rules in Singapore. Their income derived from or received in Singapore will be taxed. In addition, under Singapore tax laws, tax deductions will be allowed where permissible.
Businesses that buy goods or services using virtual currencies
Businesses that accept virtual currencies as payment for goods or services, or pay for goods or services using virtual currencies, should record the transactions based on the open market value (OMV) of the goods or services in Singapore dollars.
Where the OMV of the goods or services cannot be determined, such as when the good or service is only traded in virtual currencies, the virtual currency exchange rate at the point of the transaction may be used.
Businesses that buy and sell virtual currencies
Businesses that buy and sell virtual currencies in the ordinary course of their business will be taxed on the profit derived from trading in the virtual currency. Profits derived by businesses which mine and trade virtual currencies in exchange for money are also subject to tax.
However, capital gains from the disposal of these virtual currencies by businesses that buy virtual currencies for long term investment purposes are not subject to tax in Singapore.
Whether gains from disposal of virtual currencies are trading or capital gains depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. When determining if such gains are taxable, factors such as purpose, frequency of transactions, and holding periods are considered.
For more information, please refer to the IRAS website.
Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore | <urn:uuid:a5e902cb-bd5c-4b33-b80a-db610ea72008> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://taxsg.com/2014/01/29/income-tax-treatment-of-transactions-involving-virtual-currencies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.952266 | 356 | 1.742188 | 2 |
This recognition from AMI/USA represents not only the quality of school but also the authenticity of our Montessori education.
The classroom is a prepared environment, carefully maintained with lessons and activities designed to stimulate the child in a constructive manner. A consistent schedule is maintained throughout the toddlers’ day, and limits within the classroom help the children to respect each other, the environment, and themselves.
The Primary Program is open to children ages 3 to 6 years and consists of an integrated secular and the curriculum based on Dr. Maria Montessori’s proven philosophy and principles. Each child is guided by certified professionals in a self-directed learning environment that fosters independence, responsibility, respect for others, and a love of learning.
The Third Year in a Primary Classroom can be seen as one of the most important periods of your child’s Montessori Experience. This “Third Year” is the Montessori equivalent of “Kindergarten”, but due to the very hands-on materials that are found in this rich environment, the curriculum in a Primary Classroom actually goes far beyond the “Kindergarten” level. | <urn:uuid:aae74fc2-f7bb-492e-abfb-14a298c4ac62> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.cwbmontessori.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.948988 | 241 | 2.4375 | 2 |
We want a healthy planet that provides a good life for everyone on it now and for the future. The Earth will go on supporting us if we look after it. It’s clear what we must do to protect our world – and provide for a growing population.
National Friends of the Earth goals for 2030 are to
- stop natural habitats and species being destroyed
- reverse the loss of the planet’s natural life-support systems.
We need to do this in our neighbourhoods – there’s stuff we can all do.
But we also need action from politicians on our behalf at national level and across the world. Everyone depends on clean air and water, and healthy soils and forests. And millions of people rely directly on things like forests. Their rights must be protected.
Natural resources matter for the future too. We have to change the way we use them – so that generations to come can benefit as we do.
The Government can help protect our world’s vital natural diversity by
- Stopping climate change
- Tackling threats to forests
- Reducing waste
- Protecting people’s rights.
Manchester Friends of the Earth are involved in a range of biodiversity campaigns. See our Nature campaign page for more details. | <urn:uuid:3a834c93-a414-4ee0-bea6-48aaab2a5615> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/biodiversity-goals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.914275 | 264 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The North West Department of Health has denied reports of a COVID-19 vaccination drive in the province after it received numerous complaints from members of the public.
“As far as the Department is aware, there is currently no vaccine for COVID-19 yet. Government is still in the process of acquiring the vaccine and once it is obtained, the process of rolling it out will be communicated by the Minister of Health,” said spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane.
The department said it had a meeting on Monday with an organisation called Epic Center that is allegedly conducting such a vaccination drive. “The field workers denied doing COVID-19 vaccinations, but indicated that they are conducting the national COVID-19 antibody study. The National COVID-19 Antibody Study is commissioned by the National Department of Health and has nothing to do with COVID-19 vaccination. Members of the public are also advised that the study is voluntary and not compulsory. No one should be coerced or forced to participate in the study. Those willing to participate in the study can do so willingly knowing they are contributing to a national cause,” he said..
However, the North West Department of Health said it is concerned that protocol was not followed to allow the study to proceed in the province. “Normally, once the National Department has approved a study, a research organisation first has to report to the provincial office that will inform the districts. Such a protocol will also be preceded by a public communication to make communities aware of any particular study or campaign. In the light of this, the department has instructed the supervisor of the study to recall all their field workers from all our districts until proper protocol is followed.”
Once all protocols have been met, the department will allow the National Antibody Study to proceed again. | <urn:uuid:95b46c1a-5c28-4ecf-9a26-f956e0b214fa> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://kormorant.co.za/health-department-denies-reports-of-vaccination-drive-in-north-west/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.973559 | 370 | 1.609375 | 2 |
When many parents begin their search for the right therapeutic treatment center for their troubled teen, most feel quickly overwhelmed. There are many services out there, from boot camps, therapeutic boarding schools, and more, so it is understandable that the majority of parents find it hard to sort through these options.
Sort Through Troubled Teen Treatment Options With A Counselor
It is important to work with people whose main mission is to help parents fully understand what their options are when it comes to finding treatment for their troubled teen. Once they have an understanding of the teen’s behaviors, parents can begin to understand the basic breakdown of options.
- Boot camp – Generally short, physically intensive programs. Aiming to change behaviors by immersing teens in a completely different and highly structured environment. Usually least expensive option but also rarely has a therapeutic element.
- Wilderness therapy – Like boot camps, these programs generally are short in duration. Many are called adventure-based and focus on helping teens alter their behaviors through intense physical output, generally lacking separate therapy. Costs can vary but are usually comparable to boot camps.
- Therapeutic ranch – Program lengths can vary from program to program, with 6 months being average. Ranches generally encourage family-style living with structured chores around a ranch. Separate therapeutic treatment does come with some of these programs. Generally more expensive than boot camps as stays are longer duration.
- Military school – Most schools require full school year enrollment. Few military schools accept troubled teens as they are usually looking for children who excel academically and are looking for a career in the military. Therapy is usually done out-of-house and is not a common element. Can be very expensive, as they are classified as private schools.
- Therapeutic boarding school – A long-stay option which blends academics with therapy, therapeutic boarding schools offer structure for teens while helping them make positive changes. Many can help teen repair poor grades and allow them to rejoin their peers academically. Can be one of the more expensive options.
- Residential treatment center – When teens need intensive therapy, many parents find success with this option. Generally have smaller amount of troubled teens so they can focus on individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy sessions, one-on-one academic help, and more. Can be the most expensive option.
After clarifying what the basic treatment options are, parents can work with an advocate to narrow down which is the right fit for their teen’s needs. After a treatment option is chosen, then parents and advocate can sort through the best available treatment providers in that category.
Obtain Help Placing Your Troubled Teen Free Of Cost
Some agencies have education counselors who charge sometimes up to $5,000 to help you place your teen. There are excellent groups available who have made it their goal to help families reunited, completely free of charge. We recommend you work with one of these parenting advocacy groups and allow them to help you choose the right therapeutic treatment center for your troubled teen. | <urn:uuid:eba29d74-33f8-42aa-b73c-727c0cc24db8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.sundancecanyonacademy.com/get-free-help-deciding-on-a-therapeutic-treatment-center-for-your-teen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.952368 | 611 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Tracking of Moving Object by Phase-only Correlation
Hiroshi Sasaki*, Kazumasa Nomura*, Hiroshi Nakajima** and Koji Kobayashi*
*POC Project, New Business Development Office, Yamatake Corporation
**Product Development Department, Building System Development & Manufacturing Group, Yamatake Corporation
A real-time tracking system that measures four-dimensional displacement of a moving object and that traces the object by directing a pair of cameras on three-axis robot is implemented and tested. In this system, the distance, rotation, and parallel displacement values of the object are measured by Phase-Only Correlation and Rotation-Invariant Phase-Only Correlation image processing techniques. It controls the pitch, roll, and yaw angles of the camera to locate the target in the stable position on the image, as well as keeps the size of the target on the image by magnifying or reducing the image, based on the measured distance using triangular surveying.
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.
Copyright© 2000 by Fuji Technology Press Ltd. and Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All right reserved. | <urn:uuid:7b00e950-33b3-41c9-81b2-6bb78f42106e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.fujipress.jp/jrm/rb/robot001200050541/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.86628 | 250 | 1.53125 | 2 |
- Open Access
Analyzing media discourse on the development of the National English Ability Test (NEAT) in South Korea
Language Testing in Asia volume 9, Article number: 4 (2019)
The purpose of this study is to analyze newspaper articles from three publications (Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, and JoongAng Ilbo) regarding a newly developed high-stakes English test in South Korea, the National English Ability Test (NEAT), from the viewpoint of critical discourse analysis. All of the articles were collected from online archives, and most were published between 2007 and 2012. The events surrounding the development of the test were analyzed from three dimensions: textual, discursive, and social. It was found that NEAT-related media discourse was formulated in terms of technology-focused, economic (private education expenditure), or utilitarian (the benefits of a domestic “Korean” test) practice. These discursive events were implicitly connected to the cultures of “technopoly” and “teach-to-the-test,” both of which were exploited to silence the voices of diverse groups in the English language education community.
Traditional research on language testing viewed it as a psychometric exploration that set language knowledge as a test construct (McNamara & Roever, 2006); however, in recent years, a values-based social discourse on professionalism, ethics, fairness, and social justice in language testing has also been flourishing. This socio-humanities discourse includes both macro- and micro-language testing as well as integrates testing issues with sociopolitical variables (McNamara, 2001; McNamara & Roever, 2006).
As researchers come to pay more attention to the social dimension of language testing, they take an increasing interest in its social discourse outside of academic environments. Much of the discourse either justifying or opposing the enforcement, preparation, and use of high-stakes language tests is created and/or reproduced in the media. As media pressure often effectively leads to the success of innovation in education reforms (Crawford, 2004; Gonzalez-Carriedo, 2014; Yemini & Gordon, 2017), the necessity of high-stakes language tests is also well covered in terms of “technologism,” laissez-faire market-driven attitudes, and quantitative utilitarianism. As Shohamy (2001, p. 63) pointed out, however, the discourse on the development and use of a high-stakes test can be explicit in one context but ambiguous and contradictory in another. In particular, when a test is politically planned and rushed into use without sufficient public debate, the media can exaggerate its meaning in inappropriate ways, distorting or misinterpreting its purposes or expectations.
In this spirit, the present study aims to analyze newspaper articles on the National English Ability Test (NEAT) in Korea—a homegrown, newly developed, and currently suspended English proficiency test—using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to understand the media pressure for the development of high-stakes language testing. The media discourse on the government-led English proficiency test arose after the TOEFL crisisFootnote 1 in 2007. The media’s uproar for homegrown English proficiency tests with global competence escalated, with the criticism leveled that Koreans spend more than 10 billion won, or 10.7 million dollars, annually on TOEFL and TOEIC application fees. As the media often play an important role in enabling “think tanks to get their ideas into the education policy arena” (McDonald, 2014, p. 853), the stakeholders of local English tests quickly accessed the media to influence policy debates. In 2008, the Presidential Transition Committee officially announced the development of a new English proficiency test, tentatively called “Korean TOEFL.”
With great fanfare, the test, named NEAT later, was developed and trialed as a mandatory national test over the years. The existing English subject test within the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) only assessed listening and reading skills, so it was announced that NEAT, which also additionally assesses speaking and writing skills, would replace the English test in the CSAT. There were strong voices in the public sphere championing NEAT for the positive washback effect. However, the media was also diligent in reporting on the concerns and problems faced during the test development stage, such as excessive private spending on NEAT preparation. Politicians’ apprehension about public opinion as well as flagging media coverage led to the abrupt termination of the full administration of the test (Lee & Lee, 2016; Whitehead, 2016). The plan to use NEAT as a mandatory national test in public schools was suspended by the subsequent government in 2014 due to the issues reported in the media: lack of awareness and practicality.
The present study examines how the media intervened in the initial stage of development of a newly planned test. The high-stakes English test, NEAT, quickly appeared in the limelight and slipped away abruptly, but it has been the subject of little scholarly work. Alongside the evaluation of sociopolitical contexts, it is important to discuss media involvement in the test development, as the validation debate (Bachman & Palmer, 2010; McNamara & Roever, 2006) cannot be separated from the media-embedded social contexts. The media, in which test-driven policies are articulated, serves as an arena in agenda setting in terms of sociopolitical discourses, but there is little literature on the critical analysis of media discourse in the field of language testing. Future research works could be planned on how the media legitimizes or challenges stakeholders’ interests in the suspension stage of the test.
Media discourse on language testing
This study was motivated by three previous studies. The first was that of Block (2002) on “McCommunication” in language education, conceptually based on Ritzer’s (2000) “McDonaldization.” Block claimed that expert systems for “verbal hygiene” (Cameron, 1995, 2000) led to the processes of language standardization, sociolectalization (development of in-group language), and prescriptivism and that modernized education in communicative competence did not fully allow for diversity and difference among languages and groups of language learners. He stated that communicative acts in the field of second language education were being McDonaldized and that the verbal hygiene practices were reflected in the context of developing and expanding high-stakes tests, as social interaction in multifaceted language performance is ignored in the effort to transform language into a set of testable techniques. In this perspective, even uncontrollable aspects of language skills tend to be controlled, thus emphasizing quantification (Block, Gray, & Holborow, 2012; Tan & Rubdy, 2008).
The second study motivating this research was on the social dimension of language testing, by McNamara and Roever (2006), who claimed (pp. 1–2) that professional practice in language testing focuses on discrete language knowledge to be measured, leading to an overdependence on psychometrics such as bias analysis or differential item functioning. Their reviews of historical precedents found that social value rather than psychometric accuracy determined the valid use of language tests. McNamara and Roever (2006) argued that even often-cited validity theories (e.g., in Messick, 1989 or Kane, 2001) inappropriately conceptualized or elided the social dimension of language testing. From this perspective, it appears inevitable that tests (constructs) will be politicized in social contexts: a test exists because of sociopolitical forces.
The sociopolitical issues can be seen in the recent discussion of language testing as a concept and a practice in related academic discourses (e.g., Fulcher, 2009; Fulcher & Davidson, 2007; Hamp-Lyons, 2000; Shohamy, 2001). Some of these studies have demonstrated how an influential test can be used as a disciplinary tool or means of exerting power. For example, Shohamy (2001), citing Foucault (1975, p. 184), stated that test-takers can be “quantified, classified, and punished” and argued that centralized systems force different learning paths to conform to specific standards by imposing powerful tests. However, she simply dichotomized the members of a testing society into tester vs. tested and did not consider the multifaceted power of testing or its poststructuralistic meanings in different social contexts. Menken (2008) criticized New York City’s use of high-stakes tests under the federally enforced No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in the US. Menken used field data to illustrate that such tests put minorities, immigrants, second-language learners, or low-income students at a disadvantage, thus ignoring their linguistic human rights and basic educational rights. All languages other than English have received steadily decreasing interest as test subjects. Additionally, the streamlined language, denuded of social context, that appears in big tests can often lead to the neglect of various teaching and learning goals. In this regard, widespread use of standardized testing can promote the inappropriate advent of a standardized language system. Considering that Menken’s analysis was based on a multicultural and multilingual country (the US), her results are not easily generalizable to other educational contexts; nevertheless, her study signifies the necessity of examining the social value of established and new high-stakes tests.
Finally, this study adopts Fairclough’s (1995, 2005) media discourse analysis as a research method. Researchers in language testing can of course approach actual test-users (such as students and teachers) to ask questions or observe their behaviors; however, the media has a discursively meaningful influence on test-users’ perceptions of testing. All media act as agents of discourse in that they employ sociopolitical practices to influence everyday knowledge or belief systems (van Dijk, 1997). Newspaper texts and images take a position but also constitute the discourse of social observation in specific arenas. Discourses are often legitimized or challenged against the status quo, putting the social practice discourse into action (Fairclough, 1992). This study employs a CDA framework (Fairclough, 1992, 1995, 2005) to analyze newspaper media surrounding NEAT. In the framework of CDA, texts and images disseminated by the media are not value neutral but rather function as acts of discourse that influence sociopolitical practice.
The following is a brief description of the three-step (textual, discursive, social practice) analysis in CDA. The first step involves the study of the linguistically analyzable texts, describing how media constructs discourse structure in texts by strategically selecting specific vocabulary, sentence formats, and cohesive devices. The second step involves examining the production, consumption, and interpretation of texts. It not only explores the interdiscursivity of texts by identifying how genres, discourses, and styles are articulated in orders of discourse but also uncovers the intertextual chain across different discursive events. In the last step, (the subsequent discursive effect of) social practice is discursively explored: institutions, power relationships, culture, and day-to-day hegemony justified and cemented, usually implicitly. Social theories are often applied here in analyzing ideological conflicts or consequences.
Fairclough’s frameworks “connect microlinguistic analysis to analysis of social practice (intermediate analytical level) and analysis of social structures (macro-analytical level)… particularly relevant to the recent focus in applied linguistics on analysis of the global spread of neoliberalism and its incursion in education” (Lin, 2014, p. 218). It is, however, a highly complicated analysis model, and the procedure of textual analysis, which focuses on particular lexical and grammatical features, is criticized for lack of impartiality, or “ad hoc bricolage” (Widdowson, 1998, p. 136). Widdowson (1998, 2005) questions if the small selection of linguistic concepts forms a legitimate foundation for the ideological meanings in the text. A corpus-based methodology is then drawn upon by recent CDA researchers (Baker, Gabrielatos, & McEnery, 2013; Cheng, 2013) to solve the problem of openness to bias or “to strengthen the systematicity of the interpretive reconstructive procedures by providing evidence on the range of semiotic resources” (Lin, 2014, p. 226).
It should be noted, however, that the outspoken critics of CDA, including Widdowson, do not reject the possibility that lexical and grammatical items genuinely have an ideological valency (Widdowson, 1998), and that the claim being made on the randomness in the selection of CDA data is intuitively argued by them (Breeze, 2011). As far more methodical and analytical attention must be paid to CDA researchers’ interpretative procedures, Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach is still regarded by various academic fields as a tool for meaningful discussion of politicized media discourse (Blackledge, 2005; Li, 2009; Lin, 2014). In Korea, for example, in analyzing the TOEFL crisis as publicized by local newspapers (Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo) in 2007, (Shin, 2012). successfully drew on the conventional CDA analytic framework and discussed the chaotic circumstances that characterize TOEFL-taking practices in Korea. The present study can be considered an extension of that analysis. Since NEAT was eventually introduced as a domestic solution to the TOEFL crisis in Korea, the social discourse surrounding NEAT after its introduction in 2007 needs to be explored, given that the media’s role in constructing social discourse may help reshape the current practice and direction of testing.
This analysis examined NEAT-related articles disseminated in publications produced by three major Korean newspapers, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, and JoongAng Ilbo.Footnote 2 All the publications were searched using archives provided by the Korean Studies Information Service System (http://kiss.kstudy.com). The scope of analysis was restricted to content appearing between December 21, 2003, and August 31, 2012. (After the 2007 TOEFL crisis, the number of articles had massively increased on domestic tests, government involvement in test development, and NEAT.). Forty-seven articles were analyzed in this study: 15 from Chosun Ilbo, 20 from JoongAng Ilbo, and 12 from Donga Ilbo.
As previously mentioned, this study employed Fairclough’s (2005) CDA as an analytical framework, focusing on identifying social practices introduced and sustained by NEAT-related discourses. First, textual analysis of vocabulary and syntax was conducted, mostly by examining the re-wording of terms with similar meanings and occurrence of the same words. Next, the analysis explored how different publications varied in their coverage of NEAT and related topics and whether connections and interdependencies among columns, editorials, and news stories could be identified. For example, one article in Chosun Ilbo employed market-friendly terms such as “demand” and “supply” in the first (topic) sentence of a paragraph, while the remaining sentences supported the topic sentence. The article alluded to NEAT as a “solution” to the TOEFL “crisis,” using terms such as “demand,” “effectiveness,” and “domestic test,” prompting readers to align with the article’s ideological position. This case reflects the news media’s strategy of structuring a system of statements as discourse by using the same tone across editorials, interview quotes, or reader contributions.
Results and discussion
Texts in three newspapers
In articles on the 2007 TOEFL crisis, Chosun Ilbo selected words suggestive of market principles and denigrated the market competitiveness of “domestic” English proficiency tests, ideas also supported by Donga Ilbo (Shin, 2012). Chosun Ilbo was the first source to highlight government involvement in a newly developed English proficiency test and ran an article on July 31, 2007, titled, “Any problems? Concerns of increasing private education and doubtful usefulness outside Korea.” The article contained several negatively oriented words and phrases, such as “a significant number of parents are worried,” “even government is doing business,” “only good for publishing companies and private institutes,” “impossible,” “insufficient human resources,” “unrealistic,” “only for domestic use,” “failed attempt,” and “doubts on whether government should again get involved in education.” Subsequent articles published on January 23 and 24, 2008, used neutral wording to refer to a press release issued by the Ministry of EducationFootnote 3 about government-led test development, but an April 29 article heavily criticized the test for technical issues, identifying problems with prerequisites such as “the iBT test’s large-scale server,” “one million people’s simultaneous connection to the server,” “complex requirements for a firewalled computer to prevent hacking,” as well as issues with “doubts over whether all facilities can be equipped over the next four years.” While the article did offer certain solutions to the TOEFL crisis (based on interviews with TOEFL development and enforcement representatives) such as “increasing the number of test administrations … and the item bank’s capability to five times the number of regular test items,” the article also pointed out another technological issue, related to “maintaining the same levels of item difficulty among parallel forms of testing.” The articles re-emphasized the technological aspects of English proficiency testing by quoting statements made by the Ministry about the issues of raters, rater training, and rating reliability.
Donga Ilbo had already mentioned the importance of a government-led English proficiency test before the 2007 TOEFL crisis. An article dated October 10, 2006, issued a specific plan for English proficiency test development based on a report prepared by the Korean Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, which was to be submitted to the Ministry of Education, entitled, “Research report of English education reform to enhance national competitiveness in the global economy.” Donga Ilbo predicted that the long-sustained influence of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) in Korea would weaken if a newly developed computer-based test were implemented in language learning facilities at universities. After the TOEFL crisis, Donga Ilbo repeatedly published articles (for example, on January 8 and 24, 2010) demanding governmental involvement in solving the crisis, introducing a detailed timeline for test development, and reporting that the university admission system would accept NEAT scores in 2013.
Donga Ilbo also frequently mentioned for-profit private institutes, hakwon, in relation to NEAT implementation. An article dated February 1, 2011, discussed how private institutes could particularly benefit from the new market provided by NEAT. The article only quoted hakwon representatives, who made statements such as “the current public schools cannot handle English speaking and writing,” and “students have no options other than to rely on private education”. Regardless of whether the Ministry can successfully reduce expenses for private education, or whether hakwon foresee growth in new business for test preparation, the texts in all the articles related to “profits” for private institutes as well as the “market value” of NEAT. On May 30, 2011, Donga Ilbo published an opinion article regarding the importance of reducing the anxiety of new test consumers and pointed out that the number of people relying on private lessons would decrease if the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was replaced with NEAT. The title of the article, “Replacing CSAT to normalize English education,” reflected an optimistic attitude toward NEAT as both a replacement for the CSAT and a policy tool to address the problems with English education in Korea. Donga Ilbo articles were also related to features of online test enforcement or other technological aspects of item construction and rating and often focused on the meaningfulness of English proficiency testing in terms of egalitarian values and its necessity for Korea.
JoongAng Ilbo included all the issues mentioned in the other publications, including hakwon education, technology, national competitiveness, and utility and also maintained that NEAT would solve the TOEFL crisis. For example, an editorial published on April 12, 2007, titled “TOEFL crisis, let’s solve it with a domestic test” explicitly used problem-solving wording. It was argued that a new test was needed, since TOEFL was (putatively) inconvenient for test-users, and that a newly developed domestic test could reduce dependency on TOEFL. A cost–benefit analysis in this spirit was included in an article published the following day, as “a solution to the TOEFL registration crisis.” JoongAng Ilbo’s coverage also used words associated with “market” value. An article from April 17, 2007, titled “English test, market crisis due to greater demand than supply,” suggested that domestic supply for the TOEFL cannot keep up with increasing demand. It stated that some countries with significant demand for the TOEFL, such as Japan, China, and Taiwan, had already established their own homegrown English proficiency tests. The article used the concepts of market supply and demand to discuss the usefulness of English proficiency testing. An opinion piece dated August 12, 2007, discussed the testing issues within the frame of market value. It cited the market competition between IBM and Apple during the 1980s, claiming that although Apple had technologically better products, IBM had products that were more commonly used and that the same applies to the market for English tests. It stated that broad usability is an important competitive factor. In this way, the article emphasized the test’s market-determined utilitarian value, using terms such as “compatibility,” “usability,” and “competition standard,” which make products and services “compete against each other in the market” and ultimately merge. JoongAng Ilbo also included many articles on test prep education, featuring phrases and headlines such as “private education industry getting bigger,” “hakwons expecting benefit and smiling” (January 23, 2008), “hakwons affirming that the number of enrolled students will increase,” and “stock values of test prep companies increasing” (January 24, 2008). Most authorities consulted in these articles were private education representatives.
Discourses constructed intertextually
As the media delivered information on NEAT development, enforcement, and preparation, individual texts organized themselves into a few clear streams of discursive practice. This section explores three such clustered discourses: (1) a technology-embedded discourse claiming that English learning and testing are more meaningful in a technologized environment than in any other context, (2) an economic discourse claiming that NEAT would either win or lose against private education, and (3) a utilitarian discourse claiming that a domestic test is more beneficial than imported tests such as the TOEFL or TOEIC.
Technology-oriented practice: technologization of NEAT
The concept of technology extends beyond scientific, industrial, or engineering processes and products to a wide range of other areas, including the development and implementation of language proficiency tests. That is, technology is a systematic tool that meets needs, solves problems, and enables the achievement of socioeconomic goals—a body of skills or procedures necessary for human activities. In this respect, a language test can also be considered a form of technology (Madaus, 2001), as it requires systematic knowledge and professional experience in item writing, rating, data analysis, and validation.
All three newspapers overemphasized NEAT’s technological aspects and conflated the process of test development, implementation, and preparation into a single technology-oriented discourse event. Terms such as “technological restrictions” were often repeated when judging NEAT’s strengths and weaknesses. News articles provided detailed descriptions of the item bank, rater training, scoring rubrics, score reports, and other technical elements related to test-taking, the online system, or policymaking around NEAT. They highlighted the potential for disruption of the test schedule due to errors and delays in test development and implementation. It was argued that a test developed in Korea, “a technologically superior Internet powerhouse,” would be more secure than the TOEFL or TOEIC. An IT industry representative described NEAT as a “national certification testing system,” relegating test fairness and validity to mere technology issues.
NEAT-related discourse in the newspapers has been strongly characterized by concern for verbal hygiene (Cameron, 1995, 2000) and McDonaldization (Block, 2002) in the testing business. It has been reported that NEAT is operated entirely through an online database that covers all information and requires actions from test registration to score reporting. The emphasis on the technological aspect gives authority to the practice of teaching-to-the-NEAT. The streamlined discourse of technologization that has been constructed supports the belief that technology is “everything,” even in language learning contexts. If the media continues to propagate a technology-driven NEAT discourse, NEAT may eventually act as “a defining technology” that determines the nature of language, language education, and language testing in Korea. In such a discourse, standardized tests are taken for granted as useful, reliable, and even “democratic” tools. However, in fact, their validity varies depending on context and test-users. Discourses on the non-technological aspects of NEAT have been stifled in the media, with the exception of the economic and utilitarian discourse discussed below.
Economic practice: private education in preparation for NEAT
Beginning with the 2007 TOEFL crisis, each of the newspapers published articles discussing the necessity of a government-led English proficiency test, the timetable for NEAT’s development, and other implementation issues from an economic perspective. NEAT coverage shifted to the inevitable private expenditure on English education; eventually, the diffuse texts of NEAT were explicitly integrated to form a dominant discourse driven by concern with the “market.” For example, a Chosun Ilbo article dated July 31, 2007 (after the culmination of the TOEFL crisis), which reported that a newly developed NEAT would be launched in 2009, presented a primarily economic argument describing the test as one that would prevent the outflow of national wealth and expecting significant benefits to be newly generated. Every article published by Chosun Ilbo on the topic after 2010 mentioned the private expenditure for education, sustaining a streamlined discourse on economic issues.
Chosun Ilbo, in shaping the economic discourse related to NEAT, did not allow for a wide range of reflections on English proficiency testing in Korea. Articles were often related to the test’s financial viability and burden, and Chosun Ilbo seemed to be the most vocal on this topic. Further research needs to examine why the media couched the new test in a narrow economic discourse and did not refer to any other (critical, ecological, postmodern, alternative) discourses of language and testing.
Utilitarian practice: benefits of a new, domestic test
The news media had continued to construct a NEAT discourse on cost–benefit analysis. From the onset of the 2007 TOEFL crisis, NEAT’s utilitarian value was discussed with reference to problems associated with the foreign tests (TOEFL, TOEIC), the necessity of a government-led English test, and the proposed strategies for NEAT implementation. The news media often used quantitative data to calculate profit and cost when debating problems related to the use of conventional tests or the development of a new test. In an article titled “NEAT, internal stability is important” on May 27, 2011, Donga Ilbo asserted NEAT’s practicality and interpreted NEAT as a tool to enhance Koreans’ English proficiency and thereby their competitiveness in the global economy. An opinion piece published in the same newspaper 3 days later similarly claimed that NEAT could promote effective strategies for teaching English and be a national asset in the near future. Terms such as “practicality,” “internal stability,” “effectiveness,” and “asset” were often employed in the analyzed newspapers. In 2011, Donga Ilbo articles emphasized NEAT’s functional utility, claiming it should replace the CSAT. The rationale came from the texts of utility: convenience, cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and competitiveness.
JoongAng Ilbo also constructed a utilitarian discourse in a consistent way. An article from September 6, 2010, sets the tone: “NEAT is in development to become a Korean version of the TOEIC–TOEFL.” By paralleling the terms “Korean version” and “TOEIC–TOEFL,” the sentence emphasized NEAT’s utilitarian value at the national level. In 2007, JoongAng Ilbo compared NEAT with foreign tests such as the TOEIC and TOEFL to place a strong value on the domestic test’s public utility; but, as NEAT was under development, the media began to semantically equate NEAT with the TOEIC and TOEFL. An opinion column published on June 1, 2011, incorporated statements and phrases such as “the supremacy of English stays strong” and “NEAT will satisfy everyone from a practicality perspective.” JoongAng Ilbo, in its careful shaping of neo-conservative discourse, imprinted the individual and national effectiveness of English use on its readers’ minds by using terms such as “supremacy,” “competitiveness,” and “revolution.” The article acknowledges “English supremacy” in its first sentence and “English skills as individual and national competitiveness” in its second sentence; it continues to cite NEAT’s advantages, including an abrupt claim that the test is a revolutionary solution to improve Koreans’ English proficiency: not only does NEAT make it easier to gain English proficiency, English education policies based on the high-stakes test maximize its practicality and fairness. Donga Ilbo’s articles relating to the 2007 TOEFL crisis also employed utilitarian arguments, claiming that, as registering for the TOEFL had become difficult in Korea (especially for those who had not studied abroad), the foreign tests should be replaced with a domestic test that would allow for lower fees and be free for low-income students. In light of this utilitarian emphasis on NEAT’s convenience as a tool (for national competitiveness), in a comparison of NEAT versus conventional/foreign tests, it is difficult to establish a non-utilitarian discourses that can embrace difference and diversity issues.
Social structure underlined
Two social practices related to NEAT coverage will be discussed here. The first one is that of a “technopoly-driven” educational culture (Postman, 1993)—that is, one that transforms the multifaceted elements of language, testing, and education into technologized tools. The second is the normalization of a “teach-to-the-test” culture by maintaining that NEAT can solve the problems of English education and equating NEAT prep with English study as a whole. In perpetuating such discourses, media discourse constructs a test-based educational culture on the belief that test-driven English study can be successful.
Building up a technopoly of English proficiency testing
English proficiency testing is a technology, as noted, and regarding language testing as neutral and apolitical overlooks the inherent potential for a high-stakes testing industry to grow into a technopoly. NEAT, as a knowledge system and technological solution, was viewed as not merely a tool but also beyond that as a procedural attempt to develop a testing society. The news media promoted NEAT as a technological solution to common problems. Highlighting NEAT’s problem-solving effectiveness shifted perceptions—people came to view the test not as a tool but as a goal in and of itself. This transformational process, rather than reflecting a transition to a technocracy, had more similarity with the development of a technopoly, different from a technocracy as elaborated by Postman (1993).
In almighty technology, advances in science and technology in turn determine the advancement of social systems (Habermas, 1970, p. 105). Valuing capitalism and scientism, technopolistic worldviews position technology as the equivalent of medieval society’s divine authority in daily life and academia (Habermas, 1970, p. 75). In a technology-dominated society, life is fundamentally a matter of technological adjustment—and conversely, technology can solve all emotional, individual, and social problems. Although it has an ambiguous ideological background, technology has become a dominant cultural philosophy; its ability to suppress ethics and other values makes it an irresistible and powerfully influential ideology (Habermas, 1970, p. 111). In a technopolistic worldview, technology is more than a tool; it shifts the subjects and systems on which individuals and society focus. Thus, by positioning NEAT as a technopolistic solution, media discourse may have jeopardized multiple, potentially more meaningful ways to teach and learn different Englishes in different contexts.
After the 2007 TOEFL crisis, the Korean media had the opportunity to pose many ethical and sociopolitical questions relating to English language learning, testing, and policymaking. Instead, the media’s depiction of the crisis was narrow and biased, as they often represented the NEAT knowledge system from a technological perspective, reducing most inquiries to Q&As in educational technology. There was no fuel for debate among the various interest groups involved on the significance of testing problems. The portrayal of NEAT users in the media is reminiscent of Marcuse’s (1964) One-Dimensional Man. He described modern society as composed of people with a false consciousness, who use technology to live within the constraints of existing structures, by consuming and producing a language that is critically limited. That is, he claimed that capitalism, which advocates scientific management techniques and rational production systems, has raised the standard of living for modern people but in turn deprived them of expressive language, not allowing them to ask who they are. Complicated and conflicting discourses are unavoidable when developing a new test as a high-stakes policy tool and incorporating it into the variety of decision-making processes on the teaching and use of English in the Korean context. In the news articles considered here, however, test-takers’ and learners’ views seemed to be neutralized—surrounded and penetrated by a great mechanical tool: NEAT. It is therefore difficult to manifest a critical position related to NEAT as a technopolistic element unless other arguments are collected. In this way, a hegemonic NEAT-based technopoly may later expand its influence not only to the news media but also to daily life and public education.
Justifying a “teach-to-the-test” culture
In the Korean media, NEAT was presented as a fine commodity and NEAT preparation idealized as a meaningful social practice. Previous modes of English study were cast as flawed, and NEAT was presented as a new and improved form of English study. The focus on speaking and writing in NEAT, as against the CSAT or TOEIC, was often cited in the cost–benefit discourse. The news articles claim that NEAT was developed to transform a (putatively) obsolete English-learning culture characterized by less effective methods and in so doing unite possibly diverse pedagogical aims and channels into one single package.
The economic discourse in NEAT coverage in particular seems to support a test preparation culture that prioritizes monetary value. For example, Chosun Ilbo argued that the TOEFL crisis should be solved through supply-and-demand market principles and supported its position by quoting some representatives of private education. Other news media repeatedly discussed issues of expenses related to test development, registration, preparation, or private education expenditure, including outflow of national wealth, the role of other domestic tests, and whether governments should join together to develop a test to reduce private education expenditure. Chosun Ilbo also assigned a clear economic value to the test and to the associated practice of teaching to the test. From a test-taker’s perspective, however, no change would occur: they must study for a big test, regardless of whether it is newly developed or already established, imported, or indigenous. All principal agents in education, including students and schoolteachers, were thus portrayed as “marketized” objects of testing.
As the news media compared domestic and imported high-stakes tests from the perspectives of “convenience,” “effectiveness,” and “profitability,” they excluded from the discussion small-scale (e.g., school-based) or specific-purpose testing contexts, in which a high-stakes test may not act as a gatekeeper. In other words, the utilitarian discourse rigidly solidifies NEAT-based English study as a cultural form and rejects other competing discourses generated in favor of non-NEAT or other language education environments. If the news media focuses on NEAT’s utilitarian benefits and integrates the influence of NEAT on education as a whole, as well as on the knowledge system and linguistic society, NEAT preparation can eventually become established as a strong social practice, again with utilitarian values reinforced. It should be pointed out that hegemonic attitudes to NEAT were not reinforced over time because the media were also split on expansion and suspension of NEAT (Shin & Cho, 2019). Such a utilitarian discourse underlying pro-NEAT arguments, however, would continue to limit democratic discussions and prompt neo-conservative ones that privileged NEAT as the only way to foster national competitiveness and reduce the social cost of English testing.
Language testing is a social practice (McNamara, 2001). As language proficiency is assessed in a social context, there is no reason to throw out the socially embedded technological, economic, and utilitarian discourses. A test’s “perceived” social value determines its use, and NEAT can be practiced within such a discourse. However, if news media do not allow for conflicting and alternative discourses, technopoly and teach-to-the-NEAT culture will be invested with a media imprimatur and become hegemonic social practices.
This study has analyzed NEAT-related newspaper articles using a CDA framework. It has revealed that the reportage is characterized by a threefold focus on the technological, economic, and utilitarian value of NEAT. Rather than constructing NEAT as “just another testing tool,” the media aggressively promoted the establishment of a new knowledge system in which NEAT was positioned as a technopolistic power in itself. The teach-to-the-NEAT culture this entails is also justified at the level of social practice. It was verified that the discourse structure of English learning and testing constructed by the news media developed unidirectionally into NEAT, regardless of NEAT’s actual goals and implementation. There was media pressure on the new test to resolve the problems with old and supposedly obsolete tests as well as English education as it was conducted. Similar to the existing social practice arising from discourse on the TOEIC (which two million applicants take annually in Korea), if knowledge of English language (learning and testing) is implanted in a NEAT-embedded discourse, it will be difficult to extricate such issues from the hegemonic structure of NEAT.
Areas for further research follow. First, researchers should consider the possibility of a controlled future in which English knowledge and educational activities will narrow with the formation of high-stakes testing culture, and “test scores are artificially inflated to the point of questionable validity, by teaching to the tests” (Shohamy, 2001, p. 109). Newspaper articles on NEAT, especially when the rationale for the use of the new homegrown test was being discussed, often appeared to picture such a “brave new world” (Huxley, 1998), but it should be noted that the vaunted NEAT assesses only a limited range of English proficiency. High-stakes testing can “affect education and forces students to cram for tests…. In this way, it uses encroaching power, narrowing the width of learning” (Spolsky, 1998, p. 2). The corresponding shift in cultural focus may neglect, inter alia, the importance of rapport between teachers and students, collaborative work among teachers, and the crucial communicative elements/contexts of improvisation, negotiation of meaning, and everyday unplanned talk. If the belief is diffused that the technologized discourse appearing in NEAT preparation materials is to be preferentially produced and consumed (as frequently seen in the media analyzed here), that is, if NEAT becomes firmly accepted as a means of change in a new linguistic marketplace, what is taught and learned will soon narrow. Researchers should look at whether students’ academic achievement, language proficiency, and beliefs and attitudes toward learning have eroded because of media pressure, the technopolistic system, or teach-to-the-test culture.
Second, it is important that researchers continue to inquire into how the media help shape discourse on English learning and testing and how the discourse is changing. The media can instigate a transformation of uncertain information into institutionalized knowledge, which in turn could reshape long-established customs. This study has explored the production and reproduction of certain media texts generated to affect the public in everyday life; however, it did not investigate the transmission and consumption of the texts in discursive practice, for example, from interactions between genres and styles. The interpretation of government documents in the media leads to a reproduction of part of the policy text. Original policy texts presenting the mandate for test development need to be collected and compared with related texts in different genres (e.g., in advertisements).
Finally, the features of “democratic” test development (and administration) need to be explored. As test development is often guided or regulated politically (Shohamy, 2001) and the interests of certain stakeholders become explicit, only very limited information is shared in public. In such situations, extensive opinions are not collected from all walks of life, and the issues to be debated are quickly determined through a top-down decision-making procedure. Thus, the media and private institutions are able to control rumors surrounding the testing environment. Undemocratic practices related to a newly constructed high-stakes test limit public agency by simply claiming that the establishment of relevant education is possible only through preparation for and use of the promoted test. Researchers should face the reality that media discourse has often gone beyond exaggeration and distortion to produce more or less threatening educational environments. It is necessary to ask questions about ethical responsibilities or democratic principles to mitigate disruption of language testing in society.
This study has highlighted the representation of NEAT reportage by the media in power and NEAT as a technology of an oppressive power. However, power is not monolithic but more diffuse in nature. Power relations and mobility are unavoidable, and as Foucault (1980) pointed out, alongside power also exists resistance. Thus, further research does not have to advocate dismantling the power of testing or replacing one test with another. As such, the simultaneous distribution of different tests could be planned, with conventionally constructed big tests still operating and with the transformative power structure of testing rearranged. Nor do media rule the world unilaterally. Media and academia are complex sites of complicity and resistance. Alternative discourses of resistance and diversity need to be voiced by academia if the media continue to promote conventional or power-serving views.
When the Educational Testing Service (ETS) had reduced the number of TOEFL-iBT testing spaces in Korea, excessive demand for test registration outstripped the available space. The media reported on the TOEFL-taking situation, desperate test-takers, and the usefulness of TOEFL and other English proficiency tests.
Although 14 articles in Kyunghyang Shinmun and 7 articles in Hankyoreh were also examined, they are excluded from this analysis because they showed trends and texts similar to those of the news already analyzed here.
The Ministry of Education changed its name to the “Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology” on February 25, 2008.
Critical discourse analysis
College Scholastic Ability Test
Educational Testing Service
No Child Left Behind
National English Ability Test
Test of English as a Foreign Language
Test of English for International Communication
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This study was supported by a grant from the National Research Council for Economic, Humanities, and Social Sciences in Korea.
Availability of data and materials
Data and material are available in Korean.
Dongil Shin, Ph.D., is a professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea. After completing his doctorate degree at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he has taught and researched language testing, discourse analysis, multilingual societies and language policy, mostly in Korean contexts.
The author declares that he has no competing interests.
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Shin, D. Analyzing media discourse on the development of the National English Ability Test (NEAT) in South Korea. Lang Test Asia 9, 4 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-019-0081-z
- Media discourse
- Critical discourse analysis
- Social dimension of language testing
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In March 2021, the U.K. government signaled its intention to unveil new regulations enabling Lewis to direct the Northern Ireland Department of Health to commission more widespread abortion services -- prompting criticism from the bishops.
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“We encourage everyone who believes in the equal right to life and compassionate care for a mother and her unborn child to ask local candidates and political parties to explain their position on these interventions and on this most fundamental of all issues.” | <urn:uuid:41db3d44-a83a-47f7-8e61-a44b617f5046> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248516/catholic-bishops-new-n-ireland-abortion-intervention-is-gravely-disquieting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.95356 | 337 | 1.757813 | 2 |
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Victims’ Rights and the Dos and Don’ts of Interviewing Crime Victims
Assignment 1: Victims’ Rights and the Dos and Don’ts of Interviewing Crime Victims
You are a police investigator in Centervale. Recently, there have been complaints from prosecutors, as well as several victims, about the interview techniques used by law enforcement (both first responders and investigators). The prosecution is losing cases because of inadmissible statements made to law enforcement by victims and witnesses in response to improper questioning. Because of their bad experiences early in the investigations, some victims refuse to come to court and testify. There are continuous complaints by victim services specialists that first responders do not provide victims with all their rights as governed by law.
The chief of police in Centervale is concerned about lawsuits and unsatisfied victims and asks you, one of the most experienced detectives of the Centervale Police Department, to attend patrol briefings and train officers in some dos and don’ts of interviewing victims of crime, especially women and children. You are also asked to go over some of the most important victims’ rights that could cause the most legal trouble if not followed properly by the Centervale Police Department.
You realize that a proper interviewing lesson could take eight to sixteen hours, and you know law enforcement must strictly follow numerous victims’ rights, but you have been given only fifteen to twenty minutes in which to teach, what you feel is the most important information.
By 9.00pm Saturday, January 9, 2016, in a minimum of 250 words, post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following:
- Identify and describe the training information you feel would be most important, if you had only ten minutes to teach law enforcement officers about:
- Interviewing women and children
- Crime victims’ rights
- Give your reasoning for the training information that you identified as most important for both training programs.
Note: Use the textbook readings, the Argosy University online library, and any other outside sources to complete this assignment.
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Published July 6, 2020
NPR’s “The World” podcast interviewed Monica Lupion, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, for a story about Climeworks, one of the first and best-known companies to direct air capture — or pull carbon dioxide directly out of ambient air for storage or use, which can help lower emissions in the atmosphere.
“I liked the technology. I think the technology is beautiful,” she said. “They managed to achieve a very difficult task, which is capturing carbon dioxide from a very dilute atmosphere. So, I think that's great.” Lupion expressed skepticism that taking carbon dioxide directly out of the air will ever be able to make a big difference because it’s inefficient. | <urn:uuid:b68f69fe-ad39-48ee-936b-be00a23479eb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://engineering.buffalo.edu/chemical-biological/news-events/news.host.html/content/shared/engineering/home/articles/2020-media-coverage/can-direct-air-capture-make-a-real-impact-on-climate-change-.detail.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950397 | 161 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Just when it looked as if polio was nearing global eradication, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the international spread of polio a public health emergency that warranted aggressive control measures.
In response, WHO has urged all nations to carry out more vigorous immunisation campaigns.
Ten countries currently have active transmission of wild poliovirus; three of these countries are still endemic for the disease and seven are classified re-infected.
In Geneva this week, experts at the World Health Assembly, the world’s health policy-making body, are expected to discuss the emergency measures intended to reach all children with oral polio vaccine.
All countries are expected to implement phase 1 containment activities for poliovirus by the end of 2015, ensure highly sensitive surveillance for polioviruses, and implement relevant polio vaccination recommendations for travellers.
These WHO declarations underscore the urgent need to eradicate the disease; and yet, younger generations in many countries have lived in polio-free countries for so long, they don’t know what polio is, or why it’s such a pressing threat.
Polio is a highly contagious, devastating disease that mainly affects children under five years of age. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.
The virus enters the body through the mouth, multiplies in the gut, and spreads easily via faecal contaminated food and water. Initial symptoms to look out for include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.
There is no cure for polio, but it can be prevented through administration with oral polio vaccine (OPV). Given multiple times, it can protect a child for life.
Reaching every last child
Since its launch, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership including Rotary, WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and more recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and national governments, has reduced the global incidence of polio by more than 99%. More than 10 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralysed.
Until polio is eradicated, all countries remain at risk of outbreaks.
Together, we have eliminated 99% of cases since 1988 — when the world saw 1 000 cases per day. With only 1% left, we are “This Close” to ending polio for good.
Rotary International, a spearheading partner of the GPEI, decided to aggressively increase polio awareness by launching an online photo awareness campaign where participants submit a picture making the “This Close” gesture, relaying how close we are to ending this disease.
As of this week, the World’s Biggest Commercial now has more than 100 000 participants from 171 countries. To spur participation at the launch of the World’s Biggest Commercial campaign, PhRMA donated USD 50 000 to Rotary’s PolioPlus program — enough to provide oral vaccine to protect more than 83 000 children against the paralysing disease.
You can take action by showing your support. Be part of the World’s Biggest Commercial. Snap a photo of yourself making the “This Close” sign and upload it into the commercial. Show it to your friends and family and ask them to do the same.
Your involvement will help convince world leaders that the support for polio eradication is global.
It’s time to make history together. Tweet to @endpolionow and let @rotary know what you are doing to help #endpolio and visit http://thisclose.endpolio.org/en to submit your “This Close” photo. | <urn:uuid:351e4c55-cc21-4a26-9938-c8346d835f8b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.newsday.co.zw/2014/05/spreading-polio-remains-global-hazard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.918767 | 772 | 3.625 | 4 |
Link for Photoshop 101 Digital Painting: (please copy & paste the link below)
Have you ever wanted to learn more about creating cartoon and caricature designs? Cartoon University is a source for caricature and cartoon education. There is no limit to your imagination and creativity! We will utilize programs such as Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro. The preferred software is PC/Windows. Additionally, you will need to have a drawing tablet and pen. Courses will be catered based on beginner, intermediate, and advance. Classes are now pre-recorded. Please keep in mind, my style of teaching is just one of many. Let’s get started!
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Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device
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Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection. | <urn:uuid:006d15f6-8928-468f-8d34-f4d559b0d8fe> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://shopgemini2face.com/collections/cartoon-university-courses?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.913533 | 203 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Who are we
Advanced Pedagogy (AP) is an education company headquartered in Singapore. Founded by Cambridge alumnus Dr. Benson Soong and advised by Cambridge don Prof. Neil Mercer, AP works to improve school-based education using the technologies of education. Our solutions transform traditional education landscapes and lead to improved learning outcomes for students while helping teachers transform their core responsibilities — from that of the content provider and knowledge facilitators into learning activators.
AP is a statutory member of the Singapore Business Federation, which is Singapore’s apex business chamber.
How we started
The founder of Advanced Pedagogy, Dr. Benson Soong, along with adviser, Cambridge don Prof. Neil Mercer implemented a revision method known as “Prescriptive Learning” that aimed at revealing students’ misconceptions and misunderstandings by getting them to solve Physics problems with an anonymous partner via the computer.
The initial small-scale study showed that students in the experimental group significantly outperformed students in both the control and alternative intervention groups. Students in the experimental group perceived that they had gained an improved understanding of Physics concepts and also urged to continue revising through the intervention method.
The Problem: Need for additional time and effort from teachers
The intervention method helped students obtain great academic results, personalized by constant feedback and guidance by teachers. However, the major drawback of this method involved the necessity of additional time and effort from teachers.
The Solution: Use of Advanced Pedagogy (AP), assisted by edTech
Advanced Pedagogy (AP) works with Cambridge schools to help students ace IGCSE exams.
Our interactive videos and diagnostic instruments cover entire IGCSE subject syllabuses, and these resources extend teaching and learning into students’ homes and phones.
Information gleaned from students’ interactions with our resources are shared with the students’ subject teacher, who then becomes more effective in teaching due to gains in insights into the student’s knowledge constructs and misconceptions. In-class teaching thus becomes more specific and prescriptive, rather than open and general. Outside of school hours, we provide students with 24×7 online tutor support so that their doubts and uncertainties may be expertly addressed without delay.
The entire pedagogy is based on research that has been statistically proven to be effective in improving students’ learning outcomes.
While there are many things that differentiate us from others, our most distinguished attribute would be our expert application of pedagogy to subject content knowledge, while addressing the wider after-school context of when and how students learn. We are, after all, founded and led by people who are acknowledged experts in this field, and our track record of helping students learn and achieve significantly improved results speak for themselves.
What makes AP different from other “edtech” providers is our expert application of research-based pedagogy into technology.
Meet Our Team
While headquartered in Singapore, AP works with partners and personnel globally, including in the UK, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Egypt, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc. Review the photos below to see us at work and at play! | <urn:uuid:a66986e1-69e2-4ee7-b143-6e34e46b6d3e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.advancedpedagogy.com/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.94899 | 651 | 1.640625 | 2 |
From wellness to materiality and the changing requirements of an office space – we take a look at the discussion points arising from biennale commercial trade show Orgatec in 2018.
30 October, 2018
Orgatec should not be mistaken as simply a commercially-focused version of Salone del Mobile Milan. Through it’s highly curated and razor-sharp focus, visitors are given the opportunity to contemplate some of the harder hitting themes happening in the design space and how they impact the workplace.
For the 2018 fair, big topics are coming up for debate – wellness, agile working, experimental materials and an ever-decentralised workforce being just a couple that stand out.
Given that the average worker will spend two-thirds of their lives at work, it is not too much to ask for an environment that helps our health rather hindering it. Design is a key player in facilitating health and wellbeing. And it can also be implemented in a wide variety of ways – from sustainability and biophilia, down to simpler executions, such as chairs that encourage movement.
All of these things are at the fingertips of designers. What new products are ensuring that office design can be a healthy space? How are closed loop and sustainable methods creating furniture that can have more than one life?
Open plan offices and the subsequent issues of noise and privacy have been hotly debated in the industry for some time. How exactly is design responding? Walking the halls of Koelnmesse shows that there has been an explosion of acoustic products, pod systems, breakout booths and sound-quieting lighting.
Along with that has been the rise of moveable and adaptable furniture ranges. This design movement is all about empowering workers and letting them choose how to make their space work for them. And it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
One area that is continuing to push the boundaries through innovation is the development of new materials. It is also through the thoughtful selection of materials that designers can bring in a touch of softness. The concept of blurred typologies is not new (ie. workplaces that feel more residential) but one area where that notion truly comes to life is through materiality. Whether finishes, fabrics or flooring – a combination of unique materials can elevate a project. How are materials being applied in new and inventive ways? Interestingly, some of the most interesting innovations circle back to a sustainable or wellness agenda.
These areas of interest will be covered in more detail through the fair, so stay tuned for insights straight from Orgatec 2018, or follow us on Instagram via #IndesignOrgatec2018.
CUBES is on instagram
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The INDE.Summit 2022 session will provide insights into process and collaboration, connectivity and sensitivity.
The INDE.Awards – The Prodigy shortlist recognises the outstanding new creatives in the Indo-pacific region with seven nominations in this category.
This year’s INDE.Awards – The Building shortlist recognises projects that mark new direction in the future of architecture. | <urn:uuid:3250ef13-ebf6-4b71-b6ac-b45f66675734> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.indesignlive.hk/insight/workplace-themes-need-know-orgatec-2018 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.944341 | 650 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Our Eli5 Guide to Search Engine Optimisation4 MIN READ Web
Search engine optimisation is the act of designing a website to meet basic parameters that search engines use to track and measure the relevancy of a website’s content, in relation to what users are searching for. This way, search engines can deliver intentional, relevant results on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) in response to a user’s search query.
First things first: while there are lots of different search engines beyond Google (YouTube, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.) in 2020, 90% of internet searches worldwide took place on Google or Google Images. The only exception to this is in China, where Google is banned. Instead, Chinese users mostly use Baidu. While there are lots of overarching SEO best practices that are relevant across different search engines, for simplicities sake we’re going to focus on Google in this article.
Google wants to display the most relevant search results for each search query.
This is because search engines exist to serve users.
To do this, Google needs to understand the contents of every website. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process that marketers and web developers follow to help Google understand their website’s contents more easily. The better Google understands your website, the more accurately it can show your website in response to relevant search results, which (hopefully) means more people clicking through to your website from SERPs.
This type of website traffic is called “organic search traffic”. Organic search traffic is the most valuable kind of website traffic, because it represents a cohort of users who are actively searching for your products or services before arriving at your website. This demonstrates both consideration and intent on behalf of the user: which represent two crucial parts of the customer buying cycle. From there, your website acts as a sales tool to convert this website traffic into tangible actions (ex. subscribe, register, buy, etc.) based on your specific business goals.
Now that we understand the why of search engine optimisation, it’s important to understand how to do it effectively to optimise your website for results. The three biggest signals Google looks for when it comes to evaluating a website’s health (sometimes called “domain authority”) are: site speed, keywords, and backlinks. There are many other technical and on page elements that contribute to SEO, however, we’re going to focus on these three primary areas.
Site Speed: Get your website to run as fast as possible.
This sounds easy, but it isn’t. Engaging and interactive website content (think: photos, videos, and animations) often requires longer to load. Ultimately, Google wants to deliver a great user experience (with minimal load time!). Plus, Google’s own research shows that the longer a web page takes to load, the more likely traffic is to bounce. For example, if a webpage takes 5 seconds to load, the probability of a bounce rises by 90%. To address this, Google has indicated that site speed is a key factor it considers when delivering web results.
Before addressing any site speed changes, it’s important that you measure how long it takes your website to load. There are lots of free tools you can use online to do this, including Google’s own PageSpeed Insights. As a rule, you should aim to get your website loading in under 3 seconds.
If your website is loading slowly, here are some steps you can take to improve load time:
- Invest in a performance hosting solution (cheap hosting often means poor performance)
- Optimise your images by reducing their file size and enable lazy loading, which defers the loading of images until a user scroll to the image
- Minimise redirects to decrease the number of requests your website must make
Keywords: Create a ton of good content.
Google uses a tool to crawl each website and understand the content topics that are present based on keyword analysis. To appear and rank in search engine results, your website needs to have relevant high-quality content. It’s important that this content is written with keywords in mind, so that Google can easily understand your content.
However, when writing for SEO some people can be tempted to stuff as many keywords into their content as possible. We hate to break it to you, but this isn’t going to fly. Google will flag and penalise websites that utilise keyword stuffing techniques. Instead, remember that quality, engaging content that is useful and relevant for your users is always your priority. Identify keywords that you want to incorporate, but only do this in a way that the content you’re creating serves a purpose. To increase your rankings in SERPs, increase the volume of keywords you’re ranking for, by creating more content. A blog is a good way to do this.
Links: Earn high quality backlinks for your website on a regular basis.
Backlinks are a huge credibility indicator for Google. As the saying goes, “Google doesn’t love you until everyone else loves you first.” Google measures the trust and authority of your website based on the volume and quality of backlinks that are linking to your website. Remember, the days of spammy backlinks are well behind us. Black hat SEO techniques that rely on link farming are not accepted and will be penalised by Google.
Our advice is to work through a long-term link building strategy. Make a list of partners that you can approach about guest blogging opportunities, and identify relevant, quality websites in your business sector that you can work with to execute a collaborative content strategy.
Another tactic that can be expensive, but that is extremely effective when it comes to link building is PR. Working with a PR company to share news about your business is a valuable and effective strategy to generate brand awareness, while also earning high quality backlinks from news sources (which Google values highly).
Ultimately, this guide is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what can be done to optimise your website for search. However, a long-term strategy that incorporates these tactics is essential for future business growth online. | <urn:uuid:5b5af12b-8216-496d-9b29-213f817c3f84> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://whitelawmitchell.com/insights/search-engine-optimisation-beginners-guide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.935928 | 1,282 | 3.03125 | 3 |
What are we looking for?
Large U.S. companies that have a strong competitive advantage and solid earnings momentum.
Companies with robust business models and superior fundamentals can provide higher returns with lower downside risks. Many equity analysts use Porter’s Five Forces of competition (named after Michael Porter of Harvard Business School) to identify companies that able to provide more consistent investment returns because they’re able to produce goods and services more efficiently than competitors. The theory looks at the number of competitors; strong barriers that prevent competitors from gaining market share; suppliers with less ability to influence costs; customers with less ability to negotiate lower prices; and whether there are few substitute products.
Similar to Porter’s Five Forces, the Morningstar Economic Moat Rating uses a methodology to assess whether a company has a sustainable competitive advantage that will allow it to generate profits and excess returns that will last more than 10 years. We used annual earnings momentum, quarterly earnings momentum and the forecast for next quarter’s earnings momentum to find companies that are growing their bottom line.
It’s also important for these companies to consistently report good earnings, so we use the historical earnings variability to find lower volatility in reported earnings per share. Return on equity can help us focus on companies with good internal financial performance; the reinvestment rate to make sure that these companies are successfully reinvesting in their businesses for future growth.
The investment process started off with all 2,009 stocks in our U.S. database. Then we ranked our stocks according to the Morningstar Economic Moat Score, reinvestment rate, annual earnings momentum, quarterly earnings momentum and next quarter’s estimate for earnings momentum.
Next, we applied these screens to create our list of stocks:
- Market capitalization greater than US$9-billion;
- Morningstar Economic Moat Score of five, which indicates a wide moat (a narrow moat is three, no moat is zero);
- Reinvestment rate above 20 per cent (calculated as the trailing earnings per share less trailing dividends per share as a percentage of the company’s adjusted book value per share);
- Historical earnings variability less than 19 per cent, a reading that would indicate more consistent earnings over time relative to most stocks;
- Next quarter’s estimate for earnings momentum that is greater than zero. This compares the three quarters of trailing operating EPS plus the estimated EPS for next quarter with the four quarters of trailing operating EPS.
What we found
We used CPMS to back-test the strategy from January, 2006, to March, 2022. During this process, a maximum of 10 stocks were purchased and equally weighted. The portfolio is rebalanced monthly and the strategy produced a total return of 15.4 per cent since inception, whereas the S&P 500 Total Return Index advanced 10.3 per cent. Today, the top 10 stocks that qualify for purchase into the strategy are listed in the accompanying table.
As always, investors are encouraged to conduct their own independent research before purchasing any of the investments listed here.
Phil Dabo, MFin, is a vice-president of business development at Morningstar Research Inc.
Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today. | <urn:uuid:523eda05-c575-4a67-bc46-5723825277ba> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://arc-dev.theglobeandmail.com/investing/investment-ideas/number-cruncher/article-ten-us-companies-with-a-strong-competitive-advantage-and-solid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.931247 | 682 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The first structure of a lipin enzyme — which carries out an important step in the production of triglycerides, the main reservoir for long-term energy storage — will help scientists to better understand how lipins regulate the production of triglycerides. In a study led by Mike Airola, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, the structure provides scientists with insight as to why mutations in the enzyme cause a loss of activity that leads to abnormal production of triglycerides implicated in heart disease, obesity and diabetes. The study is published in Nature Communications.
Lipins complete the second to last step of triglyceride production. But when mutations interrupt lipin functions, the body loses its ability to store fat properly, thus potentially triggering a wide variety of metabolic-related conditions. Scientists have unsuccessfully tried to create the first visual structure of a lipin enzyme since these enzymes were first identified in 2001. Now Airola and colleagues successfully explain in the paper their first crystal structure of a specific enzyme called lipin PAP.
“This structure answers a long-standing question for how two essential regions, N-lip and C-lip, which are located on opposite ends of this protein in humans, come together to form a function enzyme to help make triglycerides,” explains Airola, director of the Airola Lab. “Using this structure also helps us understand how the protein interacts with membranes, which is key to regulating its activity and the production of triglycerides.”
The team used X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry and biochemistry to visualize the structure, which represents the active state of a lipin enzyme during the production of triglycerides, as well as its other functions, namely lipoprotein assembly and cellular signaling.
Valerie Khayyo, a Stony Brook graduate student in the Biochemistry and Structural Biology Program and first author of the study, added that the structure enables researchers to understand and see specific mutational changes in the amino acid building blocks of lipins that result in disease.
Khayyo noted that mutations in lipins are increasingly being identified in patients with muscle disorders as well, such as statin-induced myopathy and extreme cases in childhood rhabdomyolysis.
Overall, Airola says that the structure and study consolidates many previous observations into a unifying framework and sets the stage for scientists to resolve several remaining important questions concerning how lipins are regulated.
Collaborators on the study include Karen Reue at UCLA, who first identified lipins as proteins involved in triglyceride metabolism, and John Burke at the University of Victoria, Canada.
The research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association and Canadian Institutes of Health. | <urn:uuid:38786aa6-68aa-4849-84d6-cb72cb3e151e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://sbmatters.stonybrook.edu/scientists-visualize-structure-of-key-enzyme-that-makes-triglycerides/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.939344 | 575 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Bainton Green level crossing is located on King Street where it becomes a minor road after its junction with the B1443, just over one mile from the centre of Helpston. It will be closed to vehicles until 06:30 on Monday, 22 November.
Whilst the level crossing is closed, a clearly signposted diversion route will be in place. The work not affect train services between Peterborough and Stamford or the East Coast Main Line.
There are two level crossings at Helpston: Bainton Green level crossing and Helpston level crossing.
Bainton Green has automatic half barriers and is on the former Midland Railway line between Peterborough and Stamford. It crosses two tracks and normally about sixty trains a day use the crossing.
The nearby Helpston level crossing spans six tracks and at over 70 metres between the barriers at each side of the crossing is the longest in the world. It crosses both the Peterborough to Stamford and the extremely-busy East Coast Main Line between Peterborough and Grantham, where express trains pass at over 100 miles per hour.
Stewart Bewick, Project Manager for Network Rail, said: “The upgrade of Bainton Green level crossing will improve safety and create a more modern and reliable railway, helping to reduce delays and disruption for both passengers and those who use the crossing.
“To allow us to carry out this work safely, there will be a diversion route in place for motorists. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes and we’d like to thank people in advance for their patience during this time.” | <urn:uuid:85ca214e-5a15-440f-8883-c373c3f1eedb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/11/bainton-green-level-crossing-in-cambridgeshire-being-upgraded-this-weekend.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.951723 | 324 | 1.625 | 2 |
WOODCUTS - WOODPRINTS
The project explores the historic woodcut medium in contemporary context. The catalog has 80 pages,
and more than 60 reproductions, of which 24 are in full colour.
Tour The exhibition program expanded and included Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and
Exhibition 2011 An overview with 16 large woodcut prints on canvas and paper,
in: Blodig Alvor, Art from the 80's,
room 204 Yngve Zakarias, Trondheim Kunstmuseum 18. juni-18. september 2011;
Prints created 1985-90 for the most part in Berlin,
as referenced, reproduced and/or described in the Reutlingen catalog.
Yngve Zakarias - Holzschnitte;
Authors: Dr. Annie Bardon, Dr. Michael Glasmeier; Languages: English and German;
Catalog and exhibition: Annie Bardon and Yngve Zakarias;
Publisher: Stadt Reutlingen, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Spendhaus Reutlingen, May 1988;
printed in Berlin; ISBN: 3927228001; 9783927228009 | <urn:uuid:56aac320-c006-456d-bab3-b2232e7dee8c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://zakart.com/contemporary-woodcut-project.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.718511 | 302 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Imagine your child playing a little bluegrass, a wicked Jimi Hendrix solo, a Mozart Sonata, “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter” or an Irish fiddle tune – all of this and more is possible in our violin lessons! Long celebrated for its evocative qualities and bird-song melodic range, the violin’s versatility as an instrument means that it doesn’t have to be just an orchestra favorite or a featured part of the symphony, it can be played in so many more settings and utilized in so many different musical capacities!
Ideal for students who are 4.5 years old and up, the violin is a beautiful instrument and an important one for families to consider if they want their child to have a strong musical foundation. Our violin teachers combine note-reading with Suzuki exercises to ensure that our students receive the best theoretical and technical foundation while still focusing on auditory development. The result of this “whole-learning” approach is that our students progress faster and grow musically with a greater understanding of how to play their violin! Our teachers make sure our violin students learn the right skills at the right time and in the right order, supporting them with warmth and positivity every step of the way.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or wanting to take your existing skills to the next level, we can help you, our teachers can help tailor a program to suit your interests! We offer violin lessons in Calabasas to students of all ages. While we specialize in lessons for beginners, we offer intermediate and advanced level lessons as well. | <urn:uuid:03f86136-93e2-42d7-b355-d222151a7452> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://schulermusicstudio.com/music-lessons-calabasas/violin-lessons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.948262 | 334 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Four refuse trucks have been donated to the Kinondoni district in Dar es Salaam by an environmental agency. The vehicles are worth $300,000 and were a gift from the Ecology Protection Company (ECO).
The trucks have the capacity to haul 27 tonnes of garbage and are adapted to differentiate garbage types.
Kinondoni is the northernmost of three districts in Dar es Salaam and the most upmarket. The other two are Temeke to the far south-east, and Ilala in downtown Dar es Salaam.
EVENTS THIS WEEKview calendar | <urn:uuid:45a2d22c-db71-40de-a038-92685e43e261> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.wantedinafrica.com/news/new-refuse-trucks-for-dar-es-salaam.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.954545 | 135 | 1.554688 | 2 |
WILLIAMSBURG, Va., February 25, 2011 — Vikings. Knights. Privateers. Sailors. Soldiers. Hundreds of re-enactors depicting armed forces from the eighth century to modern times will come together on March 19 and 20 for Jamestown Settlement’s annual “Military Through the Ages.”
Thirty-five groups based in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina will portray soldiers and military encounters from the medieval period, Hundred Years’ War, War of the Roses, French and Indian War, American Revolution, War of 1812 and American Civil War. Re-enactors representing World Wars I and II, Vietnam War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan will take visitors through the 20th century, with the Virginia Army National Guard, which traces its origins to the early 17th century, representing the present.
Visitors will experience the past and present in a unique chronological display of military history in the course of one weekend as re-enactors show how uniforms, weapons and military tactics evolved throughout the centuries, as well as aspects of field communication and medical treatment. The event also showcases a variety of military vehicles and equipment, including the demonstration of a howitzer by the Virginia Army National Guard. Visitors are encouraged to interact with re-enactors to learn how soldiers attired and armed themselves, as well as how they were fed and housed in times of war.
Among the units participating in 2011, the beginning of the American Civil War’s 150th anniversary, are two Union units – the “3rd U.S. Regular Infantry” in 1861 and maritime group “U.S.S. Aroostook” in 1862 – and two Confederate units – “Brooklyn Grays” at Camp Lee, Va., in May 1861 and “Nancy Hart Militia,” a band of female soldiers from Georgia in 1862. Ground troops will demonstrate military drills, uniforms and period cooking. The 3rd U.S. Regular Infantry will invite visitors to take part in hands-on company and bayonet drills, as well as present interpretation of Civil War medical treatment and civilian life on the homefront.
Visitors can explore medieval campsites of “Charlemagne’s Army,” “Orkneyingar Vikings,” “House DuChasse,” “La Belle Compagnie,” “Lord Grey’s Retinue,” and 1500s German mercenaries “The Devil’s Nightmare Regiment.”
The American Revolution will be portrayed by “7th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line,” and soldiers will be treated for mock wartime injuries at re-created American and British field hospitals. The “24th Regiment of Foot” will represent the British Infantry during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, including a portrayal of Zulu warriors.
The “11th Siberian Rifles” will depict the Imperial Russian Army in 1915 and will feature a Maxim machine gun team in a Moscow depot. Visitors can learn about the “Donut Dollies,” a Salvation Army war service that aided World War I soldiers, experience an American Expeditionary Forces’ 1918 battalion aid station, and see the training and drilling of the “West Cork Flying Column” during the Irish War of Independence.
Aspects of World War II include the “British Army and the Navy Army Air Force Institute Canteen” in 1941; a foxhole emplacement by the “504th Parachute Infantry Regiment” during Operation Shingle; paratrooper displays by the “Stray Devils” and “1st Canadian Parachute Battalion”; and the role of the Italian Army by the “4th Alpini Reggimento.” The German Army in December 1944 will be portrayed by “Grenadier-Regiment 226,” featuring a vintage Volkswagen Kublewagon scout car, motorcycle with sidecar and a light anti-tank gun.
A noon artillery salute at the Jamestown Settlement ships on Saturday, March 19, marks the beginning of a children’s parade on the ships’ pier. Young troops will be lead through the re-created colonial fort and campsites to formally present ribbons to each of the participating military units. A posting of unit colors will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20. The Sunday military parade will conclude with an awards ceremony, in which re-enactor units will receive awards on campsite, clothing and cooking presentations, and field demonstrations.
Arms, armor and military accouterments of 17th-century Virginia can be seen inside Jamestown Settlement’s extensive galleries, featuring films and interactive exhibits that tell the story of America’s first permanent English colony and of the Powhatan Indian, European and African cultures in 1600s Virginia. Families can experience hands-on activities, such as trying on reproductions of English helmets and breastplates, in outdoor re-creations of a Powhatan village, 1610-14 English fort, and the three ships that brought the settlers to Virginia – Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. A seasonal riverfront discovery area explores European, Powhatan and African economic activities associated with water.
Jamestown Settlement features a café and gift shop, both open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The gift shop offers a comprehensive selection of books, artifact reproductions, and educational toys and games.
Jamestown Settlement is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily year-round. Admission is $15.50 for adults and $7.25 for ages 6-12. Children under 6 are free. A value-priced combination ticket with the Yorktown Victory Center, a museum of the American Revolution, is $20.00 for adults and $10.00 for ages 6-12. The special event is funded in part by a grant from James City County.
Museum hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily year-round. Jamestown Settlement is located on State Route 31 near the Colonial Parkway in James City County, just southwest of Williamsburg. For more information, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838, or visit hif.ciniva.net/military-through-the-ages.htm. | <urn:uuid:9e355b23-1060-4834-83d5-a504675e7b36> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://jyfmuseums.org/news/2011-military-through-the-ages/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.939643 | 1,340 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Does gender make any difference in the working relations between doctors and nurses? Is the relationship between women doctors and nursing staff poorer or perhaps better than is the case with male doctors? Disturbing Gender examines exactly these questions and attempts to show how and why gender relations need to be taken into account if we are to understand why certain tensions arise in hospital work.
Nursing and medicine are at the present time renegotiating and redefining their position in relation to each other. By arguing that the health care organisation itself is gendered and that the professions of medicine and nursing are closely built upon constructions of masculinity(ies) and femininity(ies), Karen Davies attempts to also explore what a resetting of the boundaries means. Dialogic communication and respect for each others’ skills and alterity emerge as central components.
Theoretically, ‘the body’ is used as an analytic tool in the book: the body is inscribed with gender – influencing intraprofessional relations; there is the question of situatedness – where the bodies of medical and nursing staff find themselves in the daily run of things; and there is the meeting, or mis-meeting, of the two collective bodies – medicine and nursing.
An underlying theme running throughout the whole book is the question of change. The analysis attempts to pinpoint where problems lie and argues for an ungendering of gender relations.
Karen Davies is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Sociology, Lund University. | <urn:uuid:feeafb95-532f-4eb6-8463-13510817c435> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bokshop.lu.se/butik/disturbing-gender/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.959078 | 307 | 1.851563 | 2 |
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Since the attack on the Capitol Building there has been an increase in the conversation about how to secure against a mob. The answer is that it is never easy or entirely possible to thwart a determined assault. Given enough time and resources the mob will prevail. Mobilizing enough resources to prevent the mob isn’t always practical or possible. In the case of the Capitol, the conversation will revolve around the failure to have the National Guard in a position to be deployed effectively. The two-way radio system at the Capitol was overwhelmed by the volume of officers needing to request help and the supervisors needing to direct resources. Regardless, of this we must look at the extreme need for personnel which most facilities will not have access to in a crisis. So what should we focus on when looking at our security priorities?
While the threat from a large mob is real, the reality of it occurring outside of a government protest are not as likely. The largest gatherings that result in unrest that we have seen in recent past are a response to a societal event such as police use of force. These spontaneous events are rarely organized and have traditional targeted commercial enterprises. Generally, buildings are targeted only for vandalism and arson. Rarely is there an intent to occupy the building itself. The best response to these events is to initiate the emergency action plan to secure the building and evacuate occupants safely.
This focus on mass protests needs to be put into context. The biggest failure at the Capitol was underestimating the threat. The event was planned for days. The FBI was contacting potential agitators and preventing them from attending. The National Guard had been called up and was prepared but they were not onsite. This oversight resulted in the inability to deploy reserve units to the breach. Generally, the Guard is used to support the jurisdictional police by guarding areas not under threat (parking lots, streets, restricted entrances, etc.) so the officers normally assigned there can reenforce hot spots. For the common business institution this level of personnel support is unthinkable. The lack of available people means we look to physical barriers for a solution.
Physical security has a role in preventing a mob, but it cannot totally prevent all chaos. We cannot lose sight of the simple solutions to security in a crisis. Notification to emergency responders and alerting building occupants of the threat will always be the most crucial aspects in a crisis. Time is essential. The sooner law enforcement is notified the quicker they can respond. People in the building need to know that a threat is present. If you are not able to quickly and immediately sound alarms and provide information on the location of a threat in the building you have already failed. Employing a drop-down barrier across an entrance will slow down an attack but if people haven’t been informed of the need to act the barrier only serves a limited function. Make sure you have created a securities priority list and stick to it before jumping down to implement a solution that wasn’t planned. It should be noted that a drop-down barrier will impede the exit from a building so if a determined hostile attacker is inside the building this type of obstacle could prove fatal in that situation.
We tend to react to the newest threat when speaking about security. This is not the best approach and leads to a haphazard and disjointed security posture that is only confusing in a crisis. All the threats are real. Anything is possible, but it is the probability we need to address. The Capitol building had an almost limited budget for security. We know that most people were informed of the breach through word of mouth or seeing actions by security to physically remove VIPs from the floor. This is an ineffective communication method. Alarms should have sounded alerting occupants. This also serves the purpose of letting the rioters know their actions are unlawful and police are responding. This has a deterrent effect on the psyche of the intruder.
Do not let the hysteria from the Capitol breach deter you from your security needs. Realize these events are rare and that basic security methods will still have a positive impact on events should they occur. We must no react to low probability events. Confidence comes from being prepared for any eventuality not just one. | <urn:uuid:96e3af31-41fd-495e-a7de-5c12fa4473d8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://safedefend.com/make-sure-security-priorities-match-realities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.964302 | 861 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Advanced maternal age is associated with negative offspring health outcomes. This interpretation often relies on physiological processes related to aging, such as decreasing oocyte quality. We use a large, population-based sample of American adults to analyze how selection and lifespan overlap between generations influence the maternal age–offspring adult health association. We find that offspring born to mothers younger than age 25 or older than 35 have worse outcomes with respect to mortality, self-rated health, height, obesity, and the number of diagnosed conditions than those born to mothers aged 25–34. Controls for maternal education and age at which the child lost the mother eliminate the effect for advanced maternal age up to age 45. The association between young maternal age and negative offspring outcomes is robust to these controls. Our findings suggest that the advanced maternal age–offspring adult health association reflects selection and factors related to lifespan overlap. These may include shared frailty or parental investment but are not directly related to the physiological health of the mother during conception, fetal development, or birth. The results for young maternal age add to the evidence suggesting that children born to young mothers might be better off if the parents waited a few years.
A hundred years ago, Alexander Graham Bell suggested that children born to young mothers have the longest lifespan and children born to older mothers have the shortest (Bell 1918). Since Bell, Lansing (1947, 1948) and others have demonstrated that the negative advanced parental age–offspring health association exists also among a wide range of nonhuman organisms, including rotifers, fruit flies, and yeast (for a review, see Priest et al. 2002). For humans, evidence of the negative association between advanced maternal age (mother aged 35 or older at the time of birth) and offspring health has been accumulating in recent years (Jacobsson et al. 2004; Liu et al. 2011; Nassar and Usta 2009; Tarín et al. 1998). Although some have found little or no evidence for the link between advanced maternal age and offspring adult health and mortality (e.g., Hubbard et al. 2009; Robine et al. 2003; Westendorp and Kirkwood 2001), the majority of studies have suggested that advanced maternal age is associated with a range of negative child and adult health outcomes, including Alzheimer’s disease (Rocca et al. 1991), hypertension (Brion et al. 2008), diabetes (Gale 2010), cancer (Hemminki and Kyyrönen 1999; Johnson et al. 2009), and mortality (Kemkes-Grottenthaler 2004).
Discussion of the mechanisms behind the advanced maternal age–offspring health association is dominated by physiobiological interpretations that stress the importance of the health of the mother and her reproductive system during conception, gestation, and birth (Armstrong 2001; Durkin et al. 2008; Fang et al. 2008; Gale 2010; Johnson et al. 2009; Kemkes-Grottenthaler 2004; Menezes et al. 2010; Rocca et al. 1991). Socioeconomic selection and differences in the age at which the child loses the mother have received considerably less attention. These, however, may be integral to the maternal age–offspring health association.
First, childhood socioeconomic status is associated with adult health (Hayward and Gorman 2004; Strand and Kunst 2007). If maternal age correlates with childhood socioeconomic status, social selection may explain some of the maternal age–adult health link. Second, the age at which a child loses the mother—that is, the lifespan overlap between the mother and the child—is systematically related to maternal age: other things being equal, a child born to a 40-year-old mother can expect to lose the mother at an age that is 20 years younger than the age that a child born to a 20-year-old mother will lose the mother. Parental loss at a young age may influence a range of later-life outcomes, from education to health and longevity (Case et al. 2004; van Poppel 2000).
We use a large, population-based sample of American adults to analyze the roles of selection by socioeconomic status and lifespan overlap between the mother and the child in the maternal age–offspring adult health association. Consistent with prior literature, we find that children born to young and old mothers have worse adult health, are shorter, and have higher mortality than those born to mothers aged 25–34 years. Controls for maternal education and lifespan overlap wipe out the effect for advanced maternal age up to age 45. The association between young maternal age and negative offspring outcomes, however, is robust to these controls. Our findings suggest that up to maternal age 45, the maternal age–offspring adult health association is attributable to selection and factors proxied by age at which the child loses the mother. These factors may include within-family frailty or decreases in parental investment. The physiological health status of the mother, however, seems to matter only insofar as it predicts the age at which the child loses the mother but does not appear to directly impact the health experience of the child at adult ages. Our results on young maternal age add to the evidence suggesting that children born to young mothers might be better off if the prospective parents waited a few years.
Prior research has suggested that the effects of advanced maternal age on offspring health are potentially large. Bell (1918) analyzed the descendants of William Hyde, an early settler in Connecticut in the seventeenth century, and found that those born to mothers aged 40 and older had 10.6 years shorter life expectancy than those born to mothers younger than 25 years. Jalavisto (1959) analyzed seventeenth- to nineteenth-century Finnish and Swedish families and found maternal age above 40 to be associated with five years shorter life expectancy than maternal age below 25. Kemkes-Grottenthaler (2004) found a similar difference in an analysis of seventeenth- to twentieth-century German data. Gavrilov et al. (1997) studied Russian nobility from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries and found that daughters born to mothers older than 40 had 3.6 years shorter remaining life expectancy at age 30 than daughters born to mothers younger than 40. Analyses of European aristocracy, however, found only weak association between advanced maternal age and offspring longevity (Gavrilov and Gavrilova 2000).1 Smith et al. (2009) analyzed Utah cohorts born in 1850–1900 and found that compared with maternal age 20–29, maternal age above 35 is associated with 8 % increased adult mortality for sons.
The advanced maternal age–offspring health association applies not only to all-cause mortality but also to specific medical conditions. Hemminki and Kyyrönen (1999) found that maternal age above 35 was associated with 50 % excess risk for leukemia. Yip et al. (2006) reported childhood retinoblastoma to have incidence rate ratio 2.39 for maternal age above 40 versus maternal age below 25, and Johnson et al. (2009) found that childhood cancer risk increases by 8 % for every five-year increase in maternal age beyond age 20. Advanced maternal age has also been linked with autism (Durkin et al. 2008), bipolar affective disorder (Menezes et al. 2010), Alzheimer’s disease (Rocca et al. 1991), hypertension (Brion et al. 2008), and diabetes (Gale 2010).
These associations have prompted some to ask, “How old is too old?” (Heffner 2004). It has been suggested that people should be better informed about the risks associated with advanced maternal age (Benzies 2008). Indeed, if the maternal age–offspring health association is causal, fertility postponement into ever higher ages (Billari et al. 2007; Frejka and Sobotka 2009) may become a public health concern.
Our main interest is in advanced maternal age and its effects. Although young maternal age is also associated with negative offspring health (D’Onofrio et al. 2009; Fraser et al. 1995; Geronimus and Korenman 1992; Levine et al. 2007; Scholl et al. 1992), the mechanism that produces the maternal age–offspring health association for young mothers may be different from the mechanism behind the association for older mothers. Thus, we discuss young maternal age only briefly and concentrate on advanced maternal age.
The mechanisms thought to be responsible for the young maternal age–offspring health link are related to the physiological immaturity and sociodemographic disadvantage that often accompany young parenthood (Fraser et al. 1995). Some of the young maternal age–offspring health association may be due to selection (Geronimus and Korenman 1992), but there is no consensus on this (D’Onofrio et al. 2009). On the other hand, the negative association between advanced maternal age and adult health is thought to be driven by the physiological reproductive aging of the mother. As the female body ages, physiobiological functioning—which is critical for a healthy conception, fetal development, low-risk birth, and post-birth development—deteriorates. This deterioration may result in compromised birth outcomes or suboptimal post-birth development. Two potential alternative mechanisms are selection by maternal characteristics and differences in intergenerational transfers by maternal age. We discuss each of these below.
Maternal Age and Reproductive Aging
Delayed motherhood is characterized by increased probability of obstetric complications and perinatal problems (Tarín et al. 1998). These problems are largely related to declining fecundity, which has long been recognized in demographic and epidemiological literature (Heffner 2004; Leridon 2004; Menken et al. 1986). For women, fecundity decline and the probability of adverse pregnancy outcomes begin to increase in one’s late 20s and early 30s (American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2003; van Noord-Zaadstra et al. 1991). The biological mechanisms responsible for the fecundity decline are related to accumulation of DNA damage in germ cells (Kaytor et al. 1997), decreasing oocyte quality (Armstrong 2001; Eichenlaub-Ritter 1998), and weakening of the placenta (Bottini et al. 2001). These processes relate to a wide array of negative birth outcomes, including chromosomal abnormalities and birth defects.
Maternal aging may promote the development of conditions for the child in adulthood by impacting the early life conditions of the offspring. DNA damage in germ cells, chromosomal changes, and pregnancy complications that increase with age have been suggested as causes of the association between advanced maternal age and schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease (Croen et al. 2007; Durkin et al. 2008; Menezes et al. 2010) and between advanced maternal age and cancer (Johnson et al. 2009). Alternatively, aging-induced changes in hormonal levels or other physiological parameters that modify the intrauterine environment may influence offspring health, such as risk of cancer (Ekbom et al. 1997; Johnson et al. 2009).
Advanced maternal age may also be positively linked with offspring health. Birth weight may increase with maternal age (Fessler et al. 2005), and low birth weight predicts adult diseases, such as coronary artery disease and diabetes (Barker 2002). The detrimental effect of higher germ cell damage of older parents may be offset by the increased longevity of those able to bear children later in life. Finally, older parents may have access to greater resources and higher socioeconomic status, which are linked to improved offspring health.
For many of the health outcomes discussed above, evidence for the aging-related mechanism that might cause the maternal age–offspring outcomes link is largely speculative. In addition to the aging-related mechanisms, one should acknowledge the potential role of alternative, non-aging-related mechanisms. These include selection (women who have children at certain ages may be different from those who have children at other ages), changing resources (those who have children later may have accumulated more resources than those who have children earlier), differences in parental investment, and shared frailty. Although these explanations are occasionally mentioned, their contribution to the maternal age–offspring health association has received little direct analysis. We point to two particularly important factors: parental socioeconomic status and age at which the child loses the parents. Both factors are potential confounders because they are likely to be correlated with both parental age and offspring health.
Childhood socioeconomic status is strongly associated with adult health and mortality (Galobardes et al. 2004; Hayward and Gorman 2004; Strand and Kunst 2007). The mechanisms through which childhood social environment influences adult health may be direct, operating through childhood health; or indirect, operating through adult characteristics such as attained socioeconomic status and health behaviors (Preston et al. 1998). Independent of the mechanism, if maternal age correlates with childhood socioeconomic status, social selection may explain some of the maternal age–adult health link. Currently, older parents are often more affluent and have higher educational attainment than younger parents (Bray et al. 2006). These socioeconomic differences influence health in childhood and adulthood so that those born to young, often socially deprived, mothers have worse health outcomes than those born to older mothers (Bradley et al. 2002). There is, however, no evidence that advanced parental age was positively associated with socioeconomic status in historical periods, or in the first half of the twentieth century, when participants of this and many other studies on parental age effects were born.
The age at which the child loses the parent is in turn systematically related to parental age: holding other factors constant, a child born to a 20-year-old mother will, on average, lose the mother at an age 20 years older than would a child who is born to a 40-year-old mother. The age at which the child loses the parent may proxy shared family frailty. Long-lived parents have long-lived children, and long-lived parents having children at older ages may influence the association. Additionally, children who lose their parents at a younger age may be scarred by the psychological shock associated with parental loss, or they may receive less parental investment than their counterparts with greater lifespan overlap with their parents. As a result, individuals who lose their parents at a younger age may have lower socioeconomic attainment and worse health at adult ages (Andersson et al. 1996; Case et al. 2004; van Poppel 2000). Thus, having an older parent may be more a socioeconomic liability than a physiological one.
This is a prospective cohort study. We use the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel survey of Americans aged 50 and older and their spouses. The HRS has five entry cohorts with follow-up: the initial HRS cohort, born in 1931–1941 and entering the study in 1992; the Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old cohort, born before 1924 and entering in 1993; the Children of the Depression cohort, born in 1924–1930 and entering in 1998; the War Babies cohort, born in 1942–1947 and entering in 1998; and the Early Baby Boomer cohort, born 1948–1953 and entering in 2004. We use these HRS cohorts and include in our analytical sample persons who were aged 40 or older when entering the study. Follow-up is until 2008. The initial sample size is 30,294 persons. After exclusion of subjects with missing data on maternal age (10,881 persons) or other variables (1,078 persons), our sample size is 18,335 subjects with average age of 56.3 years at first interview and with 3,142 deaths over an average follow-up of 11.2 years.
We analyze all-cause mortality and four nonfatal health outcomes: obesity, height, self-rated health, and a frailty index defined as the cumulative sum of eight diagnosed conditions. All measurements except mortality are based on the first interview.
For mortality, survival time is measured from the first interview. Month and year of death are obtained from the National Death Index. Height is measured in centimeters. Obesity is measured using an indicator equal to 1 if body mass index (BMI, defined as kg/m2) is 30 or more, and 0 otherwise. Both height and weight are based on self-reports. Self-rated health is reported as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. We code these to a five-point continuous variable with 1 = excellent and 5 = poor.
We conceptualize frailty as a result of multiple interacting factors and define the frailty index as a cumulative sum of eight diagnosed conditions. These are based on self-reports to questions of the type, “Has a doctor ever told you that you have [the condition]?” The conditions for which HRS has information are high blood pressure or hypertension; diabetes or high blood sugar; cancer or a malignant tumor (not skin cancer); chronic lung disease except asthma; heart attack, coronary heart disease, or other heart problems; stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA); emotional, nervous, or psychiatric problems; and arthritis or rheumatism. From these data, we construct a frailty index, which is the cumulative sum of diagnosed conditions, ranging from 0 to 8.
The key independent variable is maternal age, defined as the age of the mother (years) at the time of the child’s birth. The HRS asks questions about whether the mother is alive; if yes, how old the mother is; and if not, when and at what age the mother died. These answers, combined with the survey year and birth year of the respondent, allow calculation of maternal age. We categorize maternal age as 14–19, 20–24, 25–34 (reference group), 35–39, 40–44, and 45–49.
Other independent variables of particular interest are maternal education and lifespan overlap between the child and the mother. Maternal education is measured with a binary indicator equal to 1 if the mother has eight or more years of schooling, and 0 otherwise. We use this measure because some of the HRS waves have only categorical information on maternal education, and binary education was the only consistently comparable measure that could be constructed.
Lifespan overlap between the child and the mother is measured by using an indicator equal to 1 if the mother was alive when the person was aged 40, and 0 otherwise. This indicator is crude, but we prefer this measure over a continuous measure of the number of years children overlap with their mothers because of its simplicity and to avoid problems of censoring for those children with living mothers. We show that the results are robust to alternative, more nuanced specifications of lifespan overlap in the Online Resource 1.
We control for lifespan overlap for two reasons. First, lifespan overlap is systematically and negatively related to maternal age, as discussed above. Second, lifespan overlap may be related to offspring health through numerous mechanisms. Lifespan overlap may capture differences in intergenerational social and economic transfers that result from differences in the age at which the child lost the parent. Lifespan overlap may also capture age-related differences in the effect of the psychological shock that is related to parental loss. In addition, lifespan overlap may implicitly reflect differences in general maternal health insofar as they are reflected in the years that the parent lives after the birth of the child. Finally, lifespan overlap may capture differences in familial longevity, which may have genetic, epigenetic, or behavioral roots.
Optimally one would measure each of these mechanisms directly, but lack of data prevents us from doing so. Nevertheless, controlling for lifespan overlap helps to elucidate whether the impact of parental age on offspring health is due to the physiological health of parental reproductive systems at and around the time of birth or due to alternative factors that operate later in life. In addition, we are able to shed light on the importance of the intergenerational transfers mechanism by including as control variables the person’s own socioeconomic attainment, measured by education (less than high school, high school, some college, and bachelor’s degree or higher) and household income (logged). If lifespan overlap influences the maternal age–offspring health association through intergenerational transfers, controls for respondent socioeconomic status should attenuate the size and significance of the regression coefficient for lifespan overlap. If lifespan overlap reflects other factors, such as within-family frailty, the importance of lifespan overlap should be robust to these controls.
Other independent variables are birth year, age and age squared at baseline (years), sex, and race/ethnicity (white, black, other).
Model 1 estimates the association between maternal age and health and adjusts for basic demographic variables. Model 2 adds maternal education as a control variable to Model 1. Comparing Models 1 and 2 demonstrates the confounding influence of maternal education in the maternal age–offspring health association. Model 3 adds lifespan overlap with the mother to Model 1. Comparing the results between Models 1 and 3 reveals the confounding influence of lifespan overlap in the maternal age–offspring health association.
Model 4 simultaneously adds maternal education and lifespan overlap with the mother to Model 1. Comparing the results between Model 1 and Model 4 shows the joint confounding influence of education and lifespan overlap in the maternal age–offspring health association. Model 5 adds controls for adult socioeconomic status. Comparing the lifespan overlap coefficient in Models 4 and 5 helps understand the pathways through which lifespan overlap influences the maternal age–offspring health association. Because own socioeconomic status is on the pathway from maternal age to offspring health, interpretation of the maternal age coefficient must be cautious in Model 5.
We estimate Models 1–5 for the five health outcomes using four model specifications. For self-rated health and height, we use the ordinary linear regression model. For the count variable frailty, we use the negative binomial regression because the data exhibited overdispersion. For obesity, we use a logistic model. For all-cause mortality, we use a Cox proportional hazards model. All models account for the households clustering of subjects by using a robust variance-covariance estimator. In the Cox model, we use time-on-study for time scale and adjust for age and age squared; this approach performed well in a study comparing six different choices of time scale in cohort studies (Pencina et al. 2007). We handle ties with the Breslow method. We checked the proportional hazards assumption for maternal age by testing the significance of the interaction terms with the log of follow-up time. The tests did not indicate deviations from proportionality.
For each outcome we also illustrate the maternal age–offspring health associations with a semiparametric regression model (Lokshin 2006) that imposes no shape on the dependent variable–maternal age association (the nonparametric part) while controlling for other independent variables as in a normal regression (the parametric part). We estimate these models with controls corresponding to Model 1 (descriptive association) and Model 4 (controls for maternal education and lifespan overlap).
Table 1 shows the sample characteristics. Advanced maternal age is relatively rare: only 12 % have maternal age 35 or older. Young maternal age is more common: 16.6 % have maternal age below 20. The respondents were born, on average, in 1939–1940, and there is little variation in birth year by maternal age. Those with the oldest mothers are slightly older than those with younger mothers: at first interview, mean age was 57.1 years for those with maternal age 40–44 and 56.1 years for those with maternal age 25–34. The proportion of women is approximately 60 % in all maternal age groups except among those with maternal age 45–49, where only 49 % are women. This difference is not statistically significant (p > .05) and may reflect small sample variation.
Mean follow-up is 8.2 years for those who died and 11.8 for the censored. The proportion who died during the follow-up is highest for young and old maternal age and lowest in the maternal age group 25–34. Frailty index, self-rated health, proportion obese, and height exhibit a similar U-shaped pattern: the health outcomes are worst for those born to young or old mothers and best for those born to mothers aged 25–34.
The independent variables show that there is a U-shape (inverted) association also in maternal education, which is lowest among those with young or old mothers and highest among those with maternal age 20–34. Lifespan overlap, in turn, decreases almost monotonically with maternal age. Over 50 % of those with maternal age above 40 lost their mothers by the time they themselves were 40 years old. Among those with maternal age below 35, this percentage is only 20 %. Own socioeconomic characteristics show a similar pattern to what we observed for health outcomes. Those born to mothers aged 25–34 have a higher household income and are more likely to have a college education than those born to older or younger mothers.
In summary, mother’s education, lifespan overlap, and socioeconomic outcomes are associated with maternal age, highlighting the importance of adjusting for these characteristics in the maternal age–offspring health analysis.
Table 2 shows the association between the frailty index and maternal age. Model 1 estimates the association while controlling for basic demographic characteristics; Model 2 adds maternal education to Model 1; Model 3 adds maternal lifespan overlap to Model 1; Model 4 adds simultaneously maternal education and maternal lifespan overlap to Model 1; and Model 5 adds own socioeconomic attainment to Model 4. Figure 1 illustrates the results for Model 1 and Model 4.
Model 1 shows that there is a strong U-shaped association between maternal age and the frailty index, such that those born to young or old mothers have the highest incidence of health conditions. The negative binomial regression coefficients for five-year age groups from 14–19 to 45–49 are, respectively, 0.131, 0.036, 0 (reference age 25–29), 0.093, 0.108, and 0.223 (p < .05 for each except the reference coefficient). These correspond to 14 %, 4 %, 10 %, 11 %, and 25 % elevated incidence (100 × [exp(β) – 1]) for maternal ages 14–19, 20–24, 35–39, 40–44, and 45–49, respectively, with maternal age 25–29 as the reference. Coefficients for the control variables are in the expected direction. Figure 1 illustrates how frailty index starts to increase at the maternal age of about 30 for Model 1.
Model 2 adds controls for maternal education. The effects associated with young maternal age (<25) are virtually unchanged, while those associated with advanced maternal age are slightly attenuated but stay statistically and substantively significant. Unsurprisingly, those whose mother had eight or more years of schooling have fewer conditions than those with less-educated mothers.
Model 3 adds controls for lifespan overlap to Model 1. The effects associated with young maternal age are marginally strengthened, but those associated with advanced maternal age are markedly attenuated. The coefficient for lifespan overlap, –0.158 (p < .001), indicates that those whose mother was alive when they were aged 40 had 15 % lower incidence of health conditions than those whose mother had died.
Model 4 controls simultaneously for maternal education and lifespan overlap. The negative effects associated with young maternal age are robust to these controls. The effects associated with advanced maternal age, however, are attenuated to a point at which they lose statistical significance. Those born to mothers aged 35–39 and 40–44 have, respectively, 5 % (p = .22) and 4 % (p = .62) higher incidence of health conditions than those born to mothers aged 25–34. These are statistically and substantively negligible differences. The coefficient associated with maternal age 45–49 stays at 0.12 (12 % higher incidence) but loses significance. Figure 1 illustrates how the frailty index increases very little before maternal age 45 after maternal education and lifespan overlap are controlled (Model 4), whereas the young maternal age effect is robust to these adjustments.
Model 5 adds own socioeconomic attainment to Model 4. These controls attenuate slightly the coefficients for young maternal age but do not affect the advanced maternal age coefficients. Maternal education, however, loses all predictive power, suggesting that maternal education influences health and confounds the maternal age–offspring health association through offspring socioeconomic attainment. The lifespan overlap coefficient is more robust to controls for own socioeconomic attainment, decreasing by only 11 %, from −0.149 to −0.132. This suggests that the mechanism through which lifespan overlap is associated with offspring health only partially reflects intergenerational transmission of economic and social resources.
Table 3 shows the results for self-rated health; Fig. 2 illustrates the results with semiparametric regression. The patterns are highly similar to those for frailty. Model 1 shows that those born to mothers younger than 25 or older than 35 have worse self-rated health than those born to mothers aged 25–34. Controlling for maternal education (Model 2) or lifespan overlap (Model 3) slightly strengthens the effects for young maternal age and attenuates the effects for advanced maternal age but does not alter the overall U-shaped pattern. Controlling simultaneously for maternal education and lifespan overlap (Model 4) attenuates the effects for advanced maternal age up to age 45 to a level that is uninteresting both statistically and substantively. The coefficient for maternal age 45–49 stays relatively large and statistically significant (p < .05).
Controls for own socioeconomic status (Model 5) attenuate the maternal age coefficients that remained significant in Model 4 (ages below 25 and above 45) by 40 %–50 %, suggesting that young and very old maternal ages are associated with self-rated heath through socioeconomic status. Maternal education is attenuated by 61 %, but lifespan overlap by only 25 %. As with the frailty index, lifespan overlap influences the maternal age–offspring health association only partially through socioeconomic attainment.
Table 4 shows the results for height; Fig. 3 illustrates the results using semiparametric regression. Model 1 shows that those with maternal age below 25 or above 35 are shorter than those with maternal age 25–34. Controlling for maternal education (Model 2) or lifespan overlap (Model 3) does not change the associations for young maternal age. Controlling for maternal education removes the effects associated with advanced maternal age, but controlling for lifespan overlap does not. Simultaneous controls for maternal education and lifespan overlap (Model 4) have little impact on young maternal age coefficients, but those for advanced maternal age decrease to a statistically insignificant level.
Controls for own socioeconomic status (Model 5) have little impact on maternal age coefficients but attenuate the maternal education coefficient by 36 %. This is less than what was observed for frailty and self-rated health because height is determined at an early age, making it unlikely that maternal education influenced height through socioeconomic attainment. The coefficient for lifespan overlap is attenuated by 22 %, which is comparable to the attenuation seen for frailty and self-rated health. The weak attenuation is expected because the time ordering of events makes it unlikely that lifespan overlap influenced height through socioeconomic attainment.
Table 5 shows the results for obesity; Fig. 4 illustrates the results using semiparametric regression. Model 1 suggests a U-shaped association between maternal age and the odds of being obese, although the coefficients for ages above 40 are not significant (Model 1). Controlling for maternal education (Model 2) or lifespan overlap (Model 3) or simultaneously controlling for these factors (Model 4) strengthens the young maternal age coefficients. The associations for advanced maternal age vanish when maternal education and lifespan overlap are controlled (Model 4). Controls for socioeconomic status (Model 5) remove the predictive power of maternal education but, as in the previous models, attenuate the coefficient for lifespan overlap only slightly.
Table 6 shows the results for mortality; Fig. 5 illustrates the results using semiparametric regression. Model 1 suggests a U-shaped pattern between maternal age and offspring mortality: those with maternal age below 20 or above 45 have significantly higher mortality than those with maternal age 25–34. The coefficients for ages 20–24 and 35–44 are consistent with the U-shaped pattern but are not always significant. Controlling for maternal education (Model 2) or lifespan overlap (Model 3) or simultaneously controlling for these factors (Model 4) strengthens the associations for young maternal age. The associations for advanced maternal age lose statistical significance (p > .05) when controls for maternal education and lifespan overlap (Model 4) are introduced. Controls for own socioeconomic status (Model 5) attenuate the associations for young maternal age. These controls also remove the effect associated with maternal education but not with lifespan overlap.
The sensitivity analyses listed in this section are available in Online Resource 1.
Our key result of no effect of advanced maternal age up to age 45 on health or mortality after controlling for maternal education and lifespan overlap was robust to changes in the categorization of maternal age—in particular, to changing the reference group to 25–29 or to combining ages 40–44 and 45–49 to increase statistical power.
The results were robust to the following alternative specifications of the dependent variables and functional forms of the regression models: frailty index excluding mental health problems or cancer, ordered logistic instead of linear specification of self-rated health, linear instead of binary obesity measure of body mass index, and logistic instead of Cox proportional hazard model for mortality with the dependent variable a binary indicator for survival (dead/alive after 10 years of follow-up).
We studied the robustness of our results to an alternative specification of the lifespan overlap variable so that lifespan overlap was categorized to 10-year intervals and capped at 40 or more years. The results did not change significantly.
We studied how paternal age might influence our results. We did not control for paternal age because this correlates strongly with maternal age, increasing multicollinearity problems, and because information on paternal age was available for less than two-thirds of our sample. However, paternal age is negatively associated with health (Liu et al. 2011); thus, omission of the variable may result in slight overestimation of the negative advanced maternal age–offspring health association. Our key result is that even without controls for paternal age, the maternal age–offspring health association is weak up to maternal age 45 when maternal education and lifespan overlap are controlled for. Thus, the potential bias arising from omission of paternal age strengthens our key result. Moreover, Online Resource 1 documents that our results hold when the analyses are replicated for a subset for which paternal age is available and controlled for.
We had limited information on birth order. For the 18,335 subjects in our data, only 6,738 had information on birth order. Analyses for this subset with controls for birth order did not change our results: net of maternal education and lifespan overlap, young maternal age (<25) continued to be associated with adverse health outcomes, but advanced maternal age (up to age 45) was not.
Our results were similar for both men and women. We estimated all models with maternal age–sex interactions, and these were not statistically significant (p > .05) for any of the outcomes.
An expanding literature has documented that advanced maternal age is associated with negative offspring health outcomes. The interpretation often relies on physiological processes related to reproductive aging, such as deterioration of the reproductive system and decreasing quality of the placenta or oocytes. We used a large, population-based sample to analyze the roles of selection and lifespan overlap in the maternal age–offspring adult health association. We found that mortality, self-rated health, height, obesity, and the number of diagnosed conditions are strongly associated with maternal age: those with maternal age below 25 or above 35 have markedly worse adult health than those with maternal age 25–34. Controls for maternal education and age at which the child lost the mother eliminate the effect for advanced maternal age up to age 45. Maternal age 45–49 may be associated with negative health net of these confounders, but the small sample size precludes strong conclusions. The results suggest that maternal aging matters for offspring health only insofar as it predicts the age at which the child loses the parents, and does not leave a physiological imprint in the offspring that predisposes it to poor health outcomes in adulthood. The associations for young maternal age, however, are robust and strengthen as we control for maternal education and lifespan overlap.
The negative health outcomes associated with advanced maternal age can be largely explained by nonphysiological maternal characteristics that are correlated with maternal age. Our results show that maternal socioeconomic status, measured by education, is a confounder in the maternal age–offspring health association. The results also show that controlling only for socioeconomic status is not enough because the age at which the child loses the parent adds an additional layer of confounding. The age at which the parent is lost may reflect shared frailty between the child and the mother or the amount of parental investment.
The attenuating effects of maternal education and lifespan overlap help explain the mechanism behind the advanced maternal age–offspring health association. Consider first maternal education. Childhood socioeconomic circumstances, measured by parental education, are negatively associated with adult health and mortality (Galobardes et al. 2004; Hayward and Gorman 2004; Kuh et al. 2002; Strand and Kunst 2007). In the current period, old parents, especially old mothers, have above-average socioeconomic status and resources (Bray et al. 2006). This, however was not the case for cohorts in early twentieth-century America. In our nationally representative sample of U.S. adults born in the first half of the twentieth century, maternal education is inversely correlated with advanced maternal age and confounds the maternal age–offspring health association. Controlling for maternal education markedly reduces the negative association between advanced maternal age and offspring health.
Controlling for maternal education did little to attenuate the associations for young maternal age. Our control was completed education, not maternal education at birth. Had our data allowed controlling for maternal education at the time of birth, the magnitude of the young maternal age effect would most likely have been larger. Resources and parenting skills—which may be correlated with maternal education—may change over the ages at which the young maternal age effect was observed, from age 14 to 25. These changes are not reflected in the attained level of education.
Controlling for lifespan overlap with the mother in addition to maternal education reduced all the advanced maternal age effects up to age 45 to a statistically and substantively small level. The relative importance of lifespan overlap and maternal education in attenuating the advanced parental age effect depended on the outcome. For height, which is determined early, lifespan overlap mattered relatively little, and maternal education had a stronger attenuating effect. For frailty and mortality, lifespan overlap was a more important attenuator than maternal education. This may be because frailty and mortality are influenced by later-life conditions, for which lifespan overlap may matter more than it does for outcomes that are determined very early in life.
There are several potential mechanisms through which lifespan overlap influences the maternal age–offspring health association. First, lifespan overlap may proxy within-family shared frailty, which may have genetic, epigenetic, or behavioral origins. Lifespans of mothers and their children are correlated. Long-lived mothers may also have children at older ages so that maternal age and longevity are correlated. Although it is not clear whether late reproduction increases longevity, these correlations confound the advanced maternal age–offspring health association. On the other hand, late reproduction may signal age-independent problems in fecundity, which may be correlated with general level of health. If some of these factors that produce poorer health are shared within the family, such correlations confound the maternal age–offspring health association. These shared-frailty-based mechanisms are not connected to the biological mechanism, such as declining quality of oocytes or weakening of the placenta, that are sometimes hypothesized to be responsible for the maternal age–offspring health association.
Second, lifespan overlap measures exposure to a live mother. Thus, it is broadly understood as a proxy for intergenerational social and economic transfers. If the mechanism proxied by lifespan overlap is intergenerational transfers, late motherhood may have a causal effect on adult health, particularly in high-mortality populations in which those born to older mothers are at high risk of losing their mothers at a young age. Our results, however, suggest that only a small fraction of the mechanism is attributable to such transfers: the regression coefficient for lifespan overlap was attenuated by only 10 %–30 % when we introduced controls for own socioeconomic status.
Third, lifespan overlap may reflect age-related differences in the magnitude of the psychological shock that is related to parental loss. Again, this mechanism is not related to the physiological health of the parents’ reproductive systems.
Extensive analysis of the mechanism proxied by lifespan overlap is beyond the scope of this study. What is more important is that controlling for lifespan overlap markedly weakens the association between advanced maternal age and offspring health, challenging the standard interpretation for the association. In particular, controlling for lifespan overlap suggests that the maternal age–offspring health association largely reflects factors other than reproductive aging; among these factors, within-family frailty is a candidate. Future research could focus on the mechanism through which lifespan overlap between the mother and the child influences the health outcomes.
Our results on the weak or nonexistent effect of advanced maternal age on offspring health are consistent with some recent research on maternal age effects on health. Tymicki (2009) studied Polish data from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and found no association between child survival and parental age. Robine et al. (2003) found no association between parental age and the probability of surviving to age 100. Hubbard et al. (2009) analyzed twentieth-century Canadian cohorts and found no maternal age effects on health. Westendorp and Kirkwood (2001), in an analysis of British historical aristocracy, also failed to find any maternal age effects on longevity. Smith et al. (2009), however, found that maternal age above 35 is associated with 8 % increased adult mortality for sons when compared with maternal age 20–29. The difference between our findings and the associations documented by Smith et al. may be partially due to differences in age categories; they used age category 35 and older, which includes ages 45–49, for which we observed weak associations with health.
Some of the seeming inconsistency between our results and the literature documenting poor health outcomes for those with advanced maternal age may be because previous studies inadequately controlled for maternal socioeconomic characteristics or lifespan overlap. There are also other mechanisms that might result in such seeming inconsistency.
First, our findings are not inconsistent with the strong evidence suggesting that advanced maternal age is associated with negative birth outcomes (Andersen et al. 2000; Cohen and Lilienfeld 1970; Misra and Ananth 2002). Adult health is characterized by complex, multidimensional etiology, while negative birth outcomes such as malformations and chromosomal abnormalities typically reflect less complex disease processes. In addition, many negative birth outcomes that are associated with advanced maternal age may have only a small effect on adult population health because the conditions are rare to start with and are associated with high mortality at younger ages. For example, the incidence of Down syndrome, the most common chromosomal abnormality, is below 1 % at maternal age 40 (Hook and Lindsjö 1978), and in the 1940s, when much of our sample was born, life expectancy with Down syndrome was 12 years (Bittles et al. 2007). Low prevalence at birth and selection before eligibility to HRS likely lead to differing results from those examining early life outcomes. However, because we are interested in adult health and mortality, it would not be optimal to adjust for selection of the weakest among our adult sample.
Second, many post-birth and adult conditions (schizophrenia, autism, bipolar affective disorder, and childhood cancer) that have been linked with advanced maternal age may be too rare to have a large impact on population health. It is possible that results for specific conditions are different from general measures for health.
Third, prebirth selection may explain some of the differences between our results for adult health and what others have found for birth outcomes. Because of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths, the force of selection is strongest in utero and increases with maternal age (Andersen and Osler 2004; de La Rochebrochard and Thonneau 2002). This maternal-age-dependent quality control may partially explain why health differences among adults by maternal age are small.
Our results focus on a population that was born before the widespread use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and prenatal screening, both of which may change the future of the parental age–offspring adult health association. ART helps less fecund couples reproduce, particularly at older ages. This may contribute to the advanced parental age–offspring health association because ART itself may have effects for the development of the offspring. The evidence, however, is mixed, precluding strong conclusions (Wilson et al. 2011). ART may also influence the parental age–offspring adult health association indirectly if the use of ART is inversely correlated with health. If these health characteristics are passed on to the next generation thanks to ART, the new technology may accentuate the negative advanced parental age–offspring health association. On the other hand, prenatal screening removes some of the maternal-age-dependent negative birth outcomes. This may attenuate, or even reverse, the negative advanced maternal age–offspring adult health association. To shed light on these questions, more research is needed on the link between parental age and adult outcomes for cohorts that are now in their 20s and 30s.
There are limitations in our study. First, our follow-up starts at age 40, so we do not observe mortality selection that occurs in childhood and in early adult ages. However, because we are focusing on adult and old-age health, being able to control for such selection would not alter our findings. Second, our data do not allow us to specify what lifespan overlap proxies. Further research should provide a detailed analysis of the factors represented by lifespan overlap. One intriguing possibility would be to use within-siblings comparisons to analyze the contribution of factors that are shared within the family on the maternal age–offspring health link. Third, our controls for family socioeconomic status are rather crude, being based on a binary indicator for educational attainment. The results, however, suggest that even our crude controls perform well for the purposes of this study. Fourth, the associations we observe between advanced maternal age and offspring adult health may be a lower limit for the effect of the physiological aging of the reproductive system. Powell et al. (2006) suggested that older parents transmit more economic, cultural, and social resources to their children than do younger parents. These positive factors may offset some of the biological-aging-induced negative effects. Finally, we are unable to explain the negative association between young maternal age and offspring outcomes. The robust and strong association warrants further investigation.
Thus, while advanced maternal age is associated with negative early life outcomes, including increased risk of miscarriage and Down syndrome, the impact at older ages seems not to be driven by biological aging of the parents. Instead, at least in our study population, a representative sample of U.S. adults born in the first half the twentieth century, the association is driven by old parents having less education and fewer years of overlap with their children than parents aged 25–35. The educational difference is a pure selection effect, whereas the difference in the overlap of lives could signal many factors, including shared frailty or decreased parental investment. The majority of today’s parents’ lives will overlap with their offsprings’ lives for many decades. Thus, it seems unlikely that the health of the offspring of today’s old parents is strongly influenced by short lifespan overlap resulting from late childbearing.
On the other hand, the results suggest that children born to young parents might have been better off if the parents had waited a few years. The robustness of the young parent–negative offspring outcome suggests that changing parental characteristics from very young parenthood to less extreme young parenthood have beneficial effects for the offspring. Our models are unable to directly account for the factors responsible for the young parent disadvantage. The association may be related to the physiological, mental, or resource-related immaturity of the younger parents who are less able than older parents to provide their offspring necessary skills and resources.
In summary, net of some obvious confounders, only maternal ages below 25 and above 45 are associated with negative offspring health outcomes. As only 0.8 % in our sample (and 1.1 % in the U.S. cohorts born in 2000) have mothers aged 45 or older, advanced maternal age appears to only be a minor public health concern. Almost half of our sample (46.5 %), and 36.8 % of U.S. cohorts born in 2000, have mothers younger than 25 (Martin et al. 2002). The public health concern regarding maternal age should focus on young, not old mothers.
We would like to thank Joshua R. Goldstein, Samuel H. Preston, and James W. Vaupel for helpful comments. Previous versions of this research have been presented at the Lund University Center for Economic Demography and the University of Pennsylvania Population Studies Center colloquiums.
Gavrilov and Gavrilova (2000) and others (for a review, see Liu et al. 2011) have found evidence that advanced paternal age may also be linked with offspring health. We focus on maternal age. However, as paternal age correlates with maternal age (Ní Bhrolcháin 2001), paternal age may confound the maternal age–offspring health association. Online Resource 1 documents that our results are robust to controls for paternal age. | <urn:uuid:024dc20f-6a2b-4ad4-8d04-666d9330e1fd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/49/4/1231/169736/Maternal-Age-and-Offspring-Adult-Health-Evidence | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.946985 | 10,309 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Australian Federal government is set to make initial changes to the current lengthy process of adoption, which for some couples can take up to a decade.
The changes will slash the waiting times for couples hoping to adopt children from countries which are not signatories to The Hague Convention.
Currently this process means Australian couples can wait up to 12 months for final approvals from the court system.
Proposed legislative changes will apply to three countries, which are not signatories to the convention but who share bilateral agreements with Australia.
Full adoptions from Ethiopia, Taiwan and South Korea will hence be automatically recognised in Australia.
South Korea and Taiwan alone represent the source for almost half of all inter-country adoptions in Australia.
The Ethiopian adoption program was closed in June 2012 – but more than 600 Ethiopian-born children had been adopted by Australians through this program.
The government has assured families whose adoptions had not yet been finalised that they to will benefit from the legal changes.
When Australian couples adopt they must undergo both legal requirements and processes both in the child’s native country and at home.
But the government is hoping to cut the red tape associated with court processes in Australia to make the process some what easier and quicker too.
Deborra-Lee Furness from National Adoption Awareness Week has congratulated the government for the changes.
“I am particularly happy for the many families who will be directly affected by this immediate action,” she told reporters.
“We have been calling for change for a long time, and I am absolutely thrilled to see the Prime Minister’s office committing to real action.”
The initial changes to the adoption process are part of an established interdepartmental committee established by the government to look at other ways to simplify the overseas adoption process.
The committee is in the final stages of it’s report. | <urn:uuid:f97fcc37-c715-4792-9d50-1227d7430ab6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.mindfood.com/article/overseas-adoptions-set-to-get-easier-for-aussies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.951619 | 384 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The recent pronouncements of the President pertaining to the PNP, standing by his men, are critical to maintaining their high morale, with the end in view of succeeding in the anti-drug campaign.
It should not be misinterpreted to mean that the President will intervene in investigations or any legal proceedings in order to exculpate erring cops.
On the contrary, what should be underscored is the very clear statement of the President that while he continues to adhere to the presumption of regularity in the PNP’s perfomance of its duties, he states in no uncertain terms that he will not interfere with any legal proceeding which will be brought against some members of the police force who are suspected of wrongdoing. As he said, the NBI should file cases against those who they deemed to have violated laws, and that he would not intervene in these proceedings.
In the same vein, the President respects and upholds the constitutional rights of our people to voice out grievances and even dissent against the policies and decisions of the administration. However, the President will not condone any unlawful move to wrest power from all duly elected officials of the government, including himself, who carry the mandate not only of the Filipinos who voted for them, but also of all Filipinos who firmly believe in the ideals of democracy and the rule of law. Any such ploy beyond the bounds of the law shall not be tolerated. | <urn:uuid:aee4fccf-a2db-4923-a7da-e4543888e40a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://mirror.pcoo.gov.ph/statement-office-communications-secretary-08-dec-2016/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.97023 | 284 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The latest news on this change — carefully culled from the world wide web by our change agents. They do the surfing, so you don't have to!
Lifestyles of the Rich and in Debt
It must be hard to go from a 9-figure income to an 8-figure income due to global economic woes. Seriously, having to forego those $350 highlights every six weeks can be rough on a socialite's image. Not to mention the horror of flying coach. You mean we have to share the plane...with other people? For shame!
Puh-lease! Our hearts bleed for you, they really do.
These are the kinds of fears New York's wealthy (and the wealthy around the US, we're sure) have had since the economic downturn. Hedge-fund managers and bankers have admitted fears of their spouses leaving them because of a drop in income; many are putting on noticeable weight due to the stress. While their plight hardly musters much sympathy from the rest of us struggling just to pay our mortgage and fill the tank with gas to get to our middle-income jobs, it does give a very important lesson in how the economy affects everyone.
Even the rich are taking on debt in order to stay afloat, which seems ridiculous because they have more money than most of us will ever need—it seems the underlying problem of wealth is vanity. Social appearances are quite affecting. There is a reason, after all, that we are all compelled on some level to "keep up with the Joneses." The wealthy take out loans—subtly of course— to live the life they're used to, as long as their friends don't notice. One woman sold over $2 million in diamonds she rarely wore because her friends wouldn't notice (would have been too obvious to offload the Bentley, apparently).
So take heart, dear friends, because even the rich have money problems! Tell us, do you feel sorry for these guys, or do you
think they need a reality check? Are you finding it hard to live with less? [New York Times] | <urn:uuid:ee3e8e38-0e57-446f-b28e-3a6fbc5362f2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.first30days.com/having-more-money/articles/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-in-debt.html?comments=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.97651 | 429 | 1.625 | 2 |
There is a Mairie, a mayor’s office where the notices on the board look new, and a church that appears well maintained. But the houses around the two buildings are crumpling, some roofs have already caved in, some walls have come down. People left some 50 years ago when the Salagou river was dammed to form Lac du Salagou. The inhabitants were compensated and moved to other places because once the water was there the village would not. But someone apparently had not done their maths, and now Celles is by the water rather than under it: A ghost town most beautifully situated at the lake shore.
Celles was one of the first places we visited when we were in France. And it might have been here that I had a hunch I should photograph traces: In this abandoned village you could not really be sure which trace was left at what time. The pictures seem to evoke a sense of chronology: When did the blue rope in the fourth photo enter the picture?
This is my contribution for Paleica’s Magic Letters: V – Verlassen, verloren, vergessen [Left, lost, forgotten]. | <urn:uuid:316ab02f-c268-406d-9835-3760f7bc03d1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://empireoflights.com/tag/lac-du-salagou/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.986899 | 242 | 2.0625 | 2 |
High Blood Pressure is one of the Primary cause of Stroke and the main factor of Heart Disease, Kidney Problems, Artery Disease, Heart Failure, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss and sexual dysfunction.
One of the leading cause of death in some other countries.High blood Pressure aka as Hypertension is when the Blood Pressure in the arteries rises up and the heart will work harder than usual to push blood through blood vessels or tubes.
Cardio Vascular Disease is common for women which is a major Risk of Hypertension.
People nowadays are not aware of their condition and underestimates obvious symptoms.
Blood Pressure table for Adult:
You are considered hypertensive if your blood pressure is higher than 140/90 mmHg
5 Tips to Lower your Blood pressure?
Maintaining Normal or Lower Blood Pressure is ideal to avoid any future health risks. like Heart Failure, Stroke, and worst death. We have prepared 5 Simple Steps that you can easily follow.
1.Know your Numbers
Knowing your Blood Pressure is as important as taking care of your health status and could save your life. You do not have to spend some time to go to your doctor’s office to have your Blood Pressure checked. Monitoring your Blood Pressure on a regular basis is very convenient because you can check your blood Pressure without leaving the comfort of your own room.
You can either purchase the manual or digital Blood Pressure monitor, depends on your personal preference.
Blood Pressure reading has two(2) numbers(example:90/60mmHg). The top number is called systolic. It’s the highest pressure when your heart pushes the blood in your body. While the bottom one is diastolic and is the lowest pressure when your heart is relaxed, for example, 90/60 mm/Hg.
2. Make a Plan.
- Discuss with your Health Provider if you needed to lose weight.
- If yes, prepare some healthy diet plans.
3. Be Physically Active and Lifestyle Change.
- start engaging yourself for some healthy physical activity, like biking and walking.etc.
- Combine daily home activities with moderate sporting activities, like walking or cleaning your cars, and garage perhaps.
- Limit Alcohol.
- Eat less Sodium
- Eat Healthier
4. Monitor your Blood Pressure at Home.
Anyone who is diagnosed with high blood Pressure is recommended to check his or her blood Pressure at home. This is to monitor as well if the medicines being prescribed is working and to notify you and your doctor for any possible health concerns.
The Blood Pressure monitoring device can be bought by anyone even without prescription so you can easily monitor your condition.
Tips to get an accurate blood pressure result.
5. Take Medication as Prescribed.
As much as possible, always ensure that you bring your medicines, especially if you travel a lot. Take your medicines religiously and seriously.
Stages of Blood Pressure:
- Normal Blood Pressure: Between 90/60 mm Hg and 120/80 mm Hg, an ideal blood Pressure.
- Prehypertension (Elevated Blood Pressure): Between 120/80 mm Hg and 139/89 mmHg, you need to start managing your weight, perform physical exercises like walking, and lifestyle change. Your increase in Heart Attack, Heart Failure and Stroke begins at this Stage.
- Stage 1 Hypertension: Between 140 to 159 mmHg and 90 to 99 mmHg, reduce, manage and stay with the Blood Pressure below 140/90 mmHg.
- Stage 2 Hypertension: Above 160/100 mmHg. Requires a prompt medical attention and constant check to prevent other health Risks.
- Hypertensive Crisis (Severe Blood Pressure). Above 80 /120 mmHg. A life-threatening Stage and could lead to death or organ damage.
High Blood Pressure is common during the pregnancy if:
- A family history
- Over 40 years old
- Not Active Physically | <urn:uuid:62abaa51-8434-4532-8cf2-e0e5cd10ebf1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://stroke-free.com/5-tips-to-lower-your-blood-pressure/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.904471 | 834 | 3.140625 | 3 |
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Birdingplaces.eu may include links to third party websites that are controlled and maintained by others. Such links may be set by the Birdingplaces.eu team or by users. Any link to other websites is not an endorsement of such websites and you acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the content or availability of any such sites. | <urn:uuid:2f8f8a93-3bb0-4045-ad1e-70bbcf2fb27d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.birdingplaces.eu/nl/Terms%20of%20Use | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.900209 | 667 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The periodic table fad has gone meta, not only with The Periodic Table Table at (Wake Forest University, in North Carolina):
Before the Periodic Table of the Elements, elements were a chaotic collection of substances with seemingly random and unpredictable masses, melting and boiling points, electrical, chemical, and material properties, and so on. Not only did the periodic table organize the known elements in a way that explained these properties, but it correctly predicted the existence and the properties of undiscovered elements.
All these parodies of periodic tables2 are only funny because this tendency towards scientific organization has totally permeated popular culture. And that’s pretty encouraging.
- My very own Periodic Table of the Europeans is at “Eu,” (number 63), smack dab in the middle of the “Awesomeoids” (the green row). Thanks, keaggy. [↩]
But Safari as a fixed-gear? Really? At least make it a 24-speed with a carbon-fiber frame or something.
Pure, unadulterated genius. | <urn:uuid:a8d416dd-a335-40e6-9614-01debcef1fe4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://blog.glyphobet.net/tag/parody/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.910316 | 305 | 2.328125 | 2 |
LG has again announced the latest product washing machine with a capacity of 20 kg, namely the LG F2720SVRV model. The LG F2720SVRV is claimed to be able to clean better than allergens through the LG Steam feature. There is also better treatment, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).
In terms of performance, the LG F2720SVRV is about its ability to clean from germs and allergens. And the use of water vapor in the washing machine is not really a new thing. However, the innovation feature in the LG Steam feature is expected to lie in its ability to generate and maintain the hot temperature of steam at a level of 60 degrees Celsius during the cleaning process.
In addition to offering a larger wash. And better clothing care is also an advantage offered by this LG washing machine with dimensions of 700 x 770 x 990 mm. This ability is thanks to the completeness of an advanced sensor called AI DD (Artificial Intelligence Direct Drive).
The LG F2720SVRV is also equipped with a sensor capability in conventional washing machines that detects the total weight of the laundry. With the support of artificial intelligence in the AI DD sensor, this LG washing machine is able to distinguish between washings based on the characteristics of the clothing material.
LG F2720SVRV Sensor
The sensitivity level of the sensor in recognizing the characteristics of clothing materials is supported by 20,000 databases of material clothing characteristics when washing. When the laundry is loaded, the user simply presses a button to activate the sensor. This will cause the washtub to spin slowly. And give the sensor time to recognize the characteristics of the clothes through the generated microwaves.
The development of this AI-based sensor is the result of LG’s observations on the dissatisfaction that often arises from conventional washing machines—based only on the weight of the laundry without detecting the characteristics of the material. Conventional washing machines are not able to recognize the different washing needs between two types of clothes with the same basic material.
Complementing its intelligence, this washing machine is also supported by LG ThinQ. LG’s smart development platform is in the form of an application that can be downloaded on Android. And iOS-based mobile phones. Through a Wi-Fi connection, users can control this washing machine via a smartphone. Among them are starting the washing, selecting a certain washing cycle to deactivating it. For the price LG F2720SVRV, smart washing machine sells for $1261.72
Thank you for visiting the pcgadtrend site. I hope you get the information you are looking for. We will always try to provide all the latest information about technology and gadgets. If there are criticisms, suggestions and, please contact us via email at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:01527846-e1e5-422e-9294-d3634cb19dbf> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://pcgadtrend.com/lg-f2720svrv-performance-sensor-and-price/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.931338 | 584 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Storm chasers are different than storm spotters. Chasers travel around Tornado Alley looking for severe storms and tornadoes. Sometime there are dozens of chasers following the same storm. All kinds of people are chasers. You don't have to be a scientist doing research. In fact, most people aren't doing research. They chase storms mainly because they are interested in meteorology and because they want to see severe weather in person. Sometimes people go out expecting to see a tornado on their first day. Some experienced chasers say they spend 10-12 days hunting for every minute they see a tornado. And that's for experienced chasers! | <urn:uuid:627826ca-4bd1-40a7-86dd-e938588b6708> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tornado/chasers.html&edu=elem&dev= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.968218 | 135 | 2.234375 | 2 |
An Anti-Arbitration Injunction (“AAI”) is an injunction granted by courts to restrain parties or an arbitral tribunal from either commencing or continuing with arbitration proceedings. An AAI is generally sought before an arbitration commences or in the course of the arbitration hearing or after the conclusion of substantive hearing but before the rendering of final award.
Critics of AAI argue that this remedy strips the arbitral tribunal of its power to determine its own jurisdiction (the kompetenz-kompetenz principle, elaborated below), increases judicial intervention, and can be used by unscrupulous parties to evade or delay the agreed arbitration mechanism.. On the other hand, the proponents of AAI argue it is a well-recognised legal concept, which streamlines the remedy of arbitration itself, weeding out those cases where the arbitration agreement may be vitiated by fraud, where there is no valid arbitration agreement or where to proceed with arbitration could be considered vexatious, oppressive or unconscionable. This effectively assists in saving costs and time by deciding such issues at an earlier stage than at the stage of setting aside or enforcement of awards. There appears to be merit on both sides of the debate.
Statutory Framework – Does Arbitration Act allow AAIs?
AAIs are increasingly becoming a powerful tool in the hands of parties to an arbitration. However, both the UNCITRAL Model Law 1985 and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 which forms the basis for the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the “Act”), do not provide for an express provision authorising the grant of AAIs by courts. Neither does the Act explicitly prohibit it.
Opponents of AAI argue that courts have a mandatory obligation to refer the parties to arbitration without first hearing any challenges on the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal. For this, they place reliance on the express provisions contained in Section 16 read with Section 5 of the Act. Section 16 enshrines the principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz in our national laws, thereby establishing the ability of the arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction, including any objections with respect to the existence and validity of the agreement. Further, the non-obstante clause in Section 5 provides that ‘notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for time being in force’, no judicial authority should intervene except when so provided under the Act .
However, such critics fail to acknowledge that a reference to arbitration may not be absolute. In substantive proceedings before a civil court, Section 8 of the Act empowers courts to “refer the parties to arbitration unless it finds that prima facie no valid arbitration agreement exists.” Similarly, with regard to foreign-seated arbitrations, Section 45 of the Arbitration Act empowers courts to make a reference to arbitration unless it finds “that the said agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.” Further, Section 45 is also a non obstante clause and hence, it is not limited by Section 5 or the principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz as enshrined in Section 16. It may, however, be noted that a court’s review under these provisions can only be carried out in substantive proceedings before a civil court.
Both these provisions make it clear that the statutory scheme of the Act allows for grant of AAIs by courts, albeit on a few limited grounds, such as, prima facie there being no valid arbitration agreement or such agreement being null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed, or if the courts deems it as just and convenient.
On the arbitrability of disputes, the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in N. Radhakrishnan v. Maestro Engineers and Ors., A. Ayyaswamy v. A. Paramasivam and Avitel Post Studioz Limited and Ors. vs. HSBC PI Holdings (Mauritius) Limited and Ors. are relevant. These hold that courts may decline reference to arbitration if the matter involves serious and complicated allegations of fraud requiring detailed appreciation of evidence, for which courts guided by the exhaustive provisions of the Indian Evidence Act and the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure may be more competent fora than an arbitral tribunal.
Judicial Trend – Are Civil Courts empowered to grant AAIs?
Indian Courts have had multiple occasions to deal with AAIs; unfortunately, the jurisprudence that has evolved is far from being conclusive.
In 2001, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Kvaerner Cementation India Limited v. Bajranglal Agarwal (“Kvaerner”) held that a civil court did not have jurisdiction to determine any objection with respect to the existence or validity of an arbitration agreement owing to the principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz enshrined under Section 16 of the Act. Regrettably, Kvaerner failed to cite any precedent or provide any elaborate reasoning for this decision, and was reported only in the year 2012, after 11 years.
In the meantime, a seven-Judge bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in SBP & Co. v. Patel Engineering Ltd. (“SBP & Co.”), by a majority judgment, rejected the argument that there is exclusive jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal to decide the existence or validity of the arbitration agreement. This was further strengthened by the ruling of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in World Sport Group (Mauritius) Ltd. v. MSM Satellite wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court affirmed the jurisdiction of civil courts to refuse arbitration if the grounds mentioned under Section 45 of the Act are satisfied. Subsequently, division benches of the Delhi High Court and the Calcutta High Court held that civil courts are empowered to grant AAIs; however, such power should be exercised sparingly and with abundant caution. In fact, the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in Balasore Alloys Limited v. Medima LLC clarified that Kvaerner appears to have been impliedly overruled by the later larger bench in SBP & Co.
Kvaerner was brought to life after 15 years when the Hon’ble Supreme Court cited it with its approval in A. Ayyasamy v. A. Paramsivam (though not directly on this issue) and subsequently in National Aluminium Company Limited v. Subhash Infra Engineers Private Limited. Recently, this controversy has again come into prominence due to the Hon’ble Delhi High Court judgment in Bina Modi v. Lalit Modi and Ors which held that suits to declare the invalidity of an arbitration clause/agreement and to injunct arbitration proceedings, whether falling in Part I or Part II, are not maintainable.
Finding the Middle Path
In light of the conflicting decisions of the Supreme Court and various High Court, it is imperative that the courts bring clarity to the issue.
The overarching principle remains that if there is a valid arbitration agreement between the parties, then the parties shall mandatorily be referred to the arbitration mechanism for resolution of their dispute. The Courts recognise party autonomy. Thus, it is only where exceptional circumstances exist, that AAIs can be granted by a court of law. The onus still remains on the party seeking an AAI to plead and demonstrate that it has no other efficacious or alternative remedy and that it is just and in the interests of all parties not to proceed with the arbitration process.
If all jurisdictional issues are resolved by the supervisory court prior to the arbitration process, there is less likelihood of the award ultimately rendered by the arbitral tribunal being challenged successfully and the award stayed on the same jurisdictional grounds (which has been made possible by the recent Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020). This would undeniably provide greater certainty to negotiating parties that the award, once made, would be enforceable without delay.
Julian Lew, “Control of Jurisdiction by Injunctions Issued by National Courts” in International Arbitration 2006: Back to Basics? International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress Series No 13 (Albert Jan van den Berg ed) (Kluwer, 2007) at pp 185–220
The principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz dictates that an arbitral tribunal is empowered to rule on its own jurisdiction, including, determining all jurisdictional issues and the existence or validity of an arbitration agreement. It is regarded by many scholars as the “bedrock principle ” of arbitration, and it finds reference in laws governing arbitration globally.
2009 (13) SCALE 403
AIR 2016 SC 4675
(2020) 6 MLJ 544
(2012) 5 SCC 214
2005 (8) SCC 618
AIR 2014 SC 968
McDonald’s India Private Limited v. Vikram Bakshi and Ors, 2016 (4) ARbLR 250; Devi Resources Ltd. v. Ambo Exports Ltd, 2019 (6) ARbLR 32
(2016) 10 SCC 386
2019 (5) ARbLR 254
2020 (2) ArbLR 446 | <urn:uuid:12b2ca91-85a8-44af-bf23-708d2ec24778> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://corporate.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2020/11/anti-arbitration-injunctions-judicial-trends-and-finding-the-middle-path/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.924311 | 1,980 | 2.15625 | 2 |
print. aquatint, col. Pass-room Bridewell. Hill after Rowlandson. 1808. published Ackerman's Repository of Arts. plate 12.[women in asylum interior] overall: 27x33.2cm; platemark: 23.6x28.2cm
Bridewell Hospital was a ‘house of correction’: a prison for the homeless, criminals, unmarried mothers and prostitutes. To prevent inmates re-offending and to ‘correct’ their wrong-doings, they were made to do hard physical labour – some were subjected to beatings. This print shows women and young children, with straw filled stalls to sleep in. 'Bridewell’ became the general name for houses of correction throughout England. The hospital remained open from 1553 to 1855.
This print appeared as one in a series of illustrations looking at London’s architecture called The Microcosm of London, published 1808-1810. The buildings were drawn by Augustus Charles Pugin (c. 1762-1832), a French draughtsman, and the figures were drawn by Thomas Rowlandson (1764-1834), a celebrated British caricaturist. | <urn:uuid:d0faa9f1-2db6-41ff-9350-a5a19c890f73> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8023731/pass-room-bridewell-print-london-england-1808-print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.968238 | 254 | 2.765625 | 3 |
'Straightway' in the Bible
As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him.
Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.
I -- I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway,
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him.
And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed.
and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth:
And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it;
yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth.
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
And Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and straightway they received their sight, and followed him.
Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents.
And straightway he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him.
Then began he to curse and to swear, I know not the man. And straightway the cock crew.
And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness.
And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
And his fame went out straightway into the whole region of Galilee around.
And straightway going out of the synagogue, they came with James and John into the house of Simon and Andrew.
And the mother-in-law of Simon lay in a fever. And straightway they speak to him about her.
And he went up to her and raised her up, having taken her by the hand, and straightway the fever left her, and she served them.
And as he spoke straightway the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
And having sharply charged him, he straightway sent him away,
And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
And straightway Jesus, knowing in his spirit that they are reasoning thus within themselves, said to them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
And he rose up straightway, and, having taken up his couch, went out before them all, so that all were amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it thus.
And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
And other fell on the rocky ground , where it had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth:
And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; and when they have heard, straightway cometh Satan, and taketh away the word which hath been sown in them.
And these in like manner are they that are sown upon the rocky places , who, when they have heard the word, straightway receive it with joy;
and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway they stumble.
But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
And straightway Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power proceeding from him had gone forth, turned him about in the crowd, and said, Who touched my garments?
And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,
But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.
And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed him in the way.
and saith unto them, Go your way into the village that is over against you: and straightway as ye enter into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat; loose him, and bring him.
And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
And straightway, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
And straightway the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word, how that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him.
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.
And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him.
And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and sit down to meat;
And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the sabbath on that day.
They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going.
He then having received the sop went out straightway: and it was night.
If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
Peter therefore denied again: and straightway the cock crew.
howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water.
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he saw, and rising up was baptised;
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus, the Christ, heals thee: rise up, and make thy couch for thyself. And straightway he rose up.
And this took place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven.
And when they were past the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and straightway the angel departed from him.
And when he had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
And all the city was moved, and the people ran together; and they laid hold on Paul, and dragged him out of the temple: and straightway the doors were shut.
Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.
to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
and I hope straightway to see thee, and mouth to mouth we shall speak. Peace to thee! salute thee do the friends; be saluting the friends by name.
- Straightway (94 instances) | <urn:uuid:5ae21afb-df6f-49ab-82d9-e0fd9f381c0c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/words/Straightway | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.984648 | 2,909 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Rare earth element developer Greenland Minerals has chosen leading Chinese technical group BTMR Laboratories to supervise the optimisation of its Kvanefjeld project ore flotation circuit in southern Greenland, based on recent work showing recoveries above 80% and concentrate grades exceeding 22% rare earth oxide. The encouraging metallurgical results are likely to materially reduce operating and capital expenditure requirements at the massive project.
ASX listed rare earth element developer Greenland Minerals says that recent flotation circuit test work completed by China’s BTMR Laboratories is likely to reduce both operating and capital expenditure requirements at its massive Kvanefjeld project located on the southern tip of Greenland.
Recent work by the Chinese group has optimised the metallurgical flowsheet for the Kvanefjeld ore stream, leading to recoveries in excess of 80% and impressive concentrate grades above 22% rare earth oxide content.
This is well above the 14% rare earth oxide concentrate grade used in Greenland’s Kvanefjeld Feasibility Study and bodes well for the operation’s future economic performance.
The company has now selected BTMR to complete technical optimisation work to de-risk the project’s flotation circuit design, using the simpler project configurations that have been developed and tested, and to commence larger-scale pilot plant test work for processing of the Kvanefjeld ore composites this year.
BTMR previously played a key role in the technical overhaul of the Mountain Pass rare earth operation in southern California in the US, under guidance from Shenghe Resources, who is also the strategic partner and major shareholder of Greenland.
In effect, the optimised flotation circuit test work completed by BTMR has resulted in a number of major simplifications, including the ability to operate plant consistently over a broad temperature range, which is critical for the proposed operation located near the Arctic Circle.
In addition, BTMR has significantly reduced reagent consumption by improving the water chemistry of the circuit and removing 80% of the fluorine content of the process water.
This has been achieved without an increase in CAPEX expenditure for the proposed flotation circuit configuration and will also lead to positive impacts on environmental management at the project.
The optimisation has led to the elimination of regrinding and de-sliming circuits at Kvanefjeld, which will reduce both capital and operating costs at the mine.
The test work will also provide Greenland with a greater flexibility to implement the project and increase efficiency in refining mineral ore concentrates to better match off-take partners’ specifications.
Company Managing Director John Mair said: “The progress made through 2018 on technical optimisation was excellent, with extensive test work completed in both Australia and China. Shenghe’s experience, along with the leading technical input of their consultants has led to significant improvements in flotation performance.”
“Importantly, these efforts will fast‐track and further de‐risk project implementation and avoid operational issues encountered by some producing rare earth operations in their start up years.”
“The optimisation program has resulted in developing the simplest, most efficient flotation circuit possible while minimising impacts.” | <urn:uuid:6deb120b-9e7c-4aa9-94a5-d71587159e0c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Chinese-expert-optimises-ore-processing-for-Greenland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.931751 | 656 | 1.546875 | 2 |
It was gold, diamonds, topaz, and tourmaline that drew the Portuguese, centuries ago, to Minas Gerais—one of the most abundant places in all of Brazil. Marcia DeSanctis follows in their footsteps, discovering bountiful nature reserves and romantic, colonial-era towns along the way. By Marcia DeSanctis
The sun seared my shoulders as I climbed the sandy banks of an imperial topaz mine in Ouro Prêto, Brazil. All around me, men were digging with picks and shovels, in the hopes of plucking a prize from the earth. Miners greeted me with palms full of crystals coloured like hard candy—cherry, lemon, and butterscotch. Imperial topaz, believed to bring prosperity,
is my birthstone, so I couldn’t resist buying a few pieces to take home.
Ouro Prêto “lives off the sweat of other brows,” observed the explorer Richard Burton in 1869, when he was Britain’s consul in Brazil. For three centuries, men have dug the veins of Minas Gerais, the fourth-largest state in Brazil. The name means ‘general mines’—a tribute to the industry that once made Ouro Prêto, the state’s former capital, the largest and wealthiest city in the New World. Fortunes were fuelled by diamonds, gemstones, and, eventually, iron ore, the shiny mineral that made the soil around my sneakers sparkle. But of all the treasures in these mountains, it was gold—the greed for it, and the incalculable human cost of extracting it—that drove the rise and fall of Ouro Prêto.
It was not yet 10 am on my first day in Minas Gerais, and I was already immersed in the region’s history. The previous evening, my car from the airport in Belo Horizonte pulled into Ouro Prêto in darkness—for me, a claustrophobic way to arrive in an unfamiliar place. But when I awoke at Solar do Rosário, my hotel in the centre of town, I was reinvigorated by the scent of eucalyptus in the air and the sight of a distant bell tower, stark white in the clear light of early morning.
I crossed a labyrinth of courtyards on my way to the lobby, where a breeze blew through rows of floor-to-ceiling windows. On the horizon, the sun flared behind Itacolomi Peak. For breakfast, there were thick slices of mango, papaya, and watermelon. And cakes. Coconut cake, three different kinds of corn cake, condensed-milk cake, carrot cake, chocolate cake. It augured well for the rest of my journey.
Ouro Prêto was to be my first stop in a three-part ramble through Minas Gerais, one of South America’s most underappreciated regions. I had visited Brazil in my 20s, when I had arrived with little more than a bikini and a pair of flip-flops. But this trip was not about the sands of Copacabana. I was here to immerse myself in the glory and the grief of Brazil’s colonial legacy and, at the end of the week, reflect on it all from an eco-resort in the jungles near Ibitipoca State Park, in the south of Minas Gerais.
My visit came at a time of political upheaval. The far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, had been sworn in just a few weeks ahead of my trip. But Brazil has struggled for decades. The facts are disheartening: the country has the world’s highest murder rate; Bolsonaro’s two predecessors were embroiled in corruption scandals; the 2016 Rio Olympics were clouded by the Zika virus and an economic crisis. Such news can overshadow the country’s famed hospitality, the thrill of Carnival, Brazil’s geographical diversity and beauty. Its gold.
Brazilian schoolchildren know Ouro Prêto as a crucible of their national history. In the 1690s, mixed-race pioneers known as bandeirantes ventured from São Paulo and the coast to begin exploring Brazil’s interior. Along the way, many thousands of indigenous people were killed, captured, and displaced. Today, the surviving native communities mostly live in the north of Minas Gerais. The fortune hunters found black iron ore stones that turned out to be loaded with gold in Ouro Prêto (which means ‘black gold’). Settlers raced to the town, and its population quickly grew to 1,20,000— double that of New York City at the time.
In the late 1600s, the height of the Brazilian gold rush, there were more than 2,000 mines throughout the city, in which slaves toiled in airless tunnels. An estimated 4.5 million enslaved Africans were sent to Brazil to work—more than 10 times the number sent to North America. When Emperor Pedro II abolished slavery in 1888, he was the last leader in the Western world to do so. Today, Ouro Prêto is a shrine to the slaves who built the town, and the gilded visions of their overlords.
When the gold boom faltered in the mid 1800s, Ouro Prêto lost its position as the capital. “It became a ghost town,” explained my guide, João Batista de Souza. “People did not want to be reminded of their colonial past.” But in the 1920s, Brazilian artists and writers, searching for a symbol of Brazil’s national identity, found it in Ouro Prêto. In 1932, the government designated the town a national monument, and in 1980, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Time preserved an architectural trove: 95 per cent of the buildings are original, including 13 magnificent churches and nine chapels. (The Grande Hotel, designed in 1938 by Oscar Niemeyer two decades before he created Brasília, is the town centre’s sole nod to Modernist architecture.)
The Portuguese designed Ouro Prêto to resemble the elegant cities of their homeland—with one crucial difference. The town’s churches, all built by slaves, are vastly more decadent than their European counterparts. One-fifth of all gold mined in the region was seized by the crown, but whatever was used in service to the Lord could stay in Brazil. So the most celebrated artists of the day were enlisted to ornament these temples using gold and indigenous wood. Together, they created Barroco Mineiro, a uniquely extravagant style found only in this region. Around 900 pounds of gold and silver powder burnish the holy carvings inside the most lavish of them all, Basílica Nossa Senhora do Pilar. The sensation upon entering this sanctuary is unlike anything I have felt inside one of France’s grand stone cathedrals.
There, I felt diminished. Here, faced with gilded cherubs, shells, and garlands, I was dazzled.
João led me to Praça Tiradentes, the kind of open space that invites one to drift, rather than walk, across it. The square is named after a local dentist turned insurgent who, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, steered a rebellion against royal rule. After his execution in 1792, his head was displayed in the centre of the plaza. Today, his exploits are explained in the Museu da Inconfidência. Across the street, at a higher elevation, is the former Palácio dos Governadores, framed by fortifications and watchtowers. It is now a museum of mineralogy.
These days, gemstones are the essence of Ouro Prêto. At the upscale shop Ita Gemas, the owner, Rasmire Valarini, unveiled his specimens: a jumble of garnets and a galaxy of tourmaline, including the watermelon kind, half-pink, half-green. A twang of rapture spiked in me, and I bought one of each kind. “Everyone finds something beautiful when they come to Ouro Prêto,” Valarini said.
Sunshine poured over farms and cornfields as I set out by car toward the town of Tiradentes with João and Marcio Macedo, a regional specialist who was escorting me on this leg of the journey. On the way, we stopped at Congonhas to gape at the Santuário do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos, the Rococo masterpiece of Antônio Francisco Lisboa, one of Brazil’s greatest sculptors and architects. The son of a Portuguese man and his slave wife, Lisboa carved the 12 soapstone prophets outside the entrance of the church despite suffering from leprosy, using chisels and hammers tied to his disease-ravaged hands. His malady gave him his famous nickname: Aleijadinho, or ‘little cripple’.
Back in the car, we continued south along the Estrada Real, built during the gold rush to connect the inland mines with the port of Paraty. All was quiet until Marcio asked, “Do you know what is saudade?”—pronounced ‘sal-daj’. He explained that it was an untranslatable concept ingrained in Brazilian culture. “It is when you are missing something or someone and it hurts, but in a good way,” he said.
The drive to Tiradentes was long, and we were famished when we arrived at our hotel, Solar da Ponte. Mercifully, the salon was set for teatime, with baskets of pão de queijo, rolls prepared with manioc flour and cheese—first created in Minas Gerais, but today as ubiquitous throughout Brazil as the baguette is in France. Settled below the blade of the Serra de São José, Tiradentes felt instantly different, a place that draws energy from its present. The proprietor of Solar da Ponte, Ted Dirickson, is the son of the original owners, a Brazilian woman and her English husband, who in 1971 transformed an unfinished country manor into a genteel inn. The hotel is fresh and airy, and though regionally made wooden furniture lines the halls and landings, it feels pleasantly uncluttered. The ground floor encircles a dense, orchid-filled tropical garden. I could smell the orange blossoms. Tiny marmosets made birdlike sounds in the trees.
“We are an interesting mix of traditional and cosmopolitan,” said Dirickson, describing both his hotel and the town his parents are credited with reviving. They spread the word to sophisticates in Rio and São Paulo about Tiradentes’s pastel-coloured houses and Rococo churches, built in the 18th century but bypassed by the next two. “The people who came were considerate of local culture,” Dirickson told me. “You can feel it in the street.”
A guitarist strummed Bach’s ‘Bourrée’ as I crossed the main square, Largo das Forres, trying to keep my footing on the uneven stone streets. I stopped at Entrepôt du Vin, a bar that had tables spilling onto the sidewalk. The server poured a glass of deep red Mineiro wine, and I ordered guava paste with soft local cheese. Jacaranda and birds-of-paradise bloomed against rows of white houses. A horse clopped up the middle of the street, no owner in sight.
Layers of culture thrive here in the high-design furniture and linen shops and emporiums stacked with jars of peppers and doce de leite. Everywhere I went, the town urged me to look up, at marvels like the towering Igreja Matriz de Santo Antônio. It’s another Aleijadinho masterpiece, with a grand gold interior that includes an organ shipped from Portugal and hauled in by donkeys in 1798.
The most unexpected pleasure was Mineiro cuisine, a triptych of Portuguese, indigenous, and African flavours. The town is the gastronomic capital of Minas Gerais, and some say, the whole of Brazil. At Tragaluz, a restaurant that felt nearly Parisian in its refinement, I ate duck foie gras, polenta, and confit of tender guinea hen.
Saturdays are the only day Brazil’s suckling-pig king Luiz Ney de Assis Fonseca serves his signature dish in the courtyard of Villa Paolucci, a hotel he owns. He prepared his pururuca (an onomatopoeic term roughly translated as ‘snap, crackle, pop’, for the sound of pork skin crisping up) by brandishing a contraption resembling a space heater directly on the pig, which had been roasted for seven hours after marinating for seven days. Tender meat, crunchy skin, and Luiz Ney’s grandmother’s versions of Mineiro all-stars such as farofa (toasted manioc flour) and buttery mashed potatoes completed my meal. A warm mist began to fall as Luiz Ney observed his sated guests with delight. “For me, food is about celebrating,” he said.
So is cachaça, Brazil’s national spirit, stirred with fruit juice and sugar to make caipirinhas. Small-batch cachaça production is booming in Minas Gerais, and after a tour of Mazuma Mineira’s cane fields and copper alembic stills, I sampled a cachaça aged in an American oak barrel. The sweetness of coconut, vanilla, and banana lasted until lunch.
During the afternoon car ride, we found out about a deadly dam collapse about 145 kilometres away, in the town of Brumadinho. Mineral extraction continues centuries after the gold cycle ended, and today Minas Gerais is the second-largest producer of iron ore in the world. As I read the reports of the most catastrophic mining disaster in the nation’s history, it was clear that Brazil’s tradition of exploiting workers was alive and well. “Nothing has changed. In fact, it has gotten worse,” explained Deolinda Alice dos Santos, a cultural historian I met in Ouro Prêto. “The mine owners are more greedy now and even less concerned about safety.”
When I reached Reserva do Ibitipoca, a glamorous eco-lodge set on a nature reserve, I was stiff from the drive and downbeat from the news. I took a walk to the nearest waterfall, one of many on the 12,000 acres of private property belonging to Renato Machado, who
also owns the hotel. Cherries and wild pineapple appeared in bursts along the trail. The smell of white lilies was overpowering, like the perfume my eighth-grade boyfriend gave me. My guide, Junior Vicente, picked a cluster for my room.
Amid the peeps of canaries carousing in the trees outside, manager Nadja Hofmann related the apocryphal tale that the water here is so rich in health-giving minerals that each dip in a waterfall would add 20 minutes to my life. The next day, Junior led me on a 12.8-kilometre hike so I could be pummelled under six of the cascades that sit on hotel land. So pure is the ice-cold water, metal cups for drinking hang from nearby branches.
Late in the day, Junior led me to a hillside and handed me two ripe guavas. I ate them like apples, skin and all. Juice dripped down my arms as the yellow light cast shadows behind metal sculptures by Oakland-based artist Karen Cusolito, which Renato collects. A wealthy Mineiro, he bought his first parcel of land adjacent to Ibitipoca State Park in 1981 and since then has been passionately expanding his social and environmental experiment throughout these hills.
The hotel itself has three parts—the main house, a private villa, and the 11-room Engenho Lodge, where I stayed. Renato opened the art-strewn Engenho in 2009 and designed it according to his own tastes as a traveller. “I hate big hotels,” he said. “I like small places that feel close to local habits and traditions.” The reclaimed-wood floorboards are wide and the ceiling is high, to let the air circulate on sultry days. My bedsheets were cool Egyptian cotton. The service was subtle but flawless. It’s the kind of place where luxury feels easy.
Renato is already realising his vision to create opportunities and livelihoods for nearby communities, and is aiming, eventually, for total food, water, and energy sustainability
on his land. At present, 60 per cent of the food served in the lodge is grown on the property. Renato and his teams of botanists and biologists are restoring indigenous forest and reintroducing animals such as the muriqui monkey. “This is not about preserving what is left, but rewilding it, to bring nature back,” he explained.
I did yoga and rode an electric bike, but I would have been happy just to stroll around the lodge, drink watermelon nectar, and decipher the music of 350 different birds. I was so cocooned in peace that leaving felt like a physical wrench. I sat back in the car, listening to the new driver’s playlist. “Do you know Gilberto Gil?” he asked about Brazil’s iconic musician. “The song is Toda Saudade. Do you know what is saudade?”
I thought about what I was leaving and what I would long for back in snowy New England. Mounds of topaz that bring good luck. Bright cathedrals that hold dark stories. Waterfalls that added two hours to my life. Chocolate cake for breakfast.
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
Visiting Colonial Brazil
Set aside a week to see the historic towns and unspoiled landscapes of Minas Gerais.
Ethiopian Airlines flies from New Delhi and Mumbai to São Paulo, with a stopover in Addis Ababa. The flight to Belo Horizonte takes about an hour. From there, it’s a two-hour drive to Ouro Prêto; Ibitipoca is another five hours away.
Hotel Solar do Rosário (doubles from INR 6,929) is set in a carefully restored 1840 building with original tiled floors, antique wooden fixtures, and elegant four-poster beds.
Solar da Ponte (doubles from INR 8,357) has the air of a chic friend’s country house. The restaurant serves only breakfast and tea, but it’s just a short walk to the restaurants in town. The refined Tragaluz (entrées INR 500-INR 928) serves European dishes like polenta and confit of guinea hen. Chef Rodolfo Mayer’s chic Angatu (tasting menus from INR 4,500) was voted one of the 50 best restaurants in Brazil. Be sure to make a reservation for Saturday pururuca pork roast by chef Luiz Ney.
Days at this luxurious eco-resort are spent hiking, biking, and swimming in waterfalls on the adjacent nature reserve. There’s also a spa and a restaurant run by chefs who trained with the Rio-based French chef Claude Troisgros (doubles from INR 43,932).
Naya Traveler is owned and run by women. Marta Tucci, one of its founders, can curate any itinerary through Minas Gerais (seven-day trips from INR 4,28,610). | <urn:uuid:b966b92c-64c3-4795-bf44-ceaffdd694e5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.travelandleisureindia.in/places/minas-gerais-in-brazil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.960129 | 4,264 | 2.4375 | 2 |
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USD is dedicated to providing students with the best service and following Higher Education Opportunity Act policies. Read more about our commitment to students – including policies related to institutional and financial aid information – at the page below. | <urn:uuid:011f7255-c150-4fc2-823d-a2e6081f7a80> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.usd.edu/Academics/Undergraduate-Programs/~/~/link.aspx?_id=F9479EBFCF954CBD851DFD80D127B3D9&_z=z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.927778 | 2,023 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Jesup, GA (JSP)
The city was recognized with an historic preservation award for the careful rehabilitation of its 1903 Atlantic Coast Line depot.
176 Northwest Broad Street
Jesup, GA 31545
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2021): 5,221
- Facility Ownership: City of Jesup
- Parking Lot Ownership: City of Jesup
- Platform Ownership: CSX Transportation
- Track Ownership: CSX Transportation
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
The Jesup depot, erected in 1903 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), was severely damaged in February 2003 after an early morning electrical fire destroyed much of the interior and the roof. Stiff winds fed the blaze, which was only extinguished by the concerted efforts of firefighters from the town and neighboring counties. Following the accident, the depot was boarded up while the city sought funding for a full rehabilitation. Luckily, in 2005, Jesup received $836,000 in federal funds to restore the building after it was designated a High Priority Project by the Federal Highway Administration. The city also purchased the building and land from CSX Transportation, owner of the adjacent railroad line.
Years of planning culminated in a ground-breaking ceremony held at the depot on December 13, 2011 to celebrate the start of the restoration. In attendance were city and county officials as well as representatives of the local tourism board and Amtrak. Working with the Spriggs Group, a Savannah-based architectural firm with wide experience in historic preservation projects, the city decided to return the depot to its early 20th century appearance. Bron Cleveland Associates, Inc. of Atlanta oversaw project management.
When first completed, the one story building had a distinct steep, double-hipped roof with eyebrow dormers to vent the attic. Generous and deep eaves supported by brackets sheltered passengers from inclement weather and the hot summer sun as they waited outside for the arrival of the train. Trackside, the station master could survey traffic on the line from a five-sided canted bay that had tall windows on three elevations.
A combination depot, the building housed passenger and freight services under one roof. This dual functionality is evident on the exterior by the placement of the windows and doors. The southern half of the building was used as the waiting room, and natural light entered through large windows. A telegrapher’s office in the center of the building separated the waiting room from the freight area on the northern end. Large doors allowed carts laden with crates and luggage to be easily wheeled between the train and the depot, while small windows placed high on the wall permitted light to enter but deterred would-be thieves. According to early maps, there were other railroad structures nearby, such as a small square building adjacent to the depot serving as a restaurant; a large water tower used to fill the steam locomotive tenders; and a freight house along Broad Street.
On October 27, 2012, the people of Jesup celebrated the completion of the rehabilitation project during the city’s annual Arch Festival, an event started in 2003 to highlight the renewed downtown. In addition to a passenger waiting room, the depot now also includes a community meeting space and new offices and a welcome center for the Wayne County Board of Tourism. The interior is decorated with historic photographs and memorabilia that demonstrate the strong ties between Jesup and the railroads. City officials believe that these new uses will make the depot more active and therefore contribute to the revitalization of the surrounding area. After touring the new facility, festival-goers enjoyed a popular BBQ Cook Off, Cake Bake Competition, live music and market area with arts and crafts vendors.
A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on March 8, 2013 and included speeches by the mayor and an Amtrak representative. Afterwards, townspeople and visitors were welcome to tour the building and enjoy refreshments. In May, 2014, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the city’s efforts to restore the depot with an award for “Excellence in Rehabilitation.”
Jesup is the seat of Wayne County and is located 40 miles from the Atlantic coast in the heart of the “wiregrass” region. The area takes its name from a grass that thrives in southeastern Georgia’s sandy soils and numerous rivers, creeks and swamps. When European settlers arrived in the early 17th century, they found a pine forest landscape whose floor was covered in the foot-tall wiregrass. The sandy soils and wetlands would serve to discourage extensive settlement for centuries to come, although deer, gophers and wild hogs populated the area.
The Spanish were the first to attempt settlement, moving north from their base at St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded in 1565. As part of their efforts to colonize the New World and convert the American Indians to Catholicism, the Spanish established a series of missions extending into present-day Georgia. By the end of the century, Franciscan friars had made contact with the Guale and Timucua tribes among others. Missions, which included a church as well as living quarters for one or more friars, were generally constructed in the villages where local chiefs lived and governed with their counsels. Unfortunately, the Spanish colonists also brought foreign diseases to which the American Indians lacked resistance; subsequently, the American Indian population plummeted during the 17th century and many of the interior missions were later abandoned. In some cases, tribes combined together to ensure their general welfare. Warfare with English-backed tribes to the north also hastened the retreat of the mission system in Georgia with the last settlement destroyed in 1684.
European settlement on a large scale did not occur again in the area until 1732 with the founding of the Georgia Colony by English General James Oglethorpe. Named after King George II, Georgia was the last of the original thirteen English colonies and was also the most southern. Throughout the colonial era, it acted as a buffer zone between the English sphere to the north and Spanish Florida to the south. English settlers would call the remaining American Indians “Creeks,” a general term that encompassed many smaller groups. During the colonial era, much of the wiregrass region was sparsely inhabited as settlers gravitated towards better soils further north.
Wayne County was not formed until 1803, following the Treaty of Fort Wilkinson in which the Creeks ceded the land to the federal government. It was named for General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, a Revolutionary War hero from Pennsylvania who gained great fame during campaigns in Georgia. Again, due to the wiregrass landscape, Wayne County was not heavily settled until the arrival of the railroad in the mid-19th century. The census of 1820 records that only 1,659 persons lived in the county; twenty years later, that number had fallen to 1,290.
In 1847, Savannah financiers backed the construction of the Savannah and Albany Railroad, which was to operate a line running from the Atlantic port to inland Albany. By 1854, the company had expanded its vision by changing its name to the Savannah, Albany and Gulf Railroad (SA&G), indicating its intention to reach the Gulf of Mexico. The SA&G soon found itself in competition with another line—the Brunswick and Florida Railroad—chartered to build out from the port of Brunswick. Rather than construct redundant lines, the two companies decided to build westward and meet at a new line, the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (A&G), which would then proceed further west.
As the SA&G built westward through the wiregrass region in 1857, it established numerous stops to supply the steam engines with water and wood. For ease of recognition, they were numbered sequentially, but many later developed into full fledged towns—Station #6 became Jesup. In 1863, the A&G took over the SA&G, which had reached as far as Screven (Station #7), about 12 miles southwest of Jesup.
During the Civil War, attention shifted from railroad construction to maintenance, especially as the war came to a close and the Union Army destroyed vital infrastructure. To the northeast of Station #6, the Defense of the Altamaha Bridge occurred in December 1864 during William Tecumsah Sherman’s destructive March to the Sea. The A&G bridge over the Altamaha River was a prime target since it was one of the few water crossings of any type in the area and would have cut off supplies to Savannah, Sherman’s ultimate destination. Confederate troops constructed earthworks on the north bank of the river and mounted two 32-pounder guns at Doctor Town on the south side. Unable to seize the bridge or the Confederate battery on December 19, the Union troops withdrew to the Ogeechee River.
A decade after its quiet founding, Station #6 consisted of no more than a wood storage shed for the railroad, saw mill, one store, bars and a few houses. 1870 became a watershed year for the village when the Macon and Brunswick Railroad (M&B) was finally completed between its named endpoints and went into full operation. On its journey from the interior to the coast, the line crossed the A&G at Station #6, therefore making the settlement an important rail crossing that then attracted residents. Willis Clary, Jesup’s first mayor, is credited with convincing the M&B to locate the crossing at Jesup.
A government was also organized that year and the town gained its current name, although historians are not positive for whom it was chosen. Some believe that it honors Brigadier General Thomas S. Jesup, who had gained fame in wars against the Creek and Seminoles. Another possibility points in the direction of Morris K. Jessup, a prominent railroad financier. As the town was laid out, the importance of the rail line was reinforced by the fact that all of the streets align with it. By 1873, the new town became the county seat and boasted a courthouse.
The A&G experienced financial difficulties and was purchased in 1879 by Henry B. Plant, an entrepreneur who became rich through the parcel express business. Following the Civil War and an economic depression in the early 1870s, many southern railroads were in poor financial condition. Plant took advantage of the opportunity to buy lines in the Southeast and quickly came to control railroad and steamship lines throughout central and northern Florida and southern Georgia. In addition to railroads, Plant constructed tourism infrastructure including hotels. He would reorganize the A&G as the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway. Following Plant’s death in 1899, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) purchased the Plant System in 1902. The old Macon and Brunswick Railroad became part of the Southern Railway in 1894. Jesup gained another valuable rail connection in 1902 with the completion of the Jacksonville, St. Marys and Jesup Railroad offering a direct route to Jacksonville, Fla.
While part of the Plant System, Jesup gained a new depot in the mid-1880s. Photos show that it was a one story wood structure; a generous wrap-around porch exhibited elaborate, delicate woodwork typical of the Eastlake Style. Protecting passengers from the rain and sun, the porch still allowed them to take advantage of cooling breezes that also ventilated the waiting room and ticket office. A fire destroyed this depot around 1900, and it was replaced by the current structure.
Although the area is known for its rivers and creeks, not many of them were navigable deep into the interior, and thus the growth of the rail network made it easier for farmers to ship out their products. In the 19th century, the economic base came to include cotton, tobacco, corn, pecans and livestock. Most farmers owned less than 100 acres and worked to grow crops for home consumption with a small portion set aside for sale. In areas along the Altamaha River, industrialists took advantage of the extensive pine forests to produce turpentine and lumber for export. At the dawn of the 21st century, primary products still include cotton and timber used in paper production.
Today, the area around Jesup is popular with outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy exploring recreational opportunities on the Altamaha—including boating and water sports. Due to the continued remoteness of the area, there are few river crossings or other incursions. Plants and animals found in local waters and forests include alligators, wood ducks, bald eagles, gopher tortoises and species of pearly mussels found nowhere else on earth. The river also offers excellent fishing, especially for catfish; state records for blue and flathead catfish have been broken with catches from the Altamaha. For those more interested in Jesup’s railroad past, a covered platform near the depot makes for excellent train watching and is often filled with enthusiasts tallying the types of cars rolling by. An old, red ACL caboose stands in a park on the far side of the tracks.
Image courtesy of Bron Cleveland Associates, Inc.
Station Building (with waiting room)
- ATM not available
- No elevator
- No Quik-Trak kiosks
- Unaccompanied child travel not allowed
- No vending machines
- No WiFi
- Arrive at least 30 minutes prior to departure
- Amtrak Express shipping not available
- No checked baggage service
- No checked baggage storage
- Bike boxes not available
- No baggage carts
- Ski bags not available
- No bag storage
- Shipping boxes not available
- No baggage assistance
- Same-day parking is available; fees may apply
- Overnight parking is available; fees may apply
- Accessible platform
- Accessible restrooms
- No accessible ticket office
- Accessible waiting room
- Accessible water fountain
- Same-day, accessible parking is available; fees may apply
- Overnight, accessible parking is available; fees may apply
- No high platform
- No wheelchair
- Wheelchair lift available
Station Waiting Room Hours
|Mon||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Tue||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Wed||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Thu||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Fri||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Sat||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
|Sun||06:30 am - 08:00 pm|
Ticket Office Hours
Passenger Assistance Hours
Checked Baggage Service
|Mon||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Tue||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Wed||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Thu||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Fri||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Sat||12:01 am - 11:59 pm|
|Sun||12:01 am - 11:59 pm| | <urn:uuid:36a18a1a-e2a3-4ce4-8574-17a9466d98eb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/jesup-ga-jsp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.964176 | 3,155 | 1.757813 | 2 |
You can do the following tasks in any order. If you can't do a task, click here to find one of my helpful videos. The tasks will be on this website for a few days and then they will disappear.
What are the next 3 numbers in this sequence?
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ?, ?, ?
What is the name of the famous Mathmetician who discovered it?
|If you're really stuck, watch my YouTube video to answer the question.|
Open the document you read yesterday called "The Truth about Trolls."
Also open the resource document called "Writing new information about trolls."
Follow the instructions and answer the questions.
|Answer the questions on paper, in your exercise book or in spare pages of your Literacy Homework Book.|
This uses online lessons from The Oak National Academy.
To move on or back during a lesson, click these buttons when you see them:
Click here when you are ready to start the lesson.
This is a Year 5 lesson, but it is suitable for our class.
If it asks you to write something down, use your exercise book or blank pages in your Maths Homework Book.
Click here to listen to Charlotte Smailes, assisted by one of her rabbits, reading some great poetry.
Then, if you wish, open the document at the bottom of this page called "Charlotte reading Poetry" and think about some of the questions.
|The following tasks are for challenge only, so please don't worry if you don't have time to do them.|
|Challenge Task||Extra Information|
If you can solve the problem, email me with the answer. My email address is on the 4RS homepage.
Or you could click here to go to the Ask Mr Smailes page and fill in the contact form.
Or you could ask your parents to use Class Dojo to contact me. | <urn:uuid:bbc31846-8050-4b0d-9245-2b2b2ab57d28> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.claremontnottingham.co.uk/friday-1st-may-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.918538 | 465 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Bird flu confirmed in backyard flock in central Illinois
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Avian flu has been confirmed in a backyard flock of birds in central Illinois.
State Agriculture officials said Saturday that the flock is non-commercial and the affected premises in McLean County have been quarantined.
Officials add that birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Illinois Agriculture department is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on a joint response.
Similar infections have been reported across the United States in recent weeks. Bird flu was detected earlier this month in a backyard flock of ducks and chickens in western Iowa.
The flock was described as small and noncommercial.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:a2a06d12-bf9e-42e9-8722-a979a8e59565> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.kwqc.com/2022/03/13/bird-flu-confirmed-backyard-flock-central-illinois/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.94265 | 170 | 1.96875 | 2 |
12 jul. How to Select the Very best Antivirus Computer software For Your Computer system
Many users choose to mount antivirus software program on a repeated basis because it gives the best safety. Fortunately, there are lots of options to choose the most suitable anti-virus program for your computer. You can aquire free anti virus software for two devices or maybe a yearly membership. If you’re utilizing a Windows computer system, the Ms Defender antivirus security software comes with Microsoft windows. This program gives basic protection to your PC, yet may not be enough for you. For the most powerful protection practical, you’ll need to purchase a more sophisticated version.
If you’re unsure what is board portal software if the particular disease scanner will continue to work, try to find out just how user reviews of other programs compare it. There are assessments and reviews for almost all types of antivirus application. The best malware programs provide support to deal with issues with unit installation or make use of. Some builders even deliver live chat support. Take into account that email support may take a handful of days as a solution to your concern. So , before you purchase malware software for your computer, always look into its support companies.
Some antivirus software uses predictive methods to identify fresh threats. These types of techniques are likewise known as heuristics and risk detection. They will enable antivirus software to identify new threats, modify their very own codes and detect suspect behavior. Great antivirus software is always on the lookout for new hazards. This type of diagnosis is not as successful for new hazards, but it can perform well in many situations. This type of software uses artificial intellect to identify new threats. But not especially has turned out to be effective against many types of or spyware. | <urn:uuid:894c0a0b-7fa1-48bb-ba7d-7a74fc61da09> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://pyreneum.cat/how-to-select-the-very-best-antivirus-computer-software-for-your-computer-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.93015 | 362 | 2.046875 | 2 |
The 1-70 was an economy tabletop model introduced late in 1926.This machine used the non-Orthophonic No. 4 Soundbox, and did not use an exponential horn; consequently the sound quality was not nearly as good as the higher priced models featuring more advanced designs.Approximately 38,000 were produced before the model was discontinued in late 1928.The serial number of this machine is 19360.Existing examples have a blended mahogany finish, although much of the cabinet trim is a stained ash.The original 1926 selling price of the 1-70 was $50.00.This machine was recently found in an estate sale for $26.50.Although a bargain, it came with minor problems.Two cracks were discovered and repaired in the wood cabinet, one of the three governor weights from the governor assembly was missing, but was found with its hardware, in the bottom of the case and the reproducer was missing altogether.All in all, not a bad weekend find and project.
The reproducer is the part that makes sound. Remember, no electricity, only mechanics. A steel needle is affixed to the reproducer and transfers vibration from the record to a diaphram. Like a mechanical megaphone, the sound is routed through a small opening and eventually reaches the large opening, the horn. No base, or trebble. It's straight, flat sound, sometimes loud and harsh.
Rule of thumb, replace the needle after each record play. Steel needles are very available in loud, medium and soft sound. Average price is about $3 per 100. At one time, needle were constructed of several different materials, some claiming to last longer. Wood needles could be easily sharpened in the sharpening kit.
Here is a selection from 1927 that might have been played on this vintage machine. | <urn:uuid:b104e634-32f0-4efb-a902-b3e4de91fe73> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.kjq.us.com/victrola.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.978033 | 372 | 2.328125 | 2 |
|Characters||The wet process silicas occur as white, fluffy powders or as white, microcellular beads or granules and are hygroscopic or absorb moisture from the air in varying amounts.|
|Identification Test(A) Test(B)||(a)Specified Test. A deep yellow color appears (b)Specified Test. A green-blue spot develops|
|Solubility||It is insoluble in water and in organic solvents, but they are soluble in hydrofluoric acid and in hot, concentrated solutions of alkalies|
|Lead||Not more than 5mg/kg|
|Loss on drying||Not more than 7.0%|
|Loss on ignition||Not more than 8.5% after drying|
|Soluble Ionizable Salts||Not more than 5.0%|
|Assay||Not less than 94.0% of SiO2 after ignition|
Shelf life, Storage and Packing
It should be stored in a segregated area in a cool and ventilated place away from combustible materials. Keep in a tightly closed container, sealed until ready for use. It is packed in 25kg or 50kg HDPE bags or drums as required.
GLP, cGMP (FDA) Approved, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 17025, ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, FSSAI, Halal and Kosher certified.
We observe WHO Good manufacturing practice and Good laboratory practice. | <urn:uuid:bc647b7b-8be5-4525-8fcd-976c9b576ba4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://anmolchem.org/silicon-dioxide.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.857826 | 338 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Learning The Basics Of Web Hosting Quickly
If you plan on running a website, you're going to need to find a web host. You will have to research about this if you don't know anything about it and shop around just like anything you buy. What factors should you take into account?
You need to decide whether you should select shared or dedicated hosting. If this is your first website and it's relatively small, a virtual shared server is probably good for now. If you're moving a large website that already gets thousands or millions of views, shared probably won't cut it. You may be better off with dedicated hosting.
Choose a web host that does not have constant outages. Companies with many outages generally make excuses and show that they aren't reliable since they don't do anything about them and don't intend to. You don't want to support a company that has frequent downtimes because most likely, they are unprofessional and your own website will be what suffers in the end.
When you choose a web hosting company, select one that resides in the specific country of the audience you are targeting. For example, if your website is for Americans then you should host it in the US. In fact, if it's geared towards Californians then hosting it in San Francisco would be great!
Make a priority list before shopping for a web host. Carefully consider what you need and want in a web host, and compare each potential provider to your list. Having a list of priorities means you won't just pick a host because it offers the cheapest service, but because it genuinely meets your needs.
You need to shop for a web host in a similar way you shop for shoes or a TV. You need to know what you are looking for and what you can afford then find a service that matches. Find the web host that works best for you by using the tips given here. | <urn:uuid:57d8265d-1eb0-4581-8dee-3b66a46f5aac> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.hostwebis.com/knowledgebase/4997/Learning-The-Basics-Of-Web-Hosting-Quickly.html?language=spanish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.969099 | 386 | 1.96875 | 2 |
First report of powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera fusca on Potentilla supina in China.
During the spring and summer of 2013, a suspected powdery mildew was observed on Potentilla supina growing in 10 fields (approximately one hectare in total) in Shangqiu City in eastern Henan Province, China, with 60% of the plants being infected. Symptoms began as typical white powdery mildew colonies partially covering adaxial surfaces of leaves. As the disease progressed, all green parts (both adaxial and abaxial surfaces of leaves, stems, petioles, and calyxes) were covered with white mycelia and conidia. Newly emerged leaves rapidly became infected. The infected plants became yellow and necrotic at advanced stages of infection, and therefore lost their commercial value as medicine and food. Based on morphological characteristics, sequence analysis of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region and pathogenicity tests, the causal agent was identified as Podosphaera fusca. Potentilla supina was previously described as the hosts of Sphaerotheca aphanis and Oidium spp. This is thought to be the first report of powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera fusca in China and will benefit the protection of Potentilla supina against powdery mildew. | <urn:uuid:2ddaa4b2-f441-4cfe-b184-ab512ccfc244> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.cabi.org/isc/abstract/20163034037 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.959921 | 286 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A happy child is one who has healthy teeth and gums. You should choose a pediatric dentist for your child that will take care of his teeth through his teenage years, while at the same time, makes the experience of visiting the dentist as positive and pleasant as possible.
Pediatric dentistry is all about setting the stage for healthy oral care that will last a lifetime. You can also know more about the pediatric dentist in Lafayette via https://bozicdds.com/ or various other sources.
To find the right professional and know that you have to find people who have the right qualifications and training, ask family members, friends, and co-workers for recommendations. After all, children's dentistry is all about the health of children. Check the newspapers, magazines and local websites for the recommendation that you can use.
Image Source: Google
It is smart to inquire about the professional training of the pediatric dentist. These specialists are required to take two additional years of residency training for infants, children, adolescents, and children who have special health needs.
Dental professionals can assess your child's teeth to determine whether they need orthodontics or not. If in need of straightening teeth, mouth care providers can refer patients to the dentist. The same thing can be said if a young patient has an overbite or underbite that needs to be corrected.
Pediatric dentists not only treat the problem but also try to keep the issue at bay in the future. They can manage a variety of oral conditions, such as mouth ulcers. If your child knocks out the tooth, tooth chips or has a cracked tooth, a dentist who specializes in young patients can fix this problem. | <urn:uuid:44cd602d-211f-4208-b17f-68f3d23c761f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.encykorea.com/tag/tooth-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.963376 | 343 | 2.015625 | 2 |
CALL US TODAY | (864) 506-8990
In our continuing effort to protect patients and staff, we strongly suggest patients with COVID-like symptoms schedule a telecare/video visit before coming to the center. However, we will see patients with COVID-like symptoms in-office as well. Please note that if you have any COVID- or flu-like symptoms, testing is medically necessary even if you have completed an at-home test or a lab test elsewhere. Thank you for your understanding.schedule now
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Everyone should be getting their regular vaccinations. It’s easy and quick to do, and could prevent you from getting sick and thus spreading a sickness to your family and other people. With AFC Urgent Care Clemson, getting a vaccination is especially easy and quick considering that an appointment usually isn’t necessary! We can also help you stay up to date and keep your whole family healthy. Call us today, come see us, or keep reading to learn more!
There are lots and lots of reasons to stay up to date with your and your family’s immunizations! For one, it’s generally recommended by health officials that people get vaccinations throughout their lives. This is because adults, not just children, are at risk of getting sick from vaccination-preventable diseases. Many adults know they should get an annual flu shot, but there are other recommended vaccinations too, and many of them are even easier to get than the flu vaccination. Also, if a person has a chronic condition that makes them more susceptible to illness, like diabetes, heart disease, or lung disease, a vaccination can prevent illness and may even be vital for the person. In general, vaccinations can protect against serious health complications like shingles or even heart attacks brought on by flu illness.
When adults are vaccinated and healthy, they’re better able to meet their many obligations and take care of their family. And by protecting themselves, adults will protect the rest of the family too. Additionally, pregnant women who get certain vaccinations will protect themselves and also their babies. Vaccinating your kids is important too, as it protects them from diseases like hepatitis B, measles, mumps, polio and others, and it also protects the family, classmates, and the community you live in.
There are some simple vaccines you can keep up to date on to protect yourself and others from common illnesses. Both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend these vaccines:
Ask your doctor or one of our doctors here at AFC Urgent Care Clemson if you and your family should get another vaccine based on your medical history. We provide travel vaccinations too here at our clinic.
Most of the time, yes, you can walk right into an urgent care clinic like ours for a vaccination! This is the case for all of the vaccines we mentioned above, with two exceptions: shingles and pneumococcal vaccines. An appointment is necessary for these two vaccines. You can call our clinic or book an appointment with us online for either of those vaccines or come see us for any other vaccination, like a flu shot.
Urgent care is a great place to go for vaccinations, as an appointment often isn’t necessary, they can see anyone in your family of any age, and the vaccines there are very affordable! Also, here at AFC Urgent Care Clemson, we accept most major insurances and have a self-pay option for patients without insurance.
Yes! AFC Urgent Care Clemson provides vaccinations in Clemson, and we’re located over at 13400 Clemson Blvd Seneca, SC 29678 Come see us today, call us at (864) 506-8990, or book with us online for a vaccination. You and anyone else in your family are more than welcome here at AFC Urgent Care Clemson. We’re open for you late 7 days a week.
Note: AFC Urgent Care does not offer the Covid-19 VACCINE at this time. Please visit the CDC website for vaccine locations: Click Here
We look forward to seeing you soon!
We offer a wide range of common vaccinations for people of every age. For infants, we can provide regular vaccines against diseases like hepatitis B, and PCV. For adults, we offer flu shots, and tetanus shots, shingles vaccines, and many more. Contact us and let us know which vaccine you need.
To discover which vaccinations you've received, look up your vaccination history. Your vaccination record is a comprehensive document that details the history of all of your vaccines as a youngster and as an adult. To access your vaccination record you can ask your family or doctor if they have your up to date report.
Yes, AFC offers several services that otherwise are made available only through an appointment at your doctor's office. Whether you need a regular checkup, vaccinations, or lab work, we're able to provide healthcare alongside your general practitioner, so you never need to go without the services you need. | <urn:uuid:7a3c2b88-ec35-43ec-90c5-0cf78e171f86> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.afcurgentcare.com/clemson/patient-services/vaccines/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.952008 | 1,058 | 1.71875 | 2 |
“The peace of Bethlehem was shattered by the cries of the slaughtered children and the weeping of their mothers. The peace of the world was shattered by the single cry from the cross. Yet through that death and mourning, peace was reborn, indestructible now, in the Resurrection of the slain Christ.” – from today’s Magnificat magazine
That’s exactly what happened in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14. The Holy Innocents were slaughtered just as they were by Herod all those years ago. Those families will never be the same. Christmas for them will never be the same. Nothing for them will ever be the same.
Herod committed his act of violence because he felt deceived by the magi. We will probably never really know why Adam Lanza committed his heinous crime. And I don’t think the “why” would matter anyway to those families of loved ones who were killed.
The Feast of the Holy Innocents will now forever be linked to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That’s how it should be. | <urn:uuid:ba08a56b-a83f-448d-b270-2e96a50413f6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.chicagonow.com/being-catholic-really/2012/12/the-feast-of-the-holy-innocents-remembering-newtown-connecticut/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.980948 | 224 | 1.570313 | 2 |
ETHICAL AND RESPONSIBLE
The REDFLAG mask is Swiss Made. REDFLAG’s objective is to develop a supply chain for materials, production and distribution, guaranteeing the shortest transportation routes and producing as little waste as possible.
REDFLAG therefore produces its 3D knit masks from recyclable polyamide in Switzerland and Germany (two production sites), offering the advantage of producing no waste. As for the packaging, it is made of recycled carton.
The development, production and processing of filters are also carried out in Switzerland, as is packaging and distribution.
REDFLAG teams support the concept of “made in local”, which means being able to transfer this production model anywhere in the world. | <urn:uuid:da9eac1d-2bc0-4a0b-a098-ace84db50abb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://redflagmask.com/en/traceability-and-partners/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.950887 | 145 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Aborginals aren't especially visible on Australian television. But a new hit sketch comedy show has found a mainstream audience and it did it almost immediately.
"When we did the first season, we weren't quite sure what the show was," says Nakkiah Lui, a co-star and co-writer of "Black Comedy," which is produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We literally came together over an advertisement that said, 'Apply if you're a black fella and you think you're funny.' Well, all black fellas in Australia think they're hilarious so we were kind of just the blind leading the blind."
"Black Comedy" is the first indigenous sketch show on Australian television in 30 years. The 1973 attempt, "Basically Black," never made it out of pilot mode. But "Black Comedy" became an instant hit and just started its second season.
Lui says the show has something for everyone and it also taps into white guilt over Australia's original sin: colonizing Australia's indigenous people.
"We have some very biting satire that a lot of the time is met with a bit of uncomfortableness from non-Aboriginal people and a lot of laughter from Aboriginal people," she says.
An example: Lui wrote and starred in a satirical advertisement for a cosmetic line, Pretty for an Aboriginal. Lui is light-skinned. Her mother is an Aboriginal from the Gamilaroi Nation in interior Australia. Her father is a Torres Strait Islander. They're ethnically like people in Papua New Guinea.
"I always got told growing up that I was 'pretty for an Aboriginal' or I was lucky I didn't look Aboriginal," she says. "It was when I confiding in my mother and sisters that they had also had experienced the same thing. And so had all of my aunties. And so had all of my cousins. And so had all of my Aboriginal friends. We all look different, different features, different colors. It was incredibly sad, but also hilarious, because we're all beautiful."
Another popular sketch is "Black Force," about an Aboriginal special police SWAT team that arrests Aboriginals for not acting black enough. Lui says it's a direct and satirical response to the lack of diversity on Australian screens across the board.
"What 'Black Force' does is put our culture there on the screen through a parody, but we're also reclaiming it, I think," she says. "'Black Force' is received so well by non-Aboriginal people because they think they get the joke and the references about class, like 'What's kale?'"
Lui says "Black Force" is a comical idea of what an Aboriginal person is meant to be and includes in-jokes for Aboriginals.
"In one episode they say, 'Party's over. Put the mattress back in the lounge room.' And that's a real black fella joke, because any Aboriginal house you go to in the summer has a mattress in the lounge room because it's nice to have a lay-down and watch TV and have a chat."
There's also recurring sketches about two flamboyantly gay characters called Tidders, an Aboriginal term for sisters, a take-off on the "The Real Housewives" called "The Housewives of Narramine," a tiny town in the Australian bush.
Lui is a also a successful playwright and much of her work is about being perceived as different in Australia.
"I've had to tick a box all my life," she says. "My mum's had to tick a box all her life. My grandparents lived on missions (like Native American reservations in the US) managed by white people. Having that be your kind of signifier of who you are whether it be positive or negative. It's tiring. You can never be seen as a human, as just a person, as just an artist. It's always the Aboriginal one."
So why comedy?
"My grandmother always used to say to me. 'What can you do if you can't laugh?' And she said it on the day she died," she says.
Lui believes that comedy is potent and can sometimes be more effective than drama.
"I think sometimes the thing with drama is that people can opt out really early," she says. "They kind of know what kind of ride they're in for and they can decide pretty early on as to whether they're going to go on that ride with you. Whereas with comedy, you can kind of take someone along for the ride and they don't even know they're on it. That's why I love comedy as a tool. I just think it's so incredibly subversive." | <urn:uuid:89692678-1358-4ee7-9a80-df444a9bc357> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://theworld.org/stories/2016-02-13/aboriginal-comedy-show-australia-finds-mainstream-audience | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.98918 | 974 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Student life for everyone!
University studies are more than just reading to exams and endless group project – as you probably know. In Valtsika student life is also about parties, big emotions, saving the world and feeling safe and secure. To be able to give the last feeling to everyone, we all need to participate in creating safer and warm place to each other.
As academics and social scientists we know a lot about effects of discourses and ways of action. Discourses and how we act are simulations of the society we live in and verify for example power positions. Older students and organizations have done long-term work for securing everyone’s right to be who they are in Valtsika. The equality principles and safety procedures in Valtsika community are top quality in the University of Helsinki and besides of organizers of events, it is responsibility of everyone to take care of executing them.
The events in Valtsika follow safer space guidelines which aim to create policy that helps everybody to feel welcome, comfortable and know how to act in uncomfortable situation instead of adjusting to them. So, please note that for example these actions are not tolerated in Valtsika community
- Creating, spreading and maintaining stereotypes for example about job status, residence or nationality, student organization, faculty, political views, race or gender
- Using groups of people, for example sexual and gender minorities or persons with disabilities, as swear words
- Judging and name-calling others for example for their dressing or appearance
- Assuming someone’s identity, gender, sexuality, nationality or something similar based on someone’s qualities. When you are assuming, try to recognise your assumptions. Respect others over your own preconceptions.
- Any kind of harassment, violence, intolerance or exclusion
The aim of safer space is to build an atmosphere where people can communicate and live freely. So again, as academics and social scientists we can respect and appreciate each other’s thoughts and we try to solve actively different kinds of challenges together. Remember, when you arrive to Valtsika, that you can with your own actions affect positively to others’ well-being and safety in Valtsika community!
Pics © Pekko Korvuo and Juho Valta | <urn:uuid:163851c8-6cc4-4727-8e66-48466daf3b22> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://fuksit.kannunvalajat.fi/en/we-create-valtsika/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.932209 | 457 | 2.515625 | 3 |
NOISY SCHOOLS and everything an infantile choir is singing the lesson: thousand times one hundred, one hundred thousands; thousand times thousands, million Antonio Machado. THE NOISY ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LANGUAGE The increasing levels of noise in the outside have been invading population centers, without forecasts existed to limit this deterioration. The arrangement of the traffic has done that the intense circulation instead of to be reduced to a few streets is scattered by all the city. Film director oftentimes addresses this issue. Of this form previously calm considerable areas they have been deteriorated on its outer environment. On the other hand, many of the educational equipment have been located of inadequate form near great sources of noise or these, as in the case of the highways, can have reasoned with drawing up excessively near some teaching institutions. The protection of this zone against the noise has not been able to apply, to a great extent because the criteria corresponding to the protection for this type of contamination do not comprise of urban planning. For years the detrimental effects caused by the noise are known.
The damages brought about through the auditory route perhaps are known, but mainly concerning the quality of listening and the intelligibility of the communications it is where it indicates with greater clarity the effects of the noise. The investigations of the two last decades are outstanding the impact of the noise in scholastic means. The disturbance of the intelligibility of the oral communication is particularly serious when it is the formation of the students and the mental development of the young generations. The noisy environment affects the development of the language, as well as the acquisition of the reading in all the small childhood and the primary school that are both capital periods for the intellectual development. | <urn:uuid:4c778eff-548c-4dec-a4b5-26f36eabf12d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.iowaecotypeproject.org/tag/formation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.958021 | 353 | 2.34375 | 2 |
From recreational kayaking to whitewater disciplines, we talk about various types of kayaking here.
It’s no surprise that kayaking is soaring in popularity. Kayaking is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours or a whole day, either by yourself or with a group of friends. In fact, you probably are having such a good time you don’t even realize you’re also getting in a workout.
But is kayaking good exercise? The short answer is yes. Kayaking is an excellent form of exercise and has many physical and mental health benefits. Keep reading to find out more.
Is Kayaking a Good Workout? How Paddling Benefits Your Physical Health
Kayaking has everything you need for a low-impact, full-body workout. It provides both cardio and strength training that is easy on your joints. Spending time at a “blue gym” is better than anything you get in an aerobics studio. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or young, kayaking is a great way to get in shape and lose weight. And, if you have an Apple watch, there are some great paddling apps to track your time on the water.
Is Kayaking Good for Your Heart?
Paddling a kayak is a great cardio workout, and you can choose your level of intensity. A leisurely paddle on a slow-moving river or a calm lake is perfect for someone who is new to exercise or only wants moderate aerobic exercise. Just 150 minutes of physical activity each week is all you need for better physical health.
If you’re looking for something a little harder, you only need to pick up your paddling to really get your heart pumping. You can also mix it up with some high-intensity sprints. Go as fast and hard as you can for 30 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat six times and then take a break. If you’re on a river, try doing some ferries or paddling upriver.
So, how does all this paddling help your heart and keep you healthy?
Aerobic exercise makes your heart stronger and helps lower your blood pressure and bad cholesterol. A stronger, healthier heart and cardiovascular system reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Men’s Health listed kayaking as one of the best workouts for heart health and stated that it is one of the few cardio workouts that centers around the upper body.
Getting in a good cardio workout also helps you lower your blood sugar levels, which is good news for people with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance.
Is Kayaking a Good Way to Increase Endurance?
Do you wish you had more energy and stamina throughout the day? Do you get tired just walking around the block? Kayaking is an excellent way to build up your endurance since you’re paddling for hours. You will soon discover that you can kayak longer without getting tired. Not only that, but you will discover that you have increased energy throughout the day, and everyday tasks will become easier.
Can Kayaking Help You Build Muscle?
If you’re looking to increase your strength, kayaking can help build up muscles in your arms, legs, back, and shoulders. You don’t have to worry about getting big, bulky powerlifter muscles. Instead, kayaking helps you develop a lean, toned body.
Kayaking works many major muscle groups in the body, such as:
- Upper Body – Paddling works the upper arms and forearms. The push and pull process involves working your biceps while you have one side of the paddle in the water and also engaging the triceps with the counter-movement of thrusting the other side out. Both forearms are continuously in motion with the constant rotation of the paddle. The steady rowing motion will also strengthen the upper back and shoulders, especially the deltoids and trapezius.
- Legs – It may not feel like it, but your legs are also getting a good workout when you’re kayaking. Your legs are involved in an isometric exercise, which uses muscle contraction, to keep your body stable and balanced while also maneuvering the kayak.
Building muscle has numerous benefits. You’re not only strengthening your muscles, but you are also strengthening your bones, thus lowering the risk of osteoporosis. In addition, according to the CDC, strength training can also help with balance, reduce the risk of falls, lower blood sugar levels, and boost your mental health. Having more lean muscle also burns more calories and can help you lose weight.
Is Kayaking a Good Ab Workout?
Having a strong core is essential to good posture, balance, and stability. It can reduce the risk of injury, especially to your back. Core strength makes it easier to do everyday tasks. Your abs are engaged the entire time you are kayaking, keeping your body upright and balanced. The twisting motion works your obliques. And, not only are you making your abs stronger, but you are also working the muscles in your lower back.
Spending an enjoyable day paddling on the water will give you six-pack abs much faster than hours of crunches and sit-ups at the gym.
Kayaking is a Good Way to Increase Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D is called the ‘sunshine vitamin.’ Unfortunately, many people have a vitamin deficiency. This deficiency can lead to several medical problems, such as:
- Chronic Fatigue
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Dementia in older adults
You need vitamin D for disease prevention, strong bones and muscles, and a healthy immune system. It’s tough to get the amounts of vitamin D required from food sources; fortunately, our bodies can produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Spending the day kayaking can really ramp up the production of this essential vitamin.
Not Just Your Body: Is Kayaking Good For Your Mental Health?
Kayaking does more than give you a good workout. It also helps to improve your mental health. Spending time on the water can help clear your mind from your everyday worries and soothe your soul.
Can Kayaking Help Relieve Stress?
Everyone experiences stress at times; however, too much stress has serious health consequences. Chronic stress can lead to elevated blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, depression, anxiety, irritability, and insomnia.
Kayaking can be a very peaceful experience. Imagine an early morning paddle on a quiet waterway. You watch the mist rise from the water while you sip your coffee. Birds fly from branch to branch, calling out to each other. Your stress levels start to fall while anxiety leaves your mind. In fact, studies have shown that being in and around water can help lower stress.
Just the process of the repetitive rowing motion can take you into a meditative state as you glide through the water. In addition to reducing stress, meditation can help increase focus, reduce anxiety, alleviate depression, and improve memory.
How Does Kayaking Improve Your Mental Health?
In addition to lowering stress levels, kayaking can help improve your mental health in other ways.
You See Things From a New Perspective
There are some places that you will never be able to see when you’re on land. Kayaking allows you to visit different places that you can only access by boat. You have the opportunity to release your inner explorer and make new discoveries.
Kayaking is a Fun Way to Socialize With Others
When you’re kayaking, you’ll have the opportunity to meet others that have the same passion for kayaking as you. It’s also a pleasant way to spend quality time with your family and friends.
Having an activity you enjoy and socializing with loved ones can help lower stress and help you maintain a healthy brain. Being around other people improves memory and may decrease the likelihood of developing dementia in your later years.
Kayaking Can Make You Smarter
You’ve heard the phrase “use it or lose it.” That also applies to our brain. You probably already know that learning new skills can improve your memory. But, consider this scenario: you’re kayaking down a fast-moving river, and you see rapids and rocks ahead of you. You need to quickly figure out how you’re going to make the line. Those navigational skills can actually change the function and structure of your brain!
Kayaking Increases the Production of “Feel Good” Hormones
Exercising, being outside, and doing things you enjoy increase dopamine levels and endorphins in your body. Dopamine is a chemical messenger that carries signals to different cells. It causes us to feel pleasure and motivates us as a chemical reward. Too little dopamine can lead to mental health disorders and diseases such as Parkinson’s and obesity.
Endorphins are also chemicals produced by the body. They’re natural pain relievers, and they work to reduce stress. Endorphins also help you lose weight, increase your self-esteem, and ease feelings of depression.
Spending Time in Nature Improves Your Overall Health
A recent study showed that spending two hours in nature improves both physical and mental health. It provides a break from things that strain your mental resources, such as work, looking at computer screens, and driving. Being in nature has also been shown to decrease stress levels.
Kayaking Can Boost Your Confidence and Self-esteem
Your self-image improves every time you achieve a new accomplishment. It could be paddling faster or longer, traveling further, or navigating a challenging waterway.
Physical activity plays a part in how people view themselves. As a person’s physical strength, muscle conditioning, flexibility, and balance improve, they have a more positive body image and improved self-esteem.
Do I already need to be fit to kayak?
While having a basic level of fitness helps, it’s not necessary. If you can sit upright and move your arms, you can kayak. With that being said, it’s a good idea to start slowly and build up your strength and endurance. Here are some great kayaks for beginners.
What exercises are suitable for kayaking?
Life happens, and there will be long stretches when you aren’t able to go kayaking. Or, maybe you just want to improve your paddling. There are plenty of at-home exercises that you can do that will get you ready for the water.
Planks target several muscle groups and are great for strengthening your abs, shoulders, and quads. Here is a brief tutorial on how to do a proper plank.
This exercise can flow naturally from a plank. Push-ups work your chest, shoulders, and abs. You’ll also build up arm strength. Proper form is vital, so this video will give you tips.
Russian Twists will work your core and obliques. Lifting your feet a couple of inches off the ground will also help with your balance. Here is a tutorial of different twist variations.
Squats and Lunges
Both of these moves target your hamstrings, quads, and glutes. Remember to keep proper form, so you don’t cause strain on your knees. Watch this video for details.
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts
In addition to working your back, legs, and glutes, this exercise will also help with your balance. Having good balance helps you with getting into and out of your kayak and keeps you stabilized in the water. Use this video to get tips on the proper way to do a single-leg Romanian deadlift.
Can kayaking help me lose weight?
If you’re a big guy or gal, or if you’re just looking to burn some calories, kayaking is a great way to do it. Every person is different, but a 150-pound person can expect to burn about 350 calories after an hour of leisurely paddling. Increase your effort, and you can expect to burn two to three times that amount. Just one afternoon of kayaking can burn up to 1600 calories!
What muscles does kayaking work?
The question should be what muscles doesn’t kayaking work! While mainly an upper body workout that works your hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, and chest, kayaking will also work your abs, lower back, glutes, and legs.
If you’re looking for a fun way to work out, then kayaking is good exercise. A few hours of paddling on the water will get your heart rate up, build muscles, increase endurance, and strengthen your abs.
Not only is kayaking good for your physical health, but it also gives a boost to your mental health. Kayaking can reduce your stress levels and improve your confidence and self-esteem. It’s a great way to spend time with your family and friends and make new friends.
Even if you’re not in shape, that’s no reason not to give kayaking a try. This low-impact activity is easy on the joints and is an excellent workout for people of all ages. Or, you can choose to go hard and get a fast-paced, heart-pounding ride through the rapids.
So, say goodbye to spending time inside a sweaty, smelly gym and say hello to the blue gym of the open waterways! | <urn:uuid:bba7b435-97f3-453e-ae50-f18ac620fd9e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://paddlingspace.com/is-kayaking-good-exercise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.942101 | 2,823 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Despite increasing its average ACT score for the third straight year, Riverside-Brookfield High School did not make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB) in the 2010-11 school year.
Members of the class of 2011 posted an average composite ACT score of 23.3, up by one-tenth of a point from last year. RBHS easily exceeded the state average score of 20.9. In 2007 and 2008, the average RBHS composite ACT score was 22.5.
“We were very pleased that we had improved performance,” said RBHS Principal Pamela Bylsma as she presented test results to the District 208 school board on Sept, 27. “We are inching up. We do grow our kids significantly.”
RBHS students take multiple practice ACT tests, and their familiarity with the test improves their performance, Bylsma said.
“We give them several opportunities to test during the year, so they don’t have the anxiety,” Bylsma said.
More RBHS students are going to college. In 2005, 82 percent of RBHS graduates went on to two or four year colleges while 95 percent of the class of 2011 went to such schools, according to Bylsma’s report to the board.
However, because of the ever-increasing standards of NCLB, the school did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) this year. In 2011, 85 percent of students had to meet or exceed state standards for a school to make AYP, judged by their performance on the ACT and the rest of the Prairie State Achievement Exam which is taken by all Illinois public school juniors in April.
According to Bylsma, only two non-selective enrollment high schools, Stevenson and Glenbrook North, made adequate yearly progress under the stringent standards of NCLB this year. She added that three selective-enrollment high school in the Chicago Public Schools system made AYP. A spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education said that he could not release information on specific schools until Oct. 31.
Despite not making AYP, students at RBHS still scored well above state averages.
In both reading and math, 75.1 percent of RBHS students met or exceeded state standards. In science 77.7 percent of RBHS students met or exceeded state standards, while 80 percent did so in writing.
The percentage of RBHS students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading increased by 6.6 percent this year, while the state average went down by 3.1 percent. RBHS made reading a central focus across the curriculum last year after disappointing test results in 2010.
“It’s truly impressive, the growth we have here,” Bylsma told the board. “We’re very pleased with the growth because of the effort we put in.”
In science, RBHS’ meets-or-exceeded percentage increased by 5.3 percent, while statewide the number decreased by 3.2 percent.
Statewide only 51.1 of students met or exceeded standards in reading last year and 51.3 percent did so in math.
Certain demographic subgroups at RBHS also performed better than state averages, but fell well short of the school’s performance as a whole.
A total of 65.6 percent of Hispanic students at RBHS made the grade in reading, a substantial 12-point increase from 2010. Statewide only 33.1 of Hispanic students met or exceeded state standards in reading.
In science, 64.5 percent of RBHS Hispanic students met or exceeded state standards, compared to just 29.9 percent statewide.
Black students at RBHS fared worse than their Hispanic counterparts. In reading, only 43.8 percent of black RBHS students met or exceeded state standards. Still that is better than the 24.8 percent of black students statewide who made the grade in reading.
In math, half of RBHS’ black students met or exceeded state standards while only 28.8 percent did so statewide.
Many low-income students at RBHS also struggled but did far better than low-income students across the state, with 53.9 percent of low-income RBHS students making the grade in reading. Statewide only 29.9 percent did.
In math, 51.6 percent of low-income RBHS students made the grade, compared to 28.8 percent statewide.
“We struggled significantly,” Bylsma said of the performance of the low-income sub group.
“These are clearly our most vulnerable learners, who need more interventions on their behalf.”
Bylsma said that 30 students transferred to RBHS for their junior year, so teachers had less than one year to work with those students.
Bylsma cautioned against making too much of comparing one year’s results to another year, because every year a different group of juniors is being tested.
“You have to remember that year to year, it’s a different group of learners,” Bylsma said.
This could well be the last year that RBHS officials have to worry about NCLB and adequate yearly progress. The United States Department of Education recently announced that states will be allowed to apply for waivers from the NCLB law and Illinois, like many states, is expected to apply for and be granted a waiver.
“We are confident that we would be granted a waiver,” said Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Educators have long argued that the requirement in NCLB that 100 percent of students meet or exceed state standards by 2014 was unrealistic and eventually all schools would be labeled failing schools.
States are expected to move to a model that measures student growth and does not set arbitrary standards. | <urn:uuid:6587ac40-4420-49ed-813e-0f9ee9a5c940> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.rblandmark.com/2011/10/04/despite-solid-scores-no-ayp-for-rbhs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573172.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818063910-20220818093910-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.969413 | 1,221 | 1.695313 | 2 |
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