text stringlengths 181 608k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 3 values | url stringlengths 13 2.97k | file_path stringlengths 125 140 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.65 1 | token_count int64 50 138k | score float64 1.5 5 | int_score int64 2 5 |
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The speed with which new technologies are adopted and diffused constitutes a fundamental determinant of economic growth (e.g., Lucas, 1993; Krugman, 1994). However, extensive empirical observations indicate that new technologies often display both long time lags between their invention and their adoption and a slow adoption rate (e.g., Griliches, 1957; Mansfield, 1968, 1985; Jovanovic and Lach, 1997; Genesove, 1999; Asterbo, 2002). In addition, they indicate that there are significant differences in the adoption timing of new technologies not only across different firms in the same market, but also across different markets (e.g., Griliches, 1957; Mansfield, 1968, 1985; Rogers, 1995).
In response to these observations, an extensive theoretical literature (see e.g., Reinganum, 1981a&b, 1983 a&b; Fudenberg and Tirole, 1985; Quirmbach, 1986; Riordan, 1992; Riordan and Salant, 1994) studying the timing of technology adoption has been developed. This literature has stressed the significant impact of the strategic interactions between the potential adopters on the timing of adoption. Moreover, a number of papers within this literature have argued that the variation in the adoption timing across different markets could be due to differences in the markets’ features. For instance, it could be due to the presence of network externalities (Cabral, 1990; Choi and Thum, 1998), the existence of informational externalities (Chamley and Gale, 1994), the strategic managerial delegation (Mahathi and Rupayan, 2013), and the mode and the intensity of market competition (Milliou and Petrakis, 2011).
Although the existing literature has significantly increased our understanding regarding the timing of technology adoption, it has done so focusing exclusively on one-tier markets. That is, on markets in which the production process consists of only one stage or all the production stages are fully internalized within a firm. In reality though, most markets are vertically related, i.e., most markets consist of various production stages - the stages of the so- called vertical production chain - and have distinct firms operating at the different production stages. Vertically related markets have a number of important features which are absent in one-tier markets. Their main diverse feature is the presence of trading among the vertically related firms - the upstream firms and the downstream firms. Two additional distinct features of vertically related markets are, first, the way through which trading is conducted (i.e., the contract type employed), and second, the distribution of bargaining power among the trading partners.3 Since one-tier markets differ significantly from vertically related markets, it follows that in order to understand the timing of technology adoption in the latter, one has to take into account the role of their distinct features, i.e., to model explicitly the vertical structure and vertical trading.
In this paper, we study the timing of adoption of a new cost-reducing technology in ver- tically related markets. In particular, we explore how a number of features of such markets, along with the presence of vertical relations itself, affect the speed of technology adoption. We address a number of questions, such as: When is a new technology adopted in a vertically related market? How does the bargaining power distribution among the vertically related firms affect the speed of technology adoption? Whether and how the contract type employed (two-part tariffs vs. wholesale prices) affects the adoption timing? How the vertical relations influence the timing of technology adoption, i.e., how the adoption dates differ among vertically related markets and one-tier markets? Or equivalently, how do they differ among different or- ganization structures of production, and in particular, among input outsourcing and in-house input production? | <urn:uuid:98dfb832-00e8-470b-9b20-e8917f38859d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://economics.soc.uoc.gr/en/market/664/on-vertical-relations-and-technology-adoption-timing- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571056.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809155137-20220809185137-00666.warc.gz | en | 0.932832 | 778 | 1.992188 | 2 |
In Brittany, on the northern coast of France, there is a town called Lannion that was occupied by people from Britain in the Middle Ages. The Lannion Medieval French Dress replicates clothing from this region and time period. This short cotton garment fits loosely over the body so as not to impede movement or comfort. Its hem extends to just past the knee, leaving the legs free to move, and it forgoes sleeves in favor of thick shoulder straps to prevent getting in the way of the arms. Its lovely neckline, an amalgamation of an exaggerated sweetheart and a V-slash, features an intricate trim. Interlocking squares form the trim on the brown color option. The red and green options have a different embroidered trim design. The Lannion Medieval French Dress comes in red, green, and brown, and it makes a fantastic addition to any late-medieval European ensemble.
- Based on European dresses from the late Middle Ages
- Fits loosely on the body for comfort and flexibility
- Features a lovely trim along the neck and hem
- Comes in red, green, and brown
- Perfect for Renaissance fairs or other medieval reenactments
- Made of 100% cotton | <urn:uuid:11d361e0-241a-41cb-9db4-d3d3a7fd19e9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.medievalcollectibles.com/product/lannion-medieval-french-dress/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570871.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808183040-20220808213040-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.906965 | 253 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Links that redirect when you click on the menu tab
It is possible to cause your menu link to redirect to an external URL if you are prepared to write a little bit of custom HTML. However, you should be aware that this practice is frowned upon by web developers. You are essentially taking over the control of your visitor's browser and telling it what to do, and many people may not appreciate this.
If you decide that you have a strong and justified reason for making one of your pages redirect to a different site, here's what you need to do:
- Create a new page (you can add some text with the link if you would like to).
- Drag and drop an HTML widget onto your page.
- Paste this tag into the HTML Editor: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2; url=http://webdesign.about.com">.
- The "2" is how many seconds it waits before it redirects (you can change this number).
- The "url" is the URL it redirects to, so replace the URL in the above tag with the one for the site you want to link to.
- Click Save.
Please keep in mind that while the code may work now, we cannot guarantee that it will continue to work in the future. Codes can become obsolete and/or conflict with the enhancements made to provide you with the best Sitebuilder possible. | <urn:uuid:532ffa14-6cbc-4fcd-b8b4-ff5e1f9366cf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.yola.com/tutorials/article/Links-that-Redirect-when-you-click-on-menu-tab-1285944421190/Site_structure_and_design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00027-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903875 | 292 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Pacers, despite the name, don't actually pace a runner as a typical marathon pacer may for the front pack. Ultra pacers help their runner stay on course, keep safe and, if allowed, carry their runner's supplies (called "muling"). The specific race dictates how much assistance is permitted. Pacers act as companion, nursemaid, entertainer, psychologist and coach. Most ultras require the runner to complete at least half the race before a pacer can come in. It's common to have more than one pacer for 100 milers to ensure each is fresh for his or her job. Pacers are official participants of the race; they will often sport the same bib number in another color as identification. Most races allow one pacer at a time; the number is transferred to whoever has the current duty. It's not an easy job, but it's a wonderful way to vicariously participate in an ultra event.
During a marathon you may be able to get away with a few energy gels, some water and a couple cups of Gatorade. The ultra takes hydration and fueling to another level. "Ask 100 ultra runners what they eat, you will get 100 different answers," O'Grady says. Of course, personal preferences prevail, but most runners need some sort of solid food to up their calorie intake.
Nancy Shura-Dervin, founder of the UltraLadies Running Club (ultraladies.com) and finisher of 61 ultras, recommends finding out what will be provided at the aid stations and using your training runs to experiment with those products, especially solid foods. She says you can expect to find a variety of items such as meal replacements shakes, PB&J sandwiches, chicken soup, pizza, potatoes and fruit. Carry water or an electrolyte drink with you at all times. Some races make this mandatory. And, just like the marathon, practice your fueling options during training.
Many ultra runners agree that finishing an ultra is as much, if not more, a mental undertaking as a physical one. According to O'Grady, "being in good running shape isn't enough--you have to be prepared mentally." She suggests "doing some long runs when you are already tired to get the feeling of pushing through when you don't feel like it." While marathons certainly can throw challenges at you, knowing you have six or 10 miles left is often a number you can wrap your brain around. Tell yourself that you have 20 or 30 more miles, and it's a whole new kind of mental challenge.
Many ultra runners employ a variety of techniques to help them cross the finish line, like visualization, relaxation, goal setting, positive affirmations and avoiding negative talk. Shura-Dervin uses mantras and often will repeat phrases like, "next aid station" or "hurts so good" to keep herself moving, what ultra runners call "relentless forward motion." Ultimately, though, she says what helped her most was learning how to enjoy the journey as much or more than the outcome.
Running on Trails and at Night
Marathons are typically road events, while most ultras are held on trails. You certainly can find ultras on a 400-meter track or road-like conditions, but trails are the main host of these endurance events. Shura-Dervin recommends that newbies should start logging some miles on the trails right away. Learning how to navigate roots, mud and overhanging branches is essential. Expect your pace to be slower, and don't let that discourage you. Many trail runners will focus on time rather than miles when out on the trails.
Also, night running is often part of the ultra adventure. Fifty milers may start before the sun rises and finish after the sun has set. In a 100 miler, you can guarantee covering miles in the dark. While some recommend practicing a bit of running at night, most agree that there is no real way to train for this. As you can imagine, fatigue is often multiplied while running for hours in the dark. O'Grady suggests pacing a runner through the night portion of an ultra to get a feel for the experience. Even if you don't get in any night running, make sure to test flashlights and headlamps that you plan to use on race day.
Within the ultra running community, less is considered more. The rewards of an ultra are often internal rather than external. There are things that you learn about yourself that can only be learned hours into a demanding physical effort. Self-reflection is pretty much a given when you are out there for that length of time. "You learn that your own limits are far beyond what you ever imagined," O'Grady says. "You have the satisfaction of doing things you never thought you could do." If you think a marathon is life changing, wait until you complete an ultra.
Christine Hinton is a Road Runners Club of America certified coach and fitness expert. A competitive runner herself, she has been coaching beginners through elites for 10 years. | <urn:uuid:9fb62135-8a88-4124-9edb-9fd95404a8df> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.active.com/running/articles/beyond-the-marathon-how-to-get-started-in-ultra-running?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00242-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962471 | 1,035 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Do you find yourself longing for peace of mind? Is your mind cluttered with worries and distractions such that you seldom if ever find any relief? Here's a simple idea that may help you.
Focus on what makes you happy in the moment and peace of mind will follow.
Think about it. When you are happy, where is your predominant thought and attention? It's on your enjoyment of whatever is going on in this moment. Everything looks better, feels better, and tastes better. Why? Because you're not preoccupied with other things on your mind.
So by beginning to shift your focus and attention on your priority of being happy, you begin to stop the otherwise relentless spiral of negative thinking in which it's so easy for you to get caught up.
- You're not so fearful. Your fears of the future aren't so much in focus because you've learned to place your energy and attention on the "now". This helps to release the enormous emotional weight you are otherwise so often carrying and it offers a wonderful feeling of relief.
- Likewise, you don't spend all of your time worrying. Worry goes hand in hand with fear. First you spend all of your time thinking about things you are afraid will happen, and then you spend the balance of your time worrying that they will. When you instead shift your attention back to what is happening right now in the present and then focus on what's good and right in this moment, the worries start to disappear.
- You don't stress. Because you have found a way to redirect your thoughts and focus away from your fears, you have reduced your degree of worrying and the net result is a reduction in your stress level. And make no mistake, the reduction in your level of stress has a miraculous effect upon your health and your mindset and promotes peace of mind.
When you start to make your happiness a real priority in your life, today, you open yourself up to a far more healthy, rewarding and peaceful life experience. And as you start to get better at it -- remember this takes practice -- you will begin to experience a positive flow of opposite, supportive results that serve to further enhance your peace of mind. You now begin to benefit from a positive upward spiral of health and happiness instead.
- You feel relaxed. With an absence of worries on your mind, your mind and body are able to relax and recharge. And by allowing you to recharge, you increase your energy that you can now bring to other things -- things that further please you.
- You enjoy yourself more. Because you're relaxed and re-energized, you find yourself enjoying yourself more. You have essentially let down your guard and are now allowing yourself to receive the enjoyment and pleasure that is available to you. Each moment becomes richer and fuller and enhances your level of happiness even more.
- You appreciate and live in the moment. Happiness and peace of mind are found in the moment. As you become more relaxed and your level of enjoyment rises, it makes it easier and easier for you to stay in the moment. You keep your focus and attention on the full experience of "now" which allows you to get the most out of it. And as you string these moments together, you get the most out of each hour and each day.
Would you like more information about how to find happiness and peace of mind? I've co-written an entire program that reveals how easily you can begin to find true happiness and make your life start working better, starting today.
Sign up here now for your free introductory eCourse: Happiness And Peace Of Mind
Warren Wojnowski is an avid student of personal growth and self improvement. He is a respected writer, teacher and Intrinsic Coach® who is very willing to share what he's learned (or still learning), what's working, and what isn't. Warren says "If you have an aspect of your life in which you feel stuck, whether in your life or your business, I can help you get back on track and start living the life you want".
Visit his website at http://www.InspiredAbundance.com | <urn:uuid:3e9a17c2-2d35-40ad-b721-1f2369b24180> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Happiness_And_Your_Peace_Of_Mind_You_Can_t_Have_One_Without_The_Other.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280587.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00561-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959467 | 841 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Jeffrey Carr (CEO, Taia Global, Inc.) is the author of "Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld" (O'Reilly Media 2009) and the founder and CEO of Taia Global, Inc., a boutique security consulting firm for Global 2000 companies.
His book has been endorsed by General Chilton, former Commander USSTRATCOM and he has had the privilege of speaking at the US Army War College, Air Force Institute of Technology, Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Study Group and at over 60 conferences and seminars. His firm provides specialized cybersecurity services to a select group of companies and their executives in the defense, technology, and communication sectors world-wide.
Webcast: Preparing for a Cyber Attack April 29, 2010
This one-hour presentation will separate the hype from the facts regarding ongoing foreign intrusions into government networks and the targeting of government employees. It will also provide practical advice on how to protect yourself and your organization...
"I recommend Inside Cyber Warfare for everyone, but especially for policy makers and people who talk about security."
--Michael Robinson, Digital Scofflaw
"Read this important book to get the big, unnerving picture. Then start thinkingfastof ways to better protect your computers, data, intellectual property and personal information."
--Si Dunn, Sagecreek Productions
"Most books on cyber warfare look at the subject area from a purely technical perspective. This books coverage of the macro issues associated with cyber war--including international law, involvement of organized crime, and state machinery--sets it apart from others in the field."
--Srijith Krishnan Nair, Computing Reviews
"...this short but excellent and well-written volume it is not a technologist's guide to hacking activities, nor is is it a spy novel, but it carefully and interestingly relates the dimensions of a current political and economic problem brought about by the activities of political entities, criminal and terroristic elements. It will enable the reader to become well informed about an important Technology and Public Policy issue which pervades today's headlines. "
--Ira Laefsky, Amazon.com
"This book draws the curtain on a world that has, until now, been mostly in the shadows, but will be getting more attention in the future as the outcomes of "cyberspace battles" start shaping our world as surely as the "real battles" do."
--Zeljka Zorz, Help Net Security
"The cyber world provides numerous opportunities for sharing information and networking, but it also offers an ideal space for virtually undetectable espionage and criminal activities. "
--A. Jurek, Blogcritics.org | <urn:uuid:43afa299-a96b-459d-9805-043c76c12fcf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.oreilly.com/pub/au/3720 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282926.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00397-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922104 | 544 | 1.5 | 2 |
Enjoy your outdoor adventures with the assistance of Nikon binoculars. Aculon A211 model with seven times magnification and objective lens diameter of 35 mm offers perfect optical performance at a very attractive price. Combination of lenses bearing the multilayer coating and selection of large objective lens results in achieving a wide viewing angle and an extremely bright image.
Aspherical eyepiece lenses guarantee an extraordinary visual experience. User comfort and durability ensure rubberized surface immune to shocks. The telescope also offers a possibility of mounting on a tripod, allowing you to fully enjoy watching the surrounding landscape. Comfort for your eye to ensure sliding and revolving rubber eyecups.
Nikon’s beginnings date back to 1917 in Japan. At first, the company mainly produced lenses - telescopes, binoculars, microscopes and other small, optical equipment. Soon the company expanded its portfolio, producing photographic lenses under the Nikkor brand.
In the field of cameras, particularly among professionals, Nikon quickly gained a reputation as a top manufacturer, which continues today. Its cameras were even included in the equipment of American spacecraft. Nikon designed and produced the legendary Nikon SP 1957, regarded by many as the best camera of all time.
Specifications can be changed without notice. Images are for illustrative purposes only. Retail Price (MSRP) means the manufacturer's/supplier's suggested retail price.
Link to Manufacturer's Website: Enter link to the external review | <urn:uuid:f0aada0e-6fa5-4cfa-86e7-fe2080955412> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.alza.co.uk/sport/nikon-7x35-aculon-a211-d4166289.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00053-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934769 | 292 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The Leviathan, according to rabbinic literature, was created on the fifth day of creation, along with fish and everything else that lives in the sea. It’s mentioned six times in the Jewish Bible. The longest description appears toward the end of the Book of Job (41:2-26), which describes the Leviathan both physically (“His back has rows of shields…his snorting throws out bolts of light”) and his interactions (“When he rises up, the mighty are terrified…the sword that reaches him has no effect”).
Given all this monster-type talk, one might think that the Leviathan is a vicious killer. However, in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 3b), we’re given a schedule of what God‘s average day is like–and a full three hours of it is devoted to playing with the Leviathan.
January 11, 2012 | <urn:uuid:1c36c3ce-b545-44d2-9128-dac37f3da68b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://thejewniverse.com/2012/a-fish-this-big/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280929.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00431-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964323 | 188 | 2.859375 | 3 |
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About this product
- DescriptionThe role of the indigeus population in the formation of the Bolivarian constitution is one of Latin America's most important untold stories. Considered a beacon of twenty-first century socialism by many, Venezuela is witnessing the paradoxical emergence of 'indigeus capitalisms' as the government and various indigeus actors are driven by tions of development and enfranchisement grounded in the ideology of multiculturalism. Venezuela Reframed shows that a considerable part of indigeus activism, aligned with the Bolivarian governments, has paved the way for development in classical, social-democratic terms. It looks at how, in opposition to sectors of the indigeus population fighting for effective automy, many legitimate claims are being usurped to consolidate capitalist relations. Boldly arguing that romanticized tions of cultural indigeneity hide growing class struggle, this book is essential reading t just for those interested in Venezuela, but all those interested in the prospects of democracy, contemporary states and alternatives to capitalism worldwide.
- Author BiographyLuis Fernando Angosto-Ferrandez is a lecturer in anthropology and Latin American studies at the University of Sydney. He has extensive fieldwork experience in Latin America and Spain and has lived, worked and researched in Venezuela for nearly a decade. Recent academic publications include The Politics of Identity in Latin American Censuses (2015) and Democracy, Revolution and Geopolitics in Latin America: Venezuela and the International Politics of Discontent (2014). He has also been a contributor to various media outlets, such as Aporrea.org, Rebelion.org and Theconversation.com.
- Author(s)Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrandez
- PublisherZed Books Ltd
- Date of Publication15/10/2015
- SubjectPolitical Ideologies & Parties
- Place of PublicationLondon
- Country of PublicationUnited Kingdom
- ImprintZed Books Ltd
- Weight431 g
- Width138 mm
- Height216 mm
- Spine138 mm
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Thanks, we'll look into this. | <urn:uuid:6531f6df-db4c-415b-b296-794a0639f54e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.ebay.com.au/p/Venezuela-Reframed-Bolivarianism-Indigenous-Peoples-and-Socialisms-of-the-Twenty-First-Century-by/216794689 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00143-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886634 | 565 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Montessori World Educational Institute
Programs for Teacher and Parents
Diploma, Internship, Examination
Intensive Internship Program
An Internship can be arranged at one of the Montessori World Educational Institute's approved sites. In an internship you will have the opportunity to observe children and trained teachers. Direct training and supervision from the school director and daily discussions and feedback will be provided.*
*The internship is recommended, but not required for a diploma at this time.
Examination for Diploma
Upon satisfactory completion of all curriculum classes and the Home Study in chosen Course of Study, students may apply to take the Diploma Examination. The examination fee ($300.00) is payable before the exam. This extensive exam consists of three parts: 1) a two-hour written examination on Montessori theory and methodology, 2) a comprehensive oral examination requiring precise presentation and use of the teaching materials, and 3) the completion and presentation of required handmade curriculum materials (if not previously approved by curriculum course instructor.)
Most Montessori schools require a teacher to: 1) hold a Montessori diploma, and 2) meet minimum state requirements. Current information on state requirements is available from your state agency.
Notice of Nondiscrimination
The Montessori World Educational Institute admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin or creed to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded to students through the Institute. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin or creed in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, or other Institute administered programs. | <urn:uuid:a8315ce5-8eba-4efa-994b-29d23f4c2579> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://montessoriworld.org/info/Diploma.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570977.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809124724-20220809154724-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.898838 | 333 | 1.78125 | 2 |
§ 2.52 p.m.
§ Lord Evans of Claughton rose to call attention to the urgent need to reform local government, in particular by the introduction of a fairer and more representative method of election; and to move for Papers.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, local government, local democracy and local autonomy in this country are in grave danger, and indeed I believe will be in a state of terminal decline if the Local Government Finance Bill at present before another place becomes law. The danger is not brought about by the folly of local government but by a continuous process of emasculation and erosion by central Government which began with the Local Government Act 1972. It continued with four changes in the rate support grant system which made it extremely difficult for local authorities to come to any assessment about their financial arrangements with the continual changes in the calculation of the method of grant they would receive, and thirdly with many parts of the Local Government Act 1980, which I and several other noble Lords opposed strongly in your Lordships' House.
§ The Layfield Report of 1976 argued that unless positive efforts were made to enhance local government the partnership between central and local government which had operated so successfully for so many years in this country would inevitably break down. How painfully true that prediction has proved to be since that time. Now, local government's limited financial independence is under further threat.
§ Its own tax-raising capacity, the rates, is an unpopular, regressive and inefficient system. It is truly said that the public pays taxes in sorrow and rates in anger, and, if recent events are any guide, supplementary rates in great anger. Yet, in spite of all the unpopularity, rates succeed in raising only about one-third of local government expenditure at this time. The paradox is that, in spite of these problems and these difficulties, and in spite of the apparent public concern, when it comes to elections the public proves to be generally apathetic. Local elections rarely attract 508 more than a 50 per cent. turnout of voters, and an average is about 35 per cent., with many wards falling as low as 15 per cent.
§ Local authorities are continually berated for inefficiency, extravagance and pettifogging bureaucracy. Except in a tiny minority of extremely well publicised cases these criticisms are totally and entirely unjustified. Councils, councillors and council officials do a humane, sensitive and caring job of work in conditions of increasing frustration. Between April 1974 and April 1980 in cash terms central Government current expenditure increased by 133 per cent. while local government current expenditure increased by—I should like to say "only"—104 per cent. In the same period, total Government expenditure has fallen by 1.8 per cent., and, within that figure, local government expenditure has fallen by 21 per cent. while central Government expenditure has increased by 8 per cent. Therefore, the housekeeping record of local government, its financial propriety and financial concern, would stand comparison with any central Government department. In addition, over the same period the rates have continuously risen more slowly than inflation.
I believe that a healthy and responsive system of local government is the cornerstone of democracy in this country. The belief that centralisation is an evil to be opposed whenever possible, that there is an innate virtue in creating and maintaining a local democracy in towns, villages and communities, has been a deeply-held Liberal conviction for many generations, reaching perhaps its finest flowering in the Local Government Act 1894. This was the parish councils Act, which realised in legislative form the philosophy expressed by Alexis de Tocqueville much quoted at that time and still true today:
Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations … A nation may establish a system of free government but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty".
§ Those values are still relevant today not merely in a national but certainly in a European context.
The Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe adopted a draft charter for local self-government in 1981 which states unequivocally:
Powers given to local government shall normally be full and exclusive. They may not be undermined or limited by administrative action on the part of a central or regional authority".
And then another quotation:
Local authorities shall have a general residual right to act on their own initiative with regard to any matter not expressly assigned to any other authority nor specifically excluded from the competence of local government".
Then the final quotation from the same draft report reads:
Public responsibilities shall be exercised by preference by those authorities which are closest to the citizen".
§ This statement might well be read, learned and inwardly digested with great benefit by members of Her Majesty's Government. It restates the historic commitment of my party and, I thought, most, or all, of the parties in this country to the concept of local democracy, local independence, and the idea that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level of government.509
§ I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State for the Environment is said to be re-examining the clauses in the Local Government Finance Bill relating to local referendums in the light of a recent debate in another place. I hope that none of your Lordships is so naive as to believe that removal of that part of the Bill will make the rest of it acceptable; that is certainly not the case on these Benches. I welcome, also, the promised Green Paper on local government finance. It is a great tragedy that legislation was not introduced very soon after the Layfield Report in 1976 to enable local authorities to raise their own revenue, making them less dependent on central Government handouts in the shape of the rate support grant. It is my view, which I have stated frequently in your Lordships' House, that the putting right of the financing of local government is more important than amending the boundaries and structure of local government.
§ I recognise, however, the desire among many local authorities for structural change. In shire counties there is the wish for more responsibility, understandably sought by such proud and historic cities as Bristol and Nottingham, and the desire of metropolitan boroughs in metropolitan counties to opt out of relationship with the metropolitan county. My own Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton (where I understand elections will take place soon) and many other metropolitan boroughs are anxious to opt out of relationship with metropolitan counties and to become all-purpose authorities once again, possibly with joint boards dealing with matters on a county-wide basis. We hear strong rumours that the Secretary of State may actually be taking up the policy that my party has put forward since reorganisation, of dismantling the metro-counties. I hear much concern expressed, too—I was at a meeting this morning with the Welsh authorities—about the remoteness and excessive size of the Welsh counties.
§ All those are matters of great importance to the health, efficiency and good running of local government, though I think none of us could contemplate with equanimity a further fundamental upheaval in local government boundaries until the question of local government finance has been put on a fairer and more efficient basis and, in my belief, until the method of election to local authorities has been fundamentally altered. I shall concentrate my remaining remarks on what I believe to be this essential first step to local government reform, namely, the reform of the method of election to local councils.
§ The present first past the post system of election to local government is a direct cause, in my submission, of many of the evils of local authority representation and certainly encourages an artificial polarisation between central and local government. I do not suggest that the introduction of the single transferable vote system would be a universal panacea for every local government ill, but the case for its introduction at local government level is even stronger, if that were possible, than in parliamentary elections, and the reasons are many, the principal ones of which I will set out.
§ First, local government elections cause far greater anomalies and many more of them than do Westminster elections. For instance, in 1978, no fewer 510 than 10 of the winners in the 36 metropolitan districts won with fewer votes than their rivals. Secondly, a narrow majority of votes is very often translated into an overwhelming majority on the council; for example, in the London Borough of Lambeth, about which we hear a great deal, at the last elections Labour got 48.5 per cent. of the votes and obtained 42 seats, while Conservatives were only just behind in terms of votes received, namely 46.8 per cent., but received only 22 seats for their pains. Perhaps much of the extremism that we have seen in Lambeth—many of the matters about which the Secretary of State has found so much to complain—would not have happened if the first-past-the-post system had not existed in that particular, and many similar, boroughs, because a similar result came out in the Greater London Council elections last May.
§ My next point is the problem caused by the first-past-the-post system in creating a clean sweep in local authorities. A party can win almost all the seats in a local authority with less than half of the votes. For instance, at the last elections in Islington, Labour obtained 49 per cent. of the votes and got 50 seats, and the Conservatives got 38.2 per cent., a respectable score, but got only two seats. There is something grotesquely wrong with an arrangement that produces that kind of result, and I could quote many other examples.
§ The result of the imbalance is that there is on those authorities no effective opposition. However good the one or two people elected in opposition, compared with perhaps 50 in control, they cannot be an effective opposition; they cannot man the committee benches and they cannot create an efficient and competent opposition to the party in control. And it is an established rule, which I think all your Lordships accept, that Governments benefit from strong and healthy opposition, and in my submission local government is no exception.
My next point is the question of corruption. Some years ago we could hardly pick up our newspapers without seeing that some member of some local authority was being tried for some form of corruption, and the Royal Commission on Standards of Conduct in Public Life in 1974 found:
The local authorities most vulnerable to corruption have tended to be those in which one political party has unchallenged domination".
§ That is a very important point, and that danger must remain so long as this system of elections subsists.
§ My next point for criticising the present system is that it exacerbates the national division between parties. Because the anomalies of the present system benefit the strongest party in any area, this country looks far more divided than it is, exaggerating rather than mitigating the social and geographical divisions that exist. The present system, coupled with the abolition of the aldermanic benches, with which my party agreed, exaggerates swings under the present system of first past the post elections against Governments in mid-term local elections. I apologise for again referring to Islington but it provides the best example. In 1964, Islington Council was 100 per cent. Labour. In 1968 the Conservatives took control. In 1971 every single Conservative seat was lost and Labour took over 100 per cent. control again. Is 511 that, can that, be healthy for local government, for continuity of policies and ideas and a useful discussion of the needs of the people in a particular area?
§ That kind of clean sweep or swing against the Government often results in severe conflicts between local authorities and the central Government, whoever they happen to be. A Labour-controlled local authority perhaps elected more recently than the Government, with its grossly inflated majorities produced by the first-past-the-post system, may well claim that it has a mandate to refuse to implement Government policies. Similarly, with a Labour Government in office, Tory councils might well defy the Government's rules. We can all remember—it is still occurring—the endless conflict about comprehensive education and the 11-plus, which does not benefit the quality of education in the particular areas, but merely causes terrible uncertainty for children and their parents. This is a very serious criticism not only of local government, but of the method of election. It creates cynicism, dissatisfaction, contempt, and indeed derision among the electors more often than is good for government in this country.
§ You see, my Lords, of the 14 authorities named by the Secretary of State for the Environment for flouting requests to contain expenditure, 10 were grossly unrepresentative, and that again underlines my contention that the present system stimulates conflict and encourages the defiance of Government by local authorities as well as the internal difficulties and the continuing battle between local government and central Government. In the interests of efficiency in local government there should be a partnership, and local government and central Government should not be in constant conflict.
§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, will the noble Lord give way? I am trying to follow his argument, but he began by suggesting that the measures that he proposed would have the effect of increasing the independence of local authorities in relation to the central authority, whereas he now seems to be telling us that when local authorities display their independence there is something wrong about it.
§ Lord Evans of Claughton
No, my Lords, I am not saying that. I am saying that the degree of change that takes place, reflecting the degree of change in the views of the electors, would not be as enormous if we had a system of STV rather than a first-past-the-post system, and therefore the clash between the local authority and the central authority would not be as dramatic as it is at present. There is a very large area in which most councillors and most Governments have broad agreement. Where in a local authority an extremely large majority is created by the present system, there is not merely disagreement, but deliberate —I was going to say "bloody-minded", but I must not use that expression—defiance of reasonable requests from a Government, of whatever political hue. When the local authority behaves in the way that I have outlined, the result is that the Government have to resort, or choose to resort, to powers and administrative procedures and devices in order to control and emasculate local government—which is what we are seeing 512 today. That leads inevitably to a slow, creeping, but continuous, centralisation of local government. The grotesque swings that I have mentioned could not, by definition, occur under a system of the single transferable vote.
I have heard in your Lordships' House and elsewhere debates about the relative merits and demerits of the system of the single transferable vote, and while, understandably, I am an unqualified supporter of the system, I am aware of arguments against it. However, these arguments apply much less to local government than they do to Westminster elections. One of the arguments is that the first-past-the-post system has led to stable government based on one-party rule. Of course that does not apply to local government. Local authorities do not form Governments, but work within statutory guidelines in a committee system. Councillors are elected for fixed terms, and therefore internal rearrangements, or the overthrow of the party in power, cannot precipitate a general election, as can occur in another place.
Finally, most local authorities have their elections in existing multi-member wards, with perhaps three or six councillors. So the argument that one hears about the special and historic relationship between the member and his constituents would not apply in local authorities as it is alleged to apply in Westminster elections, because in most areas there are already three or six councillors. So the problem would be entirely resolved. There would already be the multi-member wards, and there would be no difference at all in the relationship between the elected councillor and those who elected him.
I should like briefly to summarise what I have said. I believe that whatever one's political views, there is a crisis in local government at the moment. Financial and structural reforms are needed. My submission is that in carrying out those reforms any Government would be irresponsible if it were not to give very serious consideration to introducing a system of the single transferable vote in local elections. I believe that the first experiment in the system was carried out in a local authority in Sligo, and it succeeded so well there that the Republic of Ireland has the system. I would suggest that if the system were introduced in this country, even if only on an experimental basis, it would be found to have such benefits that no Government could resist it being used entirely throughout local government elections. My Lords, I beg to move for Papers.
§ 3.16 p.m.
§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, I am certain that all noble Lords will be grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, not only for placing this subject on the Order Paper but for the very constructive way in which he has introduced it. I have very little difference with the noble Lord in regard to the first part of his speech. My party, for which I speak, has always stressed the vital necessity of partnership between central and local government. I am sure that all noble Lords will agree that a lively and independent local government is absolutely vital to our system of democratic government. Together with the parliamentary system, local government forms the twin pillars which sustain our political democracy. Therefore, 513 I agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has said about the dangerous trend towards centralism, which must be halted if we really want to see even further development of lively local government. There is a tendency for decisions to be taken in Whitehall over and above the desires and needs of the local people, exercised through their representatives.
The noble Lord, Lord Evans, has stressed some of the features of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, with which many of us thoroughly disagreed, and I shall not go over those again. Similarly, we share the noble Lord's concern over the provisions in the new Local Government Finance Bill, and we shall have ample opportunity to discuss them when the Bill comes before the House. Many noble Lords criticised some of these proposals during the debate on the gracious Speech, and I share all the concern that the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has expressed.
Many noble Lords will agree that there is need for some type of reform of our local government structure. The Labour Party did not like the 1974 reorganisation of local government, and nothing that has happened since then has removed our dislike of the present structure, which has brought about a certain remoteness in many areas, as well as destruction of local loyalties and division of the administration of some of the personal services. Having said that, we recognise that any change would undoubtedly bring dislocation and upheaval. Therefore, the matter must be considered very carefully. The utmost thought must be given to any proposal to alter the present local government structure.
As far as the Labour Party is concerned, our general trend is towards a change to most-purpose authorities. If I may say so in passing, when I was our regional secretary in 1958—that is going back a long time—all the Labour-controlled authorities and Labour groups in my area agreed then with the principle of most-purpose authorities. That is 23 years ago. This will bring local government closer to the people, and it will remove some of the remoteness. It will involve a consideration of the position of the counties.
We accept the general principle of most-purpose authorities but this has to be considered with the greatest care, and I want to admit on behalf of my party that we are considering very carefully what should be the ultimate change we should put forward by way of a further reform in the structure of local government, because it goes beyond the present local authorities. There are the ad hoc bodies, the non-elected bodies, which have grown up and which, somehow, ought to be brought within our democratic structure. Certain powers are given to the regional offices of quite a number of ministries, and these powers are exercised. Somehow these offices ought to be brought within our democratic structure.
As far as we can possibly do it, there should be the utmost development of responsibilities falling upon elected people. At one time the Labour Party put forward the principle of elected regional authorities, and, if I may digress, I am one of those who believe that if we had put forward devolution for Scotland and Wales and, at the same time, regional devolution for England, we might have secured a far different position from that which we have now. That is a purely personal view. The general principle of elected 514 regional authorities was not accepted throughout the country, and therefore this is a matter to which we are giving the most serious attention, as to what should be the final form of local government structure that we should propose. It is not a matter which one can easily toss around by sloganising.
I was pleased to hear the noble Lord, Lord Evans, refer to the question of corruption. I was in the fortunate position of being the secretary of a Labour Party committee which dealt with the conduct of the Labour Party in local government, and which issued a very wide-ranging report back in 1975. It was widely publicised, and it dealt with all aspects of the conduct of Labour groups and the conduct of councillors in local government. Paragraph 51 of the report of the Royal Commission on Standards in Public Life, produced in 1976 and to which the noble Lord has referred, stated:We agree with the emphasis that the special committee of the Labour Party placed on the responsibility of local party leaders to ensure proper standards of conduct in their groups. The main parties also have a duty at national level".It went on to say that they appreciated that there were different levels of administration in local parties. But the Royal Commission studied our report and thought we were on the right lines.
The part of the noble Lord's speech with which I cannot find myself in agreement is his proposal for electoral reform. I can understand that there is some concern with certain aspects of our electoral system, but what we must not do is jump at easy solutions. I am not suggesting that the noble Lord is doing this, because he has put forward a constructive case, but there are people who jump at easy, almost popular, solutions of this problem. I must emphasise, despite what the noble Lord has said, that any changes in the local government electoral system must inevitably affect any system that we have for our national elections. I know only too well that if the Labour Party had pushed for a system of electoral reform on a regional basis for the elections to the European Assembly we would have done far better in those elections. But we did not, because once the foot is in the door we open the way to a change in our electoral system for our national elections. We just cannot separate the two.
There are principles involved in the suggested electoral reform which we cannot just toss on one side, because we are concerned not only with any possible change in the electoral system, in electoral democracy, but also with any possible change in our democratic political system, because you cannot divide the two. There has been a considerable amount of talk about a democratic proportional system, but if one looks at this very carefully one sees that the only really democratic proportional system is that which says that if you take 53 per cent. of the votes you have 53 per cent. of the seats. That is an electoral system which is totally democratic. Many continental countries have it, where the political parties are written into their constitution. But we have not got that system.
I was the national agent of the Labour Party, and I know what power such a system would have given those of us who ran the party bureaucracy, because you could administer this system only on a list basis. People would not vote for individuals, people would vote for a party list; and the party bureaucracy would 515 have a great deal of influence as to whether you were first on the list or twentieth on the list. Therefore that system, which could possibly be described as the soundest democratic electoral system on a proportional basis, has very grave dangers. It removes completely any possible influence that personalities and the calibre of individuals would have in local government, and, surely, that is where one would wish to have it as much as in parliamentary elections.
Another way is the exhaustive vote system, which applies particularly in the French elections. This can be justified on the basis that you change your position of voting according to the circumstances in relation to who is dropping out. That is a system one can understand, but I am certain that noble Lords would not feel that that is a system which could be applicable to the United Kingdom.
It is argued that it is unfair for a candidate to be elected on a minority of the votes cast, but some of the electoral reforms which are proposed are not proportional representation systems at all. Some could lead to a candidate with most first-preference votes not being elected because somebody picks up a greater number of second-preference votes. We must ask: Is that fair? Is it democratic that someone who has less first-preferences can finish up being the person elected? That is what could easily happen under the system which has been advanced.
The most favoured system, as the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has said, is the single transferable vote, STV, which provides that preferences after the first achieve equal power to the first preferences. I cannot accept, and my party cannot accept, that, at the end of the day, second, third or even fourth preferences will have as much influence as first preferences. I am certain that cannot be justified as a democratic argument whatever other ground it may be justified upon. Furthermore, it will require larger electoral areas. The noble Lord, Lord Evans, says that we already have them. Of course, in many of the metropolitan districts we vote in yearly elections with only single persons to be elected. in many of the non-metropolitan districts which vote year by year—and, frankly, that is the system I prefer because it avoids the swings—there are single candidates only standing in each year's election where the local authority has opted for yearly elections and not for elections every four years. Therefore, it would require a change to multi-member areas, with the lack of personal attachment to the electoral area.
May I emphasise that, as with national politics, surely the conduct of elections on clear policies is important. We believe in political democracy. Political democracy means that there need to be efficient, healthily functioning political parties. That is part of our political democracy. Even if all the existing political parties went out of existence there would soon be other political parties taking their place, because people would group together to put forward their like views.
With some of the electoral systems that are being proposed as alternatives to our present one there could be concentration on attracting second-preference votes. That seems to me to be obvious: that one will modify one's views in order to try to pick up second- 516 preference votes. Is that healthy? Is that the good political democracy in which we all believe? That could lead to blurring of the issues and programmes. I believe that it is essential for the electors to have a clear opportunity at local elections to vote for a programme and not merely for the whim of a particular individual. There may be disagreement from some noble Lords, particularly from those opposite, but I do not believe that you can have a healthy functioning local government when you have a council of, say, 60 all of whom are independent individuals, all fighting in different ways. Eventually, the electors need to have clear programmes put before them.
Under some of the proposals there could be a system where power eventually was in the hands of a party whose candidates in total had less first-preference votes than another party. How that could be justified on grounds of fairness or democracy I fail to see. We could have a situation also with fringe candidates; and under the SDP system or any other system of that kind extremist candidates could go forward with second-, third- or fourth-preference votes; and they would be the first to be dropped out because they would not poll many votes and therefore the second and third preferences of extremist parties could have a considerable influence in the resulting elections.
Despite how simple it may sound to do away with the present system, we on these Benches believe that we ought to adhere to the present system of first past the post. It has served us well nationally. It allows the elector to have a clear issue. If one attempts to introduce a new system into local government one not only brings in the factors to which I have referred but it would be the thin end of the wedge for bringing them into national elections, with all the resultant consequences of change in the political system which we wish to preserve.
§ 3.32 p.m.
§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, when I read the Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, I speculated as to what general reforms of local government the noble Lord and his political colleagues had in mind. I am bound to say that I suspected that the only point of substance that he would want to put forward would be to bring forward again what I hope he will not mind my describing as the Liberal Party's obsession with fancy forms of franchise. I put that thought from me, as being uncharitable; but I find to my regret, because I am a charitable man, that I was right. Those who listened to the noble Lord's speech, delightfully delivered as it was, will, I think, agree with me that apart from some generalities—and I will not call them platitudes—about the desirability of preserving the independence of local government and a glancing blow at a measure which is at the moment in another place, basically the only practical recommendation which the noble Lord put forward to the House was the introduction into local government elections of the single transferable vote. So far as the mover of this Motion was concerned, that is his idea of what this debate should be about.
If that is so, this debate will not take long. I think that the majority of your Lordships on both sides of the House will agree with me that the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, did a superb demolition job on the 517 single transferable vote. Certainly, he left me with no more to say on that than that I agree wholly with him. As your Lordships know, he speaks with particular authority on these matters, being the former chief agent of one of the major parties in this country with enormously more practical experience of the mechanism of elections than any of the rest of us. I would only add this to what he said: I thought there was a certain contradiction in the argument of the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, that the introduction of this method of election would reduce the chance of clashes between central and local government. Surely, if you have the two layers of government elected on a different basis, then, if the difference in the systems has any effect at all, there will be greater likelihood of a clash. With one set of people elected under one system and another set of people elected under another, the likelihood of a clash, so far from being diminished, is surely increased.
I agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, said about the effect upon the independence of candidates of the adoption of this system quite apart from the inevitable introduction of the party list; and I was delighted to see that the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, dislikes that idea as much as I do. Surely the system must mean that the candidate most likely to be elected is not the man whose appeal is clear-cut, the man whose policies are clearly stated, the man whom the electorate know will do particular things; but the man who is so inoffensive, so colourless, that he does not offend anybody and who therefore gets the later preferences. What we need in local government —and, maybe, in central government—is more people with clear-cut views in which they believe and who are prepared to carry them through rather than more compromisers, more people so afraid of offending sections of opinion that they have no proposals to put forward in the national interest.
I agreed so much with that part of Lord Underhill's speech that I hope he will not mind my saying that in another part he suffered from a slight lapse of memory. In his robust affirmation of the view that local government should not be overridden by central government, he perhaps overlooked the fact that during the previous Labour Government, of which he was so effective a supporter, Mrs. Shirley Williams, who was at that time a Member of the Labour Party, put forward, as Minister of Education, legislation designed to override by force of law the wishes of those local education authorities who desired to retain selective entry grammar schools. She succeeded in compelling some of those authorities to dismantle schools which they wished to preserve and for which they had the highest admiration. Only the decision of the electorate in 1979 prevented her succeeding in destroying the lot. I know that quotation from the past of parties and Governments is an occupation in which we can all indulge, but I could not help reminding the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, of that particular example when he was so clearly affirming the wrongness of overriding local authorities.
§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, I think the noble Lord will recall that this was a clear point in the Labour Party manifesto which led to that decision. It was clearly put to the electors as a vital principle of education.
§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, it was certainly part of the Labour Party policy and I think, insofar as it was confirmed in 1979, it helped to contribute to their defeat. For that reason I hope that they will continue to put it in their manifesto. But that does not get away from the point that under our system of the local administration of education, some local authorities had been elected on the basis of retaining their selective grammar schools—as was the case of the local authority in my own late constituency of Kingston-upon-Thames—and there was here a clear legislative attempt to override local government on a matter within its own administrative sphere. I hope that the noble Lord will bear that in mind when he makes these general statements about overriding local government and when, as perhaps may be the case later this Session, we have to discuss this matter in another context.
As regards the reform of local government generally —to which really the noble Lord, Lord Evans, made no reference, although his Motion does so—I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, that we should proceed very slowly and cautiously about this issue. Changes in local government structure almost always seem to involve greater expenditure. Also, if they are to be of any substantial nature, they should be carried through on the basis of all-party agreement. We are going to get nowhere if a Government of one party make far-reaching changes and the Government of another party seek to alter them. I hope that in this respect—as in respect of other possible changes in our constitution nationally—if there are to be changes of a major character they will be put forward on the basis of a large measure of consensus between the major parties. I would caution that at the moment the important point in respect of local government is not the exact form of the structure but the cost.
The noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, made a gallant attempt to support the concept that local government was economically administered by quoting perfectly properly the fact that the percentage increase in the cost of local government over recent years has been a good deal lower than that of central Government. There are many reasons for that; but what I think the noble Lord omitted to give weight to was that the original take-off point on which those percentages are based is too high. I am sure that our concern in the sphere of local government, while preserving as much of its independence as possible, is to try to secure that those in local government contribute to the general effort which is required in the economic interests of this country to restrain the growth in public expenditure. It is not, in the colloquial sense, a question of cuts. It is restraint in growth. Where we are dealing, as we are dealing with local government expenditure, with approximately 25 per cent. of public expenditure, we are dealing with a very substantial element in this equation.
Here I come to where I have a considerable criticism of the electoral system of local government to which the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, referred. It is the strange fact that in many local authority areas those who contribute the largest proportion of rate payments have no vote. I am referring to industry, commerce and business premises generally. There are many areas in this country where the overwhelming proportion of the rate burden falls on those disfranchised 519 people—disfranchised since very foolishly a good many years ago another Government abolished the business vote.
On top of that it is of course the fact that even among private citizens in most boroughs, in most counties, the majority of the electors are not themselves ratepayers, anyhow. A system such as that is inevitably weighted, however resolute and economy-minded local councillors may be, in favour of increased expenditure. It is a system under which agreeable things can be produced to an electorate, the great majority of whom do not have to pay anything towards them, and indeed a great deal of which is paid by those who are completely disfranchised.
This seems to me to be one of the explanations of the extravagances—and I agree with the noble Lord that they are not universal—for which local government is responsible. The temptation on elected councillors to go for expenditure is very strong indeed and I very much respect those in many boroughs and in all parties who have the courage to resist that temptation. However, we simply cannot get away from the fact that some local authorities' expenditure is really out of hand.
In order that I may not seem to be making a party point, I will quote a Conservative controlled borough, the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in which the rate poundage was increased this year by 52 per cent. over and above that of the previous year. There are Labour-controlled boroughs that can match that unhappy record. That surely indicates that there is something the matter with our system of local government, and I suspect a good deal of that which is the matter is so because the electoral system is so weighted in favour of expenditure.
This is not the occasion—though I understand that there may be one later in this Session—to go into the details of excesses in local government expenditure. I was fascinated to see that the Association of Metropolitan Authorities were apparently spending their ratepayers' money in large advertisements in the newspapers propagating their own particular views on what they believe to be impending legislation. I hope that the district auditor will have a look at the expenditure of the individual authorities within that area to see whether it is not perhaps a matter for an appropriate surcharge on the individuals concerned.
However, we come back to the Motion with which the House has to deal. I wish to leave as my contribution the thought that if we are to continue with the system of rates—and there are strong arguments against so doing—we must review the franchise so that there is no taxation without representation. Those were the words of those who set up the United States 200 years ago and they remain true of any democratic system. You must not be able to tax people unless they have a say in the political process from which that taxation springs.
It may well be that other financial methods may be more suitable. I have always thought that a local sales tax had considerable attractions and much less built-in incentive to expenditure because through a local sales tax almost everybody pays and therefore everybody has some motive for seeking to restrain expenditures from which they may also be benefiting. 520 That is too big an issue with which to detain your Lordships this afternoon. I am sure that it is good that we in this House should be discussing a matter which is of grave concern to a great many of our fellow citizens.
I know that later this session we shall probably be discussing it perhaps in a less restrained and less genial mood than we are this afternoon. I hope that I am wrong about that but it seems to me at least a possibility. I feel that, in a much longer term, we are on to a real point as to the relationship between the financial base of local authorities, the way in which they raise their revenue, and the electoral system under which decisions to raise that revenue are taken.
§ Lord Aylestone
My Lords, I, too, should like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, for choosing this subject this afternoon. He has a considerable experience in local authority work. Mine is considerably less—only a matter of a couple of years before the war. That experience left me with one or two firm views. One—I think it is quite in order for me to mention it in a debate on local authority reform—was the inequality of the system of paying rates or, from the point of view of the local authority, raising rates.
To give an example: two identical houses next door to each other in the same road or street. One occupied by an aged couple, perhaps retired, living on pension; and the other occupied by a middle aged couple with maybe three sons or a daughter or two working. Both pay the same rates. This cannot be right; it cannot be equitable.
The noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, mentioned the fact that businesses are completely disfranchised in relation to paying rates; but so are very many other people. This is, I suppose, an argument for a local authority rates tax. I have not studied that sufficiently to comment on it but I think something needs to be done and maybe there will be an opportunity later in the year when we discuss the impending Local Government Finance Bill. We know very little at the moment of its absolute detail, but as far as we can see at the moment I should think the local authorities' view of the present Government is at an all-time low, judging from the letters received from various local authorities.
I have an interest to declare in this debate in that I am a member of the National Committee for Electoral Reform, and have been for some time. I think one sometimes makes the mistake of thinking of local authorities as miniature parliaments. Perhaps in one sense it is not a mistake because they are a local parliament of some sort but they do not have to function entirely in line with any particular Government and anything that takes away from the local authority the powers it has had over finance or anything else does in fact damage local democracy.
I think one of the ways of putting that right is to ensure that some of the people who serve a local authority well under a different electoral system have a reasonable chance of being re-elected even if the political swings of the day are against them. How often have we seen good local authorities disappear— or a third of them—at an election simply because there is a swing in national politics? That cannot be 521 right and I favour a form of proportional representation, though not necessarily of the kind which was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Evans, or yet AMS. There are many countries in the world who have adopted proportional representation systems which are special for their own country. I know the noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, refers to them as "fancy forms of franchise". But those countries do not think so. They work them and they understand them. I do not think any less of our own people than I do of the people in those countries who understand them and have applied a great deal of thought to them and after perhaps a trial at one or two elections find them quite easy to work.
Our local authorities are composed of well-meaning people, many of them hard-working political individuals and many of them not; although I must admit I am always a little suspicious of those candidates who call themselves "ratepayers" or who canvass under another name. I think that a form of proportional representation, not necessarily the STV, would be rather better than the first-past-the-post system which we now adopt nationally and for local authorities. I would go further and say it would probably work out equally well in national politics, given the chance; but we certainly ought to experiment and we ought to try at local authority level if that is the view of the country.
One can give many examples, as the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has done. I will give one example from my own county of Surrey. Last year in the county council election just over half the votes were polled by the Conservative Party—in fact, 51.5 per cent. of the votes—but that gave them 82.4 per cent. of the seats: 61 seats. Labour have never had a Member of Parliament for Surrey. They do not poll badly and in last year's county council election they got 20.5 per cent. of the votes, which gave them 9.5 per cent. of the seats, or seven seats, as against the Conservatives' 61.
Here again is another anomaly, because the Liberals, having polled more votes than the Labour Party, got three seats less. No one can argue that this electoral system is in any way fair and I see no reason why we should not try PR in areas like that. If one looks at the national position, of course, one can go on and on and it becomes much worse. Glasgow has 13 constituencies, only one of which is held by the Conservative Party; but they got 26 per cent. of the votes in Glasgow and therefore should have been entitled to something like three Parliamentary seats. I know the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, will oppose this. The Labour Party always has and the Conservative Party always has, at official level; but there are very many members of both parties who are prepared to give PR a trial.
Again in Surrey, the position, as I have already said, is that the Labour Party have never had a single seat but they always get reasonably good votes. If one looks overall at the country as to what the view of the country is on PR on an opinion poll—and I will be the first to admit that the answers in opinion polls depend on the questions put—in a 1978 opinion poll, 72 per cent. of Labour voters were in favour of some form of PR for local authorities, 69 per cent. of Conservative voters favoured it and, as was to be expected, 88 per cent. of the Liberals. Everyone who studies 522 election results will know that we have had Governments in this country which have become Governments on the basis of fewer votes overall than those of the main opposition. If one looks at the other side of the coin, you have the position where the opposition have had more votes and remained in opposition and so it goes on.
If one wants to look for examples, there is the Republic of Ireland. People there may be politically conscious, but I think we are too. PR works there extremely well and although the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has mentioned the single transferable vote, I would repeat what I said earlier; there are other systems which could be tried out which would be a matter for the Government of the day. One hears the criticism that proportional representation is too difficult to operate for our electorate. Why? Why are our electors different from those of Italy, France, Switzerland and many other countries? They are not. I should have thought they were equally intelligent; in fact if they can fill out a football coupon many of them can vote for PR.
Again, the noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, made a veiled reference—I hope I am not unfair—to the fact that changes in electoral law are not always welcome. It is true. Of course we did get rid of the business vote and the university vote, but we got nearer, as a result of doing that, to one man, one vote, which to me at any rate is an extremely good principle.
The noble Lord, Lord Underhill, mentioned the privilege which would be in the hands of a national agent who, if the system worked, could in fact so manipulate things that he could put into constituencies the people he wanted there. As an old Chief Whip, I should like to have had that choice myself on some occasions; I am not sure that the Labour Party would not like it at the present moment. I was reminded while the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, spoke of a happening—I hope it is true—concerning a former colleague of his (a national agent no longer with us) being telephoned one morning, and the message went something like this:Our good colleague, the Member of Parliament for so and so, has died. May I take his place?The national agent's reply was:Yes, if you can fix it up with the undertaker".There is privilege in the hands of national agents. There is privilege in the hands of Chief Whips. We know that. But we do not think that any of them operate the system so badly, and we do not think that they will operate it any differently if we have a new system. I am sure that if, as a trial, we adopted a system of proportional representation for local elections, it could prove to be one of the best moves we have made in this field, and it would give local government an opportunity of having, sitting on their councils, a more numerically accurate view and representation of the people whom they seek to represent.
§ 4.1 p.m.
§ Lord Thorneycroft
My Lords, I also wish to thank the noble Lord, Lord Evans, for introducing this debate in a speech of a great deal of quiet common sense. Indeed, I had the embarrassment of finding myself, at too frequent intervals, somewhat in agreement with 523 what he was saying—not, let me hasten to add, on the electoral system. We are not debating a Bill, we are not debating a Green Paper and we are not making a decision, We are having a debate about a very important topic. I should like to put a proposition, with which I think the noble Lord would agree. The proposition is that a powerful and effective local government is a crucial part of the constitution of this country. If we could start from that position, we should perhaps get a little nearer to agreement.
Power in this country rests upon a directly elected House of Commons, and I share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, and my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter that it should continue to rest in the hands of a directly elected House of Commons. It is no part of my wish to see that weakened or blurred in any way. I would not wish to see proportional representation introduced there. I would say this to my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter. I quite agree that he and the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, have smashed the case for PR. But I have pondered what would happen to the Social Democratic alliance if it were introduced. They are not even agreed about the form that it would take. But if it were introduced immediately after they were put into power, the alliance would split from top to bottom. They are already divided into a kind of upstairs-downstairs compartment, and do not tell me that, if they all had the opportunity to stand against each other, the Liberals of the West of England would sit down with Social Democratic candidates, after introducing a system especially designed to enable them to play their part. So there are aspects of the matter which should not be lightly dismissed by my noble friend.
A powerful House of Commons must be buttressed, on the one hand, by a strong local government and, on the other hand, by an effective and strong second Chamber. At this moment, these aspects of the constitution are not, to my mind, in a very happy condition. I would not say a word against Her Majesty's Government—my noble friend Lord Bellwin knows me too well for that—but I am bound to tell him that, if you canvass opinion at all widely in this country at the moment, you will find there are very few of those with any knowledge at all of local government, who do not take the view that it is the purpose of Her Majesty's Government greatly to erode their powers. I do not think my noble friend would quarrel much with that expression of opinion, and I think the Government must work extremely hard to counter that general view in the country.
There are others, who do not include either the noble Lord, Lord Evans, or the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, who want to make fundamental structural changes. Their views are widely canvassed in the Social Democratic Party; it is called decentralisation, regional government and the rest. That would be a very major change indeed, and we ought to be extremely careful —and I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, on this matter—before we embark on any course of that kind. Then there is the Labour Party which wishes, quite simply, to abolish the House of Lords.
I regard this situation in the country as a dangerous one, because, from one quarter or another, I see threats to all the built-in safeguards to the exercise 524 of power in this country. I would say to my leaders in the Government here, that if the Conservative Government in the second half of this Parliament could concentrate upon strengthening local government and, so far as possible, putting in some built-in safeguards, as well as strengthening the House of Lords, they would be taking two forms of action which could pay very substantial dividends for all parties, and for this country, in the years to come.
I accept that there are many faults in local government. I am bound to say I do not think it is true that local government's handling of its affairs, from a financial point of view, is any worse than that of central Government. I accept that one can debate the actual figures, but it is certain that all over this country at the present time, with all the difficulties that are going on, there are thousands of men and women, some officials in local government and some elected members of local government, who are playing an enormously important part in the way our affairs are conducted.
Of course this system is abused and, like all systems, is is wide open to abuse. I must tell the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, that I am afraid it is abused fairly widely in certain—though not, by any means, in all— Labour-controlled areas, such as the West Midlands, Manchester and London. I do not think anybody who is a democrat, looking at those areas, would say that the system is being run rightly. The method of abuse is quite simple. What you do is you raise the rates, you absolve as many of your own supporters as you can from paying the rates, you bleed white the industries that are there, even though you may destroy the city centre in the process, and you employ as many men, tied voters, as you can in the service of the local authority.
That in broad terms is the technique. It is now brilliantly exploited in many parts of the country, particularly in Manchester and, deplorably, in Sheffield. Many of these proud corporations, such as Sheffield, for year after year were governed by the old Labour Party, and governed very well. Some of the Labour members there are as depressed as I am at the prospect and sight of what is happening at the present time in those areas. Men are ashamed of what they see. But it would be wrong to judge the whole of local government on those examples.
To come nearer home to London, I played a part with Horace Cutler in fighting very hard on the slogan, "Keep London Out of the Red", which the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, will remember. Noble Lords will recall that we argued, as best we could, that if the election was won by Labour it would not be the old Labour Party, which I knew and respected, with men like Herbert Morrison with whom I was brought up. We said that the Labour Party would be taken over very quickly by the extreme Left. The only thing was that they were taken over more quickly than I had expected. The senior and respectable figures running ILEA were dismissed. People who were utterly unfit, I should have thought, to conduct the education of anybody were put in charge of the education of the children of London. Ken Livingstone—it is not necessary to comment on him, but I myself would not regard him as a person particularly suitable for governing the capital—was very rapidly put in charge.
525 I deplore these events. I cannot look at what took place with any joy, but I do not look to an Act of Parliament to put it right. That is the last thing I wish to see—even by the judgments of Lord Denning. (I treat this with great respect as it is subject to appeal.) Within the narrow context of what is within or outwith the statute, well and good, but it touches only the fringe of the fundamentals of what is really going on in London. Nor do I look to electoral reform. I would say to the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, that there is still a perfectly practical and very vigorous opposition. The answer is that we lost the election, but in a democracy it is possible to lose elections. If you lose at one time, the answer is to do better the next time. We lost—true, with a minority of people voting. The answer is to persuade more of them to vote.
Already democracy is working. Already one Labour councillor has resigned, fought an election as a member of the Social Democratic Party and thrashed the official Labour nominee in his own constituency. That is what democracy in this country is about—not fiddling the thing round or trying to correct events by Acts of Parliament which are specially aimed at situations of that kind.
It may be said that all this is well enough but that local government spending is too much and that the system of financing is unfair. This is probably to some extent true. I would say to the Government that before one acts in these difficult areas one really has to think most deeply about where one is going. Talk goes on about freezing the business rates. It sounds wonderful, but who then pays? The domestic ratepayers then pay and you end up in a worse position than the one you started in. Or people talk about abolishing the rates. My noble friend Lord Bellwin knows that I have always thought that this is a most incredible thing to say until one has thought out what one is going to put in their place. If you abolish the rates and put taxation in their place, it results in .8 billion on top of the tax bill. This is difficult if a Government are trying to reduce taxation, and it is the end of local government as we know it in this country.
These are the realities. These are the fundamentals of local government. Therefore it is necessary to consider very carefully what can be put in place of the existing rating system—though not, I think, another inquiry. Layfield went into the matter with tremendous thoroughness. There is great knowledge in Government, in all parties, on this subject.
What, then, are the objectives—short-term and longterm—which we should go for? The short-term objective of the Government, I understand, is the control of Government spending. Obviously we control the grant which we pay. I am not talking about punitive control. I am talking about the ordinary control of the grant which we pay. This we have always been able to do. So far as I understand it, we control capital expenditure. Certainly the Secretary of State for the Environment was demonstrating this very clearly the other day. It is the control of current expenditure above that level and raised by rates which is in question.
It may be very bad that people spend too much money. I certainly dislike high rates. I need a bit 526 of persuading that current expenditure matched by rates has any effect upon the public sector borrowing requirement (I am bound to say I find it frightfully difficult to see how it could) or upon M3, or upon any other of the local gods who run around at the present time. At least let us be clear what it is that we are trying to correct. If this is something fundamental to the British economy let us say so and let us be made to understand it. If it is merely the overspending by authorities—the raising of rates, which I am as keen to oppose as anybody else—let us say that, because the measures one adopts in these two different circumstances can be very different indeed.
In the longer term I assume that our objective is that we should seek to see that all voters pay something towards the cost of what they are voting for. We want to see that this is as fairly balanced throughout the voting population as can be contrived. It is to that that I think we should give our mind—not at this moment, at any rate, by changes in the electoral system which, though interesting, divert us from these fundamentals, not by uprooting the whole system and starting once again, attractive though these ideas may be. All of us, of whatever party we belong to, have got enough on our plates at present in local government without taking on any more. I am, as the House may know, a conservative. I believe in conserving local government. I believe in conserving what we have got and making the best of it. Above all, I believe in conserving the interests, the energies, of the thousands of men and women who are working today on that side of our affairs.
§ 4.17 p.m.
§ Lord Hill of Luton
My Lords, it will, I know, sound pedestrian after so powerful a speech as the one to which we have just listened and in a debate so admirably opened by the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, which led inevitably and properly to an emphasis on the electoral system aspect of the subject which he raised, but I want to follow one point (which I shall do briefly) that he raised in the first half of his speech in relation to needed local government reform. Let me say at once that I hope that whenever a useful reform is under consideration we shall not for years ahead be confronted by the argument that we cannot afford it. However, there is one aspect of the changes which came into operation in 1974 that I think demands early attention: the decision to destroy county boroughs in the medium sized towns—in other words, to depart from a unitary system to a divided system. I believe that over the years the evidence has accumulated that that system is not working well, is not serving the community well— indeed, is proving confusing and difficult and is tending to be destructive of the confidence of ordinary people in the local government machine.
I know that changes in the system may from time to time be made, but I want to concentrate on the division that was established by that Act. The ordinary citizen goes to his town hall, perhaps because he is concerned over a housing problem, or a home help problem, or a host of other problems such as danger to his property from a proposed traffic development. Before 1974 he might not have been satisfied with the answer he was given but almost always he got that answer at the town hall. Now what is he told? "Go 527 to the county hall"—often miles away. Or, "Go to the local sub-office of the county". He is so often put off and sent to so many places that it is not surprising that he tends to regard local government officers as bureaucrats who do nothing but push him along the machine rather than meet his request for help.
I intend to be very brief but I hope that nothing that is said about the difficulties and dangers of reform, the need to think out everything with great care, will prevent a re-examination of the decision to destroy those county boroughs. I know it is a long time ago, but I once worked in a county borough; I was deputy medical officer of health for Oxford and I saw it at work—a town of 75,000 with a complete range of services, including an infectious disease hospital, tuberculosis hospitals, a general hospital, housing, the whole lot; and it worked exceedingly well. I do not pretend that it should have continued unchanged. I do not think that county boroughs were appropriate as hospital authorities and I believe that the solution that was produced, with great credit, by Nye Bevan—the solution of the hospital service removed from local government —was the right one. But I have no doubt from my experience, long ago as it was, that that system works exceedingly well, particularly from the point of view of the members of the community. So I would ask that this is not lost sight of and that an examination is made, bearing in mind not only whether it suits the authority but whether it suits the members of the public it is supposed to serve.
One last thought came to me while the noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, was speaking. I think that since the war—and I speak of all inside politics and outside politics—we have all been a bit bemused by and a bit reverent to certain words—"co-ordination", "correlation", "economies of size" the merits of the big organisation over the small. Many of the arguments have been rumbled, even though we may ourselves have listened to them with sympathy, or even used them, in the past. Bigness is now seen as the source of more troubles than it solves. There is a desire to look afresh at local government as well as to every other development in our social life. We have been deluded by ourselves too long to believe all these ideas about collaboration, co-ordination, and so on.
Let us look at the situation afresh and at this particular part of local government structure, which is only seven years or so old; at the destruction of the unitary authority for medium towns, which was the county borough, and the development that we now have in its place. It is something that is far less satisfactory to the people it seeks to serve. When the people are dissatisfied with an organisation they tend to blame individuals, and I believe local government suffers from a criticism that rightly belongs to those who created the administrative structure in which local authority works.
§ 4.24 p.m.
§ Lord Holderness
My Lords, I want briefly to support that part of the case of the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, which related to electoral reform in local government. In doing so I am sorry, but not wholly surprised, to find myself in conflict with my noble 528 friends Lord Thorneycroft and Lord Boyd-Carpenter, with whom on almost every other subject I am virtually in complete agreement. For several years before I left another place, and particularly after my membership of the commission chaired by my noble friend Lord Blake, I became convinced that the case for changing the method of electing Members of Parliament was strong; the case for electing Members of the European Parliament by some kind of proportional representation was stronger, and the case for electoral reform in the field of local government was the strongest of all.
The noble Lord, Lord Aylestone, has already pointed out the situation in parliamentary elections—and there have been two fairly recent experiences: in 1951 and then the first election of 1974 when the party that won in terms of seats had received the fewer popular votes. Those are two examples in 30 years. Examples of this kind of anomaly in the field of local government are, as the noble Lord, Lord Evans, pointed out at the beginning of our debate, far more frequent and he also drew attention, as did another noble Lord, to other anomalies which have occurred where the proportions of votes and seats are wholly unmatched; and they both pointed out that there are parts of the country where the winner takes all, or nearly all, and the loser is barely represented.
I find it difficult to understand, particularly after listening to the speeches of such lovers of democracy—and I am not in the least being insincere—as the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, and my noble friends, that they can take the view that these whimsical results of our present electoral system do not make a nonsense of the concept of democracy as we understand it and which most of us very sincerely support. Indeed, I hope most of us in your Lordships' House do so. Most of us also dislike the idea of one-party government and I hope that, even without a reform of the electoral system which elects another place, we shall succeed in avoiding an elective dictatorship by one party in another place. But in many areas of local government the virtual rule by one party is distressingly common.
In spite of what the noble Lord, Lord Evans, said at the beginning of our debate, I never cease to be amazed by the determination of thousands of voters at local government elections—and indeed millions of voters at parliamentary elections—who are well aware as they go about their business of voting that their activity on polling day will not make any difference whatsoever to the eventual result; I admire even the 15 per cent., the 30 per cent. or the 50 per cent., which he mentioned who vote in local government elections, a large proportion of whom realise that their vote will make no difference at all.
Among many others, no doubt, I deeply regretted the almost universal introduction of party politics into local government. I think we all realise that there are a number of local issues that properly reflect the national divisions between political parties, but there are a great many issues which do not reflect those divisions at all and to my mind the development of voting under strict party discipline and of elections on rigid party lines are unhealthy changes since the end of the last war.
Nevertheless, I believe it wise to try to be realistic, and it is certainly realistic to accept that party politics 529 in local government is here to stay and it is probably more constructive to look for ways to try to remove the rougher edges of the local party battle in order to encourage—and indeed to compel—the greater degree of co-operation between the parties on which good local government is bound to depend. I believe this will happen only when elected councillors have a greater responsibility towards all the electors who vote in local government elections and not merely to that section of the electorate whose votes lead to their victory. I do not believe we shall see such a healthy growth in responsibility without some reform of the electoral method.
The noble Lord, Lord Underhill, and my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter made what seemed to be criticisms of a list system. The system suggested for this part of our electoral activity by the noble Lord, Lord Evans, was not a list system; it was the single transferable vote, and this is the system which I believe would make sense in local government elections. It is often criticised, as the noble Lord, Lord Aylestone, said, for its complications and its alleged incomprehensibility, but I believe that its difficulties, if such there be, are for the experienced and trained counters of votes rather than for the voters themselves. As the noble Lord, Lord Aylestone, said, anyone who can fill in an approved form would surely not find it very difficult to express a preference for Mr. A over Mr. C or Mr. C over Mrs. B and so on. This does not seem to be a very great difficulty for an intelligent electorate.
I believe that a more serious objection against the single transferable vote, certainly in the case of parliamentary elections, is the large size of constituencies that would be involved, and the constituencies would naturally be far larger in the case of elections to the European Parliament. But, as the noble Lord pointed out, multi-member wards, as we all know, are already an accepted feature of local government, and it is surely there that the single transferable vote will much more easily replace the present system with its, in my opinion, wholly undemocratic results. Therefore, I hope that my honourable friends and Her Majesty's Government will recognise that the arguments for a change in the method of local government elections are stronger than in any other area, because it is here that the need is greatest and it is here that the present anomalies are far the most disquieting. I hope that we shall at least be given the assurance that the arguments will be seriously considered. As many noble Lords have already pointed out, local government has had and is having to bear at present a great many burdens, and I believe that electoral reform is one method by which those burdens can be perceptibly lightened.
§ 4.33 p.m.
§ Lord Houghton of Sowerby
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, said a few moments ago, we are not yet discussing a Bill on local government finance, nor are we discussing a Green Paper on the options we may have on local taxation. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to avoid anticipating them in at least some respects.
I am rather surprised that, with all the experience of local government on these Benches here, only the 530 noble Lord, Lord Underhill, and myself have volunteered to come forward to speak in this debate. Probably my noble friend Lord Underhill is less of a volunteer than I am, because he is our Front Bench spokesman.
§ Lord Houghton of Sowerby
My Lords, I have never disagreed more with our Front Bench spokesman than I have disagreed with him this afternoon. Indeed, we have some curious alliances going on here today. When my noble friend is taken to the bosom of the noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, and embraced by the noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, I begin to think there is something wrong somewhere. I do not propose to be embraced by anybody except the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, with whom I find myself in such warm agreement.
Perhaps I may say how intrigued I am to be followed in this debate by the noble Duke, the Duke of Portland, because when I first became a junior tax officer in the Mansfield tax office one of the first jobs I was given to do was to examine the property maintenance claim for taxation purposes of the Welbeck Estates. This was an enormous job, because it was an enormous estate, with a gigantic rent roll which, in the astronomical figures of the day, was beyond my wildest dreams. I remember the noble Duke's agent, T. Warner Turner; I remember that man; I remember his authoritative signature and I remember the standing he had in the locality. In fact, I was dealing with the property maintenance claims of quite a number of noble Lords who then occupied luxurious accommodation in what was called The Dukeries. Well, that is a personal reminiscence which I hope the House will permit me. After all, these things do come back, and from then until now I never ever thought that I should be followed in a debate in your Lordships' House by the Duke of Portland.
To return to the serious business, I think there are two issues affecting local government which come to the fore; one is the franchise and the other is finance. I do agree with the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, and the noble Lord, Lord Aylestone, that some change in the electoral system is really imperative, for a large number of reasons which I think it would take too long to dwell upon this afternoon. Let me mention one of them. I served on the Salmon Commission on Standards of Conduct in Public Life. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Salmon, was in his place a little earlier this afternoon. One thing we found was the danger of corruption in the 100 per cent. controlled local authorities. There were numerous examples of that following upon the Poulson scandals, which really led to the appointment of the Royal Commission in the first place.
There should be an electoral system which breaks up the monopoly control by one party in the local authority when there is a substantial vote against that party at the polling stations. We had councils where minorities of quite substantial numbers had no representation on the local authority at all. We heard evidence of the aggressive behaviour of monopoly power on councils which had had one-party rule year after year, almost decade after decade. That 531 was not democracy. They were not people of clear-cut independent views. If you had a clear-cut independent view, you were not part of the majority power and you failed at the next election, even if you were not ejected before that. What chance has the clear-cut independent member got in local government elections today? In many areas, very little indeed. We hear talk about lists; there are lists now. That is one of the dangers of the present system—that if you are on the list you may get elected, and others do not come in at all. So I think that the franchise is a serious matter and cannot be brushed aside.
I know what the Labour Party feel about this. They were against proportional representation for European elections, not because they were against it for those elections, because all the other countries in the European Economic Community were adopting the same system: their fear was that it was the thin end of the wedge, and my noble friend said as much this afternoon. When the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, pleads for some change in the electoral system for local government, probably apart from the need for a change in the electoral system for central government, he is overlooking the fact that my noble friend Lord Underhill, representing the authentic voice of the Labour Party, will in fact be more afraid of introducing any change in the first-past-the-post system for local government, on the ground that it would be the thinner or thicker end of the wedge. That is what they are anxious to prevent.
I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, that in local government the citizen is closer to the elected representative over a wider area of important matters of concern to him—his environment and what he sees as he goes about the town. Indeed, local matters occupy a great deal of space in newspapers and excite a great deal of controversy and emotion. Therefore, I am strongly in favour of a change in the electoral system. There are methods which can be adopted which will be better than having an electoral system—which we have at present—which can sweep one party wholly out of office and another party wholly in on a marginal change in the attitude of the local electors as a body. That, think, is very important.
In passing, I ask why is it necessary to talk of a referendum to decide on a matter of local government policy? I shall tell your Lordships: it is because there is not sufficient confidence in the representativeness of the local authority under the existing electoral system. They want to go beyond the elected representatives to the voters directly because they will not accept the judgment of the voters or the will of the voters expressed through the existing electoral system. If we had an electoral system which produced a more representative form of government for local authorities there would not be any need to have a referendum, certainly not on a narrow issue affecting the level of rates.
I shall leave the matter of the franchise because I do not want to take up too much time and I shall move on to deal with finance. I think that rates as a form of taxation are now too high to rest upon the principle which was good enough when they were introduced; namely, a tax on the occupation of land and premises. That is too narrow a base now for taxation in view of the level which rates have now reached. As the noble 532 Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, pointed out, many who have votes do not pay; others who have enterprises pay, but have no votes. The noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, emphasised that point too. It is one of the fundamental rules of taxation that those who can vote for it should pay their share towards it or be exempted on grounds which are approved for exemption and are not the technical grounds of whether they occupy a particular premises or not: it must be based on something more relative and more fair, applying the principle of ability to pay.
Therefore, I certainly think that rates must be looked at, although I confess again that I served on the Royal Commission on the Constitution and we looked long and hard at alternatives to the rating system and were not impressed with what we looked at, certainly not as regards local taxation or, for example, local income tax. However, much water has flowed under the bridge since than and I think that we must wait and see what the Government can produce in the Green Paper.
I should like to mention one other matter. I think that something should be done to assist the candidature of those who wish to offer themselves for election at local government level. Those councillors are unpaid; they cannot save money out of their stipends or expenses; in many cases they do not have the type of wholehearted backing of adequately financed local parties to give them the resources they need to put their case before the public. I thought that the Committee on Aids to Political Parties, of which I was chairman, did put in a pretty good recommendation on assisting both parliamentary and local government candidates with their expenses up to one half of the permitted maximum if they gained enough votes to save their deposit—that would be one-eighth of the votes cast. Such a proposal would be some incentive to candidates to stand for election if they felt that they had enough local support to justify their candidature.
As regards the general framework of local government, I do not think that we can begin to pull that to pieces yet. Indeed, 1974, in terms of experience of a drastically changed structure of local government, was not so long ago. I think that we must wait for the terrible year of 1984—when disaster is likely to befall all and sundry including Her Majesty's Government—and give 10 years to our existing local government structure before we can begin to examine it with any hope of getting a better judgment for the future.
In my old constituency of Sowerby I had six local authorities and at local elections they nearly all had a higher poll—a much higher poll—than county boroughs in the neighbourhood like Halifax and elsewhere. I put that down to the fact that there is a good deal of local loyalty; politics obtruded far less on the elections in local authorities in my constituency than in many others; and there was a feeling that they were electing people with a point of view not too hidebound by their known or unknown political bias. I think that the new local government arrangements have deprived the area of something of that quality of local government.
In general, I am in favour of more democracy even at the expense of efficiency. That is probably a wild statement to make, because inefficiency can really be a bad thing in local government as elsewhere. But to have local government which becomes a bureaucracy, 533 however efficient, will be to lose a great deal of its response to the will, the enthusiasm and loyalty of the local electors.
This has been a wide-ranging debate and as the noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, has said, we are neither debating things that have come before us nor have we a Motion that will register a decision. All I can suggest to the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, is that he should ask for those Papers—what a big bundle they would be!
§ 4.48 p.m.
§ The Duke of Portland
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Houghton of Sowerby, began his speech, which was listened to with great interest, by mentioning his task as an inspector of taxes when he had to deal with the taxation of the Welbeck Estates. I wish to take the opportunity to mention that not one penny has come to me from the Welbeck Estates. I should like to mention that, otherwise I fear that this forthcoming week my postbag will be heavier than usual with requests for donations which I shall, with reget, be unable to fulfil.
I venture to remind your Lordships that at the last election of the Greater London Council the Conservative Party received 39§8 per cent. of the votes, but only 41 seats. The Labour Party received 41§8 per cent. of the votes and 50 seats. The Liberals obtained one seat. If the election had taken place with proportional representation, the Conservatives would have had 43 seats; Labour, 45 seats; and the Liberals, plus, perhaps, the Social Democrats, four seats. Thus, with proportional representation, Mr. Kenneth Livingstone and his caucus would not have enjoyed complete freedom for their pernicious activities.
§ 4.49 p.m.
§ Lord Sefton of Garston
My Lords, I apologise for not having put my name down on the list of speakers in this debate, but I abstained for a specific purpose. I thought that, with all the varied experience of the speakers this afternoon, the points which I wished to make would be made and I was reluctant to delay the rising of the House beyond a reasonable time, particularly in view of the event that will take place on television at 7.30, which I am sure will interest your Lordships.
I am stunned into making a contribution to the debate—as I suppose I could be termed a volunteer—and to follow the noble Lord, Lord Houghton, because of his reference to the question of corruption in local government. Anyone sitting in our Galleries or listening to the debate—and I very much think that tomorrow the papers will pick up the question of corruption in local government and highlight that as part of the debate—would have come to the conclusion that, perhaps in local government more than in any other activity in this country, did corruption reign, and in particular in those authorities with a monopoly of power. I consider that to be a defamation of a band of well-intentioned, hard-working and sincere members of local authorities.
Was there no corruption in the Civil Service? Was there no corruption in the police force in the Metropolitan area? Was there no corruption on the 534 Benches of the House of Commons? Was there no widespread corruption throughout the private sector, which ultimately led to the downfall of a political leader in a certain part of this country, at which I have no doubt that some Members of this House were hinting? Is it not a fact that of all the corruption that has existed and been exposed in the corporate life of this nation, that which can be attributed to local government is very insignificant indeed? And it is: it is a very insignificant proportion of some of the evil forces that are wandering through our nation. I utterly and completely resent and reject the concept that corruption has become so widespread because of the monopoly of power of one political party in a local authority. The whole of those local authorities were not corrupt, but just one or two men—one bad apple in a full barrel—and the rest were perfectly upstanding men and women, who had probably given their lives to the service of local government.
I think that we should stop this defamation of councillors. I am a volunteer now because I received—as no doubt other vice-presidents of the AMA received—a briefing by the AMA. My noble friend Lord Evans referred to the question of erosion of power. According to the AMA, it seemed to start in about 1974. The AMA specifically says that it started in 1974 and in this last decade there has been an erosion of power "beginning in 1974". I quote from their brief. Nothing could be further from the truth. The erosion of power began long before that—and mark this—partly due to the fault of local government. It began when the services that were being carried out by local authorities were no longer applicable to the kind of areas that they governed.
Before the war it was becoming quite apparent—and did become apparent—that the manufacture and generation of electricity and the distribution of gas and these networks, some of which were carried out by local authorities, were not suitable to be carried out by the local authorities whose area covered only a small part of the operational area. So they were taken away. That situation also applied to hospitals, the training of nurses and the training of doctors. It became necessary to take that function away from local authorities and to put it in the hands of someone else.
That is where the erosion started. It started simply because local government at that time would not face the practicalities of life, would not change and adapt to meet the new challenges. Perhaps I could take a much closer example and one that is more current. Why were the watch committees abolished? Why did there occur the erosion of power from local authorities in the conduct of our police force activities in such a splendid and glorious way for such a long time? It took place because some local authorities did not have the ability or willingness to see that no longer in a modern age could police forces be utilised in a sensible fashion on the basis of the old boroughs, for which we have had such a wonderful appeal. The Police Act 1964 came 10 years before the date for the erosion of power as laid down by the AMA. But in specific terms it certainly began the erosion of power that has now led to all the discontent that exists on Merseyside, in Brixton and elsewhere. The reason—and I repeat it—was because of the desire of certain local authorities 535 to retain their organisation, which had become an end in itself.
I completely and utterly support my noble friend Lord Underhill when he says that if we talk about government of a country and of our community, the major question to look at is that of all the ad hoc bodies which are controlling our affairs, the affairs that matter. We must examine them to see how we can introduce a democratic element into the administration of those affairs. Let me give an example. During the winter on Merseyside we have a tremendous problem of people suffering from hypothermia. Only thousands of pounds could save many, many lives. Of course, on Merseyside we are subject to the dictates, for example, of the North-West Water Authority. The water authority may well decide that out of public funds they would take £2 million towards the cleaning up of the Mersey, and within their terms of reference they are perfectly entitled to do so. But, in the language of Merseyside, it is a cockeyed way of deciding priorities if one public authority decides to spend £2 million on cleaning up the Mersey, from which no one would die, and the health authority is starved of a few thousand pounds to alleviate the problem of hypothermia.
Yet if one looks at the structure that has been built up to govern these facilities one finds no democratic input. The final priority decision is probably taken by the Treasury on the basis of sheer hard cash. Is there not a case for saying that in determining priorities within a national budget, within the locality there should be means by which the democratic structure should feed into these bodies the wishes of the people in the locality? I say no more than that. It is obvious that there is such a need, because that is the real reason why local government is in disrepute; that is the real reason why sometimes only 25 per cent. of the population bother to go out and put a cross on a ballot paper. It is because they no longer believe that local government is relevant to how they earn their living. Somehow some measures must be adopted to bring back that relevance. It is perhaps the most important point to be debated.
When we talk about the question of devolution—real devolution, devolution of power that will control priorities between spending authorities—it is a nonsense to talk about it on the basis of arbitrary boundaries which were probably laid down hundreds of years ago merely because a boundary of a local authority ran alongside a hedge or a stream. It becomes more ludicrous when you talk about devolution to a place like Wales, and you think that the area around Cardiff is more socially and economically inclined to the south of England, and the area around Flint, Mold and North-East Wales has an identity of interest with Merseyside. To talk about the economic planning of North Wales and still leave the boundary of Wales across it is a nonsense, and the sooner we face that the better and reject completely and utterly the idea that because a boundary was laid down by some warring factions a few hundred years back, we should still retain that boundary for the operation of local government. If we do not throw it away, we shall never get a proper redistribution of powers.
The question of PR. I will not say that this is a 536 hoary old subject, but it is a subject that the Liberals have adopted for a few years. Somebody said somewhere that patriotism is the refuge of the scoundrel. Perhaps PR is the refuge of those who cannot get power any way other than through PR. But it will not work. I saw the noble Lord, Lord Evans, nodding in agreement with my noble friend Lord Underhill when he said that the idea of PR was that if you got 53 per cent. of the votes of the electorate you could have 53 per cent. of the power in the council or an area of government. If one looks at the biggest district council on Merseyside one can see that that is pretty well reflected. The membership on the benches of the Liverpool City Council has a closer relationship to the number of votes cast for each individual than perhaps any other district council. I am glad to see that the noble Lord, Lord Evans, agrees with me.
So we have achieved what we would have achieved through PR. My goodness, what have we achieved? There was a period in Liverpool when it was ungovernable. There was a period in Liverpool of several months with the Liberal Party the majority party, where in fact the conduct of the city was in the hands of the local government officers. Now is that a good argument for PR? The truth is that if the Liberals and the Social Democrats by some miracle achieve power at the next election they will not want to listen about PR; they will be content with the present method of electing people to the seats of power. Of course they will. I say reject the concept of PR.
Let me come to my final point. The Motion that we are debating talks about "fairer". Fairer than what? Fairer to whom? The only argument in respect of fairness I have heard this afternoon is fairness to political parties. I always, perhaps wrongly attributed to the Liberal Party an emphasis on the importance of the individual. I have heard Liberal leaders in Liverpool City Council stand and proclaim, almost from the rooftops, that they believe in the power of the individual over party. All I have heard today from the Liberals is of fairness to a party: Why should not they have the same amount of power as they have in votes? What about fairness to people? Ordinary people are not bothered about the niceties of election. They are not bothered really about fairness to political parties. They are bothered about a fair deal for them.
One thing is crying out for a solution, particularly in the area of the country from which both the noble Lord, Lord Evans, and I come; that is, a fairness in distribution of resources. We do not get it. We do not get it in Scotland, in Wales, in Northern Ireland or in the North West of England, simply because we are too far away from the seat of power, and the seat of power is here. If you want fairness in our life, if you want fairness in the distribution of the services and the resources of this nation, then, to quote, I think, the words of the noble Lord Lord, Underhill, we hive to bring power closer to the people. That means that central Government have to surrender the power they have now. We have to establish the right areas and the right institutions to take some of that power. When we begin that road we shall begin to reaffirm our faith in democracy that served us so well for such a long time.
§ 5.4 p.m.
§ Lord Beaumont of Whitley
My Lords, we are approaching the end of an interesting debate on a fascinating subject. To a certain extent what I hope to do is to comment on a number of things that have been said in this debate, particularly in the field of electoral systems, in the hope that some of the statements that have been made will not necessarily remain as gospel truths in your Lordships' minds or on the pages of Hansard. If I do not take up and comment on all the extremely good speeches that have been made, I hope noble Lords will forgive me.
The noble Lord, Lord Underhill, said that we should not go for the easy solution and the quick answer. There is sometimes too great a prejudice against easy solutions and quick answers. It is considered extremely smart to say that to every complicated question there is a quick and easy solution—which is always wrong! But this in fact is not necessarily true. If I may use a metaphor which I may have cause to resort to again, it seems to me that the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, in looking at the electoral system in local government is rather like a man looking at a generating machine which has broken down and which is producing less and less electricity and more and more faults. You point out to him that in fact there are obviously dangling two loose wires which should be connected, and that that would be the right way to solve the problem. But, no, he says, that would be an easy solution and a quick answer, and it must be something more complicated than that because this is a complicated machine, and it is a complicated world, and we are not going to get around to doing it in that way.
The noble Lord made a number of detailed criticisms of the system of election by the single transferable vote. Some of his arguments were convincing. He said that we would not get true proportionality unless we had the list system; that it was essential for PR; and he pointed out that the list system was an extremely bad system because it results in great dominance by party machines. My Lords, the list system is an extremely bad system. There are few defenders of the list system among those who support proportional representation in this country. There are not very many elsewhere. A few countries have it. Most countries that have it, regret it. No one, so far as I know, considers that a list system is suitable at all for local government. The fact that you do not get absolutely truly proportional representation with another system is a red herring. You get a very much fairer system than you get with our present system, and that would be the point of reform.
The noble Lord also said that in the single transferable vote system the second, third, and fourth preferences have equal priority with first preferences. I regret to say that that is not entirely accurate. Second, third and fourth preferences in the single transferable vote system are weighted so that they do not have equal priority, or greater priority, with first preference votes. It is true, as the noble Lord said, that ruling parties in local government could be elected on less preference votes than the next party. It is very rare, it is very unusual, but I will grant that it could happen. But the reason why it happens when it does happen is because people do not vote straight down the party line, and because they give their second preferences sometimes 538 to a person of a different party from their first preference. Surely that is a thoroughly good and admirable thing in our electoral system.
Finally, the noble Lord produced, as I think did one other noble Lord afterwards, the thin end of the wedge argument. The thin end of the wedge argument has always been an extremely bad one. It has often been exposed, and never better than in the words of Francis Cornford, which some of your Lordships will remember. The argument about the thin end of the wedge is to argue that we should not do what is admittedly right—and it is admittedly right, because we would not use that argument if there was an argument that it was wrong—lest we should be tempted to do something wrong in the future. That has never been, and is not now, a logical argument, and the argument of the thin end of the wedge is one which, when it raises itself in politics, as it so often does, should in my view always be rejected.
The noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, attributed certain platitudes about the necessity for the independence of local government to my noble friend Lord Evans. I do not think they were platitudes. I wish they were. If he was saying things about the independence of local government which did not need to be said—if the independence of local government did not need to be defended these days—no one would be happier than myself unless it was possibly himself. But in fact we know that the independence of local government is under attack in various ways—for example, by the various ways in which Mr. Heseltine is trying to cope with his admittedly extremely difficult problems. There was another report on Sunday about the attitude of Sir Keith Joseph to schools in Manchester and his refusal to accept the scheme put forward by Manchester for dealing with the sixth forms in that city, a plan which has been worked on for two and a half years but which is apparently being turned down just like that by central Government.
The noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, said that if we had separate systems of election for local government and national government, we should have a greater clash between national and local government. That sounds extremely persuasive but I suggest that it is not so. One thing we should avoid is the classic swing against the sitting national Government in the middle of that Government's reign, which changes the whole face of local government all over the country and has absolutely nothing to do with local preferences, local people and local policies. Throughout the country there would be more and more coalitions in power in local government, and that is a recipe for not having clashes between national and local government.
§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, the noble Lord has taken me to task for referring to the speech of his noble friend as containing platitudes about the independence of local government, and he went on to quote the action of the present Secretary of State for Education in rejecting Manchester City Council's proposals on sixth forms. Would the noble Lord agree that, whether Sir Keith was right or wrong in that, as an interference in the rights of local government, that pales into insignificance as compared with the action of Mrs. Shirley Williams in seeking to dictate to all local authorities that they should abolish their selective 539 grammar schools? And, as Mrs. Williams is now apparently a friend of his, perhaps that is a rather helpful example.
§ Lord Beaumont of Whitley
I entirely agree that we all have our problems, my Lords. I venture to suggest that the noble Lord has rather more problems, if he is really interested in the independence of local government, than any we are likely to find on the Social Democratic Benches in this place, in another place or among those who are shortly to get into another place. But it is a valid point which the noble Lord makes and I would be the last to claim purity in this matter. Liberals in this House are regularly saying—every week and month we are saying it—that we believe in devolution and believe we should give powers to local authorities and leave them there. Having said that, we are used to having other Liberals lobbying us and saying, "But you must make the Government do this", or "You must stop the Government doing that". We reply, "But we are in favour of devolution, remember", to which they reply, "But not in this particular matter". It is true that this is a disease which affects us all. I hope it affects my party and I hope it affects the Social Democrats rather less than it does other parties, but it is a disease and I am not fighting against something which rears its head only in one particular party.
To return to the main argument, what we are fighting for to a certain extent is a resumption of an older pattern of local government where party did not have so strong a sway. That is why it is so disappointing to see so many Tories supporting the new set-up. Noble Lords will remember that in the 'Forties, 'Fifties and early 'Sixties the Tory Party were the first to deplore the greater introduction of party politics into local government. I thought the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, was particularly pertinent on this point, showing that he belongs to that older tradition which has to a certain extent been abandoned. One of the most interesting bits of the debate was the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, about the electorate and the problems that are stimulated in that field, one which we have not had time to deal with today but one to which we shall all have to turn our attention rather more.
The noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, made a slightly jocular point of the fact that the Liberals and Social Democrats would split after electoral reform. Of course they will. But they will not split between Liberals and Social Democrats. When I look at our two parties, formed as they are to a certain extent by the present electoral system, I detect in each of them old-fashioned Liberals, what one could call Social Democrats on the European model, and radicals. We have all three lots in our parties; we are a coalition, too, and they have them in their party. The Labour Party is also a coalition, as is the Tory Party, a mixture of "wets" and "drys". When there is proportional representation, by STV or any other method, there will be realignment of politics and it will affect us all, and I suggest that will be a good thing.
The noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, also said, "Change the face of politics. Change what is happening using the present system", and he took the St. 540 Pancras by-election as an example of what could be done under the present system. Changes can be effected with the present system—at the right moment if things are going right. The last two by-elections in which I worked full-time were Lambeth Central and Croydon, North-West. In each of them we had a good candidate, a good organisation and more or less the same policies. In one we lost our deposit and came below the National Front and in the other we won with an overwhelming majority. It was not, as far as I could see, anything to do with the specific virtues of the people and parties concerned; it was purely a matter of that particular moment. I think we would get away very much from that system if we had a reformed system.
To take the example of my electricity generating machine again, I suggest that the noble Lord, Lord Thorneycroft, is behaving rather like a man who has inherited a very old electricity generating machine, one which has been breaking down on and off, like the previous one I mentioned. Things are not working, there is not much water in the house, the lights keep on breaking down and you say to him, "Would it not be better to have a new machine and get the whole thing working? Then we could run this house properly, do our work and cook our meals". To that he replies, "No, there is no time to do that. We have so many problems on our plate, because we are having to cook our meals without electricity and do our work without lights, that we cannot afford to take the time in order just to change the machine". It is the machine that needs to be changed. It is out-of-date, it is rickety, it never worked particularly well.
I draw my speech to a close by saying that I believe fervently in the need to keep powers in local authorities, and indeed to increase them. I believe that we should shove decisions as far down the line as we can, as was said by the noble Lord, Lord Evans, when quoting the European document. We must resist the temptation to try to solve the problem in all kinds of ways in which the cure is often worse than the disease. Referenda are not intended—I should say, not suited; they can be intended for anything. Referenda are not suited to making decisions about expenditure in local government, and when they are used in that way, as they frequently are in America, for instance, they very often go wrong. As your Lordships will know, recently in America a state has had to close down a large number of its public schools following a referendum on fund raising. That is exactly the kind of system which it appears that Mr. Heseltine is seeking, or is at least playing about with the idea of introducing.
Proportional representation deals with great disadvantages. It corrects low turnout and apathy. Whatever the noble Lord, Lord Sefton of Garston, says, it defends against corruption. It also defends against the lack of opposition, the lack of open democratic debate, and the secrecy which is endemic in local government where there are large majorities. Reform would break down the party spirit, and I as a party hack of long-standing, though not perhaps of quite as long a standing as the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, want to break down that party spirit. Proportional representation assists genuine independence, it fosters continuity of policy. Under it there is no need for referenda. It is seen to be fair. If I 541 may adapt slightly the words of the noble Lord, Lord Sefton, I would say that proportional representation is the refuge of those who cannot get power any other way—the people.
§ 5.23 p.m.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Bellwin)
My Lords, I wonder whether I may respond to the debate by answering what I considered were three major points that have been made. First, there was a reference to proportional representation, and secondly to the restructuring of local government. Thirdly, there was reference to the interim measure, the finance Bill, that is being proposed. I shall then try to comment as best I can on some of the many observations that have been made during what has been a very interesting debate, and I, too, should like to compliment the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton, on introducing it.
With regard to the issue of proportional representation, after listening to the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, I speak with some temerity, since I found his in-depth knowledge of the subject extremely impressive. Whether or not we agree with his point of view, it behoves us all in future to be very careful when we know that the noble Lord is to participate in a debate in which this particular question is to be discussed. As I say, I found his contribution very impressive.
I have listened with great interest to the whole of the debate because, as your Lordships know, local government is very much my own home ground, and its good health is something about which I care very deeply. I should be the last to maintain that there are no imperfections in its current state of health. The noble Lords, Lord Evans, Lord Beaumont of Whitley and Lord Aylestone, my noble friend Lord Holderness, and one or two other noble Lords, have urged a change in the system of local government elections. We have been told that introduction of the single transferable vote system would help to solve the problems of local government by enabling minorities to gain representation, thus acting as a brake on the headlong progress of political dogmatism. I am sceptical of those high claims for proportional representation, as well as their corollary: that the problems of local government stem from the system of election. Frankly, that seems to me a superficial view. It is not the system of elections that needs to be changed. On the contrary; the difficulties sometimes associated with local government might be far worse if elections were conducted under proportional representation.
Proportional representation supporters tend to fall into the error of assuming that the sole, the only purpose of an electoral system is to ensure that the composition of an elected body reflects as closely as possible the support accorded by the electorate to each political party. If that were all it was about, there might indeed be something to be said for proportional representation. But I respectfully suggest that it is about much more, as the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, so graphically reminded us. I submit that it is about something else. One of the primary purposes of an electoral system is to produce an authority which is responsible; that is, one in which there is an identifiable governing group that has clear policies and which, within the constraints within which authorities must operate, is 542 answerable to the electorate for the decisions that it takes.
However, one of the characteristics of proportional representation is that only rarely does one political party have an overall majority. Where no party has a majority any decision needs the support of members of at least two parties. Coalitions might be formed after an election, based on a programme which the electorate has not had the opportunity to approve or disapprove. Alternatively, there might be a series of shifting, ad hoc coalitions. In either of those situations there is a risk of weak, unstable and perhaps even capricious administration. In neither case would one party be answerable for the local authority's record; each party could pass the buck to others. If the electorate did not like the policies of a local authority, there would be little that it could do about it at the next election because of the slight chance of one party being returned with an overall majority. That is not the way to produce a healthy local democracy.
Another feature of proportional representation is the tendency for minor parties to have an influence quite disproportionate to their size and to the level of their support. It does not take much imagination to foresee the possibility, if proportional representation were introduced to local government elections, of certain parties with views which are deeply abhorrent to the great majority of the electorate gaining a foothold in some local authorities, and perhaps even holding the balance of power. Of course that can happen, and occasionally it happens now. In my experience, and in the kind of position to which the noble Lord, Lord Sefton, referred—and I shall allude a little later to some of his other observations—in certain circumstances, the consequence that I have mentioned leads to a most unworkable and unsatisfactory situation.
I really do not see how it could enhance democracy to change our electoral system to one under which small parties were more likely to hold the balance of power than they are under the present system. The simple majority system is well known, well understood, and simple to operate, and it is more likely than the alternative systems to elect local authorities which are fully accountable to the electorate and responsible for the policies that they pursue. For reasons that I have given I believe that we should be very wary of abandoning the present system.
The noble Lord, Lord Evans, and one or two other noble Lords, spoke about corruption. I had intended to refer to this point later, but I feel as deeply about it as does the noble Lord, Lord Sefton, and so I shall mention it now. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Sefton, put the point much better than I could put it, but I felt every bit as deeply as he did. In all the years I was in local government it was heartbreaking to see the prominence and the publicity that was given to what, in the context of the totality of those serving and working in local government, was the tiniest minority; and yet it became so that the whole of local government was looked upon as being corrupt. With great respect to those noble Lords who have mentioned it today—and I know that they did so in another context, but even so—I think that by again bringing this up in this way there is a danger of, in fact, pinning upon local government a reputation which truly it does not deserve and should not have.
543 Perhaps I may move to the second major subject which has been dealt with; namely, the restructuring of local government. To most people local government reform raises the whole subject of the reform that took place in 1974. Of course, there were reforms long before then, but the one which is in most people's minds and which has made arguably the greatest change was the one in 1974. I know that the those changes came as a shock to many, and in some places even now, after eight years, they have not been fully accepted—and there are those who would say "not unreasonably".
However, in passing the Local Government Act 1972 Parliament provided that after 10 years had elapsed from the date of reorganisation the Local Government Boundary Commission should undertake a review of county boundaries, and also those of London and the metropolitan areas. So from 1984, as the noble Lord, Lord Houghton, reminded us, the commission will be holding its review, hearing representations and considering proposals for change. Their proposals will go to the Secretary of State, who has power to make orders, subject to Parliament, to implement them. That review will be the time for those who are unconvinced of the present arrangements to press the logic of their case for reversion. However, the boundary commission's review will take place within the confines of the structure created by the Local Government Act 1972; there are real limits on the sort of changes possible in that context.
I do not for one moment wish to imply that the Government are in any way complacent about the existing structure. While I must make it clear that the Government have no plans for restructuring, that does not mean that we are entirely satisfied. Whether in relation to London, the metropolitan areas or the shire counties, there are arguments for saying that two-tier government is inherently expensive because of overlap or duplication, and that elimination of one tier or other could reduce these. On that account some have argued—indeed, some did today; for example, the noble Lord, Lord Hill, who always does it so elequently—for "unitary" local authorities, thus eliminating any possibility certainly of duplication between tiers, quite apart from the other attractions that they would have in the sense of their being more local than some of the existing arrangements.
Outside the metropolitan areas, however, that would not support abolition of the counties; it is towards abolition of the districts (with all the objections to making democracy more remote) that this argument leads. Many county services need to be managed over a larger area or a larger population than most non-metropolitan districts as at present constituted could provide. The Redcliffe-Maud Royal Commission concluded that the size of unitary authorities would need to be much nearer to that of counties than districts.
The position is rather different in the metropolitan areas, and in London. In these areas the population of metropolitan districts and London boroughs is large enough to sustain major services. But even in these areas there are arguments both ways. There is the need to plan and manage some services for the area as a whole. Nor is it certain that fragmenting responsibility for services now run by a single authority 544 among a number of districts or boroughs, even where the districts or boroughs joined together to run them, would of itself produce economies. But it is difficult to argue that there is no case for, if you like, abolition of the GLC and the metropolitan counties. I say again, and I say it carefully, that the Government have no present plans to do so, but it is an option which must deserve examination.
I think I would also say on this point, as I finish with it, that the Government feel at the present time that it is far better to tackle local government spending directly, and that this will bring more immediate savings. That is why we have made local government expenditure, not structure, our present priority. Hence the Local Government Finance Bill recently introduced in another place, to which I would now, albeit briefly, make reference.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State has made plain that we fully understand the concern that certain proposals in the Bill cause to many people. Because of that he has said that we would happily listen to alternatives that might be brought forward. Indeed, he himself listed some of the alternative ways—and let me stress it here because this is really what it is about. It is about the fact that the central Government have their parameters of expenditure within which, in the past, local government always proudly and fairly boasted it kept; and, as your Lordships know, I was one of those who was making the boast at that time and, I hope, was keeping within those parameters. Yet here, for the very first time, we have a situation where we have a £1,000 million—a billion pounds—of over-spend which local government has been unable to contain within the parameters set down by the centre.
The very sad part about it to me is that, having been requested to make adjustments, to revise budgets, the great majority of local government not only tried to do, but in fact did, just that. They showed, first of all, that it could be done, if the will is there, without the catastrophic destruction of services that many had forecast—some diminution here and there, but nothing catastrophic. Yet all the authorities which have done this—and the number, I think, is some 275 or thereabouts—found that all their efforts, they having reduced spending by some £200 million, in round figures, were wiped out by the determination of a number of other authorities. Three alone did not just hold their expenditure but added £189 million more, and others brought it up to around about the same £200 million figure, because they were simply not concerned—and, indeed, some would say they were quite happy to flout what the Government were wanting.
So this was the scenario; this is what the Government were faced with trying to do. How were they to protect, first of all, those who pay the bills, the ratepayers, and, secondly, those who pay the bills and have no votes, the business and the commercial world? Thirdly, and not least, how were they to look after those who in fact tried to conform and tried to fit within the pattern laid down?—because they, no less than anyone else, are entitled to have their interests looked after. So it was faced with that that the Government embarked upon interim measures, of which prior warning had been given as long ago as June that if it 545 was to be so the Government would have no alternative because the sanctity of Parliament must be paramount. No one in any party has ever quarrelled with that, and nor do they now; and I have here quotations from all parties that would confirm that.
So this is the scenario with which the Government were faced, and that is why we have come out with our proposals. We have said that as long as it is quick we will listen to other ways of achieving the same objective. But I must stress this: let it not be said that our willingness to be flexible over the method should be mistaken for flexibility of purpose. We must be quite firm, because in the end we canot escape—in fact, local government cannot escape—the plight of the people to whom I referred a few moments ago.
So I come to the various observations that have been made by noble Lords who have spoken today. While I know that your Lordships will understand that I cannot pick them all up, I will try to make brief observations on some of those parts which I felt were perhaps the more telling, or even the more important. The noble Lord, Lord Evans, referred to the apathy at local elections—and who would doubt that? But, with respect, there is nothing new in that, and certainly nothing done by this Government has made that apathy either greater or less. The record of it goes back quite a time.
He also spoke about the comparison between reduction in local government and central Government expenditures. I think that I can easily dispatch that, but I would prefer, as on many other observations, to keep my powder dry for the many opportunities that I shall have on the Finance Bill. I think that in any case there are enough points that I have to cover tonight without dealing with that one. Likewise, when he said that the rates have risen more slowly than inflation. That may be true of average rates, but all the things that we are talking about in the proposed legislation are not to do with the average authority at all; they are to do with a handful of authorities who are not interested in what happens to their rates or their ratepayers. They are the only ones who would be affected by what we propose in the Bill. Then the noble Lord talked about the desire for restructuring, with which I have already dealt.
The noble Lord, Lord Underhill, in an exceptional speech, as I have said already, said "Restructure? Yes, but be careful". That sums up in one line what I was saying. One must be very careful. There are costs involved and who knows what other problems. Some might say that perhaps a lack of being careful about such major changes have led often to some of the problems that we face today. Yes, the options are there and open; but be careful. I assure you that we will.
I would not dream of trying to pick up the points that the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, made on proportional representations and all that surrounded it. He left me far behind. I shall look forward with interest to reading what he said when I come to that. He warned us of some of the ways in which such a system could be abused. I want to say on the party system that, when I went into local government as an idealist, I thought that the ideal person to go into local government was not the one who belonged to a party. I wanted what I thought the best man for the 546 job to hold the seat. But I learned a great lesson—that the greatest safeguard for the public is the party system. The way we watched what the Labour Party did when they were in power and the way they watched us and what we did when we were in power was a classic example of what can and should happen; and of what is a great safeguard for people who live in areas where power changes. Where it does not change because set parties always win, it is less effective. But there is much scope in the party system which, I think, is excellent in terms of what it does for local government.
My noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter approved, as I do, Lord Underhill's analysis. He said that we need more people with clear-cut views who are willing and able to carry them through and that we are less likely to get this and more likely to get anodyne candidates with the system which was commended to us. I agree with that in every way. He said that he would like to see all-party agreement on major structural changes. That would be the ideal. Would that there were other things on which we could get similar agreement. I and others could think of many things where the country as a whole would have benefited by this. This was the case in so many situations in Leeds, my own city, in the days when the parties sat down and agreed on common approaches for the city's benefit. This is why today it is one of the most progressive cities in the country. That is an ideal and is perhaps too much to hope for. On restructuring, of course, if we can get all-party agreement, then my noble friend is so right.
I should like to comment on one thing that he said when referring to the rates of Kensington and Chelsea. In fairness to them—and heaven forbid that I discuss the rates of individual authority—like all the Inner London authorities they have to add what is presented to them by way of precept from ILEA and the Greater London Council over which they have no control.
The noble Lord, Lord Aylestone, referred to how often national swings eliminated well-run local authorities. I say, "Thank you" to the noble Lord. I was on the receiving end on more than one occasion and I heartily agree. My noble friend Lord Thornycroft made a powerful speech. He said—and who would quarrel with it?—that powerful and effective local government is a crucial part of government in this country. I agree as much as anyone in the House, as I hope you would expect me to agree. He said that Government should strengthen local government. Yes, I say. But is not what we are doing not diminishing their role but trying to do just the opposite.
The fact is that we are trying to protect those who have done so much—and they are the vast majority of authorities—to work within the central Government's parameters. If central Government does not protect them, then in what way are we strengthening local government? I think that this is something we should bear in mind all the time. I will bring your Lordships back to this point again and again when we come to discuss the Bill. I am grateful to my noble friend for his basic support. I recognise his concern. I think that we must listen to it and take note. I assure him that we do so, did so before and will all the more so in that he made it again today.
I have covered the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Hill. My noble friend Lord Holderness sup 547 ported the general philosophy behind the proposals of the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Claughton. I understand that; it is not a right or wrong situation; it is a view. One respects it even if one does not necessarily agree with it. I agreed when the noble Lord, Lord Houghton of Sowerby, pointed out how close councillors are to their local scene; but I thought he painted a sad picture for elected members who have independent minds. I do not think that I should be so pessimistic about their role at the present time. In my experience, the elected members with whom I worked within the party system were never afraid to express their views forcefully to influence decisions taken on a party basis. The Lord, Lord Houghton of Sowerby, made a fair point when he said that the rate base today is too narrow and that it must be widened. There must be an alternative—and there will be. The present Government are committed to it. I hope that the Green Paper will take us forward and will lead to action. We have had Green Papers and Royal Commissions. I think I can assure you that there will be action. This is one issue on which all parties will agree. Whether they will agree on the final form that that action should take remains to be seen.
The noble Lord, Lord Sefton, is very knowledgeable about local government. He and I have sat on opposite sides of the table on many occasions. I thought he made an excellent speech. He talked about the erosion of power. It was the first thing that I heard in local government all those years ago. The phrase on the tip of everyone's tongue was "the erosion of local autonomy". It was the in-phrase then and it is even more so today. It has gone on for so long. The noble Lord may be right in pin-pointing that.
To revert to what my noble friend Lord Thorneycroft has said, it is at our peril that we are not willing to see that there is a strong and healthy local government. Despite what was said today or what will be said when we come to the Bill, it is the intention of this Government that there should be strong and healthy local government. If we quarrel and differ as to the way of getting there, that is the reality of what politics is.
The noble Lord, Lord Sefton, referred to ad hoc bodies. He struck home very much indeed and there are many who would agree with him. But, as in most things, it is a question of getting a balance. There must be situations where that does not apply. As a general philosophy, he knows that I agree with him on that and hope to see some move in that direction as we go along.
The noble Lord, Lord Beaumont, said that coalitions are a recipe for not having clashes. I have worked in local government in minority situations. I can tell your Lordships that little is more frustrating; the party in power are constantly looking over their shoulders. They cannot do the things that they want to do. The authority does not benefit. Frankly, it is a disadvantage to what happens to the city. I do not think that is a good thing: I think that is a bad thing. He suggested to my noble friend Lord Thorneycroft that he should get a new machine. I used to know something about machines and I would only tell him that a new machine is not always necessarily better than the old one. It depends what it is.
548 In the longer term, there can be no lasting solution to the problems facing local government without a thorough overhaul—and I agree with noble Lords who have said that—of local government finance. The noble Lord, Lord Evans, opened up with that very theme and I agree with that.
Our financial proposals are an interim measure because in the end it has to be a reform of the system—and I repeat that for the record: it is an interim measure and will be. I have referred to the Green Paper and it will be coming out and hopefully there will be discussion across the board. I hope that what I have said will demonstrate that the Government are in no way complacent about the long-term health of local government. Now I suggest respectfully is not the time for major surgery. We must get the system working as efficiently as possible. Only when we have done so will it be sensible to consider some of the other interesting issues that have been raised today.
§ 5.52 p.m.
§ Lord Evans of Claughton
My Lords, first of all may I thank your Lordships for the interest that has been taken in this debate that I initiated and the contributions that have been made. I probably ought to apologise for not spending more time on the general reforms of local government that one wants to see, particularly regarding finance and structural reform. I thought that I had made it fairly clear that we were inevitably going to debate these kinds of matters in this House at enormous length in the coming months.
I indicated that the main thrust of my arguments would be in particular, as I say in the Motion, by the introduction of a fairer and more representative method of election. I do not feel that I need to apologise for speaking at some length about proportional representation. I did not say that I thought it was a complete panacea and answer to all the problems of local government. Of course it is not. But a matter of fundamental importance to me—and it has always been—is that there should be a fair system in local government, and as the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, said, if proportional representation is good for Parliament and good for Europe, it is best of all for local government. That is an absolutely fundamental point.
When I was first in the Young Liberals in the 1940s and the 1950s I sometimes wonder how I survived because about 98 per cent. of the people who voted, voted either Conservative or Labour and it was all jolly comfortable and, as the noble Lord the Minister said, one party would have their period in office and then the other party would have theirs. However, now the whole thing has changed. The majority of people in this country no longer want that kind of polarisation. The people of this country do not want majorities any more. They are trying to tell us that they want politics of co-operation not politics of confrontation.
The noble Lord, Lord Sefton, mentioned the problems in Liverpool where as near as can be all three of the main parties are represented in fairly large numbers. As the noble Lord said, there has been a terrible problem in Liverpool. That is not the fault of there not being a party in control; that is the fault of the politicians not recognising that instead of adversarial politics, which they have been born into 549 and brought up on, they now have to face the concept in local government of the politics of co-operation. As the noble Lord the Minister said, very often there is co-operation on a very broad front.
We have to accept multi-party involvement in the government of this country whether it be local or national in the future. When my party held the balance of power in the Wirral, when I was leader, many members of the other parties said, "Why can we not work together?" The leaders of the Labour and Conservative parties said: "No, we will never work with the Liberals. We will let this simmer endlessly with nothing being done rather than co-operating with the Liberals because we know that in a year or two they will have melted away like the snow in the spring". Of course the electoral system that we have at present tends to do that from time to time.
If there was a system of PR, there would be no melting away. People would have to change their attitude to local government, quite apart from national government, and say, "We must co-operate". There would not be the absurd situation that we have at present of a government, either locally or nationally, being elected on a minority of votes trying to push through extremist measures which are unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of the whole electorate. We would not have that.
I would have thought that this would be very attractive to many of your Lordships, particularly those of your Lordships on the other side of the House who probably have terrible fears and nightmares about the activities of the "Bennites"; and I would have thought it would have been attractive to noble Lords on this side who have a terrible fear of the Prime Minister's "dries".
In conclusion, I feel that unless the major parties of the country realise that there is a sea-change taking place in politics, as recognised by our noble colleagues, the Social Democrats, ourselves and by the country, unless the Conservative and Labour parties recognise this fairly soon, they are going to be in for a very long period of sad disillusion.
This has been a very useful, pleasant and interesting debate. There have been interesting disagreements within parties, there have been interesting ideas about how local government reform, financial, structural and otherwise, should take place. I look forward not entirely with enthusiasm but with interest to the late nights that we are obviously going to have to spend discussing the Local Government Finance Bill in the future. This has been a useful pipe-opener to these lengthy discussions and I am very thankful to everyone who has taken part. I will not take the advice of the noble Lord, Lord Houghton, and I will not demand Papers because I have had enough without carrying the Motion. I therefore beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers.
§ Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn. | <urn:uuid:b6e7fa3e-7a99-443a-9aae-b7b7d8072f82> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1981/nov/18/local-government | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00472-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978444 | 28,626 | 1.859375 | 2 |
We have now seen nice leaps in digital expertise in previous the previous five years. AEO is answerable for accelerating use of DARPA-developed technologies by American combat forces; its primary capabilities include connecting DARPA program managers to finish customers in the uniformed Companies and sponsoring demonstrations and discipline trials of new applied sciences and techniques. Col Daniel J. Wattendorf, MC, USAF, joined DARPA as a Program Supervisor in 2010 and has been part of the newly formed Organic Applied sciences Office (BTO) since 2013.
DARPA is creating genetic and immunological technologies to detect, diagnose and deal with infectious diseases with unprecedented precision and rapidity, and platforms for predicting the mutational evolution of viruses so drugs and vaccines may be developed earlier than they’re needed. Lepore has extensive entrepreneurial enterprise expertise including serving as president of DFL Space LLC; president of AirLaunch LLC, funded by DARPA and the U.S. Air Drive; and vice president of enterprise growth and strategic planning for Kistler Aerospace Company.
“The time is correct to redouble our commitment to matching India’s expertise calls for with the UK’s best provide, encouraging UK companies to look to India and to encourage Indian corporations to grow their companies within the UK,” British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith mentioned. Previous to founding Galois, Dr. Launchbury was a full professor in computer science and engineering at the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI) Faculty of Science and Engineering, which was subsequently included into the Oregon Health and Science College.
It is a reality in cellular expertise at present, and by 2019, can be accessible to the lots. Prabal Dutta is a Morris Wellman Faculty Development Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science on the College of Michigan. Murray earned his Ph.D. and M.S., each in electrical engineering and laptop sciences, from the College of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Caltech.
Proper now, clear photo voltaic applied sciences are only at a few third of their reasonable overall potential, Lunt added. The Brazilian-born Kipman, whose title is technical fellow at Microsoft’s Home windows and Devices Group, enthusiastically explains that the important thing good thing about know-how is its capacity to displace time and area. We promote technology for the good thing about individuals, the setting and society. | <urn:uuid:ccb8f311-5e3d-446b-85c6-26d1460e164d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://retrica0.com/reconfigurable-expertise-for-future-optical-access-networks.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.952734 | 499 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Resources for the Primary School Teacher
by admin on 20/07/2010
Vocabulary flashcards for the story “A Perfect Day” from the Sunny Street Second Class reader “More Sunny Street Fiction Favourites“.
(.pdf file 36.1KB)
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Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIYthemes. | <urn:uuid:5d243203-b62e-4eab-af98-8a8533b484f8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.seomraranga.com/2010/07/sunny-street-a-perfect-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00067-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.723759 | 142 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Kimberly Ford Langmaid, Ph.D., is a 2009 graduate of the Ph.D. Program in Environmental Studies at Antioch University, New England.
- Mitchell Thomashow, PhD (Committee Chair)
- Joy Ackerman, PhD (Committee Member)
- John Tallmadge, PhD (Committee Member)
climate change, human dimensions, ecologists, mountains, phenomenology, lived experience
This study explores the lived experiences of field ecologists who research the effects of global climate change on mountain species and ecosystems in the American West. The purpose is to generate narrative descriptions of ecologists’ experiences in order to communicate about both the scientific ecology and human ecology of climate change. Twenty prominent field ecologists participated in this study. Interviews with ecologists were transcribed and analyzed using a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology. Eight experiential themes emerged through the process of data analysis, and these themes provide the structure for presenting narratives of ecologists’ experiences. The eight themes are: thinking ecologically, the place-based ecologist, seeing shifts, coping with complexity, a paleo-perspective, crossing thresholds, triage, and silver linings. Each theme is presented through the stories of the particular ecologists who exemplify that theme. The series of narrative descriptions reveals a process of scientific inquiry embedded within human experience and the social construction of global climate change. The life histories, personal motivations, and values of ecologists are found to be an integral aspect of their scientific work. By bringing to life the way these scientists see, understand, realize, and care about their work, the narrative descriptions may connect readers to the seemingly esoteric science of climate change. In addition, the experiences of field ecologists reveal this group of scientists as exemplars of human resilience in the face of complexity and adversity. This research contributes to the human dimensions of climate change by offering place-based and personal stories of scientists’ experiences. Deeper questions for society emerge about: a) the future role of ecologists in education and b) making choices about the kind of world we want to live in.
Langmaid, K. F. (2009). Seeing Shifts: Ecologists' Lived Experiences of Climate Change in Mountains of the American West. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/813 | <urn:uuid:68a36b4c-3202-4973-9423-2ef3fa9453a4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/813/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.914492 | 510 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy
Fluorescent Microscopy with fluorescently labeled antibodies (Immunofluorescence, or IF) is widely used to detect specific proteins in their cellular environment, and to answer questions regarding their localization, modification, interactions and life cycle. However, until recently the use of fluorescence microscopy in cell biology research has been limited by the resolution that can be achieved in imaging experiments.
The resolution of images is limited to the size of the spot that the excitation beam of the microscope can be focused. This is dependent on the wavelength of the emitting light and the parameters of the instrument. The highest resolution achievable is defined by Abbe's Law:
Figure 1: The Abbe Law describes the resolution that is achievable in microscopy.
The Abbe limit restricts the ability of the observer to visually resolve objects separated by less than ~200 nm. This makes it impossible to study smaller bacteria, viruses, ribosomes or protein clusters by fluorescence microscopy. However, within the last few years several novel technologies have been developed that overcome this limitation.
Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (also known as high-resolution microscopy) describes a group of techniques that “break” the diffraction barrier, enabling the resolution to be as low as 20-30 nm. These techniques take advantage of special physics & instrument settings, and the properties of high-quality fluorescent dyes to improve resolution dramatically. Although these techniques can be separated into two different approaches, they have one common basis: the ability to turn fluorescent molecules off when desired.
Figure 2: Active Motif's primary antibodies and fluorescent secondary antibodies in confocal and STED microscopy.
Super-resolution by direct optical imaging
The first approach is based on confocal microscopy, where molecules in the outer regions of the focal spot are turned off. This reduces the size of the fluorescent spot, as only dyes in the center of the excitation area are allowed to emit fluorescence. STED (STimulated Emission Depletion) and STED CW (Continuous Wave) belong to these direct optical imaging techniques. They do not require any computational evaluation as the samples are scanned in the normal manner. For more information please visit our STED microscopy products pages.
Super-resolution by localization
In this approach the majority of the molecules within the excited area are turned into a dark state; only some single dye-molecules are allowed to emit fluorescent light. The position of these individual molecules is determined by a mathematical algorithm, and each is visualized. By repeating the cycle of turning dyes off and detecting the fluorescence of the remaining individual emitters, thousands of images are created; these images are combined to form the final high-resolution image. Several techniques belong to this class of stochastic readout of individual molecule localization: STORM (STochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy), PALM (PhotoActivated Localization Microscopy) and GSDIM (Ground State Depletion with Individual Molecule return). For more information on localization based microscopy, please visit our GSDIM microscopy products pages.
With high-resolution microscopy it is possible to exceed the Abbe limit and achieve resolution improvements of up to 12-fold over classical confocal microscopy. The ability to perform imaging experiments at resolutions below 50 nm facilitates the separation of sub-cellular structures that previously could not be resolved, and increases the confidence in the biological roles of proteins and structures that co-localize. | <urn:uuid:1bf582ae-8a0e-432b-82a8-2892ec726a8b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.activemotif.com/catalog/807/super-resolution-fluorescence-microscopy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282140.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00125-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918991 | 722 | 3.109375 | 3 |
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Featured Resource: International Financial Statistics: IFS & UNSTATS
Finding foreign & international statistics for financial information may be difficult, depending on which country you’re researching. Problems may include minor differences in ways in which the information was collected or computed by an agency over time, or that one agency or country may collect data in a different way than everyone else. Before you accept any statistic as “accurate” or “authoritative” you first need to find out how the information was collected, computed, reported, and how the reporting agency has reported this information over time.
One “standard” source of international statistics is the database International Financial Statistics (IFS). Published & updated monthly by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), IFS is a source of international statistics on all aspects of finance, both domestic and international. The IFS database contains approximately 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries, exchange rate series for all IMF member countries, major IMF accounts series, and most other world, area, and country series from the IFS World Tables. By default, IFS retrieves statistics from 1997-2007, but users can access all available statistics from 1945-present.
Another database that collects and reports international statistics is UNSTATS, maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division. Within UNSTATS, the National Accounts Main Aggregates database contains a complete and consistent set of time series from 1970. In addition, the database contains analytical indicators and ratios related to economic structure and development. Another part of UNSTATS is the Common Database (UNCDB) that provides selected demographic, social, environmental and economic statistics from various international data sources.
To locate additional national statistical information, the United Nations maintains a central repository of country profiles of statistical systems online at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/inter-natlinks/sd_natstat.asp. Users can search for specific information from each country’s official statistical collection agency.
Both IMF & UNSTATS are available at the Downtown Campus and to DTC students, faculty and staff remotely through the Library’s proxy server. UNCDB is also available freely on the web from the UN Statistical Division’s website: http://unstats.un.org/.
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Guard Your Valuables
Please guard your valuables when using the library! Recently, two wallets were reportedly taken out of student backpacks which were left unattended. Thefts of this nature are usually the result of an opportunity the victim gives the offender. Eliminate the opportunity, and you can eliminate the crime! Please protect your valuables.
Please respect the rights of others who wish to study and work in the Library. Keep your study area neat and clean. Walk quietly through study areas. Don’t block pathways with your laptop cord (plug it in under your table). Erase the whiteboard/chalkboard in your study room when you leave. Don’t move the furniture around. Keep your feet on the floor, not on the chairs. Generally, treat others the way you wish to be treated.
Food and Drink
You may bring any drink into the Library. We ask, however, that you pick up after yourself and use the appropriate recycling bin. Food is never allowed, so don’t bring it into the Library.
Noise & Cell Phones
Please respect the other patrons in the Library and whisper quietly if you need to communicate with others in the library. Please do not use your cell phone in the Library, computer lab, or study rooms. If you need to make a call, take your cell phone outside the Library or into one of the stairwells. Keep noise levels down on personal music devices, and always wear your headphones. If noise in the Library is bothering you, inform the Circulation Desk.
Please do not leave your personal belongings unattended. The Library is open to the public and thefts, while not frequent, have occurred. Belongings that are left unattended will be taken by security. If you are missing any personal items, please tell the Circulation Desk on the 9th floor as soon as possible so that security can be notified.
Use of Library Materials
Please handle all library materials with care. Refrain from writing in or marking-up library materials. If you cannot reach a book on a shelf, please ask a member of the library staff for assistance. Move unwanted library materials to a re-shelving area or return to the Circulation Desk. Do not “hide” library materials in the stacks. If a book that you are using is damaged, please let a member of the staff know; most of the time, we can fix the problem. Please remember that library materials are for the use of everyone.
No pets are allowed in the Library.
Persons under the age of 18 should be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times.
Please do not disturb the “Emergency Heat” switches located throughout the Library.
Members of the public who do not follow these rules may be asked to leave and/or barred from the Library; students may be referred to their academic dean for appropriate disciplinary action.
- If you observe suspicious behavior, please contact a member of the staff immediately. | <urn:uuid:b6c6c802-b507-4a28-809b-f7afa5a99ad8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.kentlaw.edu/depts/infoctr/record_archives/20071001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282202.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00550-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89962 | 1,420 | 1.664063 | 2 |
NYC is now the largest city in the U.S. to propose legislation relating to the electrification of buildings. On May 27, 2021, the NY City Council introduced Int. 2317-2021, which promotes the electrification of new and substantially retrofitted buildings. The bill will become effective two years after its enactment, and includes important exemptions; for example, the use of emergency generators that are crucial for critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, and an important option for high-rise buildings. Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel (D-City Council District 41) introduced Int. 2317-2021.
The official summary of Int. 2317-2021 states:
This bill would prohibit the combustion of a substance that emits 50 kilograms or more of carbon dioxide per million British thermal units of energy in any new building or any building that has undergone a major renovation. The bill provides an exception for emergency standby power, a hardship preventing compliance with the bill, where the combustion of the substance is required by certain enumerated industries, and where the combustion of the substance is used on an intermittent basis in connection with a device that is not connected to the building’s gas supply line.
NYC’s more than one million buildings are responsible for about 67% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Amy Turner explains the legal strategy informing Int. 2317-2021 in her May 28, 2021 article, “Emerging Local Legal Pathways for Building Electrification: Air Pollution and Land Use Regulation in New York City & Brookline, Massachusetts,” which was posted on the Columbia Law School, Sabin Center for Climate Change, Climate Law Blog website. As Turner explains:
Previously, local governments had pursued building electrification through building code provisions requiring or incentivizing electrification expressly, or through affirmative “bans” on natural gas hookups to new and renovated buildings. . .The New York City bill is tailored to avoid preemption in two main ways. First, by setting an air emissions standard, it limits preemption risk by the U.S. Energy Policy & Conservation Act (EPCA), which prohibits state and local regulations “concerning the energy efficiency, energy use or water use of” many building systems and appliances. Second, by allowing for the continued provision of all forms of fuel, including fossil gas, it steers clear of potential preemption by the New York State public service law’s so-called “obligation to serve,” which declares as New York State policy “the continued provision of… gas, electric and steam service to all residential customers.” It should be noted that New York City has broad local building code authority, while many local governments are preempted by statewide codes. Still, the air emissions standard model could be adapted to apply for jurisdictions without building code authority, including for existing buildings.
Several environmental organizations in NYC are advocating for Int. 2317-2021; for example: WE ACT For Environmental Justice, NY Communities for Change (NYCC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York, and the Sierra Club NYC Group. Peggy Shepard, Co-Founder and Executive Director at WE ACT highlighted the public health benefits of Int. 2317-2021 in the organization’s May 28, 2021 electronic newsletter:
This bill will help reduce air pollution and emissions that contribute to climate change, which will help address health disparities experienced by people of color. A recent study found that communities of color in the city are exposed to 17 percent more PM2.5 emissions associated with residential gas combustion than the population average, with Blacks facing 32 percent higher exposure. The health impacts of this disproportionate exposure can be seen in the higher rates of mortality and morbidity in these communities – our communities – including chronic respiratory diseases like asthma.
If the name of your representative in the NY City Council does not appear in the list of co-sponsors on the Int. 2317-2021 website, please write or call him/her to co-sponsor this bill. You may find the name and contact information for your Council member on the Council Members and Districts website.
Three scientific reports on climate change issued this year highlight why we must simultaneously accelerate the electrification of buildings, reduction of energy consumption by green building design (optimally Passive House*), and the greening of the electricity grid. These reports are the May 6, 2021 UN Environment Programme (UNEP) “Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions,” the August 9, 2021 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis,” which is summarized in this press release, and the April 13, 2021 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report, “It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record.” As U.N. Secretary-General Secretary António Guterres emphasized in his statement on the IPCC report, “This is code red for humanity.”
* For my articles on Passive House and Local Law 97, which sets fossil fuel caps on all NYC’s buildings exceeding 25,000 square feet, see: Lisa DiCaprio, “Passive House Update — Educational Resources,” Sierra Atlantic, Spring 2021; “High-rise Passive House in NYC,” Sierra Atlantic Fall 2017; and “NYC’s Green New Deal,” Sierra Atlantic, Summer 2019. See also the recording of the July 22, 2021 New York Passive House virtual event on Local Law 97: “Town Hall – Climate Mobilization – ACT NOW. | <urn:uuid:403294c0-a6ff-42fa-b1f7-eaab780982bf> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.nypassivehouse.org/ny-city-council-int-2317-2021-promotes-building-electrification/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.929255 | 1,177 | 2.59375 | 3 |
|home : index : ancient Judaea|
2 Maccabees 1
The book belongs to what is called 'pathetic history', which tries to create sympathy for the actors and is not primarily aimed at the full truth. It is also a more religious book than its twin 1 Maccabees; it uses many themes from the Jewish Bible (e.g., several titles for God). One of the most interesting theological aspects is that the author assumes that the people who maintain God's Law will be resurrected.
The contents of the book can be summarized as follows:
First LetterThe Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea,
To their Jewish brethren in Egypt, Greeting, and good peace.
May God do good to you, and may He remember His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, His faithful servants. May He give you all a heart to worship Him and to do His will with a strong heart and a willing spirit. May He open your heart to His law and His commandments, and may he bring peace. May He hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may He not forsake you in time of evil. We are now praying for you here.
the reign of Demetrius[II
Nicator], in the one hundred and sixty-ninth
era;143/142 BCE], we Jews wrote to you, in the
which came upon us in those years after [the
priest] Jason and his company revolted from the holy land
burned the gate and shed innocent blood. We besought the Lord and we
heard, and we offered sacrifice and cereal offering, and we lighted the
lamps and we set out the loaves. And
now see that you keep the feast of booths in the month of Kislev,
in the one hundred and eighty-eighth year [124/123].
Second LetterThose in Jerusalem and those in Judea and the senate and Judas,
To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of Ptolemy the king, and to the Jews in Egypt, Greeting, and good health.
Having been saved by God out of grave dangers we thank Him greatly for taking our side against the king [Antiochus IV Epiphanes]. For He drove out those who fought against the holy city. For when the leader reached Persia with a force that seemed irresistible, they were cut to pieces in the temple of Nanea by a deception employed by the priests of Nanea. For under pretext of intending to marry her, Antiochus came to the place together with his friends, to secure most of its treasures as a dowry. When the priests of the temple of Nanea had set out the treasures and Antiochus had come with a few men inside the wall of the sacred precinct, they closed the temple as soon as he entered it. Opening the secret door in the ceiling, they threw stones and struck down the leader and his men, and dismembered them and cut off their heads and threw them to the people outside. Blessed in every way be our God, who has brought judgment upon those who have behaved impiously.
Since on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the feast of booths and the feast of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices. For when our fathers were being led captive to Persia [i.e., Babylonia], the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to any one.
But after many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah, having been commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to get it. And when they reported to us that they had not found fire but thick liquid, he ordered them to dip it out and bring it. And when the materials for the sacrifices were presented, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the liquid on the wood and what was laid upon it. When this was done and some time had passed and the sun, which had been clouded over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled. And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer - the priests and every one. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah. The prayer was to this effect: "O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, Who art awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, Who alone art King and art kind, Who alone art bountiful, Who alone art just and almighty and eternal, Who dost rescue Israel from every evil, Who didst choose the fathers and consecrate them, accept this sacrifice on behalf of all Thy people Israel and preserve Thy portion and make it holy. Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look upon those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that Thou art our God. Afflict those who oppress and are insolent with pride. Plant Thy people in Thy holy place, as Moses said." Then the priests sang the hymns.
And when the materials of the sacrifice were consumed, Nehemiah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured upon large stones. When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out. When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemiah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice, the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts. Nehemiah and his associates called this "nephthar," which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha.
Latest revision: 6 December 2006 | <urn:uuid:1b8f1b0d-083b-42df-960c-98543b5751b8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maccabees/2macc01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00166-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976764 | 1,288 | 2.453125 | 2 |
MA Classics and Ancient History
Our MA Classics and Ancient History is one of the widest-ranging courses in the UK, with expertise spanning Bronze Age to late antiquity, Anatolia to Egypt and the Near East.
You will be taught by world-leading experts, with particular research strength in a wide range of disciplines including ancient history, literature, language, archaeology, art and culture.You’ll be joining a Department with a vibrant research culture where 95% of our research is of international standing (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – Classics).
You will benefit from facilities including the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the University Library and a dedicated postgraduate room in the heart of the Department of Classics. We are also located only a short distance from Oxford and London where you can visit major collections important for research in Classics and Ancient History.
There are also opportunities to work in the on-site Ure Museum, which holds Cypriote, Egyptian, and post-Classical artefacts, and one of the largest collections of Greek ceramics in the UK. | <urn:uuid:c7717e32-fb58-48dc-8158-99eff25a5dea> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.reading.ac.uk/ready-to-study/study/Subject-area/classics-and-ancient-history-pg/ma-classics-and-ancient-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571198.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810161541-20220810191541-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.93052 | 225 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Badlands National Park.
Badlands national park is located in high Great Plains of southwestern South Dakota east of the Black Hills. The parks highest elevation is 3282 ft on Sheep Mountain; the lowest elevation is 2460 ft along Sage Creek. The park is nearly 244,000 acres and covered with sharply eroded buttes, surrounded by a mixture of grass prairie. Some of the major geologic attractions are the stunning landscape and the wildlife it quarters. The geologic origin of the park reveals that it was deposited in layers. The layers are composed of sediments such as sand, silt, and clay that have been cemented to form sedimentary rocks.
The sedimentary rocks in this area were deposited during the late Cretaceous Period which was 67 to 75 million years ago. Deposition and erosion are geologic process that created the formation of The Badlands. Some of the formations that took place at the Badlands National Park are: •The Sharp formation is light in color and deposited by wind and water in the dry and cool climate that existed 28-30 million years ago during the Oligocene Epochs period. •The Brule formation is tannish brown in color and consists of bands of sandstone deposited by channels of ancient rivers that flowed in the Black Hills.
This formation took place 30-34 million years ago also during the Oligocene Epochs period. •The Chadron formation is grayish in color and consists of fossils from early mammals like the three-toed horse and the large titanothere deposited by rivers across the flood plain. This formation took place 34-37 million years ago during the Eocene period. •The upper layers are Yellow mounds weathered by yellow soil and black ocean mud that have contained fossil sand, or paleosol. •The Pierre Shale is black in color and deposited by sediment filtered through seawater and black mud on the sea floor that hardened into Shale.
This formation took place 69-75 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. Some of the fossils found in the shale consist of clams, ammonites, and sea reptiles; that proved this was a sea environment. Badlands National Park has found fossils dating 23 to 35 million years old that contains the world’s richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds. The Badland’s formation has helped geologist study the evolution of early mammal species such as horse, sheep, rhinoceros, and pigs. The best scientific knowledge of early mammals came from the Oligocene Period that last 23-35 million years ago.
Some of the fossils that were found were: •Leptomeryx- deer like, small and fragile; had even toed hooves •Oreodonts- sheep like in appearance; name means “mountain tooth” •Archaeotherium- a distant relative of the pig had sharp canines •Hoplophoneus- distant cousin of the saber tooth tiger, size of a leopard •Subhyracodon- similar to that of a rhinoceros •Ischromys- a small squirrel like rodent •Metamynodon- a massive rhinoceros, like that of a hippocampus •Paleolagus- an ancestral rabbit The geologic time is illustrated below and represents the time represented in the park. (Stoffer, 2003)
The biggest issue that faces the Badlands National park is weathering and erosion. This has been the major driving force in the formation of this park and will eventually make the buttes and the spires flat. Some of the other issues are non-native grasses and weeds growing out of control. This non-native grass is growing at an incredible rate and will eventually take over and kill the native grass. Increasing garbage and waste problems are an existing issue with the amount of visitors each year. Recent developments west of the park is causing air and water pollution that is effecting plant and animal habitants in the area. | <urn:uuid:b6133009-ae23-4b82-a86d-bfc73e1fb11d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://qualityessays.net/badlands-national-park/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817032054-20220817062054-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.961087 | 811 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Background: Weight-loss medications are recommended as an adjunct to a comprehensive program of diet, exercise, and behavior therapy but are typically prescribed with minimal or no lifestyle modification. This practice is likely to limit therapeutic benefits.
Methods: In this one-year trial, we randomly assigned 224 obese adults to receive 15 mg of sibutramine per day alone, delivered by a primary care provider in eight visits of 10 to 15 minutes each; lifestyle-modification counseling alone, delivered in 30 group sessions; sibutramine plus 30 group sessions of lifestyle-modification counseling (i.e., combined therapy); or sibutramine plus brief lifestyle-modification counseling delivered by a primary care provider in eight visits of 10 to 15 minutes each. All subjects were prescribed a diet of 1200 to 1500 kcal per day and the same exercise regimen.
Results: At one year, subjects who received combined therapy lost a mean (+/-SD) of 12.1+/-9.8 kg, whereas those receiving sibutramine alone lost 5.0+/-7.4 kg, those treated by lifestyle modification alone lost 6.7+/-7.9 kg, and those receiving sibutramine plus brief therapy lost 7.5+/-8.0 kg (P<0.001). Those in the combined-therapy group who frequently recorded their food intake lost more weight than those who did so infrequently (18.1+/-9.8 kg vs. 7.7+/-7.5 kg, P=0.04).
Conclusions: The combination of medication and group lifestyle modification resulted in more weight loss than either medication or lifestyle modification alone. The results underscore the importance of prescribing weight-loss medications in combination with, rather than in lieu of, lifestyle modification.
Copyright 2005 Massachusetts Medical Society. | <urn:uuid:f761e4af-3b9f-44a3-b41c-b555d89b0ed1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16291981/?dopt=Abstract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.900765 | 376 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Work and Leisure in the U.S. and Europe: Why so Different?
Alberto F. Alesina
Harvard University - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Edward L. Glaeser
Harvard University - John F. Kennedy School of Government, Department of Economics; Brookings Institution; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Dartmouth College - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Harvard Institute of Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 2068
Americans average 25.1 working hours per person in working age per week, but the Germans average 18.6 hours. The average American works 46.2 weeks per year, while the French average 40 weeks per year. Why do western Europeans work so much less than Americans? Recent work argues that these differences result from higher European tax rates, but the vast empirical labor supply literature suggests that tax rates can explain only a small amount of the differences in hours between the U.S. and Europe. Another popular view is that these differences are explained by long-standing European "culture", but Europeans worked more than Americans as late as the 1960s. In this paper, we argue that European labor market regulations, advocated by unions in declining European industries who argued "work less, work all" explain the bulk of the difference between the U.S. and Europe. These policies do not seem to have increased employment, but they may have had a more society-wide influence on leisure patterns because of a social multiplier where the returns to leisure increase as more people are taking longer vacations.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 74
Date posted: April 19, 2005 | <urn:uuid:d8956c3e-3bf6-4478-b174-1e7029b22a23> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=706982 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721387.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00448-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922008 | 354 | 2.28125 | 2 |
I’d like to comment especially on Kevin Carmony’s Linspire letter and explain what openSUSE is, since there seem to be some misconceptions.
The ZDnet article rightly claims that we “have ceased distributing proprietary software modules such as 3D video drivers that plug into the Linux kernel”. From this Kevin Carmony concludes that Novell removed “proprietary software from their Linux offerings” which is plainly wrong. SUSE Linux 10.1 comes with six CDs. The first five contain only Open Source software, only the last one (if you download: the binary add-on CD) contains proprietary software. Freespire speaks about their “OSS Edition”, a term SUSE Linux 10.0 already used a year ago.
The list of commercial software on SUSE Linux 10.1 (full list available at Novell’s website) includes Adobe Acrobat Reader, Java, Opera, and RealPlayer.
To be clear, I’m mainly talking about the openSUSE distribution, but let me point out that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 also comes with proprietary software including Adobe Acrobat Reader, Java and RealPlayer, and that SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 provides Java as well, for examples.
openSUSE 10.2 (the successor to SUSE Linux 10.1) will follow the same model as SUSE Linux 10.1 in distributing and supporting both Open Source and proprietary software – and leaving the user a choice.
I love open source and that’s why I’m working on openSUSE. I do also use proprietary software and consider it vital to have a good and stable platform on which both Open Source developers and proprietary software vendors can develop software. Users using this platform are free to use the software of their choice. With Linux and openSUSE, there’s such a platform. For mixed source source, I suggest reading our CTO’s blog.
The Free Standards Group with their Linux Standard Base (LSB) standardizes a application binary interface allowing application developers to build software that runs on any LSB certified platform. Recently both MySQL and RealPlayer certified their applications by the LSB.
Novell has certified all their recent distributions by the LSB, including the just announced SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 products as well as SUSE Linux 10.1. This is a clear commitment by Novell to a standard conforming base that both proprietary software vendors and open source developers can use. If you look at the other distributors certifying their products, you see there a few others as well – including Red Hat. But there is no certification for Fedora and neither for Linspire/Freespire.
Proprietary Kernel Drivers
So, what about proprietary kernel drivers? Fedora has taken an admirable stand against those (see e.g. Mike Harris’ comment). Since about half a year ago, the openSUSE project has been vocal about our position, too (e.g. my announcement in february).
There are a couple of reasons for this in my opinion. The first reason is to respect the opinion of those members of the Linux kernel community that consider binary drivers a violation of the GPL. Supporting a proprietary kernel driver is a nightmare because such a driver might change the kernel in an unpredictable way. The Linux kernel developers will not investigate bug reports if a binary-only kernel module is loaded and ask for reproduction without the loaded module (e.g. read the linux-kernel FAQ).
During the last years lots of hardware vendors have opened their specs to developers so that they could write open source kernel drivers and support their hardware since they believe this is the best way to go. I think that we as community really need to constantly encourage companies to support the development of Open Source kernel drivers – and personally support this from our wallets.
Finally, closed source drivers can sometimes block you, you might not be able to update to newer kernel versions to support e.g. another driver you need…
Personally, I agree with Pamela Jones’ column called “On Binary Drivers and Underwear” for LinuxUser & Developer: “I totally get it that folks want their computers to just work. I want that too. But would you please consider that if we pollute free-licensed open source software with secretive code, which we must with binary drivers, we lose what make GNU/Linux special – its openness and our freedom to control what happens on our computers.”
For those users really needing an external kernel driver in SUSE Linux and openSUSE, users might easily find them for most recent distributions. External kernel drivers can now be provided as kernel module packages in a better way than before.
Arjan van de Ven wrote about a Doomsday scenario if binary drivers would be allowed universally, read it yourself in the archives of lkml.
So, summying up, what is the openSUSE distribution? It’s a distribution containing open source packages including an open source Linux kernel with open source modules – and additionally some closed source user land applications in an add-on.
One of the goals of openSUSE is to create better software. I’d like to talk one day about our openSUSE buildservice and how that one will help to increase the amount of high quality open source packages. I would like to see the openSUSE distribution as platform of choice for both open source and proprietary software developers.
Freedom of Choice and Open Source
In my personal opinion you cannot talk about open source without talking about freedom of choice. I’m glad to be able to run open source software that I can change myself – both fixing and improving-, write bug reports about, discuss the source code, analyze it and check for privacy violations and security holes etc. Certain proprietary software might be in some areas more mature and I can get commercial support for it – something I wouldn’t get for openSUSE but could get with commercial enterprise distributions. It’s my choice which software to use and if both commercial and open source software can talk to each other, e.g. have standarized data formats for interchange of files, then I can do this any time. I do hate beeing forced to use exactly one tool to do my job – this is some kind of monopoly – and prefer a good competition in the market place.
I have the choice to buy proprietary software and/or help improving open source one. I would like everybody to have at least the same choice with kernel drivers – the chance to run an open source driver on all of your hardware. | <urn:uuid:afe46a4f-a0ac-4a6c-a3d7-e9d80b8290d1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.novell.com/communities/coolsolutions/2006/08/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719784.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00427-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934535 | 1,364 | 1.78125 | 2 |
- Global Information
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Alzheimer's Disease International Launch Global Dementia Friendly Communities Guide
London, 16 March 2015
New booklet highlights the seismic impact of efforts to make global communities more inclusive for people living with dementia
'Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs): New domains and global examples', released today, documents DFC schemes from all over the world, demonstrating the potential these programmes have to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their carers.
Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) is launching the booklet in conjunction with the first World Health Organisation (WHO) Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia, to be held in Geneva from 16-17 March 2015. Over the two days, ministers from around the world, as well as experts from the research, clinical and NGO communities, will come together in Geneva for the first time to discuss the global problems posed by dementia.
Many high income countries, such as the UK, Belgium and Japan, have already established highly successful DFC programmes. In light of dementia shifting prevalence to low and middle income countries, ADI are urging policy makers in these regions to integrate DFCs into their commitments for action on dementia. ADI estimates that by 2050, 135 million people around the world will have dementia, with 71% living in low and middle income countries.
The publication reports on DFC projects from countries and regions across the world, highlighting six key areas of community planning which should be the focus of DFCs:
- Public awareness and information access
- Planning processes
- The physical environment
- Access and consideration for dementia among local businesses and public services
- Community-based innovation services through local action
- Access to transportation
Marc Wortmann, Executive Director of Alzheimer’s Disease International, commented: “The success of the DFC initiatives highlighted in this booklet demonstrate their potential as a high impact, low cost measure to help improve the lives of people with dementia. These programmes not only benefit people living with dementia, but also help to empower all members of the community. We’re calling on policy makers to consider the effectiveness of the examples supplied in the DFC booklet and discuss how DFC schemes could help people affected by dementia in their countries.”
Notes to Editors
The booklet can be found here: http://www.alz.co.uk/ADI-publications#dfcs
About Alzheimer’s Disease International
ADI is the international federation of 84 Alzheimer associations around the world, in official relations with the World Health Organization. ADI's vision is an improved quality of life for people with dementia and their families throughout the world. ADI believes that the key to winning the fight against dementia lies in a unique combination of global solutions and local knowledge. As such, it works locally, by empowering Alzheimer associations to promote and offer care and support for people with dementia and their carers, while working globally to focus attention on dementia and campaign for policy change from governments. For more information, visit www.alz.co.uk. | <urn:uuid:26b07531-fbfe-466e-93d9-a36c74fac086> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.alz.co.uk/media/150316 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00026-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91021 | 670 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Studies show that selenium, a trace mineral, is an important common denominator among some of the world’s longest-living people. Selenium promotes heart health, brain health, and supports longevity. And our Super Selenium Complex formula provides three unique forms of selenium along with vitamin E for optimal health and longevity support. Benefits at a Glance Combines three unique forms of selenium plus vitamin E Supports your body against oxidative damage Supports normal thyroid and immune function in healthy individuals Promotes heart health, brain health, and healthy cell division Three forms of selenium + vitamin E Selenium is available in several different forms. Each form of selenium acts along a different pathway to support healthy cell division. For optimized selenium support, one should supplement with all three forms of selenium. Super Selenium Complex delivers sodium selenite, L-selenomethionine, and selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine. Super Selenium Complex also contains a small amount of vitamin E because it has been shown to work synergistically with selenium. Antioxidant, thyroid, and immune support Selenium is also an important factor when it comes to its ability to fight one of the primary causes of premature aging: oxidative damage. That’s because the body utilizes selenium to make glutathione peroxidase, an endogenous antioxidant enzyme. Selenium also supports normal thyroid and immune function in healthy individuals. Cardiovascular health, brain health, and healthy cell division Selenium plays a role in healthy cell division. But its ability to promote a healthy inflammatory response and quench free radicals has led scientists to explore its beneficial effects in regard to other conditions involving oxidative damage — particularly for heart and brain health. Selenium is a vital nutrient for healthy cell division. It also protects against oxidative stress, promotes heart and brain health, and may be key to promoting longevity — all reasons to add Super Selenium Complex to your nutritional regimen today. | <urn:uuid:48336b5d-5cf1-4619-932b-7d3f3d5acd9d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://ventrian.com/p/super-selenium-complex-100-vcaps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00476.warc.gz | en | 0.906658 | 406 | 1.773438 | 2 |
"Wedging creationism into the academy"
"Wedging creationism into the academy," by Barbara Forrest and Glenn Branch, appears in the January-February 2005 issue of Academe, the bimonthly magazine of the American Association of University Professors. In their article, Forrest and Branch discuss the attempts of the "intelligent design" movement to use academia as a base. In light of the scientific sterility of "intelligent design," they argue, "the Wedge needs another way to persuade education policy makers that intelligent design is academically respectable": by exploiting the academic credentials and affiliations of its proponents and supporters for all they are worth. Reviewing such Wedge tactics as holding pseudoacademic "intelligent design" conferences on campuses and recruiting professors to sign antievolution statements, Forrest and Branch conclude that supporters of "intelligent design" in academia "exploit their academic standing to promote the concept as intellectually respectable while shirking the task of producing a scientifically compelling case for it." Forrest is professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University, author (with Paul R. Gross) of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design (Oxford University Press, 2004), and a member of the NCSE board of directors; Branch is the deputy director of NCSE. | <urn:uuid:5026d6c6-7188-4512-b08c-edd025273a49> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://ncse.com/news/2005/01/wedging-creationism-into-academy-00762 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00325-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944717 | 264 | 2.46875 | 2 |
The rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has the potential to change how we view money. At the same time, governments and societies are worried that the anonymity of these cashless transactions could allow criminal activities to flourish.
Another less remarked issue is the energy demands needed to mint new coins for these cryptocurrencies. A new report by Associate Professor Naoki Shibata of Nara Institute of Science and Technology presents a blockchain algorithm, which he calls “proof-of-search” (PoS), that retains the attractive features of most cryptocurrencies at a lower cost to the environment.
While the economics of cryptocurrencies gets most of the attention, it is becoming readily apparent that cryptocurrencies have a massive environmental cost. The energy used in the world to mine for Bitcoins alone equals almost that of the energy consumption of all of Ireland, while in Iceland, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy than households. In the end, it could be environmental implications, not economic ones, that halt the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The basis of all major cryptocurrencies is the blockchain. Ironically, while the blockchain provides pure anonymity to the human user, it is remarkably transparent in all its transactions, meaning the digital owner of the digital coins is clear, even the actual person represented by the digital owner is not.
“Bitcoin uses a proof-of-work [PoW] system to decide the chronological order of transactions. PoW works anonymously because the order is identified by IP addresses,” explains Shibata.
When a transaction in the Bitcoin blockchain is made, a user makes a request. PoW makes a series of calculations to confirm the validity of the transaction, calculations that consume energy. In PoS, users in the blockchain are invited to use this energy to request a job for finding a solution to an optimization problem.
“There are three kinds of users in the PoS blockchain. The first two are those who want to use the blockchain as a payment system or mine for e-coins, which is the same as PoW. The third group wants to use the PoS blockchain as grid computing infrastructure,” says Shibata.
The energy lost in the PoW is redirected to finding an approximate solution to the submitted problem. Thus, energy can be devoted to adding new blocks to the blockchain or to another problem, namely, the optimization proposed by a user, so that the amount of energy used is not reduced, but neither is it wasted.
PoS is the newest of more than a dozen alternative algorithms to PoW that all aim to reduce energy cost. PoW has remained the standard algorithm through which cryptocurrencies operate, because it is extremely decentralized and democratic, which prevents any one user from having an outstanding influence on the currency value.
“The problem with the alternatives is that they lose their democracy or are more vulnerable to outside attacks,” notes Shibata.
By adding the feature of an approximate solution, PoS also invites possible corruption to which PoW is immune. Therefore, as a deterrent, PoS demands that the user who submits the problem be the one who pays the user who proposes the solution. This prevents users from colluding together to submit problems for which they already know the solution.
Another appeal of PoW is its robustness. PoS preserves this robustness by introducing miniblocks each time an optimization problem is submitted.
Shibata envisions the optimization problems that can be solved by redirecting the wasted energy with PoS will include diverse problems from medicine to the beginnings of the universe.
“PoS could help solve problems in protein folding, the dynamics of interstellar formations and finance,” he says. | <urn:uuid:019b85a1-646b-4183-b8e8-03dd2ae1e28e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.eurasiareview.com/11122019-bitcoin-mining-should-be-environmentally-friendly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570913.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809064307-20220809094307-00075.warc.gz | en | 0.944549 | 740 | 2.984375 | 3 |
I am on this kick lately on introversion vs. extroversion. Off and on I am working through Susan Cain’s Book, Quiet. I am an introvert and the topic is very interesting to me as I read more about open and collaborative workplaces and the promise of more networked learning.
Computers, networks and open-work spaces. Less we forget our humanity.
More to follow on Susan’s book and the impact for our organizations. Indeed we accomplish more together, yet to leverage the strength of each unique individual lies the promise. Many of these people are quiet voices with profound contributions ready to be heard.
For today I read an interesting article in the Washington Post called, Why Extroverts Fail, Introverts Flounder and You Probably Succeed. In the article the author, Daniel Pink, argues that leaders are indeed sales people and share many of the same traits. Leaders sell.
I invite you to read the article yourself, but in a nutshell the research shows that both extroverts and introverts do not make the best sales people and by extending the argument, not the best leaders. A different group called ambiverts do the best. As compared to introverts and extroverts, more people fall into this middle range.
The best way to understand this is to use a 1 to 7 scale with strong introversion being a 1 and strong extroversion being a 7. The scale is a continuum. Each of us lies on this scale from 1 to 7. Ambiverts fill that middle ground say 3, 4, 5.
Ambiverts are not quiet, but they are not loud. They know how to assert themselves, but they are not pushy.
Hum, I called myself an introvert earlier and now say that introverts do not make good leaders. I share this to point out that we need to be careful. I am a good leader while possessing many introverted traits. There are great extroverted leaders as well. One can fall anywhere on this scale and still perform very well as a leader.
While interesting, we have to be careful with conclusions as presented in this article. We are more than a number on a scale. I call myself an introvert, but I am more complex than that label. Introversion is my home, yet I do leave my home and find great joy in working with people each day. From that place I retreat back to home to re-energize.
Being a leader is not easy. But I will tell you a secret. I think you know this one. Be curious about people. Get to know them. Recognize how they are different from you and others on your team. Find each person’s unique contribution.
Find and welcome the voice. The voice of each person.
In that we come together and indeed, WeMoveTogether. | <urn:uuid:d8001010-31d6-406f-ac5c-1ae5d39944d7> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://michaelvhurley.com/2013/01/31/damn-i-am-a-sales-person/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00065-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954948 | 587 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Pregnancy is a process where hormonal and physical changes are experienced. In this process, both the natural effects of the pregnancy period and pregnancy complications occur.
Severe Vomiting in Pregnancy
Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy are completely normal symptoms. If vomiting and nausea caused by hormonal changes are excessive and the expectant mother is experiencing weight loss, she should inform her doctor directly.
In such cases, problems are brought under control with treatment. Measures that can be taken for morning sickness are:
The situation can be controlled with change in eating habits,
If the vomiting becomes very severe, the person may need to be hospitalized.
It occurs when it is not possible to produce insulin at an appropriate rate for increased blood sugar level during pregnancy. If the expectant mother has diabetes before pregnancy, the process should be brought under control by taking appropriate measures during pregnancy.
However, in some cases, gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. When gestational diabetes is kept under control, the pregnancy process will be completed in a healthy way without facing any problem. Urine test and glucose tolerance test can be performed to detect gestational diabetes.
These tests are done in every pregnancy. Diagnostic test of gestational diabetes, whose real scientific name is “Glucose Tolerance Test”, which is known by mistake in Turkish as sugar loading test, does not harm the mother or the fetus during pregnancy.
High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy
This disease, which is also known as preeclampsia, is more common in first pregnancies, advanced maternal age, multiple pregnancies and obese pregnancies.
The normal cardiovascular result of pregnancy is a slight drop in blood pressure. It is not normal for blood pressure to be at or above 140/90 mmHg during pregnancy and it should be evaluated in detail rapidly.
It is the second most common cause of premature births in pregnancy. It is a complication that is likely to harm the mother or the fetus. It is important to evaluate and manage this complication, whose diagnosis, follow-up, treatment and timing of delivery should be completely individualized according to the patient, by a perinatologist.
The definition of miscarriage during pregnancy means that the heartbeat of the fetus suddenly stops or the pregnancy materials are expelled from the uterus with bleeding and pain. If the termination of pregnancy occurs before 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called as miscarriage, if it occurs after 20th week of pregnancy, it is called as premature birth.
Miscarriage may occur when there is no problem in various situations. Especially in the bleeding during pregnancy, it is useful to contact your doctor without wasting time and by staying calm.
Low Amniotic Fluid
Amniotic sac; is a sac of fluid where the baby lives in the womb and protects the baby. If the amniotic fluid is less than required, first, the cause should be investigated in detail and then a special follow-up should be applied. In such cases, premature birth may occur.
Placenta Previa (The down settlement of the placenta to obstruct the cervix exit)
It is a complication that occurs when the placenta attaches to the lower part of the uterine wall and covers the cervix partially or completely. It usually occurs after the second trimester of pregnancy.
In this case, severe vaginal bleeding may occur. It is possible to be treated. This requires a detailed examination and appropriate follow-up. In this case, normal birth is not possible and the caesarean delivery should be performed by an experienced operator in this field.
As a general definition, placenta accreta is a situation where the placenta adheres too much to the uterine wall and causes severe bleeding due to the fact that it does not separate during delivery.
In case of clinical suspicion, first, both the fetus and the placenta should be evaluated in detail with detailed fetal ultrasonography. After the pregnancy risk is determined, a follow-up and an operation appropriate to its risk should be planned.
The operation must be performed in a tertiary center, which has adequate blood and blood product support, by an experienced operator and her team. The severity and frequency of this disease increases in direct proportion to the number of cesarean sections, especially in pregnancies who gave birth by cesarean in their previous pregnancy. | <urn:uuid:cda25aa3-6fef-4b07-be41-999c3f2ca484> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.aliekiz.com/en/pregnancy-complications/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.948736 | 931 | 3.09375 | 3 |
A well trained and well pruned Wisteria really takes some beating.
I have pruned many Wisterias over the years with great effect and enormous satisfaction. Once one knows exactly how to prune it one can carry out the task efficiently and effectively. Below you will find a basic guide on how to maintain
One should establish a neat framework and keep it low enough to allow safe maintenance.
Once you have tied your framework in place you will need to prune 3 or more times a year. Firstly, in autumn, the new shoots of that year need to be cut back (with sharp secateurs) to 6 buds from where they started. Then, in mid-winter, the same shoots need to be reduced back to 3 buds. The goal is to manipulate the plant into producing as many clusters of flowering buds as possible. After flowering, if the plant is particularly vigorous, it will need taming during the summer more than once. This means cutting back any wayward, arching growth. Some of the more vigorous stems can be tied in to the wall to fill an empty space.
Time and effort does need to be taken with this fabulous plant. However, come April, you will reap your rewards and admire your hard work. | <urn:uuid:591bd028-5c19-4d92-9ea7-a810571ae580> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://harryjamesgardens.co.uk/services/wisteria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571056.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809155137-20220809185137-00674.warc.gz | en | 0.958327 | 260 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Career and Education Opportunities for Cardiac Technicians in Chandler, Arizona
If you want to be a cardiac technician, the Chandler, Arizona area offers many opportunities both for education and employment. Currently, 1,170 people work as cardiac technicians in Arizona. This is expected to grow by 32% to 1,550 people by 2016. This is better than the nation as a whole, where employment opportunities for cardiac technicians are expected to grow by about 24.1%. Cardiac technicians generally conduct tests on pulmonary or cardiovascular systems of patients for diagnostic purposes.
Cardiac technicians earn about $19 per hour or $39,960 yearly on average in Arizona and about $22 per hour or $47,010 per year on average nationally. Cardiac technicians earn less than people working in the category of Healthcare Technical generally in Arizona and more than people in the Healthcare Technical category nationally. People working as cardiac technicians can fill a number of jobs, such as: echocardiographer, electrocardiograph operator, and cath lab specialist .
There are seventy-seven schools of higher education in the Chandler area, including two within twenty-five miles of Chandler where you can get a degree to start your career as a cardiac technician. Given that the most common education level for cardiac technicians is an Associate's, or other 2-year degree, you can expect to spend about two years training to become a cardiac technician if you already have a high school diploma.
CAREER DESCRIPTION: Cardiac Technician
In general, cardiac technicians conduct tests on pulmonary or cardiovascular systems of patients for diagnostic purposes. They also may conduct or assist in electrocardiograms, cardiac catheterizations, pulmonary-functions, lung capacity, and similar tests.
Cardiac technicians explain testing procedures to patient to obtain cooperation and reduce anxiety. They also ready and position patients for testing. Equally important, cardiac technicians have to obtain and record patient identification, medical history or test results. They are often called upon to monitor patients' comfort and safety during tests, alerting physicians to abnormalities or changes in patient responses. They are expected to adjust apparatus and controls in line with physicians' orders or established protocol. Finally, cardiac technicians attach electrodes to the patients' chests and legs, connect electrodes to leads from the electrocardiogram (EKG) machine, and operate the EKG machine to obtain a reading.
Every day, cardiac technicians are expected to be able to evaluate problems as they arise. They need to listen to and understand others in meetings.
It is important for cardiac technicians to supervise and train other cardiology technologists and students. They are often called upon to observe gauges and video screens of data analysis system during imaging of cardiovascular system. They also check and maintain cardiology apparatus, making minor repairs when needed, to insure proper operation. They are sometimes expected to perform general administrative tasks. Somewhat less frequently, cardiac technicians are also expected to activate fluoroscope and camera to produce images used to guide catheter through cardiovascular system.
Cardiac technicians sometimes are asked to activate fluoroscope and camera to produce images used to guide catheter through cardiovascular system. They also have to be able to observe ultrasound display screen and listen to signals to record vascular data such as blood pressure, limb volume changes, oxygen saturation and cerebral circulation and compare measurements of heart wall thickness and chamber sizes to standard norms to pinpoint abnormalities. And finally, they sometimes have to observe gauges and video screens of data analysis system during imaging of cardiovascular system.
Like many other jobs, cardiac technicians must have exceptional integrity and be reliable.
Similar jobs with educational opportunities in Chandler include:
- Health Information Systems Technician. Compile, process, and maintain medical records of hospital and clinic patients in a manner consistent with medical, administrative, and regulatory requirements of the health care system. Process, maintain, and report patient information for health requirements and standards.
- Medical Laboratory Technician. Perform routine medical laboratory tests for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. May work under the supervision of a medical technologist.
- Medical Laboratory Technologist. Perform complex medical laboratory tests for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. May train or supervise staff.
- Nuclear Medical Technologist. Prepare, administer, and measure radioactive isotopes in therapeutic, diagnostic, and tracer studies utilizing a variety of radioisotope equipment. Prepare stock solutions of radioactive materials and calculate doses to be administered by radiologists. Subject patients to radiation. Execute blood volume, red cell survival, and fat absorption studies following standard laboratory techniques.
- Pharmacist Technician. Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, and record amounts and dosages of medications.
- Radiation Therapist. Provide radiation therapy to patients as prescribed by a radiologist according to established practices and standards. Duties may include reviewing prescription and diagnosis; acting as liaison with physician and supportive care personnel; preparing equipment, such as immobilization, treatment, and protection devices; and maintaining records, reports, and files. May assist in dosimetry procedures and tumor localization.
- Radiological Technician. Maintain and use equipment and supplies necessary to demonstrate portions of the human body on x-ray film or fluoroscopic screen for diagnostic purposes.
- Radiology Technologist. Take x-rays and Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT or CT) scans or administer nonradioactive materials into patient's blood stream for diagnostic purposes. Includes technologists who specialize in other modalities, such as computed tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance.
- Respiratory Therapist. Assess, treat, and care for patients with breathing disorders. Assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care modalities, including the supervision of respiratory therapy technicians. Initiate and conduct therapeutic procedures; maintain patient records; and select, assemble, and operate equipment.
- Respiratory Therapy Technician. Provide specific, well defined respiratory care procedures under the direction of respiratory therapists and physicians.
- Sonographer. Produce ultrasonic recordings of internal organs for use by physicians.
- Surgical Technician. Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel. May help set up operating room, prepare and transport patients for surgery, adjust lights and equipment, pass instruments and other supplies to surgeons and surgeon's assistants, hold retractors, and help count sponges, needles, and instruments.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: Cardiac Technician Training
GateWay Community College - Phoenix, AZ
GateWay Community College, 108 N. 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034. GateWay Community College is a medium sized college located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a public school with primarily 2-year programs and has 6,853 students. GateWay Community College has an associate's degree program in Cardiovascular Technology/Technologist.
Midwestern University - Glendale, AZ
Midwestern University, 19555 N 59th Ave, Glendale, AZ 85308. Midwestern University is a small university located in Glendale, Arizona. It is a private not-for-profit school with primarily 4-year or above programs and has 1,792 students. Midwestern University has a master's degree program in Perfusion Technology/Perfusionist which graduated seven students in 2008.
Certification in Clinical Perfusion: Certification in cardiovascular perfusion is evidence that a perfusionist's qualifications for operation of extracorporeal equipment are recognized by his/her peers.
For more information, see the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion website.
Registered Vascular Technologist: The examination's content outline includes: cerbrovascular, venous, peripheral arterial, abdomenal/visceral, miscellaneous conditions/tests, and quality assurance.
For more information, see the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers website.
Biomedical Electronics Technician: Biomedical electronics technicians are expected to obtain knowledge of the principles of modern biomedical techniques, the proper procedure in the care, handling and maintenance of biomedical equipment and to display an attitude/behavior expected of an electronics technician who works in a hospital or healthcare environment.
For more information, see the ETA International website.
Registered Pulmonary Function Technologist: The RPFT Certification exam is designed to objectively measure essential knowledge, skills and abilities required of an advanced pulmonary function technologist.
For more information, see the National Board for Respiratory Care website.
Nuclear Cardiology Technologist: Professional certification is a vital component of a successful career.
For more information, see the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board website.
Radiologic Technologist (Certification)
Licensing agency: Medical Radiologic Technology Board of Examiners
Address: 4814 S 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85040
Phone: (602) 255-4845
Website: Medical Radiologic Technology Board of Examiners
LOCATION INFORMATION: Chandler, Arizona
Chandler is situated in Maricopa County, Arizona. It has a population of over 247,140, which has grown by 40.0% over the last ten years. The cost of living index in Chandler, 93, is below the national average. New single-family homes in Chandler are priced at $206,800 on average, which is well below the state average. In 2008, three hundred sixty-one new homes were constructed in Chandler, down from 1,002 the previous year.
The three big industries for women in Chandler are educational services, health care, and finance and insurance. For men, it is computer and electronic products, construction, and professional, scientific, and technical services. The average commute to work is about 25 minutes. More than 32.5% of Chandler residents have a bachelor's degree, which is higher than the state average. The percentage of residents with a graduate degree, 10.5%, is higher than the state average.
The unemployment rate in Chandler is 6.6%, which is less than Arizona's average of 9.3%.
The percentage of Chandler residents that are affiliated with a religious congregation, 39.7%, is less than the national average but more than the state average. The most common religious groups are the Catholic Church, the LDS (Mormon) Church and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Chandler is home to the Kyrene Gin and the Goodyear Substation as well as West Mine Well Park and Doctor Chandler Memorial Park. Visitors to Chandler can choose from Courtyard by Marriott - Chandler, Four Seasons Solar Products and Aloha Motel for temporary stays in the area. | <urn:uuid:2371a46d-90bb-4790-9238-f8b9a5714c36> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.careeroverview.com/usa/arizona/chandler/healthcare-practitioners-and-technical/healthcare-technical/cardiac-technician/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280825.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00199-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92707 | 2,160 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Task-based language teaching : theory and practice /
"Drawing on the multiple perspectives and expertise of five leading authorities in the field, this books provides a comprehensive and balanced account of task-based language teaching (TBLT). Split into five sections, the book provides an historical account of the development of TBLT and introdu...
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Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY :
Cambridge University Press,
|Serie:||Cambridge applied linguistics series. | <urn:uuid:6bb3d19f-6c84-40b0-81ce-49f44def167b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://cny.reshare.indexdata.com/Record/96f17610-743f-43d3-b72d-1f52386edec0?lng=sv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572043.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814143522-20220814173522-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.667695 | 155 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Crushing espresso in your own kitchen gives the amazing chance to contact and smell the beans, as well as expect the pleasantness, sharpness, taste and kind of the cup. The espresso you get ready is rich and new and the fragrance occupying the room is an extraordinary method for beginning another day. There are instruments and apparatuses that are valued belongings on the kitchen counter full-time. Yours might be not the same as the ones another person likes yet they presumably incorporate a few of the accompanying: an espresso creator with an implicit processor or an independent espresso processor, a blender, juicer or food processor, a bunch of value blades, and a radio.
The selections of processors accessible are a large number. Antique processors in chamber formed factories. Manual processors you place over a bowl to get the ground espresso. Hand-wrenched processors with a cabinet underneath the edge for the grounds. The mortar-and-pestle espresso processor is another antique adaptation that requires manual strength and persistence to crush the espresso. Different kinds of accessible espresso processors incorporate electric and physically worked models with cone shaped or wheel burr crushing.
The historical backdrop of espresso processors returns us to the Middle Ages to Turkey, Persia and Greece. Espresso beans were simmered in little saucers over a fire. A chamber molded factory was utilized to crush the espresso. The physically hand turned processor was genuinely basic in its plan. The top would have a removable cover to put the espresso beans in the principal body of the compartment. The primary body was formed like a chamber. The factory inside would crush the espresso beans. The ground espresso would fall into a bowl or plate. The grounds were moved to an alternate compartment for preparing. Processors were changed over the long haul. For instance, two cone shaped attachments were added to the plan. One joined to the factory and the other to the lower part of the body utilizing a screw. The base compartment would hold the ground espresso. This is how the Turkish manual espresso processor is as yet utilized by a great many individuals in Turkey and abroad.
A wooden mortar-and-pestle processor, used to make “espresso mag gel powder,” was recorded in the freight of the Mayflower in 1620. This isn’t a shock since Captain John Smith (c. January 1580-June 21, 1631), who was an English warrior, adventurer, creator and among the main appearances in the New Continent, had gotten comfortable with espresso during his visits to Turkey. It is fascinating to take note of that the Dutch, who had early information on espresso from their states all over the planet, were not quick to carry espresso to the main long-lasting settlements. In any case, espresso was presumably imported from Holland as soon as in 1640. The British acquainted the espresso drink with the New York province at some point somewhere in the range of 1664 and 1673 which is essential since tea is the customary British refreshment. In the 1670’s espresso was cooked, ground, fermented, and afterward enhanced with sugar or honey, and cinnamon. Without a doubt the mortar-and-pestle espresso crushing strategy changed as inventive New World pioneers sorted out ways of facilitating the undertaking of espresso crushing using more productive and dependable espresso crushing instruments.
The primary US patent for an espresso processor was given to Thomas Bruff of Maryland in 1798. Thomas Bruff was one of Thomas Jefferson’s dental specialists. Thomas Jefferson frequently alluded to tooth issues and dental visits in letters that are presently openly available report. It is very conceivable that when he visited Dr Bruff’s office, Thomas Jefferson might have seen a wall-mounted gadget with ground beans between metal nuts with coarse and fine teeth. Seriously yet how proper for a dental specialist to have documented the primary US patent for an espresso processor! In 1870 the Champion# 1 became quite possibly of the most generally involved business processor in supermarkets. In 1898, the Hobart Manufacturing Company of Troy, Ohio, recorded a patent for an electric processor. The plan remembered teeth for a turning shaft inside the lodging under the bean compartment. Quite a long while later a few licenses were conceded for processor edges involving marginally various upgrades in the steel-cut plan.
For a few espresso darlings and specialists, antique espresso processors are a must collectible in their homes. This doesn’t truly intend that assuming you are one of them you need to chase after one at carport deals or at outdated corner stores. You positively can do so assuming that is your inclination. Nonetheless, notable espresso making hardware producers perceived the pattern and presently offer a wide choice of espresso machines that look really old fashioned. They protect the look and feel of antique espresso processors yet consolidate present day upgrades to guarantee a fine and unrivaled drudgery for incredible tasting espresso. A portion of the brands for antique style connoisseur espresso processors incorporate Bodum, Universal, and Jablum to specify only a couple.
Obviously, you don’t need to utilize an antique espresso processor to crush your beans. There are numerous options accessible in present day espresso crushing gear to fulfill the most requesting of espresso sweethearts. Burr processors are likely the most ideal decision for home espresso crushing. They will generally have two different turning surfaces to squash the beans set between them. The styles, sizes, states of chambers, and different highlights shift starting with one model then onto the next. Why utilize a burr processor? Not at all like edge processors, burr processors pound espresso in a practically frictionless manner which implies the beans discharge the most extreme flavor oils for a new and extraordinary cup of prepared espresso. Burr processors are accessible as either physically worked or programmed processors. The decision will be altogether dependent upon you. The manual cycle isn’t excessively lengthy, truly. It as a rule requires around 5 minutes of manual crushing or so for a regular 8 to 12 cup pot size. Be that as it may, this can be awkward assuming that you are in a hurry. Whether you pick a manual or programmed burr processor, the espresso will be consistently ground which is an incredible component for extraordinary tasting espresso. Bodum, Capresso, and Breville are instances of brands of burr espresso processors accessible. | <urn:uuid:66c8e19b-775b-454d-9c2f-dc5134244c30> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://8742mm.com/matching-coffee-grind-to-brew-type/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572192.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815145459-20220815175459-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.949239 | 1,269 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Scottish independence will force the remainder of the UK to abandon nuclear weapons for at least two decades, according to report by MPs published today.
The Commons Scottish Affairs select committee said it would be possible to move Trident submarines and their missiles from their base on the Clyde within two weeks of separation.
However, the construction of replacement facilities south of the Border could take up to 20 years, they said, effectively forcing the UK Government into “unilateral nuclear disarmament”.
The Continuous At Sea Deterrent, whereby at least one of the submarines is patrolling the UK’s shores around the clock, would stop as a result.
The MPs said it was extremely unlikely a separate Scotland would allow Trident to remain permanently, while basing the submarines abroad would be politically fraught.
A possible solution would be a gentleman’s agreement that would allow the UK to continue basing the submarines inScotland while they found a suitable alternative elsewhere and built the necessary facilities.
But, although there are several potential sites in England and Wales, the committee said all have drawbacks that renderthem unsuitable or expensive to convert for the nuclear deterrent.
Devonport in Plymouth has too large a population in the surrounding area to safely store nuclear warheads, MPs said, while the approach to the Barrow naval base in Cumbria is too shallow for the submarines to regularly dock.
Defence ministers told their inquiry they have made no preparations if Scots vote for separation in autumn 2014 and are pressing ahead with plans to move the Royal Navy’s entire submarine fleet north of the Border by 2017.
But the committee urged both the UK and Scottish governments to publish contingency plans for removing Trident before the referendum so voters understand the consequences.
The naval base at Faslane that houses the submarines is on course to employ 7,500 people by 2022, making it Scotland’s largest worksite, while the missiles and warheads are stored at nearby Coulport.
Replacing them south of the Border is expected to cost well in excess of £3.5 billion, a cost the MPs said would be divided between taxpayers in Scotland and the remainder of the UK as part of the separation deal.
Ian Davidson, the committee’s chairman and the Labour MP for Glasgow South West, said: “The full details of how and when Trident would be removed from Scotland and the full consequences of that plan must be worked out before any referendum is held.” | <urn:uuid:d73f6fbd-4b32-4348-8c7b-aafb4f04d62b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9630951/Britain-will-lose-nuclear-capability-for-20-years-if-Scotland-votes-for-independence.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00129-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960286 | 496 | 2.171875 | 2 |
There can be no environmental justice without social justice.
A very short sentence, with millions of lives and stories behind it. The story of Fatou Samba and hundreds of courageous women fish processors, fighting against the plundering of the oceans by international industrial vessels sent to suck up the fish populations they rely on to survive. The story of Tin Nyo Win, who survived slavery in one of the complex food supply chains that are at the heart of ecosystems collapse. The stories of generations of racialised and marginalised communities impacted by toxic facilities multiplying disease, learning disorders and further exclusion. The stories of workers organising for better lives for themselves and their families and looking for a better future for the planet.
Those stories are often erased. And for a long time we, in the environmental movement, contributed to that erasure: showing “pristine” nature but not the people defending, protecting, depending on it; putting the onus of agency in the powerful, instead of providing a platform for the ones on the frontlines to tell their truths; asking for actions which would put a plaster on the environmental harm but remain silent to an economic system that relies on the destruction of nature and oppression of human beings based on the color of their skin, their gender and their income.
Greenpeace campaigns for environmental justice, convinced that if we win, we will improve the lives of millions on this planet, often the poorest and most marginalised. Ensuring emissions go down will prevent millions of deaths; ensuring our oceans are not the new wild west for greedy multinationals will secure the livelihoods and food security of millions of people.
But we still have a lot to learn, because our mission will not succeed if we don’t tackle the root causes of all these forms of violence raging against many human beings and nature.
Today is World Oceans day. One more day in the calendar to think together how our fight for nature and every living being in it matters, and how our success depends more than ever on us supporting the struggles of those on the frontlines.
Today, for example, women fish processors in Senegal are protesting in fishing ports like Cayar, Joal, Rufisque, Saint-Louis and Kafountine wearing red masks as a symbol of their protest against the plunder of ocean resources and threat to their food security. It is a fight for social, economic and environmental justice against the international industrial vessels being granted new licenses to suck up the fish they rely on to survive. And the fight continues against transhipment, a process that allows vessels to stay out at sea emptying the ocean for months or even years at a time and is linked to some of the most severe human rights abuses, including forced labour, bonded labour and even murder of migrant workers.
But this year, World Oceans Day falls at a time when many of us around the world are living through a period of total upheaval. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted our lives in ways we could never have imagined, while the outpouring of grief and demand for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the overwhelming number of others, has reached far beyond the United States.
There is so much we need to learn from this moment. We need to learn from those on the frontlines of oppression and figure out what being a good ally means. We need to get better at amplifying the voices of those most impacted by the destruction of our oceans, our forests, our climate. Voices such as Fatou Samba, president of female fish processors in Khelcom, Dakar, Senegal who says, “Over the years, we have had to compensate for the overexploitation of our resources due to overfishing. Now we are competing with fish factories. This is a disaster because we need fish, we need to work, and so do all the others who are relying on the activities in the ports, processing sites and local market. This fish is needed in Senegal and the West African region, as a source of food and livelihoods.”
And we need to figure out a way to build together a journey where ocean and nature lovers understand these complex interrelations and act with us in tackling the root causes of destruction.
Our campaigns have shown over the years our commitment for the protection of our oceans and our environment, and we have slowly progressed in trying to include and amplify the human voices of this struggle. But in the same way that we are asking governments and people not to go back to the previous normal, there should not be a return to normal for us. Our new normal needs to be one where we are not blind anymore to racism, patriarchy and inequalities. Our new normal needs to be one where we build new futures, where thriving and enjoying life is not a privilege for a small group, but a right we’ve won for all.
Arifsyah Nasution is Oceans Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Southeast Asia
Anabella Rosemberg is International Programme Director for Greenpeace International
Awa Traore is Oceans Campaigner for West Africa at Greenpeace Africa.
The fishmeal and fish oil industry is threatening access to food and jobs. We can stop them. | <urn:uuid:cf597825-85ac-464e-b2af-0a1263d60132> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/43572/a-message-for-world-oceans-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571538.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812014923-20220812044923-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.950367 | 1,062 | 2.84375 | 3 |
April 28, 2015
California Bill to Protect Elephants Passes Senate Committee
SB 716 will ban bullhooks and other cruel training devices
A bill to prohibit the use of bullhooks on elephants, SB 716, heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee after passing the Senate Public Safety Committee 5-2. The Humane Society of the United States, Oakland Zoo and Performing Animal Welfare Society applaud the committee and Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), the bill’s sponsor, for this important first step.
Bullhooks, which resemble fireplace pokers, have a long handle, sharp metal hook and spiked tip. They are weapons with only one purpose: to cause pain, suffering and fear in elephants. No sanctuary or zoo in California accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums uses bullhooks on elephants.
Nicole Paquette, vice president of Wildlife Protection for The Humane Society of the United States stated: “For too long, elephants in traveling shows have suffered as a consequence of unceasing transport and frequent striking by handlers wielding the sharp end of a bullhook. Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco have already taken steps to right this wrong, and the entire state should follow suit. We commend Senator Lara and the Senate Public Safety Committee for taking steps to protect these highly intelligent and social animals from inhumane and outdated training methods.”
Dr. Joel Parrott, Director and CEO of the Oakland Zoo stated: “We would like to thank Senator Lara and Assemblymember Bonta for introducing SB 716, and we are proud to announce it passed the Senate Safety Public Committee today. Oakland Zoo successfully aided in prohibiting the use of the bullhook in the City of Oakland, and in partnership with The Humane Society of the United States and Performing Animal Welfare Society, we hope to do the same in all of California. No AZA accredited zoo in California uses a bullhook, while modern training techniques and positive reinforcement has existed for over twenty-five years.”
Ed Stewart, President of the Performing Animal Welfare Society stated: “PAWS thanks the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee who supported a ban on the use of the bullhook, an archaic and cruel weapon used to control elephants through pain and fear. The time is right to ban this instrument of pain that has no place in modern society, and California can lead the way.”
- The use of bullhooks results in trauma, suffering, and physical injury to elephants. A bullhook can inflict lacerations, puncture wounds and abscesses to an elephant’s sensitive skin, which is rich in nerve endings and susceptible to abrasions.
- In March 2015, Ringling Bros. announced it will phase out the use of elephants in its traveling shows by 2018, citing in part a changing public attitude to the use and treatment of elephants in circuses, as well as the growing number of cities and counties across the country that have prohibited the display of elephants or use of bullhooks to train elephants.
- California’s Oakland Zoo pioneered the use of protected contact on elephants more than 20 years ago and it is now a widely-used training method that relies solely on positive reinforcement.
- California-based PAWS is the country’s first facility to provide sanctuary for rescued elephants and has never used bullhooks. | <urn:uuid:4566b44d-deaa-4bff-bcd8-90ccf4ed44c1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2015/04/ca-bullhook-042815.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00247-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921945 | 691 | 1.75 | 2 |
With colleagues we had discussion about the performance of different WebDriver locators. According some sources especially the XPATH locator can have slow performance compared to CSS and other locators. To get rough idea about the performance of different locators I decided to make a quick test on Firefox, Chrome and Edge.
Test measures time used to find an element from Twitter front page using different selectors. The finding of element is repeated 100 times to get more reproducible and statistically reliable results. The locators used in test were:
- By.linkText(“Forgot password?”)
- Windows 10
- Firefox 45.0.1
- Chrome 49.0.2623.110
- Edge 25.10586.0.0
- Java 8 (64bit, version 1.8.0_31)
- WebDriver 2.53.0
- FirefoxDriver 2.53.0
- ChromeDriver 2.21.371459
- MicrosoftWebDriver 3.14316
Here are the measurement results. The time is total time of 100 findElement() method calls using the given locator. The slowests execution times per each browser are bolded.
|name||1377 ms||929 ms||204 ms|
|className||1795 ms||902 ms||199 ms|
|id||1600 ms||851 ms||262 ms|
|linkText||9056 ms||1522 ms||238 ms|
|xpath||2229 ms||919 ms||247 ms|
|cssSelector||1280 ms||809 ms||219 ms|
The executed test is just a quick measurement to get rough idea about the locator performance. The performance is naturally affected by context (e.g. page content, locator queries and test environment), and therefore the results should not be used as conclusive results but rather as starting point for additional analysis.
However, what can be seen from the results is that the performance is highly affected by the used browser. In fact, the used browser seems to be more dominant factor for the performance than the used locator type. Supprisingly the Edge seems to beat Firefox and Chrome in performance by far. Can Edge really be this fast?
Another finding was very poor performance of linkText -locator in Firefox, whereas is Chrome and Firefox no similar performance drop was observable. Also bit supprisingly, the id -locator was not always the fastest locator (as we initially expected).
As conclusion, the performance of locators in most cases has only minimal (or none) effect on the test execution time and result varies on each browser. In most normal test cases the test execution times are affected on ten- to hundredfolds by the wait strategies used in tests.
If interested to carry out your own additional measurements, below is the test case used for the measurements. | <urn:uuid:479e4129-fdf4-45a5-90e1-731708511452> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://jperala.fi/2016/04/11/webdriver-locator-performance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280242.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00077-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.868097 | 599 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Publicly funded elections put voters back in charge
IN the not-too-distant past the United States was building a bridge to the 21st century, yet five years into the new millennium our country is as divided as it has ever been. Whether the issue be the war on terrorism, abortion, health care or Social Security, one would be hard pressed to find consensus in any town in America. However, there is one issue that most Americans agree on. The issue of corruption, access and money in the political process is a sickness that transcends party lines, race and religion.
The unfolding scandal in Washington involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House Speaker Tom Delay, as well as Hawaii's own less-than-stellar alumni of shady public figures, is symptomatic of a process that is failing to create fair and just policies that truly empower communities. The notion that a candidate can receive large amounts of campaign funds from industry and other special interests and still act in the best interest of the community is laughable. There is a painfully obvious conflict of interest when a candidate decides to take money from a source that has no stake in the health and prosperity of the community. Of course, not all lawmakers are criminals. On the contrary, most are intelligent and well intentioned; it is the current environment that fosters corruption and undue access that needs to be remedied.
On the surface, traditional campaign finance reform sounds like such a remedy, but dig a little deeper and you find that reform laws have done nothing to address the dilemma of big money in politics or to boost voter turnout. All they have done is make an already inefficient and confusing system more inefficient and more confusing. Catching the bad guys is important, but without real alternatives there is no real remedy.
LUCKILY, an exciting new way of running elections is beginning to take hold across the country, and judging by its success so far, it promises to be the most effective solution offered to date to address big money in politics. Arizona, Maine, and just this year, Connecticut have adopted a public funding option for candidates running for office. The program is simple: By showing a high level of community support and agreeing not to use any private money, candidates can run a competitive campaign without having to accept money from large contributors outside the community. The result is more community participation, higher voter turnout and better public policies. Public funding bills that could bring similar results to Hawaii are pending in the Legislature.
This public funding method has changed politics in both Arizona and Maine for the better, so much so that Arizona is seeing a staggering 67 percent increase in voter turnout since its inception. Furthermore, the percentage of highest spenders winning elections has gone from 79 percent before public funding to just 2 percent since, showing without a doubt that public funding takes the power of money out of campaigning and returns it to the strength of ideas. More minorities and women are running and winning using public funding, because it naturally gives voice to populations and communities that have been underrepresented in the past. It has freed up lawmakers from the money-chase and has allowed them the opportunity to become better community advocates. In Maine, lawmakers have rolled back industry tax credits, created the most progressive prescription drug program in the country and are moving toward universal healthcare for all citizens.
The cost to the state of Hawaii to create a public funding option is minimal compared to what it can do to repair our ailing political climate. Five dollars per taxpayer per year will be more then enough to finance this revolutionary program. For less than it costs for a combo meal at your favorite fast-food joint, you can change the face of politics in Hawaii forever.
John J. Higgins is a member of Voter Owned Elections Hawaii. | <urn:uuid:04ec71f2-4b98-42b6-85ad-efc0287c0b2a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/02/12/editorial/commentary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282140.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00127-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960814 | 753 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Energy Expenditure and Body Composition in Pseudohypoparathyroidism 1a
Pseudohypoparathyroidism Type 1A
Albright Hereditary Osteodystrophy
|Study Design:||Observational Model: Cohort
Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional
|Official Title:||Altered Resting Energy Expenditure as a Cause of Obesity in Pseudohypoparathyroidism 1a: A Pilot Study|
- Resting Energy Expenditure [ Time Frame: 30 minutes ]The subject will rest for 30 minutes in the lab prior to the start of the test. A 60-minute resting energy expenditure (REE) test will be performed between 7:00 and 10:00 A.M. with the subject resting quietly under a clear, plastic hood watching a videotape.
- Characterize body composition in patients with PHP1a. [ Time Frame: 12 months ]Body composition outcomes will be characterized by whole body lean mass and fat mass sex- and race-specific z-scores relative to height.
|Study Start Date:||June 2011|
|Estimated Study Completion Date:||March 2017|
|Primary Completion Date:||September 2015 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)|
Pseudohypoparathyroidism 1a (PHP1a) is a disorder that is associated with many endocrine problems. People with PHP1a are at risk for the development of obesity. The objective of the study will help determine if obesity is related to abnormalities energy expenditure, meaning that people with PHP1a may not burn as many calories while at rest as those without the disorder.
In order to further evaluate obesity in PHP1a, investigators are planning to measure resting energy expenditure (REE), which is the amount of calories burned while completely at rest. Investigators will also evaluate body composition by looking at measures of growth and development and determining the amount of body fat using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as well as blood and urine biologic markers of obesity. The investigators plan to evaluate people with PHP1a at all weights.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01398774
|United States, Pennsylvania|
|Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104|
|Principal Investigator:||Michael A Levine, M.D.||Children's Hospital of Philadelphia| | <urn:uuid:0f88c553-e5d2-44a9-99b3-0fa2853860f0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01398774 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00173-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898245 | 513 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Men are picking up jobs at more than three-times the rate that women are leaving the workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by the Royal Bank of Canada.
The report found more than 20,000 women left the workforce between February and October, while about 68,000 men joined it, with the pandemic and the demands of raising children likely to blame for the first finding. Meanwhile, men are benefiting from growth in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
“We need to see women come back into the labour market in order to ensure that our economy can hit the stronger growth rates as we go forward,” said Dawn Desjardins, deputy chief economist at RBC and the report’s co-author.
Desjardins and co-author Carrie Freestone, an economist at RBC, said they’re seeing women between ages 20 and 24 and those between 35 and 39 abandon work faster than most other cohorts. Some of these workers are returning to school to pick up new careers and skills, while others are raising children. The report said mothers with children under six only made up 41 per cent of the labour force in February and yet they account for two-thirds of the exodus.
The authors are particularly worried because a high number of women who’ve lost their jobs during the pandemic weren’t temporarily laid off and don’t appear to be looking for work like their male counterparts. This could be because women are more likely to work in industries slower to recover from pandemic restrictions, their ability to work from home may be much lower than men because they dominate the hospitality, retail and arts sectors and they often take on more onerous responsibilities associated with raising children.
Older women might not be leaving the workforce at the same rates, but they’re being affected as well, said Vandana Juneja, executive director at Catalyst Canada, a non-profit organization encouraging the advancement of women in the workforce.
She pointed to a September study from McKinsey and Co. and LeanIn.org that found senior-level women are much more likely than men at the same level to feel burned out and under pressure to work more. They’re also 1.5-times more likely than senior-level men to think about downshifting their role or leaving the workforce because of the pandemic and almost three in four cited burnout as a main reason.
Of the 48,000 workers in the retail, accommodations and food services industry who lost their jobs in October, Desjardins said about 80 per cent were women and they accounted for nearly twice the share of the decline in labour force participation when compared with men.
Earlier this year, Desjardins authored a report that said the pandemic has pushed women’s participation in the labour force down to its lowest level in three decades and is a stark contrast with prior recessions, where men were much more likely than women to be laid off.
Juneja said these findings highlight why it’s so important for companies to practice empathy and offer flexibility that’s not just centred around hours, but can accommodate those looking after children or elderly or ill family members.
“We know there’s no silver bullet solution to greater equity in the workplace, but there are a number of things that companies can and really should be doing during this pandemic.” | <urn:uuid:dbe86300-dc1b-40c6-970a-6f17bfcc9d1e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.benefitscanada.com/news/bencan/women-leaving-workforce-to-care-for-kids-during-pandemic-report/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00677.warc.gz | en | 0.975274 | 705 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The NCGRT enhances Australia's environmental, economic and social wellbeing by undertaking scientific research and training to improve our understanding of Australia's groundwater systems.
We are committed to delivering high-quality, interdisciplinary research that provides quantifiable results for Australia's scientific, industry and government communities.
Through our linkages with world-leading groundwater researchers and their organisations, we have built unsurpassed project teams to respond quickly to the most challenging groundwater research priorities.
We are currently directing collaborative interdisciplinary research that addresses some of Australia's most pressing groundwater challenges including;
Understanding the impacts of mining, unconventional gas and hydraulic fracturing on groundwater resources;
Supporting the successful implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan;
Assessing the potential role that groundwater can play in underpinning the sustainable development of Northern Australia; and
Maintaining Australia's water security with a focus on tackling the challenges associated with urbanisation and climate variability.
More information on our individual research projects can be found below. | <urn:uuid:c3fc8699-e6b7-4a3e-b1a2-4dc24ba7663f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://groundwater.com.au/research_projects | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.894408 | 203 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Whether you would like to give your business a boost, share your knowledge, or just vent, writing a blog can help you achieve it. Writing A Blog is essential in modern society to achieving any measure of popularity or fame. However, many people haven’t started blogging yet. If you’d like to become a blogger, the article below can help.
Make sure your blog incorporates search engine optimization. Since your goal is for individuals to visit your blog, you need to be sure it ranks high in search results. Choose appropriate keywords to use in your titles and posts to help boost the number of followers your blog has.
Try being there for readers regularly. Treat the time you spend on your blog like you would an appointment you’ve made with friends. When you’re able to connect with your readers regularly, they will expect your presence. If you are feeling ready to quit, you won’t only be disappointing yourself.
Post content on your blog often. New content that is fresh and relevant is what will attract and retain your audience. Without more content, visitors will stop coming to your blog. Try to aim for posting at least one time every day.
A key to a successful blog is to blog often. Don’t be like other beginning bloggers who don’t update their blog frequently after starting it. This mistake will cost you readers. Doing this will cause you to lose readers who found your blog interesting at first, but have no new information to look at regularly. A good rule to follow is to compose new blogs each week, and send emails about the updates.
Do not neglect the world outside of your blog. If you don’t take time to step away from your computer once in a while, you are likely to burn out. Make time to go for a walk, visit with friends or just take a five minute break. Taking some time off will let you return to your blog refreshed and ready to write.
When writer’s block strikes, don’t succumb to the temptation to copy content. Nobody takes plagiarism lightly, and employing this tactic will unquestionably be very counterproductive to your efforts at establishing yourself as a reputable writer. Just keep in mind that in the informal world of blogging, passion and originality are more important than flawless writing skills.
Use lists in your blog posts. Regardless of your blog topic, you need to use lists. Lists can help with a wide variety of topics; posts about everything from cooking to car repair can benefit from including lists. Readers are naturally drawn to lists, which summarize the most important part of a blog quickly and succinctly.
Purchase a domain name instead of using a site that is free. It does not cost much, and will make you seem more professional. People will be able to remember it more easily, particularly if the title includes your business name or other words that relate to the subject.
Give your readers all of the different links to social networking sites they need to follow your blog easily. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others social networking sites are highly advantageous to your success and author recognition. Always remember how important social media sites are, and use them to reach out to current readers and draw in new ones.
Make sure you write about things people find interesting and useful. Everyone has to do regular day-to-day chores like washing dishes and vacuuming. If you have a way of presenting information on topics like this that will help them to become more efficient, then go ahead and blog about it. If your information is not interesting and engaging though, you will quickly lose readers and create an unsuccessful blog. Choose an interesting topic that most people can relate to. After all, you want to turn your blog into something that people want to read.
Give your readers the ability to comment on your blog posts and to respond to other comments. This gives your reader the feeling that they are a part of a community, allowing them to build a relationship with you, and therefore, trust and respect you. If people see that you respond to comments, they will return after making a comment to read your response.
Your blog will benefit greatly if you can convince well-known bloggers to make guest posts for you. This will add more interesting content to your blog. You’ll also get more traffic if they tell their own readers about it. This can be done with several guest bloggers in order to assist you in creating a blog that has a greater amount of quality content.
When you are blogging, you need to remember that you are writing in a more informal manner. A blog should have a social, fun format. You should always keep this factor in mind. You want to connect to your reader base in a fun, informal manner so that they will come back for more.
A topic that excites your interest and passion is particularly important when you make a blog. By blogging about topics in which you have a real interest, you will convey greater believability and authority. This makes it easier to connect with your followers, which in turn will improve the overall quality of your blog!
In longer blog posts that you make, it is important that you separate the article and use subheadings throughout. It will be easier to read your blog and you will gain more viewers. That is one simple step to take that can catapult your blog to a new level.
The longer your posts are, the more you need to make sure that you are separating the article appropriately, and using subheadings. This will keep your blog easy to read and ensure that you get the maximum number of readers, even with your longer posts. This represents a small thing you can do to vastly improve your blog.
Have a plan for your blog before thinking about anything else. Do you want to make a name for yourself, to become known as an expert in a particular field? Perhaps your goal is to make money. You probably have a number of different goals. It is crucial to know what your goals are, then build your blog accordingly.
While many tips for your blog are serious business, having fun with it is the most important strategy of all. Unless you are passionate about what you are writing a blog about, it can bore readers. Whatever topics you love, blog about them. Blogging should be fun. If you have fun while using your creativity, it’ll shine through your blog. Readers will love reading your blog just because of your positive attitude.
Customize your blog’s home page. On most blog sites, the homepage appears as a list of all the recent posts. Try to make yours more interesting by customizing your homepage. That is helpful, since you will probably be found because of search engine traffic or link traffic.
Have a greater goal in mind when you begin to blog. Is your goal to make your name known, to be seen as knowledgeable in a certain field? Maybe you’re trying to earn more money. Maybe you have more than one goal. The style of your blog should reflect these goals.
If you want to bring in readers quickly, offer them free stuff. There is not a single person who doesn’t love getting free items. Your item doesn’t need to be large for it to be effective. Give away as much as you can, and it could pay off greatly. By giving freebies away on a regular basis, you will attract repeat visitors.
Blog comments are important. That will help readers feel that they are involved in your blog. Always make an attempt to reply to their comments, too. Maintaining an active conversation will make readers want to keep visiting your blog.
Try to write about topics that will always be in demand. Writing abut ideas that will remain relevant for many years will ultimately draw in more readers than posts that are only relevant for a short time.
Make your blog its own homepage. Most blogs have their homepage as a list of their most recent posts, so make yours different with a custom homepage. This will also become very useful in terms of helping search engines finds you.
Since many people are reluctant to commit enough time to reading an entire article, you need to find ways to engage your readers. Do this by creating interesting headings, using eye-catching visuals, and including intriguing content that draws readers in. A list that utilizes bullet points is another way of conveying a lot of information in a clear and concise format.
Stay on top of what’s happening in the blogosphere to make sure your blog is competitive. Knowing what they’re doing will allow you to do it better. Also remember that while you are looking at their sites, there is a good chance that they are looking at yours.
Place brief, useful materials in the vicinity of the link bar. The area around the link bar tend to get a lot of attention. You can put your total subscribers here. You should use the link bar as a subscribing aid, since it is less popular than the start and end of your blog.
Decide if you want to include ads on your blog. Ads are a common way to have a revenue with a blog. The problem with allowing advertising is, well, it’s advertising. It can take away the personal touch you have with readers and look like you are attempting to make a fast buck.
You must always use the proper font on blog posts. It’s vital you incorporate the right font size on your blog, since the most crucial component to any blog is the written content. The right font size toes the fine line between being readable and being obnoxious; choose one that strikes the right balance.
Use an SEO friendly theme. A theme like this will bring your blog plenty of search engine traffic, and should also allow your site to load quickly. Since speed is important in today’s world, readers won’t want to wait for plug-ins and heavy graphics. They’ll be moving on quickly if you make it painful for them to stay on your site.
Many people online are lazy, so your content must stand out. Create vivid headings and use bold font for selected keywords. You can also use bullet points to catch readers’ attention.
Do not overuse keywords. Although effective keyword choices play a big role in improving your blog’s visibility, it is definitely a field where quality trumps quantity. Search engines can tell when a keyword is being “stuffed” into an article, and when it really belongs there. If your blog is full of too many keywords, it sends a flag to search engines that your site’s priority is not quality. This will drop your ranking. Instead, select keywords which are very precise and reputed to enhance site traffic.
You will want to consider carefully whether to allow advertising on your blog. They are often used by blogs to generate money. Despite any other factors, using ads demonstrates some undeniable facts about a blog and the blogger who runs it. It becomes very obvious that you’re trying to earn an income, to the readers.
Never underestimate the power of quality content and effective promotion for your blog. These two components add up to a successful blog. Select a topic that you are passionate for, about which you can consistently write quality content. If you don’t have proper promotion methods, all of your quality content will go to waste. Combine both methods to ensure your blog is optimized.
Make use of tabbed zones for articles that you want to recommend or highlight. Place the tabs right before the sidebars on your page. This area should contain tabs that will take a reader directly to the most popular topics and posts on your site. That allows viewers to see what is available, and it will increase click-through rates for the articles you choose.
Using videos will make your blog more interesting. You also need to provide written content, so don’t just provide a video with nothing else. Write text descriptions to accompany the videos you post. This will allow you to use key words to describe your videos.
Are you ready to find success with running a blog? Remember that there is no real limit to what you can accomplish through blogging. Keep in mind that as with many technical fields, running a blog is always evolving. You should continue to search for fresh, helpful running a blog news and advice.
Try using charts, graphs and polls to lend a visual element to your blog. This will make your blog postings more interesting for your readers and will also increase the overall quality of your blog postings. Using this technique will increase the quality of each blog post and drive in more traffic to your site. | <urn:uuid:017ec38c-0702-4650-a691-69b823c68698> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://problog.dk/tips-to-blogging-the-way-the-pros-do-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573744.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819161440-20220819191440-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.951106 | 2,589 | 1.914063 | 2 |
When designing your ideal welding shop there are multiple factors that can come in play, but Watkins Architect can help you decide on something comfortable, but product efficient. This can include trying to find a balance between the environmental space around you and the efficiency the shop can provide at a certain speed.
Necessities you need to remember that must be included in your building are of course gas, the fume exhaust, and electrical wiring. You should have enough room for workers and employees to be able to work while not being cramped together in harm’s way around every corner. Two welding projects that were recently completed are the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute and the Sheet Metal Workers Training Center.
LCTI which is located in Schnecksville, PA recently added new additions to their facility. For their present welding lab program, they used metal for an aesthetic design element on a focal point located near the campus entryway.
Sheet Metal Workers Training Center which is located in Hamburg, PA is in the process of having a new building constructed. The new training center includes two stories and 12,000 square feet of additional area. This space brings along many rooms including twelve welding booths, three classrooms, a conference room, a break room, an office, and a library for all their work needs.
A great step towards crafting and connecting together your welding shop is jotting down your ideas and thoughts on paper. It’s one step closer to getting to your plan, and you’ll need to decide what positive and negatives come from each idea you bring to the table. Watkins Architect can help you collect together all your thoughts and try to find a path to the final concept that can be ready for the physical construction of your shop.
Constructing a shop is not the most straightforward idea and may take a lot of brainstorming and help, but we’re here to provide the additional resources and manpower for you to achieve your desired shop. If you’re thinking of designing your welding shop, contact Watkins Architect for our services! With our past experience through other projects we have worked on, you can rely on us to not only help you put the idea on paper, but also build it up realistically.
Watkins Architect is a local architectural firm that can handle everything from designing your project to managing it. Watkins Architect handles all types of architecture projects from commercial and retail to industrial and educational. We work throughout the Berks and Lehigh area and all across Pennsylvania. Browse through our portfolio to find out what architecture projects we have completed. | <urn:uuid:9dffdce8-b6c6-4e8a-b2da-1ddaa4b18367> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.watkinsarchitect.com/how-to-design-your-welding-shop/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.966561 | 517 | 1.65625 | 2 |
ABRSM Teacher Support Workshop
Starts: Sunday, 26 June, 2016 11:00am
Ends: Sunday, 26 June, 2016 01:30pm
In this session, Stephen Pinnock will explain important aspects of ABRSM exams, aspects every teacher wishes and needs to know.
With a focus on higher grades (Grade 6-8) this session will help teachers:
-Understand how examiners apply the marking criteria to access sections of the exam and understand mark-form comments
-Prepare their student and work effectively towards an exam
-Gain useful insights into the aspects of musical performance, through recorded examples.
Sight-Reading, one of the most important aspects of msuic learning and exams, will also be taken up in detail. | <urn:uuid:17917c50-08c0-4092-b06c-99850cdc9d9c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://egotickets.com/events/abrsm-teacher-support-workshop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285001.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00302-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910421 | 161 | 2.90625 | 3 |
The Israeli military announced a seven-hour ceasefire Monday in parts of the Gaza Strip as Palestinian and Egyptian delegations are meeting in Cairo for a more durable truce.
The temporary ceasefire, beginning from 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT), aims to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid and for displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The truce will not apply to areas east of the southern Gaza town of Rafah, "where clashes were still ongoing and there was Israeli military presence," according to the statement.
The IDF warned that should the truce be violated, the army will fire back.
The Israeli ceasefire met with suspicion from the Gaza-ruling Hamas movement, which said the truce was a unilateral move meant to divert people's attention off "Israel's massacres" in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
"Israel's humanitarian truce in some areas in Gaza is unilateral," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said in a press statement. "We do not trust such proposals. Our people must be highly cautious."
Meanwhile, a Palestinian delegation is in Cairo for talks with US and Egyptian officials for a more durable ceasefire. Israel did not send a representative to the talks after blaming Hamas for violating a ceasefire Friday.
A 72-hour ceasefire collapsed Friday after Hamas militants and Israeli forces clashed near Rafah. The two sides accused each other of breaching the truce.
A Palestinian official close to the delegation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that the Palestinian delegation would brief the Egyptian side on several points its members had agreed upon.
The points include a mutual ceasefire, the pullout of Israeli ground forces, the lifting of Israel's blockade, and guaranteed entrance of aid and free movement of goods and individuals, he said.
They also proposed expanding the fishing area for Gaza fishermen to 12 miles off the coast instead of three miles and ending the no-go zone at the borderline area.
SCHOOL SHELLING DRAWS FIRE
The Israeli shelling outside a UN-run school in Gaza on Sunday morning has drawn strong criticism from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said "the attack is yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law."
The shelling killed at least 10 Palestinian civilians among the almost 3,000 refugees taking shelter at the school.
The US Statement Department also said Sunday that the United States is "appalled" by the "disgraceful" shelling outside the school.
"We once again stress that Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties," department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
According to UN data, almost half a million Palestinians have been displaced since Israel launched its assault on July 8, among whom 240,000 are currently residing in UN schools.
The Palestinian death toll has exceeded 1,800, with nearly 10,000 injured. Most of the casualties were civilians. The Israeli side has confirmed the death of 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
JERUSALEM/GAZA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) | <urn:uuid:49dfbd75-3953-4467-89b1-056716066591> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.nepalnews.com/index.php/world-archive/37298-israel-declares-ceasefire-as-truce-talks-under-way | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279224.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00478-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956184 | 631 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Establishing an Extranet
For years, customers and vendors had to dial directly into corporate computers to conduct electronic business. Now, with the advent of extranets, companies can post their private information on the Web, where it can be shared with any insiders who have Internet access and the right password. "Extranet" is actually one of the more catchy marketing terms out there these days, and is certainly becoming one of the most alluring concepts: Make your business cutting-edge by extending your internal Web applications to your trading partners and consumers.
Extranets refer to connections of networks that link trading partners, suppliers, customers or communities of interest over IP networks. Basically, you can think of an extranet as a private conference room tucked inside the expansive Web. Formerly self-contained corporate networks, intranets are being transformed into wider, broader, more public sets of communications technologies. Yesterday's leased lines and dedicated connections are being replaced by today's extranets and virtual private networks (VPNs) as companies embrace the need to communicate not only within their own enterprises, but also with those outside enterprise walls: Trading partners, suppliers and the general public.
According to Gartner Group Inc., up to 15 percent of the country's largest companies those with $1 billion or more in annual revenues have set up an extranet or are in the process of doing so. And, according to a Booz-Allen & Hamilton Economist Intelligence Unit research project, many of the nation's business leaders are looking to extranets as the most promising way to use Internet technology in the foreseeable future. Although only 29 percent of the survey's participants have extranets today, 61 percent plan to have extranets up and running by 2001.
Isn't it time you got yours up and running?
I. What Is An Extranet?
Like intranets (internal networks that exist behind company firewalls), extranets are restricted networks. In the case of the extranet, however, the focus is outward rather than inward. Instead of data being shared among employees, extranets use the Internet to link a company with its customers, suppliers and other business partners. They are often built by opening up part of an intranet to such partners who visit the site to check on a product's vital statistics, availability or place orders.
At their simplest, extranets are trading networks of known business partners who are using the Internet. They are essentially business-to-business networks operating over the Internet. If two companies open parts of their intranets to each other, they have, in effect, created an extranet. The extranet can provide secure communications between a company and its customers and suppliers, and be used for marketing, customer service, and transaction processing.
Extranet applications can include any of the following:
"Extranets improve the overall efficiency of an organization," said Sanjay V. Patel, president of Bethesda, Maryland-based WebFirst, Inc., a company that creates custom Web applications. "The cornerstone of any company is communication. By allowing remote access via a standardized protocol (such as the internet's TCP/IP) to a centralized database of information, users may share information and communicate with clients or other co-workers more quickly."
According to Patel, ease of access is the key to extranet success. If you can log onto the Internet, then you can access an extranet (assuming you have the proper security credentials). "Improved communication leads to greater employee productivity, thus enhancing an enterprise's growth," said Patel. "On the flip side, if the competition is using an extranet to facilitate communication and productivity enhancements, then those companies that fail to do this risk losing market share and profitability."
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II. The Significance of a Company Extranet
An extranet is a hybrid: part Internet, part intranet. It allows companies to give suppliers, partners and customers access to select areas of their intranet and even to some operational data through links to client-server systems over the Internet. With extranets, companies can use the Internet's existing infrastructure to build an information access road between themselves and their business partners. Because the Internet is platform independent, companies can use their existing computers and software to access the extranet.
"Extranets are fundamentally about increasing competitive advantage," said Jude O'Reilley, product marketing manager for Seattle-based Aventail Corp., a developer of extranet management and security. "If you're a large brokerage house, for example, your ability to attract and retain independent brokers trading on your network and provide them with the most efficient, most effective quality of experience means those relationships will be more profitable and more sustainable. All industries have some variation on this important theme: Health care companies working with outside doctors; insurance companies working with agencies; manufacturers working with suppliers and many more."
Steve Dille, vice president of marketing for Viador Inc., an e-business information portal in San Mateo, Calif., said companies need extranets for improved productivity. In addition to being cost-efficient, an extranet can help customers help themselves. They can order electronically, check on product availability, or troubleshoot problems by reading an online guide. That saves the manufacturer money, but it's also more convenient for the customer, who is then free to visit the extranet whenever the need arises. "Customers can fulfill their own information requirements, rather than having to call someone every time they need something," said Dille. "This seems to be a major driver behind the move to create extranets."
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III. The Benefits of Extranet Implementation
Commercial and retail banking transactions are becoming more commonplace on the Web, but few companies have even contemplated anything on the scale of what Internet Banking Communications, LLC, has proposed. The firm is linking their business partners, The Bankers Bank in Atlanta, Georgia, and The Independent Bankers Bank in Dallas, Texas, and their combined 1300+ customer financial institutions, with other commercial and retail financial institutions around the country.
Internet Banking Communications CIO Guy Wood has spent the last year building the networks that will carry this staggering traffic in a fail-safe way. Along with a team of Web developers, programmers, and consultants, he is preparing to implement a Java-based application to manage transfers carrying billions of dollars every day. The challenge: How to provide consistent, secure network access for all financial institution customers of The Bankers Bank and The Independent Bankers Bank. Through this secure frame-relay network, Internet Banking Communications will support $4 billion in transfers every business day. Wood chose Manage.com's FrontLine Manager to get the job done. "I like the real-time monitoring that FrontLine Manager provides, and it keeps the application open on my desktop 24/7," said Wood. "It constantly discovers, monitors, diagnoses, and controls everything that's connected to our network. When a problem occurs, I can 'drill down' through several layers of node status simply by double clicking to diagnose and repair a problem."
Such use of an Internet protocol mechanism to collaborate with partners, suppliers and customers, as well as employees and co-workers, has several attractions. First, Internet Protocol (IP) is becoming ubiquitous. This means that many more participants can be involved in electronic business and trading because most already have Web technology of some sort. Secondly, IP is standardized and therefore available at lower cost than earlier proprietary electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions. Whereas in the past it was not viable to bring people into electronic trading environments because the expense was too great, Web technology has increased the reach of EDI-type services to larger numbers of partners. And it can be quick. Once the extranet is customized to user needs, all that remains is to disseminate user numbers and passwords.
According to Patel, the benefits of using an extranet include the ability to access remote company data using standard tools (a computer, access to the Internet), expedited communication, 24/7 availability, enhanced employee productivity, and centralized access to a bevy of company data. "The beauty of the extranet is that it allows traveling employees to access all of the necessary information they might need for the remote job with which they are tasked," said Patel. "All of this leads to greater customer/vendor satisfaction."
Of course, extranets are hardly the first solution to allow organizations to share electronic information. EDI has been around for more than 20 years. However, companies incorporating EDI are faced with the high costs associated with setting up the infrastructure and the implementing and integrating proprietary software with customers and suppliers. Implementing an extranet is comparatively simple. Extranets are also easy to update. You simply amend a file rather than making updated hard copies of information, such as an operation manual, and then mailing them to the appropriate parties. And, according to Viador's Dille, extranets are fast. He explains: "The speed of information can really help make a company more competitive. Say, for example, you're communicating to your distribution channel. You can get out information on a new product faster than ever."
Extranets also pay off in less tangible ways. They can deepen ties between business partners and foster collaboration. Vendors can tap into their customers' knowledge banks and get them involved in the product development process. A manufacturer can get its retailers involved in competitive intelligence. Another attractive feature of extranets is their ability to personalize data for specific target markets and customers.
According to Bob Quillin, vice president of marketing for Manage.com, a Santa Clara, Calif. developer of portal-enabled management software for eBusinesses, extranets allow for:
"An extranet creates an extended enterprise that treats partners, suppliers, and customers as an integrated whole, with unified business objectives to create shared value, drive revenue, accelerate time to market, and compete more effectively," said Quillin, adding that companies are using extranets to bring customers more directly into the product development process, build trading communities that buy and sell through a secure networked environment, replace legacy EDI commerce models, share information with channel partners and increase supply chain efficiencies.
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IV. How Companies Are Using Extranets
When Gelco Information Network, Inc., North America's leading travel expense management outsourcing company, wanted to power its new ExpenseLink¨ Analysis Service, it turned to Viador's E-Portal Suite for help. Gelco's service gives more than 2,000 clients the ability to securely analyze and report their own corporate travel expense data from the firm's portal (extranet), thus providing them with timely access to information for better decision making. By doing this, Gelco has created the first portal of its kind that gives clients an easy way to access and analyze travel expenses and patterns.
Gelco's new offering is designed to enable the company's clients to directly access important travel expense information hosted via a secured extranet, analyze it through a variety of powerful techniques, including the ability to slice and dice data sets, drill down from summaries to details, and distribute the information immediately through customizable, paperless reporting capabilities. Prior to the introduction of the Analysis Service portal, it would typically take several days for Gelco to respond to requests for specific travel expense data information would have to be tabulated, put on paper and mailed to the client.
"The ExpenseLink Analysis Service was created to provide our clients with the ability to easily and securely take advantage of their travel expense information with no hassle, complications, or slow turnaround times for reporting," said Charles Buckner, senior vice president of Gelco's Expense Network. "It enables us to provide clients with immediate benefits they can get the exact information they need, in any form, at any time, through a Gelco-customized 'portal-like' interface for expense management."
According to Patel, there are as many ways to employ an extranet as there are people who can think of ways to use them. For example, he says, one company he's worked with uses an extranet to track all facets of invoice management. In this situation, both the company and the vendor can track the status of an invoice at any time. "Another company places documents on line for users to download, edit, and upload changes," he added. "These documents are tracked so that users cannot 'check out' and make changes to a document if another user has already checked it out."
Because extranets are highly customizable, even very unique requirements can usually find a home on an extranet. According to Patel, extranets primarily serve one or more segments of an enterprise's business operations: Company/vendor, company/employee, company/membership, and company/client, to name just a few of the more common extranet models on the Internet today. "As more diverse companies with unusually specific needs turn to extranets to share information, different extranet models will arise to fill these needs," said Patel. "Companies can also create Virtual Private Networks or VPNs, providing even greater security for their extranets." (VPNs provide an encrypted connection between a user's distributed sites over a public network.)
Perhaps one of the most recognized extranets is that of Federal Express. The overnight shipper created an extranet that allows customers to track the location of their package from anywhere in the world. Incorporating browser technology, customers can sign on to the extranet, key in their parcel identification number and determine detailed information on the location of a specific package. Extranets can also be used for:
Expediting the purchasing process
A U.S. manufacturer that buys components in Asia can post a request for proposal (RFP) on an extranet instead of calling up or faxing its requirements to its trading partners. Such electronic posting of information is faster and more efficient than other methods.
The Agricultural Research Container Council in Washington, D.C. Research Council developed an extranet-based invoice tracking system. According to Patel, whose firm developed the system, the council has managers spread out across the country, each with sign-off authority on invoices. "The invoice tracking system allows them to track where each invoice is, mark an invoice as paid, send notification emails, and create a running history of invoices," he said.
Job hunting and recruiting
The Catholic University Law School also called on WebFirst, but its goal was to design and develop a jobs/resume database for use by students and alumni. Through the extranet, jobs can be posted regularly, and staff and students can search by geographic location, job type and a number of other factors. "This application saves the career services staff time," said Patel. "As a result of this implementation, paper searches have been completely replaced by real-time searches."
Speeding up supply times
A retailer can log on to the extranet of a wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer and order supplies when the need arises. They can also check availability and delivery in real-time, thus making the acquisition process smoother and giving the retailer the chance to provide better service to their own customers.
Getting the word out
Extranets can also be used for communication and marketing. Large insurance companies, for example, are setting up extranets with their independent insurance agents, giving the agents access to product updates and information on competitors' prices.
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V. The Different Types of Extranets
Forrester Research breaks down extranets into three broad and somewhat overlapping categories:
At Charles Schwab, a private (or supplier) extranet has proved extremely handy for information dissemination. The firm sells more than 300 mutual funds, and previously had to print out hard copy reports and send them to their mutual fund managers and investors on a monthly basis. Today, through its extranet, the company has connected its private network with its business partners.
"They've built an extranet to communicate information back to all of those mutual fund partners regarding what trades took place from their account," said Viador's Dille, whose firm developed the extranet. "For example, The Dreyfus Fund used to have to wait for a monthly report to be sent, informing investors about the various trades that took place." Now, through the use of Schwab's extranet, the fund managers can come in and look at the information every day if they want to. They have more up-to-date information, plus they now have the numbers in a digital format, making analyses and other number-driven functions much easier to perform. "The extranet has completely eliminated the need for paper-based reporting," Dille added.
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VI. Setting Up Your Extranet
In terms of technology, an extranet can be little more than a regular Web site with password protection (that is, a person must have a password to enter). Another option is to build the extranet as a VPN. Companies can build their own extranets, but they usually tap an outside expert to do the work because it requires specialized technology.
Cost can be a deterrent to extranet construction. Global companies often spend up to $300,000 to create an extranet, and millions more to provide specialized functions such as advanced inventory data or sharing financial information with joint-venture partners. However, smaller firms can set up a basic extranet for a few thousand dollars if they already have a Web site and an intranet.
"The most important thing for any type of IT application is to first establish a business purpose that will get the whole company behind it," said Viador's Dille. "It always takes work to get such projects off the ground, so define what the information is that you need to communicate, and why. Get some feedback from the system users to make sure it will benefit them and how it will offload work from your company." In addition, he said, it's important to understand the business purpose, then consolidate the information that you're going to need. "Define the processes for putting that information together, then use a product from a company like ours to actually deliver the information, which involves taking it out of the data sources and actually creating the interface."
No matter how you choose to set up your extranet, planning is the key to success. A well planned system will garner the budget to do the job right. According to Aventail's O'Reilley, the integral steps to developing an extranet are:
According to WebFirst's Patel, most companies looking to establish an extranet will follow one of two paths. They will either hire expertise in-house and construct an extranet using internal hardware and software, or contract out to a professional Web development firm. "Larger companies usually have the resources to follow the in-house model," he says, adding that these resources include the requisite connectivity (usually a fractional or full T-1 access), multiple servers with high powered processors, and the software to run the various application engines.
Conversely, smaller companies tend to hire an outside consultant, using an a la carte approach to constructing an extranet. "They can add functionality as they go and as financial resources permit," said Patel. "Because of their inherent 'open architecture' design, extranets are readily scaleable. Depending upon the specifications and complexity of the desired result, extranets can run from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands."
Dille said he sees the outsourcing of extranet development and maintenance as a new trend, especially among smaller firms that may not have the in-house expertise necessary for effectively developing an extranet. Viador helps companies outsource on a subscription basis. "We lease them the software, get their data sources, work with them to set up a security model, and have our technical staff create and publish the information," he says. "I would seriously consider outsourcing, especially for small to midsized companies that can gain access to the technology resources to build the extranets for them in a fairly cost-effective manner."
Whether you build the extranet yourself or hire someone to develop it, you need to think through the purpose of an extranet well in advance. Ask your business partners if they would do business via an extranet and how they would use it. Because the biggest savings occur through automation, an extranet improves a transaction that begins electronically and never requires paper or human interaction. That means an order-entry system would have to integrate with an existing database, enterprise resource planning system, or customer service application in order to be effective.
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VII. Questions to Ask Yourself Before Setting Up an Extranet
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VIII. Maintaining Your Extranet
Once your extranet is up and running, it should become fairly self sufficient. However, much like a Web site, one of the big issues relating to extranet maintenance involves keeping the data current. "The good thing is that everyone you're working with is using a Web browser to access your extranet," said Viador's Dille. "You needn't worry about new versions of software being needed, and installing it on every one of your partner's companies."
According to Dille, the beauty of the Web is that the maintenance is practically non-existent, and takes place at one central server to which the information is distributed. For example, you would apply new Edgar software updates to the server, providing everyone with automatic access through a Web browser. "The Internet browser is what has made this whole paradigm of businesses working together possible," said Dille. "It used to be client-server, where you had to go out and install software on everyone's computer to have it work with the database."
Aventail's O'Reilley adds: "An extranet needs to be built to be production-ready: Highly available, redundant, and built for performance monitoring. Remember that the extranet is major conduit for a services to key revenue-generating partners and customers. Therefore the extranet must be designed to monitor and meet service provider scale metrics over time and in challenging environments."
Fortunately, with today's remote access tools such as Symantec's pcAnywhere, the host server does not have to reside in-house in order for company personnel to maintain it. A co-location hosting solution allows for high access data throughput, which otherwise might not be available to the company. (In this scenario, the company provides or rents a server which resides at an ISP. This server is dedicated only to the company renting or providing it; no other customer sites are contained on the server.) Those managing the extranet could then do so using the remote software administration tools rather than having to travel to the ISP for on site maintenance.
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IX. The Issue of Security
To give extranet Web servers access to internal databases, companies must open a hole in their firewall. Unfortunately, the more holes a company pokes through a firewall, the more possibility for the wrong people to get in. In addition to setting up internal security policies, companies' IT professionals are finding that they must work closely with their extranet partners to iron out technical issues on both sides of their firewalls before implementing advanced functions such as collaborative applications. Although sharing basic Web pages is not a big problem, collaborative applications such as email or Lotus Notes must cut through both partners' firewalls.
Because they involve permitting third-party users into corporate networks, extranets need to be extremely secure, and access needs to be highly controllable. Access control, authentication, encryption, and filtering all core elements of a secure extranet are most effective when tightly integrated into a single, comprehensive security and management platform.
Today's extranet builders face various delicate business issues when they create a Web application for business-to-business electronic commerce. Some question whether information systems departments should be in charge of running extranet projects that, if handled poorly, could hurt relations with critical trading partners. Concerns regarding extranet security include the physical separation of intranet and extranet sites, firewalls and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) tunneling.
However, bigger concerns for e-commerce are the verification of the true identities of parties in an on-line transaction and the legal verification that the transaction has taken place. Solutions such as public key encryption systems, digital signatures and digital certificates are available to establish the true identities of each party.
A company operating on the Internet typically has a firewall protecting its corporate computers a barrier or barriers designed to keep intruders from seeing anything other than what is made publicly available on a Web site. In contrast to universally accessible Internet sites, privileged access to corporate computers beyond this firewall constitutes an extranet. Extranet access is usually through a Web site using a standard browser, but it can also be a direct connection using proprietary software.
"The security model is a very big step in the creation of an extranet," said Viador's Dille. "For example, the Charles Schwab extranet had to be set up so that only the Dreyfus Fund could see the Dreyfus Fund. This is an example of how companies must establish a security model for the individual pieces of information first, then for the extranet as a whole."
Here are a few other potential pitfalls to consider regarding extranet security:
Put simply, as long as extranets are secure and enable organizations to manage very specific rules about access permission, they have the ability to give companies the control they need to share information and gain a competitive edge.
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X. Tips for Success in Extranet Creation and Utilization
A poorly designed extranet can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and drag down the company with an expensive maintenance headache. To avoid this, plan ahead, take your time and get input from the necessary parties before making important decisions.
Start with what you already have.
View your extranet as an extension of an existing application, rather than a separate project. When using existing applications, it may be possible to utilize existing hardware.
Build a project team.
Choose a leader who understands the specific business processes as well as the information technology components. Build a project team from all disciplines required for the extranet project: Webmasters, IT staff who understand the back-end systems, business managers, and, if possible, the end users who will ultimately rely on the system.
Team up with outsiders.
View outside consultants as potential team members. Start your search for vendors and consultants with a request for information (RFI), rather than a request for proposal.
Select collaborators with care.
When choosing a supplier or customer to collaborate on extranet design, look for an "average Joe." An extranet built with your most savvy tech partner in mind will likely be difficult or impossible for others to use.
Put it out there.
The key is to make the extranet accessible to as many partners as possible, even those with limited technological know-how. The more firms participating on the extranet, the higher the return on investment.
Get it in writing.
If you're concerned about liability, tight contracts are one answer. Extranet providers should specify which responsibilities they will shoulder for their users. Note: One contract won't fit all extranet partners. Be ready to negotiate details and responsibilities.
You may run into unforeseen logistical difficulties. For example, a supplier may need to connect with several customers' extranets, each with particular and different access conditions and restrictions. Outsourcing the extranet function may lessen such logistical difficulties and provide the experience required to handle such difficulties.
Look beyond the Web.
Web applications are an important part of the extranet, but don't let your thinking stop there. Many legacy applications can be safely deployed to partners if the right authorization and management is in place.
Think like a service provider.
The more successful your extranet becomes, the more your partners will rely on you to deliver. Build an extranet with "service level agreements" in mind, designed to be continually available.
Remember that this is a customer service application.
By definition, your extranet is a network of companies that directly affect your bottom line. The number one determiner of extranet success is the quality of end-user experience.
Consider a Web architecture.
Though various client-server tools may be available, a Web-based architecture will make it much easier for all business partners to access your extranet.
Carefully choose your extranet security product.
The typical security package included with a Web portal product is fairly light, and designed for intranets, where companies don't have to worry about improper access through firewalls. When purchasing or leasing your system, be sure it includes special, optimized security protection.
Rigorously test implementation.
It's imperative that you find and eliminate all of the bugs and errors that you possibly can prior to launching with your extranet.
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XI. The Future of the Extranet
Some industry players predict that extranets will eventually replace the specialized networks currently used to address specific business applications such as remote access, branch office connectivity, mainframe access, Web browsing and EDI. The predictions may prove true, especially because moving these business applications to extranets networks that leverage the global reach and cost-efficiencies of the Internet reduces hardware and communications costs, simplifies management and allows corporations to integrate customers into the network.
"Some of the first generation extranet activity has been Web-only, where an organization allows for the sharing of a select set of Web information protected by a password," said Aventail's O'Reilley. "More experienced organizations and larger enterprises generally decide that a Web-only approach only gets them half of the extranet benefit. Their extranets span a whole range of application types, sharing information resources across a full range of applications, from SAP R/3 to HTTP."
From sharing catalogs to providing real-time quotes to revealing accurate shipping times, extranets have found a welcome home in today's business world. And while they were virtually unheard of just two years ago, extranets are proving to be real cost and time savers for companies of all sizes and across all industries. Competitive pressures are moving many companies to extranets a trend that's expected to increase as companies learn that they can't effectively compete without them.
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XII. Software and Other Resources
Many companies provide help with extranet implementation, and an equal number of software developers sell their own extranet systems. Among the companies that handle extranet creation and implementation are IBM Global Services, which builds turnkey extranets on top of its Lotus Notes. Other big network operators, such as AT&T's WorldNet, also develop or administer extranets. Many local Internet service providers (ISPs) and consultants from large companies such as Arthur Andersen to smaller concerns also provide extranet development expertise. According to Manage.com's Bob Quillin, the three categories of providers are:
"Our own product line has been structured around the three phases an e-business will move through as it first races to roll out a service (FrontLine FastStart); then scales its infrastructure to grow its business, partners, suppliers, and customers (FrontLine e.M); and finally shifts to operational efficiency to optimize its business processes (e.M modules)," said Quillin. "FrontLine FastStart, introduced in April 1998, provides an at-a-glance, browser-based management view of a company's e-business infrastructure resources, including network devices, desktop systems, servers and services with simple all-in-one navigation capabilities."
At webMethods Inc.. in Fairfax, Va., software developers have designed a server specifically for companies that want to implement automated business-to-business links and leverage their existing Web sites so they can exchange information via the Web. The server costs $19,995 for the starter package bundle.
Viador provides the Viador Eportal Suite, a Yahoo!-like portal that enables companies to extract information out of any type of data source. It also includes security access and delivery of the information in a secure fashion to trading partners, resellers and suppliers. Typical cost of a pilot installation is $50,000, according to Dille.
Recently, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based FreeGate Corp. introduced Virtual Private Network (VPN), a software program that establishes transparent links across public and private networks to branch offices or organizations outside the corporate umbrella, such as vendors, customers and partners. VPN Extranet, for example, opens small companies' corporate networks to select outside parties, with some users having access to a limited amount of corporate data. The branch version of VPN costs $995; the remote version is $495; and the combined package costs $1,295.
No matter which software product you choose, Aventail's O'Reilley insists it's important to go with a company that is focused on the unique needs of business-to-business commerce. "There are no effective all-in-one extranet, remote access, intranet solutions," she said. "At Aventail, [for example], the extranet is all we do."
According to WebFirst's Sanjay Patel, having a Web site that is hosted on a dedicated Internet connection is the prime requirement for an effective extranet. Most Web server software used by ISPs has the ability to set specific access permissions for various users and groups. However, he adds, in order to run more powerful Web programs, such as Web-to-database applications, a scaleable database engine such as Allaire's Cold Fusion Server or Microsoft's Active Server Pages must be installed. "Cost of these components vary, depending upon the complexity of the desired result," said Patel. "Most Web providers who offer database development services will furnish the infrastructure resources that a company needs to build an extranet."
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Copyright © 2013, Virtusl Advisor Inc. | <urn:uuid:340f4130-8bc3-4f28-8dd8-631e09a2d1ca> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/biztech/ibt/extranet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00192-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943528 | 7,128 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Woodworking plans are a set of directions that can assist woodworkers to complete their jobs with less job and also more quality. These plans can be for anything from furniture to toys, and also they will supply the woodworker everything they need to know in order to start their woodworking task.
This article reviews Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin and Ted’s woodworking, just how the strategies can make your woodworking experience much easier.
Ted Mcgrath’s woodworking program is an extremely effective as well as a flexible woodworking strategy.
So if you’re trying to find some brand-new motivation or want a method to conserve energy when developing something, be sure to complete reading this post to discover more about Ted’s Woodworking.
What Is Woodworking Plan?
Ted discusses Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin in a simple hold-you-by-the-hand guideline. These elaborate and comprehensive steps in the tasks will certainly help you to complete the task promptly.
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With the appropriate directions drafted in easy to understand language, you would feel it resembles having a woodworker specialist besides you, assisting you through the whole task.
The Story About Ted Mcgrath
Ted Mcgrath is a Certified Master Woodworker. He has actually grasped his enthusiasm for Woodworking and ended up being an instructor, trainer, as well as writer in showing the right skills of Woodworking to the mate.
With Ted’s Woodworking, he has constructed the world’s most thorough collection of woodworking plans you may ever run into.
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Ted and his team conduct workshop courses regular and even take custom-made requests for some special tasks. By acquiring the woodworking programs, you will certainly be qualified to get life time accessibility to a subscription location where you can download any of the most recent functioned plans by the group.
Consumers Feedback Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin
Ted’s Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin makes it very easy for you by supplying a comprehensive checklist of all the materials needed to recognize each job. With this, you do not require to be bothered with the kind, dimension, and number of products or elements that you may require for each project.
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For a couple of complex layouts and also strategies, you’ll not just be offered with CAD files and also explanatory instruction manuals, however also with interactive videos.
Superiority Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin
Teds WoodWorking aids you with it in the most effective means possible. You’ll locate a detailed aesthetic of the top sights, profiles, and also sectional sights for complex tasks.
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Numerous woodworking strategies are intricate to execute, and also hence you may need numerous sights from all angles of the elements to finish it to perfection.
Whether you’re a beginner or a specialist in Woodworking, with over 16000 woodworking strategies, Ted supplies you a collection of extensive timber strategies from beginner to innovative intricacy.
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The in-depth strategy of creating wood masterpieces will certainly aid you focus all your initiatives into producing something original as well as amazing. Ted’s Woodworking is going to make sure that all your tasks are done right to utmost accuracy.
I hope you enjoy checking out the article on Woodworking Plans For A Potato Bin.
If you attempt Ted’s Woodworking, please show us your tasks as well as developments. And if you have actually any type of other concerns, leave it in the remarks area, we would love to aid you with a response. | <urn:uuid:53eb7823-632c-4da5-b142-553bc323fd78> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.friendlycentertoledo.org/woodworking-plans-for-a-potato-bin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.936245 | 1,272 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Oct 2007DILAS Diode Laser Inc.Request Info
A quasi-continuous wave diode laser stack array is available from Dilas Diode Laser Inc. in configurations of 100 or 150 W per bar, and specific combinations of wavelength and power can be customized. The devices are designed for high-temperature applications, including defense and OEM. They feature standard wavelengths of 808, 940 and 980 nm. The bars are 1 cm long and have a vertical pitch in the stack as small as 0.4 mm. Typical operating current and voltage is 100 Å at <2 V. Beam divergence is <40° x 10° FWHM. | <urn:uuid:7ac45e2f-cbdc-45e6-b0e3-8aba7786669e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.photonics.com/Product.aspx?PRID=31116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00180-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.873035 | 133 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Our Gold Rush lesson plan introduces students to the Gold Rush, which was part of the westward movement in the United States. Many students may have heard of the term “gold rush” but most likely do not know of its origins. During this lesson, students are asked to work creatively with a partner to write two separate stories from the perspective of a visitor to California during the Gold Rush between 1849 and 1855, utilizing lesson material to write an accurate story and their creative writing skills to make them interesting; they then present the finished stories to the class, sharpening their presentation and public speaking skills. Students are also asked to match terms with their correct descriptors, demonstrating their understanding of the lesson vocabulary.
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to define the Gold Rush, and list reasons for its occurrence in America.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.3 | <urn:uuid:eb266d33-e018-4b53-a0e4-c422b3342a27> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://learnbright.org/lessons/social-studies/the-gold-rush/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570765.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808031623-20220808061623-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.947372 | 230 | 4.40625 | 4 |
Nick Cave has just expressed his support for the Warlpiri community of Lajamanu in the Australian Tanami desert, who are crowdfunding an indigenous suicide prevention app.
Three aboriginal people a week are being lost to suicide, and an indigenous person is four times more likely to take their own life than a non-indigenous person. Most indigenous suicides are children between the ages of 10 and 14.
When a young man committed suicide in 2005, in the remote community of Lajamanu, local Warlpiri elders said ‘Enough is enough’. With help from friends, Lajamanu established Milpirri festival to spread the traditional ideas of ‘Kurdiji’ among their young people. They began to fight for every single young indigenous life in their community. Since 2005 there hasn’t been a single suicide in Lajamanu.
Now those same elders want to bring Kurdiji into the digital age, with a community created app based on stories, ceremonies and law. They want to fight for all aboriginal lives, not just those in remote or traditional communities. The app will be called Kurdiji 1.0. This is a community-led and community empowering initiative, with indigenous elders providing all of the app’s content. They have partnered with an expert team to develop the app and roll it out across the whole of Aboriginal Australia. | <urn:uuid:423432be-46f4-4cef-bfce-0a3d9257b76c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.looktothestars.org/news/16574-nick-cave-supports-australian-aboriginal-elders-to-create-suicide-prevention-app | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570871.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808183040-20220808213040-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.957 | 283 | 2.296875 | 2 |
The coronavirus tally in India crossed the 71-lakh mark with a spike of 66,732 new cases and 816 deaths in the last 24 hours. With the latest spike in COVID-19 cases, the total case tally in the country now stands at 71,20,539. Of the total cases, 8,61,853 are active COVID-19 cases while a total of 61,49,536 patients have been cured and discharged from different hospitals. With 816 deaths, the coronavirus deaths in India rose to 1,09,150, the Health Ministry data said on Monday.
According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 9,94,851 sample tests in a single day on Sunday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 8,78,72,093. The COVID-19 recovery rate in India stands at 86.17 percent while the fatality rate is 1.54 percent.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with the total number of cases rising to 15,28,226 with 10,792 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The death toll has increased 40,349 with 309 new fatalities, the state Health department said. Apart from Maharashtra, the other states that have been severely affected by the deadly virus include Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. | <urn:uuid:d9628d1c-ff8d-4b32-a975-0b1575cd0a39> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://jknewspoint.com/indias-covid-19-tally-crosses-71-lakh-mark-with-66732-new-cases-in-past-24-hours/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571150.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810070501-20220810100501-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.916798 | 294 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The Boeing 777 that disappeared after taking off from Kuala Lumpur had two Rolls Royce engines. When in operation, the engines automatically transmitted data to Rolls Royce, on the ground, at 30 minute intervals. This fact has been known for a while, but Rolls has been quiet about what the transmissions showed–or, more important, when they ended. It has now been revealed by American investigators that, according to Rolls Royce, the engines’ transmissions continued for four hours after the airplane disappeared. The pilot(s) or hijackers could have, and apparently did, turn off the plane’s transponder, but they couldn’t turn off, and likely didn’t even know about, the automatic transmission of data from the engines to Rolls Royce.
In four hours, depending on air speed, the plane could have flown just about anywhere–even, potentially, to Pakistan. While the mystery remains impenetrable for the time being, it is no longer a safe assumption that the airplane crashed at all. No one, presumably, would hijack or divert an airplane, fly it for four hours undetected, only to ultimately crash it into the sea. Not on purpose, anyway.
UPDATE: Malaysian officials deny this morning’s report:
Malaysian Defense Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the government had contacted Boeing and Rolls Royce, the engine manufacturer, and both said the last engine data was received at 1:07 a.m., several minutes before the plane lost contact over the South China Sea on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
So are the American investigators who talked to the Wall Street Journal making it up? That seems highly unlikely. Rolls knows, but, consistent with international airline incident protocol, they aren’t talking.
FURTHER UPDATE: I will be on Jim Vicevich’s excellent WTIC radio show out of Hartford, Connecticut, at 10:35 Eastern time to discuss the latest on Flight 370. You can listen online, here.
MORE: Notwithstanding the denials by Malaysian officials, American assets are being deployed far out into the Indian Ocean to search for the airplane.
ONE MORE: American officials are now saying that the claim that the airplane continued flying for four hours is true, but it is based on satellite “pings” rather than Rolls Royce data. I have no idea whether this revision is correct or not–it could be misdirection, intended for the presumed hijackers–but there is no doubt that American officials believe the airplane continued to operate for hours after its transponder stopped transmitting. Hence the search now going on far to the West of the airplane’s intended route. | <urn:uuid:c5771975-a73d-480a-8a87-bf85c7ec45a8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/03/bombshell-revelation-deepens-mystery-of-flight-370.php?tsize=small | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572215.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815235954-20220816025954-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.944302 | 563 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Beavers have to try to eat a donut hanging from a string
Small ring donuts (at least one per person)
Long pole or stick
Lengths of string
Before the game, attach a donut to the end of each string
Attach the other end of the string to the pole, with about 6 on a pole
Ask two adults to hold an end of the pole each
Ask the Beavers to stand in front of a donut with their hands behind their back
After the count of '1,2,3,go' Beavers must try to eat their donut. The first to eat their donut is the winner.
This game can be repeated until all the donuts have been eaten. | <urn:uuid:105db169-2d5a-4660-af4f-0dbd024c6f90> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/programme.php?action=view&id=27457 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721008.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00118-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942114 | 150 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Question;PSTAT 109: Quiz 8;Winter 2014;Instructions: Please show all formulas and calculations in an organized fashion for full credit.;Problem 1.Suppose a marine biologist was studying a population of lobsters of;the coast of;Singapore. To determine the mean carapace length of this lobster population, she decided to;sample 10 of these lobsters and measure their length. She recorded a sample mean carapace;length of 60.8mm with standard deviation of 7.97mm.;a. At 99% condence, what is the margin of error?;b. What is the 99% condence interval estimate of the population mean carapace length?;c. Briey explain the effect of having a larger sample size bigger than 10 on the margin of error and condence interval estimate you found in parts (a) and (b).;Problem 2.Most Americans love participating in or at least watching sporting events.;Some feel that sports have more than just entertainment value. In a survey of 1000 adults, conducted by KRC Research & Consulting, 78% felt that spectator sports have a positive effect on society.;a. Find a 95% condence interval for the percentage of the public that feel that sports have a positive e;ect on society.;b. At 95% condence, nd the smallest sample size needed to obtain the mostconser-vativecondence interval with a margin of error of 0.01.
Paper#57258 | Written in 18-Jul-2015Price : $22 | <urn:uuid:3b9d4c62-5ff2-4b4d-af59-658890d0535d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://studentsmerit.com/paper-detail/?paper_id=57258 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00432-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881607 | 317 | 3.21875 | 3 |
What’s a Data Protection Officer?
The DPO (Data Protection Officer), introduced by GDPR, is a key player in the protection of personal data.
Faced with regulations that have transformed the legal framework applicable to data protection, the DPO’s mission is to provide guidance to the company to achieve compliance.
This cross-functional project implies changes in the company’s organization. In addition to legal aspects, it involves all the company’s processes.
The DPO is the CNIL (French data Regulator)’s principal contact. It monitors the company’s implementation of regulations, advises the management in order to anticipate risks, alerts the management in case of dysfunctions and raises awareness on data protection issues.
Whay should you designate a DPO ?
According to GDPR, art. 37, the appointment of a DPO is mandatory (i) for companies whose core activities involve processing that require the monitoring of individuals on a large scale on a regular basis and (ii) for companies whose core activities involve processing of personal data that fall into the category of sensitive data as described at article 9 of GDPR.
The DPO must have a legal and technical competence and must be completely independent, and free of conflict of interests.
Often, this independence cannot be ensured when appointing a DPO internally. This is why many companies outsource this function.
AURELE IT assists you as an external DPO.
Appointing Aurele IT as an external DPO brings the following benefits:
- a recognized expertise: Florence Ivanier is certified by the University Paris Dauphine (2019)
- an experienced external DPO, appointed to the CNIL by several companies
- an external DPO specifically insured for this activity
- an External DPO, member of the IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals), who implements the best practices as recommended by the AFCDP (French Association of Personal Data Protection Correspondents)
Our External DPO offer includes
- drafting and updating accountancy deliverables
- recommendations and alerts to the Controller and drafting of an annual report
- guidance on new projects involving data processing, ensuring Privacy by design & by default implementation
- management of data subjects’ rights
- recommendation of any Privacy Impact Assessment and assistance for its implementation.
- review of data processing addendums with processors and clients (GDPR article 28)
- data breach management
- assistance in case of control by the CNIL or another European Regulator
- raising employees’ awareness regarding data protection .
- sensibilisation des équipes à la protection des données | <urn:uuid:e6f1b293-7791-45a3-8ecb-93165f65def3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://aurele-it.fr/en/external-gdpr-data-protection-officer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571150.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810070501-20220810100501-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.898036 | 552 | 1.835938 | 2 |
What is a das file and how do I open a das file?
DeltaMaster analysis session files are saved in the DAS format and are generally classified as data files. These DAS files are created by the DeltaMaster software, which also associates these DAS files to certain DAM (DeltaMaster analysis model) templates generated by a DeltaMaster user. The software does this because it needs to reference the data in those DAS files whenever a user requests for an associated feature integrated into the software and into the corresponding DAM file. The DeltaMaster software is a business data management and analysis application, and it automatically creates a DAS file and populates it with certain details of the associated DAM file and other pieces of data about the DeltaMaster session, such as session logs and report attributes. Bissantz developed the DAS and DAM file formats as well as the DeltaMaster application. This software can be installed in a Microsoft Windows-based system to implement support for accessing the business data research and analysis features integrated into this program.
Relevant das file links:How to open das file on Youtube
How to open das file on Wikipedia
How to open das file on Microsoft.com | <urn:uuid:89e6ef97-5383-4fc8-b544-6669bea65bcd> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.openthefile.net/extension/das | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280587.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00563-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907875 | 244 | 2.25 | 2 |
Paris, 4 July 2011
Malaria, also known as paludism, is one of the greatest global scourges. This pathology, which causes a million human deaths each year, is especially rampant in Africa. The question of whether the primary infection originated from rodents or birds has long remained unanswered. Also found in gorillas, it was thought that the parasite was specific to hominids(2).
By working on the subject, a team of CNRS researchers headed by Franck Prugnolle and François Renaud of the Laboratoire MIVEGEC(1)(CNRS/IRD/Université Montpellier 1), jointly with the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville in Gabon, and in collaboration with other organizations(4), has demonstrated the presence of Plasmodium falciparum, the agent of malaria, in the greater spot-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans), a small African monkey derived from a line different to that of humans. The origin of the parasite probably predates the origins of the African hominids line.
The presence of Plasmodium falciparum in this Old World Monkey opens the way to the analysis of the genome of the parasite found in this species. Comparing its sequence with that (already known) of falciparum in humans will enable researchers to discover the molecular signatures of the human parasite and to find out how it has adapted to humans. Knowing the weaknesses of the parasite will be a major asset in combating malaria.
© Jean-Louis Albert, CIRMF, Gabon
The greater spot-nosed monkey, Cercopithecus nictitans.
(1)Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville au Gabon, IRD, Université Montpellier 1, Université de la Méditerranée, Université de Toulouse, University of California and Université de Brazzaville.
(2)The hominids line comprises two branches: humans and large monkeys (gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans).
(3)Laboratoire “Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle”
(4)Université de la Méditerranée, Université de Toulouse, University of California and Université de Brazzaville.
African monkeys are infected by Plasmodium falciparum nonhuman primate-specific strains. F.Prugnolle, B.Ollomo, P.Durand, E.Yalcindag, C.Arnathau, E.Elguero, A.Berry, X.Pourrut, J-P.Gonzalez, D.Nkoghe, J.Akiana, D.Verrier, E.Leroy, F.J.Ayala and F.Renaud. PNAS, 4 July 2011.
Latest press releases | <urn:uuid:76a36750-ec0a-48e1-a9bc-5c9adcabbd62> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/1881.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282202.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00556-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.754444 | 643 | 3.515625 | 4 |
German rail strike feared during World Cup
23 January 2006, BERLIN - Fears grew in Germany Saturday of a railway strike in the middle of the football World Cup, the biggest event of this year in Germany, with two unions reportedly linking their threat to government privatization plans.
23 January 2006
BERLIN - Fears grew in Germany Saturday of a railway strike in the middle of the football World Cup, the biggest event of this year in Germany, with two unions reportedly linking their threat to government privatization plans.
Railways are the cornerstone of cross-country public transport in Germany, carrying more people than either buses or planes.
Deutsche Bahn are an official sponsor of the German World Cup organising committee for the June 9-July 9 tournament and committed to providing transport for large numbers of World Cup fans and visitors, officials and the media.
Norbert Hansen, chairman of one union, Transnet, was reported by both Der Spiegel, the weekly magazine, and Tagesspiegel am Sonntag, a Berlin Sunday newspaper, to have warned the government not to break up Germany's state-owned railway company.
Officials are considering splitting Deutsche Bahn into one company to own and lease the tracks and another to operate the rolling stock, with the latter then being privatized via a stock-market offering. Trade unionists fear the new "efficiency" would mean job losses.
Transnet would "resist, if necessary with strikes", said Hansen, saying a demerger could mean 50,000 people would lose their jobs and leave workers employed under "dramatically worse contracts".
A smaller trade union, GDBA, said earlier it would strike if the government forced through an operational demerger.
Hansen said he could not rule out a strike on July 9, the day the final of the World Cup is to be played in Berlin: "A strike has to take place when it's needed. That could be July 9 or earlier or later. The politicians will be responsible for the timing."
Subject: German news | <urn:uuid:548f8b8d-2d1f-4059-9063-3381afa848ba> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.expatica.com/de/news/German-rail-strike-feared-during-World-Cup_135167.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283008.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00084-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967568 | 414 | 1.625 | 2 |
The district accepted its fourth Kent County Chairman’s Award for district-wide energy savings. Here are some of the great things we are doing that helped win the award.
Cedar Springs’s District-wide Energy Management Program began in May of 2004 and uses research on energy use, both mechanical and human, to drive changes.
Energy Manager works with the maintenance staff to ensure mechanical efficiency and educates faculty and other staff about the importance of energy savings.
Staff take pride in their efforts to save energy knowing those saved dollars are returning to the classrooms.
The program has saved the district more than $1.25 million so far, or 26%. In the last year alone, they saved $240,000, or 33%.
The reduction in carbon dioxide use is equal to 200,000 trees growing for ten years, or removing 1,400 cars from the road for one year.
The following schools in the district will receive 2012 Green School Chairman’s award:
Cedar Springs Middle School
Cedar Trails Elementary School
Cedar View Elementary
Red Hawk Elementary | <urn:uuid:e7e77a11-6a35-4c67-a406-919007f7e92f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://cedarspringspost.com/2012/05/03/4th-year-winning-the-green-school-chairman%E2%80%99s-award/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00352-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938902 | 222 | 1.8125 | 2 |
"Vaisampayana said, 'Then Drupada's priest, having approached the Kaurava chief, was honoured by Dhritarashtra as also by Bhishma and
[paragraph continues] Vidura. And having first told the news of the welfare of the Pandavas, he enquired about the welfare of the Kauravas. And he spoke the following words in the midst of all the leaders of Duryodhana's army, 'The eternal duties of kings are known to you all. But though known, I shall yet recite them as an introduction to what I am going to say. Both Dhritarashtra and Pandu are known to be sons of the same father. There is no doubt that the share of each to the paternal wealth should be equal. The sons of Dhritarashtra obtained the paternal wealth. Why did not the sons of Pandu at all receive their paternal portion? Ye are aware how formerly the sons of Pandu did not receive their paternal property which was all usurped by Dhritarashtra's sons. The latter endeavoured in various ways to remove the sons of Pandu from their path by employment even of murderous contrivances; but as their destined terms of life had not wholly run out, the sons of Pandu could not be sent to the abode of Yama. Then again, when those high-souled princes had carved out a kingdom by their own strength, the mean-minded sons of Dhritarashtra, aided by Suvala's son, robbed them of it by deceit. This Dhritarashtra gave his sanction even to that act as hath been usual with him. And for thirteen years they were then sent to sojourn in the great wilderness. In the council-hall, they had also been subjected to indignities of various kinds, along with their wife, valiant though they were. And great also were the sufferings that they had to endure in the woods. Those virtuous princes had also to endure unspeakable woes in the city of Virata,--such as are endured only by vicious men when their souls transmigrate into the forms of inferior beings, Ye best of Kuru's race, overlooking all these injuries of yore they desire nothing but a peaceful settlement with the Kurus! Remembering their behaviour, and that of Duryodhana also, the latter's friends should entreat him to consent to peace! The heroic sons of Pandu are not eager for war with the Kurus. They desire to get back their own share without involving the world in ruin. If Dhritarashtra's son assigns a reason in favour of war, that can never be a proper reason. The sons of Pandu are more powerful. Seven Akshauhinis of troops have been collected on behalf of Yudhishthira, all eager to fight with the Kurus, and they are now awaiting his word of command. Others there are tigers among men, equal in might to a thousand Akshauhinis, such as Satyaki and Bhimasena, and the twin brothers of mighty strength. It is true that these eleven divisions of troops are arrayed on one side, but these are balanced on the other by the mighty-armed Dhananjaya of manifold form. And as Kiritin exceeds in strength even all these troops together, so also doth Vasudeva's son of great effulgence and powerful intellect. Who is there that would fight, in view of the magnitude of the opposing force, the valour of Arjuna, and the wisdom of Krishna? Therefore, I ask you to give back what should be given, as dictated by morality and compact. Do not let the opportunity pass!'" | <urn:uuid:f72d9922-c3c7-4002-916f-db01843ea38c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05020.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00352-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980209 | 764 | 2.21875 | 2 |
1. Now at that time the venerable Belatthasîsa, the superior of the venerable Ânanda, had a disease of thick scabs; and by reason of the discharge thereof his robes stuck to his body. The Bhikkhus moistened those robes with water, and loosened them (from his body).
The Blessed One as he was wandering in search of a lodging-place for the night saw them [doing so], and going up to the place where they were, he asked them:
'What is the matter, O Bhikkhus, with this Bhikkhu?'
'The venerable one has the disease of thick scabs; and by reason of the discharge thereof his robes stick to his body. So we moisten those robes with water, and loosen them (from his body).'
2. Then the Blessed One on that occasion, having delivered a religious discourse, addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:
'I allow, O Bhikkhus, the use of chunam as a medicine by whomsoever has the itch, or boils, or a discharge, or scabs, or whose body is ill-smelling, and to those in health the use of dry dung 1, and of clay, and of colouring matter 2. I allow the use, O Bhikkhus, of a pestle and mortar 3.'
48:6 This introductory story recurs as the introduction to the rule laid down in VIII, 17.
49:1 Khakanan ti gomayam (B.).
49:2 Ragana-pakkan (sic) ti raganakasatam. Pâkatika-kunnam pi kotetvâ udakena temetvâ nhâyitum vattati, etam pi ragana-nipakka-samkhepam (sic, read samkham) eva gakkhati (B.). Satam in this passage must be equal to sritam. On samkham compare below, Mahâvagga VI, x6, r.
49:3 Compare above, VI, 3, 2. | <urn:uuid:9a4cdfc5-76a8-405e-a172-6b5e810b725e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe17/sbe17023.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00235-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942412 | 448 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Nature is so interesting. Everything works in perfect balance, with each organism adapted for survival in several ways that are unique for every species. Not only physically, but living beings also evolve in terms of behavior to better suit their “role” in the wild. For example, sleeping patterns of different animals can vary. Us, humans need six to eight hours of sleep per day to function properly, with sleep deprivation having enormous effects on our productivity. But no mammal is the same. In the wild there are many factors to take into account and being unaware and sleeping for hours might come at a high price.
You might be surprised about some of the sleeping patterns of wild animals. Predators such as lions or leopards are generally more free in terms of sleeping, as they face fewer risks to be attacked. But prey animals need to be more careful. Among them, giraffes might be the animals with the most unique sleeping habits. Let’s have a look at what makes how does a giraffe sleep so interesting.
How Long Do Giraffes Sleep For?
You might think that giraffes, because of their height and size, might require long periods of sleep to be energized. After all, it would make sense to think that a big body requires more rest. However, giraffes sleep less than any other mammal in the wild. They can survive and get energized with an average of just half an hour of sleep per day. With 24 hours per day, 30 minutes of sleep is nothing! And, even more interestingly, when they do sleep, they usually can allow themselves only a few minutes at a time. Giraffes must sleep intermittently because of the many risks that they might face in the wild. Several predators consider a giraffe a succulent meal that can last for days and giraffes need to be alert at every time, even while sleeping. For this reason, giraffes in the wild won’t sleep more than 5 minutes at a time. Newly born calves sleep much more, but usually, they would have some other giraffes watching over them.
Another factor that might help in explaining such a short sleep time for giraffes might lay behind their diet. Rumination requires giraffes to continuously chew partially digested food to break it down even more. It is a daily activity that occupies most of the active day of giraffes since it is aside from active feeding.
How do Giraffes Sleep?
The great thing about giraffes is that adults can sleep standing and getting to a state of half-sleep which keeps them aware of the surroundings while resting for a few minutes.
Babies and some adults when the situation allows it, tend to lower to the ground with their legs tucked in on their heads on their back.
The reason adults tend to sleep without laying down is behind the risks giraffes have to face in the wild. Giraffes are not agile in getting up, because of their large body size. To lay down and having to face a predator would be fatal for a giraffe. Instead of standing up allows them to quickly run away and get themselves out of danger. Thus, sleeping while standing is the best adaptation to increase the probability of survival of giraffes in the wild.
Where Do Giraffes Sleep in The Wild?
Because giraffes only sleep for a few minutes at a time and with their eyes usually half-opened, you might have seen a giraffe sleeping, without even knowing it. While grazing, they might daze for a short moment. Seeing baby giraffes sleeping is particularly rare in the wild. Giraffes are common in national parks and reserves in Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.
How Do Giraffes Sleep in Captivity?
In captivity, giraffes tend to sleep more. They would still sleep for only a few minutes at a time but for a total time of 4.5 hours per day, most of the time during the night.
Also, it has been noticed that just like humans’, giraffes’ sleeping patterns change with stress. For example, when a giraffe is transferred from one zoo to another, or when it loses a mate, they would sleep even less than normal or not sleep at all. | <urn:uuid:50ac7c60-c410-48a2-b8b6-636702fe9cd4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.safariventures.com/the-unique-sleeping-habits-of-giraffes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572127.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815024523-20220815054523-00273.warc.gz | en | 0.957049 | 882 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Your home's temperature should change with the seasons(Read article summary)
Your thermostat should be set higher in the summer than it is in the winter. This reduce the workload on your air conditioner or furnace and prevents you from running up the energy bill.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
The bigger the difference between the external temperature and the internal temperature of your home, the more work your air conditioning or furnace is going to have to do. It doesn’t matter how much insulation or how well air sealed your home is, it’s going to happen. Given enough time, your home is going to adopt the temperature of the outdoors, and the further away the temperatures are, the faster the change is going to be (at first).
Here in Iowa where I live, temperatures can range from as high as 105 F in the peak of summer to as low as -15 F in the harshest part of winter. The reality of losing heat in the winter and gaining heat in the summer is a pretty serious reality for us.
Of course, the temperature doesn’t stay there all the time. For example, the average high temperature in Des Moines in June is 82 F, and the average low temperature in January is 14 F, with peaks and valleys all around those temperatures.
Now, if we keep our house at 70 F all year round, we’re going to be trying to lower the temperature 12 F in the peak of summer and heat our home 56 F during the peak of winter.
That means our air conditioning is going to run sometimes during the summer and our furnace is going to run quite a bit in the winter, which is fine.
However, let’s say we adopt a more sensible temperature policy. We keep our home temperature at 78 F during the summer and 62 F during the winter.
Now, we’re simply trying to lower the temperature 4 F on an average day in the summer, and we’re only raising our home temperature 48 F in the winter.
Because we adjust our home temperature seasonally, our air conditioner doesn’t run much at all on an average summer day. It also runs significantly less during the winter because the difference between the outdoor temperature and indoor temperature is siginificantly lower.
Of course, the reason to run air conditioning units and furnaces is for personal comfort. That’s why we have them, after all.
Thus, in order to find the right temperature for each season, we had to experiment. We would try a certain home temperature for a day or two, then try lowering it or raising it by a degree. Eventually, we found a summer temperature and a winter temperature that provides us with comfort all year around.
The best part? During the significant part of the year where the temperatures largely hover between 62 F and 78 F, we don’t run anything at all. We just open the windows. That’s cheap climate control.
Try experimenting with “summer” and “winter” temperatures for your own home and turn off the furnace and air conditioning when the temperature is between those two numbers. Your energy bill will thank you.
This post is part of a yearlong series called “365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),” in which I’m revisiting the entries from my book “365 Ways to Live Cheap,” which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere. I | <urn:uuid:9214dff4-2e50-4d1d-9cbe-3ee59a18f350> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Simple-Dollar/2012/0616/Your-home-s-temperature-should-change-with-the-seasons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279189.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00058-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952714 | 720 | 2.390625 | 2 |
40 Community & Technical Colleges Powering Tennessee
In today's world, having some form of education or training beyond high school is a must for getting ahead. Whether you're just out of high school or an adult looking for a fresh start, a degree or certificate from one of our community or technical colleges can be your first step towards career readiness, which can lead to greater earnings potential and a better quality of life. With 40 community and technical colleges across the state offering more than 400 programs of study, our diverse campuses and programs create the opportunity for all Tennesseans to attend college, regardless of age or income.
In 2014, Tennessee created the Tennessee Promise program for students graduating from Tennessee high schools. Through this innovative program, graduating seniors in our state can qualify for a last-dollar scholarship to cover all mandatory tuition and fees at any community or technical college for up to two years. And with the recent passage of Tennessee Reconnect, the same opportunity will now be available for adults who would like to return to school to earn their degree or certificate and improve their career prospects. Tuition-free means the freedom to pursue your dreams of a better future for yourself and your family.
Our 13 community colleges prepare Tennesseans to enter the workforce immediately or to continue their academic success at a university. Community colleges can offer a rich campus life, personal attention from caring instructors with practical experience in their fields.
Colleges of Applied Technology
The 27 colleges of applied technology are focused primarily on workforce development. They are the state’s premier providers of state-of-the-art technical training for workers to obtain the technical skills and professional training necessary for advancement in today’s competitive job market.
Through TN eCampus, individuals considering a college education or options for accelerating degree completion can now get a comprehensive view of online programs and courses offered by TBR institutions, regardless of where or how they were developed. In total, there are 500+ online degree program options and certificates and 400+ online courses! | <urn:uuid:071c34be-9f2c-44d0-a691-9cfd06459b05> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.tbr.edu/institutions/our-institutions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572908.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817122626-20220817152626-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.942462 | 419 | 1.726563 | 2 |
These wind turbines are replacing one-third of fossil fuels on the Galapagos Islands without harming a single endangered bird.
Wind turbines are used to convert kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical power and are a viable alternative to using fossil fuels, which are extremely harmful to the environment.
The Galapagos Islands, the symbol of evolution and change as a method of survival, recently installed and began using three huge wind turbines on one of their islands. Since they were erected, the island has cut down its use of diesel fuel by one-third.
Additionally, long-term monitoring has shown that the huge turbines have not injured or killed a single critically-endangered bird in their time of service.
This last fact is quite important for the health of the islands because they are home to some of the most unique animals in the world. The islands’ isolation and climate has forced their residents to adapt over millions of years to better survive in their surroundings.
Climate change and other environmental and human-related factors, such as a 150,000 gallon oil spill off the coast of San Cristóbal in 2001, have contributed to an increase in the endangerment of many animals on the island, meaning that measures to prevent their extinction are of the utmost importance.
When the turbines were erected, some feared that they would interfere with the endangered birds by resulting in injuries or death, causing their numbers to dwindle further. Monitoring has shown that this is not the case and suggested that continuous use of the wind turbines would be safe.
The adoption of the turbines as an alternative means of generating energy proves that humans on the island are capable of evolving and making adaptive changes as well. A growth in population and tourist visitors has caused the demand for energy to rise and forced residents to reevaluate their source of energy.
After the oil spill in 2001, Ecuador appealed to the United Nations to develop ways to prevent a spill from happening again. Between 2007 and 2015, 157 wind turbines were supplied to the nations affected by the spill. San Cristóbal has now reduced their use of diesel fuel by 2.3 million gallons per year and avoided 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
San Cristóbal’s local utility office has goals to convert the Galapagos into a zero-fossil-fuel territory. Some challenges that the island has faced are that the blades of the turbines need to be cleaned regularly and few locals are willing or able to do the job. Mountain climbers were hired to scale the turbines and clean the blades.
Since the issue of the danger to the birds has been addressed and essentially expelled, this energy alternative is proving to be beneficial to the island and an example of how turbines can work for other nations.
Do you believe that wind turbines should be used in more areas? Please comment on, like, and share this article!
This article (Wind Turbines On Galapagos Islands Are Cutting Down On Diesel Fuel Without Harming Endangered Birds) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com
Do you like our independent & investigative news? Then please check these two settings on Facebook to guarantee you don't miss our posts: | <urn:uuid:733dee07-b95a-4863-bd95-f026f177c712> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.trueactivist.com/wind-turbines-on-galapagos-islands-are-cutting-down-on-diesel-fuel-without-harming-endangered-birds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00436-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957112 | 662 | 3.828125 | 4 |
With a quantity of performing arts venues, galleries and retailers, hundreds of brilliant artists, and unbelievable creative and cultural events- Alpharetta has one thing for each art lover. Explore the earlier days of this stunning metropolis on the Alpharetta and Old Milton County History Museum or take a stroll via Alpharetta’s History Walk. Despite the supposed death of many art types, indicators of latest life sprouted all through the last decade. The ongoing civil rights movement helped minority artists to emerge as severe voices with which to be reckoned. Indeed, the Nineteen Seventies marked the arrival of African American artists and entertainers into mainstream arts culture. Their performances fostered a way of pride and identity within the black group. The Norman Shannon and Emmy Lou P. Illges Gallery is located in the Corn Center for the Visual Arts at Columbus State University, a educating facility with 3250 square toes and 20-foot ceilings.
And most people can see how a play or musical incorporates element of creative expression and entertainment. Being lower than an hour north of Music City, USA, Bowling Green audiences have lengthy been a testing ground for rising Nashville artists whereas supporting the trailblazing skills of local musicians and ensembles. From performing arts centers to independent venues to eating places frequently offering stay music, we hope you’ll check Entertainment out some reside music when the time is correct. Students will form groups and create a brief animated film in any medium of their selecting. In this 1st a part of the CapStone film production, college students will create pitches and present them in front of a panel. After which the panel will choose the successful movies, after which teams might be formed and manufacturing on a 1st cross of the storyreel will start.
Art Assault: Israeli Ex
Arts check with paintings, structure, literature, music, dance, languages and cinema. After the delivery of contemporary Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism arts flourished underneath the patronage of kings and emperors. The coming of Islam spawned an entire new period of Indian structure and art. Finally the British introduced their own Gothic and Roman influences and fused it with the Indian fashion.
But, once more, this takes us again to the subjective nature of classifications. Something that’s revealing or revolutionary to 1 may be familiar territory to another. And the submit could have been a throwaway, but the age-old dialogue about art vs. entertainment wants much less provocation and extra earnest approaches, especially on the web. To convey my treatise to a protracted overdue close, I’ll notice what appears to me probably Art the most fascinating declare you’ve raised, that art, like entertainment, is solely stimulation for it’s personal sake. Art is to entertainment as nourishing food is to tasty food, which is to say they could overlap however aren’t both stimulating for the sake of stimulation. It’s a simple, possibly childish metaphor, however it’s going to serve I hope for this important point. Art nourishes us emotionally and spiritually and yes, intellectually.
N Y.c. Art Listings: From Museum Exhibitions To An Architectural Marvel
Gary Walters is a painter working primarily with watercolors, working out of Jackson, MS, the place he was born and raised. He has BS and Masters levels from Mississippi College, the place he taught art, and has received a number of awards for his work.
How the body strikes via leverage and weight will also be studied by way of demo and reside models. There shall be a selected emphasis on how the musculoskeletal system impacts the human form from the artist’s point of view. Students might be uncovered to the method of creating 3d fashions, property, and environments particularly for video video games. Utilizing software program like Maya, Substance Designer/Painter, and the Unreal Engine, the focus might be on refining basic modeling, shading, and world constructing expertise within the context of creating game-ready art.
The Art Of Capitalist Realism
The many arts and entertainment options sprinkled all through the greater Fayetteville area provide endless hours of pleasant experiences and cultural enrichment. Art galleries, concert venues and theaters are just a pattern of what Cumberland County provides our visitors. In February, we met four teenagers collaborating in a program that helps students pursue careers in classical music. Little Village resident Giovani Ibarra, 14, offers Art And Entertainment his ideas on the oboe with this efficiency. Since the start of the crisis, cinemas, theatres and reside reveals of all sorts and sizes have been cancelled, undermining the livelihood of performers and other entertainment workers. Mansfield’s ample arts and entertainment offerings showcase some of the region’s—and the world’s—finest performers and artisans.
Catch a gift by Duluth’s iconic theater ensemble, Renegade Theatre Company, or stay music, comedy, magic, who knows! The beloved NorShor Theatre is regaining its rightful place because the Northland’s beacon of arts, entertainment, and world-class performances. It is within strolling distance to over 1,600 lodge rooms, distinctive retailers and tempting restaurants. with expertise in arts administration, collaborative piano, fundraising, and reside occasion production. | <urn:uuid:434733cc-ed1c-400b-a7b1-ea98df546c4e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://sunnyjophotography.com/art-and-entertainment-is-good-on-your-mental-health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572089.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814234405-20220815024405-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.928382 | 1,087 | 1.625 | 2 |
This is an impressive print. The upper image is
captioned, "the Blockade at the Mouth of the Chesapeake", and it shows a
number of Union warships in the bay. The lower image is captioned,
"View of Fortress Monroe from the Bay". This image has a number of war
ships, including some large steamers. There is a great view of Fortress
Monroe in the background. You can see the lighthouse and lots of
There is lots of interesting historical content in
this leaf. It will make an excellent addition to your collection, or
wonderful gift for a friend.
Unlike newsprint of this century, these older,
original pages do not yellow and fall apart. The reason is that modern
newspapers use an acid based process. Remnant acid in the paper causes
the paper to quickly yellow and deteriorate. A different process was
used in the mid-1800's which yielded an exceptional quality paper that
will last for centuries. Special acid free mats should be used when you
frame this piece to ensure that it will last another 150 years. Acid
free mats are available at most better frame shops. If you have any
questions related to handling or framing this piece feel free to email
me. The print is approximately 11x16 inches. I have been collecting
Civil War Newspapers for over 10 years. It is a fascinating hobby, and
I find that these pieces really get noticed when framed and displayed.
The leaf is in very good condition. It has the rich
sepia toning that you expect in original material from this period. It
has a few finger smudges in the margins from folks handling it over the
last 130 years. A few spots of light foxing. The print will display very
Don't, miss your chance to own an original and rare
piece of Naval History.
Buyer pays $6.50 shipping. Immediate shipping for
Money Orders, Allow 10 days for personal checks to clear. | <urn:uuid:dbe9b37d-47b6-48f9-a3af-70f5f82aa61c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.sonofthesouth.net/singles/h1861p396.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00146-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925449 | 417 | 1.929688 | 2 |
December 11, 2019
By request, I am re-posting the Bishop Barron article from last year, Three Advent Practices. For your consideration:
What practically can we do during the season of waiting and vigil keeping? What are some practices that might incarnate for us the spirituality described here?
How about the classically Catholic discipline of eucharistic adoration? To spend a half-hour or an hour in the presence of the Lord is not to accomplish or achieve very much—it is not really “getting” anywhere—but it is a particularly rich form of spiritual waiting.
As you keep vigil before the Blessed Sacrament, bring to Christ some problem or dilemma that you have been fretting over, and then pray Lola’s prayer: “Ich warte, ich warte.” Say, “Lord, I’m waiting for you to solve this, to show me the way out, the way forward. I’ve been running, planning, worrying, but now I’m going to let you work.” Then, throughout Advent, watch attentively for signs.
Also, when you pray before the Eucharist, allow your desire for the things of God to intensify; allow your heart and soul to expand. Pray, “Lord, make me ready to receive the gifts you want to give,” or even, “Lord Jesus, surprise me.”
A second—and more offbeat—suggestion: Do a jigsaw puzzle. Find one of those big, complex puzzles with thousands of small pieces, one that requires lots of time and plenty of patience, and make of it an Advent project. As you assemble the puzzle think of each piece as some aspect of your life: a relationship, a loss, a failure, a great joy, an adventure, a place where you lived, something you shouldn’t have said, an act of generosity. So often the events of our lives seem like the thousand pieces of a puzzle lying incoherently and disconnectedly before us. As you patiently put the puzzle together meditate on the fact that God is slowly, patiently, according to his own plan and purpose, ordering the seemingly unrelated and incongruous events of our lives into a picture of great beauty.
Finally, take advantage of traffic jams and annoying lines—really anything that makes you wait. And let the truth of what 18th-century spiritual writer Jean-Pierre de Caussade said sink in: “Whatever happens to you in the course of a day, for good or ill, is an expression of God’s will.” Instead of cursing your luck, banging on the steering wheel, or rolling your eyes in frustration, see the wait as a spiritual invitation.
When you are forced to slow down, pray one of the great, repetitive vigil prayers of the church, such as the rosary or the Jesus prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”). With this resolution in mind, hang a rosary around your rearview mirror at the beginning of Advent. Consider the possibility that God wants you at that moment to wait and then sanctify the time through one of those savoring prayers. | <urn:uuid:224f0924-3d5c-4331-840b-f9af3d713926> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fromthedeaconsdesk.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/three-advent-practices-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571198.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810161541-20220810191541-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.948153 | 676 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Life has many stages and each stage presents a new set of challenges: from childhood to adulthood to old age. Of all the stages, old age is the most difficult stage of our lives when we are struggling financially and physically. Old age brings with it a plethora of problems which include the weakening of the body systems, triggering a variety of ailments, and retirement from active employment, which results in absence of regular income among other smaller problems. At such an age, you can maintain your body’s fitness through regular exercise and a moderate diet. But diseases still find a way to attack your system and cause ailments which require medical attention. Have you prepared yourself for that?
After being a witness to the plight of our parents, who did not plan for their retirement completely, planning for a comfortable retired life must take prime position.
We invest in multiple avenues to have a peaceful and financially secured old age. Some of them are:
Stocks and Shares – for those daring enough to bear the volatility of the capital market. People invest in stocks of promising companies hoping to get maximum returns on their investments.
Mutual Funds – for those not having much surplus cash, but still wanting to enjoy market-linked returns.
Public Provident Funds – whether out of compulsion of being employed or out of choice. Most individuals in India invest in provident funds to secure the long term financial gains and save on taxes.
Fixed Deposits – or term deposits, are offered by banks and are a favored choice as they are considered completely risk-free. Despite the returns being moderate, people do invest in fixed deposits for saving purposes.
Life Insurance – also features in the investment portfolios of a lot of people. Whether taken for tax saving purposes or for protection is a different matter altogether.
But, where does health insurance feature in our retirement planning process? Isn’t it important too?
To a healthy, covered Retirement
Health insurance takes a back-seat when we plan for our retirement because we feel that the chances of falling ill and requiring a health plan in adulthood are very low. What most people fail to understand is that it is better to avail a health plan at a younger age, when the premium is low, rather that postponing it for later years, when the premium would be higher. Moreover, since most of the available plans offer lifelong renewability, it is not intelligent to wait for buying a health plan.
Let us understand other reasons why a health insurance plan is imperative in your retirement planning process -
Increasing incidence of diseases – There’s no denying that old age brings with it medical complications. The common ones are hypertension, diabetes, heart related ailments, etc. Coupled with the modern lifestyle, the incidence of such diseases have increased manifold. These diseases require regular medical attention and if their severity increases it results in hospitalization. Thus having a health plan is helpful.
Rising cost of medicine – Medical inflation is only spiraling upwards and the costs of treatment are bound to burn a hole in anyone’s pocket. An average individual finds it difficult to manage the medical expenses and after retirement, when a source of steady income is absent, meeting such expenses could be a nightmare.
No source of income – While all of us want to have a peaceful retired life, absence of a regular source of income robs the peace as we struggle to meet daily expenses. Thus, any medical contingency in the absence of income would only wipe out our savings, if any.
Retirement planning is very important if we want a secured life post-retirement. Having a health insurance plan is an important aspect of such planning. It takes care of the medical expenses that occur commonly during old age, without affecting our savings. Buy a health insurance plan which is renewable lifelong, so that you don’t have to buy another plan in the later ages, when a new plan may cost you a fortune. For those who have already missed that opportunity, it is advisable to buy a senior citizen policy. | <urn:uuid:ccf6f281-ce17-4f4f-abfa-c269af0d330d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.coverfox.com/health-insurance/articles/buy-health-insurance-to-make-better-plans-for-retirement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281574.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00023-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960518 | 813 | 2.125 | 2 |
A pancake lens has nothing to do with the tasty breakfast food that you put maple syrup and cream on. However, the name is derived from the loose resemblance that a pancake lens has to an edible pancake. It is camera lens that is convex and fairly flat, hence the name.
Other People Are Reading
Pancake lenses are compact and lightweight and can fit onto single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras as an alternative to larger lenses when space or weight are important factors. Using a pancake lens means you can keep the lens on the camera ready to take photos because the camera casing is usually large enough to fit over the flat lens. A pancake lens usually has a fixed focal length, so you can't zoom in or out.
Pancake Lens Aperture
The aperture of a pancake lens is wider than larger camera lenses. This means it can take in more light than lenses with adjustable focal lengths. As more light is taken in, you can increase the speed of the shutter. This results is much less camera shake, especially in conditions of low light where you would normally need to use a tripod if you were using a longer lens.
A pancake lens can be used to take photos in various conditions. For example, it's capable of taking a reasonable landscape photo, but can also be used for portrait-type photos because it has a fairly wide angle and adequate depth of focus. It can also take quality interior photos without the need for a flash.
Balancing Limitations and Benefits
If you want to take wide scenic photos, then a pancake lens has its limitations, but for a standard photo of a vacation vista, it does the job perfectly. A pancake lens has a fixed focal length and cannot zoom in, but you can get surprisingly close to an object and have it remain in focus. Overall, a pancake lens allows you to take many types of photos quickly and simply without having to carry a selection of lenses.
- 20 of the funniest online reviews ever
- 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites
- Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for | <urn:uuid:23ab96cb-37b9-407c-a838-2bdb636a81bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8689986_pancake-lens-used.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718278.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00241-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956972 | 439 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Cooper, Martha, 1954-
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Department of Communication Studies
Ghost dance||Dakota Indians--Religion
The Ghost Dance Movement of 1890 as it was adapted by the Sioux was a social movement aimed at the revitalization of their culture. The Sioux were a strong and proud people prior to their subjugation on reservations. There they faced forced acculturation, mistreatment, and starvation. The Ghost Dance Movement provided hope of a new world where the Sioux could live as before with an abundance of game and free from white interference. The Ghost Dance Movement triggered a tragic series of events, resulting in the Wounded Knee Massacre. This thesis undertakes the task of determining what rhetorical factors influenced the development of the Ghost Dance Movement among the Sioux and how those factors resulted in the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Ghost Dance Movement among the Sioux is identified as a revital ization movement and Wallace's stages of revitalization are utilized to provide a framework for the description of the movement and a method for determining the rhetorical pivots of the Movement; Fantasy-theme analysis is used to uncover the predominant rhetorical visions of each culture prior to and throughout the Ghost Dance Move ment. This analysis shows that the conflicting rhetorical visions fed upon each other until they were so militant and separate that violence was inevitable. This study provides a methodology which can help future study of revitalization movements, as well as guide the development of active revitalization movements.
Brammer, Leila R., "Rhetoric of revitalization : an analysis of the ghost dance movement among the Sioux" (1990). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 4765.
v, 176 pages
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors. | <urn:uuid:468addfa-9182-4070-a19e-51b425dce1a4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/4765/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809003642-20220809033642-00672.warc.gz | en | 0.891174 | 474 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Summary of Loa loa (Eye worm)
Loa loa is the filarial tissue nematode (roundworm) species that causes Loa loa filariasis. It is commonly known as the "eye worm" as the worm may be visualized crawling in the patient's conjunctiva. If a parasite stops in one place for a short period of time, the human host will suffer from local inflammation known as Calabar swellings. These are localized, tense, inflammatory pruritic subcutaneous edema seen in joints of extremities.Transmission is via the bite of a fly (deer fly, mango fly, horse fly). Treatment is with diethylcarbamazine. Its geographic distribution includes Africa and India. | <urn:uuid:8873448e-d7fe-42b7-9a88-0f17caabebc2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.osmosis.org/learn/Loa_loa_(Eye_worm)?from=/md/usmle-step-1-review/microbiology/parasitology/ectoparasites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573399.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818185216-20220818215216-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.925346 | 154 | 2.953125 | 3 |
This code combines together the example programs for LibNFC and the Pimoroni Unicorn Hat. When you touch a band to the RFID reader, it will dispaly an animation on the LED Matrix. There is some information on it here: http://lukeberndt.com/2015/magicbands-rpi-leds-fun/
When you tap an RFID/NFC band or card it will print out the ID number. You will have to update the ID numbers that are hard coded in the program. This happens around line 457 in smartband.c. The array of tokens (~line 78) also has to be set to number of RFID card and magic bands you want train. | <urn:uuid:a4973135-07f1-44c5-b2c8-8948ba2b85bf> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://github.com/robotastic/smartband | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571234.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811042804-20220811072804-00074.warc.gz | en | 0.813506 | 152 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Friday, October 26, 2007
While the UK has a long tradition of shed culture, it is certainly not the only place with a history of shedlike atmospheres. Today Shedworking starts a new regular slot devoted to Swedish Friggebod (a topic we have touched on before). Here, for example, is a lovely model from Finja (which for those of us whose Swedish is woeful does have an English site) and you can download pdf details here. Helping with these posts will be our new Northern Europe correspondent Sy Willmer, whose own friggebod we covered here. As he explains: "The Swedish word 'bod' kind of means 'shed plus' - the word for shed is in fact 'skjul' but 'bod' is used in conjunction with a shed usage so Fiskbod = fisherman's hut, Snickbod = small wood work shop."
In fact friggebod is a play on words. When Swedish politician Birgit Friggebo was the country's Minister for Housing, she put a stop to the legal requirement to apply for a planning permit for small sheds under 10 square metres. As wikipedia explains, "the word was coined when someone tried to say "friggebo-bod" and stumbled on the words." The limit has now been extended to 15 square metres. | <urn:uuid:6e0d69c1-aaf5-4b13-a879-71a694f93816> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.shedworking.co.uk/2007/10/friggebod-friday.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282140.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00126-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955345 | 280 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Research in Conservation Biology
Conservation and management of biological diversity at genetic, species, population, and ecosystem levels, using approaches that incorporate technologies such as remote sensing, molecular genetics, and modeling, have been a strong focus of WEC faculty for many years. Focal points of this research include assessment of critical linkages across biological and landscape scales, habitat fragmentation, fire effects, invasive species, sustainable use of ecosystems, and the interrelations of cultures, economics, and political processes, all with a goal of increasing our understanding and identifying innovative practical solutions for dealing with the biodiversity crisis.
Examples of programs:
- Conservation genetic approaches and wildlife conservation (Dr. James Austin). This work incorporates of molecular tools with “traditional” approaches to studying conservation issues, such as the effects of fragmentation and land use on patterns of dispersal and identification of population units of conservation. Projects include assessment of the effects of habitat choice on demographics and genetic characteristics in Florida mice, identification of evolutionary significant units and management units in Florida bog frog and Okaloosa daters, landscape genetics of amphibians and freshwater fishes, and mating systems of American alligators.
- Conservation of Everglades crocodilian populations (Dr. Frank Mazzotti). This work focuses on the ecology and conservation of Florida’s two native species of crocodilians, the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) and American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), in the Everglades. Specific projects include approaches for using alligators and crocodiles as indicators of health of the Everglades ecosystem, predator-prey relationships, influences of alligators on habitat structure, hydrologic relationships of crocodilian populations, and approaches to monitoring crocodilians.
- Ecology and Conservation of Mammalian Carnivores (Dr. Mel Sunquist). This work focuses on how best to manage mammalian carnivores, especially those whose populations are rapidly becoming isolated, fragmented, and existing within increasingly humanized landscapes. Research efforts emphasize an understanding of the species in an environmental or landscape context, against which future changes can be assessed or predicted. Specific projects include evaluation of the ecology and population status of tigers in a primary rainforest of peninsular Malaysia, the impacts of subsistence hunting on jaguar and puma populations in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala, and the population ecology of leopards in Satpura National Park, India.
- Effects of Fragmentation on Plant Population Dynamics (Dr. Emilio Bruna). There remains significant gaps in our understanding of the effects of fragmentation on plant population dynamics; this work seeks to address key knowledge gaps with a focus on conservation implications using a combination of demographic surveys, manipulative experiments, and models. This project uses populations of the Amazonian understory herb Heliconia acuminata in 13 permanent plots at Brazil's Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project as a model system for evaluating key questions. Specific projects include evaluation of the spatial dynamics of plant recruitment and the influence of disperser behavior, stochastic demography of plants in fragments and continuous forest, and effects of genotype and environment on plant growth and physiology. | <urn:uuid:b082b962-896d-4695-8122-0a553eda4a72> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.wec.ufl.edu/research/conservation.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285315.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00566-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.871986 | 637 | 2.765625 | 3 |
- Wealthy London residents are extending many floors beneath their homes
- The aim is to increase their value and provide extra room
London (CNN)When you can't build up there's only one solution -- build down.
At least that's the theory in some of London's wealthiest neighborhoods.
The UK capital is in the midst of a luxury basement boom, with well-heeled residents and developers excavating large areas underneath their homes and gardens.
Some have used the extra space gained to install the likes of cinemas, gyms, wine cellars, golf simulators, bowling alleys and even swimming pools.
In the stylish borough of Chelsea and Kensington alone, there were 450 basement applications in 2013, according to figures provided to CNN by the local council. That's a 46% increase on 2012 and more than 500% increase on 2003 figures.
Reports indicate a similar story in nearby Westminster as well as Hammersmith and Fulham.
"People have been piling into the basement sector" in recent years, explained Stephen Merritt, managing director of specialist dig-down firm, London Basement. "We're probably doing around 30 to 40 projects a year now. (Clients) are definitely pushing the envelope more and more ... to create new basement space."
A lack of room and strict planning laws dictate that the facade of many of London's picturesque Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian-era neighborhoods must maintain their original character and outward appearance.
This annuls the possibility of large extensions upwards and outwards. The simplest alternative therefore is to go down, Merritt explained.
"The price per square foot (of basement extension) in areas we work in is probably £400 to £500 per square foot (between $660 and $830 per sq ft). The extra space this brings is probably worth double that," he added.
As the UK property market heats up again, the extra value a kitted-out basement can provide is clearly an appealing option for investors and homeowners.
But while underground digs are an increasingly common sight, the general concept of extending down is not new to London. Merritt says his company alone has been excavating in plush areas like Kensington since the mid to late 90s.
The difference today, however, is that the projects are becoming increasingly luxurious and ambitious. They have also spread to more modest, although still attractive neighborhoods, such as West Kensington, Wandsworth, Clapham and Fulham.
Iceberg basements ahead!
In some famous cases the operations extend as many as five stories underground.
Property mogul Leonard Blavatnik as well as composer Andrew Lloyd Webber have both reportedly excavated large areas beneath their palatial London properties in recent years.
Billionaire mobile phone mogul John Caudwell, meanwhile, has applied to dig beneath two mansions in the city's Mayfair district, replacing an existing basement pool and sauna area while extending further down.
These so called "iceberg basements" are the exception rather than the rule, however. Most extensions drop just one or two floors beneath the ground.
"I think for any property with a value over £2 million ($3.2 million) a basement extension is certainly a consideration for the owners," explained Rob Atkins of London estate agency, Domus Nova. "If you've lived in a house for 15 and 20 years and you cannot get a move for the right value then it is an option that can suit that growing family.
"You are now expected to pay 7% stamp duty (a tax on land and property transactions) on a move of over £2 million. All in, then, it might cost you 10% of your sell or your purchase to move house so people are looking inwardly instead of moving," he added.
These trends are similarly noted by developer Blaze Stojanovski. He believes the investment in a basement extension can be a smart one if made in the right location. Stojanovski currently owns 28 properties around west London and has added 11 basement extensions in recent years.
"On a price per square foot basements are hugely expensive, which is why 10 years ago people weren't really building them," he said. "As Fulham and other areas have come up price wise we have got to a stage where it is cost effective to dig basements."
The downside of digging down
But while keen to stress his experience of the positives, Stojanovski is also quick to point out that adding a basement in just any old house won't work.
"If you get the wrong property you could easily break even or lose money," he continued. "You have to make sure that the property is on the right street and it can justify a big investment like a basement."
Neighbors and those nearby, however, aren't always as keen.
Horror stories abound in London's local papers of skips falling through streets as the earth beneath is hollowed out while complaints about the inconvenience of noise and dust from dig sites is common.
"Our members have become increasingly worried by the nastiness of having great big holes dug next door to them," said Terence Bendixson, honorary secretary of planning at the Chelsea Society.
Randa Hanna of the Belgravia Residents Association meanwhile described "a multitude of problems" for residents in her area. "There were cases of serial fraud (with builders). There have also been instances of flooding and problems for neighbors living next door to the work," she added.
For the likes of Stojanovski and Merritt, these negative experiences are a genuine concern. Merritt believes there are few bad apples in the industry guilty of cutting corners but points to his own company's award-winning reputation as a considerate constructor.
Luxury basement exports?
As it stands, however, these complaints have done little to halt the attraction or number of applications for luxury basement digs.
There have been rumors regarding a changing of the rules to limit underground extensions but these have yet to to be implemented in any London borough.
Given the international diversity of London's wealthiest residents and property investors, Stojanovski can even see the trend for subterranean extensions spreading to cities in other countries where space is tight and demand high.
Many of his current tenants are from outside the UK, while the majority of his recent sales have been to wealthy foreign investors.
"These people will be living and getting used to living in houses with basements," he said. "They will consider that and probably talk about that when they go back home.
"Therefore I wouldn't be surprised if you see that kind of basement living incorporated in houses for example in Paris, Rome, Vienna or Moscow in the future," he added. | <urn:uuid:041f109c-06c8-4c45-bb42-739b241ca604> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/24/business/going-underground-london-luxury-basements/index.html?hpt=bosread | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00282-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963513 | 1,389 | 1.671875 | 2 |
"If you can't prevent rape, you [should] enjoy it," said Ranjit Sinha, one of India's top ranked police officials, on Tuesday night. At a conference, the leader of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made the remarks when asked if sports betting should be legalized in India.
Sinha responded: "Do we have the enforcement? It is very easy to say that if you can't enforce it, it's like saying if you can't prevent rape, you [should] enjoy it."
The statement has outraged the Indian political class. "It is sickening," said Brinda Karat, leader of India's communist party, "that a man who is in charge of several rape investigations should use such an analogy. He should be prosecuted for degrading and insulting women."
Rape has been an inflammatory issue in India within the past two years. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported that in 2011 there were 24,206 rapes reported in India. That's one rape every 20 minutes, and these figures assume that all those assaulted report each individual incident to police. Some estimates say only 40% of rape cases are reported out of victims' fear of being ostracized or seen as unclean by the community.
Last December, a 23-year-old woman died of internal injuries she suffered after being raped by six men in South Delhi. All six were sentenced to death, and one hung himself in jail. Similarly horrific incidents now receive regular coverage in Indian media.
The CBI, the organization that Sinha leads, is similar to America's FBI. They are tasked with investigating cases of government corruption, murder, rape, and terrorism. Law enforcement officials in India have been criticized for not taking reports of rape seriously. A recent study of 40 rape cases that resulted in acquittals found that Indian police failed to perform thorough investigations in more than half of the events.
When high-level officials that run important government organizations speak like Sinha did, it becomes clear why rape has been such a problem in India. The Indian government increased the penalties for rape convictions in March, making repeat offenders eligible to receive the death penalty. More is needed from leadership to combat these heinous crimes against humanity. People like Sinha must set an example and stand up for women who often cannot stand up for themselves, or they must be replaced by people who will. | <urn:uuid:19b810ce-4247-420c-85f4-71e52e73b6c4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.mic.com/articles/73399/india-s-head-of-police-says-women-should-enjoy-rape-if-they-can-t-stop-it | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00466.warc.gz | en | 0.977475 | 486 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Why McDonald’s Refused to Team Up with Burger King on the “McWhopper”
In 2015, the world almost got a taste of the "McWhopper," a combination burger from Burger King and McDonald's. Here's the reason it didn't.
The year was 2015. McDonald’s had just tweaked the size of its quarter-pounder burger to 4.25 ounces of beef. Burger King had experienced a 3 percent sales increase. It was business as usual for the two fast-food giants and de facto rivals. But then, in August of that year, Burger King made headlines with a surprising proposal for Mickey D’s: The two franchises team up on a hybrid burger called the “McWhopper.”
Burger King pulled out all the stops in its attempt to make peace with its fast-food competitor. They took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to publish an “open letter” to McDonald’s. “How about we call a ceasefire on these so-called ‘burger wars’?” the letter asked. As BK’s letter envisioned it, the franchises’ cooperation, and the resulting burger, would raise awareness of Peace Day. The McWhopper would be available one day only—Peace Day of 2015, September 21—in Atlanta, Georgia. All proceeds from the burger would benefit a nonprofit called Peace One Day, dedicated to promoting peace and education worldwide. A sample McWhopper, a double-patty burger comprising “the tastiest bits” of the Whopper and the Big Mac, even underwent a taste test on the TODAY show. The team-up seemed like a certainty. Find out some more surprising facts you never knew about the Big Mac.
The problem? This was the first McDonald’s was hearing about it. Burger King hadn’t consulted anyone from the Golden Arches beforehand. Burger King even acknowledged this on the website it cooked up for the McWhopper: “Our invitation might be unexpected, but it’s 100 percent sincere,” the site said. But that acknowledgment wasn’t enough to appease the folks at McDonald’s for what they viewed as a presumptuous move. So McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook turned down the proposal in a Facebook post. “A simple phone call will do next time,” he signed off. McOuch.
Easterbrook’s post also questioned the sensitivity of Burger King’s publicity stunt, saying that “between us, there is simply a friendly business competition and certainly not the unequaled circumstances of the real pain and suffering of war.” And alas, the McWhopper never saw the light of day. Check out these fun facts you never knew about the actual Whopper.
So, you be the judge: Was it petty of McDonald’s to say no, or unprofessional of Burger King to promote the burger without consulting McD’s first? Whatever the case, the world never got the McWhopper—but perhaps the two franchises can find it in their hearts to team up sometime in the future. Only time will tell! Next, read about the most shocking fast-food scandals that rocked the industry. | <urn:uuid:6ba8c251-c7e3-43c3-b6bb-e5c8b8d6544a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.rd.com/article/mcdonalds-burger-king-mcwhopper/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809003642-20220809033642-00666.warc.gz | en | 0.941688 | 688 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Evaluate some common criticisms and misunderstandings related to the discipline of psychology.
1. Evaluate some common criticisms and misunderstandings related to the discipline of psychology.
The Discipline of Psychology has a history of being a controversial discipline. There have been many criticisms of the discipline of psychology proposed on ethical and philosophical grounds. Early studies were rightfully criticized, such as Mailgram's experiment because of the extreme psychological stress imposed on the subjects. However, more stagnant ethical standards are in place today where Ethical committees must approve studies. There are also ethical criticisms using animals in research that is considered inhumane. However, new ethical guidelines are in place that state that it is only acceptable to use non-human animals for scientific purposes when the harm (physical or psychological) done to animals is outweighed by the benefits of the research (Sherwin, et al, 2003). However, researcher still can use research techniques on animals that would not be considered ethical to be performed on humans.
Others have ...
Common criticisms and misunderstandings related to the discipline of psychology are indicated. References are also provided to further validate the findings. | <urn:uuid:b81a3be2-43b4-4e76-988a-379aa3ae3b74> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://brainmass.com/psychology/theories-in-cross-cultural-psychology/common-criticisms-and-misunderstandings-related-to-the-discipline-of-psychology-325127 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280128.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00391-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950357 | 225 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1924 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
About The McEwen herald. (McEwen, Tenn.) 1958-19??
McEwen, Tenn. (1958-19??)
The McEwen herald. : (McEwen, Tenn.) 1958-19??
- Place of publication:
- McEwen, Tenn.
- Geographic coverage:
| View more titles from this:
- Mr. & Mrs. Brice W. Thompson
- Dates of publication:
- Humphreys County (Tenn.)--Newspapers.
- McEwen (Tenn.)--Newspapers.
- Tennessee--Humphreys County.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01208896
- Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 21 (Feb. 19, 1959).
- sn 98069836
View complete holdings information | <urn:uuid:991dad41-79b9-48f8-9a0e-a87a78c3f16a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn98069836/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281162.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00540-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.718384 | 235 | 1.5625 | 2 |
May 20, 2015
In the hopes that you can learn from others’ mistakes, CB Insights, as reported by INC., asked 101 failed start-ups what was their undoing. While you may think there are a multitude of reasons why businesses fail, of those interviewed, a resounding 71% indicated that their stumbling block could be attributed to one of the following two issues:
1. 42% Found That There Was No Market Need For Their Product Or Service
This happens time and time again. If you aren’t filling a void in the market or filling a need, it’s very hard to convince consumers to purchase your product. Loving what you do and having passion for your business and your products can only take you so far. You have to understand who your target consumers are and what is driving them to purchase products like yours. Then you need to figure out how to convince them to start purchasing yours in lieu of a competitor’s product. And all of that, as I have a tendency to hammer home on this site, comes from understanding your consumers and their wants, needs, desires, and frustrations.
2. 29% Ran Out Of Cash
No matter how great your idea, it’s hard to entrepreneurs to get funding to start and run their businesses. And, sadly, it’s even harder if you’re a food entrepreneur. That’s why taking the time to develop cash forecasts – not just for when you start your business but for every year you’re in operation – are so important. They can give you and idea of when you anticipate your business will be flush with cash and when it might be struggling and you can proactively plan accordingly to try to weather those dry spells without your business going under. | <urn:uuid:84d3ffed-53df-458f-82bf-e4407cd370fe> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.smallfoodbiz.com/2015/05/20/top-2-reasons-small-businesses-fail/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280128.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00392-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954212 | 363 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Being a mom has never been a more demanding job.
In the 1960s, the average mom spent about 10 hours a week on childcare, according to a study from Pew Research. But even though women now spend on average 25 hours a week working outside the home, we still devote more of our time to child care than our parents did.
The same study also found that nearly 8 in 10 adults think women face a lot of pressure to be an involved parent these days. Hop on Instagram and it’s easy to see why. We feel instant guilt when we compare ourselves to the mom who somehow found the time to not only pack their kid’s lunch, but also cut the sandwich into the shape of a dinosaur (what?!), decorate the lunch bag (why?!) and then snap the perfect pic for social media (ugh). | <urn:uuid:0c287600-6101-455d-8b5e-b5792bf563ed> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://blog.imon.net/tag/computers/page/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.966041 | 172 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Table of Contents_
If you are new to the world of home audio, you may wonder why your speakers keep cutting out. Even the best speakers, after all, depend heavily on their cables, A/V signal emitters, and related tools to create an audio signal. So what are the main reasons speakers cut out and what can you do to prevent it? Keep reading to find out.
Unfortunately, there are as many reasons why audio speakers cut out as there are audio speakers themselves, and the same is said when wondering why audio speakers crackle. Here are some of the major reasons that speakers cut out. As a note, some of these troubleshooting tips work for other issues, like if you are wondering why your subwoofer sounds weak.
Keep your wires untangled, as tangled wires damage easily which leads to poor audio in many cases.
Wired speakers play host to all manner of issues, many of them leading to crackling and related audio problems. If your wires or connection ports are dirty, guess what? Audio that cuts out. If your wires are slightly damaged anywhere along their length, guess what? Audio that cuts out or crackles. Loose connections, dirty pots, aging components, and plenty of other issues also lead to poor audio when using your speakers. How to prevent this? Purchase and install new wiring and keep an eye on it.
Bluetooth speakers are fantastically convenient, but some models don’t play well with ultra-hot signals, leading to crackling when trying to play music at high volumes. Another issue that plagues Bluetooth speakers, particularly rechargeable models, is that the battery only lasts for so long. If you are using them to play lots of music and podcasts, the batteries will deplete, leading to crackling and the audio prematurely cut out. One final issue impacting Bluetooth speakers is out-of-date audio drivers. If your drivers are ancient, it is likely your audio will suffer.
Speakers have plenty of necessary components, one of which is the voice coil. When this voice coil becomes overwhelmed, it blows the speakers. When you use blown speakers, you’ll hear the tell-tale frustrating crackle. How does the voice coil become damaged? Usually, it happens by overdriving the system, which eventually tears the speaker cone itself. To prevent this, try to avoid jamming your speakers at full blast. As an added bonus, this will also please your neighbors.
Why does a Bluetooth connection cut out?
There are many reasons. You may have accidentally disabled the Bluetooth power button, the audio source could be powered down, or. your electronic devices could be out of juice.
How does a Bluetooth connection work?
Bluetooth sends audio signals wirelessly, without the need for speaker wires. You do need an audio device and a power source to send out the signal though.
When to consider purchasing Bluetooth speakers?
If you want audio without wires, and you. have a solid Internet connection speed, consider purchasing Bluetooth speakers.
STAT: The signal frequency range used by wireless speakers is generally the same as that used by cordless telephones – 900 MHz. The RF signal can traverse walls and floors/ceilings. Most manufacturers claim the signal transmits over a range of 150 to 300 feet (50 to 100 m). (source) | <urn:uuid:a04c8f99-7322-42b4-b1fd-43d99b37d7c2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.gadgetreview.com/why-do-my-speakers-keep-cutting-out | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00077.warc.gz | en | 0.940096 | 708 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Rep. Moore Discusses Stunning House Speech
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now, we are going to hear how one woman turned her own history as a survivor of sexual and domestic abuse into a platform to speak out for victims.
Congresswoman Gwen Moore stunned her colleagues last week, during a debate over the Violence Against Women Act. While the act passed with bipartisan support in 1994, many Republicans in the House and some in the Senate have expressed reluctance to reauthorize funding for the law.
Representative Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, has been an advocate for social justice issues since her election in 1994, but when she took to the floor last week, she shared a very personal story. We'd like to caution you. This is a sensitive issue involving sensitive issues and some of this language may not be appropriate for all listeners.
Here is Congresswoman Moore on the floor of the House last week.
REPRESENTATIVE GWEN MOORE: But really brought up some terrible memories for me, of having, you know, boys sit in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the A kid, couldn't be had. And then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn't going to be so willing, completed a date rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys. I mean, this is what American women are facing.
MARTIN: And Representative Gwen Moore joins us now. Thank you so much for joining us.
MOORE: Oh, thank you for having this conversation with me, Michel.
MARTIN: And can I just say how sorry I am that this happened to you?
MOORE: Thank you, Michel. Thank you. Thank you for that. And, you know, I wish I could say that this was - that I - this was rare and that I was the only woman who's ever experienced this. I think that the reason that I felt really compelled to raise this at that point, is because I think that there's a real risk that this bill won't be reauthorized before its expiration, shortly.
And I wanted to get away from the talking points and the poll tested words and phrases that we spend hours and hours and hours on to really raise the specter that the Violence Against Women Act has saved lives. And, you know, I wish that the story I told was just an isolated experience, but my experience has been that, literally, I have faced sexual assault and violence from a little bitty girl, all the way through up to adult life, even after I gave birth to my daughter. Because I think that violence against women is as American as apple pie.
I think that boys - that those boys that I talked about - didn't think they were doing anything wrong. I think they thought that this was their right to passage. I think that men who are assaulting their wives, or men in intimate relationships, arrogate to themselves the right, as a man, to do that.
And the Violence Against Women Act has been so critical because, number one, it provides funding for education, but it also provides funding for the really legal assistance programs that really enable a woman to get out of violent situations - transitional housing grants. And the Violence Against Women Act has been bipartisan since 1994.
MARTIN: Let me just jump in for just a minute, just to clarify that you were elected in 2004, not 1994.
MARTIN: I just wanted to ask you, first of all - was it something that you had planned to talk about or was it just something that came out when you were listening to the debate on the floor and just felt like you had to say something to, kind of, make it more real to people? How did that happen?
MOORE: Well, I did have planned talking points that didn't include that story. But I can tell you, Michel, that the stress of Congress has worn on me with regard to all of the - just the preponderance of legislation that has been presented as an assault and a war on women, quite frankly; that this was yet another attempt by the majority party to thwart the health and well-being of women.
And so - no. I didn't plan to tell that story. But I can tell you, that I have been worn down over the past year, with the just steady drip and campaign against women's health and...
MARTIN: I'm sorry. I'm speaking with Congresswoman Gwen Moore. She's a Democrat from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We're talking about the Violence Against Women Act. And we are talking about some very personal and powerful remarks that she delivered on the floor of the House last week, in trying to gin up support to reauthorize funding for the act.
You know, Congresswoman, to that end, some of the Republicans who have spoken about this say that they approve of the core mission of the act, but they object to some of the provisions - like extending assistance to illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants and same-sex couples. And they feel that it's unfair to portray them as anti-women because they say that they're trying to focus the funding and the act itself on what they believe its original intention was. How do you respond to that?
MOORE: As a survivor of a lot of violence against women, I can tell you that none of these programs were in place at a time, you know, that I was raped and beaten and battered. And, you know, I don't think that we should exclude any women from the protections of the Violence Against Womens Act.
If I were a lesbian, why wouldn't I deserve the protection of this law from, you know, a female perpetrator? If I live on - if I'm a Native American and I live on tribal lands, should a non-Native man be able to come on the tribal lands, beat me almost to death and then get away with it because we don't expand authority to the tribal lands in order to be able to use the resources of this bill in order to do that? Because those tribal courts don't have authority over non-tribal men.
If I'm an immigrant woman who is - and I am - Michel, I am cooperating with immigration authorities. Should I not have the protection and have to stay in hiding when I'm being battered, beaten and sexually assaulted? These provisions were not thrown in there in order to make a political statement about Republicans. These provisions were put in as a result of what we call best practices. People who have litigated these cases, people who have been advocates for these folk - they decided that these expansions were really important.
This bill is supported by the National Association of District Attorneys, the Order of Fraternal Police Associations and really credible advocacy groups and they weren't just thrown in as a way to embarrass Republicans.
MARTIN: I understand. Before we let you go, Congresswoman, we only have 30 seconds left and I apologize. You expressed concern about the tone of the debates that you've been hearing on the House. Do you think that your comments have made a difference at all, in changing the tenor of the conversation in any way?
MOORE: I want to have a real conversation. I hope it's changed the tenor of it because I'm going to continue to fight for this legislation. And I hope, by putting a face on the victims of violence, that we can move it forward.
MARTIN: Congresswoman Gwen Moore is a Democrat from Milwaukee. She represents Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District. She was kind enough to join us from member station WUWM in Milwaukee.
Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us.
MOORE: And, please, have me again, Michel.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Up next, does anybody expect athletes to act like Girl Scouts anymore? Maybe the new head of the WNBA, who comes to the job straight from an executive role with the Girl Scouts.
LAUREL RICHIE: The character of the players, I find, in the WNBA, that's actually a hallmark of our league and our players.
MARTIN: The new leader of the Women's National Basketball Association, Laurel Richie, is with us. That's in just a few minutes on TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | <urn:uuid:118afb41-e0f3-49f7-a13f-0197b7661956> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.npr.org/2012/04/04/149992601/rep-moore-discusses-stunning-house-speech | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720845.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00087-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981675 | 1,818 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Canadian cousins Jillian and Mariko Tamaki team up on This One Summer, a swirling, breathtaking graphic novel that recounts the time in a girl’s life when childhood innocence comes to a crashing end. Rose, an only child, goes to cottage country north of Toronto every summer with her parents. There, they meet up with another neighbor family, including Windy, who has been Rose’s slightly younger playmate for years. Windy, too, is an only child, and the two find themselves quickly reacquainting and sharing their days together. But Rose’s adolescent leanings, coupled with tension between her parents, mean that this summer will be different.
Jillian Tamaki’s purple-blue ink illustrations perfectly capture the churning, confusing and sometimes somber moodiness that Rose endures as the events of the summer pass. From carefree days splashing in the lake and watching slasher DVDs with Windy to dealing with her parents’ marital breakdown, Rose’s progression is clearly defined. Her first crush, on a convenience store clerk (who has troubles all his own), is well-depicted in all its unrequited awkwardness. Mariko Tamaki’s words are equally effective, as many older teens and adults will see their own lives in the thoughts and actions of the young friends. Frank language and mature topics such as depression and pregnancy are handled carefully but without patronizing to the intended age of the readership. Particularly successful is the way the Tamakis choose to tell the tale — without judgment or outspoken morality. The bittersweet conclusion is open-ended and purposely lacking forced resolution, showing that adolescence — and life itself — is a continuum that will go on long past that one summer.
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, the moment that set the history of the rest of the 20th century in motion. Believed at first to be a war that would take weeks or months to settle, the war dragged on for four long, tragic years until the armistice was signed in 1918. Many new titles have been written that bring a better understanding of this period and the catastrophe of the war.
R.G. Grant’s World War I: the Definitive Visual History, from Sarajevo to Versailles is a terrific introduction to many facets of the conflict. DK Publishing, partnering with the Smithsonian, brings manageable text and countless period photographs here to best explain the personalities, weapons and cultural artifacts of the time period. In The Long Shadow: The Legacy of the Great War in the Twentieth Century, David Reynolds discusses the ramifications of the war, and rethinks some of the theses that have become too-easy explanations for its causes and results. He also looks at its decades-long impact on the art and literary world and how it brought about Modernism. Howard Blum’s Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Tale in America is a fascinating tale of espionage and intrigue is. New York City and other American cities were targeted by German spies to discourage munitions and other supplies from going across the Atlantic to the Allied forces, long before United States troops became officially embroiled in the conflict itself.
Novels set in the time period are perennially popular, such as the Maisie Dobbs mysteries. Now, that series’ author, Jacqueline Winspear, returns with the elegiac and stunning The Care and Management of Lies. Two very different young women come together in the backdrop of the war that has taken away the men in their lives. And Max Brooks’ graphic novel The Harlem Hellfighters is fiction rooted in the heroic tales of the famous African-American 369th Infantry Regiment who fought for France due to antiquated, racially-motivated rules within the American Expeditionary Forces.
To commemorate the centennial of the outbreak of World War I this summer, many new books have been and will continue to be released. They range from new analyses of battles, biographies of personalities of the era and wide-ranging assessments of how the ‘War to End All Wars’ set the history of the 20th and 21st century and its continuing conflicts in motion. A furry character study for young readers comes in Ann Bausum’s Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog. As the United States was at last pulled into the war in 1917, a stray, brindle-colored Boston Bull Terrier wandered onto a soldiers’ training ground at Yale University. The soldiers all took a liking to this sweet, short-tailed dog, but none more than enlisted man James Conroy.
Training complete (for both men and dog), the soldiers were sent to sea, and Conroy smuggled the pup onto the ship bound for France. Now considered a mascot, Stubby had been taught to stand on his rear legs and lift his right paw to salute high-ranking officers. This endeared Stubby to all he met, including women of the French resistance, who sewed him a natty uniform. The dog turned out to be a valiant and useful addition to the men in the trenches, as he aided with rat removal, alerted the men to enemies approaching and was even temporarily wounded in action while helping to discover landmines. Bausum illustrates the history of the four-legged hero with plenty of period photographs from the Conroy family collection and other ephemera of the WWI era. Her impeccable research is outlined in endnotes and an extensive bibliography. She also tells of this famous dog in Sergeant Stubby: How a Stray Dog and His Best Friend Helped Win World War I and Stole the Heart of a Nation, written for adult readers. This title covers even more of Stubby’s exploits during and after the war. Both books are published by National Geographic, and are excellent avenues into this period. They will be enjoyed by dog lovers as well as by history buffs.
What do catchers and umpires really talk about during a ballgame? Longtime Major League catcher Jason Kendall reveals the secrets of that mystery in Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played. Co-authored by Kansas City Star sportswriter Lee Judge, this is not a personal memoir with a few details about what happens on the field, but instead it is chockfull of insights that any casual or ardent baseball fan will relish.
Kendall spent more than half of his decade-plus career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was known as an unusually speedy catcher with an unconventional batting stance. This resulted in him being the fifth most hit-by-pitch player in Major League history, and he divulges the methods used to reach base no matter what the cost. But for the bulk of the book, the self-described badass talks about the relationships a catcher has with the rest of his team and opponents when on the field. Kendall starts with the pitcher and discusses in great detail how statistics, while valuable, often take a back seat to keen observation. After several seasons in the big leagues, he could identify when a pitcher needed to hang it up, and when batters were simply phoning it in and when they were on fire. Most intriguing of all are the discussions between catcher and pitcher and the ever-evolving, incredibly exhaustive language of signs between the two critical players.
Written conversationally, but containing considerable detail, Throwback is a rare look into how contemporary baseball is won and lost. While other big leaguers are mentioned, this is all about the game and not about the personalities. And those catcher-umpire conversations? Kendall discloses how it is an all-game affair of compromise, conniving and convincing to make sure there would be a win for his team at the end of nine innings.
As the nation marks the 50th anniversary of the unspeakable murders of three young civil rights volunteers, two books introduce to young readers what happened in Mississippi in June of 1964 – and the legacy of that Freedom Summer. Susan Goldman Rubin takes a timeline approach in her middle grade book Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. Each chapter is titled with a time, such as “June 21, 1964, Afternoon,” the last time any of the three victims were seen alive. Pulling no punches, Rubin outlines the devastating reality of the ingrained racist attitudes among many of the people of Neshoba County, Mississippi, at that time, while making plain that those feelings extended to the all-white law enforcement authorities which aided and abetted in the killings. Maps, interviews and reproductions of photos and newspaper clippings all bring to light the horror of the situation that played out over the course of that summer.
Don Mitchell’s The Freedom Summer Murders covers similar territory but in a slightly different way, and for a teen audience. Chapters introduce us to the victims individually as each of the young men – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – receives his due. Interviews with their families, friends and other volunteers in Mississippi that summer help bring a better focus to who they were and why they felt so strongly for this cause. Additionally, Mitchell’s book fully examines the legacy of the summer and how their martyrdom ignited nationwide awareness, shock and fury. He includes the protracted legal battles and eventual reconciliation efforts that have helped move Mississippi and the state forward from this dark episode even to this day. | <urn:uuid:2aad83ca-4e53-4410-8a33-96e2263b7a68> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://bcpl.info/category/between-the-covers-blogger/todd?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719908.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00159-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961462 | 1,954 | 2.25 | 2 |
MHE stands for Multiple Hereditary Exostoses: a rare, incurable, debilitating childhood bone disorder often characterized by bone deformities, limb length
discrepancies, mobility issues as well as physical and emotional pain. World Health Organization (WHO) refers to it as Multiple Osteochondromas (MO) thus removing the stigmatic
hereditary aspect of the disorder. Some people inherit this bone disorder while others simply get it through some sort of genetic mutation.
There are numerous cartilage capped bony tumors that develop next to the growth plates of most long bones. These bony tumors are called 'exostoses' or
'osteochondromas.' These bony tumors may also arise from flat bones such as scapula, ribs and pelvis. These bony tumors keep coming as the child grows. Not only that, but they also keep
growing, thus stealing from children's longitudinal bone growth - they have a mind of their own, thinking they are growth plates themselves.
MHE children suffer from progressive skeletal deformities such as limb length inequalities, bowing of limbs and angular deformities of the joints.
There is pain from soft tissue trauma: bursa formation, ligament tears, nerve or vascular deviation, impingement, entrapment or injury.
There is an increased chance of malignancy.
Peripheral neuropathy and pereoneal nerve palsy is not uncommon.
There are two types of osteochondromas: pedunculated and sessile. Pedunculated exostosis are stalk like in appearance. Sessile ones imply mound like
appearance. The pedunculated ones often cause bursas and even break. The sessile ones often tether one side of the growth plate causing angular limb deformities and limb length
Surgical intervention is not always possible or successful. Many orthopedists, due to the rarity of the disease itself, do not feel comfortable
removing any bone tumors for fear of disastrous outcomes. Those who are more courageous and remove bone tumors are aware that there is a possibility that these benign bone tumors can reappear
in the exact location. Some orthopedists remove benign bone tumors which do not come back. What all doctors agree on is that benign bone tumors keep coming on MHE children's bodies until the children
reach adulthood and bones naturally stop growing. | <urn:uuid:96766ec2-bd49-4a18-becc-0b82f76cb8f5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.curechildhoodmhefoundation.org/about-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.92681 | 491 | 3.125 | 3 |
School holidays in the woolshed shearing
Western Queensland children lend a hand in the woolshed, shearing for the school holidays.
Source: ABC News | Duration: 2min 35sec
Citrus grown in the Sunraysia region will form part of the botanicals used in a new gin produced in Mildura.
Dam needed by Tassal's Okehampton Bay proposal wins council approval, sparking calls for inquiry.
The future of graziers and residents in central and north Queensland will be decided in four weeks.
Forecasters say unusually strong agricultural production in 2016 is unlikely to be repeated this year. | <urn:uuid:16346c6b-fbd5-40ed-ad54-f82992d475a4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-14/kids-shearing-school-holidays/5388304 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285315.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00569-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925423 | 131 | 1.703125 | 2 |
William Maxwell was born in Lincoln, Illinois in 1908 and died in 2000 in New York City where he had lived since the mid 1930's. For forty years he was an editor at The New Yorker where he worked with, amongst others, Eudora Welty, Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike and John Cheever. He wrote six novels, a memoir, two children's books, several story collections as well as essays reviews and letters. He was honoured with many awards including the American Book Award for his final novel So Long, See You Tomorrow. What he also left behind with those who knew or worked with him was the memory of a man who was honourable, generous and also that deceptively simple sounding adjective; good.
I first began reading Maxwell when my father mentioned he was reading a fantastic novel called Time Will Darken It. I got the impression that this novel had spoken directly to him about marriage and its difficulties. In an effort to understand better what he was thinking or going through I bought a copy myself. The title of the novel comes from Francisco Pacheco's 17th century textbook on painting. He advises mixing a bright tint when applying colour, 'It must not be dark; on the contrary, it must be rather on the light side because time will darken it...' and tells the story of Austin King a man whose comfortable life is left damaged after he invites his Southern relatives to stay. It is a wonderful book filled with Maxwell's trademarks; a brilliant observation of family and small town life, characters with their own distinct trajectories and a slowly building emotional punch which hits you hard.
I went on to read much more of his and found that here was a writer who not only knew how to write but was also able to bring into play his skills as an editor. Nowhere is this more obvious than with his final novel So Long, See You Tomorrow. A slim book at 135 pages it contains so much. A man remembers how fifty years ago his friendship with another boy was shattered by a murder in their rural community in Illinois. Richard Ford was left daunted by how it made 'greatness seem simple' and Michael Ondaatje described it as 'one of the great books of our age'. I would urge anyone to read it now. It joins that elite group of small novels which seem perfect (and also one of the few books in history to successfully write, albeit briefly, from the viewpoint of a dog!) .
His other great novel The Folded Leaf also tells the story of two friends; Lymie 'thin and pigeon chested' and Spud the natural athlete who is everything Lymie wants to be. It brilliantly charts their changing relationship as they move from school to college, from boyhood to maturity. But all of Maxwell's writing is rewarding. The stories are charming and profound, the essays insightful and I even have a copy of his children's book The Heavenly Tenants which sounds like a good bedtime read for when that time of life is upon me. He even encouraged me to read War and Peace when I learnt that he had had the book read to him just before he died. For a better idea of that story and the man himself I would recommend A William Maxwell Portrait. If what we leave behind us is in the memories of those we touch, this book shows beautifully why William Maxwell deserves to be appreciated by a new generation. | <urn:uuid:fb077472-4c8f-4e89-9558-f77dcdef0c7e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://justwilliamsluck.blogspot.com/2007/09/william-maxwell.html?m=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281226.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00380-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989602 | 692 | 1.851563 | 2 |
問1 Christine originally said she would do the gardening because she ( ).
① knew it was important to her father
② wanted to improve her gardening skills
③ was asked by her father to do it
④ was interested in growing vegetables
問2 Which of the following was a problem in the garden?
① Animals often dug in the garden.
② Insects ate the lettuce and carrots.
③ The plants were given too much water.
④ The vegetables were marked incorrectly.
問3 Christine could secretly make the salad from store-bought vegetables because ( ).
① her father couldn’t see the garden’s progress
② her father was in the hospital at that time
③ her mother helped her to buy the vegetables
④ her mother helped her to make a spray
問4 Which of the following is closest to the meaning of the underlined word bug-free?
① All bugs have been killed.
② Bugs can do what they like.
③ No bugs can be found.
④ The bugs don’t cost any money.
問5 What did Christine learn through her experience of gardening?
① Always prepare for a rainy day.
② Don’t be disappointed by bugs.
③ Hard work can be rewarding.
④ Working alone produces results.
問1 ① 問2 ② 問3 ① 問4 ③ 問5 ③
出典：センター2019本試験 - 大問 | <urn:uuid:bf7cdbfc-25f1-4c83-b3a6-6810dc1888a3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.eevideo.net/main/textplayer/textplayer.php?file=2019h-5&title=%3Cb%3E%E7%89%A9%E8%AA%9E%EF%BC%88%E7%88%B6%E3%81%AE%E5%AE%B6%E5%BA%AD%E8%BE%B2%E5%A0%B4%EF%BC%89%3C/b%3E | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572192.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815145459-20220815175459-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.971473 | 389 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Support Migdal Ohr by purchasing letters in the Torah Scroll that will be written in honor of Rabbi Grossman’s 70th Birthday.
Posted on: October 15th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
One of the most informative books I have ever read on the subject of early 20th century American Jewry was Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet’s biography of Bernard Revel, the 1st President of Yeshiva University. The picture painted of American Jewry in the Revel bio matches that of Rabbi Rakeffet’s own autobiographical account of growing up in pre-war era New York. To put it simply - Orthodox Judaism as we know it today did not exist.
Posted on: October 14th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Since being sexually attacked in Egypt, journalist Lara Logan now seems to recognizes that the real problems of the Middle East are not caused by the here and now of Palestinian suffering. My reaction to this story is to say to Ms. Logan, “Welcome aboard.” “We could use a few more reporters like you.”
Posted on: October 11th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Despite some of my early negative observations - it still seemed like there was a tremendous sense of Achdus in many respects. The Shul I davened at was very Charedi and yet a great number of regular attendees there are Dati Leumi - Kipa Seruga, no jacket or hat. Even an occasional Israeli solider in full uniform can be found catching a Minyan there. All are welcome.
Posted on: October 10th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
It doesn’t matter to what segment of Orthodox Jewry one belongs. All segments celebrate this day with the same exuberance. It is truly the Torah which unites us all, right to left.
Posted on: October 7th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
It seems that two very prominent rabbinic figures have come on board with Rabbi Slifkin’s views with respect to reconciling science and the Torah. According to a post on Hirhurim by Rabbi Gil Student, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of England, and a man of great intellect who I respect and admire greatly is one of them. The other is Rabbi Yaakov Ariel - one of the chief Poskim of Religious Zionists in Israel. These two people are not just your average rabbis. They are both highly respected not only by me but by Jews all over the world.
Posted on: October 5th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Why is there so much animosity between Charedi and Dati Leumi/Religious Zionist factions? I can't fully answer the question. But I do have some thoughts about it. I think it is because Israelis are far more idealistic about their religious values - especially those who make Aliyah.
Posted on: October 4th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
The enmity I have observed between groups here in the holy land has been a source of great disappointment to me. Not that I didn’t know it exists. But I have encountered numerous instances of it I and did not realize the extent of it.
Posted on: October 3rd, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Those of us familiar with the do's and don'ts of accepted practice in the mental health profession saw similar blaring warning lights in our minds, as should have occurred when the facts were made public regarding the accusations against Nehemia Weberman. This case may very well be our community’s most important abuse trial during our lifetimes. It is imperative that we have a huge turnout in support of the victim, a courageous young lady who, may she be gezunt andge’bentched, is determined to see this through to the end so others won't suffer like she did.
Posted on: September 30th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
I though I might take a break from my regular fare here and talk a bit about my illustrious family. Many people know my New York cousins. Not so many know me. At least not outside my blog.
Posted on: September 28th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
There are many people who are born frum that have issues that are similar to ba'alei teshuva. We shouldn’'t be singling them out. But then the Rav went right into bashing Modern Orthodoxy Although he didn't label them outright it was clear from the context that the Modern Orthodox Jew is, according to him, the one with the real problem.
Posted on: September 27th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
The Torah assures us that perfection of the world comes through perfection of self. On Rosh HaShana we daven for the world to become a better place. It's in our hands to make it so.
Posted on: September 25th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
I have to believe that the prime minister has red lines. He knows when they will be crossed. He is not going to wait a moment beyond that to destroy Iranian nuclear reactors. He knows that if he doesn’t act decisively at the right moment - the consequences of a nuclear attack against Israel will rival those of the Holocaust. Only this Holocaust will be nuclear.
Posted on: September 23rd, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Recent anti-Christian acts are due to a culture of hatred of the goy (non-Jew) that permeates certain circles.
Posted on: September 21st, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
The way of Meah Shearim is the way of the Mafia. Not civilization.
Posted on: September 20th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Charedi schools like Darkei Sarah now realize that the Charedi family can no longer survive on the kinds of menial jobs women can get without a decent education.
Posted on: September 19th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
In part the altered lives victims of abuse and molestation live are a result of the abuse itself. But it is in part also because of the unfortunate negative reaction to the victims by their own community.
Posted on: September 16th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
Rabbi Lior Glazer smashed an iPhone with a hammer in a show of protest. Like virtually every other Rav in the very right-wing Charedi world of Bnei Brak, Glazer blames personal tragedies on technology and not the abnormal psychology of the individual. I am beginning to find that the more I see a story like this, the more I just want to fold up my tent, and go home. No matter how much one wants to be Dan L’Kaf Zechus and judge people and their actions favorably, a story like this comes along which makes it extremely difficult to do so.
Posted on: September 14th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
With all the bacteria a mouth is known to contain - and the possibility that it might contain bacteria or viruses that are very harmful to a vulnerable 8-day-old child while an adult carrier might not even be aware of it - it is not exactly rocket science to know that putting your mouth on an open wound is not a good idea.
Posted on: September 13th, 2012Blogs → Emes Ve-Emunah
The Emes Ve-Emunah blog recently ran an internal poll as to readers religious leanings, here blog author Harry Maryles analyzes the results.
Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/haemtza/is-being-right-always-enough/2014/05/18/
Scan this QR code to visit this page online: | <urn:uuid:05ef4791-3b57-497d-8eb2-a3a8566afffc> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/haemtza/page/23/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719416.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00363-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957308 | 1,699 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Diosdado Macapagal Bridge
The Diosdado Macapagal Bridge is the longest bridge in Mindanao, which is 3 kilometers upstream of the old Magsaysay Bridge and provides an alternate route across the Agusan River to connect the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway (Surigao-Agusan-Davao road) and the Butuan City-Cagayan-Iligan road. The bridge is gaining popularity as the only cable stayed bridge with steel deck and single tower in Mindanao, and it has a total length of about 10.30 kilometers.
It was during the Presidency of Joseph estrada that the project was approved which was lobbied by the city government way back President Fidel Ramos' time to decongest the traffic of the more than 50 year old Magsaysay Bridge and create an alternate route. However, it was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who approved and implemented the project. The bridge was funded through a Special Yen Loan Package from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The project was started on May 6, 2004 and completed in May 2007.
The Diosdado Macapagal Bridge is envisioned to provide a more reliable infrastructure with greater design and safer traffic measures while the Butuan City Bypass Road will divert the traffic passing through the core of the city. The overall infrastructure project will enhance the urban transport needs for commerce and industries in the CARAGA region by sustaining the efficient flow of people, goods and services among the major growth centres in the eastern part of Mindanao.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated the newly-completed 2.2 –billion Diosdado Macapagal Bridge and the Butuan Bypass Road project on July 10, 2007, touted by the Butuanons as a "legacy that would last a hundred years and make life easier for the whole of the CARAGA Growth Area." | <urn:uuid:918e92f0-22bb-4566-b358-5d5ad6e96129> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://amazingbutuan.blogspot.com/2009/04/diosdado-macapagal-bridge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00428-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951462 | 410 | 1.914063 | 2 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq said Sunday reports President Saddam Hussein is trying to collect nuclear material and building up sites once targeted by U.N. weapons inspectors are part of a U.S. and British campaign of "lies and lies."
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, meeting with reporters in Baghdad, was asked about the head of a U.N. atomic weapons team saying Friday that satellite photos show new construction at several sites linked to Saddam's past nuclear efforts.
Ramadan was also asked about a U.S. intelligence official saying Saturday Iraq has recently stepped up attempts to import industrial equipment that could be used to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons.
"There is no such a thing," Ramadan said, accusing the United States and Britain of seeking an excuse to attack Iraq.
"They are telling lies and lies to make others believe them."
On Saturday, U.S. President George W. Bush, who is looking for a way to topple Saddam, said satellite images of the construction was ample evidence the Iraqi leader is developing weapons of mass destruction.
"I don't know what more evidence we need" to make the case for taking action against the Iraqi president, Bush said as he welcomed British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David for a weekend strategy session on Iraq.
Blair, returning to Britain Sunday, said America and Britain would rally "the broadest possible international support" for action to stop Saddam from maintaining biological and chemical weapons or acquiring nuclear arms.
Blair faces strong opposition to military action at home. Sunday, he told reporters some of the anti-war voices were asking "sensible questions" and could be convinced of the need to take action — possibly military — against Saddam.
Bush later this week is scheduled to address the United Nations, where he is expected to challenge the international community to take quick, tough action to disarm Saddam or the United States will be obligated to act on its own to remove Saddam.
In Europe and the Middle East, Iraq is being pressed to accept U.N. weapons inspectors in hopes of defusing the crisis. Sunday in Iraq, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter — who has been a sharp critic of U.S. policy on Iraq — joined those calls.
Iraq's cooperation on inspections would leave the United States "standing alone in regards to war threats on Iraq and this is the best way to prevent the war," said the American, who spoke to members of parliament and to journalists on his third trip to Iraq since he resigned from the U.N. inspection team in 1998.
As in the past, Ritter's trip was organized by the Iraqi government.
"The truth is Iraq is not a threat to its neighbors and it is not acting in a manner which threatens anyone outside its borders," Ritter said. "Military action against Iraq cannot be justified."
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell disputed Ritter's comments on Fox News Sunday, saying the remarks had came from "somebody who's not in the intelligence chain any longer."
"Why don't they [the Iraqis] say any time, any place, anywhere, bring them [the inspectors] in, everybody come in, we are clean?" Powell said. "The reason is, they're not clean. And we have to find out what they have and what we're going to do about it."
Other members of U.N. teams that investigated Iraq's weapons of mass destruction from 1991 to 1998 have told The Associated Press that Iraq probably possesses large stockpiles of nerve agents, mustard gas and anthrax. They add that while Baghdad does not have a nuclear bomb, it has the designs, equipment and expertise to build one quickly if it were able to get enough weapons-grade uranium or plutonium.
Many former inspectors say Iraq's arsenal poses little threat because Saddam has been deterred so far by fear of U.S. retaliation and apparently has been reluctant to share his weapons with terrorists.
Iraq, while denying it has banned weapons, has offered only to continue dialogue with the United Nations about the return of inspectors. It has not responded to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's demand that inspectors be allowed to return unconditionally as a first step to further talks.
"We want to maintain dialogue only with the United Nations without the pressuring of a certain country," said Ramadan, the vice president. "If the United States attacks Iraq not only Arabs but the whole world will oppose it, if they have one enemy today then there will be 10 more."
The inspectors left Iraq ahead of U.S.-British strikes in December 1998 and they have been barred from returning since then.
Sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that the country has surrendered nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. | <urn:uuid:d627ed26-a15e-457a-a5ff-07c33b24b0ff> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/09/08/iraq-denies-seeking-nuclear-weapons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280763.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00515-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971988 | 993 | 1.507813 | 2 |
President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s Position On Medicaid & Medicaid Expansion
Donald J. Trump’s healthcare reform outline states in Step #6 that the Federal Government should no longer provide financial support to the states to fund the Medicaid program. President-Elect Trump believes that there’s a lot of fraud, abuse and financial misuse happening in the Medicaid program today and that if the states were responsible for funding the program entirely, they would get that fraud and waste under control.
President-Elect Trump also anticipates that the number of people on Medicaid would decrease as the economy improves and people start earning more money and get better jobs and inevitably become ineligible for medicaid based on their higher earning. It is unknown how long he believes this would take before a large percentage of those on medicaid return to the workforce and obtain employer provided health coverage. It should be noted however that a large percentage of those receiving medicaid benefits are Americans actually working full time jobs, but who simply can not afford employer sponsored coverage.
How is Medicaid funded by the Federal Government presently?
The Medicaid program is funded by a number of different sources.
The first way that the Medicaid program is funded through the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP). This is a payment that the Federal Government allots to the state that depends on the amount of money that the state spends on the Medicaid program. At the bare minimum, the Federal Government will pay $1.00 for every dollar the state spends. For states made up of citizens with an overall negative growth rate in overall incomes in a given year, the Federal Government will give more money to the state under FMAP because it would mean that, hypothetically, more people in that state are being covered by Medicaid. If a state has a more positive growth rate in incomes in a given year, the Federal Government may not give more than the standard $1:$1 bare minimum ratio.
The second way that the Medicaid program is funded is through the Affordable Care Act. As previously explained, if a state voluntarily chose to expand the eligibility requirements for the Medicaid program, meaning that consumers who earn less than 133% of the Federal Poverty Level will be able to enroll in Medicaid coverage. If a state did expand the eligibility requirements they also received more funding from the Federal Government. Under the law, the Federal Government will pay for 100% of the costs associated with the now newly eligible Americans – those who make between 100% and 133% of the Federal Poverty Level. This full reimbursement is not indefinite and will slowly step down over the years starting in 2016 until 2020 when the Federal Government will only reimburse the states for 90% of the costs associated with the newly eligible Americans to the Medicaid system.
The third way that the Medicaid program is funded is by Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Payment. This is a payment made to hospitals that offer a lot of medical assistance to Medicaid and uninsured Americans to make up for the lack of or lower payment they receive for those services. This payment also ensures that there are hospitals that will continue to provide quality care to Medicaid recipients.
The final significant way that the Medicaid program is funded is not actually by the Federal Government, but rather by state funds that are allotted to miscellaneous projects and programs.
About Medicaid And The Affordable Care Act
Medicaid is a program administered and managed by the states to provide health insurance coverage to low income consumers. Before the passing of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the cutoff to receive coverage under Medicaid was approximately 100% of the Federal Poverty Level. Obamacare called for all states to expand Medicaid and allow people who made under 133% of the Federal Poverty Level to receive coverage. It also required Medicaid to expanded to all groups of low income Americans and not just to pregnant women, children, seniors, disabled people and some parents as was the standard prior to the law’s passing.
On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States released its opinion on National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebellius, which not only ruled that the individual mandate was Constitutional, but also that the law’s requirement that all states expand Medicaid was an overstep and fell beyond their powers. Accordingly, it was up to the states whether they wanted to expand the eligibility requirements of Medicaid and if they did, they would receive more money from the Federal Government to fund the program for those newly eligible Americans in addition to the other monies they already received from the Federal Government. There are a number of ways that the Federal Government presently funds the Medicaid program and those ways will be outlined in detail below after explaining Mr. Trump’s position on the matter. | <urn:uuid:088b9882-9d0d-483f-99ca-1cb5c8ce772e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://trumpcare.com/trumpcare-and-medicaid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00274-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960474 | 942 | 2.25 | 2 |
From acoustics so bad you wish earplugs were on the menu to clichéd decor (are Edison bulbs really still hip, you guys?), hackneyed—or just plain bad—restaurant design can leave a bad taste in a guest’s mouth. When it comes to dining out, the ambiance can be as important as the cuisine, and unpalatable design should never compromise the experience. We tapped award-winning Boston-based designer Taniya Nayak—who has lent her refined eye to hub hotspots like Lower Mills Tavern and starred on the Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible along with a number of HGTV shows—to school us on some of her go-to pro-tips for intelligent restaurant design.
Take a seat.
“One of the best tips I can offer is to sit in every seat [in the restaurant]. Sometimes this needs to be done mentally as you work off of your drawings. Be sure that every guest, in every seat, is looking at something nice!”
Bright lights, big problem
“Bright lights are for cafeterias. Ambient lighting is everything when it comes to a proper dining experience. Set the mood with lighting that is dimmable and adjust it accordingly throughout the day. Leave the fluorescent lights in the kitchen.”
Don’t hide the host.
“I often see a host stand set up in an area where they cannot see the guests—or the guests cannot see them—as they enter. A warm hello and welcome greeting is the guests’ very first impression of the place. This should never be overlooked or deemed as unimportant.”
It’s a hard knock life…
“Tile and wood look great together but they often send sound waves bouncing off the walls. Be sure to incorporate some type of soft seating (upholstered banquettes, bar stools or dining chairs), acoustical ceiling tiles, or even soft drapery to help absorb the noise. Plus, it looks great!”
Restaurant decor helps you stand out from the crowd. If you have 5 minutes, you can learn the ins and outs of restaurant interior design.Download The Guide
Read between the lines.
“If you’re designing a restaurant, don’t forget to read the menu or chat with the chef! The design [of the space] should always have a tie to the food that is being served. Let’s face it: eating sushi in a country kitchen could seem a little odd.”
Let history repeat itself.
“I always try to grab hold of a piece of history of that space or the area. Locals and tourists always seem to appreciate a good story. My husband and I just opened up Yellow Door Taqueria in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It used to be an iconic antique store for over 20 years—a favorite corner shop in the neighborhood. In coming up with the design concept, we wanted to hold on to the history by designing a taqueria that has the look and feel of an old antique shop. The place turned out great and, more importantly, the guests seem to really appreciate that we went in that direction.”
Don’t forget where you came from.
“Start out with a really strong concept board. Sometimes things shift and get sidetracked during the process because some fabrics are no longer available or the budget constraints require finding alternatives. It is always good to check back to the original intent.” | <urn:uuid:8a5ad037-33f3-4995-9282-7c7b09da1f0f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://upserve.com/restaurant-insider/hgtvs-taniya-nayak-shares-tips-picture-perfect-restaurant-design/?fbclid=IwAR2ickD1rfyT4Eu7QUIhp1hJ33fmlmeKYXKwF8NxnGrlt4SZKFo8EHtkr1s | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573118.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817213446-20220818003446-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.942136 | 732 | 1.617188 | 2 |
ATF file extension - GenePix Axon text file
What is atf file? How to open atf files?
File type specification:
The default software associated to atf file type:
Company or developer:
GenePix Pro is used to analyse microarrays, tissue arrays and cell arrays. GenePix Pro is the industry standard microarray image analysis software because of its unique combination of imaging and analysis tools, visualizations, automation capabilities, performance and ease of use.
List of software applications associated to the .atf file extension
Recommended software programs are sorted by OS platform (Windows, Mac OS X etc.) and possible program actions
that can be done with the file: like open atf file, edit atf file, convert atf file, view atf file, play atf file etc. (if exist software for corresponding action in File-Extensions.org's database).
Click on the tab below to simply browse between the application actions, to quickly get a list of recommended software, which is able to perform the specified software action, such as opening, editing or converting of the atf files.
- Open atf file
- Save atf file
- Edit atf file
- Create atf file
- Print atf file
- Others atf file | <urn:uuid:47e0ffef-69b2-43bd-9747-b333880ee2f2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.file-extensions.org/atf-file-extension-genepix-axon-text-file | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279224.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00478-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.86187 | 271 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I've just installed Arch Linux on a laptop with a removable CD-RW/DVD drive. This is recognized as /dev/hdb in dmesg. This system uses DevFS, not udev. I load ide-scsi in the MODULES line of rc.conf and have added a 'hdb=ide-scsi' line to grub's menu.lst.
What is mysterious to me is that while I have /dev/floppy/0 and /dev/cdrom, I can't seem to find /dev/dvd -- and when I set up a link to /dev/sr0, this link disappears on reboot.
Can anyone help me understand what I'm doing wrong here.
I've been able to figure out what to do to get /dev/dvd and /dev/dvdr:
(a) include 'ide-scsi' in MODULES in /etc/rc.conf
(b) make changes to /etc/devfsd.conf
# Use this to create /dev/dvd, /dev/dvdr
REGISTER ^sr0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL mksymlink $devname dvd
REGISTER ^sr0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL mksymlink $devname dvdr
UNREGISTER ^sr0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL unlink dvd
UNREGISTER ^sr0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL unlink dvdr | <urn:uuid:5d708655-30eb-4df0-a3d2-28dc234e9c26> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=6693 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719416.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00365-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.731919 | 321 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This is the first in a series of posts about each of the teams that will be attending SCI 2022 and their projects. This one was submitted by Matt Ruen.
Concerns about “predatory” or questionable journals have led many academics to seek out simple checklists of safe or unsafe journals, which reflect a real need among researchers to quickly make sense of an ever-increasing range of publication options. But the “safe/unsafe” approach obscures the contextual and constructed nature of authority in information, instead valuing the prestige of a small group of commercial entities. Existing lists tend to hold open access journals to different standards than subscription based journals, and view new or smaller publications more critically than large commercial publishers. In turn, these lists and discussions often overlook exploitative or problematic aspects of traditional subscription publishing. They also replicate biases against certain forms of research, such as those from non-anglophone countries who have been historically and intentionally excluded from the prestige economy of scholarly conversation. We want to reckon with these issues through a transparent evaluation process that seeks to address both the labor of evaluation and the bias inherent in the existing system.
Our group came together to try to address this problem with Reviews: the Journal of Journal Reviews (RJJR), a scholarly publication that will invite peer-reviewed evaluations of journals, both open and paywalled, from across the world. Our vision is to create a place for authors to find and share useful information about unfamiliar journals in a format that emphasizes the subjective, nuanced nature of this challenge. Our goal is to not create another set of “safe” or “unsafe” journals, but to provide authors with enough information in an easily digestible format to allow them to make their own decisions based on their needs. As RJJR publishes reviews, authors interested in a potential journal could look to RJJR for evaluations already completed. Even when a particular journal has not been reviewed, the collection of reviews can demonstrate ways to carry out a thoughtful, nuanced, subjective analysis. We conceive of this as an iterative process which allows for open feedback and updates. At the same time, it gives librarians and others who regularly perform this often unseen work a peer-reviewed means of recognition of their labor and creates efficiencies for other librarians who need to investigate the same journal.
Biases are not eliminated in this style of review, but instead we ask each reviewer to provide justifications and context for their judgments. We anticipate that there will be room for a conversation, an evolution of journal practices, and the reporting of those practices as they are critically evaluated in a transparent way. Academic publishing is not a stagnant activity, nor should our evaluation mechanisms be.
RJJR rests on a rubric or a model of processes and tools for authors to use when evaluating a journal. A rubric offers a method of evaluation, rather than a checklist of binaries or a simple watchlist of outlets to avoid, and we are providing careful guidance to point at critical questions, rather than expected answers. In line with some of the facets of an ethics of care, we want evaluations to be relational and situated, and to reflect a sense of collective responsibility for our scholarly landscape. The rubric is supported by our values, including: taking a critical approach to prestige, supporting labor not traditionally seen as scholarly work, ensuring an environment inclusive of diverse voices, being transparent about the process, acknowledging nuance in journal evaluation, and accepting that change happens. RJJR represents a much-needed reckoning: with the above values, with the longstanding problem of good/bad lists in scholarly journal evaluation, and with the uncredited intellectual labor of scholarly communication professionals.
During Triangle SCI, we aim to refine and finalize the core processes and documentation for RJJR.
We anticipate the following specific outcomes:
- a finalized rubric and guide for authors to submit reviews to RJJR
- instructions for peer evaluation of submitted reviews
- finalized editorial and publication workflows
- learn from and collaborate with the institute’s other participants to improve equity across the project
Our stretch goals include:
- a ready-for-submissions RJJR journal site
- a process for targeted recruitment of potential peer evaluators and contributors
- strategies to diversify representation in our team/process
Joshua Neds-Fox is Coordinator for Digital Publishing at the Wayne State University Libraries in Detroit, Michigan. Joshua’s work at Wayne State over the past 15 years has encompassed digital open access publishing, copyright and scholarly communications, and consultation with the Wayne State community on the very questions that RJJR seeks to address. He serves on the editorial board of the Library Publishing Curriculum and is leading the team developing a revision of the Library Publishing Coalition’s Ethical Framework for Library Publishing. His deep background with open access publishing gives him a familiar perspective on debates about actual and alleged “predatory” publishing and the mechanisms for evaluating appropriate outlets for scholarship. Joshua identifies as a white cisgendered man.
Matt Ruen is the Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator for the Grand Valley State University Libraries. As a scholarly communication librarian, his responsibilities include advocacy and education on open access publishing as well as evaluating journals for the library’s open access publishing fund. Matt supports this project with his advocacy experience as well as a strong drive to understand the context of problems. He has long been irritated (and intrigued) by the way scholarly conversations about journal watchlists and “predatory publishing” omit or ignore the way that quality – authority – is constructed and contextual. This frustration, in the form of a Twitter thread, kicked off the group’s collaboration on Reviews: the Journal of Journal Reviews. Matt identifies as a white cisgendered man.
Teresa Schultz is the Social Sciences Librarian at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she leads scholarly communications efforts. This includes educating faculty and students about the complexities of scholarly journals and deciding where to publish, experience which she brings to her role in the project. She is researching how science journalists view and think about the concept of “predatory” publishers. She identifies as a white cisgendered woman.
Brianne Selman is the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Librarian at the University of Winnipeg, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where she leads Research Support for faculty and students interested in publishing. She also does frequent scholarly journal landscape evaluations, and advises faculty on the intricacies of the scholarly publishing ecosystem, as well as author’s rights in copyright and other arenas. She does research on research, particularly looking at the cultural economics behind concentration in ogopolistic markets, and public infrastructure projects that look for transparent alternatives based in communities of care. The research she does on scholarly publishing and the profit motives behind it, as well as her practical experience in conducting thoughtful, needs-based scholarly journal evaluations, will help to shape the parameters of this project. Brianne is a white settler-Canadian, and is cisgender.
Leila Sterman is an Associate Professor and Scholarly Communication project lead at Montana State University where she runs an institutional repository, hosts multiple journals on OJS, and advises authors at her institution on journal selection. Her previous work on prestige in publishing and communication across disciplines inform her practical work developing this platform and her desire to create a journal that encourages the critical evaluation of resources. She identifies as a white cisgendered woman.
Stephanie Towery is the Copyright Officer at the University Libraries at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She adds expertise on copyright, plagiarism, and related topics to this team. Stephanie also teaches Legal Information Resources at the Graduate School of Information at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. Stephanie has a BFA in Acting, a JD, and an MLIS all from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas but is not currently practicing. Stephanie identifies as a white cisgendered woman. | <urn:uuid:2313b2fc-63b8-4a06-a800-c3f05957a038> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://trianglesci.org/2022/07/18/building-a-contextual-alternative-to-scholarly-journal-un-safelists/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572221.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816060335-20220816090335-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.935304 | 1,642 | 1.726563 | 2 |
India Friday unveiled a 40 billion rupee ($800 million) bailout package for cash-strapped flag carrier as part of the federal government’s budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. Although the cash infusion will provide relief to the state-run carrier, which has been struggling with high fuel prices and a large debt load, the package is smaller than the 55 billion rupees that had been expected.
Air India has failed to turn a profit since its merger with state-owned domestic operator Indian Airlines in 2007, and has amassed losses of about 181 billion rupees in the three years ended March 31, 2010.
The government has infused 32 billion rupees in equity in the ailing carrier in recent years to keep the carrier operating.
In its previous budget (2011-12), the government allocated 12 billion rupees for the flag carrier.
Separately, the new budget includes 2.8 billion rupees for the Airports Authority of India. About 805 million rupees of that sum has been earmarked for airport development in the northeastern states. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation was allocated 600 million rupees to pursue its plans. | <urn:uuid:1b8dd57e-802d-42f1-97c4-59b69a3b6f6f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://aviationweek.com/print/commercialregiontabs-true/india-pump-800-million-ailing-air-india | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00322-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960028 | 233 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Only a fortnight remains before world leaders will head to Paris for the most important climate change negotiations in several years. These talks will hopefully see the agreement of a new global deal on climate change and will be an opportunity, after the appalling events in the French capital at the weekend, to demonstrate continued support for multilateral cooperation to tackle global problems.
As UK negotiators, our Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd, and perhaps even Prime Minister David Cameron prepare to head to Paris, I hope they'll be taking with them a copy of the new report the RSPB is launching today.
The Nature of Climate Change brings together some of the most compelling scientific evidence on the effects climate change is already having on Europe's wildlife.
You can have a read of the evidence and summary reports here.
The evidence is very clear: climate change is already affecting wildlife, and the impacts are only going to intensify over the course of this century, resulting in a much more challenging situation for nature.
We're also today releasing the results of new polling by ComRes, showing that the risk to the natural world is the UK public's number one concern about climate change. 79% of us are concerned about the effect on wildlife, higher than any other impact of climate change.
Our report is an update of one we produced (here) five years ago when we posed twenty tough questions and provided twenty rough answers. Since then there has been a huge increase in the number of studies about the impacts of climate change on wildlife and the evidence of changes happening now has grown: from extreme weather events to wildlife being forced uphill or northwards, the effects on our natural world are clear and they are already evident.
There are some instances where it looks like wildlife might benefit. Climate change may result in exciting new colonists for the UK - birds like black-winged stilts and cattle egrets attempting to breed here. But across Europe as a whole in the coming decades, the picture is very worrying indeed.
One third of Europe's bumblebees could lose up to 80% of their range by 2100.
Kittiwakes, found at locations like the RSPB's Bempton Cliffs reserve, have been affected. The 70% decline they have suffered in the UK has been linked to climate change.
Thanks to heathland restoration and management, the Dartford warbler has managed to extend its breeding range much further through England in recent decades. But at the southern edge of its range in Iberia, losses in coming years due to climate change are likely to far outweigh those gains.
Maps showing how the climate range of Dartford warbler changes under of a mid-range warming scenario (3 degrees C above pre-industrial averages). The one at the top is today, the one below is what may happen if we fail to prevent global temperature rises (taken the Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds)
The report also shows that nature is one of our best allies in helping both wildlife and people to cope with climate change. Restoring peatlands, for example, boosts cranefly numbers and in turn helps struggling golden plovers; it locks away carbon in the soil; and it can even help to improve the quality of public water supply.
As world leaders head to Paris, I hope that the risks to our natural world will be front and centre of their minds as another key reason to negotiate an ambitious deal to limit climate change to no more than two degrees. And if you want to remind them of this, please do book 29 November in your diaries for the upcoming climate march in cities across the UK (here).
The report has demonstrated another key finding too: that protected areas are already playing a critical role in helping wildlife to cope with the effects of climate change, and will continue to do so.
Not only do we need to protect more space on land and at sea for nature. We also need to make sure the laws that underpin our protected areas are safeguarded. As part of the EU's Fitness Check we are calling for no change to be made that could jeopardise the Birds and Habitats Directives, our most important nature laws.
In just a week or two, BirdLife International, the international partnership of which the RSPB is a member, will be publishing their own report on the impacts of climate change on birds around the world. This report, coming just days after ours, will add to the growing picture of severe risk to the natural world if we do not act quickly and decisively to limit climate change and to adapt to the impacts we can't avoid.
I'll offer more on the progress and outcomes of the UN climate change talks on my blog in coming weeks, but for now I encourage you to read our new report.
Martin, what worries me is whether we'll be providing the habitat for species as they move north. The massacre of migrants is a clear, emotional issue and I remember the campaigns for Turtle Doves way back in my youth - yet a bird that should be benefitting from a warming climate is on the way out in Britain and after braving the hail of lead it must be a bit of a let down for the doves that make it here. Similarly, Nuthatch are moving north as you might expect, doubly benefitting from our ageing woodlands - but Nightingale which you'd expect to be expanding are doing the exact opposite, retreating in the face of darker, more mature unmanaged woods. Even RSPB's excellent, intensive coppice management in places like Highnam in Gloucestershire is only just holding them, no doubt as surrounding population and productivity declines as habitat deteriorates. We can do something about some of these problems and CC only seems to heighten the urgency as our birds are assailed from all sides.
Thanks Ian - probably simplest if I refer you to the International Panel on Climate Change report that was published in 2013 and which I commented on at the time here www.rspb.org.uk/.../together-we-can-avoid-dangerous-climate-change.aspx
You'll see a para in this where I say...We are more certain than ever that climate change is due mainly to human activities – The IPCC conclude that the “warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia.” The global average temperature has risen by 0.85oC between 1880. Scientists are 95-100% certain that human activity have been the dominant cause of this warming. That’s about as sure scientists are that smoking causes lung cancer.
I must say I've always been very very doubtful about a man made climate change. There is climate change happening, but in my opinion I doubt that it's man made.
We spend 90% of net income on conservation, public education and advocacy
The RSPB is a member of BirdLife International. Find out more about the partnership
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Allow us to personalise your experience | <urn:uuid:96bf0091-b33c-4894-ba6a-6946c6741f47> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/martinharper/posts/climate-change-impacts-on-wildlife | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.953871 | 1,512 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Tecfidera a 'welcome addition' for patients battling the neurological disease, one expert said
THURSDAY, March 28, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug called Tecfidera has been approved to treat adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The approval is based on the results of two clinical trials showing that patients who took Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) capsules had fewer MS relapses than those who took an inactive placebo. One of the trials also showed that a worsening of MS-related disability occurred less often in patients who took the drug than in those who took the placebo.
"Tecfidera will be a welcome addition to the growing list of agents that alter the course of multiple sclerosis," said one expert, Dr. Fred Lublin, director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
"Based on the clinical trial data available, this new agent has very impressive efficacy data and a good safety profile," he added.
The FDA said that Tecfidera may lower levels of white blood cells, which help protect the body from infection. Lower levels of white blood cells may increase the risk of infection, but no significant increase in infections occurred in patients taking the drug.
Before starting treatment with Tecfidera, and each year after, doctors should check patients' white blood cell counts, the FDA advised.
Flushing (warmth and redness), nausea, vomiting and diarrhea were the most common side effects in patients taking the drug, especially at the start of treatment with Tecfidera, which is made by Biogen Idec in Massachusetts.
"No drug provides a cure for multiple sclerosis, so it is important to have a variety of treatment options available for patients," Dr. Russell Katz, director of the division of neurology products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release.
"Multiple sclerosis can impair movement, sensation and thinking, and have a profound impact on a person's quality of life," he added.
MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that disrupts communication between the brain and other parts of the body, resulting in problems such as muscle weakness and difficulty with coordination and balance.
For most MS patients, periods of worsening disability (relapses) are initially followed by recovery periods (remissions). Over time, these recovery periods may be incomplete, resulting in a progressive increase in disability.
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about multiple sclerosis (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/multiple_sclerosis/multiple_sclerosis.htm ).
SOURCES: Fred Lublin, M.D., director, Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City; U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, March 27, 2013 | <urn:uuid:a20a366f-b723-422a-8a94-1868f72d3fd8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://doctors-hospital.net/hl/?/news/NRCN674870/FDA-Approves-New-Multiple-Sclerosis-Drug&com.dotmarketing.htmlpage.language=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285289.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00150-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94454 | 629 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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