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The house sits on a piece of land Medina bought for $1,500 almost two decades ago, eventually building a home there alongside her ex-husband.
The number of such denied applications — 335,748 out of 1.1 million claims — highlights a history of illegal construction and poor housing development on the island, mainly in poorer communities. Some neighborhoods across the island established themselves in the aftermath of past hurricanes.
Applicants have a chance to appeal any FEMA decision and there are other forms of aid available. But Puerto Ricans who live in communities that were informally built and without permits on government or privately owned lands continue to have a hard time navigating FEMA’s hurdles.
PARIS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - French and British fisherman have reached an agreement to end a dispute over scallop fishing in the English Channel, a French Agriculture Ministry official said on Monday.
The row, which arose as Britain negotiates its exit from the European Union, centred on the size of the boats that are allowed to fish in the Baie de Seine where scallops can be found in large quantities.
French fishermen had accused the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine during the summer, when French boats are banned from doing so because of French regulations aimed at protecting shellfish stocks.
The clashes had seen some French and British fisherman throw rocks and other projectiles at each other. Earlier this month, France warned it would deploy the navy if necessary in what has been dubbed the “scallop wars”.
“A deal has been reached and will be passed on to authorities in the two countries to be finalised,” the French official said, giving no details.
British fisheries minister George Eustice welcomed what he said was a “pragmatic” outcome.
“This means our over-15-metre fleet will get the days at sea it wanted, while allowing the under-15-metre fleet to continue fishing in the area,” he said in a written statement.
Abstract: Participation in online support groups leads to improved health. While lurkers comprise the majority of online support group participants, the literature on how lurkers benefit from viewing others’ posts and comments is sparse. This study focused on two key features of online support groups, self-disclosure and similarity, and tested their effects on influencing viewers’ perceived similarity with the poster. In addition, it tested whether self-disclosure and similarity had indirect effects on behavior intention through three theoretical mediators. We conducted a 2 (similar vs. dissimilar) by 3 (factual vs. cognitive vs. emotional self-disclosure) between-subject online experiment involving 280 adult overweight participants who used weight-control related online support groups in the past month. Findings show similarity of health status led to increased level of perceived similarity and moderated the effects of self-disclosure. When viewers shared similar health status with the poster, both cognitive and emotional self-disclosure increased perceived similarity in comparison to factual disclosure. Path analyses show perceived similarity increased diet intention directly, and through increasing identification and perceived support availability as well. Contributions to theories on computer-mediated communication and implications to design effective online support groups are discussed.
With tick research and increasing prevalence becoming a media (especially NPR) topic, I decided to come up with a short list of Q&A. Here are some common questions I have received after beginning my research from some of my friends!
And I’ve included some images I have taken in the field!
What exactly is a tick?
A tick is basically a living transmitter of disease between humans and animals. The Lonestar tick is especially a point of interest for me as they serve as a host for E. chaffenesis, a bacterium with harmful effects but receives significantly less media coverage than Lyme disease.
What do I do if I’ve been bitten by a tick?
The best method for tick removal and disposal would be to carefully remove them with tweezers and submerge them in rubbing alcohol or ethanol to drown them. Ticks are quite hardy and can survive being submerged in water for a period of several days. If you have been bitten by a tick, keep the tick and send it to a lab for testing if you have symptoms of lyme or discomfort.
What is a tick’s life cycle?
A Lonestar tick goes through four steps before it reaches adulthood. It starts off as an egg, and proceeds through larval and nymphal stages to become an adult. Consequently, a tick must consume a blood meal to move forward into the next phase of its lifecycle. Therefore, white tail deer populations should theoretically be very important in the study of ticks. Originally, I hypothesized that areas with a higher count of deer poop would correlate positively with areas high in tick count as deer poop would confirm deer prevalence, and ticks would die off before reaching nymphal and adult stages if they did not receive a blood meal.
What is tick field research like?
Much like any field research that is centered around a living organism, our research times and pace revolve around and fluctuate based on conditions affecting our subject, the tick. On days with heavily rainfall, we start later on in the day to give the ground a bit of time to dry out before we drag for ticks. Research days depend heavily on weather conditions-lasting as long as 10 hours or as short as 3.
How does your procedure work?
My research procedure drew from a few techniques that were shared with me by Professor Leu. I used a GPS to randomly select points on public land and immediately recorded initial temperature and humidity of the air and ground of the site. These sites were 30 meter long transects, and I collected ticks with a 1m2 white canvas attached to a 1.5 m PVP pipe. I would flip the canvas every 3 meter and record and collect any ticks present. Finally, I would put the ticks in ethanol solutions, and head back to campus. My weather data was obtained from airport data listed at weather underground. As an additional safety feature, I wore field lab clothing and sprayed everything using permethrin.
This sounds so cool! How should I get involved in research?
Reach out to professors that research topics that you have an interest in! Although, I’ve only been part of the WM tribe for one year, I’ve realized that faulty as well as TA’s are often very happy to speak with students about their research interests. Take some classes, express interest, and ask to join a lab!
I think it’s super cool that you’re doing field research! This post was very informative and brought back a lot of memories from Bio 221 Lab. How did you randomly select the points using a GPS? What do you mean exactly by “public land?” I remember during lab we were assigned specific areas in the college woods, but I am interested to see where the areas you selected were. Did you notice any major differences between these areas and the areas we examined during bio lab? I’m excited to keep up with the rest of your posts!
Thank you so much! I’m touched. I also took intro bio, and the funny thing is ACER helped come up with the concept for that lab. Part of the reason why the lab component was so unsuccessful during the school year (I don’t think we found any ticks in my class) was that ticks are predominantly active in the months of June, July, and August. We have about 187 random points in the Virginia peninsula that we’ve sampled before. They were chosen using a program that I don’t recall the name of, but we were careful to include different land coverage types (such as forest, swamp, marsh, etc). The ground humidity and temperature at these sites is different from the college woods for sure! All these points are located on land owned by local or central governments. It’s much easier than obtaining permission to sample on private land, but we still needed to obtain permits, call in advance, and drive a specifically labeled lab truck.
Can taxing the rich reduce inequality? You bet it can!
A stand-alone increase in the top tax bracket would be bad tax policy, but it would meaningfully increase the degree to which the tax system reduces economic inequality. It would have this effect even though it would fall on just ½ of 1 percent of all taxpayers and barely half of their income.
Tax policy significantly reduces inequality. But transfer payments and other spending reduce it far more. In combination, taxes and public spending materially offset the inequality generated by market income.
The revenue from a well-crafted increase in taxes on upper-income Americans, dedicated to a prudent expansions of public spending, would go far to counter the powerful forces that have made income inequality more extreme in the United States than in any other major developed economy.
The quotation is from Peter R. Orszag, “Education and Taxes Can’t Reduce Inequality,” Bloomberg View, September 28, 2015 (at http://bv.ms/1KPJXtx). The two papers are William G. Gale, Melissa S. Kearney, and Peter R. Orszag, “Would a significant increase in the top income tax rate substantially alter income inequality?” September 28, 2015 (at http://brook.gs/1KK40IX) and “Raising the top tax rate would not do much to reduce overall income inequality–additional observations,” October 12, 2015 (at http://brook.gs/1WfXR2G).
Ceremony held to mark anniversary of worst massacre in Europe since World War II.
"Although we were desperately searching for his remains for years, it was so hard to receive a telephone call telling us that my father had been identified," Nurveta Guster, a 27-year-old technician, said.
"I saw him for the last time at our house in Srebrenica. He left with other men through the woods trying to escape.
"It is just like it is happening now, I'm going through it again," said Guster, whose uncle and an 18-year-old nephew were also buried during Saturday's ceremony.
Every year, more bodies are found, identified through DNA analysis and reburied.
Hatidza Mehmedovic told the AFP news agency that she was still searching for her son's remains.
"Victims' families are still suffering as mass graves are still hidden," she said.
Although the ceremony attracted thousands of people, the atrocity is not officially commemorated in Bosnia, which is divided between two political entities, one of which, Republika Srpska, is dominated by Serbs.
On Wednesday, ethnic Serb deputies in the Bosnian parliament blocked a move to declare July 11 the Srebrenica genocide remembrance day.
The Bosnian war in the early 1990s took place against the background of instability across the former Yugoslavia.
No senior Serb officials were present at Saturday's event, but Boris Tadic, the president of neighbouring Serbia, said his government had an obligation to punish those responsible and was doing all it could to track down Ratko Mladic, the Serb military chief.
Tadic said all innocent victims must be respected "in order to create a better future for the Balkans, free of the war past".
Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader who is also accused of ordering the violence, was detained last year and is awaiting trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
The family Circle, Inc. a subsidiary of COWlèS Maga ines and Broadcasting, Inc. ..'<' 'IØ: :t r ' if " f .... '. :tW"' ' . , t _ 1 , J . ' it " .\ ." :t .,\ J ' , '. '/.øA '>'. ; ,.Z . , .3í r ., ., / '''j' '1'4,. It d 1;'i W' 1 j ,I' f., r , ' ........ ,/' , '" J' " I was a failure in the advertising business until I memorized this simple chart: 100% service editorial program started by Family Circle in 1961. Result? 50% increase in circulation since 1961- from 5,000,000 to 7,500,000. Largest circulation increase of any woman's magazine! 100% single-copy circulation. 7,500,000 single copies a month. Largest "newsstand" sales of any magazine in the world! 70% gain in advertising revelJue for the first five months of 1965 over 1961. 41% ahead-April issue up 41 % in advertising revenue, 31 % in advertising pages over April 1964. 42% ahead-May issue up 42% in advertising revenue, 36 % in advertising pages over May 1964. (New Record: Biggest ad volume of any Family Circle issue ever!) A working knowledge of facts and figures like your boss and help you get ahead in advertising! these has already helped thousands in their adver- Just memorize our simple chart at home in your tising careers. Now you, too, can use these valuable spare time, And keep it in mind next time you want facts and figures to amaze your friends, astound to reach homemakers, It could change your whole life. Family Circle. A magazine only a homemaker could love. Now, master these vital circulation figures: McCall's 8,400,000; Family Circle 7,500,000 ; Ladies' Home Journal 6,500,000; Good Housekeeping 5,250,000.
"Those were the days," said Alexander, who used to work in the forestry business.
"It used to get pretty boring," says Sergei, who cares for his mother, 86, the village’s oldest resident. "I'd be going to bed at 8pm, tossing and turning."
"We grow our own food," adds Sergei, speaking in a room with traditional religious icons hanging on the wall. "Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers. What else do we need?"
Alexey Jakushin and his family live in Sankin.
An estimated 90 percent of Sverdlovsk region's population of 4.5 million live in its cities. Life in remote rural areas means making the best of things.
The village Muratkovo has no school so children travel to a neighbouring village.
It takes about eight hours to travel the full 150 km of the line. En route is the town of Sankin, population 600, where Kalach residents get their post delivered and, for some, collect their state pensions once a month. Clothes sellers arrive in town that day.
Railway tracks are covered in snow near Sankin.
A woman, who lives in the village Muratkovo, speaks to the train driver who is taking her daughter to school in Sankin.
An engine driver is seen in a train in the village of Ugolnaya.
Alexander Kuznetsov, 53, drives a train in the village of Strokinka.
People ride inside a train from Ugolnaya to Elnichnaya. A ticket costs about $3. The trip, with a transfer in the village Sankin, takes eight hours.
A man sleeps inside a train travelling to Sankin.
Local resident Grandma Shura carries buckets of water home. With no tapped water, Sankin's residents fetch water from a well.
Local resident Lyudmila is seen in a goat barn at her house in the village of Kalach.
Local resident Alexander poses with a gun in his house in Kalach.
A railway manager sits in her office in Elnichaya.
An engine driver's assistant walks past diesel locomotives at a train depot in Alapayevsk.
An engine driver’s assistant attaches a carriage to a TU4 Soviet diesel locomotive in Sankin.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should reject a privacy group's push to extend the E.U.'s controversial right to be forgotten rules to the U.S. because such regulations would have a "sweeping" negative effect on many U.S. companies, a trade group said.
Identity protection service LifeLock said Tuesday it is prepared to go to court after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a fresh lawsuit alleging the company has failed to protect its users' data and deceptively advertises its services.
Three officials at the top of the Obama administration urged members of Congress this week to approve a bill that would authorize the United States to take greater military action against the Islamic State.
Eight months after the White House authorized the Pentagon to begin a limited military campaign against the extremist group, a hearing on Wednesday made clear that Congress’ take on the matter remains anything but unanimous.
At the meeting of the bi-partisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, three witnesses appearing on behalf of the administration – US Secretary of State John Kerry, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter – faced questions from a divided group of lawmakers who seem unwavering for now with regards to agreeing on the president’s proposal for a new Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) to expand the war against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL).
Secretary of State John Kerry told the panel that while he believes the administration is authorized to attack ISIS in accordance with past AUMFs, a bipartisan agreement on a new plan is imperative – not just for defeating the group, but also for sending a message.
“Approval of this resolution would encourage our friends and partners in the Middle East; it would further energize the members and prospective members of the global coalition we have assembled to oppose ISIL; and it would constitute a richly deserved vote of confidence in the men and women of our armed forces. Your unity would also send an unmistakable message to the leaders of ISIL – who must understand that they cannot divide us; they cannot intimidate us; and they have no hope of defeating us,” Kerry testified.
An American-led military campaign against the Islamic State started last summer, and the 62-nation coalition created to degrade and destroy the group has conducted nearly 3,000 airstrikes since the start of the operation. The White House says all anti-ISIS activities waged so far by the United States have been done so lawfully under the AUMF passed by Congress in 2001, following 9/11. However, President Obama has asked lawmakers to approve a new bill that focuses more narrowly on America’s ever-emerging enemy.
While both Democrats and Republicans on the committee agreed with the witnesses that the Islamic State needs to be eliminated, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have taken issue with the president’s plan.
Among causes of concern for the GOP – evidenced by Wednesday’s hearing, at least – are a three-year time limit on anti-ISIS activities, as proposed by the White House, and any assistance that may be offered to neighboring Iran on account of approving a war powers act absent of geographical restrictions.
Democrats, meanwhile, largely seem nervous that authorizing a new AUMF that isn't precisely defined will once again place the US in a situation similar to that which occurred in Iraq, where the use of force lingered on for more than a decade after the 2001 bill was signed.
Carter, whose tenure as secretary of the Defense Dept. began only this year, told the committee that he agrees the proposal provides both “the authority and flexibility needed to prevail in this campaign” by taking into account “a full range of likely military scenarios” without opening the door for a decade-long operation as witnessed with the Iraq war.
Gen. Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, acknowledged that America’s efforts in the anti-ISIS campaign needn’t necessarily outshine those of its coalition partners, adding that “US forces involved should principally be enabling, and not necessarily leading” the campaign.
“As far as declaring victory against ISIL, that’s not for us to declare,” Dempsey said later on during the hearing.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), the committee’s chair, acknowledged at the start of the hearing that he doesn't know of a single Democrat in Congress who favors the White House’s proposal. At the same time, however, that party’s ranking member – Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) – said Wednesday that it is imperative for Congress to come to an agreement and authorize a plan of action. Meanwhile, the US continues to wage airstrikes which are absent of any approval from Washington.
Sen. Bob Corker: There is not ONE Dem vote for Obama's AUMF he sent to Capitol Hill, nor is Obama putting effort into getting votes for it.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), however, said the US is responsible for roughly 80 percent of the 2,800 or so airstrikes waged against the Islamic State since August. He also warned that the ramping-up of operations would surely involve a starring role for America.
Regardless, the Pentagon chief said that accomplishing any defeat will not depend on the strength with which the US and coalition partners strike the group militarily, but on whether or not the extremists’ ideology can be rejected.
The Dept. of Defense is taking direct action against ISIS in the form of airstrikes and building up the ability of Iraq’s security forces and tribal leaders to take on the extremists, Dempsey said, “but the ideology has to be defeated by those in the region” for the war to be won.
Obama has said he does not wish to have US ground troops battling ISIS in Iraq or Syria, and some critics have responded by stating that restrictions would limit the Pentagon’s ability to diminish the group. Nevertheless, the administration’s top military brass say the proposed AUMF is flexible enough to ensure the US is given adequate means to act. At one point on Wednesday, Carter said the president’s proposal strikes a balance by imposing restrictions but at the same time allowing the US to anticipate a wide enough range of possible contingencies.
According to one lawmaker on the Senate panel, ultimately any agreement reached by Congress will have to be vague in order to make it to the president’s desk.
“We all recognize that we may have to endure some sort of ambiguity in the language...in exchange for a resolution that can pass with a bipartisan majority,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) acknowledged at one point during the hearing.
They are possibly Bollywood’s most low-profile lovebirds. But that doesn’t stop filmmakers from casting Genelia D’Souza and Riteish Deshmukh together. Now, the duo — who last shared screen space in Masti (2004) — will be back in Indra Kumar’s sequel, Masti 2.
Confirms producer Ashok Thakeria: “Yes, we are going ahead with the Masti sequel. And the cast will remain largely unchanged, including Riteish and Genelia.” Thakeria contends that they are still working on the script. “But we should start in about six months,” he says.
That’s not all. Apparently, Riteish and Genelia are also set to star in a yet-to-be-titled rom-com, produced by Tips and to be directed by newbie Mandeep Kumar. The film is set in north India. Apparently, the film will be shot in a start-to-finish schedule and releases in December. For the uninitiated, Riteish and Genelia made their debuts together in Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003).
Recent rumours talked about the couple’s public display of affection at a recent awards function in Toronto, leading to buzz that they plan to tie the knot in 2012. Riteish, who still maintains the classic ‘we’re just good friends’ line, wasn’t amused and blasted the media for being over-imaginative.
“It’s all rubbish. There’s no marriage happening,” says Riteish, who’s busy with a couple of other sequels including Housefull 2 and Kya Super Kool Hain Hum. Although Riteish and Genelia were always believed to be close, they surprisingly didn’t sign a film together after Masti, though the male star stated that since Genelia was his first co-star, she “would always be special”.
TORONTO – First Quantum Minerals is poised to fire up a giant copper project in Panama, thousands of miles from its beleaguered mines in Zambia. For bondholders, that’s a welcome distance.
The Canadian copper company is ramping up production at the Cobre Panama plant this year, even as a mining tax hike forces it to shed jobs and cut production at its Zambian facilities. With Panama slated to become a more prominent place of operations, bondholders should benefit as Panama’s stronger credit rating feeds into the debt’s prices, First Quantum president Clive Newall said in an interview.
Where First Quantum does significant business matters to bondholders who closely follow risks associated with lending to companies operating in that particular country. Panama has an investment-grade rating, while Zambia is ranked more deeply into junk.
Any subsequent boost to the bonds from a shift would be a reprieve for First Quantum’s lenders, who’ve seen their notes post significant losses in recent months. The firm, and producers like it, also faced pressures as the copper price tumbled, amid trade tensions and fears of slowing global growth.
“Panama is investment grade and Zambia isn’t, so there should definitely be an improvement in the bonds as the ramp up of Cobre Panama progresses," Newall said in the interview in December.
First Quantum’s $1-billion of notes due March 2026 have posted about a 15% loss on a total return basis since their February 2018 sale, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 2.5% return handed to owners of broader Canadian corporate debt, the data show. The First Quantum bonds are now quoted at about 80 cents on the dollar.
Panama is rated BBB by S&P Global Ratings, two steps above investment grade, while Zambia is rated six notches into junk territory. The Zambian government passed legislation in December that increases royalties for copper, in a move the industry said could lead to more than 21 000 job losses and operators cutting $500 million in capital spending over the next three years.
For First Quantum, the royalty hike was behind its plan outlined in December to cut at least 2 500 jobs in the first quarter at both its Sentinel mine and its Kansanshi facility, which is Africa’s largest copper mine. In March, the firm was also hit with a $7.9-billion tax bill from the Zambian government, an assessment it refutes.