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Polish Economic Society Vademecum of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries Vademecum of Economic Societies in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe Contents 2 Introduction The processes of transformation that have been unfolding for over 20 years now have brought about deep changes in the political, economic and social life of Central and Eastern European countries. While all of them are building market economies, each is doing it in a slightly different way from the others. This is documented by the conditions speciﬁ c to particular countries, their intellectual and capital resources, possibilities of tapping European Union funds, ability to attract foreign investment, etc. Due to the above, changes in the various countries are proceeding at different rates and progress in particular ﬁ elds varies. An important role in this transformation is, or at least should be, played by the economists and their intellectual potential. The change of the political andeconomic system posed a tremendous challenge to the economists in our countries. The beginning of the transformation turned out to be particularly difﬁ cult. We were forced to take a crash course in many areas of economic education in which we lagged behind. Schools of economics introduced new curricula based on the experiences of Western countries. An increasing number of business practitioners have been educated along these lines. The development of market economies in Central and Eastern European countries has placed economists in a special position. They ought to be in the vanguard of the ongoing changes. Furthermore, they should be able to inﬂ uence the real economic processes, which is largely dependent on the consolidation of the economic circles. This is a factor that affects their position in society, their opinion-shaping role, their ability to exert pressure on policy-makers, etc. One of the ways leading to such a consolidation is through economic organizations. However, the situation in this respect differs between countries. In some Central and Eastern European countries such organizations practically do not exist. This is especially visible in the international arena, where our economists do not have a major presence. For example, they rarely participate in the congresses held by the European Economic Association or the International Economic Association. This in particular concerns young economists, who do not take part in such international events due to a lack of ﬁ nancial resources, and often also due to the absence of information on the subject. However, they could be helped to make their voices heard on the international forum by the economic organizations in their countries. The Polish Economic 3 Society has certain experiences in this respect. Taking the above into consideration, the National Board of the Polish Economic Society has launched an initiative to hold in Warsaw the Forum of the Presidents of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries. The Forum is meant to help establish contact between economic societies in this part of Europe, increase awareness of their activity and role in particular countries, etc. It is also designed to facilitate exchange of experience concerning all aspects of their activity. The main objective is to establish cooperation between our societies, deﬁ ne forms of such cooperation, undertake common initiatives, etc. The Polish Economic Society as the host of the Forum proposes the following forms of cooperation: 1. Organizing conferences, seminars, symposia, etc. with other economic organizations 2. Inviting representatives of other organizations to events (e.g. congresses, conventions, etc.) 3. Exchanging academic publications, mostly in the English language 4. Posting information about the planned events and cooperation opportunities on websites in English 5. Establishing direct cooperation between the branches of our societies, facilitating and fostering such cooperation 6. Exchanging delegations between our organizations 7. Assisting in obtaining internships, grants, PhD supervisors, etc. 8. Presenting jointly formulated positions at the international forum (e.g. to international organizations such as the IEA, EEA, etc.) 9. Undertaking international ventures, e.g. joint applications for grants from the European Union, conducting joint research, summer schools, etc. 10. Organizing a special forum for young economists (under 35) from Central and Eastern European countries. The forum might be held on a regular basis, e.g. biannually, each time in a different country. Such a forum might complement congresses of the European Economic Association, as those are attended by very few persons from this part of Europe. The forum would have an open formula, which means that there would be no restrictions concerning the subject matter of papers, which would be qualiﬁ ed for presentation based only on their academic merit, as decided by an international Program Board. Prospective participants would be incentivized by low registration fees and low accommodation costs (e.g. in dormitories). All papers would be published in book form. 4 Discussions during the Forum of the Presidents of Economic Associations should enrich and elaborate the ideas for cooperation between our societies presented above. Directions of development should be delineated and a work schedule drawn for the nearest feature. We postulate that the next forum be held next year, with a greater number of economic associations participating. It would summarize the results of our joint activities and set goals for the future. Such a forum may be combined with a conference, e.g. on the subject of "Positive and negative effects of the transformation." Every society could present 2 to 3 papers at the conference, which would be published in book form in the English language. Next year's forum (and perhaps yet another one the year after) would constitute the next stage in the preparations for the above-mentioned Forum of Young Economists. The Polish Economic Society has published this "Vademecum" to provide an information database facilitating cooperation between economic societies in Central and Eastern European countries. The publication contains detailed information concerning the societies participating in the Forum. Also some data about other societies have been included. The "Vademecum" should make it easier for our societies to come into mutual contact, both at the national level and at the level of their particular branches. To make it more accessible, the "Vademecum" is also going to be posted on our web site. The Polish Economic Society, being the initiator and host of the ﬁ rst forum, emphasizes its wholehearted support for the integration of our societies and will spare no effort to continue this process. We are convinced that this initiative is going to succeed, which is corroborated by the fact that the ﬁ rst Forum is now under way. At the same time, we would like to encourage all societies to play an active part in initiatives aiming at the integration of economists. President of the PES Elżbieta Mączyńska Vice-President of the PES Stanisław Rudolf Warsaw, September 2012 5 THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail The International Economic Association International Economic Association at the Instituto de Análisis Económico – CSIC Campus de la UAB ES 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Phone: +34/93 580 66 12 Fax: +34/93 580 52 14 E-mail: email@example.com Website http://www.iea-world.com/ Governing body President: Joseph Stiglitz, firstname.lastname@example.org President Elect: Andreu Mas-Colell, email@example.com Previous President: Masahiko Aoki, firstname.lastname@example.org Vice-President: Tim Besley, email@example.com Secretary General: Joan Esteban, firstname.lastname@example.org Treasurer: Lawrence Lau, email@example.com Number of members The IEA is a world federation of economic associations. Membership can be institutional only. All associations seeking to promote the scientiﬁ c advancement of economics can become members. This also includes associations focusing on speciﬁ c areas of economics. Currently, the IEA has a membership of 71 associations. We attach the highest priority to incorporating associations that have not joined us yet. 6 Main objectives of the organization The IEA aims to promote the advance of economic science and policy, especially on issues of global import, through enhanced contact and understanding among economists from different parts of the world. Its mission is accomplished through the organization of scientiﬁ c meetings, joint research programs and publications on issues of critical importance. To this end, the IEA holds a triennial world congress and smaller workshops and roundtables bringing together the world's leading economic experts that examine particularly pressing policy and analytical issues of global signiﬁ cance. For the years 2011–2017, the IEA has made a commitment to strengthen links among its diverse body of members in order to achieve a more integrated international community. Particular emphasis will be placed on enhancing the visibility of academic communities in those developing countries with weaker access to frontier research. To this end, the IEA will strive to make more widely available the forefront research produced in different world regions, organize summer schools and promote greater synergies and strengthened communication among its federation of diverse economic associations and their members. In addition, the association has re-launched the series of roundtables that sit together scholars, distinguished economists and policy makers. This series will cover topics such as sovereign debt restructuring, the global reserve system, nuclear energy and its aftermath, demography and aging populations, economics of natural disasters, etc. In addition, the IEA will strengthen the link between economic researchers from developed and developing countries by facilitating dissemination of the research of the latter among the more integrated scientiﬁ c community of the developed world. This action will be supplemented with the promotion of regional labor markets coordinating various national academic communities. We shall cooperate with the national associations to help to create markets for academic positions for Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and South East Asia, Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. 7 History of the organization The association was created in 1950 and the list of its presidents includes: Gottfried Haberler, Howard S. Ellis, Erik Lindahl, E.A.G. Robinson, G. Ugo Papi, Paul A. Samuelson, Erik Lundberg, Fritz Machlup, Edmond Malinvaud, Shigeto Tsuru, Victor L. Urquidi, Kenneth J. Arrow, Amartya Sen, Anthony B. Atkinson, Michael Bruno, Jacques Drèze, Robert M. Solow, Janos Kornai, Guillermo Calvo, Masahiko Aoki, and Joseph Stiglitz. Activities The IEA has a newsletter informing of our activities and will soon start a working paper series on speciﬁ c topics considered to be of particular strategic interest. The core activity of the IEA is its triennial world congress that brings together economists from all countries. Our last congresses were: Beijing 2011, Istanbul 2008, Marrakesh 2005, Lisbon 2002, Buenos Aires 1999. Another core activity is the organization of roundtables. IEA roundtables bring together leading economists from around the world to discuss important advances in economic science. The majority of our roundtables are linked to some major policy issues, and many of these deal with issues of global and/or regional importance, extending beyond the boundaries of a single country. We are committed to a diversity of participation, including economists from different regions of the world. We have been particularly successful in identifying some of the rising stars in the profession and giving them an opportunity to interact with more established scholars. In 2012 the IEA has organized four roundtables –"Industrial Policy I" (Washington), "Industrial Policy II: Africa" (Pretoria), "Sovereign Debt Management" (Buenos Aires), and "Capital Inﬂ ow and the Current Account" (Izmir). For 2013/14 we are planning conferences on inequality, energy, new measures of well-being, natural resources, etc. The IEA has published the proceedings of its World Congresses and Roundtables in over one hundred and ﬁ fty volumes, including four volumes of proceedings of the 2012 Congress: http://www.palgrave.com/products/SearchResults. aspx?s=IEA&ﬁ d=3910&sort=or_0. 8 Many of these volumes have been very inﬂ uential in the development of seminal ideas and their dissemination. The association does not organize any other type of meetings. Yet, we consider one of our missions to cooperate and help with the organization of regional conferences. We are open to e.g. sponsoring IEA lectures. The IEA is especially interested in promoting international meetings that could help the development of academic job markets. Structure of the organization The highest governing body is the Council. This is made of one representative per member association. It meets in person at every World Congress and holds virtual meetings through internet whenever necessary. The Council appoints ofﬁ cers and members of the Executive Committee (EC) and approves the strategic plan. The EC approves the budget and the roundtables, and proposes to the Council the candidates for ofﬁ cers and EC members. Cooperation with other economic organizations The IEA's main goal is to cooperate with all organizations of economists. The IEA is open to any useful form of cooperation. Main sources of funding for the organization The main source of funding consists of annual contributions from the member associations. There are three levels of contributions, depending on the number and per capita income of its afﬁ liates. 9 THE POLISH ECONOMIC SOCIETY Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail The Polish Economic Society Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne Ul. Nowy Świat 49, 00-042 Warszawa, Poland Phone: (022) 551 54 01, (022) 551 54 05 Fax: (022) 551 54 44 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Website www.pte.pl Governing body President: Prof. Elżbieta Mączyńska, email@example.com Vice-President: Artur Pollok, PhD, firstname.lastname@example.org Vice-President: Prof. Stanisław Rudolf, email@example.com Members of the Research Council President: Prof. Bogusław Fiedor Vice-President: Prof. Joanna Kotowicz-Jawor Vice-President: Prof. Marek Ratajczak Secretary General: Prof. Mirosław Bochenek Number of members 2907 Main objectives of the organization T o disseminate economic ideas and support the creation of favorable conditions for the development of economic sciences and the presentation of their achievements. To promote economic knowledge and disseminate economic culture in society. To enhance the qualiﬁ cations of economists in their various areas of professional specialization. To initiate and support activities aimed at social, economic and regional development of the country in an environmentally friendly manner. To seek the integration of economists representing academic science as well as business activities. History of the organization The Polish Economic Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne) and the social economy movement have a history of over 200 years, with the roots dating back to the Renaissance period in 16 th century Europe. Today, in the 21 st century, when we are once again starting to think about the future in terms of common European beneﬁ ts, historical reﬂ ection gains additional social signiﬁ cance. Against this background, the PES is undertaking efforts to describe the history of the social economy movement of Polish economists and to shape its future. Within the existing historical framework, we assume that there were three historical cornerstones of the mainstream social economy movement of Polish economists: The scientiﬁ c one is linked to the economic work of Nicolaus Copernicus, the 1515–1517 reform of the monetary system, and the relationship between the theory and practice of economic activity and the need for social economic education in Poland. The economic one is connected to new forms of organized professional and business activity reﬂ ected in the movement of entrepreneurs and merchants formed at the turn of the 18th century, one of its early associations being the Międzyrzeckie Society [Towarzystwo Międzyrzeckie], established in 1802. The congressional one consists of the ﬁ rst congress of Polish economists held in 1887 with participants from all the three zones of partitioned Poland. That congress became the inspiration for the 5th Congress of Polish Economists, held in Cracow in 1987 on the centenary of the social economic movement and of the PES. The need to act for public beneﬁ t and for professional development determines the mainstream social economy movement. Within the "systemic" approach, one can assume that the mechanism of the functioning and development of the social economy movement understood in this way came into existence at the turn of the 18th century, and the establishment of the Międzyrzeckie Society in 1802 became a reference point for the organization of the social economy movement at the PES. Activities Publishing a leading scientiﬁ c journal in the ﬁ eld of economics entitled "Ekonomista" Publishing the "Bulletin of the PES" Publishing scientiﬁ c books, including a series by Nobel Prize winners Scientiﬁ c conferences (national and international), symposia, congresses (The First National Congress of Economists and Lawyers was organized in Cracow in 1887, The 8th Congress of Polish Economists was held in Warsaw in November 2007); Research projects (under the auspices of the Research Council of the PES) including reviews and assessments of the economic situation of the country and special annual reports devoted to selected problems of the economic development of Poland Training programs (seminars, courses, training sessions and lectures) Consulting, advisory and information activities related to social and economic issues Running post-secondary schools and colleges with an economic proﬁ le (i.e. the College of Management and Finance in Bydgoszcz, "Oeconomicus" College in Szczecin, the Małopolska School of Economies in Tarnow); The annual National Economic Contest for high school students (in co-operation with the Ministry of National Education). Structure of the organization Branches in Poland: Białystok President: Jolanta Sienkiewicz, PhD Address: ul. Choroszczańska 31, 15-732 Białystok, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Bielsko-Biała President: Ludwik Hejny, PhD Address: ul. Willowa 2, 43-309 Bielsko-Biała, e-mail: email@example.com Bydgoszcz President: Teresa Głania Address: ul. Długa 34, 85-034 Bydgoszcz, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Częstochowa President: Eugeniusz Głód Address: ul. Kilińskiego 32/34, 42-200 Częstochowa, e-mail: email@example.com Elbląg President: Irena Derewecka Address: ul. Giermków 5, 82-300 Elbląg, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Gdańsk President: Prof. Danuta Rucińska Address: ul. Długi Targ 46/47, 80-830 Gdańsk, e-mail: email@example.com Gliwice President: Franciszek Grzesiok, PhD Address: ul. Zwycięstwa 47, 44-100 Gliwice, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Katowice President: Prof. Andrzej S. Barczak, Address: ul. Misjonarzy Oblatów MN 27, 40-129 Katowice, e-mail: email@example.com Kielce President: Prof. Andrzej Szplit Address: ul. Świętokrzyska 21, Kielce, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Koszalin President: Jadwiga Topolan Address: ul. Franciszkańska 52, 75-254 Koszalin, e-mal: email@example.com Kraków (Cracow) President: Artur Pollok, PhD Address: ul. Lubelska 21, 30-003 Kraków, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Legnica President: Nadine Bednarz Address: ul. Senatorska 32, 59-220 Legnica, e-mail: email@example.com Lublin President: Małgorzata Orzeł Address: ul. Szewska 4 lok. 7, 20-086 Lublin, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Łódź President: Prof. Małgorzata Burchard-Dziubińska Address: ul. Wólczańska 51, 90-608 Łódź, e-mail: email@example.com Olszty n President: Krystyna Romaniuk, PhD Address: ul. 1 Maja 13, 10-117 Olsztyn, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Opole Toruń President: Prof. Zbigniew Mikołajewicz Address: ul. Ozimska 46a, 45-058 Opole, e-mail: email@example.com Poznań President: Prof. Ryszard Kamiński Address: ul. Klasztorna 24/25, 61-779 Poznań, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Rzeszów President: Krystyna Leśniak-Moczuk, PhD Address: ul. Hetmańska 15, 35-045 Rzeszów, e-mail: email@example.com Szczecin President: Prof. Henryk Babis Address: Plac Jana Kilińskiego 3, 70-414 Szczecin, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org President: Adam P. Balcerzak, PhD Address: ul. Kopernika 21, 87-100 Toruń, e-mail: email@example.com Wałbrzych President: Adam Janusz Address: ul. Szmidta 4a, 58-300 Wałbrzych, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Wrocław President: Prof. Witold Kwaśnicki Address: ul. Łaciarska 28, 50-156 Wrocław, e-mail: email@example.com Zielona Góra President: Prof. Bogdan Ślusarz Address: ul. Żeromskiego 3, 65-066 Zielona Góra, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Cooperation with other economic organizations The PES cooperates with: The International Economic Association The Congress of Political Economists The Free Economic Society of Russia TNOIK The Federation of Engineering Associations – NOT The Association of Polish Lawyers The Accountants Association in Poland Main sources of funding for the organization Membership fees, EU funds, grants from the National Bank of Poland, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, sponsors, rental of premises THE HUNGARIAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Name of the organization The Hungarian Economic Association Magyar Közgazdasági Társaság Address, phone, fax, e-mail Address: H-1091 Budapest, Üllői út 25. Postal address: H-1245 Budapest, P.O. Box 1044 Phone: + 36 1 302 3000 Fax: + 36 1 331 6906 E-mail: ofﬁ email@example.com Website www.mkt.hu Governing body President: Dr Árpád Kovács (president of the National Budgetary Council – firstname.lastname@example.org) Vice-Presidents: Dr Péter Balázs (Professor at Central European University, former member of the European Commission, former Minister of Foreign Affairs) Dr Péter Ákos Bod (Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, former Chairman of the National Bank of Hungary, former Minister for Industry) Ms. Éva Palócz (CEO of Kopint-Tárki Research Institution) Prof. Dr Ádám Török (member of the Hungarian Academy of Science, Professor at Veszprém University) Secretary General: Dr Tamas Halm (email@example.com) Number of members The Hungarian Economic Association has approx. 5,500 members. Main objectives of the organization The Hungarian Economic Association is an independent non-proﬁ t organization that seeks to create a forum for all economic theories and schools. The association aims to support the development of economic science and its practical application through its membership and by all available means, to maintain contacts with specialists in related sciences, to strengthen the economic way of thinking, to contribute to the prosperity of the nation and to represent and safeguard the interests of the profession. History of the organization The Hungarian Economic Association is one of the oldest NGOs in Hungary. The organization was founded on May 27, 1894. The establishment of the association reﬂ ected the development Hungary underwent both economically and socially after the 1867 Compromise with Austria, which brought about much more favorable conditions. Activities The association operates 15 special divisions (controlling, IT, industry and entrepreneurship, commerce, environment-economy, foreign economy, logistics, ﬁ nance, etc.) in Budapest. It has 14 local departments, in almost all counties, which organize lectures and debates on a regular basis. The association's most important event is the Congress of Economists, which is held in a different town every year, in co-operation with the local county unit. This year we are holding the 50th Congress in Eger from September 27th to 29th. The annual Meeting of Young Economists organized each spring by the Youth Committee of the Association is also a prominent event. In September 2009, the Hungarian Economic Association started an interactive, Internet television-based series of debates on public policies on the website www.beszelgetnikell.hu. of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation with other economic organizations The International Economic Association The Hungarian Economists' Association of Romania The Hungarian Economists' Association of Slovakia The Hungarian Economists' Association of Vojvodina Riihirnäki-Hyvinkää Chamber of Commerce (Finland) Main sources of funding for the organization Membership fees ECONOMISTS ASSOCIATION 2010 Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail Economists Association 2010 Ekonomistu Apvienība 2010 Riga, Raina bulvaris 21 - 16, LV – 1050 Phone: +371 67 212 010; +371 29244299 Fax: +371 67 222 101 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Website http://www.ekonomisti.lv/ Governing body President: Ojars Kehris (email@example.com) Board members (firstname.lastname@example.org) Martins Bondars Pauls Dzintars Kalnins Edmunds Krastins Roberts Zile Number of members Economists Association 2010 has 24 members Main objectives of the organization To promote economic freedom, economic thinking and long term sustainable development. The primary aims of the association are: Promotion of continuous development of the Latvian economy and its integration with European and global institutions Organization of think-tanks and economic discussion Development and implementation of an economic program Organization and promotion of economic education and research History of the organization The Economists Association 2010 was founded on October 18, 1994. Before that, in January 1992 a working group for the creation of Latvia's long-term economic development program "Latvija 2000" was established by the future founders of the association. Many of the declarations of the ﬁ rst governments were based on this program. It was clear that it is necessary to explain economic reforms and their meaning to the citizens and to inform them about the results of every reform made. It was also deemed important to collect and codify the opinions of entrepreneurs, consumers, producers and politicians concerning the economic development of Latvia. That is why the authors of the program "Latvija 2000" decided to establish an organization that would promote the economic ideas developed within this project. Activities Publication of programs, books, materials, etc. Conferences, workshops, forums, etc. Conferences in other countries that have economic experiences interesting for Latvia Evaluation of programs of political parties and the government, estimation of the development of society and the state's economic policies GDP forecasts three times a year Annual "Spidola Award in Economy" – the most prestigious award for achievements in the national economy in Latvia Structure of the organization President – Board – members Cooperation with other economic organizations Exchange of ideas and opinions about the economy and political processes in particular countries. Exchange of strategic documents and information. Participating in each other's events. Structure of the organization Membership fees, attracting funds (sponsors) to implement the Association's projects. THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMISTS FROM ROMANIA Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail General Association of Economists from Romania Asociaţia Generală a Economiştilor din România (AGER) Governing body President: Gheorghe Zaman Vice-President: Ion Gh. Roşca – email@example.com Marin Dinu – firstname.lastname@example.org Main objectives of the organization The General Association of Economists from Romania has the following objectives: Promoting micro- and macroeconomic research, promoting deeply humanistic economics Working with economic institutions, public education, research and trade unions to promote the development of national economic interest and a new economy Organization of training courses for its members to increase their efﬁ ciency and their regular professional certiﬁ cation Contributing to improvement of economic legislation by formulating proposals for amendments as well as regulations 20 Bucureşti, Calea Griviţei nr. 21, sector 1, 010702, România Phone: +40 21 3 12 22 48 Fax: +40 21 3 12 97 17 E-mail: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.org Website http://www.asociatiaeconomistilor.ro/ index.php Financial and accounting expert work, management auditing, property evaluation and ﬁ nancial auditing at the request of individuals, legal persons, judicial bodies and public administration – carried out by the association's members, individually and collectively Defending the prestige and professional interests of economists "Economist" daily, "Info – China – Europe – Romania" trilingual weekly, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Economics (ECTA) and other economic and professional publications Fostering economic development and improvement of higher and secondary education Annual prizes and scholarships for mobility, documentation and research in the country and abroad Other activities decided by the General Assembly, in accordance with the statutes of the law in relation to the Association. History of the organization With a history that started in 1913 and was reactivated in 1990, the General Association of Economists from Romania (AGER) is a nongovernmental, independent and apolitical organization. By its actions, AGER members work to create a current of opinion in order to develop a functioning and competitive market economy in Romania. Activities "Economist" daily, "Info – China – Europe – Romania" trilingual weekly, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Economics (ECTA), and other economic and professional publications Publications: "Economist" daily Journal of Theoretical and Applied Economics (ECTA) Articles and Studies AGER members Books published by members AGER of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation with other economic organizations Academy of Economic Studies – www.ase.ro Romanian Academy – www.acad.ro Romanian Commercial Bank – www.bcr.ro BRD – Groupe Societe Generale – www.brd.ro House Savings – www.cec.ro Economic Publishing House – www.edecon.ro Institute of National Economy – www.ien.ro National Institute of Statistics – www.insse.ro "Economist" newspaper – www.economistul.ro Romanian Statistics Society THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ECONOMISTS Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail International Union of Economists Международный Союз экономистов Governing body IUE President Popov Gavriil – President of the Free Economic Society of Russia, President, honorary member of the International Academy of Management, President of the International University, member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Russian Federation). IUE First Vice-President Krasilnikov Victor — IUE Director General, First Vice-President of the Free Economic Society of Russia, First Vice-President, member of the International Academy of Management, President of the International Managers Club, member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, doctor of economics and management, Cand.Sc. (Economics), professor (Russian Federation). IUE Vice-presidents VAN BEVEREN Henk J. — Senior Sales Director of the hotel complex "Fairmont Le Montreux Palace" (Swiss Confederation). VEKSLER Lev — IUE representative in Australia, president of Sea Breeze Company, Vice-President of the International United Business Academy, member of the International Academy of Management (Australia). 23 Moscow: Phone: +7 (495) 609-07-66,609-07-60 Fax: +7 (495) 694-02-83,699-02-28 e-mail: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.org Postal address: 22a, Tverskaya Str., Moscow, 125009, Russia Website www.iuecon.org GUEORGUIEV Roumen — IUE representative in Bulgaria, deputy dean of the Department of Economics and Business Management, the Kliment Ohridski Sophia State University, member of the Presidium, member of the International Academy of Management, scientiﬁ c secretary of the International United Business Academy, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Republic of Bulgaria). GOLENDER Dorit — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to the Russian Federation (State of Israel). KOROBEYNIKOV Mikhail — member of the Council on Agrarian Policy under the Chairman of the Council of the Federation, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, full state counselor of the Russian Federation of the 1st class, chief research worker of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vice-President of the Free Economic Society of Russia, Vice-President, member of the International Academy of Management, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Russian Federation). LESTER Lev — president of Bridge International Management Consulting, member of the International Academy of Management, Dr.Sc. (Philosophy), Dr.Sc. (Economics) (USA). MEGRELIS Christian — IUE representative in France, president and director general of the company EKZA-INTERNATIONAL, VicePresident of the International United Business Academy, member of the Presidium, member of the International Academy of Management (French Republic). NG Joo Siang — Director General of Paciﬁ c Andes Enterprises, Ltd., Vice-President of the International United Business Academy (People's Republic of China). NUGERBEKOV Serik — Head of the IUE Eurasian Mission in the Republic of Kazakhstan, President of the Republican Association "Astana Economic Club," head of the Department of Social and Economic Monitoring in the Administration of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, corresponding member of the International Academy of Management, Cand.Sc. (Economics), professor (Republic of Kazakhstan). PRUNSKENE Kazimira — Member of the Seimas (Parliament), the Republic of Lithuania, Vice-President of the International Academy of Management, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Republic of Lithuania). ROCA Sebastia — IUE representative in Spain, director of the company ROCA JUNYENT Advocats Associats, member of the International Academy of Management (Kingdom of Spain). SAMADZADE Ziyad — IUE representative in Azerbaijan, president of the Azerbaijan Union of Economists, chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy of the Milli Mejlis (Parliament), chief editor of the newspaper "Economics," Azerbaijan's national coordinator for international technical assistance to the European Union, First VicePresident of the International Fund "Khazar," member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, member of the International Academy of Management, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Republic of Azerbaijan). SOLDA Daniel — president of the Association of Exporters and Importers of Argentina, Director General of Verum Consulting Group, professor at University Misiones (Republic of Argentina). TOLKACHEV Oleg — Chairman of the Commission for Economic Policy, Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarusian-Russian Union, Head of the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management of Large Cities, International University in Moscow, member of the Presidium of the Free Economic Society of Russia, member of the International Academy of Management, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Russian Academy of Informatization, Russian Engineering Academy, Dr.Sc. (Physics and Mathematics) (the Russian Federation). SHCHERBAKOV Vladimir — Chairman of the Committee of Directors of the group of companies "Autotor," Vice-President of the Free Economic Society of Russia, Vice-President, member of the International Academy of Management, member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Dr.Sc. (Economics), professor (Russian Federation). IUE Directors KRASILNIKOV Andrey — member of the Presidium of the Free Economic Society of Russia, corresponding member of the International Academy of Management, Cand.Sc. (Economics) (Russian Federation). RATNIKOVA Margarita — member of the Presidium of the Free Economic Society of Russia, corresponding member of the International Academy of Management (Russian Federation). Number of members Main objectives of the organization Promoting economic reforms as the main means of development of the world's community; Participation in the development and implementation of national and international projects and programs aimed at the acceleration of economic growth and stabilization of the economic situation in different countries, and fostering integration processes in different regions of the world; Ensuring broad international exchange of information in various ﬁ elds of economy, science, technology and other ﬁ elds of activity; Rendering practical assistance in the development of small and medium businesses; Identifying and implementing new forms of international collaboration; Expansion of collaboration with national and international organizations, unions, and associations in the ﬁ eld of socio-economic, scientiﬁ c and technical ideas. We believe that the mission of our union is to consolidate intellectual resources, make them available, and offer ways of effectively using them for people of different countries. History of the organization The International Union of Economists is an independent international non-governmental public organization. The International Union of Economists was founded by economists –scientists and practitioners alike, public ﬁ gures, bankers and entrepreneurs from different countries in Bulgaria (Sandansk) in 1991. When we established the IUE, we sought to combine the intellectual prowess of professionals from different countries, making them an active resource for global development. We sought to engage scientists, politicians, business people and public ﬁ gures who were interested in radically cutting economic and social costs in a serious dialogue on critical issues of the modern global economic system. The International Union of Economists collaborates with departments of the UN, European Union, UNESCO and other international organizations, and holds events under the patronage of these organizations. Members of the IUE are national and regional unions and associations of economists, outstanding economists (scientists and practitioners alike), public ﬁ gures, public agents, and representatives of business circles of different countries of the world. The International Union of Economists has General Consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The IUE is a member of the United Nations' Department of Public Information, NonGovernmental Organizations (DPI NGO UN). Its main headquarters are in Moscow (House of the Economist) and in New York (in the UN Building). Activities The International Union of Economists holds international forums, conferences, roundtables, seminars, symposiums, meetings, and international congresses on regional development. In its work the International Union of Economists uses the principles of sustainable development to create the basis for scientiﬁ c, technical and socioeconomic progress, to ensure a high quality of life and spiritual development of the population and strengthen national and international economic security through the development and implementation of programs in the following areas: Modernization of the global economy; Globalization and the world's progress; Distribution of anti-crisis measures of international experience; International experience and economy of Russia; Economic security; Energy development: energy efﬁ ciency and new sources of energy; Innovation in education; Ensuring environmental sustainability; Effective development of cities and capitals. The International Union of Economists is a constantly developing system. Some programs and projects have been continued for 20 years, others are being constantly reorganized. A number of programs are held jointly with the Free Economic Society of Russia, Russian Academy of Sciences, International Academy of Management, and authoritative Russian and Foreign social organizations. Statesmen, entrepreneurs, businessmen and bankers as well as eminent Russian and foreign economists participate in the implementation of the programs. In its activity, the International Union of Economists follows the goals determined in its Charter and the "Main Trends" that are approved by IUE members every ﬁ ve years. The International Union of Economists holds annual meetings of its members concerning urgent questions related to the development of the economy: 1992 — "Promotion of Economic and Social Progress of the World Community" (Warsaw, Poland); 1993 — "Key Aspects of Global Economic Development" (San-Francisco, USA); 1994 — "Regional Economy" (Barcelona, Spain); 1995 — "Non-Governmental Forms of International Economic Cooperation" (Sidney, Australia); 1996 — "IUE Goals Related to Global Development Trends" (Paris, France); 1997 — "Man in Business and Economy" (Jerusalem, Israel); 1998 — "The Financial Market. The Capital Market. The Present and Future of Investments" (Miami, USA, Mexico); 1999 — "Economics of the Non-Productive Sphere: Aspects of International Cooperation" (Limassol, Cyprus); 2000 — "Strategy of the Economic Development of Russia in the 21st Century" (Moscow, Russia); 2001 — "Global Economy and International Economic Relations" (Dubrovnik, Croatia); 2002 — "Industrial and Social Policy in the Countries with Transition Economies" (Cape Town, Republic of South Africa); 2003 — "Role and Place of European Cooperation in the Development of the World Economy" (Regensbourg, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; Budapest, Hungary); 2004 — "Globalization and Economic Development" (Varadero, Cuba); 2005 — "Questions of Financing of Human Settlements and Urban Development" (Nairobi, Kenya); 2006 — "Strategy of Social and Economic Development of Countries with Transition Economies in Correspondence with the Millennium Declaration" (New-York, USA); 2007 — "Special Economic Zones – World Experience" (Shanghai, Sanya, China); 2008 — "Energetics of Future: Economic Problems" (Aqaba, Jordan); 2009 — "The World Economy until 2020: Forecast and Reality" (Miami, USA); 2010 — "The World Experience of Anti-Crisis Measures: Peculiarities of Economic Globalization" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries 2011 — "Economic Problems of National Capitals" (Vienna, Austria). 2012 — "World Community Social and Economic Development: Modern Trends, Problems, Prospects" (Republic of Seychelles, Mahe island). Within the scope of its Publishing Program, the International Union of Economists publishes newspapers, journals, bulletins and other literature, amounting to 11 million copies annually. The main publications are "The Scientiﬁ c Transactions of the International Union of Economists and the Free Economic Society of Russia," the journal "Econom," which is the "Information Bulletin of the International Union of Economists," and the newspaper "Economic News of Russia." Structure of the organization Nowadays the International Union of Economists' membership includes representatives from 48 countries of the world. It has representative and branch ofﬁ ces in 21 countries. Cooperation with other economic organizations The Union is open to everyone who shares its aims and the principles of its activity. It is ready for mutually beneﬁ cial cooperation with all progressive forces aimed at economic and social development of the Russian Federation, other regions, and other countries. We invite you to join efforts for the development and implementation of key programs of the International Union of Economists. Main sources of funding for the organization Membership fees THE NEW ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Name of the organization Address, phone, fax, e-mail The New Economic Association Новая экономическая ассоциация Nakhimovsky prospekt, 32, Ofﬁ ce 1115, 117218 Moscow, Russia Tel. / Fax: +7-495-7189855 email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.org (secretary) Website http://www.econorus.org/ http://www.econorus.org/english.phtml Governing body President (e-mail): Prof. Victor Polterovich (email@example.com) Vice-presidents (e-mail): Prof. Valery Makarov (firstname.lastname@example.org) Prof. Nikolai Petrakov (email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.org) Prof. Ruslan Grinberg (email@example.com) Executive Council Chairman: Prof. Ruslan Grinberg (firstname.lastname@example.org) Number of members The NEA has 28 collective members: 11 institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2 research institutes outside of the Academy, 15 higher educational establishments. Besides, the NEA's membership includes over 450 individual members from more than 45 cities of Russia. Main objectives of the organization To bring together economists of different schools of thought across the Russian Federation; strengthen ties between the Academy's institutes, educational establishments and economic research centers. Improve the quality of Russian economic research and education; integrate economic sciences and education; speed up the integration of Russian economic science with the global mainstream economic research. History of the organization The predecessor of the New Economic Association (NEA) was the Association of Economic Scientiﬁ c Institutions (AESI) established in 1956, which became a member of the International Economic Association in the same year. In 1992, the 10th World Congress of the International Economic Association was held in Moscow, and the AESI was the local organizer of the congress. In 2009, the NEA was founded on the initiative of academic institutions which were former members of the AESI. Victor Polterovich was elected President of the New Economic Association; Valery Makarov, Nikolai Petrakov and Ruslan Grinberg were elected Vice-Presidents. Ruslan Grinberg also acts as Chairman of the NEA Executive Council. Activities Since 2009, the NEA has published the Journal of the New Economic Association. The journal comes out four times a year, each issue consisting of 12 to 15 press sheets. In 2009–2012 fourteen issues of the JNEA were published. The journal contains both theoretical and empirical papers dealing with all aspects of economic sciences. It welcomes high-quality interdisciplinary projects and economic studies employing methodologies from other sciences such as physics, psychology, political science, etc. Special attention is paid to analyses of processes occurring in the Russian economy. All papers (except for short roundtable presentations) are subject to a double-blind reviewing process. In 2009–2012 NEA and the Journal of the NEA held (in some cases jointly with other organizations) the International Symposium on Evolutionary Economics, 9 research conferences and 12 roundtables on a wide range of economic issues. At the ﬁ rst annual thematic conference of the NEA "Education, Science and Modernization" (December 2010), 198 presentations were given. The conference attracted over 400 participants from 46 cities of Russia and other countries. In late 2011, the NEA and the Journal of the NEA held a roundtable entitled "The Mission of an Economic Journal," where in particular the results of the special sociological study "The Journal of the New Economic Association and its Readership" were presented. In April, 2012 the regular annual thematic conference of the NEA "Current Issues of the Economy and Sociology of Culture" was held. On the NEA website, http://www.econorus.org/forum.phtml, there are tree discussion forums (in Russian) concerning problems of the organization of economic sciences and economic education in Russia, methodology of economic analysis, and economic modernization issues. The NEA holds congresses (once every three years). The First Russian Economic Congress (REC) was held on December 7–12, 2009 at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Over 2,000 economists from academic institutions, higher educational establishments, and independent research centers took part in the activities of REC-2009. They came from 71 cities of Russia and 31 foreign cities. Approximately 1,300 papers were presented. A youth conference, which had about 400 participants, was also held within the framework of the REC. The Second Russian Economic Congress is scheduled for February 2013. The city of Vladimir is to provide the venue. In September 2010, the NEA Expert Council on Economic Reforms was established. Grigory Yavlinsky was elected Council Chairman. The NEA maintains its own website and the website of the NEA Journal in Russian and English versions. Structure of the organization No branches Cooperation with other economic organizations The NEA intends to expand its participation in international associations and in international research projects. Now the NEA is a member of the International Economic Association. Main sources of funding for the organization The NEA is a nonproﬁ t organization. It is funded through sponsorship of various organizations, admission and membership fees, as well as voluntary charitable donations. THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Bulgaria Unions Scientiﬁ ques et Techniques de Bulgarie rue Rakovski 108 - B.P. 431 Soﬁ a 1000 Bulgaria Phone: +359 2 9871847 President: Dr Rumen Georgiev Croatia The Croatian Economic Association Heinzelova 4a 10000 Zagreb Croatia Phone: +385 1 46 00 888 Fax: +385 1 46 00 888 President: Prof. Ljubo Jurcic Vice-President: Mladen Mlinarevic Secretary General: Snjezana Jurisic E-mail: email@example.com Website: www.hde.hr Estonia The Estonian Economic Association Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Tallinn University of Technology 101 Kopli str Tallinn, 11712 Estonia President: Rando Varnik E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Lithuania The Association of Lithuanian Economics Sauletekio al. Nr 9 II Rumai LIT 10222 Vilnius Lithuania President: Povilas Gylis E-mail: email@example.com 34 Slovenia The Union of Economists of Slovenia Dunajska 56 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Phone: + 386 1 43 61 269 Fax: + 386 1 43 62 082 President: Prof. Neven Borak E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Czech The Czech Economic Association Politických vězňů 936/7 110 00 Praha-Nové Město Phone: +420 224 005 200 President: Petr Jakubík E-mail: email@example.com of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries Vademecum of Economic Societies in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe Contents 2 of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries of Economic Societies in Central and Eastern European Countries Forum of the presidents of economic societies in central and eastern european countries Warsaw, 27-28 september 2012
SPACE SECURITY index 2013 Full report at www.spacesecurity.org SPACE SECURITY INDEX 2013 www.SPACESECURITY.ORG Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publications Data Space Security Index 2013: Executive Summary ISBN: 978-1-927802-01-4 © 2013 SPACESECURITY.ORG Edited by Cesar Jaramillo Design and layout by Creative Services, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Cover image: Soyuz TMA-07M Spacecraft ISS034-E-010181 (21 Dec. 2012) As the International Space Station and Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft were making their relative approaches on Dec. 21, one of the Expedition 34 crew members on the orbital outpost captured this photo of the Soyuz. Credit: NASA. Printed in Canada Printer: Pandora Print Shop, Kitchener, Ontario First published June 2013 Please direct inquires to: Cesar Jaramillo Project Ploughshares 57 Erb Street West Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2 Canada Telephone: 519-888-6541, ext. 7708 Fax: 519-888-0018 Email: email@example.com Governance Group Julie Crôteau Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Peter Hays Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Ram Jakhu Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University Ajey Lele Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Paul Meyer The Simons Foundation John Siebert Project Ploughshares Ray Williamson Secure World Foundation Advisory Board Richard DalBello Intelsat General Corporation Theresa Hitchens United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research John Logsdon The George Washington University Lucy Stojak HEC Montreal Project Manager Cesar Jaramillo Project Ploughshares INTRODUCTION Space Security Index 2013 is the tenth annual report on developments related to safety, sustainability, and security in outer space, covering the period JanuaryDecember 2012. It is part of the broader Space Security Index (SSI) project, which aims to improve transparency on space activities and provide a common, comprehensive, objective knowledge base to support the development of national and international policies that contribute to the security and sustainability of outer space. The definition of space security guiding this report reflects the intent of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that outer space should remain open for all to use for peaceful purposes now and into the future: The secure and sustainable access to, and use of, space and freedom from space-based threats. The primary consideration in this SSI definition of space security is not the interests of particular national or commercial entities, but the security and sustainability of outer space as an environment that can be used safely and responsibly by all. This broad definition encompasses the security of the unique outer space environment, which includes the physical and operational integrity of manmade objects in space and their ground stations, as well as security on Earth from threats originating in space. Regular readers will notice a change in the way the information is structured in this report. In previous editions, key developments were organized under eight Chapters—each covering one major aspect of space activity (e.g., civil, commercial, policy, military, etc.). However, given the increasing interdependence, mutual vulnerabilities, and synergies of outer space activities, the decision was made, after consultations with several international space security experts, to reorganize information under four broad Themes, with each divided into various indicators of space security. We trust that this arrangement, as well as reducing repetition, better reflects the close relationship among developments that may have an impact on the security and sustainability of outer space. The structure of the 2013 report is as follows: »Theme 1: Condition of the space environment Indicator 1.1: Orbital debris Indicator 1.2: Radio frequency (RF) spectrum and orbital positions Indicator 1.3: Near-Earth Objects Indicator 1.4: Space weather Indicator 1.5: Space situational awareness »Theme 2: Access to and use of space by various actors Indicator 2.1: Space-based global utilities Indicator 2.2: Priorities and funding levels in civil space programs Indicator 2.3: International cooperation in space activities Indicator 2.4: Growth in commercial space industry Indicator 2.5: Public-private collaboration on space activities Indicator 2.6: Space-based military systems »Theme 3: Security of space systems Indicator 3.1: Vulnerability of satellite communications, broadcast links, and ground stations Indicator 3.2: Protection of satellites against direct threats Indicator 3.3: Capacity to rebuild space systems and integrate smaller satellites into space operations Indicator 3.4: Earth-based capabilities to attack satellites Indicator 3.5: Space-based negation enabling capabilities »Theme 4: Outer space policies and governance Indicator 4.1: National space policies and laws Indicator 4.2: Multilateral forums for space governance Indicator 4.3: Other initiatives It was also decided by members of the SSI Governance Group to add a brief Global Assessment analysis, which will be featured in the full edition of the report. It will provide a broad assessment of the trends, priorities, highlights, breaking points, and dynamics that are shaping current space security discussions. Until this present edition, each annual report included a brief "Space Security Impact" statement after each indicator of space security. The SSI Governance Group determined that such statements, in isolation, offered an inadequate assessment of outer space security, given the interdependence of space activities. A single, holistic assessment brings together the different ways in which the overall security of outer space is being affected by space activity. The Global Assessment will be assigned to a different space security expert every year to encourage a range of perspectives. The inaugural essay is by Claire Jolly, senior policy analyst with the International Futures Programme in the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Space Security Index attempts to take stock of all factors that may have an impact on the sustainability of outer space. Critical are such concerns as the threat posed by space debris, the priorities of national civil space programs, the growing importance of the commercial space industry, efforts to develop a robust normative regime for outer space activities, and the militarization and potential weaponization of space. From search-and-rescue operations to weather forecasting, banking to arms control treaty verification, the world has become increasingly reliant on space applications. The key challenge is to maintain a sustainable outer space domain so that the social and economic benefits derived from it can continue to be enjoyed by present and future generations. More and more human-created space debris is orbiting the Earth. It is concentrated in the most commonly used parts of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). In recent years awareness of the space debris problem has grown considerably, largely because various spacecraft have been hit by pieces of debris, intentional debris-generating events have occurred, and satellites have collided with one another. Thus efforts to mitigate the production of new debris through compliance with national and international guidelines are highly important. The future development and deployment of technology to remove debris promise to increase the sustainability of outer space. If used to avoid collisions, space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities that track space debris also contribute to space security. Although greater international cooperation to enhance the predictability of space operations would advance space security, the sensitive nature of some information and the small number of leading space actors with advanced tools for surveillance have kept significant data on space activities shrouded in secrecy. But recent developments covered in this report suggest that there is now greater willingness to share SSA data through international partnerships. The distribution of scarce space resources—including orbital slots and radio frequencies—to spacefaring nations has a direct impact on the ability of actors to access and use space. An increase in the number of space actors, particularly in the communications sector, has created more competition and sometimes friction over the use of orbital slots and frequencies, which have historically been allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. International instruments that regulate space activities have a direct effect on space security because they establish key parameters for space activities. These include the right of all countries to access space, prohibitions against the national appropriation of space and placing nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in space, and the obligation to ensure that space is used with due regard to the interests of others and for peaceful purposes. International space law can make space more secure by restricting activities that infringe upon the ability of actors to access and use space safely and sustainably, and by limiting space-based threats to national assets in space or on Earth. While there is widespread international recognition that the existing regulatory framework is insufficient to meet the current challenges facing the outer space domain, the development of an overarching normative regime has been painfully slow. International space actors have been unable to reach consensus on the exact nature of a space security regime, despite having specific alternatives on the table for consideration: both legally binding treaties, such as the Sino-Russian proposed ban on space weapons (known as the PPWT) and politically binding norms of behavior, such as the European Union's proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The establishment of a Group of Governmental Experts on Space by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) Working Group on the Long Term Sustainability of Space Activities, both of which held their first formal meetings in 2012, are seen as positive efforts toward the adoption of agreed transparency and confidence-building measures for space activities. International cooperation remains central to both civil space programs and global utilities; this interaction affects space security positively by enhancing the transparency of certain civil programs. Collaborative endeavors in civil space programs can help emerging space actors access and use space. International cooperation makes possible complex and expensive projects in space, such as the International Space Station and space exploration. The role that the commercial space sector plays in the provision of launch, communications, imagery, and manufacturing services and its relationship with government, civil, and military programs make this sector an important determinant of space security. A healthy space industry can lead to decreasing costs for space access and use, and may increase the accessibility of space technology for a wider range of space actors. This can have a positive impact on space security by increasing the number of actors that have a vested interest in the maintenance of space security. The military space sector is an important driver in the advancement of capabilities to access and use space. It has played a key role in bringing down the cost of space access. Many of today's common space applications, such as satellite-based navigation, were first developed for military use. Space systems have augmented the military capabilities of a number of states by enhancing battlefield awareness, offering precise navigation and targeting support, providing early warning of missile launch, and supporting real-time communications. Furthermore, remote sensing satellites have served as a technical means for nations to verify compliance with international nonproliferation, arms control, and disarmament regimes. Space capabilities and space-derived information are integrated into the day-to-day military planning of major spacefaring states. Greater military use of space can have a positive effect on space security by raising awareness of mutual vulnerabilities and increasing the collective vested interest in space security. Conversely, the use of space systems to support terrestrial military operations can be detrimental to space security if adversaries, viewing space as a new source of military threat or as critical military infrastructure, develop space system negation capabilities to neutralize the space systems of adversaries. In this sense, the security dynamics of space protection and negation are closely related and space security cannot be divorced from terrestrial security. Under some conditions protective systems can motivate adversaries to develop weapons to overcome them. The information contained in Space Security Index 2013 is from open sources. Great effort is made to ensure a complete and factually accurate description of events, based on a critical appraisal of the available information and consultation with international experts. Project partners and sponsors trust that this publication will continue to serve as both a reference source and a tool to aid policy making, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the sustainability of outer space for all users. Expert participation in the Space Security Index is a key component of the project. The primary research is peer reviewed prior to publication through various processes: 1) Experts on space security are asked to provide critical feedback on the draft research, which is sent to them electronically. 2) The Space Security Working Group in-person consultation is held each spring for two days to review the draft text for factual errors, misinterpretations, gaps, and misstatements about the impact of various events. This meeting also provides an important forum for related policy dialogue on recent outer space developments. 3) Finally, the Governance Group for the Space Security Index reviews the penultimate draft of the text before publication. For further information about the Space Security Index, its methodology, project partners, and sponsors, please visit the website www.spacesecurity.org, where the publication is also available free of any charge in PDF format. Comments and suggestions to improve the project are welcome. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research process for Space Security Index 2013 was directed by Cesar Jaramillo at Project Ploughshares. Dr. Ram Jakhu and Dr. Peter Hays provided on-site supervision at, respectively, the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University and the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University. The research team included: Kate Becker, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Joyeeta Chatterjee, Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University Tiffany Chow, Secure World Foundation Travis Cottom, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Jared Hautamaki, Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University Joel Hicks, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Katrina Laygo, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Samantha Marquart, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Prithvirah Sharma, Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University Tabitha Smith, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University The Governance Group for the Space Security Index would like to thank the research team and the many advisors and experts who have supported this project. Cesar Jaramillo has been responsible for overseeing the research process and logistics for the 2012-2013 project cycle. He provides the day-to-day guidance and coordination of the project and ensures that the myriad details of the publication come together. Cesar also supports the Governance Group and we want to thank him for the contribution he has made in managing the publication of this volume. Thanks to Wendy Stocker at Project Ploughshares for copyediting, to Creative Services at the University of Waterloo for design work, and to Pandora Print Shop of Kitchener, Ontario for printing and binding. For comments on the draft research we are in debt to the experts who provided feedback on each of the report's sections during the online consultation process, and to the participants in the Space Security Working Group. For hosting the Space Security Working Group meeting held on 12-13 April 2013 in Montreal, we are grateful to the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University. This project would not be possible without the generous financial and in-kind support from: * Secure World Foundation * The Simons Foundation * Project Ploughshares * Erin J.C. Arsenault Trust Fund at McGill University. While we, as the Governance Group for the Space Security Index, have benefited immeasurably from the input of the many experts indicated, responsibility for any errors or omissions in this volume finally rests with us. Julie Crôteau Peter Hays Ram Jakhu Ajey Lele Paul Meyer John Siebert Ray Williamson Executive Summary Theme 1: Condition of the space environment INDICATOR 1.1: Orbital debris — Space debris poses a significant, constant, and indiscriminate threat to all spacecraft. Most space missions create some space debris, mainly rocket booster stages that are expended and released to drift in space along with bits of hardware. Serious fragmentations are usually caused by energetic events such as explosions. These can be both unintentional, as in the case of unused fuel exploding, or intentional, as in the testing of weapons in space that utilize kinetic energy interceptors. Traveling at speeds of up to 7.8 kilometers (km) per second, even small pieces of space debris can destroy or severely disable a satellite upon impact. The number of objects in Earth orbit has increased steadily. Today the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is using the Space Surveillance Network to catalog more than 16,000 objects approximately 10 centimeters (cm) in diameter or larger. Roughly 23,000 pieces of debris of this size are being tracked, but not cataloged; the U.S. military only catalogs objects with known owners. Experts estimate that there are over 300,000 objects with a diameter larger than one centimeter and several million that are smaller. The annual rate of new tracked debris began to decrease in the 1990s, largely because of national debris mitigation efforts, but accelerated in recent years as a result of events such as the Chinese intentional destruction of one of its satellites in 2007 and the accidental 2009 collision of a U.S. Iridium active satellite and a Russian Cosmos defunct satellite. The total amount of manmade space debris in orbit is growing each year, concentrated in the orbits where human activities take place. Low Earth Orbit is the most highly congested area, especially the Sun-synchronous region. Some debris in LEO will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate quite quickly due to atmospheric drag, but debris in orbits above 600 km will remain a threat for decades and even centuries. There have already been a number of collisions between civil, commercial, and military spacecraft and pieces of space debris. Although a rare occurrence, the reentry of very large debris could also potentially pose a threat on Earth. 2012 Developments Known space object population * Cataloged debris population decreases; number of active objects on orbit continues to grow * U.S. Space Surveillance Network continues to update satellite catalog Debris-related risks and incidents * Orbital debris continues to threaten safe space operations of both satellites and the International Space Station * The risk posed by debris and satellite reentries continued in 2012, but was more actively managed International awareness of debris problem increases as progress in solutions continues * Mixed compliance with international debris mitigation guidelines * International dialogues on debris problem, active debris removal, and other solutions continue in 2012 * Research and development on active debris removal continue in 2012 INDICATOR 1.2: Radio frequency (RF) spectrum and orbital positions — The growing number of spacefaring nations and satellite applications is driving the demand for access to radio frequencies and orbital slots. Issues of interference arise primarily when two spacecraft require the same frequencies at the same time and their fields of view overlap or they are transmitting in close proximity to each other. While interference is not epidemic it is a growing concern for satellite operators, particularly in crowded space segments. More satellites are locating in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), using frequency bands in common and increasing the likelihood of frequency interference. While crowded orbits can result in signal interference, new technologies are being developed to manage the need for greater frequency usage, allowing more satellites to operate in closer proximity without interference. Satellite builders and operators are coping by developing new technologies and procedures to manage greater frequency usage. For example, frequency hopping, lower power output, digital signal processing, frequency-agile transceivers, and a software-managed spectrum have the potential to significantly improve bandwidth use and alleviate conflicts over bandwidth allocation. Research has also been conducted on the use of lasers for communications, particularly by the military. Lasers transmit information at very high bit rates and have very tight beams, which could allow for tighter placement of satellites, thus alleviating some of the current congestion and concern about interference. Newer receivers have a higher tolerance for interference than those created decades ago. The increased competition for orbital slot assignments, particularly in GEO, where most communications satellites operate, has caused occasional disputes between satellite operators. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been pursuing reforms to address slot allocation backlogs and other related challenges. 2012 Developments Pressure on the radio frequency spectrum continues to grow * Growing demand for and crowding of terrestrial RF spectrum with potential impacts on space RF spectrum * Increased efforts to reduce unintentional radio frequency interference INDICATOR 1.3: Near-Earth Objects — Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets in orbits that bring them into close proximity to the Earth. NEOs are subdivided into Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Near Earth Comets (NECs). Within both groupings are Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs), those NEOs whose orbits intersect that of Earth and have a relatively high chance of impacting the Earth itself. As comets represent a very small portion of the overall collision threat in terms of probability, most NEO researchers commonly focus on Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). A PHA is defined as an asteroid whose orbit comes within 0.05 astronomical units of the Earth's orbit and has a brightness magnitude greater than 22 (approximately 150 meters in diameter). By the end of 2012 there were 9,448 known NEAs, 857 of which were one km in diameter or larger. Over the past decade a growing amount of research has identified objects that pose threats to Earth and developed potential mitigation and deflection strategies. The effectiveness of deflection—a difficult process because of the extreme mass, velocity, and distance of any potentially impacting NEO—depends on the amount of warning time. Kinetic deflection methods include ramming the NEO with a series of kinetic projectiles. The increasing international awareness of the potential threat posed by NEOs has prompted discussions at various multilateral forums on the technical and policy challenges related to mitigation. Ongoing technical research is exploring how to mitigate a NEO collision with Earth. The challenge is considerable due to the extreme mass, velocity, and distance of any impacting NEO. Some experts have advocated using nearby explosions of nuclear devices, which could create additional threats to the environment and stability of outer space and would have complex legal and policy implications. 2012 Developments * Space agencies, amateur observers produce increasingly accurate assessment of NEO population * International awareness of NEO threat and progress in international response continues INDICATOR 1.4: Space weather — "Space weather" describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Explosions on the Sun create storms of radiation, fluctuating magnetic fields, and swarms of energetic particles. These phenomena travel outward through the solar system with a flow of charged particles called solar wind. When they reach Earth they interact in complex ways with Earth's magnetic field. Some space weather storms can damage satellites and disrupt cell phone communications systems. Space is filled with magnetic fields, which control the motions of charged particles. Geomagnetic storms and more solar ultraviolet emissions heat the Earth's upper atmosphere, causing it to expand, eventually resulting in increased drag. Satellites slow down and change orbit slightly. As technology has allowed spacecraft components to become smaller, their miniaturized systems have become increasingly vulnerable to solar energetic particles. These particles can often cause physical damage to microchips and change software commands in satellite-borne computers. Another problem for satellite operators is that when a satellite travels through this energized environment electrical discharges can harm and possibly disable spacecraft components. 2012 Developments * Space weather events continue to affect space operations * Progress continues on effectively forecasting space weather events INDICATOR 1.5: Space Situational Awareness — Space Situational Awareness refers to the ability to detect, track, identify, and catalog objects in outer space, such as space debris and active or defunct satellites, as well as observe space weather and monitor spacecraft and payloads for maneuvers and other events. SSA enhances the ability to distinguish space negation attacks from technical failures or environmental disruptions and can thus contribute to stability in space by preventing misunderstandings and false accusations of hostile actions. Increasing the amount of SSA data available to all states can help to increase the transparency and confidence of space activities, which can reinforce the overall stability of the outer space regime. The Space Surveillance Network (SSN) puts the United States far in advance of the rest of the world in space situational awareness capability. Russia has relatively extensive capabilities in this area; it maintains a Space Surveillance System using early-warning radars and monitors objects (mostly in LEO), although it does not widely disseminate data. China and India have significant satellite tracking, telemetry, and control assets essential to their civil space programs. The EU, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan are all developing space surveillance capabilities for various purposes, although none of these states is close to developing a global system on its own. Sharing SSA data could benefit all space actors, allowing them to supplement their own data at little if any additional cost. But there is currently no operational global system for space surveillance, in part because of the sensitive nature of surveillance data. Since the 2009 Cosmos-Iridium satellite collision there has been an increased push in the United States to boost conjunction analysis—the ability to accurately predict high-speed collisions between two orbiting objects—and to undertake collaborative agreements with international partners that will allow for an increase in data sharing, As the importance of space situational awareness is acknowledged, more states are pursuing national space surveillance systems and engaging in discussions over international SSA data sharing. 2012 Developments Capabilities * The United States continues to invest in and develop its SSA capabilities * Plans to improve SSA capabilities continue around the world in 2012 SSA sharing * Efforts continue to increase SSA sharing among various space actors Theme 2: Access to and use of space by various actors INDICATOR 2.1: Space-based global utilities — The use of space-based global utilities has grown substantially over the last decade. Millions of individuals rely on space applications on a daily basis for functions as diverse as weather forecasting, navigation, communications, and search-and-rescue operations. Global utilities are important for space security because they broaden the community of actors that have a direct interest in maintaining space for peaceful uses. While key global utilities such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and weather satellites were initially developed by military actors, these systems have grown into space applications that are almost indispensable to the civil and commercial sectors and spawned such equally indispensable applications as weather monitoring and remote sensing. Advanced and developing economies alike depend on these spacebased systems. Currently Russia, the United States, the EU, Japan, China, and India have or are developing satellite-based navigation capabilities. Remote sensing satellites are used extensively for a variety of Earth observation (EO) functions, including weather forecasting; surveillance of borders and coastal waters; monitoring of crops, fisheries, and forests; and monitoring of natural disasters such as hurricanes, droughts, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and avalanches. Space has also become critical for disaster relief. COSPAS-SARSAT, the International Satellite System for Search and Rescue, was founded by Canada, France, the USSR, and the United States to coordinate satellite-based search-andrescue. COSPAS-SARSAT is basically a distress alert detection and information distribution system that provides alert and location data to national search-andrescue authorities worldwide, with no discrimination, independent of country participation in the management of the program. Similarly, in 2006 the UN General Assembly agreed to establish the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). Although satellite-based systems can increase the accuracy and reliability of navigation, their simultaneous operation presents significant coordination challenges. 2012 Developments * Navigation systems of various nations continue to evolve * Australia develops lightweight Earth observation satellite * Iran launches Earth observation satellite * South Africa to launch its first nanosatellite * Meteosat Third Generation Agreement signed at Ministerial Meeting INDICATOR 2.2: Priorities and funding levels in civil space programs — Civil space programs can have a positive impact on the security of outer space because they constitute key drivers behind the development of technical capabilities to access and use space, such as those related to the development of space launch vehicles. As the number of space actors able to access space increases, more parties have a direct stake in space sustainability and preservation for peaceful purposes. As well, civil space programs and their technological spinoffs on Earth underscore the vast scientific, commercial, and social benefits of space exploration, thereby increasing global awareness of its importance. As the social and economic benefits derived from space activities have become more apparent, civil expenditures on space activities have continued to increase in several countries. Virtually all new spacefaring states explicitly place a priority on space-based applications to support social and economic development. Such space applications as satellite navigation and Earth imaging are core elements of almost every existing civil space program. Likewise, Moon exploration continues to be a priority for such established spacefaring states as China, Russia, India, and Japan. New launch vehicles continue to be developed. Since the cancellation of the Constellation program, the United States has focused on encouraging development of new launchers by the private sector rather than the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) is proceeding with development of the Long March-5, the next generation of launch vehicles. Russia continues to develop the new Angara family of space launchers, which are to replace some of the aging Molniya-M launch vehicles currently in service. 2012 Developments * Changing budgetary allotments in civil space programs * China conducts first manned mission to Tiangong-1 space station * Canada renews commitment to International Space Station INDICATOR 2.3: International cooperation in space activities — Due to the huge costs and technical challenges associated with access to and use of space, international cooperation has been a defining feature of civil space programs throughout the space age. Scientific satellites, in particular, have been cooperative ventures. International cooperation remains a key feature of both civil and global utilities space programs. In particular cooperation enhances the transparency of certain civil programs that could potentially have military purposes. The most prominent example of international cooperation continues to be the International Space Station (ISS), a collaborative project of NASA, Russian space agency Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). A multinational effort with a focus on scientific research and an estimated cost of over $100-billion to date, the ISS is the largest, most expensive international engineering project ever undertaken. By allowing states to pool resources and expertise, international civil space cooperation has played a key role in the proliferation of the technical capabilities needed by states to access space. Cooperation agreements on space activities have proven to be especially helpful for emerging spacefaring states that currently lack the technological means for independent space access. Cooperation agreements also enable established spacefaring countries to tackle high-cost, complex missions as collaborative endeavors with international partners. The high costs and remarkable technical challenges associated with human spaceflight are likely to make collaborative efforts in this area increasingly common. In 2007 the 14 largest space agencies agreed to coordinate future space missions in the document The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination, which highlights a shared vision of space exploration, focused on the Moon and Mars. It calls for a voluntary forum to assist coordination and collaboration for sustainable space exploration, although it does not establish a global space program. 2012 Developments * United States signs data-sharing agreement with Canada; eyes other countries * China deepens cooperation on space activities with various countries * European Commission and South Africa Space Agency enter scientific cooperation agreement * Hungary, Poland, and Romania launch their first satellites * Russia offers post-mission rehab to ISS astronauts INDICATOR 2.4: Growth in commercial space industry — The commercial space sector has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade. Companies that own and operate satellites and the ground support centers that control them are experiencing rapidly increasing revenues. Companies that manufacture satellites and ground equipment have also seen significant growth. Such companies include both direct contractors that design and build large systems and vehicles, smaller subcontractors responsible for system components, and software providers. More individual consumers are demanding these services, particularly satellite television and personal GPS devices. From satellite manufacturing and launch services to advanced navigation products and the provision of satellite-based communications, the global commercial space industry is thriving, with estimated annual revenues in excess of $200-billion. In addition to orders for satellite fleet replenishment, manufacturers and launch providers are looking to the robust demand for new space-based services to spur new satellite orders. The role that the commercial space sector plays in the provision of launch, communications, imagery, and manufacturing services, as well as its relationship with government, civil, and military programs, make this sector an important determinant of space security. A healthy space industry can lead to decreasing costs for space access and use, and may increase the accessibility of space technology for a wider range of space actors. Increased commercial competition in the research and development of new applications can also lead to the further diversification of capabilities to access and use space. 2012 Developments Growth in satellite market * Satellite market continues to expand * Space X delivers first commercial payload to ISS * Commercial launch market continues growth Space tourism * Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo reaches milestone * Golden Spike Company plans lunar commercial missions * Actress Sarah Brightman announced as next ISS tourist Commercial spaceports * Various commercial spaceports under development Commercial operators * Satellite broadband service expands to commercial airlines * Analysts and industry predict continued satellite industry growth * Companies announce plans to mine asteroids * LightSquared files for bankruptcy INDICATOR 2.5: Public-private collaboration on space activities — The commercial space sector is significantly shaped by the particular security concerns of national governments. There is an increasingly close relationship between governments and the commercial space sector. Various national space policies place great emphasis on maintaining a robust and competitive industrial base and encourage partnerships with the private sector. The space launch and manufacturing sectors rely heavily on government contracts. The retirement of the space shuttle in the United States, for instance, will likely open up new opportunities for the commercial sector to provide launch services for human spaceflight. Governments function as partners and regulators, while national militaries are increasingly reliant on commercial services. Governments play a central role in commercial space activities by supporting research and development, subsidizing certain space industries, and adopting enabling policies and regulations. Conversely, because space technology is often dual-use, governments have sometimes taken actions, such as the imposition of export controls, which hinder the growth of the commercial market. There is evidence of increased dialogue between commercial actors and governments on such issues as space traffic management and space situational awareness. National export regulations could gradually be influenced by the growing number of international partnerships formed by the commercial sector. There are challenges with public-private collaboration on space activities. The growing dependence of certain segments of the commercial space industry on military clients could have an adverse impact on space security by making commercial space assets the potential target of military attacks. 2012 Developments * United Kingdom provides financial boost to space commercial sector * European Defence Agency procures commercial bandwidth * NASA awards contracts, funding to various commercial companies * United Launch Alliance receives contracts for 11 launches from U.S. Air Force INDICATOR 2.6: Space-based military systems — The United States has dominated the military space arena since the end of the Cold War and continues to give priority to its military and intelligence programs. Building upon the capabilities of its GPS, the United States began to expand the role of military space systems. They are now integrated into virtually all aspects of military operations: providing indirect strategic support to military forces and enabling the application of military force in near-real-time tactical operations through precision weapons guidance. Russia maintains the second largest fleet of military satellites. Its early warning, imaging intelligence, communications, and navigation systems were developed during the Cold War. The Chinese government's space program does not maintain a strong separation between civil and military applications. Officially, its space program is dedicated to science and exploration, but as with the programs of many other actors, it is widely believed to provide support to the military. The Indian National Satellite System is one of the most extensive domestic satellite communications networks in Asia. To enhance its use of GPS, the country has been developing GAGAN, the Indian satellite-based augmentation system. This will be followed by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), which is to provide an independent satellite navigation capability. Although these are civiliandeveloped and -controlled technologies, they are used by the Indian military for its applications. States such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, and Spain have recently been developing multiuse satellites with a wider range of functions. As security becomes a key driver of these space programs, expenditures on multiuse space applications go up. In the absence of dedicated military satellites, many actors use their civilian satellites for military purposes or purchase data and services from civilian satellite operators. 2012 Developments Military space systems in major spacefaring nations * The United States continues to update existing space capabilities * Russia continues to update space capabilities * China continues deploying space-based military capabilities * India continues improving its remote sensing satellites Military and multiuse space capabilities in other countries * Mexico, Brazil to enhance their telecommunications capabilities * Iran continues to develop its space capabilities, despite launch failures * Israel continues to build space capabilities in the past year * North Korea launches Earth observation satellite Theme 3: Security of space systems INDICATOR 3.1: Vulnerability of satellite communications, broadcast links, and ground stations — Satellite ground stations and communications links constitute likely targets for space negation efforts, since they are vulnerable to a range of widely available conventional and electronic weapons. While military satellite ground stations and communications links are generally well protected, civil and commercial assets tend to have fewer protective features. Many commercial space systems have only one operations center and one ground station, making them particularly vulnerable to negation efforts. The vulnerability of civil and commercial space systems raises security concerns, since a number of military space actors are becoming increasingly dependent on commercial space assets for a variety of applications. Satellite communications links require specific electronic protective measures to safeguard their utility. Although unclassified information on these capabilities is difficult to obtain, it can be assumed that most space actors are able to take advantage of simple but reasonably robust electronic protective measures. Sophisticated electronic protective measures were traditionally unique to the military communications systems of technologically advanced states, but they are slowly being expanded to commercial satellites. While many actors employ passive electronic protection capabilities, such as shielding and directional antennas, more advanced measures, such as burst transmissions, are generally confined to military systems and the capabilities of more technically advanced states. Because the vast majority of space assets depend on cyber networks, the link between cyberspace and outer space constitutes a critical vulnerability. Satellite communications links require specific electronic protective measures to safeguard their utility. 2012 Developments * United States begins enforcement of ban on distribution of personal GPS jamming equipment * High Integrity Global Positioning System (HIGPS) capability prepares for full operational deployment * Eutelsat to field test anti-jamming capability * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommends establishment of United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) as a unified command INDICATOR 3.2: Protection of satellites against direct threats — Direct interference with satellites by conventional, nuclear, or directed energy weapons is much more difficult to defend against than attacks against ground stations. The primary source of protection for satellites stems from the difficulties associated with launching an attack of conventional weapons into and through the space environment to specific locations. Passive satellite protective measures include system redundancy and interoperability, which have become characteristics of satellite navigation systems. While no hostile anti-satellite (ASAT) attacks have been carried out, recent incidents, such as the 2007 ASAT test in which China destroyed one of its own satellites and the 2008 U.S. destruction of USA-193 using a modified SM-3 missile, testify to the availability and effectiveness of missiles to destroy an adversary's satellite. Spacebased surveillance systems, such as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) and Space Fence, enhance the ability to detect potential negation efforts. It is almost impossible to provide a physical hardening of satellites that protects them from conventional weapons, such as kinetic hit-to-kill, explosive, or pellet clouds. Directed energy weapons can make use of a ground-based laser directed at a satellite to temporarily dazzle or disrupt sensitive optics. Optical imaging systems on a remote sensing satellite or other sensors, such as the infrared Earth sensors that are part of the attitude control system of most satellites, would be most susceptible to laser interference. Since the attacker must be in the line of sight of the target, opportunities for attack are limited to the available territory below the satellite. Dispersing capabilities to a number of satellite operations can be used as a protective measure. Dispersion through the use of a constellation both increases the number of targets that must be negated and increases system survivability. Redundancy in satellite design and operations also offers a number of protective advantages. Since onsite repairs in space are not cost effective, some satellites employ redundant electronic systems to avoid single-point failures. 2012 Developments * U.S. Air Force delays decision to deploy disaggregated satellite missions INDICATOR 3.3: Capacity to rebuild space systems and integrate smaller satellites into space operations — The ability to rapidly rebuild space systems after an attack could reduce vulnerabilities in space. The capabilities to refit space systems by launching new satellites into orbit in a timely manner to replace satellites damaged or destroyed by an attack are critical resilience measures. Multiple programs show the prioritization of, and progress in, new technologies that can be integrated quickly into space operations. Smaller, less expensive spacecraft that may be fractionated or distributed on hosts can improve continuity of capability and enhance security through redundancy and rapid replacement of assets. While these characteristics may make attack against space assets less attractive, they can also make assets more difficult to track, and so inhibit transparency. Although the United States and Russia are developing elements of responsive space systems, no state has perfected this capability. A key U.S. responsive launch initiative is the Falcon program developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), which consists of launch vehicles capable of rapidly placing payloads into LEO and GEO. Organized under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, the Falcon 9 uses less expensive components and systems than traditional rockets, including nine kerosene/liquid-oxygen-burning Merlin engines. Similarly, the development of fractionated architectures is meant to provide system redundancy and increase assurance of continued operation of critical space infrastructures. 2012 Developments * ATK awarded DARPA Phoenix contract * NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission and CSA's Dextre perform second satellite servicing task from ISS * Initial Operational Capability declared for Operationally Responsive Space (ORS)-1 satellite * Deployment of smallsats on the rise INDICATOR 3.4: Earth-based capabilities to attack satellites — Some spacefaring nations possess the means to inflict intentional damage on an adversary's space assets. Ground-based anti-satellite weapons employing conventional, nuclear, and directed energy capabilities date back to the Cold War, but no hostile use of them has been recorded. Conventional anti-satellite weapons include precisionguided kinetic-intercept vehicles, conventional explosives, and specialized systems designed to spread lethal clouds of metal pellets in the orbital path of a targeted satellite. A space launch vehicle with a nuclear weapon would be capable of producing a High Altitude Nuclear Detonation (HAND), causing widespread and immediate electronic damage to satellites, combined with the long-term effects of false radiation belts, which would have an adverse impact on many satellites. The application of some destructive space negation capabilities, such as kinetic-intercept vehicles, would also generate space debris that could potentially inflict widespread damage on other space systems and undermine the sustainability of outer space. Security concerns about the development of negation capabilities are compounded by the fact that many key space capabilities are dual-use. For example, space launchers are required for many anti-satellite systems; microsatellites offer great advantages as space-based kinetic-intercept vehicles; and space surveillance capabilities can support both space debris collision avoidance strategies and targeting for weapons. The United States, China, and Russia lead in the development of more advanced ground-based kinetic-kill systems that are able to directly attack satellites. Recent incidents involving the use of ASATs against their own satellites (China in 2007 and the United States in 2008) underscore the detrimental effect that such systems have for space security. Such use not only aggravates the space debris problem, but contributes to a climate of mistrust among spacefaring nations. 2012 Developments * Jamming incidents and capabilities proliferate * Missile systems pursued by various countries * Directed energy weapons continue to be developed INDICATOR 3.5: Space-based negation enabling capabilities — Deploying space-based ASATs—using kinetic-kill, directed energy, or conventional explosive techniques—would require enabling technologies somewhat more advanced than the fundamental requirements for orbital launch. Space-based negation efforts require sophisticated capabilities, such as precision on-orbit maneuverability and space tracking. While microsatellites, maneuverability, and other autonomous proximity operations are essential building blocks for a space-based negation system, they have dual-use potential and are also advantageous for a variety of civil, commercial, and nonnegation military programs. For example, microsatellites provide an inexpensive option for many space applications, but could be modified to serve as kinetickill vehicles or offer targeting assistance for other kinetic-kill vehicles. Spacebased weapons targeting satellites with conventional explosives could potentially employ microsatellites to maneuver near a satellite and explode within close range. Microsatellites are relatively inexpensive to develop and launch and have a long lifespan; their intended purpose is difficult to determine until detonation. On-orbit servicing is also a key research priority for several civil space programs and supporting commercial companies. While some nations have developed these technologies, there is no evidence that they have integrated on-orbit servicing into a dedicated space-based negation system. 2012 Developments * Orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities continue to be pursued Theme 4: Outer Space policies and governance INDICATOR 4.1: National space policies and laws — The development of national space policies that delineate the principles and objectives of space actors with respect to access to and use of space has been conducive to greater transparency and predictability of space activities. National civil, commercial, and military space actors all operate according to these policies. Most spacefaring states explicitly support the principles of peaceful and equitable use of space, and emphasize space activities that promote national socioeconomic, scientific, and technological goals. Virtually all space actors underscore the importance of international cooperation in their space policies; several developing nations have been able to access space because of such cooperation. However, the military doctrines of a growing number of states emphasize the use of space systems to support national security. Major space powers and emerging spacefaring nations increasingly view space assets such as multiuse space systems as integral elements of their national security infrastructure. As well, more states have come to view their national space industries as fundamental drivers and components of their space policies. Bilateral cooperation agreements on space activities are increasingly common among spacefaring actors. A number of nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and the United States, have made innovation and development of industrial space sectors a key priority of their national space strategies. 2012 Developments * U.K. Space Agency publishes its Civil Space Strategy * Japan eases restrictions on military space development * States in the United States enact legislation on spaceflight liability * U.S. DoD Space Policy Directive and Defense Strategic Guidance issued * United States eases export controls on some satellites and related components INDICATOR 4.2: Multilateral forums for space governance — International institutions including the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Conference on Disarmament (CD) constitute the key multilateral forums in which issues related to space security are addressed. The UN General Assembly created COPUOS in 1958 to review the scope of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, develop relevant UN programs, encourage research and information exchanges on outer space matters, and study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. COPUOS and its two standing committees—the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee—develop recommendations based on questions and issues put before them by UNGA and Member States. In 2010 the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee established the Working Group on the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities. In 2011 a working paper containing the proposal of the Chair for the terms of reference, method of work, and work plan for the Working Group was presented to the Subcommittee. The Working Group is to examine and propose measures to ensure the safe and sustainable use of outer space for peaceful purposes, for the benefit of all countries. It will prepare a report on the long-term sustainability of outer space activities that includes a consolidated set of current practices and operating procedures, technical standards, and policies associated with the safe conduct of space activities. Also in 2011 the UN Secretary-General established, on the basis of equitable geographical distribution, a Group of Governmental Experts on Transparency and Confidence-building Measures (TCBMs) in Outer Space Activities to conduct a study commencing in 2012 and to report to UNGA in 2013. While at the end of 2012 the adoption of a Program of Work remained an elusive pursuit for the Conference on Disarmament, overwhelming support for the resolution on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) at the UNGA indicates broad international consensus in support of consolidating and reinforcing the normative regime for space governance to enhance its effectiveness. 2012 Developments * Various states deliver statements on PAROS at the CD, although the conference remains unable to agree on Program of Work * COPUOS remains active; Working Group on Long-Term Sustainability of Space Activities holds first formal meetings * First meeting of UN Group of Governmental Experts on TCBMs in Outer Space Activities convened * ITU condemns satellite jamming INDICATOR 4.3: Other initiatives — Historically, primary governance challenges facing outer space activities have been discussed at multilateral bodies related to, or under the auspices of, the United Nations, such as COPUOS, the General Assembly First Committee, or the CD. However, diplomatic efforts outside these forums have been undertaken. A notable example is the process to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The European Union, which has led the process, made an early decision to carry out deliberations and consultations in an ad hoc manner, not bound by the decision-making rules of procedure of traditional UN bodies. Adoption of the Code would take place at an ad hoc diplomatic conference. A growing number of diplomatic initiatives relate to bilateral or regional collaborations in space activities. Examples of this include the work of the AsiaPacific Regional Space Agency Forum and discussions within the African Union to develop an African space agency. The UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)—an autonomous institute within the UN system—has also played a key role to facilitate dialogue among key space stakeholders. Every year UNIDIR partners with civil society actors and some governments to bring together space security experts and government representatives at a conference on emerging security threats to outer space. 2012 Developments * EU kicks off multilateral consultation process on proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities * Various regional forums tackle space security, cooperation * UNIDIR hosts 11th annual Space Security Conference Full report at www.spacesecurity.org 2013
Annual Financial Statements and other Information Contents 36 FACT: Clean melted stainless steel is used for medical implants and artificial hips. Because of its hygienic and easy-to-clean qualities, stainless steel is also used for medical equipment. APPROVAL OF ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 December 2005 The financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2005, which appear on pages 39 to 68 were approved by the directors on 26 June 2006. reasonable and prudent judgement and estimates made by Management. To discharge this responsibility the Group maintains accounting and administrative control systems designed to provide reasonable assurance that assets are safeguarded and that transactions are executed and recorded in accordance with generally accepted business practices and procedures. The accounting policies of the Group are set out on pages 46 to 50 of this report. Chris Molefe Non-Executive Chairman 26 June 2006 Steve Phiri Chief Executive Officer 26 June 2006 The directors are responsible for the fair presentation to shareholders of the affairs of the Company and of the Group as at the end of the financial year. They are also responsible for the presentation to the shareholders of the results for the year, as set out in the annual financial statements. The directors are responsible for the overall co-ordination of the preparation, presentation and approval of the financial statements. Responsibility for the initial preparation of these statements was delegated to the officers of the Company and the Group. The auditors are responsible for auditing and reporting on the financial statements in the course of executing their statutory duties. The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. They conform with the applicable accounting standards, and are presented applying consistent accounting policies, unless otherwise indicated, supported by REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS to the Members of Merafe Resources Limited for the year ended 31 December 2005 We have audited the annual financial statements and group annual financial statements of Merafe Resources Limited set out on pages 39 to 68 for the year ended 31 December 2005. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's directors. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.˚ An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.˚ ˚ In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company and of the Group as at 31 December 2005, and of the results of their operations and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, and in the manner required by the Companies Act in South Africa.˚ KPMG Inc Registered Auditors Chartered Accountants (SA) 26 June 2006 COMPANY SECRETARY'S CERTIFICATION for the year ended 31 December 2005 I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the Company has lodged with the Registrar of Companies all such returns as are required to be lodged by a public company in terms of section 268 G (d) of the Companies Act 61 of 1973 as amended, and that all such returns are true, correct and up to date. Amritha Mahendranath Company Secretary Sandton 26 June 2006 DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITY FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING for the year ended 31 December 2005 The directors of the Group are responsible for the preparation, integrity and objectivity of the annual financial statements. In terms of this responsibility the directors need to ensure that these financial statements fairly present the financial position of the Company and the Group and the results for the year under review. In fulfilling this responsibility, the Board of Directors relies on Management to implement proper systems of internal control to provide reasonable, but not absolute assurance as to the integrity and reliability of the financial statements and to adequately safeguard the Group's assets. The manner in which the Board of Directors ensures that this responsibility is effectively discharged is set out in the Sustainable Development Report preceding the annual financial statements. The external auditors are responsible for independently reviewing the financial statements and expressing an opinion on them. Standards and incorporate reasonable disclosures of all material facts. The accounting policies applied in the preparation of the financial statements are consistent, unless otherwise indicated, with those of the previous year and are appropriate for the nature of our business. The directors of the Group, having knowledge of the affairs of the Group and its financial position, are of the opinion that the Group and its individual companies are going concerns and have prepared the financial statements on this basis. Chris Molefe Non-Executive Chairman 26 June 2006 Steve Phiri Chief Executive Officer 26 June 2006 To the best of its knowledge and belief, the Board of Directors is satisfied that the system of internal controls may be relied on for preparing the financial statements of the Company and the Group and safeguarding its assets; and that no material breakdown has occurred during the period under review. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting FACT: Because thinner sections of stainless steel can be used in construction, it lends itself to innovative, cost effective design structures. OUR REPORTING COMMITMENT for the year ended 31 December 2005 We take a long-term and responsible approach to our business and are committed to the vision of the BroadBased Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining Industry, which is to develop a globally competitive mining industry that draws on the human and financial resources of South Africa's people, offers real benefits to all South Africans and proudly reflects the promise of a nonracial South Africa. DIRECTORS' REPORT for the year ended 31 December 2005 Nature of Business Merafe Resources Limited (Merafe Resources) through the Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture (the Venture), participates in chrome mining and the beneficiation of chrome ore into ferrochrome. Currently its major assets consist of a UG2 plant, which processes UG2 ore, a ferrochrome smelter at Boshoek in the North West Province of South Africa at which chrome ore is beneficiated into ferrochrome and Horizon Chrome Mine, which produces chrome ore. Its assets also include a 50% interest in the Kroondal resources, a 26% interest in the Marikana resources and a 20.5% interest in a chrome smelting complex currently under construction, which is known as Project Lion, situated in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa (refer page 5 of the annual report for further details on Merafe Resources assets). The ferrochrome output of the Venture is marketed to the stainless steel industry. The Group's structure is to be found on page 4. Group Financial Results The financial statements set out fully the financial results of the Group on pages 39 to 68. These financial We are also committed to providing access to relevant, high quality information on the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Company's activities, which allows assessment of the organisation's sustainability. This is in keeping with the global reform of corporate governance reflected in the King II report and the Global Reporting Initiative Framework. The Scorecard for the Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter statements have been prepared using appropriate accounting policies, conforming to International Financial Reporting Standards, supported by reasonable and prudent judgements where required. Merafe s share of the earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from the XstrataMerafe Chrome Venture is accounted for as follows: 11% up to June 2005, 14% up to November 2005 and 17% thereafter, following the Wonderkop Acquisition. In addition to Merafe s share of EBITDA, corporate expenses, interest on debt and depreciation on assets of Merafe are deducted to determine earnings before taxation. No transfer of assets to the Xstrata-Merafe Chrome venture occurred and these assets are depreciated and amortised as described in theaccounting policies. Borrowing powers Subject to articles 130 and 132 of the constitution governing the Board of Merafe Resources, the directors may from time to time, at their discretion, raise, borrow, or secure, the payment of any sum or sums of money for the purposes of the Company as they see fit. for the South African Mining Industry was released by Government in February 2003. The objective of this scorecard, which is divided into nine monitoring areas, is to measure the progress by stakeholders in achieving the aims of the Charter. In the corporate governance section preceding the annual financial statements we have measured ourselves against both the specific targets set in the scorecard and the targets that we have set for ourselves. Going Concern The directors believe that Merafe Resources has sufficient resources and expected cashflows to continue as a going concern. Dividend Policy The Group's dividend policy will be determined after taking into consideration the Group's need to retain capital for the purposes of development, expansion and growth, repaying its long-term debt and prevailing market circumstances. Ordinary dividends for the year ended 31 December 2005 No ordinary dividends were declared or paid during the year (31 December 2004: R nil). Share Capital Full details of the authorised and issued share capital of the Company are set out in Note 12 to the annual financial statements. During the year to 31 December 2005 the following shares were issued for the purpose stated: DIRECTORS' REPORT for the year ended 31 December 2005 ¥ On 14 November 2005 Merafe Resources issued 1,007,239,942 ordinary shares in terms of the rights offer, the terms of which were announced on 7 October 2005. These shares were offered at 55 cents per share. The R554 million raised was used to partly fund Merafe Resources contribution to the Project Lion development and to partly fund the Wonderkop Acquisition. ¥ 2, 333, 333 shares were issued to employees exercising their share options. Directorate During the year under review, and up to the date of this report, the following changes were made to the Group's directorate: Zanele Matlala and Lebo Mogotsi joined the Board as independent non-executive directors. Non-executive directors Dr Todor Vlajcic and Reinier Posthumus Meyjes both resigned from the Board during 2005 as a result of conflicts of interests, which may arise from their new business ventures. Mr Guy Clarke, joined the Board in August 2005 as a non-executive director, representing the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). When he resigned from the employ of the IDC, in terms of IDC policy, he also resigned from the Merafe Resources Board. He will be replaced by a nonexecutive director to be nominated by the IDC. The Board will also be considering further candidates for i n d e p e n d e n t n o n - e x e c u t i v e directorships. The non-executive directors did not receive any fees prior to 2005. During 2005 the Board made the decision to remunerate non-executive directors for services rendered during 2004 and 2005. Payment for attendance at Board meeting forms part of the fees of non-executive directors, who are remunerated for the meetings they attend. Company Secretary and registered office: Amritha Mahendranath 1st Floor, Block B 68 Wierda Road East Wierda Valley Sandton 2196. PO Box 652157 Benmore, 2010. Major Shareholders To the best of our knowledge, the following shareholders were the registered holders of five per cent or more of the issued ordinary shares in the Company at 31 December 2005: ¥ Royal Bafokeng Resources Holdings (Pty) Limited 32.04% ¥ The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited 24.33% ¥ Allan Gray Asset Management 10.38% ¥ Stanlib Asset Management 8.26%. Details of the current Board of Directors are set out on pages 16 and 17 of this annual report. A detailed report on directors' emoluments has been prepared in accordance with the JSE Limited Listings Requirements and appears in Note 3 to the annual financial statements. Directors Interests in Merafe Resources As at 31 December 2005 the directors of the Group are beneficially interested (directly and indirectly) in 1,897,112 shares. \| 2005 Direct Indirect \| \| 2004 Direct Indirect \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 62,000 - 1,165,112 - \| - 600,000 70,000 - \| \| \| 1,227,112 \| 670,000 \| \| DIRECTORS' REPORT for the year ended 31 December 2005 Special Resolutions The special resolutions passed by Merafe Resources during the year were: 26 July 2005 Special Resolution Number One: Resolved as a special resolution that, in terms of section 75 (1) (a) of the Companies Act, No 61 of 1973, as amended, and Article 20 of the Articles of Association of the Company and with effect from the registration of this special resolution, the Company s authorised share capital be and is hereby increased from R20 000 000 to R27 500 000 by the creation of 750 000 000 ordinary shares with a par value of R0.01 each ranking pari passu in all respects with the other ordinary shares in the capital of the Company. Special Resolution Number Two: Resolved as a special resolution that, subject to the passing and registration of special resolution number one proposed at the general meeting convened to consider this special resolution, paragraph 8(a) and paragraph 8(a)(i) of the Company s memorandum of association be and is hereby amended by substituting R27 500 000 for the reference for R20 000 000 and 2 750 000 for the reference for 2 000 000. Details of Investments in Subsidiaries \| Issued share capital R \| Percentage holdings 31 Dec 31 Dec 2005 2004 \| Shares at cost 31 Dec 31 Dec 2005 2004 R R \| Loans to/(from) subsidiaries 31 Dec 31 Dec 2005 2004 R R \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 100% 100% 100% \| 100 200 400 \| (102) 725,567 - \| Interest in the profits of subsidiaires for the year ended 31 December 2005 amounts to R41.7 million (31 December 2004: R20.0 million). Post balance sheet date events The directors are not aware of any material fact or circumstance that has occurred after the balance sheet date, being 31 December 2005 and the date of this report, other than those disclosed in the Future Prospects section of the Chief Executive Officer s Review. In June 2006 the Company issued 88.4 million shares at an average price of 57 cents, raising capital of R50 million. In terms of JSE Listings Requirements Merafe Resources has prepared the consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its interpretations adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Consolidated Income Statements for the year ended 31 December 2005 \| Note \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| \| 614,562 (511,387) \| 502,369 (443,121) \| - (23,525) \| \| \| \| 103,175 - \| 59,248 61 \| (23,525) 20,775 - \| \| \| \| 103,175 (57,933) \| 59,309 (38,585) \| (2,750) 2,750 \| \| \| \| (60,948) 3,015 \| (42,218) 3,633 \| (18) 2,768 \| (43) 2,105 \| \| \| 45,242 (3,535) \| 20,724 - \| - - \| \| \| \| 41,707 \| 20,724 \| - \| \| \| \| 3.05 3.01 (6,987) \| \| (153) \| \| Consolidated Balance Sheets as at 31 December 2005 \| Note \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| \| 1,330,840 \| 740,826 \| 729,688 \| \| \| \| 258 1,330,236 346 \| 258 740,222 346 \| 258 3,965 725,465 \| 258 4,151 216,634 \| \| \| 692,500 \| 486,791 \| 85,597 \| \| \| \| - - 324,309 281,449 86,742 \| 6,062 1,752 237,271 189,486 52,220 \| - - - 890 84,707 \| 6,062 1,752 - 1,154 48,398 \| \| \| 2,023,340 \| 1,227,617 \| 815,285 \| \| \| \| 904,868 \| 319,029 \| 803,991 \| \| \| \| 22,475 1,091,743 2,510 - (211,860) \| 12,379 557,035 1,545 1,637 (253,567) \| 22,475 1,091,743 2,510 - (312,737) \| 12,379 557,035 1,545 1,637 (312,737) \| \| \| 232,425 \| 395,990 \| 7 \| \| \| \| 224,833 7,592 \| 391,776 4,214 \| 7 - \| 49 - \| \| \| 886,047 \| 512,598 \| 11,287 \| \| \| \| 585,828 26,003 100,047 174,169 \| 412,079 21,817 54,669 24,033 \| 1,239 10,001 47 - \| 3,270 9,823 5,408 - \| \| \| 2,023,340 \| 1,227,617 \| 815,285 \| \| Statements of Changes in Shareholders Equity for the year ended 31 December 2005 \| Note \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| \| 22,475 \| 12,379 \| 22,475 \| \| \| \| 12,379 10,096 \| 11,956 423 \| 12,379 10,096 \| 11,956 423 \| \| \| 1,091,743 \| 557,035 \| 1,091,743 \| \| \| \| 557,035 534,708 \| 527,217 29,818 \| 557,035 534,708 \| 527,217 29,818 \| \| \| 2,510 \| 1,545 \| 2,510 \| \| \| \| 1,545 965 \| 849 696 \| 1,545 965 \| 849 696 \| \| \| (211,860) \| (253,567) \| (312,737) \| \| \| \| (253,567) - \| (316,740) 42,449 \| (312,737) - \| (20,247) (849) \| \| \| (253,567) 41,707 - \| 274,291 5,548 15,176 \| (312,737) - - \| (21,096) (290,945) (696) \| \| \| - \| 1,637 \| - \| \| \| \| 1,637 322 (1,959) \| 129 1,508 - \| 1,637 322 (1,959) \| 129 1,508 - \| \| \| 904,868 \| 319,029 \| 803,991 \| \| Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 December 2005 FACT: Certain stainless steel grades, such as 310, which contains 25% chromium and 20% nickel, is far more resistant to high temperatures than ordinary carbon steel. 1. Significant Accounting Policies Merafe Resources Limited (the Company) is a company domiciled in the Republic of South Africa. The consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2005 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (together referred to as the Group). instruments held for trading, financial instruments classified as available-forsale and equity-settled share based payments. The financial statements were authorised for issue by the directors on 26 June 2006. 1.1 Statement of Compliance The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its interpretations adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). These are the Group's first IFRS compliant financial statements and IFRS 1 has been applied. An explanation of how the transition of IFRS has affected the reported financial position, financial performance and cash flows of the Group is provided in note 26. 1.2 Basis of Preparation The financial statements are presented in Rand, rounded to the nearest thousand. They are prepared on the historical cost basis, except for the following assets and liabilities, which are stated at their fair value: derivative financial instruments, financial The preparation of financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenses. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis of making the judgements about carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future period if the revision affects both current and future periods. The accounting policies set out below have been applied consistently to all periods presented in these consolidated financial statements and in preparing an opening IFRS balance sheet at 1 April 2004 for the purposes of the transition to IFRS. Judgements made by Management in the application of IFRS that have a signficant effect on the financial statements and estimates with a significant risk of material adjustment in the next year are discussed in note 26. There are Standards and Interpretations in issue that are not yet effective. These include the following Standards and Interpretations that are applicable to the business of the entity and may have an impact on future financial statements: ¥ IFRS6, Exploration for and evaluation of mineral resources; ¥ IFRIC 4, Determining whether an arrangement contains a lease; ¥ IFRIC 5, Rights to interests arising from decommissioning, restoration and environmental rehabilitation funds; ¥ IFRS 7, Financial instruments: disclosures (including amendments to IAS1, Presentation of financial statements: capital disclosure). It is currently estimated that these standards and interpretations will not have a material effect on the financial statements. The accounting policies have been applied consistently by Group entities. 1.3 Basis of consolidation 1.3.1 Subsidiaries Subsidiares are entities controlled by the Company. Control exists when the Company has the power, directly or indirectly, to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities. In assessing control, potential voting rights that presently are exercisable or convertible are taken into account. The financial statements of subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements from the date that control commences until the date that control ceases. In the Company financial statements, subsidiaries are stated at cost less accumulated impairment losses. 1.3.2 Transactions Eliminated on Consolidation Intragroup balances and any unrealised gains and losses or income and expenses arising from intragroup transactions, are eliminated in preparing the consolidated financial statements. 1.3.3. Transactions with XstrataMerafe Chrome Venture The Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture resulted in Xstrata and Merafe Resources pooling and sharing their ferrochrome assets. Accounting policy 1.12.1 describes the accounting of the Group s share or revenue generated by the venture, while note 23.3 contains details of the Group s share of the working capital and EBITDA of the venture. 1.4. Foreign Currency 1.4.1 Foreign Currency Transactions Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the foreign exchange rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the balance sheet date are translated to Rand at the foreign exchange rate ruling at that date. Foreign exchange differences arising on translation are recognised in the income statement. Non-monetary assets and liabilities that are measured in terms of historical cost in a foreign currency are translated using the exchange rate at the date of the transaction. Non-monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies that are stated at fair value are translated to Rand at foreign exchange rates ruling at the dates the fair value was determined. 1.5. Property, Plant and Equipment 1.5.1 Mining Assets Mining assets, including mine development costs and mine plant facilities are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Costs include preproduction expenditure incurred in the development of the mine and the p r e s e n t v a l u e o f f u t u r e decommissioning costs. Interest on borrowings to specifically finance the establishment of mining assets is capitalised until substantially all the activities for that mining asset s intended use are complete. Development costs incurred to develop new ore bodies, to define mineralisation in existing ore bodies and to establish or expand productive capacity are capitalised. Mine development costs in the ordinary course of maintaining production are expensed as incurred. Initial development and pre-production costs relating to a new ore body are capitalised until the ore body achieves commercial levels of production, at which time, the asset is deemed to be available for use and is amortised as set out below. 1.5.2 Mineral and Surface Rights Mineral and surface rights are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. When there is little likelihood of a mineral right being exploited, or the value of mineral rights have diminished below cost, an impairment loss is affected against income in the period that such determination is made. 1.5.3 Non-mining Assets Land is shown at cost and is not depreciated. Buildings and other non-mining fixed assets are shown at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. The cost of selfconstructed assets includes the cost of materials, direct labour, the initial estimate, where relevant, of the costs of dismantling and removing the items and restoring the site on which they are located and, an appropriate proportion of production overheads. Where parts of an item of property, plant and equipment have different useful lives, they are accounted for as separate items of property, plant and equipment. 1.5.4 Subsequent Costs The Group recognises in the carrying amount of an item of property, plant and equipment the cost of replacing part of such an item when that cost is incurred if it is probable that the future economic benefits embodied with the item will flow to the Group and the cost of the item can be measured reliably. All other costs are recognised in the income statement as an expense as incurred. 1.5.5 Depreciation and Amortisation Assets are depreciated and amortised using the methods disclosed below to their respective residual values. Residual values, if not insignificant, are re-assessed annually. 188.8.131.52 Mine development costs Mine development costs are amortised using the units-of-production method, based on estimated proven and probable ore reserves. Proven and probable ore reserves reflect estimated quantities of economically recoverable reserves, which can be recovered in future from known mineral deposits. These reserves are reassessed annually. 184.108.40.206 Mineral and surface rights Mineral rights that are being depleted are amortised over their estimated useful lives using the units-of-production method, based on proven and probable ore reserves. Where the reserves are not determinable, due to their scattered nature, the straight line method is applied. Mineral rights that are not being depleted are not amortised. Mineral rights that have no commercial value are impaired in full. 220.127.116.11 Mining assets Mining equipment and structures and plant and equipment are depreciated using the lesser of their estimated useful lives and the units-of-production method based on estimated proven and probable ore reserves. Where ore reserves are not determinable, because of their scattered nature, the straight line method of depreciation is applied. 18.104.22.168. Non-mining assets Non-mining assets which are depreciated are depreciated on a straight line basis over their estimated useful lives as follows: ¥ Motor vehicles 20% ¥ Furniture and equipment 20%. 22.214.171.124. Leased assets Leases in terms of which the Group assumes substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership are classified as finance leases. Lease payments are accounted for as described in accounting policy 1.13.3. 1.6 Financial Instruments Financial instruments recognised on the balance sheet include cash and cash equivalents, investments, trade and other receivables, borrowings, trade and other payables and derivative financial instruments. The particular recognition methods adopted are disclosed in the individual policy statements associated with each item. 1.6.1 Investments Investments comprise investments in bonds which are classified as availablefor-sale and are accounted for at fair value with all gains and losses included in equity. 1.6.2. Derivative financial instruments Derivative financial instruments are initially recognised in the balance sheet at cost and subsequently are remeasured at their fair value. Derivative financial instruments, while providing effective economic hedges under the Group's risk management policies, do not qualify for hedge accounting under the specific rules of IAS 39. Therefore all gains and losses resulting from such derivative financial instruments are immediately recognised in the income statement. 1.6.3 Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash balances and call deposits. Bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand and form an integral part of the Group's cash management are included as a component of cash and cash equivalents for the purpose of the statement of cash flows. 1.6.4 Trade receivables Trade receivables are carried at anticipated realisable value. Estimates are made for impairment losses based on a review of all outstanding amounts at year-end. Irrecoverable amounts are written off during the year in which they are identified. 1.6.5 Trade payables Accounts payable are stated at cost, adjusted for payments made to reflect the value of the anticipated economic outflow of resources. 1.6.6 Provisions Provisions are recognised when the Group has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of past events where it is probable that an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation, and a reliable estimate of the amount of the obligation can be made. If the effect is material provisions are determined by discounting the expected future cash flows at a pretax rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and, where appropriate, the risks specific to the liability. 1.7 Inventories Inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Net realisable value is the estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business, less the estimated costs of completion and selling expenses. Cost is determined on the following basis: ¥ Finished goods on hand are valued using the weighted average cost. Cost includes production, amortisation,related administration costs. ¥ Work-in-progress is valued at weighted average cost. Costs include production, amortisation and related administration costs. ¥ Consumable stores and raw materials are valued at weighted average cost. 1.8 Impairment The carrying amount of the Group's assets, other than inventories are reviewed at each balance sheet date to determine whether there is any indication of impairment. If any such indication exists, the asset's recoverable amount is estimated. An impairment loss is recognised whenever the carrying amount of an asset or its cash-generating unit exceeds its recoverable amount. Impairment losses are recognised in the income statement. Impairment losses recognised in respect of cash-generating units are allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill allocated to cash-generating units (group of units) and then, to reduce the carrying amount of the other assets in the unit (group of units) on a pro rata basis. 1.8.1 Calculation of Recoverable Amount The recoverable amount of assets is the greater of their net selling price and value in use. The estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset. For an asset that does not generate largely independent cash inflows, the recoverable amount is determined for the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs. 1.8.2 Reversals of Impairment An impairment loss is reversed if there has been a change in the estimates used to determine the recoverable amount. An impairment loss is reversed only to the extent that the asset's carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined, net of depreciation or amortisation, if no impairment loss had been recognised. 1.9 Share Capital 1.9.1 Preference Share Capital Preference share capital is classified as equity if it is non-redeemable and any dividends are discretionary, or is redeemable but only at the Company's option. Dividends on preference share capital classified as equity are recognised as distributions within equity. Preference share capital is classified as a liability if it is redeemable on a specific date or at the option of the shareholders or if dividend payments are not discretionary. Dividends thereon are recognised in the income statement as an interest expense. 1.9.2 Dividends Dividends on redeemable preference shares are recognised as a liability and expensed on an accrual basis. Other dividends are recognised as a liability in the period in which they are declared. 1.10 Interest-bearing Borrowings Interest-bearing borrowings are recognised initially at fair value less attributable transaction costs. Subsequent to initial recognition, interest-bearing borrowings are stated at amortised cost with any difference between cost and redemption value being recognised in the income statement over the period of the borrowings on an effective interest basis. 1.11 Employee Benefits 1.11.1 Defined contribution plans Pension plans are funded through monthly contributions to the Merafe Resources Provident Fund. Obligations for contribution to the defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the income statement as incurred. The Group's liability is limited to its annually determined contributions. The Group provides medical cover to current employees through various funds. The medical plans are funded through monthly contributions to the medical aid fund. The Group's contributions to the defined contribution medical aid plans are recognised as an expense in the income statement as incurred. The Group's liability is limited to its annually determined contributions. 1.11.2 Equity-settled share based payments The share option programme allows qualifying directors and certain employees to acquire share options under an employee share option scheme. Share options may be granted to all employees of the Company and of its subsidiaries at the discretion of the directors, subject to the limitations imposed by the share option scheme. The fair value of options is measured at grant date and spread over the period during which the employees become unconditionally entitled to the options. The fair value of the options granted is measured using a BlackScholes-Merton model, taking into account the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted. The amount recognised as an expense is adjusted to reflect the actual number of share options that vest except where forfeiture is due only to share prices not achieving the threshold for vesting. 1.11.3 Provision for close-down and restoration costs Long-term environmental obligations are based on the Group environmental management plans, in compliance with current environmental and regulatory requirements. Full provision is made based on the net present value of the estimated cost of restoring the environmental disturbance that has occurred up to balance sheet date. The related entries are capitalised to mining assets and are amortised over the useful lives of the related assets. Annual movements in the provision relating to the change in the net present value of the provision due to changes in estimated cash flows or discount rates are adjusted against the costs capitalised to mining assets. Annual movements in the provision relating to passage of time, i.e. unwinding of discount is expensed in earnings. Cost estimates are not reduced by the potential proceeds from the sale of assets or from plant clean up at closure, in view of the uncertainty of estimating the potential future proceeds. When necessary, contributions are made to a dedicated rehabilitation trust fund to fund the estimated cost of rehabilitation during and at the end of the life of the relevant mine. The amounts contributed to this trust fund are included under non-current assets. Income earned on monies paid to rehabilitation trust funds is accrued on an annual basis and is recorded as interest income. 1.12. Revenue from mining and smelting operations 1.12.1 Goods Sold The Group accounts for its share of revenue generated by the XstrataMerafe Chrome Venture. Revenues associated with sales of commodities are recognised when all significant risks and rewards of ownership of the commodities are sold and transferred to the customer, usually when the commodity is delivered to the shipping agent. Revenue usually includes priced cost, insurance and freight (CIF). Revenue from the sales of by-products is also included in revenue. 1.12.2 Interest Income Interest income is recognised on a time proportion basis taking account of the principal outstanding and the effective rate to maturity on the accrual basis. 1.13 Expenses 1.13.1 Exploration and Evaluation Costs Exploration and evaluation costs for each area of interest, other than that acquired from the purchase of another mining company, are carried forward as an asset provided that one of the following conditions is met: ¥ Such costs are expected to be recouped through successful development and exploration of the area of interest or alternatively, by its sale; or ¥ Exploration and evaluation activities in the area of interest have not yet reached a stage that permits a reasonable assessment of the existence of otherwise of economically recoverable reserves and active and significant operations in relation to the area are continuing. Exploration and evaluation expenditure that fails to meet at least one of the conditions outlined above is written off. Identifiable exploration and evaluation assets acquired are recognised as assets at their cost of acquisition. Exploration and evaluation assets are regularly reassessed and these costs are carried forward provided that at least one of the conditions outlined above is met. 1.13.2 Operating Lease Payments Payments made under operating leases are recognised in the income statement on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease. 1.13.3 Finance Lease Payments Minimum lease payments are basis apportioned between the finance charge and the reduction of the outstanding liability. The finance charge is allocated to each period during the lease term so as to produce a consistent periodic rate of interest in the remaining balance of the liability. 1.13.4 Financing Costs Financing costs comprise interest payable on borrowings calculated using the effective interest rate method, dividends on redeemable preference shares and interest receivable on funds invested. The interest expense component of finance lease payments is recognised in the income statement using the effective interest rate method. 1.13.5 Segment Reporting A segment is a distinguishable component of the Group that is engaged either in providing products or services (business segment), or in providing products or services within a particular economic environment (geographical segment), which is subject to risks and rewards that are different from those of other segments. The Group identified only one segment. 1.14 Income Tax Income tax on the profit or loss for the year comprises current and deferred tax. Income tax is recognised in the income statement except to the extent that it relates to items recognised directly in equity, in which case it is recognised in equity. Current tax is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the year, using tax rates enacted or substantially enacted at the balance sheet date, and any adjustment to tax payable in respect of previous years. Deferred tax is provided using the balance sheet liability method, providing for temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for taxation purposes. The following temporary differences are not provided for: goodwill not deductible for tax purposes, the initial recognition of assets or liabilities that affect neither accounting nor taxable profit, and differences relating to investments in subsidiaries to the extent that they will probably not reverse in the foreseeable future. The amount of deferred tax provided is based on the expected manner of realisation or settlement of the carrying amount of assets and liabilities, using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date. Deferred tax assets including deferred tax assets relating to the carry forward of unutilised tax losses and/or unutilised capital allowances are recognised only to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will be available against which the asset can be utilised. Deferred tax assets are reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that the relaxed tax benefit will be realised. Additional income taxes that arise from the distribution of dividends are recognised at the same time as the liability to pay the related dividend. \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 1,851 370 97 244 \| 1,138 185 154 165 \| 1,851 370 97 244 \| \| \| 2,562 \| 1,642 \| 2,562 \| \| \| 1,736 321 185 234 \| 1,115 161 108 158 \| 1,736 321 185 234 \| \| \| 2,476 \| 1,542 \| 2,476 \| \| \| 1,694 321 160 228 \| 1,094 161 111 155 \| 1,694 321 160 228 \| \| \| 2,403 \| 1,521 \| 2,403 \| \| \| 1,284 321 78 \| 1,094 161 104 \| 1,284 321 78 \| \| \| 1,683 \| 1,359 \| 1,683 \| \| \| 9,124 \| 6,064 \| 9,124 \| \| \| (60,948) \| (42,218) \| (18) \| \| \| (32,648) (28,281) (10) (9) \| (40,991) - (1,227) - \| - - (9) (9) \| (21) - (22) - \| \| 3,015 \| 3,633 \| 2,768 \| \| \| 2,749 266 \| 2,933 700 \| 2,714 54 \| 2,030 75 \| \| (57,933) \| (38,585) \| 2,750 \| \| 5. Income tax expense \| Group \| Company \| \|---\|---\| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| - \| No income tax expense has been recognised, as the Company has an estimated assessed loss of R 821,572 (31 December 2004: R 3,100,340) as well as unredeemed capital expenditure of R 198,637 (31 December 2004: R 198,637). No income tax expense has been recognised in the Group as the Group companies have assessed losses. The total estimated assessed losses within the Group are R 96,907,202 (31 December 2004: R 191 067 027) and the total estimated unredeemed capital expenditure of R 1,262,091,079 (31 December 2004: R742 953 403). No deferred tax assets were raised on the estimated assessed losses and the estimated unredeemed capital expenditure as it is uncertain whether future taxable profits will be available against which the unutilised tax losses and capital allowances can be utilised. \| Group \| \|---\| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 \| \| 29% 7.8% 1.0% 10.8% (40.8%) \| \| 7.8% \| 6. Earnings per share (cents) 6.1 Basic earnings per share (cents) The calculation of basic earnings per share at 31 December 2005 is based on profit attributable to ordinary share holders of R 41,707,132 (31 December 2004: R20,723,520) and a weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year ended 31 December 2005 of 1,365,455,520 (31 December 2004: 1,236,676,723). 6. Earnings per share (cents) contd 6.2 Headline earnings per share (cents) 6.3 Diluted earnings per share (cents) The calculation of diluted earnings per share at 31 December 2005 is based on profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of R 41,707,132 (31 December 2004: R 20,723,520) and a weighted average number of shares outstanding during the year ended 31 December 2005 of 1,387,858,250 (31 December 2004: 1,276,850,171). \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 \| \|---\| \| 1,365,455,520 22,402,730 \| \| 1,387,858,250 \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 258 \| 258 \| 258 \| \| \| 24,556 \| 16,438 \| 3,816 \| \| \| 30,162 (5,606) \| 16,792 (354) \| 3,816 - \| 3,816 - \| \| - \| 7,990 \| - \| \| \| 24,556 96,720 (814) 120,462 \| 24,428 723 (595) 24,556 \| 3,816 - - 3,816 \| \| \| 126,882 (6,420) \| 30,162 (5,606) \| 3,816 - \| 3,816 - \| A register of the mineral rights and title deeds is available for inspection at the registered office of the Company. \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 648,121 \| 644,945 \| - \| \| \| 653,537 (5,416) \| 648,601 (3,656) \| - - \| - - \| \| 53,043 (2,477) 698,687 \| 4,936 (1,760) 648,121 \| - - - \| \| \| 706,580 (7,893) \| 653,537 (5,416) \| - - \| - - \| \| 40,878 \| 34,580 \| - \| \| \| 43,643 (2,765) \| 36,395 (1,815) \| - - \| - - \| \| - (1,482) 39,396 \| 7,248 (950) 40,878 \| - - - \| \| \| 43,643 (4,247) \| 43,643 (2,765) \| - - \| - - \| \| 13,539 \| 21,929 \| - \| \| \| 15,980 (2,441) \| 28,627 (6,698) \| - - \| - - \| \| - \| (7,990) \| - \| \| \| 13,539 25,619 (1,373) 37,785 \| 13,939 - (400) 13,539 \| - - - - \| \| \| 41,599 (3,814) \| 15,980 (2,441) \| - - \| - - \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 675 \| 944 \| 22 \| \| \| 2,187 (1,512) \| 2,187 (1,243) \| 94 (72) \| 94 (58) \| \| (213) 462 \| (269) 675 \| (19) 3 \| \| \| 2,187 (1,725) \| 2,187 (1,512) \| 94 (91) \| 94 (72) \| \| 301 \| 435 \| 217 \| \| \| 893 (592) \| 893 (458) \| 639 (422) \| 639 (326) \| \| (96) (112) 93 \| - (134) 301 \| (96) (61) 60 \| \| \| 392 (299) \| 893 (592) \| 138 (78) \| 639 (422) \| \| 1,316 \| 1,480 \| 96 \| \| \| 2,615 (1,299) \| 2,418 (938) \| 399 (303) \| 399 (250) \| \| 63 (516) 863 \| 197 (361) 1,316 \| 63 (73) 86 \| \| \| 2,678 (1,815) \| 2,615 (1,299) \| 462 (376) \| 399 (303) \| \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| - - \| - - \| - - \| - - \| \| 231,913 \| \| - \| \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 231,913 \| - \| - \| \| \| 231,913 - \| - - \| - - \| - - \| \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| - - \| - - \| - - \| - - \| \| 198,887 198,887 \| - - \| - - \| \| \| 198,887 - \| - - \| - - \| - - \| \| 1,688 \| 10,836 \| - \| \| \| 1,330,236 \| 740,222 \| 3,965 \| \| \| 138 (78) \| 1,397 (687) \| 138 (78) \| \| \| 60 \| 710 \| 60 \| \| \| \| \| (102) \| \| \| \| \| * (102) \| * (102) \| \| \| \| * 725,567 \| \| \| \| \| 1,016,512 (290,945) \| 507,681 (290,945) \| \| \| \| 725,465 \| \| * Amount is less than one thousand. The investment in the subsidiary has been impaired so that the investment is carried at no more than its recoverable amount. The impairment loss will be reversed if the subsidiary reduces its accumulated loss and becomes profitable. These loans are unsecured, interest free and have no fixed repayment terms. The loan to Merafe Chrome & Alloys (Pty) Ltd has been subordinated in favour of claims by other creditors of that company. \| Group \| \| Company \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 346 \| 346 \| - \| \| 6,062 322 (6,384) \| 9,411 1,508 (4,857) \| 6,062 322 (6,384) \| \| - \| 6,062 \| - \| \| 346 \| 6,408 \| 725,465 \| \| 346 - \| 346 6,062 \| 725,465 - \| \| 346 \| 6,408 \| 725,465 \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| - \| 1,752 \| - \| \| 26,725 82,886 214,698 \| 14,917 76,295 146,059 \| - - - \| \| 324,309 \| 237,271 \| - \| \| 27,500 22,475 557,035 544,836 (10,128) \| 20,000 12,379 527,217 29,928 (110) \| 27,500 22,475 557,035 544,836 (10,128) \| \| 1,091,743 \| 557,035 \| 1,091,743 \| The unissued share capital is under the control of the directors, subject to the Companies Act and the JSE Limited Listings Requirements, until the next annual general meeting. The directors report and note 23 set out the details in respect of the share option scheme. 14. Equity - settled shared-based payments ˚ Merafe Resources has applied the provisions of IFRS 2, share-based payments, except for share options granted before 7 November 2002, or share options granted after this date but which had vested prior to 1 January 2005 (refer note 26). Previously, share options granted to employees did not result in an expense to Merafe Resources, other than a dilution in earnings per share when the shares were issued. ˚ \| 1,545 965 \| \| 1,545˚ 965 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 2,510 \| 1,545 \| 2,510 \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 1,637 322 (1,959) \| 129 1,508 - \| 1,637 322 (1,959) \| \| - \| 1,637 \| - \| \| - 2,350 - 54 322,476 \| 435,307 5,379 5,309 450 - \| - - - 54 - \| \| 324,880 (100,047) \| 446,445 (54,669) \| 54 (47) \| 16.1 The following securities in respect of these loans are held by Investage 123 (Pty) Ltd on behalf of the lenders and have been registered: ¥ a general notarial bond over all of the Group's movable assets. ¥ a mortgage bond over the surface of portion 21 of the farm Boschhoek 103, registration division JQ, North West Province. ¥ a collateral special notarial bond over the Ferrochrome smelter and the mine development project (refer note 8.3). ¥ a first collateral mortgage bond over the mineral leases of the Group. ¥ a cession of all rights, title and interest in various securities. ¥ a limited guarantee by the holding companies. ¥ a pledge of the subsidiary's shares and a cession of all rights in respect of the shareholder's loan by the holding companies. These loans from Absa Corporate and Merchant Bank Limited and the Industrial Development Corporation which bore interest at 13.55% per annum were repaid during the year and replaced by the redeemable preference shares disclosed in note 16.5. Interest on these loans and a fixed portion of these loans were repaid twice a year in May and November. 16.2 The loan is secured and repayable in monthly instalments of R 233,000 (31 December 2004: R 233,000) and bears interest at a variable rate of 2% below prime overdraft rate. 16.3 These foreign licence fees were payable by irrevocable and transferable letters of credit issued on the Company's behalf by a financial institution. The licence fees, which were covered by forward exchange contracts, were payable on 28 September 2005. The licence fees payable were not secured and did not bear interest. 16.4 These loans are secured by finance lease agreements over equipment with a book value of R 59,639 (31 December 2004: R 709,346) as per note 8.11. These loans are repayable in monthly instalments of R 4,100 (31 December 2004: R 42, 463) and bear interest at the prime overdraft rate. \| \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| \| \| 402 83 (35) \| \| \| \| \| 50 8 (4) \| \| 50 8 (4) \| \| \| \| 54 \| 450 \| 54 \| \| \| ence s n, have \| hares held by Absa a fixed preference \| Corporate and Mer dividend rate of 9.9 \| chant Bank Limited a 5%, payable quarter \| nd the Industrial ly. \| \| \| 7,592 \| 4,214 \| - \| \| \| \| 4,214 (1,528) 4,906 \| 862 (193) 3,545 \| - - - \| - - - \| \| \| 559,310 26,518 - \| 249,031 161,645 1,403 \| 246 993 - \| \| \| \| 585,828 \| 412,079 \| 1,239 \| \| \| \| 16,205 \| 11,268 \| 898 \| \| \| \| 11,268 (5,173) 10,110 \| 3,727 (769) 8,310 \| 720 (357) 535 \| 734 (620) 606 \| \| \| 695 \| 1,446 \| - \| \| \| \| 1,446 (895) 144 \| - (3) 1,449 \| - - - \| - - - \| \| \| 9,103 \| 9,103 \| 9,103 \| \| \| \| 26,003 \| 21,817 \| 10,001 \| \| 19. Provisions Contd The Downstream project relates to a feasibility study and investigation which is being undertaken by Merafe Resources Limited (Merafe Resources). An amount of R 9,103,403 (one million Euros at the date of transaction) was advanced to Merafe Resources by ThyssenKrupp Metallurgie GMBH (Thyssen) in respect of this project. Merafe Resources shall issue shares to Thyssen for the amount of R9,103,403 for this investigation receipt. The number of Merafe Resources shares shall be the investigation receipt divided by the issue price (weighted average price of Merafe Resources shares traded on the JSE Limited (JSE)) thirty days before the payment date being (the earlier of thirty days after the Downstream Project is "hot commissioned" and/or 1 April 2006). \| Group \| \| Company \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| 12 months ended 9 months ended 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 R 000 R 000 \| \| \| 41,707 6,987 (3,015) 60,948 3,535 - - 965 96 \| 20,724 4,469 (3,633) 42,218 - 1,638 - 696 - \| - 153 (2,768) 18 - - - 965 96 \| \| \| 111,223 2,312 \| 66,112 (27,208) \| (1,536) (1,589) \| \| \| (87,038) (91,963) 173,749 7,564 \| (144,474) (130,748) 235,675 12,339 \| - 264 (2,031) 178 \| - 163 (2,908) (15) \| \| 113,535 \| 38,904 \| (3,125) \| \| \| 86,742 (174,169) \| 52,220 (24,033) \| 84,707 - \| 48,398 - 48,398 \| \| (87,427) \| 28,187 \| 84,707 \| \| 21. Fair value and credit risk of financial instruments In the normal course of its operations, the Group is exposed to commodity price, currency, interest, liquidity and credit risk. In order to manage these risks, the Group may enter into transactions that make use of financial instruments. The Group did not acquire, hold or issue derivative instruments for trading purposes. Concentration of credit risk The Group s cash and cash equivalents do not represent a concentration of credit risk because the Group deals with a variety of major banks. As regards receivables, the Group sells the majority of its ferrochrome to customers in terms of the Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture agreement. As a result of these, the Group believes that no concentration of risk exists with regards to sales to these customers, due to the international markets for their product. The Group has a policy to identify impairment indicators and impair receivables if necessary. Foreign currency and commodity price risk In the normal course of business, the Group enters into transactions denominated in foreign currencies (primarily US$). In addition the Group had liabilities in US$. As a result, the Group was subject to transaction and translation exposure from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The strengthening of the South African Rand against the US$ in the current financial year resulted in exchange gains being achieved on the foreign borrowings which have been offset to an extent by unrealised exchange losses arising on foreign sales contracts. The Group does not hedge its foreign currency exposure to the ferrochrome price fluctuation risk or Rand: US$ exchange rate. Interest rate and liquidity risk Fluctuations in interest rates impact on the value of cash investments and financing activities, giving rise to interest rate risk. In the ordinary course of business the Group receives cash from its operations to fund working capital and capital expenditure requirements, as well as debt repayments. This cash is managed to ensure surplus funds are invested in a manner to achieve maximum returns while minimising risks. 22. Share option scheme \| Number of options Number of options 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 000s 000s \| \|---\| \| 91,065 2,000 (2,333) (11,124) \| \| 79,608 \| \| Number of options Number of options 31 December 2005 31 December 2004 000s 000s \| \|---\| \| 9,985 16 16,316 16 23,342 4,027 14,190 4,011 860 4,011 1,500 667 667 \| \| 79,608 \| Share option scheme (continued) The following share options were outstanding at 31 December 2005 in favour of directors of the Company: 23. Related Party Transactions 23.1 Identity of related parties The Group has related party relationships with its wholly-owned subsidiaries (refer note 9.1), Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture (refer note 23.3), the Industrial Development Corporation (refer note 23.4) Royal Bafokeng Resources Holdings (Pty) Limited (refer note 23.5) and with its directors (refer note 23.2) 23.2 Transactions with its directors Directors of the Company control 0.08% of the voting shares of the Company. In addition to their salaries, the Company also contributes to a provident fund (defined contribution plan) and medical aid fund on their behalf (refer note 3). Executive directors also participate in the Company's share option scheme (refer note 22). 23.3 Transactions with Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture The Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture resulted in Xstrata and Merafe Resources pooling and sharing their ferrochrome assets. While Merafe Resources assets form part of the Xstrata-Merafe Venture, Merafe Resources retains ownership of its assets and is closely involved in the Venture's operations through the Chrome Exco and joint board formed to oversee the combined operations of both companies. The Group received 11% to 30 June 2005, 14% to 15 Nov 2005 and 17% to 31 December 2005 of the Venture's working capital and EBITDA respectively during the year. Included in the consolidated financial statements are the following items that represent the Group's share of the working capital and EBITDA of the Venture: Inventories Trade and other receivables Bank and cash Trade account between participants Provisions Trade and other payables Bank overdraft Net assets EBITDA \| 2005 R 000 \| 2004 R 000 \| \|---\|---\| \| 318,480 249,920 1,283 (172,354) (23,593) (168,009) (174,169) \| \| \| 31,558 \| \| \| 143,624 \| \| 23.4 Transactions with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC) The IDC is considered to be a related party, due to their ability to exercise significant influence over financial and operating decisions of Merafe Resources. The significant influence is a result of the aforementioned party's shareholding of 24.33%. The IDC has provided financing in respect of the operations as set out in note 16.1, 16.2 and 16.5. 23.5 Transaction with Royal Bafokeng Resources Holdings (Pty) Limited (RBR) The RBR is considered to be a related party due to their ability to exercise significant influence over financial and operating decisions of Merafe Resources. The significant influence is a result of the aforementioned party's shareholding of 32.04%. No transactions occurred during the year. 24. Contingencies and Commitments To the best of our knowledge and belief there are no contingent liabilities to third parties and/or contingent assets which may materially affect the financial position of the Group. 25. Operating leases \| 2005 R 000 \| 2004 R 000 \| \|---\|---\| \| 179 193 \| \| \| 372 \| \| The Group leases offices and various items of office equipment. The leases typically run for a period of five years. 26. First time adoption of IFRS The date of transition to IFRS for Merafe Resources is 1 April 2004 and therefore as required by IFRS 1, Merafe Resources opening balance sheet at 1 April 2004 has been restated to reflect all existing IFRS statements expected to be applicable at 31 December 2005. Merafe Resources has adopted the following transitional arrangement: Share-based payments Merafe Resources has applied the provisions of IFRS 2, share-based payments except for share options granted before 7 November 2002, or share options granted after this date, but which had vested prior to 1 January 2005. Previously, share options granted to employees did not result in any expense to Merafe Resources, other than a dilution in earnings per share when the shares were issued. In accordance with the requirements of IFRS 2, Merafe Resources has recognised an expense in the income statement, with a corresponding credit in equity. The fair value at the date of granting the options is charged to income over the relevant option vesting periods, adjusting to reflect actual and expected levels of vesting. Property, plant and equipment Merafe Resources has applied the provisions of IAS 16 - Property, Plant and Equipment, which requires that the Company provide an annual review and assessment of the useful life of its assets, depreciation method and residual values at the end of each financial year and adjusts depreciation charges accordingly. Thus, the depreciable amount of property, plant and equipment is its cost less its residual value. Where items of property, plant and equipment comprise individual components for which different depreciation periods are appropriate, each component is accounted for separately. Management has assessed the residual values of certain of the operating assets as higher than the current carrying value of these assets, hence no depreciation has been calculated on these assets. This will be re-assessed on an annual basis. FACT: Freestanding stainless steel water tanks can withstand the type of deformation they would be subjected to in an earthquake without breaking or leaking. 67 26. First time adoption of IFRS contd Previously individual components were not always separately identified and no residual value was used in determining the depreciated amount of the component. The effect of the above adjustments on accumulated loss on an annual basis is as follows: 27, Post balance sheet date events The directors are not aware of any material fact or circumstancer that has occurred after the balance sheet date, being 31 December 2005 an the date of this report, other than those disclosed in the Future Prospects section of the Chief Executive Officer s Review. In June 2006, the Company issued 88.4 million shares at an average price of 57 cents, raising capital of R50 million. 28. Capital commitments The Group s capital commitments at year end were: ¥ Project Lion R128,481,229. ¥ Other Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture commitmnts: R6,467,112. These commitments ar expected to be settled in the following financial year. Shareholder Information Analysis of Ordinary Shareholders as at 31 December 2005 Shareholders Diary Meetings Annual General Meeting for 2005 - 24 July 2006 Annual General Meeting for 2006 - June 2007 Reports Interim report for the six months to 30 June 2006 to be released 2 August 2006. Annual results for the 12 months to 31 December 2006 to be released in March 2007. Annual report for the 12 months to 31 December 2006 to be published in May 2007. Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines Index \| \| Statement of the organisation s vision and strategy regarding its contribution to sustainable development. CEO or equivalent senior manager statement description key elements of the report. \| \|---\|---\| \| Organisational Profile \| \| \| \| Name of reporting organisation Major products Operational structure Major divisions Countries of operation Nature of ownership Markets served Scale of reporting organisation ¥ Number of employees ¥ Products/services offered ¥ Net sales ¥ Total capitalisation broken down in terms of debt and equity ¥ Total assets and breakdowns of sales/revenues by countries/regions that make up 5% or more of total revenue costs by country/region. Stakeholders ¥ Communities ¥ Customers ¥ Shareholders and providers of capital ¥ Suppliers ¥ Trade unions ¥ Workforce, direct and indirect \| \| Report Scope \| \| \| \| Contact person Reporting period Date of most recent previous report Boundaries of report and any specific limitations on the scope. Significant changes in size, structure, ownership or products/services. Basis for reporting on joint ventures, partially owned subsidiaries, leased facilities, outsourced operations. Restatements of information in earlier reports. \| \| Report Profile \| \| \| \| Decisions not to apply GRI principles or protocols in the preparation of the report. Criteria/Definitions used in any accounting for economic, environmental or social costs and benefits. Significant changes from previous years in the measurement methods applied to key economic, environmental and social information. Policies and internal practices to enhance assurance about the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the report. Policy and current practice with regard to providing independent assurance for the full report. Means by which report users can obtain additional information and reports about economic, environmental, and social aspects of the organisation s activities, including facility-specific information. \| Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines Index \| Governance Structure Structure and Govern \| and Management Systems ance \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Governance structure. Independent non-executive directors. Expertise of board members. Board level processes for overseeing the organisation s identification and management of economic, environmental, and social risks and opportunities. Linkage between executive compensation and achievement of financial and non-financial goals. Organisational structure - key individuals responsible for oversight, implementation and audit of economic, environmental and social policies, as well as general organisational structure below board level. Mission and values statements, internally developed codes of conduct or principles and policies relevant to economic, environmental, and social performance and the status of implementation. Mechanisms for shareholders to provide recommendations or direction to the board of directors. \| \| Stakeholder Engagem \| ent \| \| \| Identification and selection of major stakeholders. Approaches to stakeholder consultation - reported in terms of frequency of consultations by type and by stakeholder group. Type of information generated by stakeholder consultations (key issues and concerns raised). Use of information from stakeholder engagements. \| \| Overarching Policies a \| nd Management Systems \| \| \| Explanation of whether and how the precautionary approach or principle is addressed by the organisation. Externally developed, voluntary economic, environmental and social charters, sets of principles, or other initiatives to which the organisation subscribes or which it endorses. Principle memberships in industry and business associations and/or national/ international advocacy organisations. Policies and/or systems for managing upstream and downstream impacts including supply chain management as it pertains to outsourcing and supplier environmental and social performance; and product and service stewardship initiatives. Approach to managing indirect economic, environmental and social impacts from activities. Major decisions during the reporting period regarding the location of,or changes, in, operations. Programmes and procedures pertaining to economic, environmental and social performance. Priority and target settings Major programmes to improvement performance. Performance monitoring. Internal and external auditing and Senior management review. Status of certification pertaining to economic, environmental and social management systems (adherence to environmental management standards, labour, or social accountability management system or other management systems for which formal certification is available). \| \| GRI Content Index \| \| \| \| Location of GRI report content. \| Notice of Annual General Meeting Merafe Resources Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration Number 1987/003452/06) (the Company) Notice is hereby given that the nineteenth annual general meeting of members of Merafe Resources Limited will be held at 1st Floor, Block B, 68 Wierda Road East, Wierda Valley, Sandton, at 11:00 on Monday, 24 July 2006, for the purpose of conducting the following business: Ordinary resolution number 2 Issue of shares for cash 1. To receive, consider and adopt the annual financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2005. 2. To elect the following directors, who retire by rotation and, being eligible, offer themselves for reelection: 2.1 Mr Steve Phiri and 2.2 Mr Zed van der Walt as executive directors. Brief CVs of these directors are set out on page 17 of this annual report. 3. To approve the directors remuneration for the year ended 31 December 2005. 4. To re-appoint KPMG Inc as auditors for the ensuing year. 5. To authorise the directors to determine the auditors remuneration. 6. To approve the auditors remuneration. As special business to consider and, if deemed fit, to pass with or without modification the following resolutions: Ordinary resolution number 1 Control of authorised but unissued shares Resolved that the entire authorised but unissued share capital of the Company from time to time be placed under the control of the directors of the Company until the next annual general meeting, with the authority to allot and issue all or part thereof at their discretion subject to the provisions of sections 221 and 222 of the Companies Act, Act 61 of 1973, as amended (the Act), the Articles of Association of the Company (the Articles) and the JSE Limited (JSE) Listings Requirements. Resolved that the directors of the Company be given general authority to issue all or any of the authorised but unissued ordinary shares of one cent each for cash as and when suitable situations arise, subject to the Act, the Articles, the JSE Listings Requirements and the following limitations, namely: - that this authority shall not extend beyond 15 (fifteen) months from the date of this meeting or the date of the next annual general meeting, whichever is the earlier date; - that a paid press announcement giving full details, including the effect on net asset value and earnings per share will be published at the time of any issue representing, on a cumulative basis, within one financial year, 5% or more of the number of shares of that class in issue prior to the issues; - that issues in the aggregate in any one financial year will not exceed 15% of the number of shares of any class of the Company s issued share capital, including instruments which are compulsorily convertible into shares of that class; - that, in determining the price at which an issue of shares will be made in terms of this authority, the maximum discount permitted will be 10% of the weighted average traded price of the shares in question, as determined over the 30 days prior to the date that the price of the issue is determined or agreed by the directors; - that any such issue will only be made to public shareholders as defined by the JSE and not to any related parties. The approval of a 75% majority of the votes cast by shareholders present or represented by proxy at this meeting is required for ordinary resolution number 2 to be carried. ISIN:ZAE000060000 Share code:MRF Voting and attendance at the general meeting Any member entitled to attend and vote at the meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend, speak and vote thereat in his/her stead. The proxy so appointed need not be a member of the Company. Proxy forms should be forwarded to reach the registered office of the transfer secretaries of the Company or the Company s registered office by no later than 11:00 on Friday, 21 July 2006. Members who have not dematerialised their shares or who have dematerialised their shares with own name registration are entitled to attend and vote at the meeting and are entitled to appoint a proxy or proxies to attend, speak and vote in their stead. The person so appointed need not be a member. Proxy forms should be forwarded to reach the registered office of the Company or the transfer secrataries by no later than 11:00 on Friday, 21 July 2006. Members who have dematerialised their shares, other than those members who have dematerialised their shares with own name registration, should contact their Central Securities Depository Participant (CSDP) or broker, in the manner and time stipulated in their agreement: ¥ to furnish them with their voting instructions; and ¥ in the event that they wish to attend the meeting, to obtain the necessary authority to do so. By order of the Board. A Mahendranath Company Secretary Sandton 26 June 2006 Form of Proxy Merafe Resources Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration Number 1987/003452/06) (the Company) ISIN:ZAE000060000 Share code:MRF Only for use by members who have not dematerialised their shares or members who have dematerialised their shares with own name registration. All other dematerialised shareholders must contact their CSDP or broker to make the relevant arrangements concerning voting and/or attendance at the annual general meeting. Form of proxy for the nineteenth annual general meeting I/We (Name in block letters) of (Address) being the holder/s of in the Company, hereby appoint (see note 1): 1. ordinary shares or failing him 2. or failing him 3. the chairman of the Company, or failing him, the chairperson of the annual general meeting, as my/our proxy to vote for me/us on my/our behalf at the annual general meeting of the Company to be held at Merafe Resources Limited at 1st Floor, Block B, 68 Wierda Road East, Wierda Valley, Sandton, on Monday, 24 July 2006 at 11:00, or at any adjournment thereof. \| I/We desire to vote as follows (see note 2): \| Number of Votes For Against Abstain \| \|---\|---\| Signed at on 2006 Signature (Assisted by me - where applicable) Please see notes overleaf Form of Proxy Notes: 1. A shareholder may insert the name of a proxy or the names of two alternative proxies of the shareholder s choice in the space(s) provided, with or without deleting the chairperson of the general meeting of shareholders, but any such deletion must be initialled by the shareholder. The person whose name stands first on the form of proxy and who is present at the annual general meeting of shareholders will be entitled to act as proxy to the exclusion of those whose names follow. 2. A shareholder s instructions to the proxy must be indicated by the insertion of the relevant number of votes exercisable by that shareholder in the appropriate box provided. Failure to comply will be deemed to authorise the proxy to vote or to abstain from voting at the annual general meeting of shareholders as he/she deems fit in respect of all the shareholder s votes exercisable thereat. A shareholder or the proxy is not obliged to use all the votes exercisable by the shareholder or by his proxy, but the total of the votes cast and in respect of which abstention is recorded may not exceed the total of the votes exercisable by the shareholder or by the proxy. 3. Forms of proxy must be lodged with, posted or faxed to, the transfer secretaries registered office: 5th floor, 11, Diagonal Street, Johannesburg, (PO Box 4844, Johannesburg, 2000) or +27 11 834 4398, or the Company s registered office: 68 Wierda Road East, 1st Floor, Block B, Sandton, 2196 (PO Box 652157, Benmore, 2010) or fax: +27 11 783 4789 to be received by no later than 11:00 on Friday, 21 July 2006. 4. The completion and lodging of this form of proxy by shareholders holding certificated shares, CSDP s nominee companies, brokers nominee companies and shareholders who have dematerialised their shares and elected ownname registration, will not preclude the relevant shareholder from attending the general meeting of shareholders and speaking and voting in person thereat to the exclusion of any proxy appointed in terms thereof. 5. Documentary evidence establishing the authority of a person signing this form of proxy in a representative or other legal capacity (such as power of attorney or other written authority) must be attached to this form of proxy unless previously recorded by Merafe Resources Limited. 6. Any alteration or correction made to this form of proxy must be initialled by the signatory(ies). 7. On a show of hands, every shareholder shall have only one vote, irrespective of the number of share/s he/she holds or represents, provided that a proxy shall, irrespective of the number of shareholders he/she represents, have only one vote. 8. On a poll, every shareholder present in person or represented by proxy shall have one vote for every Merafe share held by such shareholder. 9. A resolution put to the vote shall be decided on a show of hands unless, before or on the declaration of the results of the show of hands, a poll shall be demanded by any person entitled to vote at the meeting. 10. If a poll is demanded, the resolution put to the vote shall be decided on a poll.
ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article7176\n\nCovid-19 pandemic in India\n\nVaccination as Class Struggle\n\n- IV Online magazine - 2021 - IV557 - June 2021 -\n\nPublication date: Wednesday 9 June 2021\n\nCopyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved\n\nVaccines for COVID-19 were supposed to be a lifeline for people around the world, particularly in the Global South. However, as 2021 has revealed so far, their roll out has not been determined by legitimate healthcare needs but dictated by the insidious logic of capitalism. The Indian government in its move to liberalize the vaccine market, has only legitimized this business.\n\nThis is a guest post by a socialist and feminist militant on an important topic. How from early 2020 the Government of India has been treating vaccination as it has treated everything for the benefits of monopoly capital, and for the political gains of the BJP. Administrator, Radical Socialist website\n\nIndia's vaccine campaign has been perhaps the worst the country has ever seen. The public vaccination system of India, which boasts polio and multiple other effective vaccination programmes for children, has been brought to a staggering failure only the Modi government is capable of. Although other local governments (especially the ones run by opposition parties) have attempted slightly better vaccination campaigns than the centre, they have essentially had to kowtow to capitalists and pander to liberalization in order to get a few lakh doses.\n\nAmid the devastating second wave of COVID-19, getting a vaccine in India has proven to be a function of social and economic privilege. And this should not come as a surprise. The Indian government never planned to vaccinate everyone for free, knowing fully well that leaving a large section of the population to pay for the vaccines would result in the creation of a huge market which could then be exploited by large pharmaceutical companies to sell more doses at higher prices.\n\nAs early as December 2020, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan announced that the government of India had never claimed that it will vaccinate the entire country. [1] In January, NITI AAYOG member Dr. Vinod Paul declared that the government would vaccinate only about 300 million people for free. [2] Harsh Vardhan, the union minister for Health and Family Welfare, said the same thing the day after (Jan 2) but framed it as vaccines will be free across the whole country, all 30 crore doses [3] This claim was widely misreported by mainstream media as Indians will be getting free vaccines across the country (paraphrased). Such claims by the media are a result of the corporate media's own complicity with the fascist central government as well as its own desperate desire to create clickbait headlines. Further, in March when quizzed on the failure of the government's vaccination policy, the union health minister again claimed that the central government had never promised free vaccination to all Indians.\n\nNo. The central government did not. But the BJP, which runs the central government, did.\n\nDuring the elections in Bengal, the BJP promised that if elected they would provide free vaccines to all in West Bengal. [4] This came after the liberalization of vaccination policy. BJP's campaign promises in Bengal and Bihar regarding vaccines show that the central government never considered it as a healthcare right but as both a carrot and a stick that could be used as to lure and to discipline people during a hot election season.\n\nUnder its liberalized vaccine policy which came into effect from April 21 [5], the centre in association with the multi-billion dollar vaccine businesses in India (Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech) has decided that the central government will no longer be supplying vaccines to state governments and private hospitals. Rather, state governments have to buy their doses directly from the manufacturers at a price higher than what the centre pays for the same. The repercussions of such a decision are massive. State governments are now forced to practically bid against each other in the middle of an acute crisis where people are dying by the minute, in order to get more vaccine\n\nVaccination as Class Struggle\n\ndoses for their states. Private vaccination centres buy doses from the manufacturers at a higher price than state governments but can sell vaccines at their own prices. There is no cap to vaccine pricing. There is a rush to get vaccinated in these centres among the upper and middle classes. Private vaccination centres are charging whatever they can from this populace which can afford to pay thereby increasing the gap between the rich who have been vaccinated and the poor who have not. SII is charging 300 INR per dose of Covishield (originally 400 INR which was reduced under criticism and Bharat Biotech is charging 600 INR to state governments. [6] Compare that to what the central government is paying, which is 150 INR per dose to each company. Private facilities are buying Covishield at 600 INR from SII, and Covaxin at 1200 INR from Bharat Biotech. Since these private facilities can sell the vaccines at whatever price they like, Covishield prices in a private facility in West Bengal range from 750 INR to 1100 INR. Covaxin can be bought at 1500 INR at specific hospitals.\n\nThis, despite the fact that Covaxin (the great nationalist boast of the BJP, completely \"made in India\") is yet to publish its Phase III data in any peer reviewed international journal. All of Bharat Biotech's claims of close to 80% efficacy are at this point just that, claims made by the developers of the vaccine. Similarly, Zydus Cadila, another large pharmaceutical company is expected to seek Emergency Use Authorization for its Zy-Cov-D vaccine, from the Drugs Controller General of India in late May or early June. The company is yet to release data from its phase 1 and 2 trials which include the crucial safety data. These are the vaccine candidates which are being celebrated as a triumph of Indian science. The much-touted benefit of liberalizing vaccine policy is that the country can now import foreign vaccines like those of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. Yet, it was not unexpected that after the Indian government's early snub to Pfizer and its lack of storage facilities, it would be next to impossible to import Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in time to turn the tide of the current wave. [7] What then, was this government aiming at? My hypothesis is that the foreign vaccine line was used by the central government to open up a market that ultimately benefitted SII and Bharat Biotech, at a crucial point in time (rising cases fast approaching the peak) where little criticism was possible. This open market would then serve not just the two largest COVID vaccine makers in India right now but also many other big pharma companies that would enter the market later. Currently, the Indian government is at loggerheads with Pfizer over signing an indemnity bond which if signed by the Indian government would protect Pfizer from being sued in case of damages (say, someone dies after taking the vaccine) [8] Given India's lack of infrastructure and cold storage facilities, it is not surprising that Pfizer wants to push for the indemnity bond. Ultimately, the Indian government will probably have to give in to their demands. [9]\n\nIn comparison to the central government and despite the barriers placed on their way, the opposition ruled state governments have done slightly better at vaccination campaigns. But that is only because the bar for good performance has been set drastically low by the centre. As it became clear that India was headed for a disaster, queues of people waiting for their second doses in front of government vaccination centres increased in West Bengal all through late April and early May. People queued up from the middle of the night, foregoing their sleep. In certain parts of the state, a new profession of \"line keepers\" developed. These are persons you can pay to \"keep\" your line (or hold your position in a queue) all night in return for a few hundred rupees. Those who can afford this amount can take their overnight rest. Others have to stay in queue all night or from the wee hours of the morning in order to get a jab. As the demand for second doses grew, the central government set the gap between the first and second dose of Covishield to 12-16 weeks. While there is some scientific evidence that a 12-week gap between two doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine does increase efficacy, there is absolutely no literature to support a 16 week gap. [10] This has been done by the central government purely because the country was facing an acute shortage of the vaccine.\n\nOne of the reasons why the vaccine hub of the Global South suddenly has to grapple with vaccine shortages is due to India's featherbrained policy of vaccine diplomacy. India's Ministry of External Affairs was wooing imports from other countries for months before the second wave struck. This was done under India's Vaccine Maitreyee initiative, created to counter China's vaccine diplomacy which resulted in the export of some 660 million vaccine doses to other countries. Admittedly, a chunk of this was given to GAVI's COVAX initiative. While we do not support the hoarding of vaccines by powerful nations (and India is relatively powerful compared to much of the Global South), there are some long- term implications of India's unplanned vaccine exports. Exports should have been more planned so that if\n\nVaccination as Class Struggle\n\ncases rose, no export ban would have to be put in place. The sudden ban on exports from India has harmed poorer nations the most, particularly those in Africa which are completely dependent on SII for their vaccines. Moreover, a large chunk of the total number of doses exported was supplied to the UK which SII was required to do under contract with AstraZeneca. [11] Due to delays caused by rising cases in India and the ban, the UK alleged that its vaccination programme had been thrown off course by India. UK, which had vaccinated 50% of its adult population demanded more vaccines from India which had vaccinated only 3% of its population and was facing a deadly wave. [ 12] The Global North-South dynamics at play here and its collaboration with capital (especially the demands placed by AstraZeneca and its contract with SII) cannot be ignored. Take for example a concerning report from Uganda in early February according to which Uganda was paying 7$ per dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca dose to SII, as opposed to 2.06$ paid by the Indian central government to SII and 2.16$ paid by EU for the same vaccine doses to its manufacturers in the first world. Countries with lower populations are reportedly paying higher prices because they do not need to place bigger orders. This is essentially an incentive to make smaller nations place orders for more doses to one manufacturer, which increases market risks of monopoly and only makes manufacturers grow larger at the cost of ethical healthcare.\n\nAdvanced capitalist nations of the Global North and its collaborationists (including fascists) in the Global South have used a cocktail of patents and nationalist priority etc. to keep vaccines out of the hands of the poorest nations [13] Poorer nations of the Global South cannot manufacture their own doses as vaccines are patented products. Here is an example that demonstrates how completely lacking in ethics these big pharma companies are. Pfizer and Moderna have not even committed to not making profits from their vaccines during the pandemic. AstraZeneca has committed to not making profits during the pandemic but reserves the right to call the end of the pandemic so that it can start making profits. Why should AstraZeneca decide when the pandemic ends? If its vaccines are still needed long enough to make profits, then how is that the end of the pandemic?\n\nWhile these structural inequalities are not always palpable, several other local developments tell a clearer story about the inequalities of access inherent in a privatized vaccine distribution policy.\n\nAs the liberalized vaccine drive for 18-44 olds (the only viable vaccine option for this age group, by the way) was opened up from May 1 (oh the irony!), tech savvy young people developed newer ways to cheat the online system. Extreme scarcity led to greater demand and software codes were made public by coders which could be run on Arogya Setu (one of the apps meant for booking a slot for a dose). Running these codes require tertiary level digital knowledge which the vast majority of Indians do not have. Until very recently, an online registration was a compulsory for vaccination in India which pushed many million people out of the rush for vaccines. [14] The reason provided by the central government is that it will reduce \"crowding\". Private vaccination centres are still charging close to 1000 thousand for one shot of Covishield (the Oxford AstraZeneca jab) and 1500 INR for Covaxin (the \"Indian\" vaccine). The injustice in this becomes clearer when we note that the Indian government has already provided both Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech with significant assistance during clinical trials, according to its own admission in the Supreme Court [15]\n\nThese are not unrelated incidents but rather the fallout of a vaccination strategy that prioritizes profit over public health which is only part of a larger system of broken public healthcare in India (understaffed, poorly equipped government hospitals, lack of ambulances etc.). Take for example the prices and \"packages\" offered by private hospitals to treat COVID 19 patients. Some people have reported paying as high as 4 million INR for a hospital stay of two weeks at private hospitals. More recently, a trend emerged where five star hotels were providing vaccine stays at package rates. Packages include doses of a vaccine, luxury stays and meals etc. Although warnings against such practices have been issued, the existence of such business schemes speak to how far privatization has been allowed unchecked in the country.\n\nOn a local scale, the West Bengal government has very recently, during the development of this article, started vaccinating 18-44 year olds in a limited capacity for free. But anecdotal reports of local TMC lumpen withholding\n\nVaccination as Class Struggle\n\ninformation on the same so that they and their families can receive a dose first is concerning. Access to doses is guided by privilege and connections, not by need and rights.\n\nLet us not for a moment pretend that COVID-19 has not been a disaster of neoliberal and privatization and the underfunding of public health. More concerning is perhaps the theory that pandemics are connected to deforestation and the increased contact between unusual animal species and human beings [16] As capitalism enables more climate change and deforestation, pandemics are going to become a regular feature in our lives. Underfunded public healthcare systems will only make sure that they are manhandled and reap increasing death tolls. The only way out is sustained international action from socialists and leftists of all hues coming together to push for free healthcare for all, medicines and vaccines without patents, and against climate change. The last should not include mealy mouthed calls to watch individual action (which we should be taking anyway) but has to be a clarion cry against governments and companies that contribute the most to pollution, deforestation and climate change. To prevent further climate change and pandemic mortality, we need structural change that only international socialist collaborations can provide.\n\nJust when the world needed a strong socialist response to a pandemic that has killed millions, we have had to deal with the most horrific of neoliberal policies sold to us as innovation and efficiency. Instead of a people's vaccine which many in shades of the left have already called for (which gives me hope), we have been served arch capitalism. The world does not need vaccine princes, it needs an angry mass of people with a strong will to demolish capitalism.\n\nSource Radical Socialist, with the following note: This is a guest post by a socialist and feminist militant on an important topic. How from early 2020 the Government of India has been treating vaccination as it has treated everything – for the benefits of monopoly capital, and for the political gains of the BJP. – Administrator, Radical Socialist website\n\nPS:\n\nIf you like this article or have found it useful, please consider donating towards the work of International Viewpoint. Simply follow this link: Donate then enter an amount of your choice. One-off donations are very welcome. But regular donations by standing order are also vital to our continuing functioning. See the last paragraph of this article for our bank account details and take out a standing order. Thanks. ture, 7 Augusut 2020 [\"Why deforestation and extinctions make pandemics more likely\"-»\n\ninc_notes_dist"
"The Killing Fields" of innovation How to kill ideas Karen Ingerslev Department of Operations Management Centre for Business Development and Management Copenhagen Business School Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark "The Killing Fields" of innovation How to kill ideas Karen Ingerslev ABSTRACT This paper points to seemingly contradicted processes of framing innovation, idea generation and killing ideas. It reports from a yearlong innovation project, where health care professionals explored problems and tested ideas for solutions, regarding a future downsizing of the case hospital. Theories in various ways describe the opening and closing phases of innovation. Exploration and idea generation opens a field of interest, which is then closed by making choices of ideas to further explore in the next opening phase. These choices deliberately kill a lot of ideas. In the innovation project, however, substantial amounts of relevant ideas got killed during opening phases, where the purpose of activities was framed as idea generation. These ideas were either verbally or silently killed, and some in rather contradicted ways: The design and facilitation of brain storming processes lead to clustering of ideas, a design strategy which seemed to kill unique ideas. The reframing of innovation as a radical endeavor killed learning from others for being not innovative. The findings of this paper supplement theories of deliberate killing of ideas by suggesting framing, design and facilitation of innovation as more subtle ways of killing ideas during opening phases. Key words: Health care, innovation, framing, design, facilitation Introduction This paper takes its departure in a field study of an innovation project in a Danish hospital. The fieldwork demonstrated seemingly contradictions between the purpose of innovation, the design and facilitation of idea generation and the killing of ideas. The Cambodian journalist Dith Pran originally coined the title analogy "The Killing Fields" after his escape from the communist Khmer Rouge regime to describe a number of sites in Cambodia, where large numbers of people were killed and buried. 1 With humble respect of this genocide, "The Killing Fields" in this paper refer to innovation processes, where different kinds of ideas are discarded for obvious or more subtle reasons. The processes of supporting or undermining innovation in public service organization are less studied aspect of innovation processes (Hartley, 2006: 34). 1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields The purpose of the innovation project was to adapt new and better practices from across professional and organizational boundaries in the health care sector, to experiment with ideas from other contexts than health care and to generate new ideas for solutions. The innovation project was designed and facilitated as continuing divergent and convergent phases. Divergent phases were designed to open a field of interest through exploration and idea generation. Convergent phases aimed at closing the field of interest by making choices of ideas to explore in the next opening phase and so forth. Why then were substantial amounts of ideas killed during opening phases? This empirical wondering was the spark to analyze contradictions between innovation theories and practices in this paper. This approach to research is described by other researchers as using empirical mysteries as dialogue partner with theories and models in order to question, doubt and problematizing existing or dominant expectations and frameworks (Alvesson and Kärreman, 2007). Initially, theories of innovation phases are reviewed in order to enable discussion of what kills ideas. Deliberate exnovation and individual and group dynamic explanations for killing ideas are supplemented by the concept of framing in order to address the oftencontradicted problems and solutions in health care. The theory section is followed by an outline of the context and case, the field study and the methods for data collection and analyses. The analyses suggest that framing and design of innovation affects the killing of different types of ideas. The conclusion summarizes the findings and suggests implications for innovation research and facilitation. Promoting or killing ideas This section reviews theories on promoting and killing ideas throughout innovation research. The concept of framing is introduced as a theoretical and analytical approach to address the promotion or killing of ideas. What promotes innovation? Researchers and policy makers point to innovation as "… the key to meeting the challenges of the early 21st century, arising from technological advances, social change, globalization or global financial crisis" (Cropley and Cropley, 2012: 29). In a hospital setting, innovation can be defined as: "the process of turning ideas into reality, using a new concept, service, process or product to improve treatment, diagnosis, education, outreach, prevention and research, as well as enhancing quality, safety, outcomes, efficiency and cost" (Omachonu and Einspruch, 2010: 5). Innovation is thus given a central role in sustaining and transforming our societies. It has become the king of words, as graffiti states in Copenhagen, Denmark (Ingerslev and Elmholdt, 2012). Governments make reforms and strategies to stimulate innovation (Regeringen, 2007; Danske regioner, 2012; Kommunernes Landsforening, 2012), and since the 1880's, researchers have tried to break the code: "Can we learn how to innovate and not just wait for the muse to inspire us with a bright idea (Drucker, 1985: 34)?" The research ambition has been to understand innovation drivers and barriers. It has addressed how environments as private businesses or public institutions accordingly should be shaped to generate, sustain, and diffuse innovation (Greenhalgh, 2005; Fagerberg, Mowery and Nelson, 2006). Researchers try to understand which organizational structures, financing, and cultures tend to create innovative organizations (Amabile, 1996). Of particular interest to this study, researchers have addressed phases of innovation processes like the stage-gate model from idea to launch to marked (Cooper, 2008). In a public health care context these phases could be conceptualized as: (1) invention - creativity plus ideas, (2) implementation - concrete change, and (3) diffusion - spread and adoption of ideas (Hartley, 2013). The quest to promote innovation by designing and facilitating innovation processes along these lines might seem straightforward. Nevertheless both Hartley (2013) and Moore (2005) argue that there is much more at stake in innovation than generating, implementing and spreading great ideas. According to Cropley & Cropley (2012) the question of what promotes innovation is tricky due to the contradictions, characterizing innovation. The next section unfolds the seemingly contradiction of killing ideas. What kills ideas? A widespread assumption is that organizations support dissemination and diffusion of their innovations and that adaptors engage with promising practices in search for ideas to learn from and adapt into their particular organizational setting (Hartley, 2013). However Moore's (2005: 47) study of public innovation demonstrates the opposite. Quoting Elmore (1997), Moore found that: "Indeed, a common fate of innovations in the public sector was to languish within a given organization until it could be killed by the organization that developed it". People did not support their own creative ideas through implementation or spread to other organizations. Likewise people did not adopt inventions from other organizations into their own organization. Instead subtlety languishing slowly killed creative ideas. Accordingly Moore (2005) argues that ideas need help to survive and flourish within an organization and to spread to other parts of society. Innovation literature describes various strategies for killing ideas. In the stage-gate innovation model, the purpose of the gates is to decide whether an idea should be recycled, continue to next stage or be killed (Cooper, 2008). The brainstorming technique in similar ways allows for creating many ideas, before categorizing the ideas to pursue and thus killing other ideas (Osborne, 1953). The Double Diamond innovation process (Figure 1) illustrates divergent and convergent phases of innovation, conceptualized as discover, define, develop, and deliver (British Design Council, 2007). Discover is an opening phase of exploration and creating knowledge of the problem and existing solutions. Define is a closing phase of analyzing and making sense of data from the Discover phase in order to define 'innovation questions'. Innovation questions should mobilize for action and stimulate imagination. Develop is an opening phase of generating ideas for solutions and deliver is a closing phase of choosing and conceptualizing ideas for testing. The divergent phases are thus described as opening the field of possible ideas and the convergent phases closes the field by analytical sense making and making choices. Exnovation is a term coined by Kimberly (1981) as part of ending innovation processes, where existing but no longer relevant practices are discarded to create space for adopting different and fresh thinking. Exnovation also describes deliberate killing of an innovation, which fails to meet its initial promise (Hartley, 2013). Source: British Design Council, 2007 Exnovation is a term coined by Kimberly (1981) as part of ending innovation processes, where existing but no longer relevant practices are discarded to create space for adopting different and fresh thinking. Exnovation also describes deliberate killing of an innovation, which fails to meet its initial promise (Hartley, 2013). Stage-gate, brainstorming and exnovation are all deliberate strategies for killing ideas during the closing phases of innovation. Substantial amounts of ideas are created, but only a few turn out to be worth pursuing through implementation and spread. These strategies presume that the design for killing allow for the best ideas to survive. Other theories suggest that this is not always the case and employ individual and group dynamic explanations for killing ideas. Visholm (2012) suggests that competition, envy and fear of innovations, which threaten status quo, are also killing ideas along side of the deliberate rejection of bad ideas. This paper takes a different approach by studying how framing of innovation promotes or kills ideas. Framing promotes or kills ideas Innovation processes typically address problems, needs or possibilities (Bason, 2010). However problems in complex settings as health care do not present themselves as well formed problems, but as messy indeterminate situations (Schön, 1984; 1991). This applies to problematic situations in clinical practice and to problems regarding specialization and thus interdependency between organizations and professions in health care (Strauss et al., 1997; Akkerman and Bakker, 2011). Schön demonstrates how practitioners through the active process of framing construct well-formed problems by choosing and naming their observations from messy indeterminate situations (Schön, 1991). Disciplinary backgrounds, organizational roles, past histories, interests, and political and economic perspectives make health care practitioners frame problematic situations in different and often contradicting ways. Problems, as the outset for innovation, are thus highly dependent on framing in terms of how people think of them. Contested framing and possible reframing of problems in this sense affects innovation processes, both in terms of framing the purpose and outset for innovation and the range of relevant outcomes. This paper seeks answers to the question: Why are ideas killed during opening phases? by analysing the relationship between framing and promoting and killing ideas in the case, described below. Case and methodology This section presents the case and methods for collecting and analyzing empirical materials. Case The context of the study is public health care in Denmark. The empirical material is based on a hospital innovation project. Due to governmental decisions of building new but smaller hospitals nationwide, the public health care sector is under dramatic change. The consequences of this downsizing could be a restructuring of tasks and workflow between hospitals, municipality-based primary care units, general practitioners and even patients (e.g. self-monitoring at home). Table 1: The Four Themes of the Innovation Project Source: Author The innovation project was a yearlong process where health care professionals explored problems and tested ideas for solutions, regarding this downsizing. The process was designed and facilitated by six human resource consultants as a Double Diamond process with deliberate opening (Discover and Develop) and closing (Define and Deliver) phases (Figure 1). The projects' steering committee invited 38 employees from different departments and disciplines to participate in the innovation project in order to explore the consequences of the downsizing within 4 themes: 1) leadership across boundaries, 2) shared leadership, 3) administrative and service functions and 4) alternatives to hospitalization (Table 1). The employees were divided into seven groups, which explored the themes, problems, and ideas for solutions through workshops, meetings, and dialogues with stakeholders, experiments, and feedback. The hospital management initially asked: "How can the hospital keep up current levels of productivity in terms of outpatient treatments and surgery in the new hospital buildings? In a five year perspective, we must concurrently reduce square meters, hospital beds and employees by about 40 per cent." Initially the steering committee's ambitions regarding the outcome of the innovation project were: "more nuanced and concrete solutions to identified problems that are ready to implement." Over time the purpose of the innovation project changed. Soon after the first workshop, leading hospital staff members referred to the innovation project as: "we are doing something radical in a radically new way." This statement represents a shift in ambitions towards creating radically new solutions. In the Define phase, when the steering committee evaluated which ideas to pursue for testing and implementation, they talked about finding the best ideas. These were framed as "ideas with a certain innovation height that are also wide and deep". Innovation height usually refers to a continuum from incremental, small step improvements to radical breakthrough inventions (Albury, 2005; Moore, 2005). As such, innovation height is not at one (radical) end of an innovation scale. Preceding the managers' expression of radicalism, the human resource consultants stated: "the participants should fly in the opening develop phase, not letting themselves limit by what is known to be possible." The steering committee at this point used the term radical innovation to express their ambitions for the innovation project. They demanded radically new ideas and wanted a sufficiently open design of the innovation processes to allow for wild ideas. "This is a playground!" the head of the steering committee announced. The steering committee often referred to a book on innovation with Next practice as an appealing phrase in the title (Jensen et al., 2008). In this book, the field of radical innovation is in opposition to the well-known (and boring?) best practice. Best practice included doing benchmarks and learning from others. The point taken from this book was that, if the hospital pursued best practices from other hospitals, it would always be second to someone. In other words: When you learn from others, they are ahead of you! The purpose of the innovation project thus changed from searching for concrete solutions to problems to searching for radically new solutions. The analyses below address how this reframing of the purpose of the innovation project affects the process of generating and abandoning ideas for innovative solutions. Methods for collecting and analyzing empirical materials An explorative research strategy was chosen for collecting incidents of killing ideas throughout the innovation project, as it was not possible to predict where and when ideas emerged or whether they got killed. Ethnographical inspired methods as extensive observations and detailed field notes (Spradley, 1980) were used in order to collect ideas and trace whether they got killed or lived long enough to be tested in the deliver phase. Below the different design strategies, employed during the innovation project for generating ideas, are described and examples of ideas are provided for illustration. Brainstorming sessions One design strategy for idea generation was brainstorming sessions, which were reoccurring during opening phases of the innovation project. Brainstorming sessions were usually conducted in silence. The participants used Post It notes to write down ideas and display them on blank walls. Closing phases followed brainstorming sessions, where the participants clustered ideas, which covered the same theme and created headlines for each cluster. These headlines and clusters were points of departure for the next opening phases. Human resource consultants asked questions at workshops like: "What should be our focus in order to succeed in the future hospital?" Participants provided answers like: "In the future we should evaluate managers' ability to sustain productivity as well as their ability to facilitate innovation." Participants also designed and facilitated brain-storming sessions with stakeholders. One of the groups working on better referrals asked general practitioners: "What needs do you have in order to conduct medical examinations and referrals in the future?" The general practitioners suggested "If we are to conduct medical examinations, we must be able to consult senior hospital physicians". Exploration and analyzes The seven groups of participants used a different design strategy than brain storming for idea generation in between workshops. In group meetings they worked on their specific theme, problem, innovation question, and ideas for solutions. The groups used the Discover phase to explore real world challenges related to the four themes. They investigated already existing innovative practices in high performing clinical departments throughout the hospital to learn from their work processes. They visited waiting areas for outpatients and interviewed patients and medical secretaries. They even went to shopping malls and libraries to conduct "vox pops" about people needs regarding health care and to a local windmill factory to learn from their use of R&D project tools. Define phase The seven groups shared experiences from the discover phase with each other and tried to catch the essence of their learning with regards to specific aspects of the theme to pursue and ideas to test. The innovation questions should narrow the four rather broad themes of the innovation project into questions like: "How do we ensure free access to patient data, no matter where you are, what time it is, or what position you hold?" The participants used design tools as modeling and prototyping to support their ideation from these innovation questions. One group tried to reduce the number of inpatients at a surgery department. They were inspired by principles from day surgery and tested an idea of exchanging hospital beds with flight seats. This allowed outpatients to rest after procedures until they were discharged. Another group struggled to identify complex patients as these patients are in greater need for collaboration across professional and organizational boundaries. The group used LEGO bricks to build mock ups of an identification tool and discovered the language of red and green traffic lights. The color codes appeared useable on a schema in order to create a quick overview of the severity of patients' complicating life circumstances as, for example, drug abuse and psychiatric diagnoses. During a day shift, nurses on duty in two wards tested the color-coded schema by checking the red or green boxes for each patient. Approximately 1650 ideas on Post It notes from opening brainstorming sessions and conclusions of the groups' Define phases constitute the empirical material. During the analytical process, these ideas were sorted into three empirical categories: 1) verbally expressed killing as "this idea is no good", 2) silent killing as ignoring an idea and 3) ideas which are further pursued in the innovation project. Within these categories, the next analytical step was to search for clusters of ideas with common characteristics. The empirical materials were subject for presentations and discussions with researcher colleagues in order to strengthen and refine categories and create headlines for clusters. Observations and field notes were used in order to create first draft descriptions of circumstances and tentative explanations of the two types of killing of ideas. Open extensive dialogue interviews with the seven groups of participants supplemented these descriptions in order to create fuller account of the events (Czarniawska, 2007). Inspired by the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) the interviews were used to probe for the participants' experiences of critical incidents in the process of generating and killing ideas. The observations, field notes, and interviews led to accounts of incidents of verbal or silent killings of ideas, analyzed in turn below. Findings and analyses Verbal killing of ideas An example of verbal killing of ideas was a nurse participant, who argued for reintroducing hospital physicians with generalist skills. Her hope was that generalist physicians would be better able to detect and interpret patients' overall conditions. Specialists tend to focus on specific symptoms within a narrow area of expertise. Questions from several physician participants killed her idea: "What should the training of these generalist physicians consist of? Who would hire such a person? What patient would feel safe in the hands of a generalist? 2 Three clusters of ideas were verbally killed during the opening phases of the innovation project. Doublets were ideas that addressed the same problem or theme, which is expected in brainstorming (Van de Ven, 2007; Cropley and Cropley, 2012). The process of clustering similar ideas under headlines killed a lot of Post It notes, but ideas tended to survive, if several participants had the same idea. Another cluster of verbally killed ideas addressed Contested Terrain. These ideas typically related to ongoing initiatives like the idea to train generalist physicians. These problems received massive management attention and displayed high potential for conflicts. In various ways the hospital management expressed that in these terrains, they did not want un-controllable interference from the innovation project. On several occasions the steering committee verbally and deliberately killed ideas in Contested Terrain. The third cluster of verbally killed ideas is Copy and Paste. The participants generated hundreds of ideas, which were killed as "this is already working elsewhere". Verbal killing of Copy and Paste ideas is illustrated in the following vignette. One group worked on a systematized collaboration and coordination between clinical departments regarding e.g. stroke patients. During the Discover phase, the group 2 The idea of re-introducing physicians with generalist skills was killed in the innovation project, but is accepted nationwide. Now physicians are trained as acute specialists to act as a first entry point to the hospital for all acute patients. This is no matter which conditions they might suffer from, and specialties they need treatment from. visited a unit that faced similar challenges concerning patients with lower back pains. After this visit, a physician participant announced: The Centre of Lower Back Pain is already working hard and successfully to coordinate between specialists and departments. What really strikes me is that they are not using a specific person as a coordinator, as was our initial idea. They understand coordination as a work function to be handled! This is a great perspective! They are so far ahead of the rest of us. We shouldn't continue working on this idea of improving coordination across specialties and departments. We are approaching the same type of problems as the patients with lower back pain used to experience. The patients in our case only suffer from stroke. After the visit to the Centre of Lower Back Pain, the group discarded the idea to renew coordination of processes for stroke patients. Other departments had already implemented similar functions. They did not find their own idea innovative at all. With this conclusion, the group instead invented the schema for scoring patients' complicating life circumstances in order to identify complex patients in need of coordination. The wellestablished coordination function at the Centre of Lower Back Pain was not explored any further during the innovation project and thus not adopted by other hospital departments. Killing Copy and Paste ideas contradicts theories, which point to the ability to learn from others through creative imitation (Drucker, 1985) by adapting ideas from other contexts (Hartley and Benington, 2006; Moore and Hartley, 2008) as an important factor in public innovation. Killing copy and paste ideas is discussed after the findings and analyses of silent killing of ideas below. Silent killing of ideas An example of silent killing of ideas appeared at the very first gathering in the innovation project: a nurse participant expressed her idea of involving employees from local authorities as participants. She argued that a range of possible solutions to the hospitals' challenges involved home care or rehabilitation before and after hospitalization. Neither the steering committee, nor the human resource consultants or the other participants answered to this idea. It was not addressed in later sessions in the innovation project. Three clusters of ideas were silently killed during the opening phases of the innovation project. Abstractions were abstract or complex ideas, often framed by the participants as questions or visions like: "How do we ensure common purpose and high quality standards for patients across the hospital?" These kinds of ideas might need further processing during the Discover and Define phases to crystallize in more concrete forms. Unfortunately, they did not make it that far as they disappeared. Another cluster of silently killed ideas were ideas out of sync with the design of the Double Diamond innovation process. An example was the above idea of involving employees from the municipality. This silent killing might be a sign that the human resource consultants relied too heavily on the process design. Innovation models can appear linear even though, amongst many others, Van de Ven (1990) described innovation processes as chaotic, emergent and unpredictable. If the human resource consultants made sense of the process of innovation in a linear manner and thus stuck to the plan of selecting participants from within the hospital, they by default killed ideas, which were generated through these iterative and perhaps contradictory processes. This might have caused them not to pay attention to the ongoing framing and reframing of ideas, regardless that the purpose of this phase of the innovation project was to open up. The third cluster of silently killed ideas was Soloists, meaning unique ideas. When the participants clustered ideas in the closing Define phase, they on some occasions left out ideas, which were less represented on the Post It notes. Silently killing unique ideas seems contradictory to the purpose of innovation as creating something new. Killing Soloists can be ascribed to new ideas being uncomfortable with regards to status quo or to envy towards other participants' innovativeness. When approaching design and facilitation, Soloists seemed to end up as unimportant ideas by means of the design strategy of clustering. Table 2: Types of ideas which are verbally or silently killed Source: Author The clusters of verbally and silently killed ideas are displayed in Table 2. The contradictory killing of Copy and paste ideas is a typical case, holding many empirical examples. The next section discusses circumstances, tentative explanations and consequences of these killings. Discussion of killing copy and paste ideas The circumstances of and tentative explanations for killing copy and paste ideas already being done elsewhere relate to an expression by the group, which tried to identify complex patients. The group evaluated their idea to improve coordination as: "not innovative at all" after visiting the Centre for Lower Back Pain. The evaluation of what is regarded as an innovative outcome must always be relative to what the purpose of the innovation project is. However this purpose is reframed throughout the innovation project. Part of the initial framing of the purpose of the innovation project was to spread best practices and the ambitions regarding outcome of the innovation project were: "more nuanced and concrete solutions to identified problems that are ready to implement." This purpose and ambition regarding outcome was substantially reframed during the innovation project from concrete solutions to searching for radically new solutions. This reframing affected the process of generating and killing ideas for innovative solutions in contradictory ways. The reframing of innovation as radical affected how the participants over time perceived themselves as part of the innovation project and the problems and ideas they worked on. In the Discover phase, when the purpose was framed as finding concrete solutions to problems and to spread best practices, the participants appreciated their privilege of being part of the innovation project. Several of them asked the head of the steering committee challenging questions with regards to the overall purpose and scope of the innovation project: "What is not up for innovation?" Other participants posed rather radical ideas such as quitting the hospitals' traditional organizational structure related to the medical specialties. They suggested organizing according to patient pathways instead. The head of the steering committee rejected these types of ideas: the hospital management had decided to carry on the organizational structure into the future hospital. After the first workshop, the radical reframing of the purpose of the innovation project began. Simultaneously several of the participants reflected upon how hard it was to think anew about the hospital they were part of. A charge nurse participant expressed her concern: "Everybody knows so much about the everyday work at the hospital. The challenge is to use that knowledge to innovate on an organizational level". Some participants regretted they kept using knowledge from the existing hospital and felt at risk of ending up copying and pasting old structures and cultures into the new hospital. They even wondered if they were able to be creative after all these years working at the hospital. The managers' growing aspirations of creating radically new solutions to problems were setting an ambitious context for the groups' work. At the same time these ambitions led participants to express feelings of inferiority, of not being innovative, wild and creative enough. The participants even began to judge their deep knowledge of hospital practices as barriers to innovation. The reframing of innovation as radical thus negatively affected the participants' sense of innovativeness. The vignette about the group that visited the Centre for Lower Back Pain, illustrates how the search for radically new solutions meant that the participants did not pursue ideas with great potential for innovating patient pathways, if these ideas were already at work elsewhere at the hospital. The framing of innovation as radical seemed to stop the groups from learning from practices in other specialist areas and testing these in new contexts. This is a contradictious situation in light of Hartley & Bennington's (2006) claim that learning from others and combining this learning with practices in new settings is one of the most important aspects of public innovation. In addition to this advocacy for learning from others, Moore (2005) argues that many small changes can accumulate into significant change and Cropley & Cropley (2012) point out that, if innovations are to succeed in implementation and diffusion, they should not be too wild. These findings suggest nuances to conceptions of innovation as a radical endeavor in order to avoid killing good, but small ideas from other settings. These theoretical claims could leave the impression that public innovation is only about small scale improvement and copy and paste. However Hartley & Bennington (2006) state that public innovation is not about adopting and scaling up, but about craft and grow— dynamically adapting innovations to a local context. An example of this was the standardization and systematic information procedures in day surgery, which inspired a cardiologist from an inpatient surgery department. He saw the potential to reduce the number of hospital beds in his own department, improve quality of care, and patients' experiences by adapting this information procedure to his patients. It seems contradictory not to change practices regarding inpatients due to the fact that these information procedures were already implemented with regards to outpatient treatments in other parts of the hospital building. This theoretical framing of innovation as accumulative through learning from others was part of the initial purpose of the innovation project, as described in the case. Over time, the analyses demonstrated how this purpose in several ways was reframed as a matter of radical innovation: in texts, by human resource consultants who taught innovation models, and by the steering committee waiting for innovative solutions to complex challenges. The consequences of reframing innovation as radical were that learning from innovative practices in other contexts was killed. Clagett (1967) coined the not invented here syndrome in order to describe internal resistance against external knowledge. The syndrome can occur when external knowledge conflicts with the prevalent routines and beliefs within an organization, so that employees respond with resistance. This often explains discarding learning across contexts. Another type of explanation of this killing learning across context could be the envious killing of other people's ideas (Visholm, 2012). It might sometimes be the case that people prefer to come up with good ideas themselves and devaluate other people's ideas for not taking local context into account. However, the analyses and discussions of this paper tell a different story: A story about how framing learning from others as non-innovative kills ideas. Conclusion This paper has analyzed contradictory processes of framing innovation and the generating and killing of ideas. The analyses of "the killing fields" of innovation showed that opening and closing phases of innovation processes are far from deliberate and smooth. Killing ideas is not always deliberate exnovation in the closing phases, according to explicit premises like; do ideas meet problems in building a new and smaller hospital? Contradictious silent or verbal killing ideas also appear during opening phases, exemplified by killing of Soloist ideas through clustering of ideas and killing Copy and Paste ideas and thereby learning from others. These kinds of killings are not designed for in innovation models or through the human resource consultants' facilitation and are less obvious than the deliberate killings of ideas in the closing phases. The reframing of innovation as radical affects the opening and closing phases of innovation processes in ways that challenge design and facilitation of innovation. The reframing introduces competition between ideas, which contradicts the opening principles of brainstorming, allowing for numerous ideas to surface and seeking to silence the critical voice of self and others (Osborne, 1953). The framing of innovation as a radical endeavor is a key to understand the killing of learning from others as a source of innovation and thus affects what is considered innovative solutions. The main finding of this paper is that ideas are killed during opening phases of innovation processes as well as during closing phases of evaluating ideas. Killing ideas during opening phases is not designed for in innovation models, but is explained by contradicted reframing of problems, purpose of innovation and ideas. Killing ideas by reframing and facilitation nuances theories, which explain the killing of ideas by closing phases on innovation, used in design models of innovation. Framing and facilitation also nuances explanations pointing to individual and group dynamic reasons for killing ideas. This finding suggests further research into the effects of framing and reframing problems, purpose and ideas for innovation processes. Knowledge of how framing closes idea generation in undesirable ways could be used to further advance facilitation of innovation processes with a specific attention to the killing fields of innovation. About the author: Karen Ingerslev, Ph.D. Scholar at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Operation Management (PEØ), Centre for Business Development and Management (CVL) and Cand. Psych. from Aarhus University, 2000. Karen's research on innovation in public hospitals is part of a government initiated research program SLIP "Strategic Leadership Research in the Public Sector". The research project is performed in collaboration with the Central Denmark Region and Aarhus University Hospital, where she is a former consultant and manager of Human Resource Development and currently employed as Head of Innovation. Current area of academic interest is the role of participatory citizenship in public sector innovation. 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brought to you by Aquat. Living Resour. 17, 35–46 (2004) c ⃝ EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2004 DOI: 10.1051/alr:2004001 www.edpsciences.org/alr Aquatic Living Resources Fish diversity and distribution in the Gambia Estuary, West Africa, in relation to environmental variables Jean-Jacques Albaret 1 , a , Monique Simier 2 , Famara Sambou Darboe 3 , Jean-Marc Ecoutin 1 , Jean Raﬀray 1 and Luis Tito de Morais 1 1 IRD, BP 1386, Dakar, Senegal 3 Department of Fisheries, 6, Col. Muammar GhaddaﬁAvenue, Banjul, The Gambia 2 IRD, Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale, avenue Jean Monnet, BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France Received 25 July 2003; Accepted 12 November 2003 Abstract – The Gambia Estuary, a "normal" estuary with a decreasing salinity gradient from the mouth towards the head, is moderately exploited by small-scale ﬁsheries and does not receive any severe pollution from either agriculture or industrial activities. Neither the Gambia River nor its estuary are artiﬁcially impounded. As the last large West African estuary free of major human disturbance, it is of considerable interest for comparative studies on the eﬀect of major environmental perturbations in West African estuarine ecosystems. The aquatic environment and ﬁsh communities of the Gambia Estuary (about 250 km long) were studied by purse seine sampling at diﬀerent periods in the river cycle, covering all hydro-climatic seasons that are characteristic of West African estuaries. Emphasis was placed on the diversity, composition, structure and distribution of ﬁsh assemblages in relation to ﬂuctuations in physico-chemical factors such as water temperature, salinity and turbidity. Results on the aquatic environment, mainly the salinity range (from freshwater to 39) and dissolved oxygen (never a limiting factor for ﬁsh in the estuary) and on the main characteristics of the ﬁsh fauna (high diversity of life cycles, all the ecological categories represented) indicated that the Gambia Estuary was free of major climatic perturbation and reinforced the choice of this system as a reference for the study of the eﬀects of major perturbations on estuarine tropical ﬁsh communities. Key words: Fish community / Aquatic environment / Estuary / Gambia / West Africa Résumé – Diversité et répartition des peuplements de poissons dans l'estuaire de la Gambie, Afrique de l'Ouest, en relation avec des variables environnementales. L'estuaire du ﬂeuve Gambie, de type « normal » (présentant un gradient de salinité décroissant de l'aval vers l'amont) est modérément exploité par la pêche, exempt de pollution agricole ou industrielle grave, et sans barrage sur l'ensemble de son cours : il constitue le dernier milieu estuarien d'Afrique de l'Ouest préservé de perturbations naturelles ou d'origine anthropique importantes. Il présente donc un intérêt considérable pour l'évaluation comparative des eﬀets de perturbations majeures sur la faune aquatique, subies par d'autres milieux similaires de la région. Les peuplements de poissons de la totalité de la zone estuarienne de la Gambie (environ 250 km de long) ont été étudiés au moyen de pêches expérimentales réalisées à la senne tournante coulissante, à des périodes caractéristiques du cycle hydro-climatique. La diversité, la nature, la structure et la dynamique des communautés ichtyologiques ont été précisées et reliées aux principales variables de l'environnement aquatique telles que la salinité et la turbidité. Les données concernant l'environnement aquatique, principalement la gamme de salinité (de l'eau douce à une salinité de 39) et l'oxygène dissous (qui n'est jamais un facteur limitant pour les poissons dans l'estuaire), et les principales caractéristiques de l'ichtyofaune (diversité des cycles biologiques, présence de toutes les catégories écologiques possibles) ont montré que l'estuaire de la Gambie ne subissait pas de stress climatique majeur ; ces résultats justiﬁent le choix de ce système comme milieu de référence pour l'étude des eﬀets des perturbations sur les communautés de poissons estuariens tropicaux. 1 Introduction Throughout the world, estuaries are among the most modiﬁed and threatened environments (Blaber et al. 2000). a Corresponding author: email@example.com Scientiﬁc interest is increasingly focusing on the eﬀects of major natural or human perturbations on aquatic ecosystems, yet in this ﬁeld of research few studies have been conducted on estuarine systems, particularly in the tropics. This view is highlighted by Gray (2001) as follows, "...assessment is urgently CORE needed of the spatial scales and dynamics of species richness from point samples to assemblages, habitats and landscapes, especially in coastal areas and in the tropics where threats to biodiversity are greatest". The eﬀects of ﬁshing on tropical estuarine environments have been reviewed by Blaber et al. (2000). In terms of the effects of major climatic stress, some preliminary work has been conducted in West Africa on the consequences of a drought period on the estuarine environment and associated ﬁsh assemblages (Albaret 1987; Albaret and Diouf 1994; Diouf 1996). The main reasons why so few studies have been conducted on estuarine ﬁsh community changes are 1) the complexity, linked most of the time to the high variability at diﬀerent temporal and spatial scales, and 2) the lack of reference conditions on the previous, pre-perturbation situation or a comparable pristine ecosystem. In the case of tropical estuarine ecosystems the reference to a previous pristine situation is rarely possible because of the lack of long-term comparable data and, as previously stated, there are very few estuaries or coastal lagoons that can be used as an example of an undisturbed ecosystem. To some extent, the Gambia River Estuary may be considered an exception. It is the last and only large estuary in the subregion not to have been aﬀected by extensive and/or intensive human disturbances. Originating in the Fouta Djalon, the socalled water tower of West Africa, the Gambia River has been less aﬀected by the succession of drought periods experienced by the Sahel region since 1970. In contrast to the neighbouring Casamance and Sine Saloum estuaries, the Gambia has remained a "normal" estuary with no reversed salinity gradient and no hyperhaline zone. Although there have been many proposed development projects, none has come to fruition and the Gambia River still has a natural ﬂood regime with no dams or weirs. The Gambia is not a very industrialised country and there is no major source of pollution. Fishing activities appear to be conducted at a moderate level of exploitation (Laë et al. 2004). For all the above reasons, the Gambia Estuary was chosen as a reference study to ascertain the eﬀect of major perturbations on tropical ﬁsh communities. Prior to the initiation of this programme, very limited research eﬀort had been applied in this area, e.g. the study conducted in the early 1980s by Berry et al. (1985) and the work of Lesack (1986) and Lesack et al. (1984). This paper ﬁrstly describes the aquatic environment and the ﬂuctuations of the main hydrological variables in the Gambia Estuary on a seasonal basis, and secondly describes the seasonal dynamics of the purse seine net ﬁsh assemblage in order to better understand the role of environmental factors in determining ﬁsh diversity, abundance, distribution and community structure. This work is part of a series on the eﬀects of environmental factors on ﬁsh and ﬁshing in the Gambia Estuary. It complements studies of Gambia Estuary ﬁsh assemblages using hydro-acoustic (Guillard et al. 2004) and fyke net sampling (Vidy et al. 2004), as well as a description of ﬁshing activities in the estuary by Laë et al. (2004). 2 Materials and methods 2.1 Study area The Gambia River, with a catchment area of 78 000 km 2 (Lesack 1986), originates in the Fouta Djalon plateau of northern Guinea and ﬂows 1200 km through southern Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 1). The lower Gambia, encompassing the whole Gambian part of the river, has a virtually zero drainage gradient over the last 500 km. Tidal eﬀects are perceptible up to Yarboutenda at the Senegal, the Gambia border. However, in accordance with Daget (1960), true brackish waters are located "only" in the last 180 km where there are tidal ﬂood plains colonised by mangrove swamps. The study area for the present paper includes the lower, middle and upper part of the Gambia Estuary from the mouth (Banjul) up to Deer Island located more than 220 km upstream. The study focused on the primary estuary, i.e. on the main channel excluding all tributaries and creeks (known locally as "Bolongs"). Rains occur from June to October with the highest precipitation recorded in August. Peak river discharge occurs during September, with the rise and fall of discharge being rapid, declining to almost nil from December to the beginning of July (Lesack et al. 1984). Further descriptions of the Gambia River hydrology and geomorphology are given in Michel (1963), Lesack et al. (1984), Berry et al. (1985) and Lamagat et al. (1990). 2.2 Sampling design One preliminary and four detailed surveys were performed in order to cover the major hydroclimatic cycle events as follows: * Gambia 1: November 2000 (Preliminary survey) – Declining river ﬂows entering estuary. * Gambia 3: September 2001 – Rainy season and river ﬂooding, minimum estuary salinities. * Gambia 2: June 2001 – End of the dry season, maximum estuary salinities. * Gambia 4: December 2001 – Dry and cool season. * Gambia 5: April 2002 – Dry and warm season. The study area covered three out of the ﬁve zones as deﬁned in the University of Michigan survey (Dorr et al. 1985), viz. the lower estuary, upper estuary and a part of the lower river zone (freshwater zone where there is still a tidal inﬂuence). A combination of (non-probabilistic) purposive and stratiﬁed sampling (Scherrer 1984) based on the above spatial zonation (Dorr et al. 1985) was used to deﬁne sampling sites. The sampling sites were located in as many biotopes (or environments) as possible: right and left bank, middle of channel, various depths (up to 18 m which is the eﬃciency limit of the sampling technique), with or without nearby mangroves, conﬂuences, etc. The sampling area and sites are shown in Figure 1, with the name, code, position, average depth and type of bottom sediment at the 44 sites given in Table 1. 2.3 Sampling technique Fish assemblage sampling requires an eﬃcient, reproducible and broadly selective ﬁshing gear. These criteria were met using a purse seine net and a protocol similar to that previously used in several estuarine West African ﬁsh community surveys (Albaret 1994; Baran 1995; Diouf 1996). The net is 250 m long, 20 m deep and has a 14 mm mesh. It was deployed by 9 trained ﬁshermen, from a large motorized canoe without any surface ﬁsh search. Each ﬁshing operation (haul) was considered to be a well-deﬁned unit of eﬀort. 2.4 Data collected Three types of complementary data were simultaneously collected: acoustic data (not used in this paper, see Guillard et al. 2004), biological data and environmental data. 2.4.1 Biological data In the ﬁeld, ﬁsh were identiﬁed to species level, counted and weighed (total weight in g). They were then individually measured (mm fork length) and weighed (individual weight in g for ﬁfty individuals per species at most, global weight in g for the rest of the sample in the case of very abundant species). 2.4.2 Environmental data The precise location of the ﬁshing and environmental sampling sites (as close as possible to each other) was determined using a GPS and the following environmental data were collected: depth (with a hand-sounder), direction and strength of the water current (with a ﬂow-meter), surface and bottom salinity measured with both a refractometer and a YSI multiparameter probe, surface and bottom temperature ( ◦ C) measured with a thermometer and a YSI multi-parameter probe, surface and bottom percentage oxygen saturation with a YSI multi-parameter probe, water transparency (cm) measured using a Secchi disk (diameter 30 cm). 2.4.3 Data processing All biological and environmental data were combined into a relational database. Using their geographical co-ordinates, sampling sites were entered onto a Geographical Information System and their distance from the sea was calculated. Each environmental parameter was plotted for each survey as a longitudinal proﬁle, according to distance from the sea. The abundance distribution of the main ﬁsh species in the Gambia Estuary was also presented as a scatter plot of Ln (n + 1) transformed data as function of the distance to the river mouth. A lowess (locally weighted regression) curve (Cleveland 1979) was ﬁtted by least squares ("Gaussian") to the data to summarize the distribution patterns. The smooth curve locally minimizes the variance of the residuals or prediction error. Only the points in that vicinity determine the curve value at each particular location along the x-axis. The span (i.e. the value between 0 and 1 controlling the amount of smoothing) was ﬁxed to 0.5. All ﬁve surveys were used for environmental and for species presence/absence data analysis. Data from the preliminary survey (November) were not included in the abundance distribution analysis. Table 1. The 44 sites ordered from the mouth to upstream. Distance to the sea (km), name, code, geographical coordinates (decimal degrees), mean depth (m, with SD, standard deviation) and type of bottom sediment (sa: sand, vv: mud, vm: soft mud, vd: hard mud, sv: sand+mud). 3 Results 3.1 Aquatic environment 3.1.1 Salinity The mean overall surface and bottom salinities for all sites and seasons combined were 13 and 14 respectively. Salinity values ranged from freshwater to a salinity rate slightly higher than sea water (maximum 39) at three downstream sites at the end of the dry season (June) (sites 03, 05, 06, Fig. 1). Diﬀerences between surface and bottom salinity values were generally less than 2 but the longitudinal distribution of salinity showed marked seasonal changes (Fig. 2a). The brackish water zone extended from about 80 km in length in September to more than 220 km in June (bottom salinity was 5 at the most upstream site). In the rainy and ﬂood seasons, at least two-thirds of the estuary was totally fresh, oligohaline (salinity from 0.5 to 5) or mesohaline (5 to 18) according to Por's classiﬁcation (Por 1972). In the dry season, most of the estuary up to Elephant Island (162 km from mouth) became polyhaline (18 to 30) or mixoeuhaline (30 to 40). 3.1.2 Turbidity In general, water was very turbid in the Gambia Estuary. Water transparency values ranged from 0.1 m to 1.8 m with an overall mean value of 0.6 m. During the wet season, the longitudinal distribution of transparency values (Fig. 2b) showed a rapid decrease from the estuary mouth upstream, reaching values of approximately 0.2 m in the upper parts of the estuary. During the dry season, however, higher transparency values were noted in the upper part of the estuary (mean value 1.2 m). Transparency values showed large spatial variability, except for the constantly very high turbidity in upper part of the estuary during the wet season. This was related to the imperfect mixing of water masses of diﬀerent origin in the lower estuary. J.-J. Albaret et al.: Aquat. Living Resour. 17, 35–46 (2004) 3.1.3 Temperature The surface temperature of the Gambia Estuary was generally less than 1 ◦ C higher than the bottom temperature (mean surface temperature 27.4 ◦ C, mean bottom temperature 26.9 ◦ C). In April and June the water temperature gradually increased from the mouth upstream which was not the case at other periods when no clear pattern appeared in the longitudinal distribution (Fig. 2c). The water temperature was lowest in November and December, with a minimum of 23.8 ◦ C noted at Devil's Point (site 25, 129 km from the sea). It was highest both in June and September with a maximum bottom temperature of 30.0 ◦ C in June at Mootah Point (site 11, 69 km from the sea). 3.1.4 Dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen was never a limiting factor for ﬁsh in the Gambia Estuary even in the bottom water layer. Oxygen values were noticeably lower during the peak ﬂood in September, Fig. 2. Longitudinal distribution of environmental parameters for each survey. (a) Bottom salinity. (b) Transparency (m). (c) Bottom temperature ( ◦ C). (d) Percentage oxygen saturation (%). especially in the lower and intermediate parts of the estuary (Fig. 2d). On the contrary, oxygen values were higher in April, during the dry and cool season. 3.2 Species richness and faunal composition Seventy ﬁsh species, belonging to 32 families, were recorded during this study (Table 2) and many families were represented by a single species. The average number of species per family was low (2.18). This ratio was the lowest during November and highest in the dry season (April). The families with the highest species diversity were Carangidae and Sciaenidae (6 species each), Mugilidae (5 species), Clupeidae and Haemulidae (4 species each). With the exception of June when only 40 taxa were recorded, the species richness per survey Table 2. List of the 70 ﬁsh species listed by order and family. Cat.: bioecological category (Co: continental species, occasional in estuaries; Ce: estuarine species from continental origin; Ec: estuarine species from continental origin; Es: strictly estuarine species; Em: estuarine species from marine origin; ME: marine-estuarine species; Ma: marine species accessory in estuaries; Mo: marine species occasional in estuaries), Occ.: occurrence (number of samples where the species was present), %Occ.: percentage of occurrence, Numbers: total number of individuals, and Biomass (g). Table 2. Continued. remained relatively stable throughout the seasonal cycle at between 49 (November) and 52 species (April). Family richness was also lower in June (22) and never exceeded 28 (November). The Gambia Estuary ﬁsh fauna was dominated by the sciaenid Pseudotolithus elongatus (Table 2). The next three most abundant species were the clupeids Ethmalosa ﬁmbriata, Ilisha africana and Sardinella maderensis. Synodontis gambiensis, the ﬁrst continental species, was the ﬁfth most abundant and fourth in terms of biomass. Two other Siluriforms, S. batensoda and Schilbe intermedius, were also in the ten most abundant species. Some typical estuarine families were unusually scarce in the Gambia Estuary, e.g. the gerreids Gerres nigri and Eucinostomus melanopterus that are usually among the most abundant, widely distributed and frequently occurring species in West Africa. In the Gambia Estuary, both species were scarce with respectively 4 (1.9%) and 5 (2.4%) occurrences and only a few individuals captured. In the same way, only ﬁve species of mugilids (three Liza and two Mugil) were recorded out of the 7 usually documented from other estuaries in the sub-region. Moreover, three typically common mugilids, Liza dumerili , Mugil cephalus and Mugil bananensis were represented by only a single individual. Mugil curema , another very common and widespread mullet was not recorded in the Gambia Estuary. 3.3 Species assemblages and distribution The species of the Gambia Estuary ﬁsh community were sorted into the 8 bio-ecological categories deﬁned in the West African estuarine ﬁsh communities (Albaret 1999). These eight bio-ecological categories are distributed on two gradients from a central point: the strictly estuarine species (Es). The gradient of marine aﬃnity comprises four categories: the estuarine species from marine origin (Em), the marine-estuarine species (ME), the marine species accessory in estuaries (Ma) and the marine species occasional in estuaries (Mo). The gradient of freshwater aﬃnity comprises the estuarine species from continental origin (Ec), the continental species with estuarine aﬃnities (Ce), and the continental species, occasional in estuaries (Co). Four of these categories (Ec, Es, Em and ME) compose the fundamental estuarine community. All categories, from the "occasional marine" (Mo) to the "occasional continental" (Co) species, were represented in the Gambia Estuary (Table 2). There were no distinct seasonal patterns in the number of species in each ecological category, except perhaps for the absence of Co species in June when the marine inﬂuence and salt intrusion was at its highest, and the higher number of ME species in April (Fig. 4). The main species of each category are discussed hereafter. These species have been selected because of their abundance in the ﬁsh community and as representatives of diﬀerent ecological categories. 3.3.1 Marine component of the community (Em, ME, Ma, Mo categories) These categories dominated, with a total number of 49 species (Fig. 3a), although a large part of the estuary becomes oligohaline or completely fresh for extended periods each year. Though relatively well represented (7 species), the "occasional Marine" (Mo) were rarely recorded and numerically of very limited importance. The "marine estuarine" (ME) group was particularly diverse (22 species). Fishes from this group do not usually reproduce in estuarine ecosystems but use them widely as a nursery, e.g. Elops lacerta, Sardinella maderensis and Chloroscombrus chrysurus. S. maderensis is a ME species that is mainly represented in estuaries by immature juveniles. The main concentrations were recorded in the lower estuary from the mouth up to Albreda, only 30 km from the ocean (Fig. 5). A low abundance of S. maderensis was noted during the rainy season, even near the mouth. In contrast, the species was abundant and distributed over a large part of the estuary during the dry season with a maximum distribution range during June when it reached Sea Horse Island, 187 km from the sea. There was also a high number (15) of "estuarine of marine origin" species (Em), i.e. permanent inhabitants of estuarine communities that can complete their entire life cycle within estuaries. The clupeid Ethmalosa ﬁmbriata and the sciaenid Pseudotolithus elongatus were the best representatives of the Em category in the Gambia Estuary. Though less numerous than the ME, the Em species were much more abundant in terms of individual numbers (Fig. 3b) and biomass (Fig. 3c). The 3 dominant species in numbers, biomass and occurrence (P. elongatus, E. ﬁmbriata, Ilisha africana, see Table 2) belong to this category, which accounted for four times as many individuals as the seven others together. The sciaenid P. elongatus was the dominant species in the ﬁsh community, in numbers (19 336 ﬁsh caught) and biomass (1224 kg). It had a remarkably wide spatio-temporal distribution in the estuary (96.6% occurrence). It was abundant in every season and at all sites, from the estuary mouth to the upper reaches and was captured in large numbers in relatively clear as well as in the more turbid waters and in all salinities from sea water to totally fresh water (Fig. 5). Even during the maximum ﬂood period (September), this marine species was abundant in the upper reaches of the estuary. In addition, it breeds in the Gambia Estuary and all stages of the life cycle were represented in the system. E. ﬁmbriata, was second in terms of total ﬁsh numbers, biomass and occurrence, with biomass and occurrence less than half that of P. elongatus. Both juveniles and adults were recorded in seine net samples throughout the estuary. However, E. ﬁmbriata shows a clear seasonal pattern: present in the lower reaches all year round and moving upstream only during the dry season (Fig. 5). By December, a few subadult Ethmalosa were captured in the most upstream site (more than 220 km from the Ocean) in totally fresh water, but it was only in April, in a mesohaline environment (about 5 to 20) that the species became abundant in the middle and upper part of the estuary. Ilisha africana also had a wide distribution in the Gambia Estuary, mainly during the dry season when the marine inﬂuence was highest. In April, this species was captured up to Wale (almost 150 km from the Ocean). However, the species was more abundant in the lower part of the estuary downstream of Suara Island (Fig. 5). In September, it was captured only in the lower part of the estuary. 3.3.2 Strictly estuarine component of the community (Es category) Eight "strictly estuarine" (Es) species were recorded with Monodactylus sebae and Gerres nigri being the most abundant taxa in this category (Table 2). Three of them belong to the cichlid family (Sarotherodon melanotheron, Tilapia guineensis and Tylochromis jentinki) and the other three are small Eleotrids (Bostrychus africanus) and gobiids (Nematogobius maindroni and Porogobius schlegelii). All these species were not abundant and had very low occurrence (except for M. sebae, 21.6%). They did not follow any clear spatio-temporal distribution pattern in the Gambia Estuary. 3.3.3 Continental component of the community (Ec, Co and Ce categories) Only 3 "estuarine of continental origin" (Ec) species were recorded, of which the catﬁsh, Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus, was the most abundant and most frequently occurring. Like the "occasional Marine" (Mo) species, the "occasional Continental" (Co) were rarely recorded and were numerically of very limited importance. Large populations of this estuarine catﬁsh, of continental origin (Ec), live and reproduce in the estuaries and lagoons of West Africa. In the Gambia Estuary, it ranked eleventh in total biomass but only twenty-third in numbers. In addition to its overall abundance, it was a very frequent species, tenth in terms of occurrence (29% occurrence). C. nigrodigitatus was present in most of the estuary, down to Sika Point (40 km from the sea) during the wet season but limited to the middle and upper estuary (upstream of Tendaba, 107 km from the sea) during the dry season (Fig. 5). S. gambiensis and S. batensoda (Mochokidae) had diﬀerent distribution patterns in the Gambia Estuary. S. gambiensis is a species of continental origin with a strong estuarine aﬃnity (Ce). It is the ﬁrst species from this category in the Gambia Estuary. It does not reproduce in the estuary but had a wide spatio-temporal distribution (Fig. 5) and was one of the more abundant species. It came in fourth place in biomass and ranked ﬁfth in numbers and occurrence (43%). During the wet season (September) S. gambiensis followed the river ﬂood as far downstream as Mootah Point (69 km from the sea). By December the species had started moving back upstream and was conﬁned to the upper reaches during the dry season. S. batensoda is a freshwater species found only occasionally in the estuarine environment (Co). It was not as abundant as S. gambiensis, ranked seventh in numbers, eleventh in biomass and only twenty-second in occurrence. Its distribution area was much more limited than that of S. gambiensis. It was only abundant during the wet season and generally restricted to the upper estuary. It was never caught downstream of Bambako (site 22) with the highest numbers recorded in the three upper sites (42 to 44) during the maximum ﬂood period in September. In the dry season, it was almost totally absent from the study area and was caught only once, in the most upstream zone (April). 4 Discussion Most of the ﬁsh taxa living permanently or temporarily in West African estuaries and lagoons have wide tolerance limits to the ﬂuctuating conditions found in these systems. It is widely acknowledged that many interacting physical and biological factors inﬂuence the occurrence, distribution, abundance and diversity of estuarine tropical ﬁshes (Whitﬁeld 1998; Blaber 2000). Among the physico-chemical factors, water salinity, temperature, turbidity, depth, current strength, dissolved oxygen, and their regular or irregular ﬂuctuations at diﬀerent time scales, have been identiﬁed as determinants in estuarine ﬁsh ecology (Whitﬁeld 1998; Albaret 1999; Blaber 2000). The most essential adaptation by ﬁsh, which enter estuarine systems, is an ability to adjust to changes in salinity (Panikkar 1960). Most estuarine ﬁsh are able to cope with salinity ﬂuctuations but their ability to do so varies from species to species and hence inﬂuences their distribution (Blaber 2000). In a large open estuary such as the Gambia, the salinity at a given site and the magnitude of ﬂuctuation depends mainly upon the balance between freshwater inﬂow (long-term, seasonal changes) and tidal regime (short-term changes). The Gambia River originates in the Fouta Djalon, and its estuary receives a large freshwater input for a protracted period each year. Unlike nearby estuaries of the SeneGambian area, the Sine Saloum to the North, the Casamance to the South, the Gambia has no hyperhaline waters in its upper reaches. Whatever the season the salinity gradient always decreases from the mouth upstream. The longitudinal distribution of salinity showed seasonal changes (Fig. 2a), the shape Fig. 5. Spatial (distance to sea in km) and seasonal (periods of the hydrological cycle) distribution of abundances of Sardinella maderensis, Pseudotolithus elongatus, Ethmalosa ﬁmbriata, Ilisha africana, Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus and Synodontis gambiensis. The periods of the hydrological cycle are (from left to right): the rainy season (river ﬂooding and minimum estuary salinity), the dry and cool season, the dry and warm season, the end of the dry season (maximum estuary salinity). Each point represents the log-transformed value of the ﬁsh abundance in relation to the distance to the sea. The smooth curve is the locally weighted regression (Lowess) with a span value of 0.5. of the 5 proﬁles ﬁtting the "Type 3" shape category of the classiﬁcation proposed by Savenije and Pagès (1992). "Type 3" has a concave shape and the salinity gradient at the mouth is small. In the Gambia Estuary, freshwater intrusion increased during the ﬂood season, then decreased during the dry period until the end of June, yet the shape type remained unchanged. The Gambia Estuary is a well-mixed (no thermal or saline spatial or temporal vertical stratiﬁcation) and oxygenated system. Considerable seasonal variation in river ﬂow results in marked changes to the aquatic environment. Despite the recent and severe drought in the sub-region, the Gambia Estuary has remained a "normal" estuary, unlike the neighbouring Casamance and Sine Saloum, which have become "reversed" estuaries. This point has reinforced the choice of the Gambia system as a reference for estimating the impact of changing freshwater inputs on West African estuarine ﬁsh communities. Another important environmental ﬁnding was the generally high turbidity of the Gambia Estuary. Turbidity is known to have a major inﬂuence on estuarine ﬁsh occurrence and distribution. Turbidity aﬀects estuarine ﬁshes in three main ways: it may aﬀord greater protection for juvenile ﬁsh from predators; it is generally associated with areas where there is an abundance of food; and it may provide an orientation mechanism for migration to and from the estuary (Blaber 2000). However, excessively high water turbidity has been shown to negatively aﬀect ﬁsh egg survival, hatching success, feeding eﬃciency (mainly of ﬁlter feeders), growth rate and population size (Whitﬁeld 1998). Whatever its origin in the Gambia Estuary, high primary production, suspended inorganic matter, or a combination of the two, turbidity will need to be taken into account in future comparative work because of its fundamental inﬂuence on ﬁsh distribution within the estuarine environment. According to a number of criteria, the Gambia Estuary should have very high species diversity. Biogeography plays an important role in species richness (Blaber 1981) and tropical and subtropical estuaries have higher species richness than temperate systems (Whitﬁeld 1994a,b). The Gambia is a large estuary (several km wide in the lower reaches and more than 200 km long) with an extensive, permanent interface with the Atlantic Ocean in the mouth region and the Gambia River in the upstream region. Both oﬀer a rich potential for colonization of the estuary by ﬁsh. The morpho-edaphic diversity, including the presence of extensive mangroves and a range of hydrological situations, are further factors favouring high biodiversity (Albaret 1999). All the West African estuarine ecological categories are represented in the ﬁsh fauna of the Gambia Estuary, which clearly belongs to the "Type E" theoretical model used to explain the evolution and classiﬁcation of West African estuarine ecosystems (Diouf 1996; Albaret 1999). "Type E" ecosystems are exposed to balanced marine and continental inﬂuences and all types of bio-ecological life cycles are likely to be found in them. Similarly, all of the main ﬁsh families likely to be found in tropical estuaries are represented in the Gambia system. Despite the above favourable analysis, the Gambia Estuary was found to have a moderate or even low number of ﬁsh species when compared with other West African estuaries studied using a similar sampling method and eﬀort (Albaret 1999). The main explanations for this apparent paradox are probably to be found in the natural disturbance imposed on the system by regular extensive ﬂooding and to the lack of persistent marine conditions within the estuary. Most large West African estuaries have highly perturbed catchments but also possess large, marine zones that enable marine taxa (mainly ME but also Ma and Mo species) to colonize the estuary. Fish community ecological categories in the estuarine environments of West Africa (Albaret 1999) are not symmetrical, with four categories to the right of the "marine" branch and only three on the left "continental" branch. Moreover the number of marine species likely to enter estuaries considerably exceeds the number of freshwater species capable of colonising estuaries. A strong continental inﬂuence does not compensate for a weak marine inﬂuence in terms of overall estuarine species richness. Figure 3a clearly shows that even in the very continental inﬂuenced Gambia Estuary, the species of marine origin constitute the majority of the species reported (49 against 13). When compared with the Sine Saloum ﬁsh community (Diouf 1996) it appears that extreme categories Mo and Ma are mainly responsible for the lower species diversity recorded in the Gambia Estuary but that all the species forming the "estuarine fundamental community" (Albaret 1999) are present in this system. In terms of species number alone, the Gambia Estuary cannot be considered a biodiverse environment, but in terms of the ecological categories and life cycles it has a biodiversity close to or greater than that of many other estuarine systems in West Africa. In conclusion, it would appear that for the Gambia Estuary, total species richness may not be a good indicator of biodiversity, and that the diversity of life cycles and ecological categories may be more appropriate for evaluating the "health" of West African estuarine environments. Acknowledgements. This study was conducted as a joint program between IRD (UR RAP, Dakar) and the Gambian Fisheries Department. We are very grateful to Alan Whitﬁeld from the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity for his insightful comments and contribution to the clarity of the paper. References Albaret J.J., 1987, Les peuplements de poissons de la Casamance (Sénégal) en période de sécheresse. Rev. Hydrobiol. Trop. 20, 291-310. 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Laë R, Ecoutin J.M., Mendy A., Raﬀray J., Weigel J.Y., Sadio O., Djobe O., 2004, Eﬀects of a targeted shrimp (Penaeus notialis) exploitation on ﬁsh catches in the Gambia estuary. Aquat. Living Resour. 17, 75-85. Lamagat J.P., Albergel J., Bouchez J.M., Descroix L., 1990, Monographie hydrologique du ﬂeuve Gambie. ORSTOM; Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du ﬂeuve Gambie (OMVG), Dakar, Sénégal. Lesack L.F.W., 1986, Estimates of catch and potential for the riverine artisanal ﬁshery in the Gambia, West Africa. J. Fish Biol. 28, 679700. Lesack L.F.W., Hecky R.E., Melack J.M., 1984, Transport of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and major solutes in the Gambia River. West Africa. Limnol. Oceanogr. 29, 816-830. Michel P., 1963, Les bassins des ﬂeuves Sénégal et Gambie. Étude géomorphologique. Paris, Mémoires ORSTOM No. 63. Panikkar N.K., 1960, Physiological aspects of adaptation to estuarine conditions. Australian Fisheries Council Proceedings 32, 168-175. Por F.D., 1972, Hydrobiological notes on the high-salinity waters of the Sinai Peninsula. Mar. Biol. 14, 111-119. Savenije H.H.G., Pagès J., 1992, Hypersalinity: adramatic change in the hydrology of Sahelian estuaries. J. Hydrol. 135, 157-174. Scherrer B., 1984, Biostatistique. In G. Morin (Ed.), Montréal, Paris. Vidy G., Darboe F.S., Mbye E.M., 2004, Juveniles ﬁsh assemblages in the creeks of the Gambia Estuary. Aquat. Living Resour., 17, 56-64. Whitﬁeld A.K., 1994a, Fish species diversity in Southern African estuarine systems: an evolutionary perspective. Env. Biol. Fishes 40, 37-48. Whitﬁeld A.K., 1994b, A review of ichthyofaunal biodiversity in Southern African estuarine systems. In: Teugels G.G., Guégan J.F., Albaret J.J. (Eds.), Diversité biologique des poissons des eaux douces et saumâtres d'Afrique : Synthèses géographiques. Ann. Mus. R. Afr. centr., Zool., Tervuren, 275, 149-163. Whitﬁeld A.K., 1998, Biology and Ecology of Fishes in Southern African Estuaries. Ichthyological. Monographs of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, No. 2.
CRYONICS Volume 9(3) March, 1988 Issue #92 Alcor Meeting Schedule..........................................page 37 CRYONICS is the newsletter of the ALCOR Life Extension Foundation, Inc. Mike Darwin (Federowicz) and Hugh Hixon, Editors. Published monthly. Individual subscriptions: $20.00 per year in the U.S.; $30.00 per year in Canada and Mexico; $35.00 per year all others. Group rates available upon request. Please address all editorial correspondence to ALCOR, 12327 Doherty St., Riverside, CA 92503 or phone (800) 367-2228 (in California: (714) 736-1703). The price of back issues is $2.00 each in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and $3.00 for all others. Contents copyright 1988 by ALCOR Life Extension Foundation, Inc., except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved. (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL MATTERS Each month for over a year, producing CRYONICS has been more difficult. During the early part of last year it was due to the tremendous workload associated with relocating, then there was a suspension, and then another one -- and now the coroner's investigation. Each month the Editors of CRYONICS sigh and say, well, it can't get any worse than this. . . . We have been consistently wrong. On February 23, the Riverside County Coroner's Office filed a death certificate on Alcor Suspension Member Dora Kent listing the causes of death (in order) as: 1) Pneumonia; 2) Arteriosclerosis, and; 3) Barbiturate poisoning. The mode of death was listed as Homicide. A corollary of such a death certificate being filed with the Public Health Service by the Coroner's office is an investigation by the District Attorney's office to determine if charges should be filed and who specifically should be charged. At the time of this writing we do not know when or if a decision to bring charges will be made or who will be named. Nevertheless, it seems possible that one or more members of the Alcor Suspension Team may be charged with some sort of homicide: anything from 1st degree murder to involuntary manslaughter. Not a pleasant prospect. Much of our uncertainty stems from the fact that we are innocent. (If we were guilty, at least we'd know who did it!) The national press has covered the accusations of homicide by the Riverside Coroner's Office in a sketchy and incomplete way. There was a brief article in TIME magazine and considerably longer articles in a fair number of major metropolitan newspapers on both coasts. We have received many calls and questions regarding this case, and of course, it goes without saying we can discuss the case only in the "broadest brush strokes." Nevertheless, there are many practical questions about the case and about the future of Alcor which we can and will answer, and we make an effort to do so in an article entitled Some Questions and Answers, elsewhere in this issue. More For Your Money Despite the fact that we've been running behind with getting CRYONICS out to you, we've been putting out longer issues. While this issue and the previous issue may not look any bulkier in terms of pages than usual, we have gone to a smaller type size (via the wonders of laser printing) and are now running about 10% more copy per page. We can't promise to keep this up indefinitely, but at least it's some compensation for our (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- tardiness in the meantime. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. Outsiders and those on the periphery of cryonics sometimes ask if there is any substance to charges that barbiturates were administered before legal death occurred? In other words, "Did you do it?" A. We ask this question here so that we can clearly and unequivocally answer it. No, we did not admin- ister any barbiturates to Mrs. Kent before her legal death. There was no reason to do so -- and in fact a considerable effort had to be made to maintain her vital functions (i.e., keep her alive) until preparations for suspension were complete. Q. What is the status of the UCLA stolen property investigation? A. With all but a few exceptions, our property has been cleared for release, but it has not been returned to us. The major item UCLA police are contending was stolen is a large item of furniture (an $1,800 stainless steel medical cart) which was purchased by Alcor at UCLA Surplus and Excess Property. Witnesses to this purchase exist, as well as receipts. Despite early news reports to the contrary, UCLA has declined to file theft charges. We are confident that if they do, we will win. There was no stolen property from in the Alcor facility from UCLA or anywhere else. Q. What has been said by the District Attorney's Office about the Coroner's finding of homicide? A. Statements have been mixed. Initially very radical statements were made to the effect that crimes in the form of stolen property and homicide were known to have occurred. Later, more moderate statements were made. But one thing seems clear: any trial of Alcor Suspension Team Members will be highly technical, attract enormous international press attention, and hinge on issues of fundamental importance to cryonics. By way of example we quote from an article in the February 24th Riverside Press Enterprise, wherein Deputy District Attorney Curt Hinman made a statement that, "even if the people at the Alcor laboratory determined Kent was dead when the drugs were administered, the question is why barbiturates, which are sedatives, were given. If the reason is to keep her from reviving, then is she really dead? If they keep her from waking up, that's murder." Needless to say they haven't asked why we give barbiturates (they reduce cerebral metabolic demands during poor tissue perfusion -- ischemia - enormously) and the statement about preventing her from reviving only goes to illustrate the profound (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ignorance and lack of even basic medical understanding which has surrounded this case from the start. If a person is a "no code" (i.e., not to be resuscitated in the event of respiratory and/or cardiac arrest) such as Dora Kent, and dies, and you restore circulation and breathing artificially (i.e., via CPR) and you give them medications in the course of the procedure that would prevent them from resuming spontaneous respiration and breathing (which they wouldn't have done anyway unless you started CPR) and then you place them in cryonic suspension, have you killed them? Or to sum it up as one wag put it: "Those people at Alcor are a dangerous bunch. They killed a little old lady who died of natural causes and if they aren't stopped they may kill other people who die of natural causes!" Q. If Alcor Suspension Team Member(s) are indicted, what will happen to Alcor? A. Alcor will continue to function. The quality of service we offer will remain unchanged while we await trial providing we can make bail. We are planning aggressively right now to insure that everyone who might be charged makes bail. We did not commit a murder or engage in any other criminal wrongdoing and we have commitments and responsibilities to patients in suspension and to our members -- we are not going to run away. Apparently the DA knows that, and that is why we aren't all in jail with astronomical bails right now. If we are charged, it may well be as long as a year before we come to trial. Alcor will go on operating. A good measure of our continued effectiveness will hinge on our ability to make bail. If you can help in this regard please contact Alcor. You may be able to help by pledging property as collateral or by contributing cash for bail. In any event, Alcor will continue to operate to the best extent possible. Contingency plans covering a wide range of possible unfavorable outcomes are in place to provide for continued patient care and suspension services for members. Q. What effect has this "investigation" had on the practical ability of Alcor and other cryonics organizations to make necessary arrangements to facilitate a member's suspension -- such as hospital and mortuary cooperation? A. Frankly, we don't know, but we can't imagine it would be good. If you have a working relationship with a mortuary, ambulance company, or physician now would be a good time to touch bases with the individuals involved and make sure things are still solid. Generally we have found the community at large and people in general to be surprisingly supportive once they get the full story. Our best advice is to pull no punches. Let people know what's going on (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- and the nature of the trouble. Don't be afraid to have them call us if they need additional information. And, if you haven't made local arrangements for emergency transportation and use of mortuary facilities in your community (i.e., you don't live in the Los Angeles or Miami areas) now is the time to do so. Also, consider contacting your local coroner or medical examiner and explaining your interest in cryonics and your concern over the possibility of autopsy. It is never too soon to start educating these officials. And if you find they can't be educated -- move. It's just that simple. Q. Are the Alcor patients still protected by the restraining order in the face of criminal charges? A. Yes, to the best of our knowledge they are. Additionally, the nature of the case against Alcor is such that autopsy of Dora Kent's head is not going to yield any relevant information. Why is the Coroner pursuing this course of action against Alcor? We wish we knew for sure. Our best guess is that it is a mixture of ignorance, misunderstanding, and fear. Yes, fear. We know from published interviews that carrying out a cryonic suspension under optimum circumstances as we did in the case of Mrs. Kent made some of the deputies very uncomfortable (this is an understatement). Deputy Coroner Rick Bogan has stated on numerous occasions that he felt cryonics needed to regulated and it was apparent to us from the start that no one in the Coroner's office seemed to understand what cryonics was about -- let alone care in the slightest about the well-being of the patient's in suspension. Patients are just debris, just pieces of meat to be buried or burned. If the Coroner thought even remotely that cryonics might work they would no more want to autopsy Dora Kent than they would want to go into an ICU and autopsy a patient struggling for life with a bullet in his brain. No doubt another part of the problem is political. The press conference on December 23 started a chain reaction which has resulted in enormous expense and grief on both sides. It becomes a game of "chicken." On their side their careers are potentially at stake, on our side our lives. Because they don't understand cryonics and because they are convinced it won't work, they can't fully appreciate our position. Someone in Northern California summed up their perception of the situation nicely: "[The Coroner's staff] thought this was just some crap game in the back of a sleazy little pool parlor and that everyone would run for the door as soon as they shouted 'Police!'." They were wrong. There is nothing dirty or ugly about cryonics -- it is one of the most powerful and positive things in our lives and we will stand up and defend it. And as to our perception of them? Al Roca, one of our Associate Members on the East Coast, summed it up beautifully: "An Aztec official, if taken into an operating room today where open-heart surgery was being performed, would probably imagine it was a new form of human sacrifice. Likewise, Deputy Coroner Cupido sees the headless corpse of Dora Kent and can see only (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- homicide, which his principles say must be prosecuted. As cryonicist Thomas Donaldson wrote several years ago: 'Ixlipotli the Aztec had a life founded upon firm moral values, such as cannibalism and periodic scarification. His high ethical principles gave structure and meaning to his life, and his achievements gave him a sense of deep personal satisfaction. To be chosen to cut out the heart of a captive was a great personal honor, signaling the respect which he merited throughout all Tenochtitlan. It was the year 1492, though not on his calendar.' "Welcome to the third millennium, Mr. Cupido. Try not to cause too much damage." Q. What is the utility of various political maneuvers to aid Alcor, such as letter writing campaigns? A. It is the opinion of our counsel that this not at this time. The District Attorney has the matter an effective or particularly desirable thing to do under consideration and the DA is not likely to be influenced by letter writing or other such actions (as properly he should not be). At this sensitive time, attempts at "politicking" can actually be counterproductive. Counsel has advised us to adopt a conservative stance in this respect. Also, keep in mind that even though you do not speak or act for Alcor directly, your actions and behavior may speak for us indirectly. In all of your communications and actions, use the highest standards of integrity and style. We want to remain in this community and be taken seriously as thoughtful, rational people -- not emotional kooks and flakes. Cryonics isn't a cult anymore than a self-help legal clinic is a cult. Granted, we are all very hurt, angry, and above all, frightened and frustrated by what has happened, but we must not lose our cool. We must demonstrate courage, which has been defined quite aptly as grace under pressure. All of the Directors and Officers of Alcor feel quite strongly that the image we should strive ceaselessly to project is the image which best reflects the reality of Alcor: one of thoughtful integrity. A man is respected a thousand times more for bottling his anger and channeling it to productive ends than by shouting and complaining in the night. Harsh and angry words about those who oppose us only serve to bring us down to a level where we don't belong. And besides, those kinds of things will do nothing to resolve the situation -- only polarize and cloud the judgment of everyone involved. They may make us feel better in the short run, but in the long run they will only serve to hurt us. Bear in mind also that any remarks you make about any of Alcor's operations or the individuals involved may end up in the newspaper and could powerfully affect the lives and well-being of suspension team members. And the press can be a very powerful tool -- for good or ill. It is so easy for remarks made out of context (or even in context, for that matter) to be misinterpreted or deliberately distorted. As has been said in other wars, "Loose Lips Sink Ships." It's probably best not to talk to the press about Alcor except in the most general way. On the other hand, it's perfectly fine to talk about personal (6) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- and overall impressions of Alcor and the people in it (hopefully these will be positive!). Q. A reporter from the LOS ANGELES TIMES asked what would happen if key Alcor people went to jail over this affair? "Wouldn't that be the end for Alcor and cryonics?" he asked. A. The answer is "No and No." The quality of service may drop for a while, but as long as we are allowed to by the state, We will continue to operate and care for the patients we have in suspension. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously and we don't believe we will lose. ** TYPIST'S NOTE: THIS SPACE AND THE ENTIRE NEXT PAGE CONTAINED A NEWSPAPER CLIPPING FROM THE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1988 "PRESSENTERPRISE": CORONER SAYS LETHAL DOSE OF DRUGS KILLED CRYONICS CASE FIGURE By DON BABWIN The Press-Enterprise Dora Kent, whose head was surgically removed in December at a cryonics laboratory in Riverside, was killed by a lethal dose of barbiturates, the Riverside County coroner's office said yesterday. "We're saying this was an 83-year-old lady that was ill and pushed over the edge by the use of a drug," said Supervising Deputy Coroner Dan Cupido. A death certificate amendment filed yesterday classifies Kent's death as a homicide. The case has been referred to the Riverside County district attorney's office, Cupido said. Cupido said the findings by the coroner's office are based on the opinion of the pathologist contracted by the county, Dr. F. Rene Modglin, and those of toxologists who tested tissue samples and body fluids taken during Dora Kent's autopsy. Deputy District Attorney Curt Hinman, said yesterday the case is still being investigated and that he is "fairly confident charges will be filed." Hinman said he did not know when a decision on charges will be made. "One of the biggest questions is who committed it and who will be charged." Dora Kent's death has been under investigation since the coroner's office learned of her Dec. 11 death at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation laboratory in Riverside. No doctor was present at (7) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- the time of her death, which was one of the factors that prompted the coroner's office to investigate whether she was alive when the procedure to remove her head was started. The woman's son, Saul Kent, chose to freeze Dora Kent's head in the hopes that someday the rest of her body can be restored or replaced. Kent and other advocates of cryonics believe in storing bodies or heads at subfreezing temperatures in hopes of someday bringing them back to life through advances in science. Yesterday, Saul Kent, who was present at the Alcor laboratory when his mother's head was removed, denied his mother was alive when the drugs were administered. "I was there and she died of natural causes and then the procedure was started," said Kent. Michael Federowicz, who was president of Alcor at the time and who was present during the operation, said finding barbiturates in Kent's system does not prove she was alive when the drugs were administered. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was begun after Kent died to intentionally distribute the drug throughout her system, Federowicz said. Hinman said the tests showed levels of phenobarbital and secobarbital throughout Kent's system, including her liver, kidneys, and bone marrow, indicating Kent was alive when she was given the drugs. Medical investigators found that Kent's body had metabolized the drugs, Hinman said, "We think they gave it (the drugs) to her before she was dead," he said. Hinman said, even if the people at the Alcor laboratory determined Kent was dead when the drugs were administered, the question is why barbiturates, which are sedatives, were given. "If the reason is to keep her from reviving, then is she really dead?" he said. "If they keep her from waking up, that's murder," he said. Saul Kent said the barbiturates are given "after death," not to keep the patient from waking up, but to slow down the damage to the brain caused by the lack of oxygen. The sooner the procedure is begun after death, Kent said, the better the chance of success. The death certificate amendment lists the immediate cause of death as pneumonia and generalized severe arteriosclerosis. The death is, however, classified as a homicide. Kent said he did not understand why, if the coroner's office believes barbiturates killed his mother, they did not say the administration of the drugs was the immediate cause of death. But Cupido said: "It's like you have a gunshot victim who develops pneumonia in the hospital and dies. It doesn't mean he wasn't shot." The drugs, said Cupido, "expedited Dora Kent's death." "A patient with that (the illnesses listed on the death certificate) given barbiturates will go over the edge," he said. The amendment to the death certificate says Dora Kent died between Dec. 9 and Dec. 11. The investigation of Kent's death has spawned other inquiries. The doctor who signed the death certificate, Dr. Steve Harris, a postdoctoral trainee in geriatrics and pathology at UCLA, was placed under formal review last month, according to a medical center spokesman. Jerry Leaf, a research assistant at the university's School of Medicine and member of Alcor, was placed on investigatory leave at UCLA last month. Leaf, according to Alcor officials, performed the operation on Dora Kent. UCLA has seized equipment from Alcor's Doherty Street laboratory to determine whether it was stolen from the university. That investigation has not been completed, school officials said. DORA KENT CHRONOLOGY Dec. 9, 1987: Dora Kent, 83, in failing health, is taken from the Care West-Mission Nursing Center in Riverside to Alcor Life Extension Foundation to die. The foundation, a non-profit organization, had moved to a Doherty Street industrial building in February from Fullerton. Dec. 11: Alcor officials pronounce Dora Kent dead and remove her head to be frozen. Dec. 23: The Riverside County Coroner's Office announces it is conducting an investigation to determine if the head of Dora Kent was removed before her death. Jan. 7, 1988: Authorities serve a search warrant on the foundation's Doherty Street facility. Six people, including Alcor president Michael Federowicz, are taken into custody by the Riverside Police Department for questioning, then released. Boxes of documents and slides are seized and authorities discover Alcor has illegally dumped infectious body fluids into the city's sewer system. The head of Dora Kent is not found. Jan. 12: Authorities serving additional search warrants at Alcor's laboratory find equipment and supplies suspected of being stolen from UCLA, and Dora Kent's hands. Also found are a gun, silencer, and armor-piercing bullets. Jan. 13: Riverside Superior Court Judge Victor Miceli issues a temporary restraining order prohibiting the coroner's office from thawing the head of Dora Kent, should it be found, or any of the six heads and one body at Alcor. Jan. 14: In a news conference, coroner's officials say Dora Kent was dead before her head was cut off. They also state she was in no immediate danger of dying when she was taken from her convalescent home to Alcor. Jan. 19: Alcor officials at a news conference call the coroner's investigation a "vicious smear campaign." Jan. 20: UCLA officials announce the man who surgically removed the head of Dora Kent has been placed on leave by the university, where he works as a technician in the medical center. Feb. 1: Judge Miceli issues a permanent order barring coroner's investigators from thawing Dora Kent's head or any of the heads and body being stored at Alcor. Feb. 23: Riverside County Coroner's Office files an amended death certificate reporting Dora Kent's death as a homicide. The coroner concludes Kent was administered a lethal dose of barbiturates. (8) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ON BECOMING A COORDINATOR We have received several letters recently from people asking about the possibility of becoming an Alcor Coordinator or working through Alcor to get a local cryonics group going. The Coordinator program has worked reasonably well for Alcor in the past, although somewhat disappointingly, it has not generated any viable new local groups. What it has done is provided a network of support people who can pass information on in a crisis and act as back-ups for Alcor in Southern California. Need For More Flexibility It has become clear since the Coordinator program was started that there needs to be a wider variety of types of Coordinators and that there needs to be some agreements in place defining what a Coordinator's rights and responsibilities are -- as well as what the limits of their authority are. Right now Alcor has two basic kinds of Coordinators: Rescue Coordinators; who are people with training and equipment to carry out initial stabilization and transport of Alcor cryonic suspension patients, and Information Coordinators, who do follow-ups on information requests and other leads in their territory and generally act as a clearinghouse for information among members and potential members. Obviously both of these positions carry with them substantial responsibility and liability for Alcor. Anyone acting to represent us either in a rescue/transport capacity or in terms of providing information about Alcor has to be someone we trust a great deal. Thus, a requirement for a Coordinator has been that we have a relatively long baseline of performance and interaction with that person to evaluate. It's a delicate position and one that can't be given out lightly. Logistic Problems On the other hand, it is difficult to establish such a baseline with people who are relatively new to cryonics and who still want to try to generate interest and action on a local level. Clearly, what is needed is a less formal "third alternative" for folks who just want to get the word out that they exist and want to hear from others in their area. The first step in trying to form such a local group for mutual support and to provide a springboard for generating more interest in a given geographical area is to get together with others who are interested and "discuss things." Thus, we get a lot of requests for help in generating "cryonics discussion groups." There are a few logistic problems with Alcor facilitating this, however. First is (9) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- the issue of confidentiality. We do not give out names, addresses, or phone numbers of members, or even of people who contact us for information, except to Coordinators. Members as well as people who make inquiries should be able to do so knowing that they will be handled discreetly and that their identity will be held in confidence. After some thought on the matter we think we have a solution to the problems of maintaining confidentiality, not incurring liability, and encouraging the formation of discussion groups that can hopefully go on to develop into full-scale cryonics groups in the long run. What we propose to do is to publish a list of people in each issue of CRYONICS and/or send with each information request a list of people who are interested in getting together with other cryonicists in their area. We've decided to call this class of person a Discussion Group Coordinator (DGC). The Requirements The requirements for a DGC will be fairly straightforward. First there will be a disclaimer from Alcor pointing out the DGC's "limits of authority and responsibility": i.e., they won't be representing Alcor in any formal way and Alcor makes no formal endorsement of them or their capabilities. Second, the DGC must be a signed up Alcor Suspension Member. This requirement is in place for several reasons: First, no one will take cryonics seriously unless you take it seriously. That means being signed up. Second, since we are trying to broaden our base of support and we will be providing literature and information either for free or at very reduced cost, we want your loyalties to be with us. Third, we want to have a short least understand the basics well enough not to be a baseline of contact with you so that we know that you at liability. (Even if A DCG doesn't formally represent Alcor, we still won't support someone who provides misinformation.) We will provide support by releasing your phone number and address to people who are already members or who have requested information and are from your area. And of course we will provide you with support in the form of literature and information -- as well as one-to-one help (where we think it warranted) on the more practical matters of how to upgrade a discussion group to the level of a Rescue Coordinator or to a full-blown local cryonics organization. If you think you might be interested in getting a discussion group going in your area, please contact Mike Darwin by calling Alcor (if he's not in, leave a message) at (714) 736-1703. Good Luck! (10) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE Part 2 of 2 by Mike Darwin, with assistance from Steve Harris, M.D. Anesthesia: Expect "modular" anesthesia by the 1990's to the early 2000's. The development of potent anxieolytics (anxiety removers) which do not depress consciousness and the development of total pain inhibitors will allow for complicated surgical procedures on conscious patients. Expect to see major thoracic and limb surgery on high risk patients (i.e., patients unable to tolerate anesthesia) using such agents. Major abdominal surgery requiring deep muscle relaxation will continue to require skeletal muscle paralysis and general anesthesia. However, expect new drugs in the market place in the late 1990's which induce unconsciousness without respir- atory or cardiac depression. Surgical and post surgical mortality will decrease sharply due to such anesthetics and the use of real-time physiological and biochemical monitoring during and after surgery using biosensors. Surgery: The biggest revolution in surgery will be in decreasing its use and its invasiveness. Less and less will a surgeon crack open a patient's entire abdomen or chest (or even make a large "gaping" wound) to effect repairs or treat disease. While tiny remote- or robot-controlled nanotechnological or microtechnological "submarines" cruising through the circulatory system are probably a long way off, their precursors in the form of catheter- and fiber-controlled instruments are here already. The next two decades will see an enormous shift towards minimally invasive surgical procedures. Catheters, laparascopes, and thorascopes with sensors, operating tools, and an impressive array of capabilities will be increasingly used. Abdominal surgery will shift more and more towards the use of the fiberoptic laparascope, endoscope, and laser as miniaturization of tools occurs and disease is diagnosed earlier. Early diagnosis will create the need for less drastic procedures. (11) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Fine-tuned repair of heart valves and blood vessels, and examination and biopsy of suspected abdominal and retroperitoneal lesions will be early candidates for application of this technology. Surgery will also be used less for nonelective procedures because many of the conditions which require it will be amenable to diagnosis and treatment very early in their development, before they inflict major structural change. Also, a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of disease gradually will shift treatment away from destruction of tissue to meaningful changes or modifications in the biochemistry of the tissue in order to restore health. By way of example, expanding understanding of cancer, which is in reality a molecular disease, not a gross one, will shift treatment away from cutting and burning cells and towards learning how to turn them on and off appropriately. In contrast to therapeutic surgery, the frequency of cosmetic surgery will probably increase dramatically as techniques are refined and prosthetics improve in quality and drop in cost. As people live longer, and stay productive longer as well, they will increasingly turn to medicine to maintain not only their health but their appearance. Cosmetic surgery will experience a boom until such time as the fundamental mechanisms underlying the aging process can be brought under control. Geriatrics: Advances will be slow here, but significant. Expect increasing understanding and application of trophic factors and bioregulatory compounds. Early candidates for rejuvenation will be the immune system and other stem cell systems or systems with higher cell turnover. By the early decades of 2000, significant rejuvenation and geroprophylaxis of skin, bone, immune, and other "high turnover" tissues will be possible as the natural regulatory molecules which control these system are understood and applied. Expect several significant synthetic compounds to be discovered with these kinds of properties as well. There will be the possibility of profound improvement in personal appearance and general health as these agents enter the marketplace. By the early years of the 21st century the first generation of compounds effective at "rejuvenating" (i.e., restoring some degree of normal maintenance and repair to existing brain cells) the central nervous system will be available. These drugs will work by turn- (12) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ing on protein synthesis and stimulating natural repair mechanisms. However, pathologies of the brain and other nondividing tissues (renal, cardiac, and musculoskeletal system) will continue to be major sources of morbidity and mortality over the next two decades. As atherosclerosis and immune-related disorders are dealt with more effectively, expect an increasing shift of morbidity and mortality to central nervous systemrelated causes. Beyond 2000 this may be treated to a limited extent with fetal transplants, but a definitive solution will have to await a more sophisticated molecular-level medicine, capable of cell repair and regeneration. Psychiatry and Behavior: Diagnosis by brain scanning (metabolic MRI) and chemical analysis of cerebrospinal fluids will be commonplace in 20 years. As neuroregulatory compounds are better understood and as the biochemistry underlying mental disorders is elucidated there will be more effective treatments. Expect 2nd and 3rd generation drugs and combinations thereof for treatment of depression and psychosis by the late 1990's. There will probably be several very effective therapeutic agents for compulsive disorders in the marketplace by the early to mid 1990's. One development likely within a decade is the creation of a new class of licit or semilicit drugs. Expect real aphrodisiacs and potentiators of sexual pleasure to be available by the late 1990's, if not before. It is already widely rumored that a certain peptide fraction of cholecystokinin (CCK) when taken by nasal administration is a potent aphrodisiac in both men and women. How potent? Potent enough to exceed even the wildest dreams every teen-age boy had about spanish fly. A variety of molecules which regulate certain basic kinds of human behavior (rage, fear, and so on) will probably be filtering into the marketplace for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes. Developments in biochemistry will allow for the design of carrier molecules to move such agents across the blood-brain barrier. Such drugs will probably be used for both recreation and therapeutic purposes. Rejuvenation of the sexual system in the aged is one possible early, "legitimate" application of the CCK fraction. Implants and Prosthetics: Truly blood compatible surfaces and long term nonthrombogenic surfaces will be entering the marketplace in the mid to late 1990's. Initial application of these devices will be to heart valves, blood vessel grafts, and heart-lung machine and other extracorporeal tubing surfaces. (13) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Early spectacular applications will be small vessel prostheses (wide use by the early to mid 1990's) for use in traumatized and atherosclerotic limbs and organs and venous prostheses (mid to late 1990's) for use in treating traumatic injuries and deep vein incompetence (which results in varicosities, chronic pain, and edema-related skin changes in the leg, often leading to nonhealing ulcers or limb loss). Another application of nonthrombogenic surfaces will be a practical artificial heart and more widespread use of extracorporeal support for infants, trauma and cardiac arrest victims, and others where anticoagulation provides a major barrier to the use of artificial circulation. Good synthetic bone and skin should be available by the late 1990's to early 2000's. Good red cell and plasma substitutes (synthetic blood) should be seen increasing in clinical use throughout the early 1990's and in frequent use by the late 1990's to early 2000's. There will be steady improvement in other synthetic materials such as hip, knee, and other joints, as well as in other less dramatic materials such as connective tissue replacements. Expect a slow replacement of prosthetic approaches to therapy as natural repair and regeneration processes are better understood and utilized. Expect to see synthetic connective tissue products for tendon repair which contain bioregulatory molecules (BRMs) that stimulate tendon regeneration. Artificial tendons made of both synthetic and/or natural materials will come into use in the late 1980's to early 1990's. In short, expect stunning advances in tissue replacement technology for all tissues that have primarily structural function and which are not complicated chemical processing plants, such as the liver or kidneys, or mechanically active such as the heart. In addition to connective tissue and bone, a candidate for early (late 1980's to early 1990's) replacement is the cornea. Expect evolution in biocompatible materials to allow for replacement of the cornea with an appropriate plastic, much like the lens of the eye is already replaced with polymer inserts. Of course, no discussion of prosthetics can occur without reference to the artificial heart and to dialysis (the artificial kidney). Perhaps in no other area is an advance harder to predict. The artificial heart suffers from Space Program Factor more than just about any other medical technology that comes to mind. The Jarvik Heart, which was the first so-called long term implant, actually has given a stellar performance so far! While the public perceives it as having killed and maimed every patient it has been chronically implanted in, it has in reality performed quite well. Several patients have done very well (including one Swiss businessman who was ambulatory, alert, and active with the device for over a year!) short term (weeks to months). Contrasted with the early days of dialysis or open heart surgery, this is a great success! Dialysis patients ALL died in the pioneering days of its development -- and they died of hideous, unthinkable complications of every imaginable sort -- bleeding, bone disease, nightmarish infections, depression. . . . The difference, of course, was that there were no (or few) human experimental review committees and no public limelight. Most (but not all) of the early dialysis deaths were necessary. You don't learn about a brandnew technology unless you try it out -- and not just on animals. People are not the same as cows or goats or sheep. Particularly not sick people. Expect slow progress in the artificial heart area because of the negative press. Progress may well come outside the US, in Japan or elsewhere, where failure is more acceptable and where transplantation is viewed as unacceptable (the Japanese in particular are opposed to transplants and do very few of them). Leaving aside the social factors and (14) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- concentrating solely on scientific and engineering ones, a good, fully implantable artificial heart (i.e., one capable of giving a patient a mean remaining life span of 3 to 5 years) should be on-line by the early to late 1990's. The only reason it isn't available now is Space Program Factor (SPF) and fear on the part of the government that they will end up picking up the tab for this expensive Band-Aid technology (see discussion at the end of this article). Due to the current and projected shortfall in avail- able organs for transplantation, the pressure will remain high for development of the artificial heart as at least a stopgap until an organ becomes available. As opposed to total artificial hearts, small, chronically implanted balloon- or impeller-type intraortic pumps or left ventricular assist devices may increasingly be used until materials/blood compatibility problems can be solved. Advances in hemodialysis will also be very incremental. There may be a gradual shift to peritoneal dialysis (PD) if good drugs to block glucosylation of proteins and inhibit cholesterol deposition are available. The major problem with PD today is that it raises blood sugars to astronomical levels, causing diabetic-like side effects. Inhibition of these side effects may lead to renewed application of this modality. Direct changes in dialysis are likely to be along the lines of better membrane materials which allow for transport of wastes not currently removable by conventional dialysis and nonthrombogenic surfaces which will reduce the need for anticoagulation. The use of BRMs such as erythropoetin to treat anemia and bone growth factors to treat dialysis bone disease will help to improve the quality and quantity of patient's lives on dialysis. Perhaps the biggest advance in this area will be advances in immunology and infectious disease treatment. The ability to administer BRMs to stimulate immune function and improve general health should act to extend dialysis patients' lives considerably. A corollary of better immune function and advances in biocompatible materials will be a revolution in "access site" technology for dialysis patients. Because dialysis requires repeated access to the patient's circulatory system in order to cleanse the blood (typically blood flow rates of 200 to 250 cc per minute are required) normal arteries and veins cannot be used. Currently the best possible access site is a fistula -- a distended and "arterialized" vein created by the artificial cross-connection of an artery to a vein. The fistula can then be stuck with two large-bore needles for withdrawal and return of blood. However, many patients cannot develop adequate fistulas, and those that do often (15) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- lose them (the vein is often destroyed by repeated punctures). The next best thing to a fistula is a Goretex graft -- an artificial Teflon connection between artery and vein. Unfortunately Goretex grafts have many complications, including clotting and infection, and they have a very short lifespan. Better materials will be developed which will allow for direct access to arterial and venous circulation and the use of ports which penetrate the skin and allow coupling to the dialysis machine without the use of needles. Improvements in blood access technology will also be used to treat cancer patients and provide total intravenous nutritional support for patients who are unable eat or unable to absorb food due to bowel loss. Of course, the biggest improvement in the life expectancy and health of dialysis patients will probably come in the form of the increasing use of transplantation and its application to a wider age range of patients with better long term results. The most striking revolution in prosthetics will probably occur in dentistry. Expect a whole family of new materials to enter the dental operatory. A workable vaccine against streptococcus mutans should be available by the mid to late 1990's, greatly reducing the incidence of tooth decay by eliminating the major class of mouth organisms that cause it. Similar advances in prevention and in treatment of gum disease can be expected as well, although probably not as soon. Repairing dental defects will also be revolutionized by the introduction of good, tough, and reliable polymers which will replace metallic amalgams. By the late 1990's to early 2000's biocompatible ceramics and coated polymers will be available that will allow for workable single tooth and multitooth gum-implanted prostheses. Organ Preservation: Perhaps no technology is dearer to cryonicists' hearts (and brains?) than organ preservation. It is linked to all our hopes and dreams for reversible suspended animation. What will progress be like here? Several possibilities open up, and not all of them are rosy as far as cryonics is concerned. I'll start with the least favorable and go on the to most favorable. Ever since the work of people like Mazur, Fahy, and Pegg was published, it has become pretty clear what the constraints are on long term viable cryopreservation of organs: don't form any significant amount of ice; it injures mechanically and it injures chemically. The problem is that water loves to turn into ice when it's cooled below 0øC. To circumvent this, a lot of very drastic changes have to be made in the system. Whenever you attempt to make a drastic change in a complicated, interdependent living system -- like replacing half the water in it with industrial chemicals -you are in for trouble. The trouble will come in the form of a very tight or narrow window for success: everything will have to be "just right." This is where current vitrification technology is now. The existence of such a tight window means that vitrification of large masses will be a technological tour-de-force requiring very sophisticated computer controlled perfusion equipment and exotic and very costly high pressure chambers. Quality control and reliable storage and rewarming of organs will be very costly and difficult. The future holds the possibility of developing better solute systems which vitrify more easily and which are less toxic (have a wider window for success). It is difficult to predict the pace of advance in this area since it will be arrived at by a mixture of empirical methods and theoretical insights. A big determining factor will be luck. Will (16) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- the NIH and the Red Cross continue to fund such efforts? And, more to the point, will technological advances in other areas of organ preservation obviate the need for them? If we were betting men, we'd put our dollars on the latter rather than on the former. Major advances in organ preservation (as opposed to cell and tissue preservation) over the next decade will probably be in three areas: 1) Extended hypothermic storage of organs in the 2 to 3 weeks range; 2) Extended normothermic or room temperature storage of organs in the weeks to months range and; 3) mixtures of the above two modalities which yield similar available time courses of storage. By the late 1980's several systems should be in the medical marketplace which allow for storage of kidneys and hearts for 7 to 10 days using hypothermic techniques. Expect to see the debut of room temperature systems in the very late 80's or early 90's. These room temperature systems will employ a pump, lung, and tailor-made perfusate and will be designed to support the organ by meeting its metabolic requirements for vitamins, hormones, amino acids and so on. Expect metabolic wastes from the organ to be dealt with by frequent perfusate changes and the use of adsorber cartridges similar to those used in hemoperfusion (for treating liver failure and drug overdose) and hemodialysis. Better networking for distribution of organs and rapidly escalating demand (as a consequence of better immunomodulation technology) will paradoxically decrease the need for organ storage. The development of techniques which allow for 5 to 7 day storage of major organs is probably adequate to meet the needs of the transplant community given the decreasing (indeed disappearing) need to carefully match donor with recipient. The next 5 to 10 years should also see major advances in our understanding of the effects of deep hypothermia on the tissues and organs of nonhibernating mammals. These advances should be readily translatable into better flush and perfusion storage techniques for organs. A good understanding of lipid metabolism and mechanisms of cell swelling in deep hypothermia may allow for preservation of organs in the 2øC to 10øC temperature range for periods of several months -- thus definitively ending the need for long term solid state preservation of transplantable organs. Unless a wild card breakthrough occurs in vitrification technology, such as a radical reduction in the toxicity of vitrification solutions, obviating a need for high pressure and exotic rewarming -- our bet is on hypothermic and room temperature support systems, not vitrification. Unless Fahy and/or others can demonstrate real breakthroughs in vitrification (i.e., successful and routine long term recovery of transplantable mammalian organs in the laboratory) within the next several years, it seems unlikely that extensive Federal or private support will be forthcoming to pursue development of this option in the near future. Indeed, assessing the picture objectively with reference to the other organ preservation technologies which are developing, it would seem that extended long term organ preservation in the solid state has serious application to only one area of medicine: medical time travel, i.e., cryonic suspension. A good analogy here is blood banking. Despite the development of cryopreservation techniques for blood, very little blood is cryopreserved and that which is is confined to rare, hard to match types. This is so because the cost is high and the demand for blood is high -- so high that long term frozen inventories for major cell components are not really practical (ahh, would that only the supply be good enough and the preservation costs low enough that they were!!). (17) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Repeated and careful assessments of this area of technology will thus be of great importance to cryonicists. Once again it is important to point out that we cannot count on cryobiologists to develop organ preservation techniques for cryonicists. Our needs are unique and are rather likely to remain so, given the rapid rate of advances in immunology and high temperature organ preservation. However, in the areas of tissue and cell preservation there is likely to be far wider application of long term preservation techniques, including vitrification. Expect a shift away from freezing for blood components and embryos and toward vitrification, since vitrification solutions are relatively nontoxic to most cell systems and obviate the need for controlled rate freezing. Other Approaches to Organ and Organism Preservation: One possibility for a major advance over the next two decades is room temperature or hypothermic preservation of organs or organisms using metabolic inhibitors. There have been tantalizing clues in the examination of a wide variety of estivators (animals which go into states of profoundly reduced metabolism at normal temperatures, such as the African lungfish, which can shut off metabolism at temperatures in the range of 30øC to 40øC) that antimetabolite compounds exist which may be able to induce states of profoundly reduced metabolism at ambient (i.e., 70øF) temperatures. Purification and experimental (and perhaps even clinical) application of these compounds or synthetic derivatives to humans or human organs for transplant may occur sometime during the next decade or two. Genetic Therapy: Expect very gradual application of this technology. Early candidates for gene replacement will be in storage diseases such as Lesch-Nyhan, TaySachs, and other "single enzyme missing" disorders. Later applications will include treatments for hypercholesterolemia, some forms of hypertension, and other congenital missing enzyme syndromes. Very late applications (2000 or later) may be in the treatment of a wide range of mental illnesses and cancers. Prevention: Perhaps no other area of medicine will experience greater growth in capability -- and less success in application. Hopefully the next two decades will see more widespread application of the basic lessons of prevention learned during the last two. And what are those lessons? The principal lesson is the lesson of the impact of (18) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- calorie restriction on overall health, well-being, and lifespan. The basic message here is "you are what you eat." In terms of treating atherosclerotic disease, the role of prevention is already clear. By reducing fat intake and decreasing serum cholesterol to below 150 mg/dl, most atherosclerotic disease can be avoided. Similarly, basic changes in nutrition such as trace element and vitamin supplementation can greatly reduce the number of late onset malignancies. Eliminating smoking will also be a major factor in achieving this end. But it will take decades to do this. Making basic lifestyle changes will proceed slowly, and in the case of tobacco use may not be very amenable to widespread change. Nevertheless, the success of the American Heart Association and Nathan Pritikin in reducing the heart disease death rate by dietary manipulation and aggressive treatment of high blood pressure proves that it can be done. Calorie restriction achieved by means of education and therapeutic agents seems the next big area of preventics to be explored by medicine. Expect the development of truly effective anorectics for treatment of gross obesity and eating disorders by the late 1980's and then secondary use of these for treatment of mild obesity and weight control in the normal middle aged. Products with reduced calories employing fat substitutes such as sucrose polyester should also be entering the marketplace in the early 1990's and these will help to reduce the calorie load further. The Downside: The vision painted above is not as rosy as nanotechnology, but is pretty exciting nevertheless. A relevant question becomes: what will be the drawbacks to all of this? Will there be any? The answer is: of course. A little information is a dangerous thing, and sometimes a lot of information can be an even more dangerous thing. The reason is that progress in therapeutics, which is relatively difficult, always lags far behind progress in diagnosis, which is relatively easy. This imbalance results in a tension which forces premature treatment which often does more harm than good. It is well to note that each new diagnostic modality brings with it a flood of new information which will at first be grossly misused before anyone understands what it means (Harris's Law of Diagnostics Advance). A recent example of this sort of thing is the EKG machine, which for the first time showed that many seemingly normal people had strange cardiac rhythms, some of which were seen also around the time people died suddenly of heart problems. Because of this association, for the last 15 years, a number of very powerful drugs have been used to treat people with such rhythms. Many drug-induced fatalities resulted. Unfortunately, only now is it beginning to be understood that most people with good heart function are less in danger from such rhythms than they are from the drugs used to treat them -- a finding of little consolation to the people already killed by the drugs. When the reader considers the flood of new diagnostic information which will pour out of the advanced implantable sensors and fancy medical body imagers described above, he/she may well feel a chill run up the spine. How will we know what it all means? The answer is: at first we won't, and only later will we find out through the use of that most potent tool for discerning truth: statistics. Computers will help with this, but will not obviate the problem completely because human mortality studies (by far the most important kind) take a certain minimum time to complete. Also, it is an unfortunate reality of life that every increase in computational power increases the number of new statistical questions which can be asked, faster than it answers the old ones. Eventually the answers will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, a lot of people are going to be killed by their doctors and by their doctor machines. (19) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- What can be done about this on a personal basis? It is not generally realized that the proper answer to new and powerful medicinal drugs is sometimes the same one coined by the Reagan Administration for recreational drugs: Just say "No." Each patient, when evaluating a new therapy which carries significant risk, is responsible for finding out the answer to one question and one question only: "What is the evidence that this intervention saves lives?" Not "What is the evidence that this intervention will fix the funny numbers coming out of that new diagnostic machine?" The patient (and the doctor) who remembers the difference will be ahead of the crowd. There is a second downside to advanced medicine, of course, besides the danger, and that is the cost of "middlingly advanced technology" (such as what we'll see in the next fifty years) in a society which takes a socialistic view of health care. Such as ours. Non-molecular technology is expensive. It should be obvious to the reader, with a bit of thought, that in a world of non-molecular technology, the potential demand for medical care as technology advances, is (for all intents and purposes) infinite. In America, we have adopted the unfortunate policy of letting everyone pay for everyone else's medical care, which has had exactly the same result as if we had let everyone pool their money and pay for each other's lunch: everyone orders lobster. We have paid for the lobster only by spreading the costs around to places where they are not obvious. For instance, when you buy an American car, you pay more money for the health care costs of the people who built it than you do the steel that goes into it. This kind of thing can continue very subtly and very insidiously until a very large fraction of the gross national product is eaten up by health care costs. (In our country, it is already 11% and rising). One day, you may find that you have had to forego your family vacation in order to buy Granny that new AUTODOC which measures 245 different chemicals in her blood every minute and transmits all of the results to Medical Multivac in Bethesda. (20) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Of course you may not realize this: all you will know is that the vacation went because money is so tight, taxes are so high, and inflation is so bad. But your money went to Granny nevertheless. The only answer to this problem, short of nanotechnology, is rationing. But rationing itself becomes the last great social cost of advanced medical technology under socialism, because history shows that it is never done on an individual (person by person) basis. When people do not pay for their own medical care, no one (not doctors, families, or the government) has ever been willing to make the decision of who should benefit from a given technology, and who should not. Therefore, all systems of rationing to control medical costs ultimately have come down in the past to rationing technology across the board. To push the previous metaphor, this is equivalent to removing lobster from the menu entirely, so that it is not available even if you want to pay extra for it. The social cost of rationing at the technology level should be obvious. The indiscriminate use of existing technology by people who do not need it drains money from a national economy which should be going toward research. In addition, most new technologies pass initially through an "expensive" phase before they become generally available at an affordable price. If rationing cuts technologies off before they can pass through that phase, new technologies fail to be developed, and the pace of progress slows. That nearly happened to MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in this country, and it is happening to the artificial heart. It will happen more and more. So all of the rosy predictions made in this article must be tempered with the "social" realities that medicine will have to deal with in the next 20 years. Many of the advances we have discussed may simply not materialize because we are not wealthy enough to afford them collectively. That will be a great tragedy. (21) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A REVIEW: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MEDICAL IGNORANCE R. Duncan and M. Weston-Smith, Eds., Pergamon Press, 1984. by Thomas Donaldson Duncan and Weston-Smith have had a very happy idea, which is their series "The Encyclopedia of Ignorance." Rather than just put together an account of what we think we know about various subjects (physics, astronomy, biology, and so on) they approached a series of experts in particular fields, asking them to write about what we do NOT know. By now, some years after starting this effort, they have got round to discussing one variety of ignorance near to our hearts, medical ignorance. As cryonicists we'll find the discussions in this book both interesting and frustrating. The editors did a "good" job. That means that they talked to all the right people. The right people, of course, are all the publicly acknowledged experts in medicine. This means that if they had written their encyclopedia of ignorance, say, in 1903, they would have missed the Wright Brothers. In 1959 they would have missed spaceflight. And so, in 1987 they have missed several avenues of medical research (and therefore, several forms of ignorance) which someday should become very important. There is no discussion in this book at all about nervous tissue regrowth, repair, or transplantation. There is no discussion about recovering nerve tissue from strokes or ischemia. There is also no discussion of the whole issue of growth and development; control of growth and development will eventually affect medicine much more profoundly than antibiotics ever have. There is also no discussion of another mystery, the many causes of mental defectiveness. They do present an article by T. Samorajski, "The hypothalamus as an aging clock," which discusses aging, and another by Sir Martin Roth on senile dementia. Of course, the discussion is quite "establishment." Among other lacks, Paul Segall's work on possible biochemical origins of the relation between the hypothalamus and aging is omitted from Samorajski's article. To be fair to Samorajski, he does mention the work on tryptophan (as done by Timiras, not by Segall) but does not discuss its biochemical motivation. However, it's also true that if we forget (willing suspension of disbelief??) the fact that several issues which are very important, are neglected, and ought not to be, then this book is quite interesting. N. Geschwind contributes an interesting article, really more history than a discussion of the unknown, pointing out that German neurologists at the turn of the century (1900) already knew about the importance of the callousal system which separates the two halves of the brain. They had described what happens if this connection is severed, even the phenomenon of two independent brains which it caused. Their work was neglected after WW I by the victors, who had to rediscover the whole thing over again in the 1950s. (This is very similar to German work on development in the 1930s, which the victors, this time the US, independently rediscovered with much fanfare in Scientific American in the 1960s.) It also contains an interesting article "Destiny and the genes: genetic pathology and the individual," by P. G. H. Gell. The article discusses how some conditions run in families, but with spotty inheritance which does not follow the gene exactly. Usually traits involve a complex interaction between genes and environment, which we need to trace out and understand (and we have not done this yet). The most interesting part of this article was its discussion of particular cases; everybody knows the general truth. (22) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- One very neglected area of medicine consists of the parasitical diseases. We neglect these because we live in areas of the world where (now) they present few problems. The article by Keith Vickerman begins with the sentence, "It is difficult for dwellers in temperate climes to realize the stranglehold that infectious disease still maintains on the lives of those living in the tropics." The point that Vickerson makes in his article is that most of the human race still suffers from infectious diseases. We haven't really left the period in which infectious disease is a major cause of death, and we don't understand (yet) how to deal with these diseases. Finally the article by J. Dickinson ("Cardiovascular system") talks about what we don't about regulation of blood pressure. It turns out that we don't know a good deal, and that this knowledge would be important to understanding blood pressure diseases and cardiovascular diseases in general. One striking commonality in many of these papers is that (to my interest) they did not actually discuss ignorance about matters of fact, but got involved in issues about moral behavior too. I have read the "Encyclopedia of Ignorance" on the physical sciences, which spends much more attention on matters of fact which we do not know than on the determinants of human behavior. The medical version spends much more time on issues such as why people smoke, why they visit doctors in the first place, and so on. This probably has to do with the secret role of doctors, which is as moral arbiters for the community. If you can suspend your disbelief at omission of such elementary unknowns as those of nerve tissue repair, this isn't a bad book. Someday it may even prove very interesting, when historians of 2187 read it to see just what doctors of 1987 thought were the leading questions of their day. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Trudy by Dave Pizer Oh, what I'd give to live again To walk this world where I ain't been While my mind's forever advancin' Oh, what I'd give to live again Oh, what I'd give to be young again In a body whose age has been locked in To an eternal stage of ten plus ten Oh, what I'd give to be young again Oh, what I'd give to love you again To hold your hand on the day we win As our timeless loves once again begin Oh, what I'd give to love you again We will come back someday to Live again Be young again Love again ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . Forever (23) The following article was generated in large measure from one of the depositions provided in support of Alcor's plea for a preliminary restraining order in the case of Dora Kent. It has been extensively edited and modified by Mike Darwin and the CRYONICS staff. THE CRYOBIOLOGICAL CASE FOR CRYONICS Contents Introduction B. Short introductory summary of general conclusions A. Premises and their scientific evaluation C. Detailed review of relevant current cryobiological knowledge 2. Living adult animal brains 1. General cryobiological background 3. Living adult human and animal brain tissue 5. Living human and animal isolated brain cells 4. Living fetal human and animal brain tissue 6. Post-mortem human and animal brains List of references cited 7. Post-mortem human spinal cord and outflowing nerves Summary * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Introduction Any casual newspaper reader will have decided quite confidently by now that cryonics has no chance whatever of success, due to the systematic misinformation contained in all media coverage of this subject to date. Not only has the scientific evidence supportive supportive of cryonics not been presented, but the unchallenged, supposedly scientific criticisms of cryonics presented in the media have been as harsh as they have been vapid and without merit. In reality, it seems that no supposedly scientific criticism of cryonics has ever addressed the real issues involved or ever been based on a grasp of them. The purpose of this discussion is to provide a summary of the extensive cryobiological evidence which exists to support cryonicists' premise that existing freezing techniques preserve the molecular basis of human memory and personality and thus offer a reasonable chance of allowing future restoration of cryonics patients to life. Why has this evidence not been presented previously? The reasons are largely political. Also it should be appreciated that even a neutral position with respect to the emotionally charged subject of cryonics is hazardous for a cryobiologist because of hardened opposition on the part of many key scientists who control job availability and grant support. This opposition is generally based on a gut reaction and/or philosophical objections that do not invite further consideration. Unfortunately, almost no-one ever seriously asks whether anything as seemingly outrageous as cryonics could have any compelling scientific foundation, despite the fact that it does. The problem is that the relevant scientific facts are far from obvious or readily available, and that no well-established scientist has ever dared or even been able to enunciate them. The result has been the suppression of discussion, the creation of anxiety, the propagation of gross misinformation among the general public, and the censorship of valid scientific observations: in short, the antithesis of what science is supposed to be all (24) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- about. It is time to consider the scientific facts and to show that what is really outrageous is not cryonics but the notion that there is no scientific basis for cryonics or that cryonics cannot possibly work. A. Premises and their scientific evaluation What are the cryobiological issues? Another way of asking this question is: what is the minimum cryobiological requirement for "success" with the cryonics endeavor? Since the one indispensable goal of cryonics is restoration of the brain, we can limit our attention to the cryobiological requirements for the achievement of this goal. Questions concerning maintenance of the brain after restoration are not cryobiological and can therefore be neglected here. What then would be required for the brain to be restorable? First, the brain must be preserved well enough to repair, i.e., it must be possible today to preserve with some reasonable fidelity the basic biological components of the brains of humans shortly after these humans have clinically died. Second, repair technology must be available to carry out any repairs required. The two indispensable premises of cryonics, then, are reasonable brain preservation and the development of advanced molecular scale (nanotechnological) biological repair devices. Both premises are fully open to scientific scrutiny and falsification by experiment or calculation and, in fact, both seem at present to withstand such scrutiny, as the experimental evidence which is presented in this paper as well as the work of others on the problems of biological repair (see K. Eric Drexler's book, "Engines of Creation," and his technical papers) should show. If both premises are valid (assuming cryonic suspension is done under reasonable conditions and nonscientific problems do not intervene), then in principle cryonics should work to at least some extent. As noted above, this article is about the cryobiological basis of cryonics rather than the cell repair aspect. But because the cryobiological premise of cryonics loses significance without the nanotechnological premise of cryonics, it is necessary to comment at least briefly on nanotechnology in order to clarify the relevance of the evidence to be presented about cryobiology. There appear to be no significant flaws in K. Eric Drexler's concepts of molecular scale cell repair devices, and this judgment is supported by the absence of even a single significant and coherent objection to his concepts. The concepts involved are powerful enough to make it easy to imagine the technology not only for repairing the fine structure of the brain but also the technology for transplanting a brain into a new body. It seems not only possible but inevitable that such technologies will be developed, and a person waiting in liquid nitrogen should remain changeless for centuries if need be while such technologies are developed. B. Short introductory summary of general conclusions It can be stated quite firmly that cell bodies, cell membranes, synapses, mitochondria, general axon and dendrite patterns, metabolites such as neurotransmitters, chemical constituents such as proteins and nucleic acids, and general brain architecture are preserved reasonably well or excellently with current techniques. The brain can withstand severe mechanical distortion by ice without impairment of subsequent cognition, and a glycerol concentration of less than 4M -- a concentration achieved in current cryonics procedures -- can be shown to limit ice formation to quantities currently thought to be consistent with good functional recovery of the intact brain. Information is lacking about the ultrastructure of frozen-thawed brains, but much can be inferred from the customary observation of a high level of functional recovery of (25) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- frozen-thawed brains, brain tissue, or brain cells which depends on a high degree of both local and long-range ultrastructural integrity. Absolute proof is lacking about the quality of preservation in each and every brain region, since not all brain regions have been examined by neurobiologists to date. However, in the experience of those who have histologically examined entire cross sections through the frozen-thawed brain at many different levels, no clear differences in preservation quality from one brain region to another have ever been apparent. A reasonable way of summarizing the world literature on this subject at present is to say that wherever either brain structure or brain function has been evaluated after freezing to low temperatures and thawing, robust preservation has almost always been demonstrable provided at least some minimal attention was paid to providing at least token cryoprotection, and in some cases good preservation has been documented in the complete absence of reasonable cryobiological technique. The implication of these findings is that structures and functions not examined to date will also respond in a favorable way to freezing and thawing. C. Detailed review of relevant current cryobiological knowledge 1. General cryobiological background Freezing is not a process of total destruction. It is well known that human embryos, sperm, skin, bone, red and white blood cells, bone marrow, and tissues such as parathyroid tissue survive deep freezing and thawing, and the same is true for systems of animal origin. In 1980 a table was published listing three dozen mammalian organized tissues and even a few mammalian organs which had been shown to survive cooling to low temperatures (1), and this list could now be expanded due to additional experiments on other systems. Such survival could not occur if the molecules comprising biological systems were generally altered by freezing and thawing and, in general, freezing does not cause chemical changes or protein denaturation. Contrary to popular imagination, cells never burst as a result of intracellular freezing. The expansion of water as it is converted to ice causes less than a 10% increase in volume, whereas cells can withstand far larger increases in volume, e.g., 50-100% increases. But the primary flaw in this concept is the idea that ice forms in cells at all under ordinary conditions of slow freezing: it does not. Instead, ice forms between cells and water actually travels from the interior of the cell to the ice outside the cell, causing shrinkage rather than bursting of the cell. Cell death during slow freezing may be related to changes in the cell membrane produced by cell shrinkage, or to toxicity of cryoprotectants as they are progressively concentrated as a consequence of the formation of pure ice in initially dilute solutions. Both of these putative causes of death are relatively mild on the molecular level and are certainly not irreversible in principle. But whatever the cause of death, cells examined in the frozen state appear to be structurally intact even when they are known to be nonviable upon thawing (with very few exceptions on the part of nonmammalian systems not relevant to the brain). This is true both for single plant and animal cells and for cells that comprise animal tissue. Hence, lack of functional recovery after thawing is not proof of lack of structural preservation in the frozen state before thawing, and it is the latter that is relevant to cryonics. A truism of cryobiology is that different types of cells require different protocols of cryoprotectant treatment, cooling and warming rate, and cryoprotectant washout in order to exhibit maximal survival. Some kinds of cells are particularly difficult to freeze (26) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- without killing them. All of these differences can be minimized greatly by using high concentrations of cryoprotectant, provided such concentrations are tolerated. Nevertheless, other than a few generalizations such as those described above, it is impossible to extrapolate from one biological system to another in terms of predicting the details of its cryobiological behavior. For this reason, if we wish to understand what happens to the brain when it is frozen, we can't argue on the basis of results obtained with kidneys or plant cells or embryos or granulocytes, but must, instead, focus specifically on the brain. Herein lies one of the largest errors cryobiologists and other scientists have made in dismissing the prospects for cryonics: making sweeping negative statements without knowing anything about the cryobiology of the brain (or, for that matter, the primacy of the brain, or the concepts of nanotechnology). In order to examine the scientific evidence bearing on the only indispensable cryobiological premise of cryonics, then, the balance of this article will be devoted to an extensive review of the contents of a large number of scientific papers on the freezing of brains, brain tissue, and/or brain cells. As extensive as the following remarks are, it should be understood that they are not exhaustive. No attempt has been made to obtain the complete scientific literature describing the state of brains after freezing in ways which are relevant to the issue of cryonics. This review simply reflects all relevant information currently at hand. 2. Living adult animal brains Dr. Robert J. White, the Chairman of the Dept. of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine, has favorably discussed the prospects for the eventual successful cryopreservation of human brains (2,3,4). (Dr. White is also an expert on cephalic transplantation and hypothermic brain preservation and has published several scientific papers on these subjects.) However, it is clearly impossible to experiment with entire living human brains, so the closest we can come to evaluating the degree of total brain preservation achieved in best-case cryonics procedures is to review the results of freezing the brains of animals. The earliest observations of this sort were made by Lovelock and Smith (5,6) in 1956. These investigators froze golden hamsters to colonic temperatures between -0.5øC and -1øC and quantitated the amount of ice formed in the brain, allowing them to determine how much ice formed in the brains of animals which made full neurological recoveries. They determined that at least 60% of the water in the brain could be converted into ice without damaging the ability of the hamsters to regain normal behavior after thawing. Considerably more ice was consistent with restoration of breathing, a complex neural function. However, the exact quantity of ice (above 60%) consistent with full neurological recovery could not be clearly determined, because of death due to intestinal, pulmonary, and renal bleeding. Nevertheless, tolerance of at least 60% ice by the brain shows that this organ is considerably more tolerant of freezing than is the kidney. The prospects for successfully avoiding damage due to the formation of ice at much lower temperatures can be assessed to a first approximation based on this finding of Lovelock and Smith. The quantity of glycerol required in theory to prevent mechanical injury from ice (C ) can be gr calculated from the equation (derivable from reference 7) where V is the percentage of the liquid volume of the brain which can be t converted into ice without causing injury. Assuming V = 60%, C is t gr ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.72M. (27) The work of Lovelock and Smith was followed up by Suda and his associates (8,9,10), who made a number of critical observations on frozen glycerolized cat brains. Their first publication, in 1966, demonstrated that cat brains gradually perfused with 15% v/v glycerol at 10øC and frozen very slowly for storage for 45-203 days at the very unfavorable temperature of -20øC regained normal histology, vigorous unit (individual cell) activity in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and cerebellar cortex, and strong if somewhat slowed EEG activity (8) after very slow thawing. These results are remarkable in a number of ways. First, it is clear that no other organ would be capable of the same degree of activity after such prolonged storage at such a high subfreezing temperature. Second, Suda et al. made no attempt to supplement their perfusion fluid (diluted cat blood) with dextrose, which must have become depleted fairly rapidly, worsening the EEG results. Third, Suda and colleagues did not wash the glycerol from the brain carefully, and this may have caused injury during brain reperfusion. Fourth, the presence of EEG activity implies preservation of long-range neural connections and synaptic transmission, and unit activity indicates preservation of cell membrane integrity, energy metabolism, and sodium and potassium pumping capability. In short, these brains appeared to be basically viable based both on function and on structure. Although "pial oozing" after about an hour of blood reperfusion was noted (but not described adequately), this defect seems minor. Their second publication, in 1974 (9), went considerably farther. After 7.25 years of storage at -20øC, "well synchronized discharges of Purkinje cells were observed" (i.e., normal cerebellar unit activity) as well as "spontaneous electrical activity . . . from the thalamic nuclei and cerebellar cortex," and short-lived EEG activity from the cerebral cortex. Another brain stored for 777 days showed cortical EEG activity for 5 hours after reperfusion. In both cases, EEG activity was of lower quality than EEG activity of fresh brains, but the existence of any activity at all after such extraordinary conditions is amazing. Cell loss after 7.25 years and hemorrhage after reperfusion of brains stored for 5-7 years is not surprising. More important was a comparison of the frequency distribution of EEG activity in a fresh brain before perfusion and then after storage at -20øC for 5 days. The EEG pattern before freezing and after thawing was very nearly the same (9). It should be noted that in a typical cryonics operation, the time spent near -20øC is measured in hours rather than days or years and, based on the work of Suda et al., should not therefore involve appreciable deterioration of the brain. It is noteworthy that in both reports of Suda's group, the brains were successfully reperfused with diluted cat blood after thawing. The quality of reperfusion was not documented in detail, but the autocorrelogram comparing the EEG of the 5-day cryopreserved brain to the EEG of the same brain before freezing could not have been as good as it was without relatively complete restoration of cerebral circulation. This is an important question not only with respect to viability and functional recovery but also with respect to the accessibility of the brain to nanotechnological repair devices which might be administered via the vascular system. Also relevant were unpublished results mentioned in passing (9) on storage at -60øC and -90øC and on the effectiveness of other cryoprotectants (dimethyl sulfoxide or polymers). Evidently, EEG activity could be obtained after freezing to -60øC and storage for weeks, but not after freezing to -90øC, and dimethyl sulfoxide was effective but not as effective as glycerol. This is confirmed in an unpublished manuscript by Suda (10), which reveals also that unit (single cell) activity can still be recorded in brains frozen to -90xC. This unpublished paper (written in Japanese) also shows that brain reperfusion was better after thawing when glycerol rather than DMSO was used. (28) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- These results can be evaluated with respect to the information obtained previously by Lovelock and Smith. For protection against mechanical injury at -90øC, as noted above, the results with hamsters suggest that 3.72 M glycerol, or 27.2% glycerol by volume, might be required, whereas Suda and colleagues used only 15% glycerol by volume. It can be calculated (11) that at Suda's storage temperature of -20øC, 62% of the liquid content of the brain was converted into ice, while at -60øC, 77% of the liquid volume of the brain was converted to ice, a quantity which equals or exceeds the tolerable degree of distortion by ice in the hamster brain. Therefore, the finding by Suda and his colleagues of no injury at -20øC for 5 days but of injury after freezing to -60øC and especially to -90øC is entirely consistent with predictions from the work of Lovelock and Smith and is also entirely consistent with an absence of any such mechanical injury in the brains of cryonic suspension patients perfused with more than 3.72M glycerol. The work with hamsters and with cat brains demonstrates that extensive freezing of the brain at high temperatures is compatible with its full functional recovery and that at least partial functional recovery from low temperatures is a reasonable prospect, but these studies do not describe the histological effects of freezing brains to the low temperatures required for truly long term preservation. This information was provided by Fahy and colleagues (12-14a). They reported that with either 3M or 6M glycerol, excellent histological preservation of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus was observed after slow freezing to dry ice temperature (79øC). In fact, there was no difference in structure between brains which had been perfused with glycerol only or brains which had been perfused, frozen, and thawed. Although Fahy et al. did not report it formally, this finding was also true in every other region of the brain examined, such as the cerebellum and the area of the ventral brain containing giant neurons and well-organized axonal bundles. It is of interest that Fahy et al. observed brain shrinkage if the perfusion temperature was held constant below room temperature (14a). But Suda and his colleagues also observed the same degree of brain shrinkage (10), yet this did not prevent apparent survival of their frozen cat brains. One report (14b) has appeared which briefly documented the ultrastructural effects of now-obsolete cryonics procedure on the brain. A single dog was perfused directly with 15% DMSO for 55 minutes at 10-17øC. The head was then cooled at 0.1øC/min to -14øC and then cooled at 0.5øC/min to lower temperatures. The brain was estimated to have reached -79øC after 3 hours, after which it was shipped cross-country for thawing, fixation, and examination by light and electron microscopy. Histochemical staining of undefined nature showed evidence for appreciable enzymatic activity and cellular retention of histochemical reaction product, i.e., intact cell membranes. Ultrastructure, as documented in a single electron micrograph, revealed intact cell bodies, an intact double nuclear membrane, intact myelin sheaths around small myelinated fibers, recognizable organelles (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum), and recognizable synapses. Extensive damage was also apparent, but it was not clear whether this was due to freezing and thawing, perfusion with DMSO in one step as opposed to gradual addition, or abrupt dilution of DMSO upon fixation. No details were provided as to DMSO washout and fixation procedures. Significantly, the concentration of DMSO employed was not sufficient to prevent mechanical damage according to "the Smith criterion" mentioned earlier. The presumption would be that current cryonics procedures, employing the preferred cryoprotectant glycerol in higher concentrations, better preserve ultrastructure. Nevertheless, it is not obvious from the published micrograph that the original brain structure could not be inferred. 3. Living adult human and animal brain tissue In 1981, Haan and Bowen (15) reported that they had collected sections of cerebral cortex from living human patients (during brain operations requiring removal of cortex to allow access to deep tumors), and frozen them using 10% v/v dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as (29) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- the cryoprotectant. The DMSO was added and removed essentially in one step each, with some agitation of tissue samples to promote equilibration in the short times allowed for equilibration at 4øC. Freezing was accomplished by a two-step method in which the tissue was placed at -30øC for 15 min (5 min required to reach -30øC, for a cooling rate of about 6øC/min, and 10 min of equilibration at -30øC) and then transferred directly to liquid nitrogen. Thawing was rapid. For comparison, rat brain tissue was obtained by decapitating rats and removing their brains (probably involving a warm ischemic insult of 5-10 min), and this rat brain tissue was equilibrated with dimethyl sulfoxide and frozen in the same way. The results? Norepinephrine uptake was 94-95% of control uptake for both rats and humans. Incorporation of glucose-derived carbon into acetylcholine was 89-100% of control incorporation for rats and 85% of control for humans. Incorporation of glucose-derived carbon into CO2 was 86-100% of control for rats, 78% of control for humans. Haan and Bowen noted that their tissue prisms are mostly synapses, so their results imply that synapses of both rats and humans survive freezing by their technique. This agrees with inferences noted above that synapses survive in whole brains frozen with completely different techniques. Although not strictly brain tissue, the superior cervical ganglion, considered part of the central nervous system, also demonstrated 100% recovery of synaptic function after freezing to dry ice temperature in 15% glycerol, according to Pascoe's report in 1957 (16). It was noteworthy that Pascoe's ganglia also showed 100% recovery of action potential amplitude and conduction velocity after thawing from dry ice temperature (16). In 1983, Hardy et al. (17) confirmed the extreme survivability of synapses in human brain tissue beyond any doubt. Once again, normal living adult human cerebral cortex was removed during operations on deep brain structures and compared to viable rat forebrains in terms of freeze-thaw recovery. The best results were obtained by freezing 1-5 gram pieces of human brain (or 1 gram rat forebrains), as opposed to freezing homogenates. The cooling rate to -70øC was slow but was not measured or controlled; the thawing rate was fast but not measured or controlled; the sole cryoprotectant was 0.32 M sucrose (Far from an optimal regimen! ). After thawing, synaptosomes were prepared from the tissue samples and tested for functional recovery. Here is a summary of the results: Percent recovery* (damaged) structures 29 24 glutamate, GABA) selectivity, and drug modulation * recovery compared to unfrozen control samples. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ** suboptimal technique (30) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- As Hardy et al. stated, it is apparent that both human and rat brain tissue frozen to -70øC with almost no cryoprotection has synapses "closely comparable to (those from) . . . fresh tissue." As if this were not demonstration enough, Walder (18) has shown that not even cryosurgery destroys synapses. He applied a -60øC cryoprobe to the brain of cats for 5 min and examined the resulting lesions in the electron microscope. Not only were well preserved synapses found, but also cell bodies, organelles, and neuronal processes could be identified, despite considerable damage to the organization of the neuropil and to astrocyte cell membranes. 4. Living fetal human and animal brain tissue In 1986, Groscurth et al. reported the successful freezing of human fetal brain tissue (19). 1x2x2 mm brain fragments from a 9-14 week abortus were treated with 10% DMSO and 20% fetal calf serum and placed into a -30øC environment for 3 hours or overnight, then stored at -80øC for several weeks, then finally transferred to liquid nitrogen. After storage for 3-12 months, the samples were "thawed at room temperature," trypsinized, and seeded on glass cover slips for 2-4 weeks of tissue culture at 37øC. The brain cells were found to be alive and to grow in culture: "Twenty-four hours after trypsinization the cells formed clusters of variable size . . .. During further cultivation numerous fiber bundles were found to grow from the margin of the clusters. Single fibers showed varicosities as well as growth cones at the terminal projection. Bipolar spindle-shaped cells with a smooth surface were regularly apposed along the bundles." The first reports of attempts to freeze fetal animal brain tissue seem to be those of Houle and Das in 1980 (20-22). These attempts were fully successful, the frozen-thawed transplanted cerebral cortex being indistinguishable from non-frozen brain tissue transplants in every way. Das et al. have more recently described their technique in finer detail (23). Briefly, they use 10% DMSO, a cooling rate of 1øC/min, storage at 90øC, and rapid thawing. Survival was best if the tissue was not dissociated or minced before freezing. Although a variety of conditions allowed for 100% success rates for 16 and 17-day neocortex, brainstem tissue from 16-day fetuses showed at best a 50% survival rate, and Das et al. suggested that these more differentiated cells, which have a low transplant survival rate even in the absence of freezing and thawing, might be more damaged by freezing and thawing. On the other hand, it should be kept in mind that, as should be clear from the earlier discussion of cryoprotectant concentrations necessary for protection at low temperatures, 10% DMSO is a rather low concentration of a possibly suboptimal cryoprotectant (Suda indicated that glycerol was superior to DMSO for brain), and better survival might well have been obtained using the more gentle freezing/thawing conditions employed in cryonics procedures. Jensen and colleagues (24) reported their work on freezing fetal hippocampal tissue in 1984, again using 10% DMSO, a cooling rate of 1øC/min, storage in liquid nitrogen, and rapid thawing. Treatment with DMSO at 4øC was for 2 hr, with rapid washout at room temperature (not necessarily an innocuous approach; unfortunately, no DMSO controls were done). Although 21% of the cryopreserved hippocampi showed ideal structural preservation after development in oculo, in general there was some structural alteration compared to nonfrozen control hippocampal transplants. It was felt that this may have been due to the extra manipulations of the cryopreserved tissue (controls were not washed in DMSO solutions, etc.). Only half of the cryopreserved transplants at most were found to be present after 20-68 days in oculo, survival rate being dependent upon fetal age. It was (31) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- felt that this once again may have been due to loosening of the hippocampal structure by the experimental manipulations. This tended to be confirmed by transplants into the brain rather than into the eye: the brain provides more confinement to transplanted hippocampi, helping to prevent disintegration of the grafts, and, in fact, 100% of hippocampi transplanted to the brain survived. (It should be obvious that the hippocampus of a frozen intact brain will of course receive support from all surrounding structures and will thus be more analogous to the intracerebral transplants noted by Jensen et al. than to the intraocular transplants, in addition to being spared from disruptive manipulations in vitro.) Frozen-thawed hippocampi grown in oculo were smaller than control grafts, and frozen-thawed hippocampi transplanted either to the eye or to the brain showed a loss of dentate granule cells (a 35% loss was seen in oculo). In several other ways, this complex brain structure important for encoding and decoding memories appeared to be unaffected by freezing and thawing. Moreover, freezing in 10% DMSO, as noted above, might not be an ideal procedure. It should be noted that Fahy et al. were not impressed by any loss of dentate cells in whole adult rabbit brains after freezing and thawing (12-14a). Jensen's group followed up this work with more extensive work on many different subregions of the fetal rat brain, i.e., the neocortex, habenula, septum and basal forebrain, cerebellum, and retina (25). All of these regions showed good survival and preservation of normal structural organization after transplantation into an adult recipient's cerebral cortex, despite wide, uncontrolled variations in cooling protocol from run to run. The only exception was the cerebellum: only 2 of 7 grafts were found at the time of sacrifice, although they were structurally normal. The numbers involved are too small for adequate statistical analysis, and no control cerebellar grafts were performed to determine if this rate of takes is normal for this tissue. All in all, then, this paper tends to confirm the impression from other studies that tissue from many quite different brain areas survives freezing and thawing quite well. 5. Living human and animal isolated brain cells Silani et al. (26) dissociated human fetal cerebral cortex into cells and froze the cells at 1øC/min in 7% DMSO plus 20% fetal calf serum. After more than 12 months in liquid nitrogen, the cells were thawed rapidly. Immediately after thawing, the cell recovery was 96.5+/-2.1%, showing that brain cells are not physically destroyed by freezing even under rather severe conditions. After 72 hours of culture, 53% of the total cell population was alive, but only 24% of the neurons were alive. The surviving neurons were, however, morphologically and functionally normal, as were astrocytes. Silani et al. considered their yield of human neurons to be a high one. These results show unequivocally that human brain cells can survive freezing and thawing and imply that, as was the experience of Hardy et al. (17) and Das et al. (23) (and as is suggested by the experience of Jensen et al. (24)), it is best to use undissociated tissues (analogous to the intact brain in cryonics procedures) rather than dissociated cells to obtain optimal results. Kim et al. (27) isolated living oligodendrocytes and astrocytes from the white matter of brains of human cadavers aged 62, 86, and 93 years after 5, 14, and 6 hours of clinical death, respectively. These cells were cultured for 2-28 days, then scraped from their substratum, exposed abruptly to 10% DMSO, frozen to -70øC at an unknown and uncontrolled, exponentially decreasing rate, immersed in liquid nitrogen for 1-3 weeks, thawed rapidly, and abruptly diluted to 1% DMSO, further washed, and recultured. The excellent morphology of the cultured cells after thawing and the robust presence of (32) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- membrane markers was not different from what existed before freezing. 70%, 60%, and 55% survival was obtained after 2, 7, and 28 days of culture before freezing, respectively. Kim et al. (27) also reported informally the following. "Recently, we have frozen various types of neural tissue cultures and found that the recovery of frozen neurons and glial cells was excellent. The neural cultures tested were: (a) dissociated chick embryo spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia; (b) dissociated newborn mouse cerebellum and dorsal root ganglia; (c) dissociated adult mouse dorsal root ganglia, and; (d) dissociated or explant fetal human brain cultures." Kawamoto and Barrett (28) froze rat fetus striatal (including overlying cortical) and spinal cord cells by dissociating these tissues in 5-10% DMSO and placing them into uninsulated boxes in a -90øC freezer and leaving them there for up to 88 days. They were then thawed rapidly and exposed immediately to DMSO-free solution, a procedure these scientists found to be damaging. Nevertheless, they observed "neuronal survival rates comparable to those of brain tissues plated immediately after dissection." Preliminary results indicated similar survival of neuroglia frozen in the same way. Survival was roughly independent of DMSO concentration above 5%. Increased sensitivity of the cells to mechanical forces was observed after thawing or after simple cold storage, but this was reduced by using cryoprotectant carrier solutions low in sodium. Beautiful morphology was seen after thawing, and vigorous regrowth of cellular processes occurred after thawing to give mature cultures indistinguishable from controls. Surprisingly, dissociated cells survived freezing and thawing better than cells embedded in undissociated tissue. Scott and Lew (29) gradually exposed undisturbed cultured adult mouse dorsal root ganglion cells to 10% DMSO, placed them in a -15øC environment for 30 min, then placed them in liquid nitrogen vapor. Thawing took 5 min, after which the DMSO was removed gradually. Other cultured neurons were dissociated and frozen and thawed similarly as a cell suspension. The relative number of surviving neurons was not quantitated in this study, although there was evidently considerable cell death (probably due to the high cooling rate below -15øC, which would be expected to induce intracellular freezing and cell death). Nevertheless, many neurons survived and were capable of basically normal electrical activity as well as regeneration of new nerve fibers. 6. Post-mortem human and animal brains Human brain banks are now in existence for investigators interested in understanding human brain biochemistry and pathology (30-33). Sections or subregions of post-mortem human brains, frozen rapidly several hours after death, are sent to medical researchers who analyze these brains for neurotransmitters, proteins, enzyme activity, lipids, nucleic acids, and even histology. There would be no reason for such banks if no molecular or structural preservation were achieved by freezing. Haberland et al. (34) isolated synaptosomes after freezing the nucleus accumbens of rats and of 72 (plus or minus 5) year old humans. The humans were dead 15 +/- 5 hours before this brain structure was removed and frozen. Previous studies indicated that dopamine uptake by synaptosomes could still achieve 55% of the values of fresh brains even 24 hours after death. In this study, the humans were not refrigerated until 3-5 hours after death. Freezing was done with varying concentrations up to 10% DMSO, 1.2øC/min to -25øC, and subsequent immersion in liquid nitrogen. Experiments on rat nucleus accumbens (NA) removed 5-10 min after decapitation of the rat indicated that freezing to -25øC caused no measurable reduction of dopamine uptake. When rat NA was frozen to -196øC, survival ranged from 96% of control using 0.07 M DMSO to 99.7% of control using 0.7 M DMSO. Human NA frozen to -196øC as described in the presence of 0.7 M DMSO (5% v/v) (33) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- yielded dopamine uptakes equaling 102.9+/-5.2% of unfrozen control uptakes. Stahl and Swanson (35) looked at the fidelity of subcellular localization of 6 brain enzymes and total brain protein after guinea pig or post-mortem human brain tissues were frozen to -70øC without a cryoprotectant simply by being placed into a freezer. Their conclusion: "subcellular fractionation of brain material is possible even with postmortem tissues removed from the cranial cavity some hours after death. Two other groups have subsequently fractionated human post-mortem brain and have come to a similar conclusion: "Our present study further shows that even after freezing and prolonged storage, human and guinea pig brains can be separated into biochemically distinguishable subcellular fractions . . . . Frozen storage for several months did not strikingly modify the fractionation characteristics of freshly homogenized cerebral cortex." Schwarcz (36) subjected rat brains to post-mortem conditions comparable to those experienced generally by humans: 4 hours of storage in situ at room temperature followed by 24 hours of storage in situ at 4øC followed by brain isolation and freezing of brain regions by placement in a -80øC freezer for 5 days. Glutamate uptake by striatal synaptosomes prepared from striata frozen in this way amounted to 26% of control uptake by fresh tissue synaptosomes, an amazing degree of preservation. (Schwarcz noted, however, that glutamate uptake processes may be more resistant than serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic uptake mechanisms.) Brammer and Ray (37) confirmed that it is possible to isolate intact, if not living, oligodendroglial cells from bovine brain white matter after freezing to -30øC without any cryoprotective agent, more than 1 hour after the slaughter of the cow. (The original paper describing isolation of human oligodendroglia under similar circumstances is that of Iqbal et al. (38)) If the white matter was treated with polyvinyl pyrollidone (PVP) before freezing, cytoplasmic enzyme activities were not different from enzyme activities in unfrozen cells (without PVP, enzyme activities were one half to one fourth of control values, which demonstrates significant preservation of enzyme structure and function even under these highly adverse circumstances.) Although no data were shown concerning the effects of glycerol or DMSO, it was stated that these agents did not improve enzyme activity. Nevertheless, it should be recalled that Kim (27) isolated the same cells from post-mortem human brains before freezing and found that pretreatment with 10% DMSO allowed them to survive freezing to liquid nitrogen temperature. Morrison and Griffin (39) isolated undegraded messenger RNA from human brains after 4 or 16 hours of death, with or without freezing in liquid nitrogen. The mRNA was used to direct protein synthesis in vitro, which was then analyzed by 2-D O'Farrell gel electrophoresis. Normal protein populations were observed, causing them to conclude "that post-mortem storage for 4 and 16 hours at room temperature had little effect on the spectrum of isolated mRNAs" and "the profile of proteins synthesized . . . was not changed . . . when the tissues were stored in liquid nitrogen." Many similar reports exist in the literature. Tower et al. showed preservation of oxygen consumption and enzyme activities in brains of many species, including whales subject to many hours of warm ischemia, after isolation from the dead animal and freezing (40-42). Hopefully, the point is clear that brain structure and even some brain functions and enzymatic activity survive freezing even when freezing is done after hours of unprotected clinical death and even with minimal or no cryoprotection. 7. Post-mortem human spinal cord and outflowing nerves One report (43) is available documenting the effects of cryonics procedures on the (34) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- spinal cord, which is part of the central nervous system. A human cryopreserved by now-obsolete cryonics procedures was decapitated while frozen, the body thawed, and the spinal cord and spinal nerves examined histologically after aldehyde fixation and osmication. The basic finding was that myelin sheaths were intact and shrunken axoplasm could be seen within the myelin sheaths, conceivably indicating intact axolemmas. Large neuronal cell bodies were observed which appeared intact and normal in shape. In general, the histological preservation was impressive. Apparently intact blood vessels were observed within the spinal cord. (Other, non-neuronal tissues were also examined and were found to be surprisingly intact, with the exception of the liver and, to a lesser extent, the kidney.) Summary The scientific literature allows no conclusion other than that brain structure and even many brain functions are likely to be reasonably well preserved by freezing in the presence of cryoprotective agents, especially glycerol in high concentrations. Thus, cryonics' premise of preservation would seem to be well supported by existing cryobiological knowledge. This is not to say that cryonics will inevitably work. But it is to say that cryonics may work and that it is a reasonable undertaking -- not the provenance of madmen or misguided fools. List of references cited General cryobiological background 1. Fahy, G. M., Analysis of "solution effects" injury: rabbit renal cortex frozen in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide., Cryobiology, 17, 371-388 (1980). Living adult animal brains 2. White, R. J., Brain, In: Organ Preservation for Transplantation, A. M. Karow, Jr., G. J. M. Abouna, and A. L. Humphries, Jr., Eds., Little, Brown, & Company, Boston, 1974. pp. 395-407. 4. White, R. J., Cryopreservation of the mammalian brain, Cryobiology, 16, 582 (1979). 3. White, R. J., Brain In: Organ Preservation for Transplantation, Second Edition, A. M. Karow, Jr. and D. E. Pegg, Eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1981. pp. 655-674. 5. Smith, A. U., Revival of mammals from body temperatures below zero. In: Biological Effects of Freezing and Supercooling, A. U. Smith, Ed. Edward Arnold, London, 1961. pp. 304-368. 7. Fahy, G. M., D. I. Levy, and S. E. Ali, Some emerging principles underlying the physical properties, biological actions, and utility of vitrification solutions, Cryobiology, 24, 196-213 (1987). 6. Lovelock, J. E., and A. U. Smith, Studies on golden hamsters during cooling to and rewarming from body temperatures below 0øC. III. Biophysical aspects and general discussion, Proc. Roy. Soc. B,\145, 427 -442 (1956). 8. Suda, I., K. Kito, and C. Adachi, Viability of long term frozen cat brain in vitro, Nature (London), 212, 268-270 (1966). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Suda, I., K. Kito, and C. Adachi, Bioelectric discharges of isolated cat brain after revival from years of frozen storage, Brain Res, 70, 527 -531 (1974). (35) 10. Suda, I., Unpublished Japanese language manuscript (including figures) based on a talk given by Dr. Suda (President of Kobe University) in Japan and reportedly being prepared for publication in English. 11. Fahy, G. M., Analysis of "solution effects" injury: Equations for calculating phase diagram information for the ternary systems NaCl -dimethylsulfoxide-water and NaCl-glycerol-water, Biophys J, 32, 837 -850 (1980). 13. Fahy, G. M., T. Takahashi, and A. M. Crane, Histological cryoprotection of rat and rabbit brains, Cryo-Letters, 5, 33-46 (1984). 12. Fahy, G. M., T. Takahashi, A. M. Crane, and L. Sokoloff, Cryoprotection of the mammalian brain, Cryobiology, 18, 618 (1981). 14a. Fahy, G. M., and A. M. Crane, Histological cryoprotection of rabbit brain with 3M glycerol, Cryobiology, 21, 704 (1984). 14b. Gale, L., Alcor experiment: Surviving the cold, Long Life Magazine, 2, 58-60 (1978). Living adult human and animal brain tissue 15. Haan, E. A., and D. M. Bowen, Protection of neocortical tissue prisms from freeze-thaw injury by dimethyl sulphoxide, J Neurochem, 37, 243 -246 (1981). 17. Hardy, J. A., P. R. Dodd, A. E. Oakley, R. H. Perry, J. A. Edwardson, and A. M. Kidd, Metabolically active synaptosomes can be prepared from frozen rat and human brain, J Neurochem, 40, 608-614 (1983). 16. Pascoe, J. E., The survival of the rat's superior cervical ganglion after cooling to - 76øC, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) B, 147, 510-519 (1957). 18. Walder, H. A. D., The effect of freezing and rewarming on feline brain tissue: an electron microscope study In: The Frozen Cell, G. E. W. Wolstenholme and M. O'Connor, Eds., J. & A. Churchill, London, 1970. pp. 251-266. Living fetal human and animal brain tissue 19. Groscurth, P., M. Erni, M. Balzer, H.-J. Peter, and G. Haselbacher, Cryopreservation of human fetal organs, Anat Embryol, 174, 105-113 (1986). 21. Houle, J. D., and G. D. Das, Freezing of embryonic neural tissue and its transplantation in the rat brain, Brain Res, 192, 570-574 (1980). 20. Houle, J. D., and G. D. Das, Cryopreservation of embryonic neural tissue and its successful transplantation in the rat brain, Anat Rec, 196, 81A (1980). 22. Houle, J. D., and G. D. Das, Freezing and transplantation of brain tissue in rats, Experientia, 36, 1114-1115 (1980). 24. Jensen, S., T. Sorensen, A. G. Moller, and J. Zimmer, Intraocular grafts of fresh and freeze-stored rat hippocampal tissue: a comparison of survivability and histological and connective organization, J Comp Neurol, 227, 558-568 (1984). 23. Das, G. D., J. D. Houle, J. Brasko, and K. G. Das, Freezing of neural tissues and their transplantation in the brain of rats: technical details and histological observations, J Neurosci Methods, 8, 1-15 (1983). 25. Jensen, S., T. Sorensen, and J. Zimmer, Cryopreservation of fetal rat brain tissue later used for intracerebral transplantation, Cryobiology, 24, 120-134 (1987). Living human and animal isolated brain cells 26. Silani, V., A. Pizzuti, O. Strada, A. Falini, et al, Human neuronal cell cryopreservation, (abstract from unidentified literature source) 27. Kim, S. U., G. Moretto, B. Ruff, and D. H. Shin, Culture and ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (36) 28. Kawamoto, J. C., and J. N. Barrett, Cryopreservation of primary neurons for tissue culture, Brain Res, 384, 84-93 (1986). 29. Scott, B., and L. Lew, Neurons in cell culture survive freezing, Exp Cell Res, 162, 566-573 (1986). Post-mortem human and animal brains 30. Itabashi, H. H., W. W. Tourtellotte, B. Baral, and M. Dang, A freezing method for the preservation of nervous tissue for concomitant molecular biological research and histopathological evaluation, J Neuropath Exp Neurol, 35, 117-119 (1976). 32. Bird, E. D., Brain tissue banks, Trends in Neurosci, 1(5), I-II (1978). 31. Tourtellotte, W. W., R. C. Cohenour, J. Raj, A. Morgan, R. Warwick, J. Sweeder, et al, The NINCDS/NIMH human neurospecimen bank, Neuro -Psychopharmacol, 2, 1593-1595 (1978). 33. Tourtellotte, W. W., H. H. Itabashi, I. Rosario, and K. Berman, National neurological research bank: A collection of cryopreserved human neurological specimens for neuroscientists, Ann Neurol, 14, 154 (1983). 35. Stahl, W. L., and P. D. Swanson, Effects of freezing and storage on subcellular fractionation of guinea pig and human brain, Neurobiology, 5, 393-400 (1975). 34. Haberland, N., L. Hetey, H. A. Hackensellner, and G. Matthes, Characterization of the synaptosomal dopamine uptake from rat and human brain tissue after low temperature preservation, Cryo-Letters, 6, 319 -328 (1985). 36. Schwarcz, R., Effects of tissue storage and freezing on brain glutamate uptake, Life Sci, 28, 1147-1154 (1981). 38. Iqbal, K., et al., Oligodendroglia from human autopsied brain. Bulk isolation and some chemical properties, J Neurochem, 28, 707-716 (1977). 37. Brammer, M. J., and P. Ray, Preservation of oligodendroglial cytoplasm in cryopreservative-pretreated frozen white matter, J Neurochem, 38, 1493-1497 (1982). 39. Morrison, M. R., and W. S. T. Griffin, The isolation and in vitro translation of undegraded messenger RNAs from human post-mortem brain, Anal. Biochem, 113, 318-324 (1981). 41. Tower, D. B., and O. M. Young, The activities of butyrylcholinesterase and carbonic anhydrase, the rate of anaerobic glycolysis, and the question of a constant density of glial cells in cerebral cortices of various mammalian species from mouse to whale, J Neurochem, 20, 269-278 (1973). 40. Tower, D. B., S. S. Goldman, and O. M. Young, Oxygen consumption by frozen and thawed cerebrocortical slices from warm-adapted or hibernating hamsters: the protective effects of hibernation, J Neurochem, 27, 285-287 (1976). 42. Tower, D. B., and O. M. Young, Interspecies correlations of cerebral cortical oxygen consumption, acetylcholinesterase activity and chloride content: studies on the brains of the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) and the sperm whale (Physeter catodon), J Neurochem, 20, 253 -267 (1973). 43. Anonymous, Histological study of a temporarily cryopreserved human, Cryonics, #52, 13-32 (Nov, 1984). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (37) Meeting Schedules Alcor business meetings are usually held on the first Sunday of the month. Guests are welcome. Unless otherwise noted, meetings start at 1 PM. For meeting directions, or if you get lost, call Alcor at (714) 736-1703 and page the technician on call. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The APRIL meeting will be held at the home of: (SUNDAY, 10 APR 1988) Virginia Jacobs 29224 Indian Valley Road Palos Verdes, CA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The MAY meeting will be held at the home of: (SUNDAY, 8 MAY 1988) Bill Seidel and Candy Nash 10627 Youngworth Culver City, CA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The JUNE meeting will be held at the home of: (SUNDAY, 12 JUN 1988) Paul Genteman 535 S. Alexandria, #325 Los Angeles, CA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * The Alcor Cryonics Supper Club is an informal dinner get-together. These meetings are for newcomers and old-timers alike -- just an opportunity to get together and talk over what's happening in cryonics -and the world! If you've wanted an opportunity to ask lots of questions about cryonics, or if you just want a chance to spend some time with some interesting and nice people, pick a date and come! All dinners are scheduled for Sundays at 6:00 PM. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Breakers (seafood) 400 Fisherman's Wharf* Redondo Beach, CA SUNDAY, APRIL 24 (213) 376-0428 *Take Torrance Blvd. all the way down to the ocean. DUE TO THE LIFE AGAINST DEATH WEEKEND MAY 27-30, NO SUPPER CLUB MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR MAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tropical Water Quality Hub Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy Version 1 – FINAL NESP Tropical Water Quality Hub CONTENTS \| \| \| Reviewed by (Name, Position) \| Comment (review/amendment \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Version \| Date \| \| \| \| \| \| \| type) \| \| 0.1 \| 23/04/15 \| Julie Carmody, Senior Research Manager, RRRC \| \| \| 0.2 \| 28/04/15 \| Melissa George, CEO, NAILSMA \| \| \| 0.3 \| 30/04/15 \| Stan Lui, TSRA \| \| \| 0.4 \| 21/07/15 \| Julie Carmody, Senior Research manager, RRRC \| \| i ACRONYMS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The NESP Tropical Water Quality Hub would like to acknowledge the contributions to this Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy (IEPS) by the following individuals and organisations. This IEPS is built on the working group recommendations provided by the previous National Environmental Research Program Tropical Ecosystems Hub and updated contributions from Melissa George, CEO, NAILSMA and Stan Lui, Project Manager (Sea), Torres Strait Regional Authority. We would like to acknowledge the contributions from original working group members Amelia Augé (JCU), Cathy Dichmont (CSIRO), Celestine Blackman (Gurung; Gidarjil TUMRA representative), Cheryl Grant (Jirrbal; Girringun Aboriginal Corporation; RAPA), David Williamson (JCU), Di Tarte (Chair, NERP TE Hub), Gavin Singleton (Yirrganydji; Dawul Waru Aboriginal Corporation), Gerry Turpin (BarBarrum), Helen Penrose (JCU), Joann Schmider (Mamu; Central Wet Tropics Institute for Country and Culture Aboriginal Corporation; RAPA), Julie Carmody (RRRC), Leah Talbot (Eastern Kuku Yalanji; RAPA), Mark Hamann (JCU), Nadine Marshall (CSIRO), Natalie Stoeckl (JCU), Peter Doherty (Science Leader, NERP TE Hub), Phil Rist (Nywaigi; Girringun Aboriginal Corporation), Ro Hill (CSIRO), Robyn Bellafquih (Eastern Kuku Yalanji; Jabalbina Aboriginal Corporation; RAPA), Ryan Donnelly (RRRC), Shaun Barclay (DSEWPaC Indigenous Policy Branch), Sheriden Morris (RRRC) and additional comments received from Damian Miley (TSRA), Frank Loban (TSRA), Nigel Hedgcock (DATSIMA) and John McDougall (DSEWPaC). INTRODUCTION All research that is undertaken, irrespective of its nature, will have some sort of impact on Indigenous Australians. Indigenous engagement and participation is identified as a cross-cutting theme for all NESP Hubs in the development of research priorities. Outcomes for Indigenous Australians form a key assessment component of the NESP Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy. The National Environmental Science Programme (NESP) Tropical Water Quality (TWQ) Hub aims to provide innovative research for practical solutions to maintain and improve tropical water quality from catchment to coast with a focus on the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and other tropical waters. These geographical areas are strongly connected to the region's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There are approximately 70 Traditional Owner clan groups whose land and sea country include the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and coastal ecosystems. The Torres Strait has 20 Traditional Owner groups (19 Torres Strait Islander Corporations and one Aboriginal Native Title Corporation). Eight land and sea Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) and seven Traditional Use of Marine Resource Areas (TUMRA) are identified within the geographical region of the TWQ Hub. The research priorities of the NESP Tropical Water Quality Hub are: 1. Improved understanding of the impacts, including cumulative impacts, and pressures of priority freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and species. 2. Maximise the resilience of vulnerable species to the impacts of climate change and climate variability by reducing other pressures, including poor water quality. 3. Natural resource management improvements based on sound understanding of the status and long term trends of priority species and systems. 4. Indigenous co-management for tropical marine and coastal systems. 5. Identify and prioritise regionally-specific management interventions to achieve or maintain realistic desired states for tropical environmental, social, cultural and economic values. Indigenous ecological knowledge is a fundamental pillar for the sustainable environmental management of the natural resources of north Queensland. The NESP TWQ Hub recognises the importance of Indigenous engagement in the understanding and management of north Queensland's land and sea country. The overall goal of this Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy (IEPS) is to ensure a meaningful two-way engagement relationship that will recognise the interests, rights and Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) of Traditional Owners in land and sea country. The aim of this IEPS is to ensure research leaders consider and include opportunities for the engagement of Traditional Owners within projects. At all stages, research with Indigenous peoples must be founded on a process of meaningful engagement, respect, trust and collaboration between the research project team and Indigenous peoples. This IEPS has been redeveloped from a working group partnership of Indigenous representatives in North Queensland during the NERP 1 . This is a living document that will be reviewed periodically throughout the life of the NESP. 1 The process of compiling the NERP Indigenous Engagement Strategy and identifying Indigenous engagement opportunities within the NERP TE Hub projects involved three workshops from November 2012 – January 2013. The Working Group consisted of Indigenous representatives, Hub Administration staff and identified project leaders. OBJECTIVES The overarching objective of the NESP TWQ Hub IEPS is to facilitate the recognition of the benefits of combining and acknowledging Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with western science to manage the natural and cultural environment. The aim is to ensure research leaders engage with Traditional Owners and Indigenous communities in their NESP TWQ Hub projects and to discuss agreed opportunities for knowledge transfer. The following objectives will guide the achievement of the Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy: 1. NESP TWQ Hub research is to be relevant and of benefit to Indigenous communities and organisations. 2. NESP TWQ Hub research is to be conducted according to the highest ethical standards and respects Indigenous priorities and values. 3. NESP TWQ Hub research will provide opportunities for Indigenous engagement, employment, skills transfer, sharing of knowledge and the increase of cultural awareness amongst all parties. 4. NESP TWQ Hub generated knowledge, data and research results will be effectively shared and communicated between Indigenous peoples, communities and organisations. 5. NESP TWQ Hub will facilitate effective Indigenous participation in Hub governance. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OBJECTIVES The objective of the NESP TWQ Hub Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy is to scope and ensure research leaders actively consider opportunities for the engagement of Traditional Owners in projects from the inception stage. Research project leaders are expected to have consulted with, negotiated with, and received consent from Indigenous peoples for effective engagement with Traditional Owner groups prior to submission of research project proposals. The Hub Administrator will where necessary, assist in the connection of research project leaders with respective Traditional Owner groups. The objectives and guiding information to implement the IEPS are provided below: 1. NESP TWQ Hub research is to be relevant and of benefit to Indigenous communities and organisations. Indigenous peoples, as residents, major landowners and managers in north Queensland should have the opportunity to provide input into research project objectives and methods and to undertake research activities in their own right. Indigenous peoples have expressed a strong desire to develop their skills in participatory research with non-Indigenous researchers, government staff and others. Empowering local people to act as researchers should encourage the development of a constructive understanding of research practice and will ensure people, relationships and local environmental management are addressed. It is important that researchers recognise that Traditional Owners may have different interests to those of the general resident community. It is recommended that TWQ Hub researchers develop an understanding of the local Indigenous history and current interests in the area they propose to work, including respecting cultural protocols. Where possible, it is useful for research projects to understand the interests of surrounding Indigenous communities as well. Some research activities may affect other neighbouring communities and this must be taken into consideration. Indigenous peoples should be well informed about the aims and methods of a research project, its implications and potential outcomes so they can decide for themselves whether the project is in their interests or not, and offer suggestions for ways of enhancing the relevance of the project. The cost of consulting and negotiating with Indigenous communities, where face-to-face meetings are likely to be preferred will need to be factored into project budgets. Identified Indigenous organisations, Traditional Use of Marine Resource Agreements (TUMRA), Indigenous Protected Areas (IPA) and Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate (RNTBC) are provided at Appendix A. 2. NESP TWQ Hub research is to be conducted according to the highest ethical standards and respects Indigenous priorities and values. Indigenous knowledge can make a significant contribution to the research being conducted within the NESP TWQ Hub. Researchers must respect the Intellectual Property rights of Indigenous peoples in relation to knowledge, ideas, cultural expressions and cultural materials. These rights are part of the heritage that exists in the cultural practices, resources and knowledge systems of Indigenous people that are passed on by them in expressing their cultural identity. Based on the guidelines provided in the NESP Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy Guidelines, it is expected that all research and communication activities undertaken within the NESP TWQ Hub are conducted in a manner inclusive of and sensitive to Australia's Indigenous peoples, consistent with Article 19 of free, prior and informed consent within the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). For example, researchers will ensure that they gain the permission of Traditional Owners prior to conducting research on Indigenous lands; that Indigenous peoples are involved in the planning process for research which may have impacts on Indigenous communities; that Indigenous peoples are employed in some form of capacity within the research team; and that Indigenous peoples are provided with the outcomes of the research in a format that is suitable. Informed Consent requires that all information on the intended actual aims, processes, activities, uses and outcomes of the research should be clearly communicated to promote open and honest exchange between researchers and Indigenous peoples and communities. A Guide to Informed Consent is available from www.aiatsis.gov.au. All NESP TWQ partnership institutions and their research project leaders are expected to ensure all project team staff have completed an Indigenous cultural awareness course offered by their institution or similar service within six months of project commencement. NESP TWQ Hub researchers are advised to consult the complete Guidelines for Ethical Research in Indigenous Studies published by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and available from www.aiatsis.gov.au. The Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (AIASTIS, 2012) comprise 14 principles grouped under the six broad themes of rights, respect and recognition; negotiation, consultation, agreement and mutual understanding; participation, collaboration and partnership; benefits, outcomes and giving back; managing research: use, storage and access; and reporting and compliance. Rights, respect and recognition Principle 1: Recognition of the diversity and uniqueness of peoples, as well as of individuals, is essential. Principle 2: Principle 3: Principle 4: The rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination must be recognised. The rights of Indigenous peoples to their intangible heritage must be recognised. Rights in the traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions of Indigenous peoples must be respected, protected and maintained. Principle 5: Indigenous knowledge, practices and innovations must be respected, protected and maintained. Negotiation, consultation, agreement and mutual understanding Principle 6: Consultation, negotiation and free, prior and informed consent are the foundations for research with or about Indigenous peoples. Principle 7: Responsibility for consultation and negotiation is ongoing. Principle 8: Consultation and negotiation should achieve mutual understanding about the proposed research. Principle 9: Negotiation should result in a formal agreement for the conduct of a research project. Participation, collaboration and partnership Principle 10: Indigenous people have the right to full participation appropriate to their skills and experiences in research projects and processes. Benefits, outcomes and giving back Principle 11: Indigenous people involved in research, or who may be affected by research, should benefit from, and not be disadvantaged by, the research project. Principle 12: Research outcomes should include specific results that respond to the needs and interests of Indigenous people. Managing research: use, storage and access Principle 13: Plans should be agreed for managing use of, and access to, research results. Reporting and compliance Principle 14: Research projects should include appropriate mechanisms and procedures for reporting on ethical aspects of the research and complying with these guidelines. Figure 2: Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (AIASTIS, 2012) NESP TWQ Hub research project leaders are expected to familiarise themselves with the protocols for Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country. These are respectful acknowledgements of Australia's Traditional Owners. In general, Acknowledgement of Country should include the words of "I/We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this land we meet today". Welcome to Country should be provided by a Traditional custodian elder of the land on which the meeting/ event is taking place. An appropriate fee is normally charged for Welcome to Country and this should be factored into project budgets. 3. NESP TWQ Hub research will provide opportunities for Indigenous engagement, employment, skills transfer, sharing of knowledge and the increase of cultural awareness amongst all parties. In conjunction with project objectives, Indigenous knowledge systems and processes must be respected. Indigenous participation as collaborators is to be encouraged, acknowledged and remunerated. Indigenous employment should, where possible, be undertaken through organisations that have appropriate institutional arrangements. Research and researchers must show an appreciation of the diversity of Indigenous peoples, who have different languages, cultures, histories and perspectives. It is also important to recognise the diversity of individuals and groups within these communities, for example, restrictions upon knowledge acquisition between men and women, young and old. Direct involvement as collaborators, co-authors, co-researchers and employees is often the most effective means of incorporating Indigenous perspectives in research activity. Differing types of participation are likely to require different pay rates, for example, technical assistance, consultation, liaison, translation, expertise in ecological and cultural knowledge. Partner institutions are to consider the support of employment pathways that provide professional development opportunities and capacity building for Indigenous peoples including opportunities for doctoral, postdoctoral and graduate programs within the institution. Indigenous land and sea ranger groups should be given the opportunity through partnership with research projects to enhance and improve the community's capacity to monitor natural environmental assets within their sea country. This can be achieved through operational training to upskill rangers and the integration of IEK with western science. 4. NESP TWQ Hub generated knowledge, data and research results will be effectively shared and communicated between Indigenous peoples, communities and organisations. The NESP TWQ Hub Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy is focused on opportunities for Indigenous engagement within all of the research projects. NESP TWQ Hub research projects will ensure opportunities for the transfer of knowledge to Indigenous groups within north Queensland are mutually agreed upon with Traditional Owner groups. Appropriate mechanisms for communication of research outcomes will be addressed through identified and agreed communication channels with Indigenous people. Traditional Owner groups must be included in all knowledge transfer communication opportunities. Research project results should be provided to Indigenous communities in a timely manner in the form of workshop presentations and culturally suitable products. 5. NESP TWQ Hub will facilitate effective Indigenous participation in Hub governance. Opportunities and support for Indigenous engagement will be available at all levels of NESP TWQ Hub governance. The two primary co-ordination mechanisms are the NESP TWQ Hub Steering Committee and the NESP TWQ Science Advisory Committee (SAC). There is an Indigenous representative identified for both the Hub Steering Committee and Science Advisory Committee. The NESP TWQ Hub will provide logistical support to Indigenous representatives to attend scheduled meetings. Program leaders, project associates and project steering groups are encouraged to complete a Cultural Awareness training workshop provided by their institution. Evidence of this successful completion will be requested in milestone reporting as part of the project management framework. Environmental research in the Torres Strait is to comply with the guidelines from the Torres Strait Regional Authority for cultural protocol awareness training. Communities within the Torres Strait expect researchers to be respectful of Ailan Kastom (Island Custom). More information for conducting research in the Torres Strait is available at Appendix B. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Performance indicators are identified as a means to measure the objectives of the NESP TWQ Hub Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy. These performance indictors will be included in the annual reporting to the Department of the Environment. Table 1: Measureable Performance Indicators Number of research projects engaging Indigenous peoples and their communities in their project to support local Indigenous community initiatives. Number of projects incorporating Indigenous Ecological Knowledge into methods and outcomes. Number of researchers who have gained Human Ethics Research approval from their institution to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Number of Indigenous partners collaboratively involved in the NESP TWQ Hub and its projects. Number and proportion of projects operating under a written research agreement. Number and proportion of projects with Indigenous staff in the research team. Number and proportion of non-Indigenous people completing a cross-cultural awareness course. Number of researchers engaged by Indigenous people to support their local initiatives. Number of Indigenous people employed in projects. Number of Indigenous people represented in NESP governance structures. Number of joint projects, conference/workshop presentations and co-authored publications with Indigenous peoples. Number of Indigenous public events with NESP TWQ Hub representation. Number of graduate/ postgraduate training and development opportunities. Number of people employed in on-going full-time or part-time roles (describe roles) Number and type of communication products or activities that have been used to communicate results with Indigenous people. Table 2: Aspirational Performance Indicators Number and proportion of projects meeting identified Indigenous research and management priorities. Number of collaborations that lead to additional external funded projects. Examples of how non-Indigenous people in the project team have developed increased cultural understanding. Case studies of projects helped to meet the research needs and interests of the Indigenous groups worked with. Number of Traditional Owners (non-rangers) who have participated in meetings/field work. Perceptions and attitudes amongst Indigenous people towards research are positive. Number of researchers who receive the Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies produced by AIATSIS. Majority of Indigenous partners remain interested and committed to the project. Number of existing Indigenous governance structures engaged in guiding NESP projects. IDENTIFIED COMMUNICATION CHANNELS The correct communication channels for researchers to contact the Traditional Owner groups in the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and Cape York regions will be provided by RRRC on enquiry. Initial advice or guidance should be directed through the Hub Administrator, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC) on (07) 4050 7400 or email@example.com. FURTHER INFORMATION AIATSIS Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/docs/ethics_nov.pdf Australian Government and Queensland Government (2015) Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan. Available from http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/gbr/publications/reef2050-long-term-sustainability-plan Cape York Land Council http://www.cylc.org.au/ Dawul Wuru (2014) Yirrganydji Sea Country Plan. Available from http://www.dawulwuru.com.au Faury, M. (2009) An evaluation of previous and current methods and models for researching Indigenous resource use and purposes, with recommendations for 'best practice' research solutions. Available at http://www.rrrc.org.au/publications/downloads/491-JCU-Fuary-M-2009Indigenous-Resource-Use.pdf Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/ Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (2014) Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2014. Available from http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/cdn/2014/GBRMPA-Outlook-Report-2014/ Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Bandjin, Djiru, Girramay, Gugu Badhun, Gulnay, Nywaigi, Warrgamay and Warungnu Traditional Owners, Regional Advisory & Innovation Network (RAIN) Pty Ltd (2013) Girringun Region Indigenous Protected Areas Management Plan 2013-2023. Cardwell: Girringun Aboriginal Corporation. Available from www.girringun.com.au Gunggandji PBC Abioriginal Corporation (2013) Gunggandji Sea Country Plan. Available from www.wettropics.gov.au McIntyre-Tamwoy, S., Canendo, W. and Wyles-Whelan, T. (2010) Wet Tropics Traditional Owners Strategic Research Directions Workshop Report. Available from http://www.rrrc.org.au/publications/downloads/491-JCU-McIntyre-Tamwoy-S-et-al-2010Indigenous-Strategic-Research-Directions-Workshop-Report.pdf North Queensland Aboriginal Land Council http://nqlc.com.au/ Torres Strait Regional Authority http://www.tsra.gov.au TSRA Cultural Protocols Guide http://www.tsra.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/17 78/tsra20c ul tural 20pr ot oc ols20 gui de . pdf TUMRA Boundary Maps http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-partners/traditional-owners/traditionaluse-of-marine-resources-agreements. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf Appendix A: Indigenous Organisations Traditional Use of Marine Resource Agreements \| Woppaburra TUMRA \| Keppel Islands and surrounding sea country. It covers 561 square kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park \| \|---\|---\| \| Yirrganydji TUMRA \| Covers the area of sea country between Cairns and Port Douglas that extends far offshore to include outer reefs and islands "to where the sun rises on the horizon". \| \| Lama Lama TUMRA \| Covers sea country that extends through Princess Charlotte Bay to the Normanby River in the south. \| \| Yuku-Baji-Miluka TUMRA \| Archer Point area, covers 1088 square kilometres stretching from Monkhouse Point south to Forsberg Point and extending east to just past the Ribbon Reefs. \| \| Girringun TUMRA \| Sea country between Rollingstone and Mission Beach \| \| Wuthathi TUMRA \| Shelburne Bay area of Cape York \| \| Port Curtis Coral Coast TUMRA \| Covers an area of 26,386 square kilometres extending from Burrum Heads, south of Bundaberg, to and including Curtis Island off Gladstone. \| Aboriginal Corporations: \| Corporation \| General Area \| \|---\|---\| \| Jabalbina Aboriginal Corporation \| Mossman to Bloomfield \| \| Girringun Aboriginal Corporation \| North Maria Creek to Rollingstone \| \| Dawul Waru Aboriginal Corporation \| Cairns to Port Douglas \| \| Yuku Baja Muliku Land Trust \| Archer Point Area \| \| Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Corporation \| East of Cairns across Trinity Inlet \| \| Djiru Warrangburra Aboriginal Corporation \| Innisfail and surrounds \| \| Gidarjil Development Corporation \| Burrum Heads to Gladstone \| \| Kuuku Ya’u Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC \| Lockhart River \| Traditional Owner Groups with sea country: \| Darnley Island (Erub) \| Eastern Torres Strait Islands and Northern Great Barrier Reef region including \| \|---\|---\| \| groups \| Raine Island \| \| Murray Island (Mer) groups \| Eastern Torres Strait Islands and Northern Great Barrier Reef region including \| Raine Island \| Gudang \| \| New Castle Bay region \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Yadhaigana \| \| Captain Billy Landing region \| \| Wuthathi \| \| Cape Grenville region \| \| Kuuku Ya'u \| \| Portland Road region \| \| Kanthanumpun \| \| Claude River region \| \| Uutaalgnunu (Night Island) \| Night Island region \| \| \| group \| \| \| \| Umpila \| \| Cape Sidmouth South region \| \| Angkum \| \| Cape Sidmouth region \| \| Lama Lama \| \| Princess Charlotte Bay region \| \| Pul Pul \| \| Cape Sidmouth region \| \| Guugu Yimithirr Warra \| Lizard Island to Hopevale region \| \| \| Nation \| \| \| \| Ngulan people \| \| Starke River region \| \| Yuku Baja Muliku \| \| Walker to Walsh Bay region \| \| Eastern Kuku Yalanji \| \| Cedar Bay to Port Douglas region \| \| Wanyurr Majay \| \| Fishery Falls, Babinda, Miriwinni, Mt Bellenden Kerr region \| \| Yirriganydji people \| \| Cairns to Port Douglas region \| \| Gimuy Yidinji \| \| Cairns/Trinity Inlet region \| \| Gurabana Gunggandji \| \| Kings Beach/Fitzroy Island region \| \| Guru Gulu Gunggandji \| \| Yarrabah/Green Island region \| \| Mandingalbai Yidinji \| \| Cooper Point region \| \| Lower Coastal Yidinji \| \| Russell River region \| \| Mamu people \| \| Innisfail region \| \| Djiru \| \| Mission Beach region \| \| Gulnay \| \| Tully region \| \| Girramay \| \| Cardwell to Murray Upper area \| \| Bandjin \| \| Hinchinbrook region \| \| Warrgamay \| \| Lucinda region \| \| Nywaigi \| \| Edmund Kennedy National Park \| \| Manbarra \| \| Palm Island region \| \| Wulgurukaba \| \| Magnetic Island/Townsville region \| \| Bindal \| \| Townsville region \| \| Juru \| \| Ayr region \| \| Gia \| \| Whitsunday region (Mainland) \| \| Ngaro \| Whitsunday region (Islands) \| \|---\|---\| \| Yuibera people \| Mackay region \| \| Koinjimal people \| Clairview-Broadsound region \| \| Dharumbal \| Rockhampton-Shoalwater Bay region \| \| Woppaburra \| Yeppoon region \| \| Taribelang Bunda \| Gladstone/Bundaberg region \| \| Bailai \| Gladstone/Bundaberg region \| \| Gooreng Gooreng \| Gladstone/Bundaberg region \| \| Gurang \| Gladstone/Bundaberg region \| Appendix B: Guidelines for Research in the Torres Strait The Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) works with all Torres Strait communities, government agencies and researchers to support whole-of-government policy coordination, research, planning and adaptive management for continued sustainability of healthy ecosystems in the Torres Strait. For fieldwork to be conducted within the Torres Strait, acknowledgement is made of the processes in place to address the need for effective engagement with the island communities by visiting researchers. A 'buddy' system involving the TSRA Land and Sea Management Unit (LSMU) staff and formal communication channels enable researchers to seek approval from Registered Native Title Body Corporates (RNTBC), Traditional Owners and community leaders. All researchers are required to conduct research in an ethical manner, mindful of Torres Strait Islander culture and Intellectual Property ownership. Minimal guidelines to be adhered to in the Torres Strait include: Initial contact to be made with the TSRA LSMU a minimum of six months (if possible) before the intended and agreed fieldwork time in the region; The LSMU will then seek formal endorsement from the TSRA Board for research activities. Once approved by the TSRA Board, mandate is then given for LSMU to proceed to the next stage of seeking approvals to conduct research on chosen/selected communities. Through cooperation with the TSRA LSMU project team and community liaison support, a request to conduct research on country should be made to the PBC, TOs and elders prior to the intended fieldwork. This request to conduct research should be in the form of a letter seeking endorsement by the aforementioned to conduct research on country; Final confirmation from the TSRA LSMU to be able to assist and accompany the researchers in the fieldwork component rests with the TSRA LSMU; A community notice and project factsheet explaining the purpose of the research, how and why it is being conducted and the expected benefits to the community should be provided at designated community meeting areas and in person at community meetings, as advised by the TSRA LSMU; If needed, an agreement is to be made jointly outlining the roles and responsibilities of the researchers and the TSRA LSMU staff; Fieldwork cannot be conducted without the support of the TSRA LSMU; Fieldwork logistics should be confirmed with the TSRA LSMU at least two months prior to the actual intended fieldwork; Feedback to the community, RNTBC, elders and TOs should occur within three months of conducting the fieldwork. This may be in the form of a summary of results, technical report, face-to-face discussion, or other means deemed suitable; Researchers are expected to provide data results where relevant and reports back to the RNTBCs for comment and approval before distribution of any reports and/ or academic manuscripts; Acknowledgement of the support provided by the TSRA LSMU and Traditional Owners and RNTBCs is important; Further details on the TSRA, the Cultural Policy and Policy to Guide Community Liaison can be located at www.tsra.gov.au.
9.32 Bushfire - Entrapment Procedures for Appliances Operational Procedure Section 1 - Purpose and Objectives (1) Provide guidance on preparation for and actions to be taken by CFA members during a burnover (entrapment) in a CFA vehicle. Section 2 - Scope (2) This procedure (SOP) applies to all CFA members. Section 3 - Procedure Requirement to maintain skills and currency (3) CFA members who crew tankers and other fire appliances (including FCVs) on the fire ground must maintain their skills and knowledge of the entrapment procedure annually. (4) CFA members who undertake operational support activities in vehicles other than fire appliances are strongly encouraged to maintain their skills and knowledge of the entrapment procedure. (5) The practical entrapment drill provides members with the skills and knowledge to act safely during a bush/grass fire entrapment situation. (6) CFA members should ensure they have completed the entrapment drill prior to the commencement of the fire danger period in their respective districts. (7) The CFA member in charge of the District, Group, Brigade or CFA Business Unit is responsible for: ensuring that all CFA members complete a practical entrapment drill each year on all relevant firefighting a. appliances; and ensuring the names of those who have completed the drill are entered into the Learning Management System. b. Actions to undertake on the fire ground (8) Incident Controllers are responsible for the safety of all members on the fire ground. Crew Leaders are responsible for all members of their crew. The Incident Controller, fire ground Commanders and Crew Leaders should ensure: All members wear the appropriate Personal Protective Clothing (PPC). a. An effective communication plan is in place and known to the crew. b. Crews are briefed and understand the fire conditions. c. A continual dynamic risk assessment occurs by maintaining situational awareness, monitoring surroundings and d. constantly reviewing the assessment of potential hazards. (9) All CFA members on the fire ground are responsible for providing situational awareness about fire location and behaviour through the incident organisational structure. (10) The driver should ensure where practicable that the CFA vehicle is parked in an open space with a low fuel load or on existing burnt ground. (11) Where there are multiple CFA vehicles on the fire ground, group them together and position CFA vehicles without crew protection systems installed in such a way to be protected by those that do have crew protection systems. Actions to undertake when entrapment by fire and possible burnover is imminent. (12) The safety of CFA members on the fire ground is paramount. If safe and possible to do so, leaving the area to a safe zone in advance of a fire front impact is always in preference to undertaking the entrapment procedure. This entrapment procedure is to be used as a last resort where crews may become trapped and face a possible burnover. CFA Vehicles fitted with Crew Protection Systems (13) Driver or Pump Operator must: Initiate the evacuation signal for crew members to return to the CFA vehicle with 3 short blasts at 1 second a. duration each on the horn and/or siren, followed by a short 10 second break. This should be repeated until all crew members have returned to the vehicle. Ensure pump is running and set to idle. b. Turn hazard and headlights on and ensure emergency warning lights are operating. c. Ensure that there are no objects located on the dashboard that would inhibit the roll down of the crew d. protection curtains (where fitted). Leave the engine running on a fast idle. e. NOTE: During a burnover the air conditioner is only effective with the engine running. There may also be a need to move the vehicle if conditions change and leaving the engine running removes the risk of the engine not starting. (14) Crew members should: Return to the CFA vehicle immediately upon hearing the warning signal. a. Leave branches slightly open to decompress and uncouple the hose from the pump outlet. b. Ensure deck-mounted short-length hoses (where fitted) are left charged with fog branches attached and closed c. ready for use. (15) Crew Leaders must ensure that: All crew members are accounted for. a. A Mayday signal is sent out in accordance with SOP 9.15 Mayday and Hostile Acts Radio Signals. b. Once inside the vehicle: c. All windows are closed and the air conditioning is on and set to recirculate; i. All crew protection curtains are in place; ii. Each crew member has a fire blanket and bottle of water (where available); iii. Any internal cabin lights are on. iv. CFA Vehicles without Crew Protection Systems (16) The driver of the CFA vehicle must: Initiate the emergency evacuation signal for crew members to return to the CFA vehicle by 3 short blasts at 1 a. second duration each on the horn and/or siren, followed by a short 10 second break. This should be repeated until all crew members have returned to the vehicle; Turn hazard and headlights on and ensure emergency warning lights (if fitted) are operating; and b. If safe to do so and readily available, position the vehicle with other appliances that have crew protection c. systems fitted so that the vehicle without crew protection systems is shielded from the approaching fire front. (17) Crew members must return to the vehicle immediately upon hearing the evacuation warning signal. (18) Crew leaders must ensure that: All crew members are accounted for; a. The vehicle (if able to be moved) is parked (if safe to do so) close to other appliances that use crew protection b. systems on the opposite side to the approaching fire; Once inside the vehicle: c. All windows and vents are closed and the air conditioning is on and set to recirculate; i. Each crew member has a fire blanket and bottle of water, and they are ready for use; ii. Any internal cabin lights are on; and iii. A Mayday signal is sent out in accordance with the Mayday Radio Procedure. iv. Actions to undertake during a burnover. CFA Vehicles fitted with Crew Protection Systems (19) CFA members taking refuge inside the cabin of the CFA vehicle should: To conserve water, the crew leader should determine the appropriate time to activate the Crew Protection a. System. Turn the Crew Protection System on or off as required. b. Cover themselves with a dry fire blanket. Do not hose down crew members before the fire front passes, as c. conduction of the heat through damp clothes may cause steam burns. DRAFT NOTE: Once the crew protection system is pressurised the green LED light will activate in both the cabin and rear of the tanker. (20) If the cabin windows break during a burnover, hold crew protection curtains in place with fire blankets and block areas that are emitting smoke into the cabin. (21) CFA members taking refuge on the rear of a CFA vehicle (e.g. tanker) should: Set the pump to idle; a. Deploy crew protection awning ensuring Velcro edges are secured; b. Cover themselves with a dry fire blanket. CFA members should not be hosed down prior to the fire front c. passing, as this may result in steam burns; and Get down as low as possible in the vehicle. d. (22) In the event that the crew protection system fails or the Crew Leader deems a better option, two spray fog/pattern branches can be used as an alternative. Ensure the branch is held over the side of the appliance before opening the delivery valve in order to keep CFA members on the deck dry to reduce the potential for steam burns. NOTE: Spray/fog branches are to be used sparingly for water conservation and positioned between the appliance and the source of radiant heat. Situational awareness should be maintained at all times around the entire tanker including the pump, engine, cabin, as well as the area around the tanker. CFA Vehicles without Crew Protection Systems (23) If a CFA vehicle without a crew protection system is with a CFA vehicle(s) that do have crew protection systems, CFA members should exit the CFA vehicle (if safe to do so) and take refuge in the vehicle with the crew protection system. (24) In the event that the CFA vehicle is not with other CFA vehicles, CFA members should take refuge inside the cabin of the CFA vehicle and ensure they: Are wearing full Personal Protective Clothing (PPC) and a P2 mask; a. Cover themselves with a dry fire blanket; b. Get as low as possible in the vehicle; c. Turn off the fan and air conditioner; and d. Turn off the vehicle engine. e. NOTE: Vehicles not fitted with crew protection systems have no protection preventing materials inside the vehicle from off gassing which may produce vapours toxic or irritant to the airways. By having the fan and air conditioner off reduces the mixing of these vapours. This advice is consistent with advice provided by the AFAC guideline: 'People in Vehicles During Bushfires'. Actions to take where safety in a CFA vehicle is compromised during a fire (25) Where a CFA vehicle becomes untenable for crew survival in the cabin or deck areas during a fire, CFA members should: Exit the cabin or deck on the side with the least fire visible outside; a. Wear full Personal Protective Clothing (PPC) including a helmet and a P2 facemask; b. Take a dry fire blanket for protection and bottled water; c. DRAFT Take a first aid kit; d. Move to the largest area practicable that is already burnt out or devoid of fine fuel or trees, shrubs and e. branches and away from toxic smoke that may be coming from a burning CFA vehicle; Lay flat on the ground to reduce the impact of radiant heat and point feet towards the maximum source of f. radiant heat. To limit radiant heat, this should be behind a solid object or in a ditch. Ensure your body is covered with the dry fire blanket. g. Wait until the fire front has passed before removing the blanket. h. Actions to take after the fire front passes (26) Ensure all crew members are accounted for and checked for any injuries. (27) Extinguish any fires on or near the vehicle that may be a threat to member safety or the vehicle. (28) Report and record your situation through the incident chain of command. (29) Record the incident in CFA Safe. Section 4 - Definitions (30) Commonly defined terms are located in the CFA centralised glossary. Document-specific definitions are listed below. Section 5 - Related Documents (31) Chief Officer's SOP – 9.15 Mayday and Hostile Acts Signal Radio Signals (32) Chief Officer's SOP – 9.37 Emergency Evacuation Signal Status and Details Glossary Terms and Definitions "CFA member" - Refers to all CFA volunteers, volunteer auxiliary workers, officers, employees and secondees. "CFA vehicle" - All vehicles owned or operated by CFA or any Group or Brigade. This includes FRV vehicles being driven by an FRV Secondee. "Crew Leader" - Crew Leader is the person designated to have responsibility for the management of the crew. "Dynamic Risk Assessment" - The continuous assessment and control of risk in the rapidly changing circumstances of an operational incident. DRA is an intuitive thought process and is typically not recorded. "Personal Protective Clothing (PPC)" - Includes clothing used to provide protection to CFA members from the risks associated with performing a specific operational task for which they are competent and endorsed "Mayday" - A call via radio that indicates "I am threatened by grave and imminent danger and request immediate assistance." "Crew Protection System" - Design features incorporated into CFA tankers of over 1000 litres of water carrying capacity to protect the crew by negating the effects of the flame and radiant heat associated with the fire front on the vulnerable components of the appliances cabin, under-body, pum and tray areas. This includes the crew protection spray system, crew protection water system, crew protection curtains and the crew protection awning or deck access hatch where fitted. DRAFT " Entrapment" - A situation in which individuals are exposed to life threatening conditions from which they cannot safely remove themselves.
THE ARTS CHILD POLICY CIVIL JUSTICE EDUCATION ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS NATIONAL SECURITY POPULATION AND AGING PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUBSTANCE ABUSE TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE GULF STATES POLICY INSTITUTE A study by RAND Health This PDF document was made available from www.rand.org as a public service of the RAND Corporation. 6 Jump down to document The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. Support RAND Purchase this document Browse Books & Publications Make a charitable contribution For More Information Visit RAND at www.rand.org Explore the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute View document details Limited Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law as indicated in a notice appearing later in this work. This electronic representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for non-commercial use only. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please see RAND Permissions. This product is part of the RAND Corporation occasional paper series. RAND occasional papers may include an informed perspective on a timely policy issue, a discussion of new research methodologies, essays, a paper presented at a conference, a conference summary, or a summary of work in progress. All RAND occasional papers undergo rigorous peer review to ensure that they meet high standards for research quality and objectivity. The role of nongovernmental Organizations in long-Term Human recovery after Disaster reflections From louisiana Four Years after Hurricane Katrina Anita Chandra • Joie Acosta GULF STATES POLICY INSTITUTE A study by RAND Health This paper results from the RAND Corporation's continuing program of self-initiated research. Support for such research is provided, in part, by the generosity of RAND's donors and by the fees earned on client-funded research. The research was conducted within RAND Health under the auspices of the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute (RGSPI) in partnership with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, and the Louisiana Association of United Ways. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chandra, Anita. The role of nongovernmental organizations in long-term human recovery after disaster : reflections from Louisiana four years after Hurricane Katrina / Anita Chandra, Joie Acosta. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8330-4882-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Disaster relief—Louisiana. 2. Non-governmental organizations. 3. Hurricane Katrina, 2005. I. Acosta, Joie. II. Title. [DNLM: 1. Disaster Planning—organization & administration—Louisiana. 2. Cyclones—Louisiana. 3. Government Agencies—organization & administration—Louisiana. 4. Private Sector—organization & administration—Louisiana. 5. Time Factors—Louisiana. 6. Voluntary Health Agencies—organization & administration—Louisiana. WA 295 C456r 2009] HV555.U62L55 2009 363.34'8—dc22 2009038299 The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2009 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/publications/ permissions.html). Published 2009 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: email@example.com Over the past four years, countless volunteers and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have provided manpower and resources to help communities respond to and recover from the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Compared to previous disasters, the level of devastation and the challenges of rebuilding were far more significant for families and communities in the region. The purpose of this occasional paper is to summarize some of the lessons learned by NGOs as these organizations worked through the cycle of emergency response into a lengthy long-term recovery process that continues today. This paper also offers potential actions for federal and state agencies to support long-term human recovery, an often-overlooked element of the disaster recovery cycle. State and federal health officials and NGOs may be interested in using this document to inform their decisions about changes to disaster policies that better define the components of and organizational roles and responsibilities in long-term human recovery. A profile of RAND Health, abstracts of its publications, and ordering information can be found at www.rand.org/health. More information about RAND is available at www.rand.org. The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute and RAND Health partnered with the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, and the Louisiana Association of United Ways to convene NGO leaders and give them an opportunity to share their lessons learned and ongoing challenges. This effort is consistent with the RAND Corporation's mission to respond to the hurricanes of 2005 by channeling corporate resources to support research and analysis. RAND established the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute to support hurricane recovery and long-term economic development in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Today, RAND Gulf States provides objective analysis to federal, state, and local leaders in support of evidence-based policymaking and the well-being of individuals throughout the Gulf States region. More information about RAND Gulf States can be found at www.rand.org/gulf-states/. iii v Figure and Table Figure 1. Simultaneous Phases of a Disaster in a Community Dealing with Multiple Incidents . . . . 2 Table 1. Relevant Federal Policies and Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Human recovery is the process of rebuilding social and daily routines and support networks that foster physical and mental health and well-being. The four-year aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has provided a case study of the lengthy and complex process of human recovery, the instrumental contributions of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the policy and resource challenges that affect NGOs' ability to support human recovery. To capture lessons learned, RAND researchers conducted a facilitated discussion with NGO leaders in Louisiana. In that discussion, NGO leaders were asked about difficulties they faced in supporting human recovery and about potential actions needed to address these challenges. This occasional paper describes these issues, including the lack of understanding about which models of longterm human recovery should be used and how they should be financed, inadequate NGOgovernment coordination, and the lack of clarity about how to formalize and operationalize NGO roles and responsibilities. Development of a formal federal and state system to support human recovery and changes to long-term recovery policies are addressed in the discussion of potential actions. This paper also outlines future directions for research to build the evidence base on what works in long-term human recovery. We would like to thank the many NGO representatives who contributed to the conceptualization and content of this paper by participating in the New Orleans meeting, reviewing documents, and providing valuable comments. A full list of participating organizations can be found in this paper's appendix. This paper also benefited from the input of our reviewers, Jeanne Ringel of RAND and Angela Blanchard of Neighborhood Center, Inc. We extend a special thanks to the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, the Louisiana Association of United Ways, and the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area for co-hosting the meeting that brought together the NGO representatives. Finally, we express our appreciation for the contributions of colleagues at the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute, who assisted us in refining the paper and provided logistical support for the meeting of NGO representatives. Thanks to Melissa Flournoy, Sally Sleeper, Samantha Francois, and Stacy Fitzsimmons for these important contributions. Abbreviations DRF Disaster Relief Fund ESF Emergency Support Function FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency NIMS National Incident Management System NGO nongovernmental organization VOAD Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Long-Term Human Recovery After Disaster: Reflections from Louisiana Four Years After Hurricane Katrina Introduction The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina vividly illustrates that recovery from disasters is not simply the restoration of roads and buildings, but a long process of restoring individual and community functioning. Human recovery goes beyond infrastructure recovery to include restoring the social and daily routines and support networks that foster physical and mental health and promote well-being (Cutter et al., 2006; Weisler, Barbee, and Townsend, 2006; Sizer and Evans, 2009). The hurricanes of 2005, along with Hurricane Ike, showed that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs, including community- and faith-based organizations) are instrumental contributors to human recovery. However, communities' abilities to draw on NGO services have been highly variable. In many cases, NGO activities cope with inadequate policy and financial support (Cutter et al., 2006; Waugh, 2006), which have hindered participation in recovery activities. Further, there is little clarity in terms of what human recovery looks like (e.g., What are the essential services, core components, and effective models?) and what policies are needed to support essential services and engage NGOs. While NGOs provide critical social, economic, and health services, there is evidence to suggest that their effectiveness could be enhanced if they were more formally engaged in recovery efforts and better integrated into planning at the local and state levels (Cutter et al., 2006; Waugh, 2006). This occasional paper is intended as a first step toward addressing this need. The paper outlines the ongoing policy and financial challenges that NGOs confront when supporting long-term human recovery. The information about areas of need is based on a structured discussion with Louisiana NGO leaders in April 2009. The discussion focused on NGOs' involvement in human recovery and barriers to providing appropriate and timely human recovery services. The goal of this paper is to highlight issues that emerged from this discussion and to identify next steps for research and analysis. The paper has the following specific aims: What are the barriers confronting NGOs' extended and systematic involvement in recovery activities? To date, there has been no formal articulation of the specific challenges they face. Further, we have limited understanding about the challenges NGOs face in providing services to support human recovery. In addition, potential actions for how state and federal government could better engage NGOs in these human recovery efforts are missing from the dialogue. Identify the elements needed to support a system for long-term human recovery and the • challenges to creating such a system. Describe the roles NGOs can play in this system and the challenges they face in engaging • government leaders in long-term human recovery efforts. Propose state and federal policy actions to formalize and integrate NGO roles into the • planning and implementation of long-term human recovery efforts. In the remainder of this section, we discuss what is known about human recovery and the roles of NGOs. We then discuss the themes that emerged from the structured discussion. Long-Term Human Recovery Is Longer and More Complicated Following Multiple Disasters Recovery—and, particularly, human recovery—is a long process, and the pathway is not straightforward. As shown in Figure 1, disaster planning, response, and recovery are not linear processes with clear transitions from planning to long-term recovery, but rather parts of a cycle. Further, recovery entails both infrastructure and human elements that can overlap. In addition, as recovery is achieved, there is potential to develop greater community resilience for the next incident. Progress toward recovery is slowed by multiple incidents (Public Entity Risk Institute, 2006). Competing priorities make it difficult to assign dedicated resources in a community that is in the response or recovery phase of multiple incidents simultaneously. For example, communities have limited resources and face difficult decisions about spending funds on rebuilding homes versus providing health services, particularly when multiple disasters deplete minimal resources. In Louisiana, there are still approximately 70,000 displaced residents and more Figure 1 Simultaneous Phases of a Disaster in a Community Dealing with Multiple Incidents Long-term recovery Building community resilience Infrastructure redevelopment Human recovery Long-term recovery Preparedness Preparedness Response Response Immediate recovery Immediate recovery Incident #2 Incident #1 RANDOP277-1 than 4,800 residents in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers or receiving disaster housing assistance (Alfred, 2007). These difficulties have been compounded by the significant increases in the prevalence of serious mental illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorder among individuals affected by Katrina (Kessler et al., 2008). Repeated disasters have been especially problematic for the working class and working poor, whose tenuous circumstances are magnified by the negative impacts of disaster. A study of families in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina found that 53 percent of households with an annual income below $10,000 lost all salaried jobs in the household after the hurricane, compared to 15 percent of households with an annual income above $20,000 (Abramson, Garfield, and Redlener, 2007). Human recovery happens at the individual and community levels; for individuals to recover, the community supporting them must be rebuilt and operating. The human elements of recovery extend over a period of months because destruction of community structures affects individual and community well-being. Daily routines and social gatherings are disrupted when a community is devastated by disaster. The resulting declines over time in relations between residents and community organizations and the loss of family and peer networks increase the negative impact of disaster stress (Kaniasty and Norris, 1993). A recent article (which used Kates and Pijawkas's 1977 model) estimated that long-term recovery and reconstruction from Hurricane Katrina would take approximately 11.5 years, given that immediate recovery took 60 weeks (Cutter et al., 2006). The Kates and Pijawka model, developed more than 30 years ago, may not accurately represent the length of time needed for all aspects of human recovery because it does not take into account the time needed to recover psychologically from a disaster. We are still learning about the mental health impacts of disasters, which often persist far beyond infrastructure redevelopment efforts; addressing these impacts is a key part of human recovery (Kessler et al., 2008). NGOs' Roles in Long-Term Human Recovery Are Not Well-Reflected in State or Federal Policy Although we know that NGOs deliver services to support human recovery after disasters have ended (Homeland Security Initiative, 2006), there is no official federal or state policy, documentation, or guidance for how NGOs lead or work with government through the disaster recovery phase. In the absence of this government guidance, several models have emerged. For example, NGOs in Louisiana continue to be a part of collaborative community efforts, including long-term recovery committees, which connect individuals who lost homes and property with local agencies and services, and resource roundtables to discuss coordination, support, and logistics for recovery along the Gulf Coast. In many regions, the United Way leads long-term recovery committees in partnership with local nonprofits. Other models for longterm recovery services are emerging, including one-stop shops such as the St. Bernard Project (see St. Bernard Project, undated), which supports families in rebuilding their homes and offers services to promote psychological healing, and local, neighborhood-driven service centers such as the Beacon of Hope (see Beacon of Hope Resource Center, undated), which uses local resource centers in 19 neighborhoods to lead community organizing efforts that encourage residential and economic development. Integrating NGO roles and responsibilities into relevant federal policies and guidance such as the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Stafford Act, summarized in Table 1, is an important first step to formalizing NGO involvement; this integration is difficult, however, due to the lack of clarity on what human recovery should entail. NGOs Contribute to Human Recovery and Bolster Community Resilience During short- and long-term recovery efforts, NGOs facilitate disaster recovery and are uniquely positioned to advocate for changes that may improve the resilience of communities to withstand future disasters. For example, NGOs can strengthen social networks by enhancing connections between residents and community organizations. A case study of disaster recovery in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch suggests that NGOs, because they are a permanent part of a given community, are more focused on community development and, consequently, on resilience-building during disaster response and recovery (Telford, Arnold, and Harth, 2004). Community resilience "occurs when resources are sufficiently robust, redundant, or rapid to buffer or counteract the immediate [after-disaster] effects of a stressor" (Norris et al., 2008, p. 130). NGOs are critical partners because their organizational networks are key to rapidly mobilizing immediate and long-term support services for communities affected by disaster. Given that NGOs are permanent fixtures in the community, they can also work on an ongoing basis to increase population resilience by developing economic resources, reducing risk, ameliorating resource inequities, and attending to areas of social vulnerability. NGOs' role in the human service delivery system also positions them to support individuals with acute needs who are affected by disaster as well as those who require sustained human services support prior to and after a disaster. Table 1 Relevant Federal Policies and Guidance a The Stafford Act authorizes the President to issue major disaster declarations that authorize federal agencies to provide assistance to states overwhelmed by disasters. Through executive orders, the President has delegated to [FEMA] . . . responsibility for administering the major provisions of the Stafford Act. Assistance authorized by the statute is available to individuals, families, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations. Activities undertaken under authority of the Stafford Act are provided through funds appropriated to the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). Federal assistance supported by DRF money is used by states, localities, and certain non-profit organizations to provide mass care, restore damaged or destroyed facilities, clear debris, and aid individuals and families with uninsured needs, among other activities. (Bea, 2005, p. 1) The issues described in the preceding sections regarding government engagement with NGOs in human recovery, the true duration of the need for services, challenges posed by overlapping periods of recovery, and the missed opportunities for NGOs to be a formal part of enhancing community resilience after disaster all merit further investigation and need to be connected with specific policy recommendations. To address these critical issues, we engaged Louisiana NGO leaders to examine these topics via structured discussion. Given these leaders' experience with hurricanes and other natural disasters, the forum provided a unique opportunity to explore these challenges in-depth. Methods In April 2009, the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute, the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, the Louisiana Association of United Ways, and the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area convened local leaders from 47 Louisiana organizations in New Orleans to discuss lessons learned from their experiences with recent hurricanes and to generate recommendations for bolstering support for communities and enhancing the involvement of NGOs in long-term recovery. 1 Using a semistructured protocol, RAND researchers and community partners facilitated a discussion with NGO leaders. Questions posed to the group included the following: These leaders were in a unique position to reflect on recovery issues, given the time elapsed since hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the forum provided an opportunity to compare those events with more recent hurricane experiences. Is there a system to support long-term human recovery? • How can federal and state agencies better engage NGOs to leverage NGO resources in • the long-term recovery period? Since Hurricane Katrina, have NGO roles in disaster response and recovery been formal- • ized and integrated into state and local planning and disaster recovery efforts? The session lasted two hours, and a RAND researcher took notes during the discussion. Each participant at the meeting also submitted an index card listing what he or she perceived to be the three greatest challenges to long-term human recovery in Louisiana. RAND researchers and community partners reviewed the meeting notes using a qualitative analysis methodology called constant comparative analysis (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). First, two RAND researchers independently read through the meeting notes and list of challenges and identified the themes and ideas that were raised most frequently. Next, each researcher used the resulting list for a consensus-building exercise. To ensure that the two researchers identified the most salient themes, they reviewed similarities and differences in their lists, resolved inconsistencies, and reached a common set of key themes. A followup meeting with key stakeholders from the participating organizations was held to validate the key themes identified. In the following sections, we describe findings from this structured discussion, which we present as a set of challenges and potential actions to address them. The paper then builds on 1 The appendix contains a complete list of organizations that were represented at the meeting. these findings and identifies opportunities for future research on NGO involvement in longterm human recovery. These research directions were informed by our meeting, a review of relevant literature, and the researchers' expertise in disaster response, developed through multiple analyses of gaps in response and recovery systems. Challenges Identified and Potential Actions The discussion with NGO leaders in Louisiana identified several challenges that they continue to face in engaging with government leaders to play an effective role in long-term recovery. Challenge #1: There Is No System of Services or Operating Plan to Support Human Recovery NGOs in Louisiana indicated that current federal and state guidance lacks a focus on human recovery, offers virtually no protocols on how to implement human recovery (particularly for those who have the fewest resources predisaster), and provides little support for long-term case management (a core component of human recovery). Further, NGO roles have not been formalized or integrated into local and state planning and recovery efforts. First, the NGO representatives argued, federally supported recovery efforts focus on infrastructure and economic recovery (e.g., the repair of damaged buildings and infrastructure, debris removal, temporary housing and limited home repairs, and revenue-loss loans) and do not address human recovery. The participants noted that there are three critical components to promoting human recovery: information and referral 1. with respect to trends, needs, and gaps in services—particularly the use of services such as 211, a telephone service supported by the United Way that assesses service needs and connects families with local providers financial supports 3. to help families make payments to reestablish their household, such as rental deposits, major appliance purchases, and household bills. direct services 2. to help families cope with their disaster experiences, find homes and jobs, and make plans to rebuild their lives—including case management, children's services, employment, emotional well-being, housing, and reunification Human recovery and infrastructure recovery are interdependent. For example, health care institutions cannot reopen without appropriate staff, who may not return to work until their households and the social networks that buffer them from chronic stress are rebuilt (Weisler, Barbee, and Townsend, 2006; Cutter et al., 2006). Second, in addition to the lack of federal support for human recovery, there is limited guidance on how to implement human recovery plans. Despite ESF and NIMS provisions that articulate the need for health-related services to support human recovery (e.g., ESF-6 focuses on mass care and ESF-14 on long-term recovery; see Table 1), there is a lack of clarity in terms of how to operationalize this guidance, and there is no standard alignment of resources with these functions. Local leaders contended that the definition of what can be included in publicsector assistance, how that definition is implemented during response and long-term recovery, and who funds these activities are also largely unclear. In ESF-6 (mass care), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is charged with expediting claims for federal benefits, ensuring continuity of services (e.g., Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program) to beneficiaries, and supporting agencies that provide case management services. In ESF-14 (long-term recovery), federal agencies are positioned to provide technical consultation and expertise on necessary services to meet the long-term physical and behavioral health needs of affected populations and encourage short- and long-term public financing to meet those needs. Taken together, ESF-6 and ESF-14 appear to have the right language to support human recovery postdisaster, but there is confusion about how these activities will be executed and which organizations (government and/or NGO) are in leadership roles and at what time points in the response continuum. Guidance to help NGOs and government organizations plan for human recovery, with attention to developing timelines, memoranda of understanding, and decision trees for involvement at particular phases may be very useful. This guidance document could accompany the ESF information but maintain flexibility for local leaders to craft their own human recovery responsibility map. Many models for case management and human recovery emerged during the post-Katrina period. Several demonstration programs, such as the Community-Based Service Network in New Orleans and the Human Services Response Institute in Lake Charles, focused on strategies to coordinate the case management process at the local level across agencies, funding sources, and data collection platforms. The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps has developed a holistic approach to human recovery using a case management model that combines traditional human services with direct assistance to provide bridge support for households affected by disaster (Sizer and Evans, 2009). This model provides both the direct services and financial supports needed to promote human recovery. However, until there is stronger empirical evidence about which models are most effective, it is difficult to identify the core elements of human recovery and how government entities can best engage NGOs in any long-term case management efforts. Third, participants cited a lack of support for long-term case management services. These services entail a "a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, care coordination, evaluation, and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual's and family's comprehensive health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes" in the short and long terms (Case Management Society of America, undated, p. 7). In the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, local leaders struggled with how NGOs should provide case management services, which entities should fund those efforts and for how long, and how the various agencies involved in human services should coordinate their activities. Further, there is no commonly accepted technological or computerbased operating platform through which NGOs and government entities can systematically collect and manage data on constituents. For example, FEMA and the American Red Cross encouraged the use of Coordinated Assistance Network software for data collection and client tracking. In Louisiana, many nonprofit providers were using other systems and were reluctant to adopt a new data system. The lack of a common reporting system resulted in complications and duplication of effort in client tracking. As a result, some constituents experienced long delays in securing supports (e.g., health, housing, economic assistance, employment) to transition successfully through recovery, or those supports "ran out" before recovery was achieved. There is unnecessary duplication of services and missed opportunities for greater efficiency when NGOs are unable to communicate about common clients. Potential Action #1: Develop a Recovery-Specific Service System and Operating Plan to Guide Long-Term Human Recovery Based on the concerns articulated by NGO leaders, there is a need for clearer federal guidance or templates outlining how NGOs should be involved in the plans for human recovery via ESF-6 and ESF-14 and supported by the Stafford Act (see Challenge #2). There is also a need to understand when the transfer of responsibility between government and nongovernmental entities should occur and to describe the funding and accountability plans for these efforts. While guidance should allow for local variation regarding how agencies organize their responses, the lack of an operating framework mires NGOs in unnecessary bureaucratic challenges to deliver services. Although the purpose of NIMS, as previously mentioned, is to provide seamless support to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, NGOs continue to face difficulties in implementing ESF-6 and ESF-14 effectively. There are also challenges in securing the needed support through the Stafford Act. A recovery-specific NIMS could offer detailed parameters on how government and NGOs should coordinate recovery services and how those activities would be structured and financed. A recovery-specific NIMS may include a defined model that operationalizes the phases of recovery; identifies target capabilities, key roles, and responsibilities for each phase; allows for coordination between phases; and provides fiscal support structures in the short and long term. Challenge #2: The Stafford Act Does Not Sufficiently Support Human Recovery Recent catastrophic events, such as the September 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, have shown that the federal regulations and policies included in the Stafford Act are designed to meet the needs presented by smaller-scale disasters. However, these regulations can become roadblocks that hamper both the initial response and long-term human recovery in large-scale disasters. NGO leaders in Louisiana indicated that this legislation has not sufficiently supported human recovery from Hurricane Katrina. This section describes the specific challenges and related recommendations for improving the Stafford Act, particularly in terms of NGO roles. Challenge #2.1: The Stafford Act Does Not Explicitly Identify Case Management and Services Provided by NGOs as Eligible Expenses Louisiana NGO leaders noted that many of the critical human recovery services (e.g., mental and physical health care, employment and housing assistance) provided by NGOs during Hurricane Katrina were not eligible for reimbursement under the Stafford Act. Louisiana NGOs were concerned when FEMA interpreted case management as the coordination—not the provision—of needed direct services. The state of Louisiana received significant federal funds that could be used only for short-term, nontherapeutic services and not for case management or counseling. Case management, as defined by the Stafford Act, is for "services, to victims of major disasters to identify and address unmet needs" (42 U.S.C. 5189d § 426, Case Management Services). Potential Action #2.1: Expand the Eligibility Requirements to Include Services and Case Management Provided by NGOs Expanding the definition of case management to include direct services may help address current and future needs by ensuring their consistent coverage. The Stafford Act could also include provisions for an NGO capacity assessment for human services, directions for state and local governments to integrate NGOs into planning and service delivery, and guidance for how to publicly fund the designated services. Challenge #2.2: The Stafford Act Requires States Affected by Multiple Incidents to Come Up with Matching Funds, Which Often Stifles Human Recovery The Stafford Act–based system relies too heavily on reimbursements, in which disaster-affected communities must first apply for funds to repair or rebuild and then incur the costs, receiving reimbursement from FEMA at a later time. States devastated by disaster must come up with matching funds. For a state affected by an isolated event, this may be possible. However, for states like Louisiana, devastated both structurally and economically by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and then suffering additional wide-scale damage from hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the requirement to pay a 10-percent or greater match is unrealistic and can stifle recovery. Potential Action #2.2: Amend the Stafford Act to Include a Dedicated, Streamlined Process for Resource Allocation, and Consider Decreasing or Eliminating Matching Fund Requirements in Certain Catastrophes A more efficient and appropriate resource allocation process is needed during catastrophic events, particularly for support of critical health infrastructure. For example, FEMA could use a format similar to a block grant to distribute funds directly to state and local governments following a catastrophe. This will give state and local governments flexibility in using the money and help reduce the federal burden associated with administering assistance. During a catastrophic incident, FEMA could also consider opportunities for decreasing match requirements or giving the state a 100-percent federal cost share. This amendment may afford NGOs more accessible funding to support their roles in recovery efforts. Challenge #2.3: The Stafford Act Penalizes Communities for Smarter Rebuilding in the Long-Term Recovery Phase Structural vulnerabilities become apparent when large-scale disasters occur. Therefore, rebuilding a similar infrastructure in the same place may be a poor decision that perpetuates vulnerabilities or economic and social inequities that existed prior to the disaster. Further, persistent inequities can entrench the challenges that make human recovery difficult. For example, the current public assistance program penalizes jurisdictions by as much as 40 percent of the predisaster value if they rebuild their infrastructure differently rather than simply replacing it—for example, by rebuilding in a more secure location. This penalty occurs because recovery assistance is interpreted to mean returning a community to its predisaster condition rather than improving it. For NGOs, this makes recovery planning difficult because there are limited supports for thinking innovatively about community strengthening (combining both infrastructure and human recovery principles) rather than simply offering the assistance to return constituents to status quo ante conditions. Potential Action #2.3: The Stafford Act Could Incentivize Rebuilding That Creates a Stronger and More Secure Education, Social Service, and Health Care Infrastructure Instead of penalizing communities, the act could help communities build a stronger infrastructure, particularly in places with infrastructure that was already insecure or failing. One way to encourage "smarter" investment may be to relax the strict requirements that the measures funded must be directly tied to a damaged element, and to reduce or eliminate the associated penalties. Alternatively, eligibility could be determined using a more flexible standard that represents an investment to strengthen the community and build resilience. For example, NGOs could receive support to enhance the general mental health of their constituents before the next event or to ensure that their members have access to preventive health care. Challenge #3: The Scope, Scale, and Sustainability of Response and Recovery Efforts Have Been Insufficient During a disaster, both human and material resources need to be mobilized quickly. As evidenced by the critical gaps in services during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, government agencies do not have the resources and are not able to quickly achieve the scope and scale needed to deal with large-scale disasters. While local NGOs helped fill these critical service gaps, NGOs reported that they have faced long delays or have been denied reimbursement, making it difficult to sustain recovery efforts. Potential Action #3: Establish Preexisting Contracts with NGOs to Be Activated Quickly During an Emergency During a disaster, both human and material resources need to be mobilized quickly. The responses to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, and Gustav further demonstrated that local organizations are well positioned to act quickly and often are the initial responders to a disaster. Staff and volunteers associated with local NGOs were involved immediately with response activities, such as evacuation and basic needs assistance, but they faced difficulties in meeting these constituent needs over the long term due to financing and poor coordination. Currently, the Stafford Act allows the state to contract with companies for services such as debris removal prior to an event. Other than the American Red Cross for some shelter services, there is no provision to allow the government to contract with NGOs for services related to human recovery. Established contracts between the federal government and local NGOs are one possible mechanism for pre-positioning needed resources. Having these contracts in place could encourage a more efficient, timely, and coordinated local response. Many of the NGOs in Louisiana belong to the national or Louisiana State Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), a coalition of nonprofit organizations that respond to disasters as part of their overall mission. In lieu of preparing individual organizational contracts, the federal government could consider contracting with the national or state VOAD for nongovernmental support or with some of the umbrella nonprofit organizations in Louisiana, such as the Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross, the Catholic Charities, the Louisiana Association of United Ways, the Louisiana Food Bank Association, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, or the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps. Directions for Future Research The discussion with leaders in Louisiana highlighted NGOs' anticipated roles in disaster recovery yet underscored a persistent lack of clarity in how the federal and state governments define NGOs' roles in long-term recovery. Specifically, more investigation is warranted to define NGOs' roles during recovery and to outline how government can better support NGOs in human recovery efforts. Further, while not explicitly raised in discussions beyond prepositioned contracts, the larger issue of how to calculate the appropriate funding level for each NGO recovery role is a critical next step. There is a limited evidence base with respect to longterm recovery, and therefore any efforts to increase the involvement of NGOs in response and recovery planning and to improve government-NGO and NGO-NGO coordination must be accompanied by a strong research component. We identified a need for additional data and analysis in five areas. Research Area #1: Conduct Additional Analysis of What Human Recovery Entails and How Policies at the Federal, State, and Local Levels Can Best Engage NGOs Work in this area could include more research on the best mechanisms for government to engage and maintain NGO involvement, specific planning for NGO roles in long-term recovery, and evaluation of which NGO roles and plans may yield the most benefit. In particular, research is needed to identify the key components of human recovery, the most effective and efficient models for human recovery, and the best strategies to marshal resources in advance for NGO readiness to support these components. In addition, there is little consensus on the NGO benchmarks for successful recovery or when community restoration is achieved, specifically in the context of ongoing and multiple emergencies. Research Area #2: Examine Instances When Responsibility May Shift Between Government and NGOs in Recovery Efforts NGO leaders shared that the timing of the "responsibility handoff" between government and NGO involvement in recovery remained unclear. Therefore, there is value in examining government-NGO coordination in response efforts. We know that there are many challenges to incorporating NGOs in response and recovery activities, including cross-sector collaboration issues, varying management structures between government and NGOs, and differences in missions. Despite the benefits and sustainability of NGO involvement in providing health and related social services after an event, there is no standard for how NGOs are incorporated into government plans. Further, there is no universal guidance or timetable for how NGOs should assume roles and responsibilities for providing citizen services, particularly when government presence necessarily recedes. An analysis of best or promising practices for this coordination is important. Research Area #3: Determine the Costs Associated with Human Recovery Given the discussion about preestablished contracts and other supports for recovery, an analysis of financing for human recovery is merited. We do not have an established algorithm for calculating the resources needed for human recovery. We also do not have a sense of the elements for that algorithm, such as a per-person accounting of the resources needed for housing, health, and other social services. While the total amount will vary based on the nature and extent of a disaster, an investigation of resource allocation and the relative percentage needed for NGOs in the recovery phase would be beneficial for preparedness planning. For example, many NGOs assist in providing case management services during long-term recovery; however, there is minimal information on how to fund those services appropriately. When developing new or revising existing models or algorithms that estimate the length of disaster or financial support needed, it would be useful to disentangle infrastructure and human recovery to ensure that adequate time and cost estimates are developed. Research Area #4: Consider Such Issues as Cost Savings and Return on Investment Related to NGO Involvement in Recovery In addition to developing a recovery algorithm, understanding the efficiencies associated with NGO leadership in recovery is worth exploration. First, does NGO leadership in providing services to support human recovery result in cost savings? A cost-saving analysis would focus on the funding that may be saved by government if NGOs, rather than federal or state government, are conducting the programs. Second, how much spending by NGOs is needed to realize a given outcome level (e.g., moving families to permanent housing)? Cost-effectiveness analysis is needed to address this question. Third, how long are federal- or state-supported investments in NGO activities needed in the recovery phase to restore communities? This analysis could also identify what other investments (e.g., private sector) can be leveraged and at what point during recovery. Research Area #5: Assess the Response Reliability of Specific NGO Engagement In addition to answering these broad questions about the NGO "return on investment," we need to identify a standard set of criteria to determine which NGOs are best positioned to lead response or recovery efforts, to use government dollars effectively, and to handle surge in the event of a major disaster. Building these characteristics into a funding accountability or monitoring system will help ensure that federal, state, and local dollars are invested in NGOs with the greatest likelihood of success. The concept of response reliability, in which there is an assessment of a system's response capabilities, resources, and the factors that shape how well it would respond in an event, could be used to assess how well the current constellation of NGOs in a community would handle a disaster response (Jackson, 2008). In many cases, NGOs are working at cross-purposes or independently without coordination. By conducting a response reliability analysis prior to an event, policymakers could identify how well organizations can assist in a long-term recovery effort, given certain event conditions and accounting for response fatigue. 2 This analysis could also identify what supports are needed to reduce the burden along the recovery continuum (i.e., When do organizations "give out"?). Conclusions As renewed attention is focused on the resilience of communities to withstand the next major disaster, it is critical to address the challenges faced by NGOs in supporting recovery. It is clear that NGO-government coordination is not adequate, and while there is greater acknowledgment that NGOs are essential to emergency preparedness, there are still many unanswered questions. These include how to formalize and operationalize NGO roles and responsibilities, which NGO activities could be financed and how, and which NGO should lead efforts in a community. Moreover, articulating NGO roles in human recovery requires early planning, and this planning may have collateral benefits in enhancing the resilience of a community to withstand a disaster. Although this paper describes lessons learned from NGO experiences in Louisiana, we believe that these lessons are generalizable to other communities, particularly those affected by multiple incidents. However, an important next step is to continue this pro- 2 Response fatigue is a loss of effectiveness displayed by an organization that has been leading some effort for an extended period, because the will to be in charge of a response or recovery effort can wane. cess of describing lessons learned from other communities in the Gulf States region and around the world. This effort would enhance the evidence base and strengthen the system of support for long-term human recovery. Participating Organizations Local Nongovernmental and Community Agencies American Red Cross, Southeast Louisiana Chapter Bayou Interface Shared Community Organizing Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans Beacon of Hope Resource Center Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans Capital Area United Way Coliseum Square Association Consultant for Nonprofits Community Center of St. Bernard ERACE Family Service of Greater Baton Rouge EWIHC Consulting, LLC Family Services of Greater New Orleans Greater Light Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership Kingsley House Kingdom Works, Inc. Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans New Orleans Legal Assistance Metropolitan Human Services District Phoenix of New Orleans and the New Orleans Neighborhoods Partnership Network Responsibility House Rebuilding Together New Orleans Revitalization Social Aid and Pleasure Club Stay Local! and The Urban Conservancy Sovereign Grace Homeland Missions The Beautiful Foundation The Presbytery of South Louisiana The First Three Years United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area Youth Rescue Initiative United Way of Acadiana State Nongovernmental and Community Agencies 232-HELP/211 Coordinated Assistance Network American Red Cross Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and Disaster Response, Inc. Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations Louisiana Family Recovery Corps Louisiana Public Health Institute Louisiana Interfaith Disaster Recovery Network Louisiana State University Louisiana Association of United Ways Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Private Businesses ASI Federal Credit Union References Abramson, David, Richard Garfield, and Irwin Redlener, The Recovery Divide: Poverty and the Widening Gap Among Mississippi Children and Families Affected by Hurricane Katrina, New York: National Center for Disaster Preparedness and The Children's Health Fund, 2007. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.ncdp.mailman.columbia.edu/files/recovery_divide.pdf Alfred, Dana, Displaced Louisianans: Where Did They Go and Are They Coming Back? New Orleans: Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, August 7, 2007. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.recoverycorps.org/media/files/WhereDidTheyGo.pdf Bea, Keith, Federal Stafford Act Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations, Eligible Activities, and Funding, Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, RL33053, September 25, 2005. As of September 9, 2009: http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/permalink/meta-crs-7528:1 Beacon of Hope Resource Center, homepage, undated. As of August 11, 2009: http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/ Case Management Society of America, Standards of Practice for Case Management, draft 2010 ed., Little Rock, Ark., undated. As of September 8, 2009: http://www.cmsa.org/portals/0/pdf/publiccomment/SOP_DRAFT.pdf Cutter, Susan L., Christopher T. Emrich, Jerry T. Mitchell, Bryan J. Boruff, Melanie Gall, Mathew C. Schmidtlein, Christopher G. Burton, and Ginni Melton, "The Long Road Home: Race, Class, and Recovery from Hurricane Katrina," Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, Vol. 48, No. 2, March 2006, pp. 8–20. Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln, "Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research," in Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds., Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd ed., London: Sage 2000, pp. 1–28. Federal Emergency Management Agency, "About the National Incident Management System," Web page, undated. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/AboutNIMS.shtm FEMA—see Federal Emergency Management Agency. Homeland Security Initiative, Heralding Unheard Voices: The Role of Faith-Based Organizations and Nongovernmental Organizations During Disasters, Arlington, Va., 2006. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.homelandsecurity.org/hsireports/Herald_Unheard_Voices.pdf Jackson, Brian A., The Problem of Measuring Emergency Preparedness: The Need for Assessing "Response Reliability" as Part of Homeland Security Planning, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, OP-234-RC, 2008. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP234/ Kaniasty, Krzysztof, and Fran H. Norris, "A Test of the Social Support Deterioration Model in the Context of Natural Disaster," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 64, No. 3, March 1993, pp. 395–408. Kates, Robert W., and David Pijawka, "From Rubble to Monument: The Pace of Reconstruction," in J. Eugene Haas, Robert W. Kates, and Martyn J. Bowden, eds., Reconstruction Following Disaster, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977, pp. 1–23. Kessler, R., S. Galea, M. Gruber, N. Sampson, R. Ursano, and S. Wessely, "Trends in Mental Illness and Suicidality After Hurricane Katrina," Molecular Psychiatry, Vol. 13, No. 4, April 2008, pp. 374–384. Lincoln, Yvonna S., and Egon G. Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry, New York: Sage, 1985. Norris, Fran H., Susan P. Stevens, Betty Pfefferbaum, Karen F. Wyche, and Rose L. Pfefferbaum, "Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness," American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 41, No. 1–2, March 2008, pp. 127–150. Public Entity Risk Institute, Holistic Disaster Recovery: Ideas for Building Local Sustainability After a Natural Disaster, Fairfax, Va., 2006. Sizer, Monteic A., and Stephen Evans, Roadmap to a More Holistic Recovery: Recommendations for Effective Policy to Enhance Human Recovery in the Wake of Disasters, New Orleans: Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, February 2009. As of September 9, 2009: http://www.recoverycorps.org/pressreleases/090225-roadmap.php St. Bernard Project, homepage, undated. As of August 11, 2009: http://www.stbernardproject.org/ Telford, John, Margaret Arnold, and Alberto Harth, Learning Lessons from Disaster Recovery: The Case of Honduras, Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2004. As of September 9, 2009: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDISMGMT/Resources/honduras_wps.pdf U.S. Code, Title 42, Sections 5121–5207 and Related Authorities, Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, November 23, 1988. Waugh, William L., Jr., "The Political Costs of Failure in the Katrina and Rita Disasters," Annals of the American Society of Political and Social Science, Vol. 604, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 10–25. Weisler, Richard H., James G. Barbee IV, and Mark H. Townsend, "Mental Health and Recovery in the Gulf Coast After Hurricanes Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 296, No. 5, August 2, 2006, pp. 585–588.
Installation Instructions (Applicable to ALEX series PV modules) Website：http://alexussolar.com Tel： +1 480 866 8186 Add: 8350 S Kyrene Rd, Suite C108, Tempe AZ Revision date: July 25, 2023 Content Attached list..................................................................................................................... 14 1. Overview This manual contains information on the installation, maintenance, and safe operation of PV modules produced by the Alex Renewable Energy Inc. Read and try to understand this note before installation. Professional installers are required to follow the instructions in the manual when installing the modules. If there is any problem, please contact our sales department for help. Before installing solar PV system, the installers need to familiarize with the requirements of mechanical and electrical aspects. Please keep this manual for later use. Artificially concentrated sunlight shall not be directed on the module. The module is considered to be in compliance with this standard only when the module is mounted in the manner specified by the mounting instructions. A module with exposed conductive parts is considered to be in compliance with this standard only when it is electrically grounded in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and the requirements of the National Electrical Code, ANSI/NFPA 70. 2. Disclaimer Notices The installation, operation and use of ALEX series modules are beyond ALEX's control. Thereby, ALEX does not undertake any loss, damage, injury and consequent costs caused by improper installation, operation, use and maintenance. ALEX does not undertake any responsibilities for the violation of patent, thirdparty rights and other uses of PV products. Any modification towards any patent or patent right is not allowable if there is no authorization. This manual is made based on ALEX's technology and reliable experience, but the information and recommendations including product specifications do not constitute any warranty. ALEX keeps the rights of changing manuals, product information, technical specifications and product data without prior notice. Nameplate: describes the Module Type, Rated Maximum Power, Tolerance, rated current, rated voltage, open circuit voltage, short circuit current. The maximum system voltage is 1000 or 1500 Vdc is shown on the nameplate. Maximum overcurrent protection rating is also shown. 3. Safety Precautions The installation of solar photovoltaic systems requires professional skills and knowledge, thus the installation must be carried out by professionals. In the process of installation, the installers assume the risk of injuries, including but not limited to the risk of electric shock. When exposed to direct sunlight, a single module may produce more than 30V DC voltage. The exposure with 30V or higher DC voltage has potential risks. The electric arcs may occur when disconnecting or linking the photovoltaic modules exposed to the sunlight. This arc may cause burns, a fire or other problems. Do not disconnect the linking between the modules or between the modules and inverters in case of the load. The photovoltaic modules could convert the power energy into DC power. The modules could be applied for the ground, roofs, vehicles or boat and other outdoor environment. It is system designer and installers' responsibility to reasonably design the support structure. Do not disassemble the modules or remove other attached brands or parts. Do not spray or glue on the upper and lower surfaces of the modules. Do not use the mirror or other magnifying glass equipment to concentrate the sunlight artificially to the modules. It needs to comply with all the local, regional and national laws and obtain a construction permit when necessary in the process of installing the system. It needs to keep the children away from the system when transporting and installing mechanical and electrical components. During installation, it is necessary to completely block the modules with opaque materials so as not to generate voltages that exceed the safety range of the human body which may cause electric shock. Do not wear metal rings, watch straps, ear, nose, lip rings or other metal parts when installing or inspecting the photovoltaic system. The qualified insulating tools are the only choice for the electrical installation work. Comply with the safety requirements of all other modules used in the system, including wiring lines and cables, connection devices, charging controllers, inverters, batteries and rechargeable batteries. Use the equipment suitable for solar power system, connection device, wiring lines and support frame only. In a particular photovoltaic system, use a type of module as much as possible and use the same type of the module in the same PV array only. Each input voltage of the same tracking system of each inverter must be equal and the same type of modules must be used. Refer to Section 690-8 of the National Electric Code for an additional multiplying factor of 1.25 which may be applicable. Rated electrical characteristics are within 3 percent of open-circuit voltage and maximum power, 4 percent of short-circuit current, respectively. Measured values are at Standard Test Conditions: 1000 W/m 2 , 25°C cell temperature and solar spectral irradiance. Under normal outdoor conditions, the current and voltage generated by the module are different from those listed in the parameter table. The parameter table is measured under the standard test conditions (1000w/m 2 irradiance, AM 1.5 spectrum, 25°c temperature), so when determining other modules' rated voltage, conductor capacity, fuse capacity, controller capacity and other parameters correlated to module output power, it should refer to the value of short-circuit current and open circuit voltage marked on the module and design and install the module according to the value of 125%. The modules should be used in the ambient temperature ( -40 ~+85 ) area where the component is applicable. PV wiring connectors that comply with the Standard for Connectors for Use in Photovoltaic Systems, UL 6703. Details for wiring in accordance with the NEC, and that the grounding method of the frame of arrays shall comply with the NEC, article 250. Photovoltaic Systems, UL 6703, shall have the specific allowable mating connector manufacturer(s) and model number(s) listed as below: \| RHC2xyzC \| RHC2xyzC \| Zhejiang RENHE PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD \| 1500V \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| PV-KBT4-EVO 2/6I-UR \| PV-KST4-EVO 2/6I-UR \| STAUBLI ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS AG \| 1500V \| \| PV-TT02 \| PV-TT02 \| TAIZHOU CHUANGDA ELECTRONIC CO., LTD \| 1500V \| 4. Unpacking and Storage When receiving the goods, you should check whether the goods delivered are indeed ordered goods: the outside of each box are marked with the product name, packaging box number, module barcode. The packaging carton should be stored in a clean, dry area, away from direct sunlight and moisture. At the installation site, pay attention to keep clean and dry for the components, especially the electrical connections. If the connector cable is wet, the connections may be corroded, and the components that be corroded at any connections should not be used. If the tray is temporarily stored outside, please put a protective cover to prevent it from being directly affected by the weather. Two staff members are required to unpack the packaging carton. Be sure to use both hands when removing the modules. Do not carry the modules through the wires and junction boxes. If the modules needed to be temporarily stored outside, please protect the edge of the module well. It is forbidden to stand or walk on modules in any case. It is forbidden to drop or stack items on the modules. 5. Environment Conditions The modules can be installed in the following environment for more than 25 years ℃ Ambient temperature： -40℃ to +85℃ Operating Temperature： -40℃to +85 Storage Temperature： -40℃ to +40℃ Humidity 85% R.H. Mechanical design load strength: 3600Pa positive snow pressure, 1600Pa back wind pressure. The installation method is very important for the mechanical load. Failure to follow the installation of this manual will result in different snow pressure and wind pressure load capacity. The system builder needs to ensure that the installation is in accordance with local laws and regulations. 6. Mechanical Installation 6.1 Site Selection In north latitude area it is best to face south for the module, while in south latitude area, it is best to face north. It is best that the front of the module is perpendicular to the direction of the midday sun light. Fix bracket installation, the module is recommended to be installed at an optimum angle of inclination for maximum capture of sunlight. According to the right hand helical law, basically the same latitude as the installation site, facing the equator. The design must be based on local conditions and choose the best inclination. Track bracket installation, installation methods are also two kinds of block and bolt installation, specific installation methods refer to the installation instructions, at this time the module does not have a fixed installation inclination, nor will it face the equator, but the angle of tracking the sun from east to west. When installing solar modules on the roof, be sure to maintain a safe working area between the edge of the roof and the solar arrays. There must be a certain safety distance between arrays of large power stations in order to facilitate the cleaning, inspection, and maintenance of the modules inside the array. The modules should be installed in the place where the sunlight can be fully irradiated and ensure that it can't be blocked at any time. The modules can't be used in the vicinity of the equipment or place where the flammable gas is generated or stored. The modules can't be installed in the environmental area where module defects are caused by various chemical reactions, such as acid rain, alkaline gas, salt mist, etc. The modules can't be installed in the environmental area that exceeds the maximum system voltage of the modules, such as high-voltage power lines. The module's position should be maintained at a safe distance from the high-voltage power while the safe distance is determined by the high voltage level. If the modules are to be installed on the floor of a dwelling, local regulations such as fences should be complied with (the fences should be kept at a certain distance from the array to avoid shading impact of the fence on the array). Do not install the PV modules in places that may be immersed in water or continuously exposed to sprinklers or fountains. 6.2 Mounting Bracket Options When installing the modules on the bracket, the pillar and module installation structure should be chosen those can withstand the local expected earthquake level. The bracket structure must be made of a durable, anti-corrosion, anti-ultraviolet materials. 6.3 Module Installation When carrying the modules, two hands are required to grasp the modules and keep a level of stability. It is forbidden to shake severely, carry the module by one person, drag the module, pull the connecting lines of junction box and handle two and more modules. Place the modules on a flat ground, place the cardboard in the bottom and the glass surface is forbidden to directly touch the ground. When the module is placed on the ground, it is forbidden to stack debris, step on, sit down and have other actions that may cause deformation for the module. Do not step on the module during installation. Do not drag the module on the bracket. When the modules are installed on buildings or roofs, it needs to ensure that they are securely fastened and will not be damaged by strong wind or snow. Ensure that the back of the modules good ventilation for cooling the modules. When installing the modules on the roofs, make sure the roof structure is suitable. In addition, the roofs must be properly sealed to prevent leakage. The gap between the module frame and the wall or roof should be at least 115mm. If there are other installation methods, it may affect the assessment of fire rating. The spacing between two modules should be at least 10mm. The installation can't block the module' drain hole. 6.4 The design, installation, mechanical load and safety of module system must be completed by professional system installers or experienced personnel. 6.4.1 Fixture installation Material: Anodized aluminum AL6063-T5 or equivalent \| Short clamp (Used for two mounting rails) \| a: Long (mm) \| b: Width (mm) \| c: high (mm) \| d: Thickness (mm) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| End Clamp For 35mm \| 80 \| 37 \| 38 \| 3 \| \| End Clamp For 30mm \| 80 \| 37 \| 33 \| 3 \| \| Middle Clamp For all size \| 80 \| 40 \| 25 \| 3 \| Cautions Please select the appropriate fixture for installation according to the module with / without aluminum alloy frame Module with frame fixtures meet the following requirements thickness ≥ 3 mm Length: 80 mm Material: Aluminum alloy Bolts: M8 Tightening torque: 16-20 N.m The fixture can't deform the module; the installation guide rail and fixture should avoid blocking the cells; the contact surface between the fixture and the frame must be smooth to prevent the frame damage from damaging the modules; the drainage hole should not be blocked by the fixture. The higher load design is suitable for harsh environmental conditions (such as storm, heavy snow, etc.): the maximum load on the back of the module is 1600 pa (equivalent to wind pressure), and the maximum load on the front is 3600 pa (equivalent to wind pressure and snow pressure). Different load bearing can be obtained by selecting different fixture quantity, size and installation range. 6.5.1 Fixture Installation Position Module with frame: The load strength of module with frame is shown in the table below (L is the length of the module) Method – clamp mounting - Four mounting clamps are fixed onto the long frames of the module (two clamps on each side) in the permitted clamping distance as Figure C, a set of M8 screw and nut was used to tighten the clamp down to the frame with a torque of 16~20 Nm: 9 Figure C: Installation methods of clamps on long sides \| Drawin g \| Type \| Number of fixtures \| Fixture Length \| A Clamping A distance \| Positive load \| Negative load \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| C \| ALL \| 4 \| 80mm \| L/4 mm \| 3600pa \| 1600pa \| 7. Electrical Installation 7.1 Grounding Connection The modules need to be grounded, although it has been confirmed that the module meets the security level II and it meets local electrical directives and regulations. The grounding connection operation should be carried out by qualified electrician. Use the suitable grounding wire to connect the modules' frame to each other and it is recommended to use the 4 mm² copper conductor (AWG 12) as the grounding conductor. The grounding hole of the module uses grounding identification. All conductive connection points must be securely connected. Stainless steel material shall be used for bolts, nuts, washers, lock washers or other related parts unless otherwise specified. The following grounding method is recommended. In accordance with the above diagram, the copper conductor is connected to the grounding hole of the module frame through grounding parts (M4 stainless steel Hex bolts, M4 stainless steel nut, M4 stainless steel Spring washer, M4 stainless steel Flat washer, M4 stainless steel Star washer) Torque wrenches may be used during installation. 7.2 Test, Debugging and Troubleshooting The serial modules are connected to the test before the system. Use digital multimeter (recommended Fluke 170 series or digital multimeter which DC range can reach 1000V) to check open-circuit voltage of the series modules. The measurement value should be equal to the sum of the open-circuit voltage of a single module and you will find the rated voltage in the technical specification of the type module you are using. Low voltage troubleshooting. Identify the normal low voltage and fault low voltage. The normal low voltage mentioned here refers to the decrease of the open circuit voltage of the module caused by the temperature increase of the solar cell or the decrease of the irradiance. Fault Low voltage is usually caused by improper terminal connection or bypass diode damage. 7.3 Blocking Diode and Bypass Diode Troubleshooting Blocking diodes could prevent current from flowing from the battery to the module when the module is not generating current. If you do not use the charge controller, it is recommended to use blocking diodes. About charge controller, please consult a professional dealer. In the system, hot spot effect occurs when part of the module is blocked and other parts are exposed to the sunshine and thereby lead to overheat of the battery and damage the module. Using bypass diodes in the module protects the module from being affected by this excessive reverse current. All modules those rated power are more than 55 watts have a bypass diode integrated in the junction box. Bypass Diode Model: Type FMK5040D, by Zhejiang Renhe Photovoltaic TechnologyCo., Ltd., Peak reverse voltage 50V, Average rectifier current 40A. And Type MK6045, TAIZHOU CHUANGDA ELECTRONIC CO., LTD., rated 45 V, 60 A. 7.4 On-grid Electrical System The maximum voltage of the system must be less than the maximum certified voltage (1500V typically) and the maximum input voltage of the inverter and of the other electrical devices installed in the system. To ensure that this is the case, the open circuit voltage of the array string needs to be calculated at the lowest expected ambient temperature for the location. This can be done using the following formula. System voltage N×Voc (at STC) × 1 TCvoc× T-25 Notes: N: Number of modules in series Voc (at STC): Open circuit voltage of each module TCvoc: Thermal coefficient of open circuit voltage for the module (refer to data sheet) T: Minimum ambient temperature For field connections, use at least 4 mm 2 or 12 AWG copper wires insulated for a minimum of 90 O C and sunlight resistance with insulation designated as PV Wire. The minimum bending radius cables should be 43 mm. Thirty modules in series, and then form a PV array in parallel, which is particularly suitable for high voltage situations. If the modules are connected in series, the total voltage is equal to the sum of the voltages of the individual modules. In the case of using high current, you can't put one PV module in parallel for modules. The module can provide prefabricated connectors for system's electrical connections. As for cable size, type and temperature and other parameters' choice, please refer to the relevant rules. The cable cross-section surface and connector's size must meet the maximum system short-circuit current, otherwise the cables and connectors will overheat because of excessive current and has the danger of burning! When installing, the junction box's one end to be upward to avoid being rained. Protect yourself from electric shock when debugging or repairing the solar system. Wear protective gloves and insulated shoes and other protective equipment. Use special electrician tools for repairs. 8. Maintenance To ensure the best performance of the solar panels, ALEX provide the following maintenance measures. The solar panel should be cleaned in the morning or evening when the power is low or no power is processing. Cleaning the glass surface when necessary through clean water and soft objects. The neutral detergent should be used for cleaning while the acidic or alkaline or abrasive detergent is forbidden. For large-scale systems, when considering whether all of the dust and deposits on the solar cell array should be cleaned or not, factors such as cleaning costs, increased energy output after cleaning, and the time it takes to get dirty again after cleaning need to be taken into consideration. If you are not sure whether the array or its sections need to be cleaned or not, you should firstly select the heavily polluted array string and then measure and record the inverter's input current from that string. 1) Clean all the modules within a string. 2) Measure the input current of the inverter again and calculate improvement percentage after the cleaning. 3) If the improvement degree is less than 5%, it is usually not worthy to pay the cost for cleaning. In case of rainy weather, do not deliver the electricity if the inverter or other electrical equipment is power off. It is better to check and ensure that there is no problem in the lines before sending the electricity. When cleaning, the solar panel can't be washed with a high-pressure water gun for avoiding line leakage caused by excessive pressure in the connection place of the solar panel. Conduct a mechanical and electrical inspection for every six months and ensure that the surface is clear and the connection is reliable. If any other abnormal situation occurs, please consult factory or experienced engineer. Observe the maintenance instructions for all parts used in the system, such as bracket, charge controller, inverter, solar cell, etc. 9. Attached list (1) All electrical data shall be shown as relative to standard test conditions (STC) (1000 W/m 2 , (25 ± 2) °C, AM 1.5 according to IEC 60904-3： \| Module \| \| Open- circuit voltage (with toleran ce±3%) [V]: \| Short- circuit current (with toleran ce±4%) [A]: \| Volta ge at max. power [V]: \| Current at max. power [A]: \| Maxim um power (with toleran ce±3%) [W]: \| Maxi mum syste m voltag e[V]: \| Over- current protectio n rating [A]: \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| ALEX-530-W-72-S ALEX-530-B-72-S \| \| 49.16 \| 13.72 \| 41.31 \| 12.58 \| 530 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-535-W-72-S ALEX-535-B-72-S \| \| 49.36 \| 13.77 \| 41.51 \| 12.89 \| 535 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-540-W-72-S ALEX-540-B-72-S \| \| 49.52 \| 13.84 \| 41.67 \| 12.96 \| 540 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-545-W-72-S ALEX-545-B-72-S \| \| 49.68 \| 13.91 \| 41.83 \| 13.03 \| 545 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-550-W-72-S ALEX-550-B-72-S \| \| 49.84 \| 13.98 \| 41.99 \| 13.1 \| 550 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| A \| LEX-555-W-72-S ALEX-555-B-72-S \| 50 \| 14.05 \| 42.15 \| 13.17 \| 555 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| A \| LEX-560-W-72-S ALEX-560-B-72-S \| 50.16 \| 14.12 \| 42.31 \| 13.24 \| 560 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-445-W-60-S ALEX-445-B-60-S \| \| 41.15 \| 13.71 \| 34.5 \| 12.9 \| 445 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-450-W-60-S ALEX-450-B-60-S \| \| 41.24 \| 13.8 \| 34.67 \| 12.98 \| 450 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-455-W-60-S ALEX-455-B-60-S \| \| 41.33 \| 13.89 \| 34.84 \| 13.06 \| 455 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| A \| LEX-460-W-60-S ALEX-460-B-60-S \| 41.42 \| 13.98 \| 35.01 \| 13.14 \| 460.03 14 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| A \| LEX-465-W-60-S ALEX-465-B-60-S \| 41.51 \| 14.07 \| 35.18 \| 13.22 \| 465.07 96 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| ALEX-400-W-54-S ALEX-400-B-54-S \| \| 37.21 \| 13.67 \| 31.18 \| 12.58 \| 400 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-405-W-54-S ALEX-405-B-54-S \| \| 37.38 \| 13.76 \| 31.35 \| 12.92 \| 405 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-410-W-54-S ALEX-410-B-54-S \| \| 37.55 \| 13.85 \| 31.52 \| 13.01 \| 410 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| A \| LEX-415-W-54-S ALEX-415-B-54-S \| 37.72 \| 13.94 \| 31.69 \| 13.1 \| 415 \| 1500 \| 25 \| \| ALEX-640-W-66-S ALEX-640-B-66-S \| \| 45.25 \| 37.25 \| 18.19 \| 17.19 \| 640 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-645-W-66-S ALEX-645-B-66-S \| \| 45.45 \| 37.45 \| 18.23 \| 17.23 \| 645 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-650-W-66-S ALEX-650-B-66-S \| \| 45.65 \| 37.65 \| 18.27 \| 17.27 \| 650 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-655-W-66-S ALEX-655-B-66-S \| \| 45.85 \| 37.85 \| 18.31 \| 17.31 \| 655 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-660-W-66-S ALEX-660-B-66-S \| \| 46.05 \| 38.05 \| 18.35 \| 17.35 \| 660 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-665-W-66-S ALEX-665-B-66-S \| \| 46.25 \| 38.25 \| 18.39 \| 17.39 \| 665 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-670-W-66-S ALEX-670-B-66-S \| \| 46.45 \| 38.45 \| 18.43 \| 17.43 \| 670 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-585-W-60-S ALEX-585-B-60-S \| \| 40.9 \| 33.8 \| 18.37 \| 17.31 \| 585 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-590-W-60-S ALEX-590-B-60-S \| \| 41.1 \| 34 \| 18.42 \| 17.35 \| 590 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-595-W-60-S ALEX-595-B-60-S \| \| 41.3 \| 34.2 \| 18.47 \| 17.4 \| 595 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-600-W-60-S ALEX-600-B-60-S \| \| 41.5 \| 34.4 \| 18.52 \| 17.44 \| 600 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-605-W-60-S ALEX-605-B-60-S \| \| 41.7 \| 34.6 \| 18.57 \| 17.49 \| 605 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| ALEX-610-W-60-S ALEX-610-B-60-S \| \| 41.9 \| 34.8 \| 18.62 \| 17.53 \| 610 \| 1500 \| 30 \| \| Type Name or Model No. \| ALEX-xxx-W-72-S ALEX-xxx-B-72-S ALEX-xxx--W-60-S ALEX-xxx-B-60-S ALEX-xxx-W-54-S ALEX-xxx-B-54-S \| ALEX-xxx-W-66-S ALEX-xxx-B-66-S ALEX-xxx-W-60-S ALEX-xxx-B-60-S \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Cell series \| 182 Perc \| 210 Perc \| \| Protection Class \| Class Ⅱ \| Class Ⅱ \| \| Fire Performance \| Type 4 \| Type 4 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Temperature Coefficients (%/℃) \| Voc: -0.25 Isc: 0.040 Pm: -0.34 \| Voc: -0.25 Isc: 0.040 Pm: -0.34 \| (2) Module Fire Performance: Type 4 The System Fire Class Rating of the module or panel in a mounting system in combination with a roof covering complete with requirements to achieve the specified System Fire Class Rating for a non-BIPV module or panel. Any module or panel mounting system limitations on inclination required to maintain a specific System Fire Class Rating.
It's your choice! – Or is it really? Written by Anna Sagana, Melanie Sauerland and Harald Merckelbach in In-Mind Magazine, Issue 14, 2012 Keywords: change blindness, choice blindness, decision making, eyewitnesses For most of us it is difficult to imagine that we could decide to buy a v-neck sweater and end up with round-neck collar without even noticing the difference. If this happened in a wide variety of situations, it would mean that we are often not fully aware of the decisions we make. According to researchers studying a phenomenon called choice blindness, this is precisely the case. Numerous studies have shown that we often fail to detect changes in our decisions (e.g., which of two jams we prefer) when that choice is secretly changed. In the present article, we examine when and why this phenomenon occurs, as well its implications for various real-world settings. In the 1936 movie "Modern Times", Charlie Chaplin struggles to live in the fast-paced modern society. As we move from the industrial age to the information age, societal demands on our mental capabilities are no less taxing. We are constantly required to process a wide range of information to make decisions. Sometimes, these decisions are trivial, such as what marmalade to buy. At other times, the stakes are higher, such as deciding which symptoms to report to the doctor. However, the fact that we are accustomed to processing large amounts of information does not mean that we are better at it (Chabris & Simons, 2009). Our sensory and cognitive systems have systematic ways of failing of which we are often (perhaps blissfully) unaware of. In the present article, we discuss two such fallacies of human cognition: change blindness and choice blindness. We will first provide an overview of these phenomena and then focus on the theoretical and practical implications of choice blindness in a variety of settings. Enjoying a Walk and Being a Witness Imagine that you are taking a walk in your local city park when a tourist approaches you asking for directions. During the conversation, two men carrying a door pass between the two of you. If the person asking for directions had changed places with one of the persons carrying the door, would you notice? Research suggests that you might not. Harvard psychologists Simons and Levi (1998; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSxSQsspiQ ) conducted a hilarious field study using this exact setup and found that the change in identity went unnoticed by 7 (46.6%) of the 15 participants. This phenomenon has been termed change blindness and refers to the difficulty that observers have in noticing changes to visual scenes (e.g., the person swap), when the changes are accompanied by some other visual disturbance (e.g., the passing of the door). Over the past decade, the change blindness phenomenon has been replicated many times (Davis, Loftus, Vanous, & Cucciare, 2008; Levin, Simons, Angelone, & Chabris, 2002). Especially noteworthy is an experiment by Davies and Hine (2007) who studied whether change blindness affects eyewitness identification. Specifically, participants were presented with a video enactment of a burglary. In the video, a man entered a house, walking through the different rooms and putting valuables into a knapsack. However, the identity of the burglar changed after the first half of the film while the initial burglar was out of sight. Out of the 80 participants, 49 (61%) did not notice the change of the burglar's identity, suggesting that change blindness may have serious implications for criminal proceedings. To most of us, it seems bizarre that people could miss such obvious changes while they are paying active attention. However, to catch those changes, attention must be targeted to the changing feature. We either need to expect the change to happen or our attention needs to be guided towards the changing feature (Simons & Rensink, 2005; Williams & Simons, 2000). In the study described above, participants were likely not expecting the change to happen, and so their attention may have been focused on the valuables the burglar was collecting rather than the burglar. This also explains, for example, why, while watching Ocean's Eleven, you might not notice Brad Pitt's cocktail glass filled with shrimps changing into a plate after an angle change, and then back into a glass again, while he is talking to Matt Damon in the Botanical Gardens. Similar changes occur in the Godfather, where the front windshield breaks when Sonny gets shot but is intact again only seconds later, or in Titanic where the deck anchor changes in the famous scene of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet at the stern (retrieved from http://www.moviemistakes.com). Drawing from change blindness research, scientists have come to the conclusion that we perceive the world in much less detail than previously thought (Johansson, Hall, & Sikström, 2008). Rather than monitoring all of the visual details that surround us, we seem to focus our attention only on those features that are currently meaningful or important, ignoring those that are irrelevant to our current needs and goals (O'Regan & Noë, 2001). Thus at any given time, our representation of the world surrounding us is crude and incomplete, making it possible for changes or manipulations to go undetected (Chabris & Simons, 2010). From Change Blindness to Choice Blindness Given the difficulty people have in noticing changes to visual stimuli, one may wonder what would happen if these changes concerned the decisions people make. For example, imagine that you are sitting outdoors on a sunny spring day and hear that the person sitting next to you orders black coffee. The waiter comes back with a cappuccino. Do you think you would notice this? Drawing from the findings on change blindness, there is reason to believe that you would not. What, however, if it were you who ordered black coffee and ended up with a cappuccino? Obviously, there is a difference between passively observing the scene and being actively involved in decision making and ordering. In the latter case, it is your intentions and actions that are targeted. This should make a difference – shouldn't it? A group of Swedish researchers explored whether people may at times be blind to changes that involve not the visual scene, but their own intentions, actions, and introspections. To address this issue, Johansson, Hall, Sikström, and Olsson (2005) modified the change blindness paradigm to apply it to a decision making task. They showed participants pairs of female faces and asked them to choose which one they found more attractive. After a decision had been made, participants were presented with the selected face and were asked to explain their choice. However, in three out of 15 trials, their choice was manipulated and participants were shown the very face they had not chosen previously (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRqyw-EwgTk for a demonstration). Only 26% of the manipulated trials were detected, suggesting that people are often blind to manipulations of their choices. Johansson and colleagues (2008) termed this effect choice blindness. A critical reader may argue that participants might simply have refrained from revealing that they noticed the manipulation. However, the fact that many participants noticed one of the changes, but not the other two, suggests that this is not the case. To examine whether choice blindness also occurs in other situations, Hall and colleagues (2010) invited supermarket customers to sample two different kinds of jams and teas. After participants had tasted or smelled both samples, they indicated which one they preferred. Subsequently, they were purportedly given another sample of their preferred choice. On half of the trials however, these were samples of the non-chosen jam or tea (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPcl04Adh8). Again, only about onethird of the participants detected this manipulation. Based on these findings, Hall and colleagues (2010) proposed that choice blindness is a phenomenon that occurs not only for choices involving visual material, but also for choices involving gustatory and olfactory information. Recently, the phenomenon has also been replicated for choices involving auditory stimuli (Sauerland, Sagana, & Otgaar, 2012). Specifically, participants had to listen to three pairs of voices and decide for each pair which voice they found more sympathetic or more criminal. The voice was then presented again, however, the outcome was manipulated for the second voice pair and participants were presented with the non-chosen voice. Replicating the findings by Hall and colleagues, only 29% of the participants detected this change. Merckelbach, Jelicic, and Pieters (2011b, Experiment 2) investigated choice blindness for intensity ratings of one's own psychological symptoms. Their participants had to rate the frequency with which they experienced 90 common symptoms (e.g., anxiety, lack of concentration, stress, headaches etc.) on a 5-point Likert scale. Prior to a follow-up interview, the researchers inflated ratings for two symptoms by two points. For example, when participants had rated their feelings of shyness, as 2 (i.e., occasionally), it was changed to 4 (i.e., all the time). This time, more than half (57%) of the 28 participants were blind to the symptom rating escalation and accepted it as their own symptom intensity rating. This demonstrates that blindness is not limited to recent preference selections (Hall et al., 2010; Johansson et al. 2005), but can also occur for intensity and frequency ratings that rely on long-term episodic memory. Inspired by these findings, Sauerland, Schell, Collaris, Reimer, Schneider, and Merckelbach (2012) tested blindness for one's own history of norm-violating behaviors. Specifically, they explored whether choice blindness might be relevant to suspects' false confessions. Participants were presented with an 18-item questionnaire about their history of norm violation which asked them to rate how often they had displayed each behavior on a 4-point Likert scale. Participants were later interviewed about four of those items, two of which had covertly been manipulated. For example, the response to the item "I have never committed small-scale shop lifting" was changed from never to sometimes. As expected, a substantial proportion (25%) of participants failed to notice changes of their own ratings. Importantly, detection varied as a function of the interval between completing the questionnaire and being interviewed about the manipulated outcome. Participants in Experiment 1 who were presented with the manipulated outcome after 10 minutes were more likely to notice the change in their response compared to Experiment 2 participants who were presented with the manipulation after a week (75% and 55%, respectively). Thus, the longer interval resulted in a decrease of the detection rate. Together, these studies suggest that choice blindness can occur in a wide variety of situations. Although the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear, we believe ambiguity may play a key role. It may be inherent to the task, as it is for example with evaluative choices (Hall et al., 2011; Johansson et al, 2005) which are less clear cut than tasks involving an objectively correct or incorrect outcome. In studies involving self-reported ratings, the items being measured are not easily defined (such as the intensity of one's symptoms), making changes difficult to detect. Finally, ambiguity can also be introduced by increasing the time between the decision and the presentation of the chosen item. Choice Blindness in Eyewitness Settings With these studies in mind, we wondered what the implications of choice blindness for eyewitness settings could be. After identifying a suspect from a lineup, eyewitnesses are frequently required to identify him/her again inside the courtroom. Consider a situation where the lineup administrator intentionally or unintentionally - writes down a choice other than the one made by the witness. Given the current evidence on choice blindness, one might worry that a considerable proportion of eyewitnesses may not notice that change. This, of course, could have devastating consequences for the defendant. We recently addressed this question in a study (Sagana, Sauerland, & Merckelbach, 2012, Experiment 1). Participants watched four video fragments, each showing a mock crime. Four different actors were involved in each fragment: a perpetrator, a victim, and two bystanders. After each fragment, participants were asked to identify each of the four actors from four different lineups (they were not given the option to reject a lineup). In total, participants had to make 16 identification decisions. After each decision there was a short delay before participants were presented with their choice again and asked to explain their decision. At this point, however, some of the participants' choices were manipulated so that they were presented with a non-chosen lineup member. To our surprise, 36 out of the 37 participants (97%) detected the manipulation. Furthermore, participants were highly accurate in their identification decisions in both manipulated and non-manipulated trials (both 73%). In a follow-up experiment, we inserted a longer time interval between making the identification decision and being questioned. This not only created a more ecologically valid situation, but was also meant to increase the ambiguity of the situation. Specifically, participants were presented with the manipulated outcome 48 hours after their identification decision (Sagana et al., 2012, Experiment 4). Preliminary results from 30 participants showed that 21 (35%) out of 60 manipulated trials were not detected. Thus, choice blindness is a relevant factor in identification decisions, particularly when ambiguity is added to the task, resulting in possibly devastating consequences for the defendant and the judicial system. Carry-Over Effects of Choice Blindness Apart from the immediate impact of choice blindness, accumulating evidence indicates that this phenomenon may continue to influence decision making beyond the time of the initial manipulation. For example, in their face-preference study, Hall, Johansson, Tärning and Sikström (in preparation; as cited in Johansson et al., 2008) observed that when participants had to indicate their preference again in a second round directly following the first one, choice-blind participants were significantly more likely to select the manipulated face. In their study on symptom escalation and choice blindness, Merckelbach, Jelicic, and Pieters (2011a) found that blind participants were more likely to report increased symptom ratings at a re-test one week later. Similarly, Sauerland, Schell and colleagues (2012) noted that four weeks after the initial interview, blind participants tended to increase their ratings on how often they had committed certain norm-violating behaviors. Choice blindness can also influence how confident participants are in their ratings. In our line-up experiments (Sagana et al., 2012, Experiments 1, 4), eyewitnesses had considerably less confidence in their identifications when their decision had been manipulated, compared to non-manipulated identifications. This was true even for eyewitnesses who had noticed the manipulation. That means that participants' confidence ratings were deflated, even if they realized that a switch had taken place. Research on eyewitness identification shows that high confidence levels can be a reliable indicator of accuracy (Brewer & Wells, 2006; Sauerland, Sagana, & Sporer, in press; Sauerland & Sporer, 2009). The more certain witnesses feel about the identification, the higher are the chances that they are correct. However, if choice manipulations can alter confidence, then the linearity of the relation is destroyed and hence, confidence is no longer diagnostic of identification accuracy. Final Remarks The psychological literature on choice blindness shows that it is a robust phenomenon that persists across different modalities and different types of decisions. So yes, in retrospect, we cannot always determine what our original choice was. Under certain circumstances, our decisions may be sensitive to the manipulations of clever marketers, careless doctors, and ruthless police officers. However, choice blindness does not imply that human decisions are always sensitive to corruptive influences. We would likely notice if the person we are out on a date with was swapped, or if the color of the new car we just bought was different from the one we ordered. Instead, the current findings point to more ambiguous situations in which discrepancies between the choices made and the observed outcome may indeed go unnoticed. Nevertheless, in those situations, choice blindness can have serious implications for medical and judicial outcomes. Future research is needed to determine how, in those situations, choice blindness can be avoided. From a scientific point of view, choice blindness is a fascinating phenomenon that has stimulated new research on the limits of human perception and decision making (Hall et al., 2010; Moore & Haggard, 2006). Future research examining the underlying mechanisms of this effect promises to be a fascinating endeavour, and we anticipate that choice blindness will be a key aspect in future discussions regarding decision making processes and preference formation. Glossary * Change blindness: Difficulty observers have in noticing changes to visual scenes, when the change is accompanied by some other visual disturbance. * Choice blindness: Failure to detect changes in a decision outcome when the choice was covertly manipulated. * False Confession: When a person confesses to a crime that they did not actually commit. Often occurs as a result of inappropriate interrogation and/or mental impairment. * Field study:A research project conducted in everyday, real-world settings. * Gustatory stimuli: Stimuli related to the sense of taste. * Introspection: The act or process of self-examination, or inspection of one's own thoughts and feelings. * Likert-scale:A rating scale commonly used in questionnaires when researchers want to measure the intensity (of an attitude, for example) or frequency of something. The respondent is asked to indicate their response (generally the level of agreement or disagreement with a statement) on a scale that is considered symmetric or "balanced" because there are equal numbers of positive and negative positions. * Lineup:A lineup is constructed by placing a person suspected of committing a crime (the suspect) among a collection of innocent people (fillers). An eyewitness is asked to identify the offender from this collection, with a suitable admonition that the offender may not be present. * Lineup administrator:The police officer who guides the witness during the lineup identification procedure. S/he provides instructions and takes notes regarding the identification decision. * Linear relationship:A relationship in which any given change in an independent variable will always produce a corresponding change in the dependent variable. * Olfactory stimuli:Stimuli related to the sense of smell. References * Brewer, N., & Wells, G. L. (2006). The confidence-accuracy relationship in eyewitness identification: Effects of lineup instructions, foil similarity, and target-absent base rates. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 12, 11-30. * Chabris, C. F., & Simons, D. J. (2010). The invisible gorilla and other ways our intuitions deceive us. London, UK: HarperCollins. * Davies, G., & Hine, S. (2007). Change blindness and eyewitness testimony. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 141, 423-434. * Davis, D., Loftus, E. F., Vanous, S., & Cucciare, M. (2008). 'Unconscious transference' can be an instance of 'change blindness'. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 605-623. * Hall, L., Johansson, P., Tärning, B., & Sikström, S. (in preparation). Choice blindness and preference change. * Hall, L., Johansson, P., Tärning, B., Sikström, S., & Deutgen, T. (2010). Magic at the marketplace: Choice blindness for the taste of jam and the smell of tea. Cognition, 117, 54-61. * Johansson, P., Hall, L., & Sikström, S. (2008). From change blindness to choice blindness. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 51, 142-155. * Johansson, P., Hall, L., Sikström, S., & Olsson, A. (2005). Failure to detect mismatches between intention and outcome in a simple decision task. Science, 310, 116-119. * Levin, D. T., Simons, D. J., Angelone, B. L., & Chabris, C. F. (2002). Memory for centrally attended changing objects in an incidental real-world change detection paradigm. British Journal of Psychology, 93, 289-302. * Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Pieters, M. (2011a). Misinformation increases symptom reporting - a test - retest experiment. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports, 2 (10), 75. doi: 10.1258/shorts.2011.011062 * Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Pieters, M. (2011b). The residual effect of feigning: How intentional faking may evolve into a less conscious form of symptom reporting. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33, 131-139. * Moore, J., & Haggard, P. (2006). Commentary on 'How something can be said about telling more than we can know: On choice blindness and introspection'. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 15, 693-696. * O'Regan, J. K., & Noë, A. (2001). A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 939-1031. * Sagana, A., Sauerland, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2012). Choice blindness in eyewitness identification: Fact or artifact? Manuscript in preparation. * Sauerland, M., Sagana, A., & Otgaar, H. (2012). Theoretical and legal issues related to choice blindness for voices. Legal and Criminological Psychology. * Sauerland, M., Sagana, A., & Sporer, S. L. (in press). Postdicting nonchoosers' eyewitness identification accuracy from photographic showups by using confidence and response times. Law and Human Behavior. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/h0093926 * Sauerland, M., Schell, J., Collaris, J., Reimer, N., Schneider, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2012). Blindness for one's history of norm-violating behaviors and its implications for suspect interrogations. Manuscript in preparation. * Sauerland, M., & Sporer, S. L. (2009). Fast and confident: Postdicting eyewitness identification accuracy in a field study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 46-62. * Simons, D. J., & Levin, D. T. (1998). Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5, 644-649. * Simons, D. J., & Rensink, R. A. (2005). Change blindness: Past, present, and future. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 16-20. * Williams, P., & Simons, D. J. (2000). Detecting changes in novel, complex three-dimensional objects. Visual Cognition, 7, 297-322.
Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Table of Contents 6 2 Training Session Safety Guidelines Coaches are a major part of aquatics programs. They need to be well-informed and trained in all facility procedures, such as following emergency action plans, completing and filing accident reports and complying with follow-up procedures to an incident that may have occurred while they were in charge. Electrical Safety Electrical shock is a very real hazard in the operation of swimming pools. Permanent or temporary electrical connections and wires used with the following equipment may come in contact with water, including: 1. Underwater lights 3. Record players 2. Tape recorders 4. Automatic timing devices 6. Electronic loud speakers 5. Place clocks 7. Start systems 9. Many other types of electrical devices operating on line voltages in the vicinity of the racing course involve wires stretched across the pool deck. These devices are connected to the power supply. 8. Pool vacuum cleaners In case of electrical shock or electrocution, call emergency personnel, and follow the facility s emergency action plan. Shut off the power source and immediately check the swimmer s airway, breathing and circulation. Use nonconductive equipment to remove the swimmer from the source of electricity if the power cannot be turned off. Assists and Rescues Swimmers may be in danger of drowning from a head injury, heart attack, stroke, fainting, overexertion, seizure or incapacitating cramps as well as other causes. How the Coach Can Assist Teach swimmers that if they feel panicky, they should try to reach the lane lines and use the lines for support. You can use the reaching, throwing or wading methods described below to assist a swimmer in a water emergency. In most cases, at least one of these measures will be successful. While you attempt to make an assist, someone in your group must be prepared to call emergency personnel immediately, if necessary, to attend to the rescued swimmer. Drowning Situations In this situation, a swimmer is unable to call for help or to wave his/her arms. A distress situation may become a drowning situation when the swimmer, for whatever reason, is no longer able to keep afloat. Drowning situations may be classified as passive or active. Passive In a passive drowning situation, the athlete may be conscious or unconscious. The swimmer might suddenly slip under water, making no attempt to call for help, and may float facedown near the surface of the water. A passive drowning situation can result from any of the following causes: A heart attack or stroke An accidental blow to the head from another swimmer or an object, such as a kickboard Hyperventilation and blackout Cold water shock after sudden submersion in cold water. The athlete may feel a strong urge to gasp. Gasping could cause the swimmer to take in water which, in turn, might cause panic and eventual suffocation. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 3 Active In contrast to a passive drowning situation, the athlete in an active drowning situation is conscious. Actions may be violent or weak, depending on the amount of energy the athlete possesses. An active drowning athlete s buoyancy will alternate between neutral and negative. The athlete s arms may be extended outward from his/her sides, thrashing up and down in the water, not allowing forward progress. Instead, the athlete will alternately raise and lower him/herself in the water. Buoyancy may be lost each time the athlete goes beneath the surface. The athlete becomes less able to take in air and has to work harder to stay on the surface. Panic will begin to set in during the process, and the athlete will be unable to call for help because of concentrating all his/her efforts on breathing. Swimmers must be supported so they can breathe freely after initial contact and during the carry to safety. In distress or drowning situations, the coach must use safe and effective forms of rescue. Do Not Endanger Yourself Remember, the only way you can help a swimmer in trouble is when you are in a safe position yourself and you can maintain control of the situation. The reaching, throwing and wading methods presented in this section will help keep you safe and in control. Swimming out to bring a distressed swimmer to safety requires special training. If a coach who has not had safety training approaches a distressed swimmer, he/she will be risking two lives. Leaping into the water to help someone may seem courageous, but choosing one of the following methods described here reach assist, throwing assist, ring buoy, free floating support and wading assist- is much more likely to result in a successful assist. Reach Assists Reach with a pole, a kickboard or other object. Firmly brace yourself on the pool deck and reach out to the athlete with any object that will lengthen your reach, such as a pole, kickboard, rescue tube, shirt, belt or towel. When the athlete is able to grasp the extended object, slowly and carefully pull the athlete to safety. Reach with your arm or leg. In the water, use one hand to get a firm grasp on the pool ladder, overflow trough or other secure object; then extend your free hand or one of your legs to the athlete. Maintain your grasp at the water s edge. Do not swim out into the water. Throwing Assists You can throw a ring buoy, throw bag, rescue tube or other device for the athlete to grab and be pulled to safety. Follow these steps: 1. Get into a position that is safe and allows you to maintain your balance. Bend your knees. Step on the non throwing end of the rope. - 2. Aim your throw so that the device will fall just beyond the athlete and within reach. 3. When the athlete has grasped the device, talk reassuringly while slowly pulling the athlete to safety, leaning your body weight away from the athlete as you pull. Ring Buoy The ring buoy is made of buoyant cork, kapok or foam rubber. The buoy should have 20-25 meters of lightweight line with a lemon or other object at the end. This will float the line if it falls in the water and prevent the line from slipping out from under your foot when you throw the ring buoy. The buoy and coiled line is hung in an easily accessible location so that anyone can quickly grasp it. Free Floating Support A rescue buoy, kickboard, rescue tube and ring buoy are examples of equipment that can used as free-floating supports. To use a free-floating support, push it to the athlete and encourage him/her to grasp the support and kick toward safety. Wading Assists If the water is shallow (not above waist deep), you can wade in with an emergency device or buoyant object and extend it to the athlete. For this kind of assist, use a rescue tube, ring buoy, kickboard or pull buoy. 4 You can use the equipment for support in the water, and the athlete can grasp the other side of it. You can then pull the athlete to safety, or you can let go of the piece of equipment and tell the athlete to start kicking toward safety. Always keep the piece of equipment between you and the athlete. If the athlete should panic and grab you, you could be in danger too. Tips for Conducting Safe Training Sessions 1. If at an outdoor pool, have a plan to evacuate athletes if there is danger of lightening. 3. Make sure athletes bring water to every practice, especially in hotter climates. 2. Always rope off the swimming areas so that athletes do not obstruct other swimmers. 4. Check your first-aid kit; restock supplies as necessary. 6. Ensure that the locker rooms and/or restrooms are available and clean during practice. 5. Identify the nearest phone that is accessible during practice. 7. Train all athletes and coaches on emergency procedures. 9. At the beginning of each practice, provide proper stretching exercises after warming up. 8. Do not allow athletes to swim while wearing watches, bracelets or jewelry, including earrings. 10. Provide activities that also improve general fitness levels. Fit athletes are less likely to get injured. Pool Preparation Before swimming, it is critical to make sure the area is safe and clear of objects. Swimming aids and all other pool equipment should be in a designated place. No equipment or articles should be left lying on the deck area. Many Special Olympics athletes train in a public pool, so it is important that swimmers are aware of the designated areas /lanes allocated to them for training purposes. Although most Special Olympics athletes do not require special facilities for swimming, some modifications and adaptations may be necessary for safety reasons. Following are necessary factors to consider when planning a swimming training session. Architectural barriers within and around the pool Entrances Doorways Restrooms and showers Locker or change rooms Pool decks and bottom Water depth and condition Water and air temperature Ladder, steps, stairs and ramps Lighting Review emergency plan, and determine the specific signals that are used in identifying an emergency within the facility Check for slippery deck conditions and remove standing water Ensure there are certified lifeguards with no other duty but to guard Check wheelchair access If in a public pool, designate an adult/volunteer to act as a spotter for the group. Life guards may not be specifically watching your group/squad all the time Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 5 Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Check location of safety equipment for emergency use around the pool area Be aware of other users within the complex Always be ready to make adaptations and modifications in both your program and facility if necessary. Remember, it is always better to adapt the program to the facility than not to offer any swimming instruction and training at all. 6 Daily Performance Record The Daily Performance Record is designed to keep an accurate record of the athletes daily performances as they learn a sports skill. There are several reasons why the coach can benefit from using the Daily Performance Record. 1. The record becomes a permanent documentation of the athlete s progress. 3. The record allows the coach to be flexible during the actual teaching and coaching session, because he can break down the skills into specific, smaller tasks that meet the individual needs of each athlete. 2. The record helps the coach establish measurable consistency in the athlete s training program. 4. The record helps the coach choose proper skill teaching methods, correct conditions and criteria for evaluating the athlete s performance of the skills. Using the Daily Performance Record At the top of the record, the coach enters his/her name, the athlete s name and aquatics event. If more than one coach works with an athlete, they should enter the dates that they work with the athlete next to their names. Before the training session begins, the coach decides what skills will be covered. The coach makes this decision based on the athlete s age, interests and his/her mental and physical abilities. The skill needs to be a statement or a description of the specific exercise that the athlete must perform. The coach enters the skill on the top line of the lefthand column. Each subsequent skill is entered after the athlete masters the previous skill. Of course, more than one sheet may be used to record all of the skills involved. Also, if the athlete cannot perform a prescribed skill, the coach may break down the skill into smaller tasks that will allow for the athlete s success at the new skill. Conditions and Criteria for Mastering Skills After the coach enters the skill, he/she must then decide on the conditions and criteria by which the athlete must master the skill. Conditions are special circumstances that define the manner in which the athlete must perform a skill. For example, given a demonstration, and with assistance. The coach needs to always operate under the assumption that the ultimate conditions in which the athlete masters a skill are, upon command and without assistance, and, therefore, does not have to enter these conditions in the record next to the skill entry. Ideally, the coach needs to arrange the skills and conditions such that the athlete gradually learns to perform the skill while upon command and without assistance. Criteria are the standards that determine how well the skill must be performed. The coach needs to determine a standard that realistically suits the athlete s mental and physical abilities. For example, perform a distance of 30 centimeters, 60 percent of the time. Given the varied nature of skills, the criteria might involve many different types of standards, such as amount of time, number of repetitions, accuracy, distance or speed. Dates of Sessions and Levels of Instruction Used The coach may work on one task for a couple of days and may use several methods of instruction during that time to progress to the point where the athlete performs the task upon command and without assistance. To establish a consistent curriculum for the athlete, the coach must record the dates he/she works on particular tasks and must enter the methods of instruction that were used on those dates. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 7 Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Event: Insert Event Name Athlete s Name Insert Name Skill: Insert Skill Coach s Name Insert Name \| Skill Analysis \| Conditions & Criteria \| Dates & Instruction Methods \| \|---\|---\|---\| 8 Aquatics Attire Appropriate aquatics attire is required for all competitors. As a coach, discuss the types of sport clothes that are acceptable and not acceptable for training and competition. Discuss the importance of wearing properly fitted clothing, along with the advantages and disadvantages of wearing certain types of clothing during training and competitions. For example, long pants and shirts are not proper aquatics attire for any event. Explain that swimmers cannot perform their best while wearing long pants or shirts that restrict their movement. Take athletes to high school or collegiate meets and point out the attire being worn. You can even set the example, by wearing appropriate attire to training and competitions and not rewarding athletes that come improperly dressed to train and/or compete. Clothing must be suited to the activities involved. Few sports require less equipment than swimming. Although equipment such as goggles and caps are recommended, a Special Olympics athlete only needs a swimsuit to participate. Swimsuits The swimsuit can be anything that closely resembles skin in fit and feel. For males, any brief swim suit made of smooth, quick-drying fabric, such as nylon or lycra, is fine. Gym shorts with waistbands that fit snugly around the waist can be substituted. A one-piece suit is recommended for females. The suit needs to be close-fitting, and cut so as not to hinder movements. The swimsuit needs to be substantial enough to stay on the athlete s body while they train. Racing suits, whether for men or women, will provide less drag and provide more efficiency in the water. Cap A tight-fitting, stretch swimmer s cap is recommended. Swim caps will prevent the hair from falling in the swimmer s face and thus provide less of a distraction. Besides keeping the swimmer s hair dry, the cap also reduces water drag and resistance. Goggles Swim goggles are encouraged. Goggles allow the swimmers to comfortably put their faces in the water, thus allowing for better body position and more efficiency. There must be careful adherence to safety with the use of this equipment. There are several varieties of goggles that allow for choices, depending on each swimmer s face. Nose Clips Nose clips are helpful for athletes who have difficulty controlling their breathing or who have sinus problems. Such clips should be used only when necessary. Coaching Tips Always check with the lifeguard on duty. Take a head count of your swimmers and record their attendance. Give numbers to the lifeguard. Make lifeguard aware of any potential emergencies which may arise due to medical or behavioral conditions of swimmers. Designate a spotter for the group; this could be a parent/volunteer. Show swimmers the area in which they have been allocated. Set rules before any session commences. Ensure swimmers know their boundaries. If in an outdoor pool, check air and wind conditions as well as water temperature. Ensure that swimmers have been made aware of specific signals or cues to be used in an emergency. Show swimmers correct point of entry and type of entry required into the water. Prepare your session 15 minutes before start time. Have all necessary equipment placed in an appropriate and safe position on pool deck. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 9 General Swimming Equipment List At-A-Glance General Coaching Points There are differences of opinion on the use of floatation devices. Coaches must make their own decisions. However, if floatation devices are used, consider not using them for an equal amount of time as a means of developing a swimmer s own buoyancy and orientation in water. Eventually the swimmer may not require a floatation device. Aids and equipment may need to be modified in order to adapt to physical differences. However, the individual should not become reliant on them. Coaches need to be conversant with the rules of competition for the particular disability group of each swimmer in their care. For example, FINA (La Fédération Internationale de Natation) has particular rules for specific disability classifications that may meet the needs of a particular swimmer or swimmers at a multi-disability event. After classification, a card is provided that lists any exceptions for that swimmer. This must be produced prior to the commencement of any applicable event. Further details should be sought from your own national swimming body. 10 Modifications & Adaptations Orthopedic Impairments Use a pool lift or a ramp to help athletes. Have athletes wear a flotation waist belt. Use the shallow end of the pool. Use properly trained lifeguards or assistant coaches. Shorten length of practice time. Do warm-up exercises in very shallow water. Ask a physical therapist to act as an advisor. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 11 Essential Components of Planning an Aquatics Training Session Each training session needs to contain the same essential elements. The amount of time spent on each element will depend on the goal of the training session, the time of season the session is in and the amount of time available for a particular session. The following elements need to be included in an athlete s daily training program. For more in-depth information and guidance on these elements, refer to the Aquatics Coaching Guide CD. The final step in planning a training session is choosing what the athlete is actually going to do. Remember, when creating a training session that includes the essential components, the progression allows for a gradual buildup of physical activity. Easy to difficult Slow to fast Known to unknown General to specific Start to finish In organizing the team for effective teaching and learning experiences, the coach should always arrange the session so that: The safety of the athlete is ensured. Everyone can hear the instructions. Everyone can see the demonstration. Everyone will have an opportunity for maximum practice. Everyone will have an opportunity to be checked regularly for skill improvement. The most important factor is to provide for the safety of the athlete. Every effort must be made to prevent an accident from occurring. A certified lifeguard must be on duty during all aquatics activities. Rules, such as no running, no dunking, no horseplay and no diving into shallow water, must be explained and enforced. Potential hazards should be pointed out. All athletes must be accounted for at the start of a period, at regular intervals during the period and at the close of the training. Coaches should remain in the pool area until the end of training and all swimmers are accounted for and have left the area. A lifeguard must be in a position to observe the safety of the swimmers at all times. The coach needs to be aware of any special medical conditions, such as seizures. The procedures used for learning and practicing skills in the water are determined by the skill to be learned, the skill level of the swimmers, the size and shape of the facility, the extent of shallow and deep water areas available for practice, and the number, sizes and ages of the athletes. Following are factors to ensure successful learning, regardless of the type of teaching approach implemented. 12 1. Athletes, if at all possible, need to face away from the sun, bright light from windows or distracting influences during demonstrations. 3. Athletes must have the opportunity to: 2. Athletes must be able to see and hear the instructions during demonstrations and practice sessions. make the physical and mental adjustment to the water in relation to the skill to be learned; find and maintain a good working position in the water as determined by the skill to learned; and, have maximum practice for accuracy, coordination, speed and expenditure of energy. This practice must include an analysis of each athlete s movements and appropriate and timely suggestions for improvement by the coach, an assistant coach or a buddy. 4. Swimmers must have ample space to practice without interference by other athletes. Hints for Organizing a Good Training Session 1. Use the pool to your best advantage. 3. Keep athletes informed of changes in schedule or activities. 2. Organize stations by ability. Color code ability groups (i.e. Green-Beginner; Blue-Rookie, etc.). No one should be standing around while you arrange things. Keep everyone busy. 4. Introduce athletes to one another, and orient them to the instructional setting. 6. Keep the fun in fundamentals. Use a game approach. 5. Demonstrate the sports skill as frequently as possible. 7. Devote a part of each training session to group activity. 9. If a swimmer joins the team after training has begun, skill assessment should be done in shallow water. 8. If an activity is going well, it is often useful to stop the activity while interest is high. Principles of Effective Training Sessions \| Keep athlete s attention \| Athlete needs to be an active listener. \| \|---\|---\| \| Create clear, concise goals \| Learning improves when athletes know what is expected of them. \| \| Give clear, concise instructions \| Demonstrate increase accuracy of instruction. \| \| Record progress \| You and your athletes chart progress together. \| \| Give positive feedback \| Emphasize and reward things the athlete is doing well. \| \| Provide variety \| Vary exercises prevent boredom. \| \| Encourage enjoyment \| Training and competition is fun; help keep it this way for you and your athletes. \| \| Create progressions \| Learning is increased when information progresses from: Known to unknown discovering new things successfully Simple to complex seeing that I can do it General to specific this is why I am working so hard \| \| Plan maximum use of resources \| Use what you have, and improvise for equipment that you do not have think creatively. \| \| Allow for individual differences \| Different athletes, different learning rates, different capacities. \| Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 13 The Warm-Up A warm-up period is the first part of every training session or preparation for competition. The warm-up starts slowly and systematically and gradually involves all muscles and body parts that prepare the athlete for training and competition. In addition to preparing the athlete mentally, warming up also has several physiological benefits. Raises body temperature Increases metabolic rate Increases heart and respiratory rate Prepares the muscles and nervous system for exercise The warm-up is tailored for the activity to follow. Warm-ups consist of active motion leading up to more vigorous motion to elevate heart, respiratory and metabolic rates. The total warm-up period takes at least 25 minutes and immediately precedes the training or competition. A warm-up period will include the following basic sequence and components. Slow Aerobic Movement Jogging, non-specific movements (such as shaking all over ) or other slow aerobic movements may be used that are specific to the ability levels of the swimmers. It is the first exercise of an athlete s routine. Athletes begin warming the muscles by moving around for three to five minutes. This circulates the blood through all the muscles, thus providing them greater flexibility for stretching. The movement should start out slowly and then gradually increase in speed to its completion; however, the athlete should never reach even 50 percent of his maximum effort by the end of the activity. Remember, the primary objective of this phase of the warm-up is circulating the blood. The example programs for each group: beginner, stroke correction and squad identify specific activities that may be suitable for this section of the warm-up. Stretching Stretching is one of the most critical parts of the warm-up and an athlete s performance. A more flexible muscle is a stronger and healthier muscle. A stronger and healthier muscle responds better to exercise and activities and helps prevent athlete injury. Please refer to Stretching within this section for more in-depth information. Flexibility is a major element to an athlete s optimal performance in both training and competing. Flexibility is achieved through stretching, a critical component in warming up. Stretching follows an easy aerobic jog at the start of a training session or competition. Begin with an easy stretch to the point of tension, and hold this position for 15-30 seconds until the pull lessens. When the tension eases, slowly move further into the stretch (developmental stretching) until tension is again felt. Hold this new position for an additional 15 seconds. Each stretch should be repeated four to five times on each side of the body. It is also important to continue to breathe while stretching. As you lean into the stretch, exhale. Once the stretching point is reached, keep inhaling and exhaling while holding the stretch. Stretching should be a part of everyone s daily life. Regular, consistent, daily stretching has been demonstrated to have the following effects. 14 1. Increases the length of the muscle-tendon unit 3. Reduces muscle tension 2. Increases joint range of motion 4. Develops body awareness 6. Makes you feel good 5. Promotes increased circulation Some athletes, like those with Down syndrome, may have low muscle tone that makes them appear more flexible. Be careful to not allow these athletes to stretch beyond a normal, safe range. Several stretches are dangerous to perform for all athletes and should never be part of a safe stretching program. These unsafe stretches include the following Neck Backward Bending Trunk Backward Bending Spinal Roll Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 15 Stretching Stretching is effective only if the stretch is performed accurately. Athletes need to focus on correct body positioning and alignment. Take the calf stretch for example. Many athletes do not keep their feet forward in the direction they are running. Incorrect Correct Another common fault in stretching that athletes make is bending the back in an attempt to get a better stretch from the hips. An example is a simple sitting forward leg stretch. Incorrect The Cool-Down The cool-down is as important as the warm-up. It is especially important for the higher-level stroke correction group and all squad groups. Games and activities may replace the more traditional cool-down routines, so long as they achieve the required effect. Abruptly stopping an activity may cause pooling of the blood and slow the removal of waste products in the athlete s body. It may also cause cramps, soreness and other problems for athletes. The cool-down gradually reduces the body temperature and heart rate and speeds the recovery process before the next training session or competitive experience. The cool-down is also a good time for the coach and athlete to talk about the session or competition. 16 Home Training Program 1. If athletes only train once a week with their coaches and do no training on their own, progress will be very limited. Training kits can be purchased for most sports that include most of the equipment you would need to practice at home. 3. Resistance Stretch Cords can be used to simulate certain swimming actions while out of the pool. This training tool is inexpensive and easy to learn to use. Under supervision, the athlete will be able to simulate strokes and build strength at the same time. 2. The aquatics athlete can practice certain aquatics skills and be encouraged to do land-based exercises while out of the pool. 4. Land-based exercises and stretching may involve running, gym work, light weight work and certain isometric exercises. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 17 Skill Progression - Learn to Swim Your Athlete Can: Never Sometimes Often Sit on pool edge Sit on pool edge and kick Enter water with assistance Enter water independently Blow into water Demonstrate continuous breathing and exhalation pattern Stand in water with assistance Stand in water independently Put face in the water Walk across pool in shallow water (waist deep) with assistance Walk across pool independently Jump in shallow water independently Exit water with assistance Exit water independently Supported, feet off bottom, move forward and backward Submerge in chest-deep water with assistance Submerge in chest-deep water independently Open eyes under water with or without goggles Touch pool bottom in chest-deep water Sit on pool bottom in chest-deep water Float onfrontwith assistance (prone float) Float onfront independently (prone float) Recover from front float with assistance Recover from front float independently Performfrontfloat and recover to standing position Performfrontfloat with a flutter kick Recover from front float to back float with assistance Recover from front float to back float independently Move from back float to front and return with assistance Movefrom back float to front and return independently 18 Coaches Tips for Water Familiarization At-A-Glance Tips for Practice 1. If a new swimmer is anxious, sit quietly beside the pool and distract him/her, talking about or looking at other things. 2. Make the pool environment look interesting add floating and sinking objects. 3. Use a small blocked-off area rather than a large, open pool space. 4. Activities initially include feeling the water, walking or crawling down swim ramp, moving in shallow water, walking in water and progressing through all of the initial stages until buoyancy and submersion have been conquered. 5. Practice walking in water, blowing eggs or ping-pong balls across surface of water progress to races against other swimmers. 1. Train in thigh- to waist-deep water with a peer group of competitors. Tips for Competition 1. Assisted walk can be a successful activity for the swimmer who has just reached this stage. 2. Teach to hold wall at start and start on signal. 3. Train in completing distance and reaching for the finish point. 4. Reward all swimmers as soon as they reach the finish point, to develop a sense of accomplishment Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004. 19 12-Week Beginners Program - Sample \| Week 1 \| Get to know pool, staff, athletes, family and caregivers Water familiarization, entries, exits, pool rules, etiquette \| \|---\|---\| \| Week 2 \| Reinforce week 1 Begin skills assessments Introduce breathing \| \| Week 3 \| Finalize skills assessments - goal setting for each individual for the season Hum, mobility, control of rotation, floats and tumbles \| \| Week 4 \| Review previous sessions skills Begin to identify and develop individual programs Introduce arm actions, continue with breathing and floats \| \| Week 5 \| Review previous sessions Work on weak points reinforcement through games and activities Introduce team and group activities relays \| \| Week 6 \| Work on identified issues from previous week work on weak spots Review individual goals adjust as required \| \| Week 7 \| Conduct skills assessments Work on skills identified Review and progress on previous session s work. \| \| Week 8 \| Introduce new skills back float, push and glide, kick as ready Continue team work and relays \| \| Week 9 \| Introduce competition events as identified for each group Practice in a noncompetitive games environment \| \| Week 10 \| Introduce race aspect of events Practice good sportsmanship use relays and cheer on buddies \| \| Week 11 \| Conduct final skills assessment for season Practice full skills progression end with events, fun games \| \| Week 12 \| Fun competition gala with awards Certificates of Achievement for the season \| 20 The Strokes One of the fundamental goals of any swimming program is to provide an opportunity for all swimmers to develop good swimming technique in all four strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Special Olympics aquatics coaches need to have a good knowledge of the basic principles required to master these strokes. These principles are developed through a variety of progressive practices within this coaching guide. Throughout this section we will look at the body position, leg action, arm action and breathing aspects of the four strokes. We will also look at teaching the stroke and give teaching points and practices. This exercise is not exhaustive. Experienced coaches may have further teaching points and practices that can be incorporated in the development of the athlete s swimming program. In addition, we will generally move the teaching progression from land drills to pool drills and activities in shallow to chest-deep water. A distance is sometimes added to the activity which often includes the complete stroke arm stroke with the respective kick. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 21 Skill Progression - Freestyle Totals Freestyle/Front Crawl Freestyle is regarded as the fastest of all competitive swim strokes and one of the first taught to the beginning swimmer. The stroke action involves the arms moving forward alternately with the legs kicking continuously throughout the stroke. The swimmer s body remains horizontal and streamlined in the water with the swimmer s head turned to one side to breathe after each full arm cycle. The teaching and development of the stroke can be achieved by breaking down the skill into its various components. Body Position The body position is almost flat. The constant propulsion from the alternating arm and leg actions make it a very effective and efficient stroke. Key Points Flat with a slight slope down to hips. The waterline is between the eyebrows and hairline. Eyes look forward and slightly downward. The slight slope down to the hips enables the kick to stay in the water. Shoulders roll into the stroke, utilizing the strong chest muscles and generating a strong propulsive force. Slight head adjustments change the position of the legs. If the head is held high out of the water, the legs will drop, and, if submerged, the legs will rise out of the water. The legs work almost within the body depth. This creates the least resistance to forward motion. Leg Action The freestyle/front-crawl leg action helps the body stay in the horizontal position and balances the arm action. It may also contribute to the propulsion within the stroke. 22 K ey Points Leg action starts at the hips. Alternating action is required. There is a slight bend in the knees. Feet kick up to the surface and churn the water without splashing. Ankles are relaxed to allow toes to point and give a natural in-toeing effect. The number of leg kicks may vary for each arm cycle. Arm Action The continuous, alternating arm action is the strength within the stroke and enables constant propulsion. Throughout the full stroke there are five main areas that require attention: entry, down sweep, in sweep, up sweep and recovery. Key Points - Entry Hand is turned with the palm facing half outward for a thumb-first entry. Hand enters between the head and shoulder line with a slight bend in the arm. Hand then reaches forward under the surface. Note: this is a natural stretch, not overreaching. Key Points - Down Sweep Hand sweeps downward and slightly outward to the catch position. Hand continues this sweep downward and outward. Elbow starts to bend. It is important that the elbow is kept high. Key Points - In Sweep Hand pitch changes and curves inward toward the body s center line. This is similar to a sculling action. Elbow has a 90-degree bend. Hand accelerates. Key Points - Up Sweep When the hand has reached the body s center line, the hand changes pitch to upward, outward and backward. This enables acceleration through to the hips. Hand then exits the water little-finger first. Key Points - Recovery This movement is relaxed and uses the momentum from the up sweep. Elbow will exit first and is kept higher than the hand. Hand passes as close to body as possible. This is dependent on the swimmer s flexibility. Once the hand passes shoulder level, the arm will reach forward to the entry position. Key Points - Breathing Head is turned smoothly in time with the natural roll of the body. Head is turned, not lifted. The in-breath is taken when the breathing arm is completing the up sweep. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 23 The non-breathing arm enters the water when the breath is taken. Head is turned back to the center in a smooth action as soon as the breath is taken. The breath is released gradually or held until just before the next in-breath. Breathing occurs every two arm pulls (one stroke cycle). This is unilateral breathing. It may also be taken after every three arm pulls (1.5 stroke cycles). This is bilateral breathing. Key Points - Timing Usually there are six leg kicks in one arm cycle. This may vary between swimmers. Swimmers who prefer middle- and long-distance swims tend to kick less frequently. Freestyle - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction - Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\| \| Lack of squeeze on the recovery phase of the pull. \| Tell the swimmer to clap hands together as he/she squeezes the arms together. \| \| Kicking too wide. \| Have the swimmer kick with a pull buoy on. If it falls, the knees are too wide. \| \| Knees coming under the stomach. \| Have the swimmer kick on his/her back and keep the knees at or below the water surface. \| \| Swimmer does not get hands under the body on the pull. \| Have the hands scull outward and then inward until they almost touch under the stomach. The hands now form a triangle. \| \| Swimmer is not pushing hands past hips. \| Put adhesive tape on the legs below the suit line, and tell the swimmer to touch the tape. \| \| Swimmer cannot feel the stroke pattern in the water. \| Have the swimmer swim only two or three strokes at a time. Review the proper pattern. \| 24 Skill Progression - Backstroke Backstroke/Back Crawl The backstroke, also known as the back crawl, is probably the easiest of all competitive strokes to teach and learn, as the swimmer has his/her head out of the water, unlike freestyle, where the face is in the water and breathing and arm coordination must be mastered. Some learners prefer backstroke because their faces are out of the water and breathing is not an issue. Backstroke and front crawl have similarities. These similarities are useful when beginning swimmers are reminded of a skill or part of a skill which may be familiar to them. Body Position Key Points Supine, horizontal and streamlined. Ears are submerged just below the water surface. Head remains still, eyes look upward or slightly down toward toes. Chin is tucked in to ensure that the legs are kept in the water. Hips are kept close to the surface. Shoulders roll along with the stroke. To keep the legs in the water, there is a slight slope down from the head to the hips. Kick The leg action assists in maintaining a horizontal body position and balancing the arm action. This will minimize th legs swaying from side to side. It may also contribute to some propulsion. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 e 25 Key Points The continuous up and down alternating action is started from the hips. Legs are close together. Legs are kept almost straight with the knees remaining below the surface. Relaxed ankles allow the toes to point. Feet break the surface at the end of the upbeat, trying not to splash. Arm Action The arm action is continuous and alternating. The arm action provides constant propulsion. Bent-arm action is more efficient than straight-arm action. The straight-arm action may be preferred in the early stages of development. Key Points - Entry The little finger enters the water first, straight arm and close to the shoulder line. Key Points - Initial Down Sweep The arm sweeps downward and outward to the catch. This is assisted by a natural shoulder roll. The hand is pitched downward and outward by the palm. Key Points - Up Sweep The hand pitch is changed to sweep inward and upward. The arms are bent at a 90-degree angle at the elbow. Key Points - Final Down Sweep The arm pushes through to the thigh. Fingers are pointing sideways and palms are downward. Key Points - Recovery The hand comes out thumb first. The arm turns gradually to ensure that the little finger is ready for entry. Arm remains straight and relaxed throughout. Key Points - Breathing Breathing is natural. As a rule, breathe every stroke cycle. Key Points - Timing Six leg kicks to one stroke cycle. 26 Backstroke - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Knees bending too much during kick. \| Encourage swimmer to relax legs and ankles. Kick from the hips. \| 1. Practice kick by using board and extending board and arms over knees. 2. Kick short distances. Board will help stop too much knee bend. \| \| Feet and hips are too low in water. \| Check swimmers body position. Encourage swimmer to push hips up to top of water. Encourage a continuous kick with the feet making a little splash. Check swimmer s head position. If head is too high hips will drop. \| 1. Use of fins will encourage the swimmer to push hips up. 2. Practice kick with and without kickboard. 3. Encourage the swimmer to practice a streamlined kick. 4. Practice kick with head tilted back, eyes to roof. \| \| Swimmer s body rolls in the water. \| Swimmer is over-rotating. Check for correct hand entry. Check that swimmer s hands are not crossing over center line of body. \| 1. Practice specific drills and encourage swimmer to enter water with arms straight. 2. Over-exaggerate hand entry. 3. Ask swimmer to enter shoulder-width or wider. \| \| Too much splash when hands enter the water. \| Check for correct hand entry. Encourage swimmer to enter water with little finger first. \| Practice specific hand entry drill, thumb up/rotation of hand/little finger in. \| Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 27 Skill Progression - Breaststroke Breaststroke The breaststroke is one of the four competitive strokes. It is also a valuable survival stroke. When swimming the breaststroke the swimmer is prone in the water, and the arm and leg actions are symmetrical. The swimmer breathes in at the beginning of each arm stroke. Breaststroke is the only competitive stroke where the arm recovery is carried out under water and where a greater amount of frontal resistance is experienced. The arm action is an out sweep, down sweep, in sweep and up sweep with recovery in a streamline position. The leg kick in breaststroke is probably the most difficult of all kicks for swimmers to master and may take some time. The leg action is simultaneous and is sometimes described as a whip kick. In addition to the breathing, the correct timing of the arms and legs is very important. Swimmers are encouraged to develop good streamlining skills when performing the breaststroke, and correct turns and finishes need to be reinforced. The teaching of a split stroke at the start and turn phase of the swim is very important. 28 Breaststroke - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Timing of breathing/arm stroke incorrect. \| Check the position of the swimmer s arms in the pull. Generally, breathing timing will be incorrect because the hands/arms are being pulled to hips and not under chest. \| 1. Using fins, practice correct arm action. 2. Use gentle fly kick when performing this drill. \| \| Timing of breathing incorrect. \| Check position of head during recovery. \| 1. Emphasize importance of placing face in water only to hairline. 2. Do not to get top of head wet. \| \| Body position angled or pulling to one side. \| Check that both leg and arm kicks are simultaneous and same amount of pull/kick is being carried out on each side. \| 1. Practice leg kick with/ without board; introduce specific kick drills. 2. Practice correct arm pull with/without fins. \| \| Body not moving quickly or far enough under water on start/turn. Arms will be apart. \| Ensure that swimmer is in a streamlined position. \| 1. Practice lots of push offs from wall in a streamlined position. 2. Try to get swimmer to see how far he/she can go under water. \| \| Uneven leg kick/or hips higher on one side during swim. \| Ensure that both feet are turned out correctly and that leg kick is even and simultaneous. \| Practice specific drills to encourage correct leg kick and body position. \| Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 29 Skill Progression - Butterfly Your Athlete Can: Swim butterfly on front Perform butterfly using dolphin k ic Perform butterfly with rhythmic b Perform a butterfly turn after sw k fo re r15 meters a i th ing for one pool le mm Perform two butterfly turns in a ro in w ngth g a butterfly without stopping fter swimming two pool lengths Butterfly The butterfly stroke is generally taught after the swimmer has established basic skills in the other three competitive strokes. The butterfly stroke relies on good timing and simultaneous arm and leg actions. The stroke is best taught by breaking it down into three phases: kick, arm action and breathing. Butterfly - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Uneven stroke. \| Ensure swimmer s legs and arms are moving simultaneously. \| 1. Practice fly kick with/ without fins and kickboard; streamlined on surface and below surface. 2. Practice arm action with fins. 3. Practice arm rotations on pool deck. \| \| Breathing too late. \| Have swimmer start breathing earlier. \| 1. Use specific drills. 2. Swimmer breathes every third or fourth stroke. \| \| Kick is low, body not streamlined and weak kick action. \| Encourage swimmer to make a strong second kick. Encourage swimmer to move whole body, not just the legs. \| Swimmer practices whole body movement with fins. \| \| Swimmer doing short, fast strokes with body upright, (i.e., feet and hips too low). \| Swimmer may not be pulling through past legs before recovery phase. Check for two kicks per arm cycle. \| 1. Practice kicking fast over short distances with/without fins. 2. Encourage high body position and feet breaking waterline. 3. Practice pulling arms through to side of legs; emphasize touching thumbs to side of legs before arm comes out of water. 4. Practice without breathing for short distances so that breathing is not part of the stroke. \| 30 Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 Never Som etimes Often Individual Medley The individual medley is one of the most challenging of all swimming events. However, it can also be one of the most fun for the swimmer. The swimmer must change strokes throughout the race using the correct turns and tempo for each of the strokes. Regardless of the distance of the individual medley event, the swimmer must swim the race using the four competitive strokes in the correct order. The athlete swims each stroke for one-fourth of the race. The swimmer begins the race from a standing or in-water start in the order of: Butterfly Backstroke Breaststroke Freestyle (any other stroke, generally freestyle). To train for individual medley events, the coach must teach all four strokes and appropriate turns. To better prepare for a race, focus more attention on the athlete s weakest stroke. During the race, the coach will want to make sure the swimmer concentrates on the weakest stroke, not expending all his/her energy in one particular phase of the race. Individual Medley - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Swimmer begins to swim incorrect stroke after turn. \| Practice event during training sessions. \| Ask athlete to name the correct order of the strokes. \| \| Swimmer rolls onto stomach (prone) at turn from butterfly to backstroke. \| Emphasize that swimmer must be on back after touching wall in butterfly leg of event. \| Have swimmer swim into wall, butterfly from flags, touch wall with both hands, and bring both knees up and feet to wall, pushing off wall on back in streamlined position and into backstroke leg of the event. \| \| Swimmer does not touch wall with both hands in butterfly and breaststroke turns. \| Emphasize that swimmer must touch wall with both hands on butterfly and breaststroke turn. \| Practice swimming into wall, butterfly and breaststroke from the flags, and touch with both hands. \| Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 31 Swimming Starts There are basically three different ways in which a swimmer may perform a start. Grab Start Standing starts such as grab or track starts may be performed on the blocks or from the edge of the pool. A swimmer who is unable to do a standing start or is competing in backstroke events will perform a water start. All starts are signaled by the starter who will whistle the swimmers onto the blocks or into the water. The starter will then command the swimmers to Take your marks. The swimmers leave the block or end of the pool when the starter signals with a gun or whistle. Starting is a very important aspect of competitive swimming, and, in major competitions, a one-start rule may be enforced; therefore, it is important that the swimmer is given regular instruction in this skill. Be aware of certain medical conditions which may restrict swimmers from practicing out-of-water starts. Remember, when teaching starts, break down the skill and make it fun. Safety Notes According to the Official Special Olympics Sports Rules, prior to beginning instruction in butterfly, the coach reviews each athlete s medical information form and determines whether the athlete has been screened for Atlantoaxial Subluxation. Restrictions from participating in the above events apply until the athlete has been examined, including xrays of full extension and flexion of the neck, by a physician who has been briefed on the Atlantoaxial Subluxation. Water depth must be a minimum of six-feet deep before teaching the dive start from the deck. Starting-Block Starts - Freestyle, Breaststroke and Butterfly Practice the freestyle, butterfly and breaststroke starts while standing on a starting block. Each of the starting methods uses the basic start techniques described below. Freestyle Grab Start Freestyle Track Start Breaststroke Dive Start Butterfly Grab Start 32 Swimming Starts - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Swimmer slips off block or edge of pool. \| Ensure that swimmer s toes are curled over block or edge. \| Practice standing on block with toes over block. \| \| Swimmer enters the water on an angle. \| Ensure that the swimmer is well balanced and that movement off edge/block is even. \| 1. Practice jumping forward off the block. 2. Encourage the swimmer to look forward, jumping in feet first. \| \| Swimmer s arms are apart during entry into water. \| Ensure a streamlined body position - hands together on entry, arms squeezing against ears/head. \| 1. Practice entry into water with one hand on top of the other. 2. Preferably the stronger hand underneath as this will be the hand/arm which will pull first. \| Swimming Turns Freestyle Turns - Faults & Fixes Chart \| Error \| Correction \| Drill/Test Reference \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Turning too early into the wall. \| Swimmer touches wall with one hand before executing a somersault. \| Hands on wall, kick hard, then somersault, pushing off wall in a streamlined position. \| \| Pushing off wall with one foot. \| Encourage swimmer to push off with both feet. \| 1. Swimmer performs a vertical somersault, feeling feet pushing off bottom of pool. 2. Swimmer feels feet pushing off edge of pool then moves into a streamlined position. \| Teaching Butterfly and Breaststroke Turns The butterfly and breaststroke turns are very similar. The only difference is that with a breaststroke turn a split stroke is performed under water directly after the turn. A split stroke is 1.5 strokes under water. When reaching the wall at the turn and finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with both hands. The hands may touch above, below or at the waterline. The hands do not have to be at the same height. However, it is vital that the shoulders remain horizontal. The swimmer will use a leading arm which will move along the body line, and a rotation of the swimmer s body will occur. It is important that the swimmer maintains a streamlined body position. The swimmer s head must break the surface of the water before the arm stroke is performed. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 33 Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Aquatics Athlete Skills Stroke Development Assessment Athlete Name Start Date Coach Name Instructions 1. Use tool at the beginning of the training/competition season to establish a basis of the athlete s starting skill level. 2. Have the athlete perform the skill several times. 3. If the athlete performs the skill correctly three out of five times, check the box next to the skill to indicate that the skill has been accomplished. 4. Intersperse assessment sessions into your program. 5. Swimmers may accomplish skills in any order. Athletes have accomplished this list when all possible items have been achieved. Freestyle Makes an attempt to swim on front Performs freestyle in waist - deep water Performs freestyle using flutter kick for 15 meters Performs freestyle with periodic breathing for 15 meters Performs freestyle with rhythmic breathing for one pool length Freestyle Start Makes an attempt to start from in the pool Performs a proper start in the pool Performs proper start standing on the pool edge Performs proper start using a starting block Continues to swim a proper freestyle stroke after starting from the block Freestyle Turn Makes an attempt to turn around without stopping Performs an open turn in waist - deep water Performs an open turn, after swimming freestyle, without stopping Performs a fli p turn in waist - deep water Performs a flip turn, swimming freestyle for 15 meters Performs two flip turns in a row after swimming two pool lengths 34 Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Backstroke Makes an attempt to swim on back Performs backstroke in waist - deep water Performs backstroke for 15 meters Performs backstroke correctly for a distance of one pool length Backstroke Start Makes an attempt to start on back Performs backstroke start, holding the side of pool with one hand Performs backstroke start while facing the starting end, both hands on a starting block Performs the correct backstroke start and swims one pool length Backstroke Turn Makes an attempt to turn on back Performs backstroke turn - assisted Performs backstroke turn in chest - deep water independent Performs backstroke turn and continues to swim for one pool length Breaststroke Makes an attempt to swim breaststroke on front Performs breaststroke in waist - deep water Performs breaststroke using correct breaststroke kick for 15 meters Performs breaststroke with rhythmic breathing for 15 meters Performs breaststroke with rhythmic breathing for one pool length Breaststroke Turn Makes an attempt to do a breaststroke turn without stopping Performs breaststroke turn in waist - deep water Performs breaststroke turn after swimming for 15 meters Performs two breaststroke turns in a row after swimming two pool lengths Butterfly Makes an attempt to swim butterfly on front Performs butterfly in waist - deep water Performs butterfly using dolphin kick for 15 meters Performs butterfly with rhythmic breathing for 15 meters Performs butterfly with rhythmic breathing for one pool length Butterfly Turn Makes an attempt to do a butterfly turn without stopping Performs butterfly turn in waist - deep water Performs a butterfly turn after swimming butterfly without stopping Performs a butterfly after swimming for 15 meters Performs two butterfly turns in a row after swimming two pool lengths Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 35 Sample Squad Training Program The following training program provides an example plan for Special Olympics aquatics athletes. The program provides coaches with a basic concept of progression of swimming skills. Of course, each coach will want to conduct his/her training program according to his/her athletes specific needs and ability levels, factoring in the facilities available and time constraints. The program takes swimmers from an introduction to the water through awareness of the four competitive strokes and individual medley. In many cases, it will take more than eight weeks to achieve this level. If possible, athletes should attempt to participate in a year-round aquatics program to attain higher levels of technical competency and fitness. The following conditions are assumed prior to starting this training program. 1. The plan is based on 60-minute training sessions in the water. 3. The plan assumes that all swimmers can swim 25 meters of freestyle and backstroke without assistance and would have learned all the skills from the Stroke Development section. 2. The plan is based on the facility being available three or more times per week. 4. The pool size used in this training example is 25 meters. However, a 50-meter pool can be used. Adjustments to the entire program may be necessary, depending on the specific team/squad situation. As a coach, if you do not have the pool time available, or your athletes are not at the level of the plan, use this as an example and a goal to work toward. Feel free to take parts of the training plan and use appropriately for your own team/squad, remembering to build up gradually and maintain a high level of responsibility and care for your athletes. Please Note: There must be a certified lifeguard on the pool deck at all times while athletes are in the pool area. Ensure that all safety precautions are taken and that a high level of duty of care be given to all athletes under your instruction. Prior to any program being conducted, it would be advisable that you have a very good idea of the levels and ability of the swimmers who will be part of your groups. A suggestion would be to conduct some tryout or assessment sessions to determine which levels are best suited for your swimmers. By doing this, you will be well prepared to start planning your weekly programs. Be aware of your swimmers ages. Remember that you may have a variety of ages in your groups, so it is important that activities be programmed that are age appropriate. If you have more than one group or squad of varying skill levels, it is suggested that you name each group/squad; for example, Level 1 or Level 2, or Squad 1 or Squad 2, or give them a name relating to a well known swimmer, etc., to distinguish groups. - The sample workouts below refer to three different group/squad levels and will give workouts for each over an eight-week period. These workouts are only an example of the type of programs that can be developed and will vary according to the number and skill level of your swimmers. Whether or not you use the following training program, be consistent in several areas. Duty of Care The safety and well being of each athlete needs to be your first priority when developing any Special Olympics aquatics training program. Any potential dangers need to be identified and action taken as soon as possible. Warm-Up Warm-up time needs to be programmed into the training session prior to entering the water. Emphasis is on raising the swimmer s heart rate, warming up muscle groups and building basic muscle strength. It is also important that swimmers are taught the correct warm-up drills. Warm-up sessions need to be supervised. Training Equipment Swimmers are encouraged to have all required training equipment with them at each training session, e.g., water bottle, fins, paddles, spare pair of goggles and cap. 36 Session Programming Training programs developed for different levels and ability groups need to be regularly assessed. Ensure that program goals are achievable. Do not set unrealistic goals. All relevant information about the training program should be made available to the athlete, family member or care giver. Information, such as the number of training sessions, dates and times, needs to be included. Stroke Technique When programming training sessions, strong emphasis should be given to the development of good stroke technique. This can be achieved through setting stroke-specific drills which are practiced at each training session. Learning through Fun Athletes learn through fun activities, so include fun activities in your training program that have relevance to the skills you are trying to develop. Positive Reinforcement As a coach, it is important that you give positive reinforcement to your athletes. Always try to speak to each athlete individually and be aware of individual personalities and group dynamics. Goal Setting Ensure that all goals set are achievable and realistic. Put in place some form of recognition such as Skill Achievement Awards or Skill Progression Awards. Setting of Boundaries Athletes need to know what their boundaries are to help ensure your training program runs smoothly and that each athlete is given 100 percent opportunity to learn. It is important that clear, concise and consistent instruction is given. Be Prepared - Be Flexible Once you have set your training program and are confident that it will run smoothly, be prepared to make changes. As a coach, you must be flexible and able to put into place alternative programs for your athletes. Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 37 Nutrition In this section, we will see how the food we eat impacts successful training and competition. Nutrition basically means all the food we eat and the beverages we consume. Food is our body s energy source which gives us our get up and go. Without it, athletic performance goes down. Hydration - Keeping Water in the Body During exercise, the body loses water primarily through sweat, even in cold weather or in water. The body has several mechanisms to protect itself from the negative effects of dehydration, but thirst does not occur until the person is already dehydrated! As small a loss as 4 percent of body weight (4 pounds in a 100 pound person) can seriously affect performance. The goal is to keep the athlete hydrated and not allow him/her to become dehydrated. The easiest way is to create a simple, routine system that all your athletes follow: \| When to Drink Water \| How Much Water to Drink \| \|---\|---\| \| Night before practice or competition \| Glass of water (8 ounces/250 milliliters) \| \| Four hours before event \| Glass of water (8 ounces/250 milliliters) \| \| 15 minutes before event \| One-half glass of water (4 ounces/125 milliliters) \| \| During event of less than one hour \| One water break \| \| During event of more than one hour \| One-half glass every 20 minutes \| \| After event \| Glass of water every three hours until next day \| Athletes need to be instructed to drink as much water as they want. However, several serious medical conditions can occur from too much water. If you are practicing in warm environments, you may need to increase the frequency of water breaks. The athlete can hydrate with several types of liquids; however, the best replacement for most events is plain water. Water Carbohydrate drinks (PowerAde, Gatorade) Mixture of one-third fruit juice and two-thirds water is best used when the activity lasts longer than one hour Calories The energy the body gets is measured in calories. Different foods provide different amounts of energy, therefore varying amounts of calories. The amount of calories a person needs depends on many factors. Our metabolic rate is the speed at which we convert food to energy. This rate can be fast, slow or moderate, depending on the athlete. For example, younger athletes require about 3,000 calories per day. This may decrease for some older athletes that have less stringent training and competition programs. All these factors determine an athlete s diet. If insufficient calories are not consumed, an athlete s performance will be negatively impacted. 38 Energy Balance Energy balance is important for successful training and competition. Nutrient Balance Nutrients have different jobs, though they work together or need the presence of others to work properly. Nutrient balance is like the energy balance. Athletes must take in all the nutrients they require to be healthy and strong in training and competition. A typical high performance diet for an athlete will provide most energy from carbohydrates, with low and almost equal amounts of fat and protein. Recommended High Performance Diet Types of Nutrients Protein main body-building nutrient Constant need for regular intake High quality: eggs, milk, fish, meat Low quality: nuts, lentils, beans Too much protein converts into energy source or stored as body fat Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 39 Carbohydrates our energy food Body s major energy source Breaks down quickly and easily in digestive system Good sources (complex): rice, corn, potatoes, beans, fruits Poor sources: white sugar, honey, soft drinks, chocolate bars Complex carbohydrates need to be main part of diet Fats slow energy food Concentrated energy source, twice as much as carbohydrates Breaks down very slowly and uses more oxygen to create energy Need small amounts for optimal health Visible fats: butter, margarine, plant and fish oils, fat on meat Invisible fats: milk, cheese, nuts, certain vegetables (vegetable fat is better for us) Vitamins most easily consumed through well-balanced diet Need small amounts daily Low levels can reduce performance Highest proportions in natural, fresh foods Fat soluble: stored in body and ready for use Water soluble: cannot be stored, must be in daily food intake Vitamin C cannot be used without iron Minerals most easily consumed through well-balanced diet Need small amounts daily Essentials: calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, iodine Iron is essential for oxygen transport throughout the body Iron cannot be used without Vitamin C Iodine controls rate that energy is released Calcium helps muscles react normally and recover from exercise Water required by the body for survival Performance is impacted immediately if water needs are not met, especially for aquatics athletes The harder you train and exercise, the more water you need Drink water often and in small amounts before, during and after competition Food contains more water than we think Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide 40 -October 2004 Fiber important though often ignored Not absorbed by body High fibers: natural plant foods Good fibers (bran): wheat, oats, brown rice Low fibers (processed foods): white flour, white sugar, white rice, white pastas Make you feel full without getting fat Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 41 42 An Aquatics Competition The competition you and your athletes experience will depend on many different factors. The meet may be a small, three- to four-team event for a practice, a regional event or state Games. The more swimmers involved, the more time the meet will take. Communicate with your teams volunteers and parents on what to expect. How long the event will be. What to expect from the athletes. There may be only certain events offered. Some meets may have electric timing, others may use watches. This information is usually included in the meet information from the hosting team. The team must arrive at least one hour before the event. The athletes need time to warm up and learn the flow of the meet (i.e., staging for competition and awards). The athletes must be aware of when their events will occur in the schedule. Teaching the Components of an Aquatics Competition 1. Have a practice meet. 3. Practice warm-ups. 2. Use the whistle and commands. Coaches Tips for Aquatics Competition At-A-Glance Tips for Practice 1. Prior to the event, advise each athlete on what events he/she will compete in. 2. Show a video of a previous meet. 3. Have athletes practice with the people on their relay team. 4. Videotape athletes at practice; have them watch themselves. 5. Obtain swimming instructional videos of strokes, starts and turns. 6. Teach athletes to rehearse each race in their heads, imagine the event. Aquatics Glossary Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 43 \| Term \| Definition \| \|---\|---\| \| Efficient Stroke Technique \| Where the best results are obtained, using the least amount of effort. \| \| Event \| Any race or series of races in a given stroke or distance. For competition limits, one event equals one preliminary or one preliminary plus its related final or one timed final. \| \| Fatigue \| Short term sensation of tiredness and reduced performance. \| \| Final \| Any single race which determines the final places and times in an event. \| \| Finalist \| Athletes who swim in a final race. \| \| Finals \| Where the final race of each event is competed. \| \| Flutter Kick \| Fast freestyle or backstroke kicks. \| \| Freestyle \| Stroke other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly. \| \| Freestyle Relay \| All swimmers swim freestyle stroke. \| \| Frontal Resistance \| This is the resistance to forward progress made by the water immediately in front of the swimmer or any part of the body. This resistance is caused by the swimmer s shape in the water. \| \| Grab Start \| The swimmer stands on the block/edge, toes curled over edge, hands holding onto block. \| \| Heats \| Division of an event in which there are too many swimmers to compete at one time. \| \| Horizontal \| Parallel with the surface of the water. \| \| Hypothermia \| Occurs when the body s core temperature drops too low. \| \| In-Water Start \| Swimmer starts in water, holds onto block with one hand, points the other in the direction of swim and pushes off wall with two feet. \| \| Individual Medley \| Event where the athlete swims the prescribed distance and strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle. \| \| Invitational Competition \| Competition in which all competitions and/or teams are invited by the host. \| \| Lane Markings \| Guidelines on the bottom of the pool and in the center of the lanes, running from the starting end to the finishing/turning end of the pool. \| \| Lateral \| Swimmer is on his/her side. \| \| Length \| Extent of the course from one end to the other. \| \| Log Book \| Record of swimmer s progress and activity. \| \| Main Set \| Main training part of a program. New skills may be introduced, skills revised along with timed set work. \| \| Medley Relay \| Four swimmers swim an equal distance in order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle \| \| Meet \| Series of events held in one program. \| 44 Special Olympics Aquatics Quick Start Guide-October 2004 45 Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Quick Start Guide Incident Report Instructions Whenever an Accident Occurs: An incident report is available from your Program office and must be completed immediately and mailed to the address shown on the form. This holds true whether the person involved is a participant or a spectator, or whether or not you feel the incident will result in a claim. Although you may not have sufficient information to answer all the questions, it is important that the form be completed as fully as possible. Do not delay sending in the report form; an incomplete form is better than none at all. Always include your name and daytime telephone number where indicated on the form. The form contains sections to capture information regarding injury to persons and damage to property. Emergency Response First - Aid Equipment Checklist: List of athletes with special conditions (asthma, diabetes, allergies, etc.) List of emergency phone numbers Adhesive bandages with gauze pads assorted sizes Antiseptic Arm sling (triangular bandage is fine) Bandage scissors Butterfly closures Cotton swabs Elastic tape White tape Elastic wraps Emergency blanket Latex gloves (multiple pairs) Plastic bags and bags for ice packs Sterile water Resuscitation (CPR) masks/face shield Corrective Action Needed: Corrective Action Taken: Access to Emergency Service: 1. Telephones and the appropriate emergency numbers are accessible Yes No 2. There is adequate passage for emergency vehicles Yes No 3. Athletes medical history forms are on-site Yes No 4. Athletes emergency contact lists are on-site Yes No Corrective Action Needed: Corrective Action Taken: 46 www.specialolympics.org e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Chapter 1 Parallel programming In fact the advent of parallel programming may do something to revive the pioneering spirit in programming, which seems to be degenerating into a rather dull and routine occupation §1 Introduction This thesis introduces a new programming paradigm called definitive (definition-based) programming, and examines its applicability to both parallel programming and the modelling of concurrent systems. The advantages that definitive programming offers are highlighted, and illustrated by worked examples. We have developed a computational model for synchronous execution of definitive programs, and a specification notation for modelling, which can be transformed into an executable simulation. We use techniques that are both cognitively and theoretically based, which in the case of the modelling of concurrent systems has the advantage of permitting both intuitive reasoning and the potential for formal analysis of behaviour. The central thesis is that definitive programming has a contribution to make to the overall goal of generating, understanding and verifying parallel programs. §1.1 Thesis outline This chapter considers how difficult it is to construct working programs, both sequential and parallel. An outline is given of existing approaches to programming, with particular reference to their applicability to parallel programming. This examination highlights certain issues, such as data dependencies, which are not effectively addressed using current techniques. The purpose of this chapter is to motivate the need for, and development of, the definitive programming paradigm which is described in the rest of the thesis - it is not required for understanding definitive programming. Chapter 2 introduces definitive programming by a description in terms of state-transition models of computation. An abstract definitive machine is outlined and used to demonstrate how definitive programming can be used for parallel programming. Chapter 3 addresses the technical issues of implementing a simulator for the abstract definitive machine. Chapter 4 gives an example of developing a program for the adm, and provides a proof that execution of the program cannot lead to interference. It also indicates some deficiencies in the abstract definitive machine, as a motivation for Chapter 5. 2 Chapter 5 describes a method for modelling and simulating concurrent systems. It introduces a specification notation called LSD, which is used to describe the behaviour of a system in an agent-oriented manner. We show how to transform an LSD specification into a family of abstract definitive machine programs. A transformed program can then be executed by the abstract definitive machine, to allow the behaviour described by the LSD specification to be simulated. Chapter 6 gives an LSD specification of a telephone system, and then transforms the specification using the techniques of Chapter 5 to produce a family of adm programs. Chapter 7 develops a program for use in an educational environment, by modelling a system using an LSD specification and then writing an executable adm program. Chapter 8 draws together the themes of the thesis. It contains an appraisal of the use of the abstract definitive machine and the LSD specification notation, a comparison between definitive programming and other paradigms, and a description of possible extensions and improvements to the adm and our method for modelling and simulation. Chapter 9 summarises the contribution of the thesis, both in terms of the advantages offered by definitive programming and a description of the issues which have not been resolved. It concludes by describing what would be the most useful future research in the area. Appendix 1 describes existing methods for describing concurrent behaviour. Appendix 2 describes what is meant by the term reactive system. Appendix 3 contains the user documentation for am, the abstract definitive machine simulator, and Appendix 4 the maintenance documentation. Appendices 5 to 8 contain testing of various example contained in the body of the thesis. Appendix 9 contains a listing of the source code for gives a glossary of terms which are used with a special meaning in the thesis. §1.2 Programming is difficult Our ability to construct large working programs has always lagged behind our capacity to envisage them. To demonstrate this we give a brief historical overview of the development of programming. When general purpose computer hardware began to appear in the 1950s, attention was focussed on the problems involved in getting these to work correctly [Dijkstra 88]. This led to many technological innovations in the physical equipment used, such as . Appendix 10 am 3 transistors, real-time interrupts, parity checks, and so on. It is probably true to say that programming skills were relegated in importance, since it was felt that more machine access and faster execution would ease the burden of coding and debugging programs for large systems. The problem of software development was, however, made very apparent in the 1960s, when correctly functioning complex general-purpose hardware systems were becoming available. The imbalance between the achievements in software and hardware technology culminated in a realisation that the computer industry was in what was termed a software crisis, a widespread inability to produce large working systems within the stated time period and financial constraints. Closely-knit teams of experienced programmers and team leaders could reliably produce smaller programs which worked [Brooks 75, p.4], although their production process did not conform closely to the traditional software life cycle model, but larger projects consistently over-ran or failed to perform correctly. Perhaps the most well-known example of this was the attempts to develop the IBM 360 series operating system [Fishman 82]. The 16 th release of OS/360, in July 1968, contained almost a million instructions, with the Fortran compiler alone containing 2000 separate errors [Randell 79]. In 1962 Bremermann [1962] applied quantum mechanical arguments to conjecture that no computer of any form (i.e. animate or inanimate) could process more than 2x10 47 bits of information per gram of its mass per second 1 . The design and implementation of large systems, however, lies far from the outer limits of computational tractability. As it was clear that the problem lay not with the hardware designers, who were already making systems whose computational power exceeded the needs of programmers, much attention was focussed on to the programming side of systems. By the late 1960s, this study of the process of developing programs had been termed software engineering. A number of reasons were advanced as the causes underlying the software crisis, including bad management, lack of facilities, lack of experienced programmers, etc. As an example, it was (quite naturally) thought that there would be some form of linear relationship between the number of people working on a system and the time it would take to produce the system. This, however, was found not to be the case [Brooks 75, p.16]. In fact, it was found that the restructuring of teams, the supply of extra resources (people, computers, administrative help), the hiring of 1which means, as pointed out in [Hayes 88], that a computer with the same mass as the earth (6x1027 grams) operating for a period equal to the estimated age of the earth (10 10 years), could process less than 10 93 bits of data. For comparison, a computer with 10 7 bits of addressable memory has 2 107 ≈10 3,000,000 possible configurations, and there are approximately 10 120 possible sequences of moves in chess. expert consultant programmers, and other restorative measures failed to alleviate the problems and produce working systems. Similarly, the causes of the delays and cost over-runs could not be attributed to any one particular phase of the traditional software life cycle model. The attention of some practitioners turned to more abstract methods of reasoning about programs. Each successive generation of computer technology has brought advances in understanding of how to properly utilise a stored program computer, and a number of approaches have been found fruitful. Attempts were made to develop programming methods which could aid the programmer in the efficient development of correctly working programs. These approaches can be split into techniques and paradigms. The techniques of programming which were developed included high level languages, structured programming, modular languages and abstract data typing. The new tools that became available helped with compiler construction [Johnson 83] and application developers (by making use of fourth generation languages). For instance, progress has been made in the field of formally specifying what a program should do without recourse to the ambiguity of an English description, verifying a computer program with reference to a specification, automatically translating a specification into an implementation, etc. Such techniques are encompassed in the phrase formal methods. The second approach to the development of correct programs involved the creation of different programming paradigms. The first high level languages, such as Algol, Fortran, COBOL, BASIC and C, were all based on the von Neumann model of computation. Pure LISP, a functional language, was released in 1957. Other paradigms include object-oriented and logic programming. In Chapter 2 we introduce a definitive programming paradigm. Selection of the most appropriate programming paradigm is an important component of software construction. §1.3 Parallel programming is very difficult In this section we outline the difficulties posed by parallel programming, and current approaches to dealing with these problems. The purpose of the section is to delimit the areas addressed within the body of the thesis. The first form of concurrent activity in a computer was introduced as a result of the high cost of processing power in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the processing time being wasted, there was a motivation to design special-purpose processors, including channel command processors (e.g. IBM 7000 series, 1959) and front-end processors, to autonomously handle interaction with the outside world, either peripherals or humans. Time sharing 5 operating systems schedule work for the processor to perform when one process 2 is blocked, i.e. waiting for input. This technique of time sharing gives rise to a multiaccess system, and has the result of freeing the central processor for other, more computationally intensive tasks. A characteristic of this early approach to concurrency is that each process had its own disjoint area of memory, and interaction between processes was mainly for the purposes of synchronisation. Therefore the fastest execution of a single process (typically a complete program) would be the time it would take the processor if that were the only process it was executing. It was soon realised that the only way to allow processes to run faster than the limitations imposed by a single processor is to allocate several processors for the execution of the program. Such a system is known as a multiprocessing system if all the processors reside locally enough that they can use memory as a shared resource, and a distributed system if information can only be exchanged over a data communications network of some form. The term parallel processing has been coined to describe any such system where more than one processor can be active amongst a group of processors at one time. Hardware advances have today made genuine parallel processing a reality in such machines as the Butterfly TM [Butterfly 85] and the Cosmic Cube [Seitz 85] Problems specific to the development of parallel programs arise at both low and high levels of abstraction. The low-level difficulty arises in trying to formulate how two concurrently active processes will interact during the computation. For instance, in a language which permits changes in the value of variables, it must be ensured that no two write operations can be concurrently performed on the same variable, since a spurious value would then result. This problem with concurrency is known as interference, and interference avoidance typically involves identifying when the same variable is accessed by different portions of code. Data dependencies indicate when two operations must be done sequentially, because one affects a value consumed (i.e. used) by the other. We address the difficulty of identifying and respecting data dependencies in Chapter 2. Other low-level concurrency-related problems include deadlock, deadly embrace, process control and scheduling, and by the end of the 1960s most of these problems had been identified. Techniques have been developed for describing the mechanism by which parallel activity is permitted, such as multithreading with a fork command (as used in the UNIX 3 operating system), critical region techniques (e.g. mutual exclusion semaphores 2 It was in the early 1960s that the word process was first introduced. [Denning 71, p.171] described it as an abstraction of the activity of a processor, which allowed the concept of "program in execution" to have meaning at any time, regardless of whether a processor was actually executing instructions from a program at that point. 3 UNIX is a registered trademark of Bell Laboratories 6 [Dijkstra 68]), and monitors [Hoare 74]. Other methods involve communication down dedicated lines, such as pipes and channels. As an example, the CSP specification language [Hoare 78] removes the burden of maintenance of the mechanism for parallel communication from the programmer by introducing input and output channels, thus focussing attention on the actual communications being made within the program. The abstractions and assumptions which are typically made in modern approaches to analysing the behaviour of concurrent programs are considered in Appendix 1. We do not directly address these other low-level problems of concurrency within this thesis. High-level problems specific to parallel programming arise in considering how to write programs for parallel machines. Most programming of parallel machines is done using modified versions of sequential languages [Baldwin 87]. It is difficult using a modified sequential language for humans to describe in a natural way how a concurrent system is to behave. In Chapter 5 we describe how definitive programming can be used to give a more cognitively oriented method of programming, whilst still retaining a clear semantics which allows formal analysis. The process of taking a sequential program and dividing it up into processes which can be run in parallel is called parallelisation. It is complex to analyse data dependencies in a sequential program, and therefore difficult to parallelise efficiently. There are two possible methods for the parallelisation of a program: * augment the sequential language to allow the programmer either to supply information to indicate which parts of the program can be executed concurrently, or to explicitly write the code for each processor. * mechanically identify the parallelisable elements of a program, and thus write compilers which will automatically transform a sequential program into one which can be efficiently run on a parallel machine. The first approach puts the onus for finding suitable parallel processing on the programmer, which only serves to add to the difficulty of producing correct code. In practice it is found to be more difficult to write and debug parallel programs than sequential ones, due to the difficulty of maintaining a coherent and consistent idea of the state of execution, lack of design tools, etc. Inherent limitations of existing paradigms make the second approach of mechanical generation of parallelised programs difficult with current techniques. We now give a taxonomy of current approaches to programming, giving a brief outline of each and commenting on their susceptibility to parallelisation. This allows an examination to be made of programming languages at an abstract level, rather than being concerned with specific details of implementation, syntax, etc. Existing programming languages can be broadly divided into two categories: procedural and nonprocedural. Procedural languages include von Neumann, object-oriented languages and constraint-based, and nonprocedural include functional, dataflow, and logic languages. §1.4 Procedural programming A procedural program explicitly describes the computation which is to be performed, but only implicitly defines the properties which the result is expected to exhibit. The description of computation is given in the form of a series of changes of program state, which must be executed in a predefined order, i.e. sequentially. This ordering of execution is important because the resultant state reached after a single computation (i.e. one program instruction) is a function not only of the instruction, but also of the state within which it was executed. §1.4.1 von Neumann languages Von Neumann languages are procedural languages which execute on a machine based on a von Neumann model of computation. A machine of this form contains a central processing unit, an arithmetic and logic unit, store, and input and output (I/O) facilities. Programs and data share the same store, and programs consist of a set of instructions to be executed sequentially. The program may use variables, labelled memory locations which can change their value in the course of program execution. Von Neumann languages include Pascal, COBOL,Cand Fortran. Many useful concepts have been introduced for such languages, including structured programming, strong data typing, modularity and data hiding. Parallel von Neumann languages exist, notably occam, which allow the programmer to explicitly delimit code segments which can be executed concurrently. Computation is state-based. The state of the system is given by the current value of all variables, and a transition between states is effected by executing an instruction. The goal of a terminating von Neumann program (i.e. one written in a von Neumann language) is expressed implicitly by specifying the transitions to be performed. In terms of a definition of a specification as being the "what is to be done" description and a program as being the "how it is to be done" description, the gap between a specification and a von Neumann program is considerable. Procedure calls can have side effects. Side effects can take several forms: changes in the value of reference 8 parameters, changes to non-local variables, performing input or output, and calls to storage allocators. Side effects make mathematical analysis of von Neumann programs complex, although an attempt has been made to categorise side effects into malignant and benign by Lamb [Lamb 88]. This corresponds to permitting several interfaces to a module, and specifying a side effect as being benign when it invisible to a client limited to that interface. There may be components within the system which have only transient existence, such as allocated memory store in a procedural program, or instantiated objects in an object-oriented program. This differs from the nonprocedural approach in that all components of the system, such as functions and equations, are in use throughout execution. Definitive programming also uses transient components. There are two forms of parallelism that can be abstracted from a procedural program: data and instruction parallelism. Data parallelism involves the processing of a number of items of data in parallel. An example of this is the code: ``` while(condition) { input(x) ; process(x) ; print(x) ; } ``` This portion of code can be parallelised to allow several items of data to be input, processed and output in parallel, provided that the procedure calls do not have side effects. As the amount of data to be processed grows, so does the speedup obtained by data parallelism - there is no upper limit. Instruction parallelism involves the execution of a number of instructions in the program concurrently. An example of this is the code: ``` a := x + (yz) ; b := x + w + (s t * u) ; c := w + x + y + z ; ``` which can be parallelised so that all three assignments are performed in parallel. As Hillis and Steele [1986, p.1182] observe, the use of instruction parallelism in a program of n instructions allows a speed-up by a factor of O(n) in the best case, i.e. when there are no data dependencies to impose any serialisation on the instructions. The allocation of more processors for a problem will, given enough data, always be useful for data parallelism, but with instruction parallelism there comes a point where the addition of further processors does not decrease the execution time. The major difficulty which has been found in the parallelisation of procedural languages is that of data dependency analysis. Static analysis of data dependencies is complex because of the unstructured way in which the system state can be changed by side effects. The analysis of data dependency must therefore be on a system-wide scale, which is not practical for larger systems. What is required is some way of defining explicitly the side effects caused by each instruction, so that data dependency analysis can be done locally, without consideration of the effects on the system state of other instructions executed in unrelated parts of the program. This explicit structuring of data dependencies is supplied by definitive programming. A further problem associated with data dependency analysis is the problem of aliasing. This is the difficulty of knowing when two instructions refer to the same address in memory. For example, if array is an array of integers, then the instructions ``` array[index1] := f(a,b) ; array[index2] := g(c,d) ; ``` can only be executed in parallel if the two aliases, index1 and index2, have a different value. When the language involves pointers this increases the difficulties, since now an in-depth analysis of the program would be required to resolve the reference. Some work has been successfully carried out on the problem of recognising aliases in array references [Bannerjee 79] [Nicolau 85], but it does not generalise to the more difficult problem of pointer aliasing. It is a very complex task to perform a complete data dependency analysis on a program which can refer to the same memory area by different names, and the general alias recognition problem is known to be undecidable. This is a limiting factor in the mechanical parallelisation of procedural programs. Data parallelism is complex. A set of data which is to have the same operation(s) performed on each element is typically iterated over using some form of loop. Whether the loop is data parallelisable depends on whether there are dependencies between the elements of data generated by each iteration of the loop. Data dependencies must take into account the problem of aliasing, but it is in iterative loops that aliasing is found most profusely. It is very hard to analyse the data dependencies between loop iterations. An understanding of the data dependencies which exist in a program is necessary for instruction parallelisation, but this seems to be very hard to accomplish within a procedural framework. The side effects associated with an instruction are a function of the state within which the instruction is executed, so there is a high degree of sequentiality inherent in the execution of a procedural program. The only time when two instructions can validly be executed concurrently is when the end result (i.e. state) is the same whatever the serialised order of their execution, which occurs precisely when there are no data dependencies existing between the instructions, a complex condition to analyse. §1.4.2 Object-oriented languages The object-oriented approach to programming uses information hiding by partitioning the variables (which define the state of the program) into distinct subsets, which are then encapsulated, along with the procedures (methods ) which access them, into objects. One aim of encapsulation is to serialise what might otherwise be potentially interfering actions on the same variable. Interaction between objects occurs through message passing, which allows an object to invoke a method in another object which might, for instance, change or print the value of one of the recipient's variables. Object–oriented languages include C++ and Smalltalk. These are sequential languages in the sense that each object in the system executes internally in a sequential manner. The execution of objects is autonomous, so there can be parallel computation in the system. The current state of execution of the system is defined by the values of all the variables and the messages which have been received, or are in transit. Messages which have been received affect the system state because they may alter how an object handles subsequent messages. Messages may be in transit because, unlike the shared variable method of communication, there may be a time lag between invoking a message and the result being visible in the object, with messages possibly interleaved in an order different to that in which they were sent. Object-oriented programming offers the ability to limit what can make changes to variables by making them local and private, and only accessible through their associated methods (i.e. procedures) in the object. The intention is to impose a structure on changes to variables, to make analysis and detection of data dependency easier. It is found, however, that analysis of the data dependencies is non-trivial even in an object-oriented environment. To analyse data dependencies requires some notion of the state of the system, and so the concern is no longer only with what variables have been changed, but also with what methods have been invoked. Putting aside consideration of messages which have been sent but not received (they can be handled using the technique of time-stamping), the difficulty in analysing what messages have been received is a problem involving synchronisation issues, which are implementation dependent. The problem is compounded by the 'cascade' effect, whereby object A invokes a method in object B which, as a result, invokes a method in object C, which affects how object C handles later invocations of its methods. Suppose after object A sends the message to object B, it sends one to object C, invoking a method whose behaviour will be changed by the arrival of the message from object B. It is then a matter of message timings as to which will arrive at object C first. Identification of the side effects of a message call (i.e. how it affects the handling of future messages) is non-trivial, because of the difficulty of following these effects across supposedly inviolable object boundaries, together with the associated problem of alias detection. Furthermore, there are cases where effective information hiding is precluded by the semantics of the application, for example when the interdependencies between variables are global. Typically, this would occur where the dependencies are context-dependent, so that they change in different states. There is no provision for this within object-oriented programming - the dependencies are "hard-wired" into the structure of the object. An example of this difficulty in successfully implementing information hiding occurs in modelling a football match. Typically, one player will be assigned to mark another, which involves staying as close as possible to the marked player. If the game was to be modelled in an object-oriented manner, then the obvious approach to data encapsulation would involve modelling each player as an object. An object would invoke a method to find the position of the other object (the marked player), and update its own position accordingly. However, at various stages of the game either player will be marking the other, so the dependencies between the objects will change. Close synchronisation between the marker and the marked player cannot be guaranteed unless certain assumptions are made about the nature (in particular the speed) of message passing in the implementation. In order to ensure synchronisation, one would have to model the pair of players as a single object. However, during a football match one player might mark several of the opposing team members. Information hiding is not well suited to applications which contain global and dynamic data dependencies, an issue which is particularly effectively addressed by definitive programming. §1.4.3 Constraint-based languages Constraint-based systems are based on the automatic or semi-automatic maintenance of relationships between objects in a system. They can be part of a procedural program or be the relationships to be satisfied in a nonprocedural program. A common use of constraints is in graphics applications, where the objects on the screen are inter-related in some way which must be maintained. The constraints are two-way, in the sense that if A and B are constrained by some form of relation between them then a change to either A or B is permitted, and the other must be updated in such a way as to maintain the constraint. A typical constraint will consist of two elements: a nonprocedural description of the nature of the constraint, and a procedural outline of how to maintain the constraint. In the context of parallel execution of a constraint-based language, both A and B (in the previous example) can be changed. This gives rise to the possibility of interference, when A and B are changed in an incompatible manner. It may not be possible to tell which procedure to invoke to re-establish the context, and indeed there may not be an appropriate procedural action. However, the data dependencies can be inferred from examination of the constraint description. We exploit this feature in the use of definitions, which are similar to uni-directional constraints. §1.4.4 Parallelism in procedural programs In summary, it appears that there are problems inherently associated with the automatic generation of parallelised code from procedural programming languages. Both instruction parallelism and data parallelism are limited by the complexity of data dependency analysis, which is compounded by the problem of aliasing. As Glaser, Hankin and Till [Glaser et al 84, p.ix] commented on procedural programming, " ...the notion of a global state that may change arbitrarily at each step of the computation has proved to be both intuitively and mathematically intractable". Definitive programming is also state-based, but the representation of changes to the state has more structure than in a procedural program. §1.5 Nonprocedural programming More mathematically based approaches to programming allow a more abstract view of computation. A nonprocedural program states what properties the required solution is to exhibit, without stating how the solution is generated. This means that the gap between a specification and a nonprocedural program should not be as large as that between a specification and a von Neumann program (§1.4.1). As nonprocedural languages only specify what is to be produced, and not how, there is no description of control flow. There is therefore no concept of the current state of computation in a nonprocedural program. Any procedural program can be written in a nonprocedural manner. This does not mean that nonprocedural programming supersedes procedural programming, since this would neglect certain features which a state-based computational model offers. For instance, the nonprocedural approach is not well suited to applications involving interaction with the operating environment, because the concept of input does not fit naturally into the paradigm. Input is often modelled as a stream of data, which is evaluated in a lazy manner. In a functional program this might be regarded as a function over time, which returns different values to represent the input value at different times. Backus [1978] distinguishes four aspects of a computational model: foundations, history sensitivity, type of semantics, and the clarity and conceptual usefulness of programs of the model. History sensitivity is defined to be the capability of a program to store information that can affect the behaviour of a later program. Pure functional programming [Backus 78, p.623], and by extension nonprocedural programming, is not history sensitive, since it requires a notion of state to preserve in some way a history of the evaluation which has been performed to date. Nonprocedural programming is not well suited to such areas as interaction, concurrency and design (e.g. CAD/CAM). §1.5.1 Functional languages Functional, or applicative, languages, are the most well-known of the nonprocedural approaches, and employ the mathematically well-understood notion of a function. Functional programs are based on lambda calculus (i.e. recursion equations), and characterise a function from the initial state to a final state. Functions are defined by the use of recursion, other functions, and values, which are in turn characterised as functions of other functions. Such programs can be strongly or weakly typed, and can employ a lazy or eager evaluation strategy. What all functional programs have in common is that all references to a variable are referentially transparent , i.e. without side effects. This means that once a function has been defined, all uses of it elsewhere in the program can have the value of the function substituted in its place. In other words, there is a notion of equality which respects substitution, such that the denotation of an expression in a program is always the same. As an example, consider a function definition of the form f x = (¬x ) ( g x y z ) In a program containing this function definition, all occurrences of because g(n,y,z) , being a (mathematical) function, will always procedural languages since f(n) can be replaced by g(n,y,z) . This is return the same value. This is not true for or y z might change value during the course of execution of the program, or evaluation of the function g() might have side effects which alter the value of f() . The changing environment of a reactive system (Appendix 2) can make application of the pure functional programming paradigm, based as it is on static functions, convoluted to program and difficult to implement. As an example, Miranda [Turner 85] [Thompson 86b] is a referentially transparent functional programming language which uses lazy evaluation in the manner of [Cartwright & Donahue 84]. Thompson [1986a] describes a method of handling interaction by treating input and output as a list, and introduce combinators for interactions. These include iterative combinators repeat and while , choice combinators switch and alt , and sequencing combinators such as seq . Their purpose is essentially to simulate their procedural counterparts. Another technique discussed is the addition of a dummy value to the input list, to allow for proper synchronisation between input and output. Whilst Turner maintains that such techniques are still susceptible to a formal mathematical analysis, it is clear that they are some distance removed from the intuition underlying functional programming. A function in a functional program is defined recursively. As Baldwin [1987, p.9] observes," ...recursive definitions introduce apparent data dependencies involving parameters to or results from the recursion. Often the dependencies are spurious, in that the order they impose on the computation is irrelevant to its correctness. Distinguishing spurious data dependencies from vital ones, however, requires deep knowledge of the algorithm... ". The use of recursion therefore make data dependency analysis complex. §1.5.2 Dataflow languages The difficulties which have been experienced with implementing parallel programs on von Neumann machines motivate an examination of languages suitable for execution on non-von Neumann architectures. Dataflow languages are based on a model of computation which uses dataflow graphs [Karp & Miller 66]. In a dataflow program an operation might be performed when the operands it requires become available. In a von Neumann machine sequential control flow dictates what instruction is executed next. A dataflow program, by contrast, involves the flow of data around the machine, which leads to a high level of parallelism. Procedural concepts such as control flow and memory locations are avoided. Lucid [Wadge & Ashcroft 85] is a dataflow language. The data dependencies for each operation can be inferred, so problems in the implementing of instruction parallelism are avoided. To exploit this parallelism, new forms of architecture have been proposed, such as a transputer-based machine called ALICE (Applicative Language Idealised Computing Engine) [Darlington& Reeve 81]. Packets of data, status information and the instructions to be executed on the data are added to a ring to which are also connected switching matrices. When a processor (i.e. transputer) becomes available, the data packet is allocated to it, and the instructions in the packet are executed. It can be difficult to ensure the switching is performed optimally, so that locality of reference (which reduces the distance a result packet must travel) is ensured. An efficient switching mechanism must take into account the time it will take to transmit a result packet, which may require annotations to the program if an optimal initial allocation of data packets to processors is to be performed at compile time. Full use of the parallelism in a dataflow language can only be made by execution on a special purpose architecture. In §3.4 we also suggest a new machine architecture to permit full exploitation of the parallelism in a definitive program §1.5.3 Logic languages Logic programming languages are particularly suited to inferring knowledge, in particular relations, implicit in a knowledge base by means of search techniques based on goals which are to be satisfied. In their pure form they are nonprocedural languages, and a program consists of testing whether a specified clause is a theorem in the logic. By far the most commonly used logic programming language is Prolog [Clocksin & Mellish 84]. A Prolog program is formulated in terms of a set of clauses which represent the available knowledge. Goals are then supplied which need to be satisfied. The clause order and goal order of a Prolog program will markedly affect the efficiency of execution, and may even lead to non-termination. These orderings dictate the order in which solutions will be found, and determine the search tree, by specifying the flow of control. The search tree indicates the different unifications which can be tried in an attempt to unify every term (i.e. every subgoal). Pure Prolog is neither sufficiently efficient nor expressive for practical usage. A number of procedural notions have had to be introduced which make programs harder to analyse formally. These measures include the cut predicate, and the read and write predicates. The cut predicate is used to prevent searches proceeding further down a search path than necessary once it is clear that no solution will be found, or to limit the number of solutions found. It does this by dynamically pruning the search tree. The read and write predicates (known as extra-logical predicates) are used to provide an input and output mechanism, a prerequisite for practical programming. They work by sideeffect, a procedural concept which makes it hard to reason about the program in a nonprocedural manner. Logic languages are very naturally suited to describing data parallelism. They express relations, not functions, so " it is no harder to describe data parallelism over "outputs" than over "inputs", simply because these terms have no real meaning to the language itself. " [Baldwin 87, p.14]. Logic programs are written at a relatively high level of abstraction, which often avoids the introduction of spurious data dependencies, as found in loops or recursion. As with procedural programs, two major forms of parallelism have emerged: explicit and implicit. Explicit parallelism is derived by augmenting the basic logic language with concurrent constructs. In general there is a concomitant obscuring of semantics associated with these languages. Examples include GHC, Concurrent Prolog and Parlog. Implicit parallelism takes advantage of parallelism which is implicit in the way searches are performed by, in theory at least, searching each part of the search tree in parallel. This has the advantages that there is no change in the syntax or semantics of the program and there is an improvement in efficiency. In other words, all the parallelisation is performed by the compiler, without any details being supplied (in the form of annotations or extra concurrent constructs) by the programmer. The possibility of shared variables in different subgoals makes parallelisation more difficult. Implicit parallelism can be subdivided into AND and OR parallelism. OR-parallelism involves matching a single goal to many clauses simultaneously. This approach has several inherent drawbacks: the possibility of a large number of clauses being matched with a single goal means that there may be a large * • processor overhead, if each process has to store the binding environment, then there may be a large storage requirement, because the granularity of the search has been reduced, many of the processors may be underused, all solutions are looked for concurrently, even if one would be sufficient. AND-parallelism involves the simultaneous resolution of several goals in a clause. The major problem associated with it occurs when there are binding conflicts, which result from two processes independently binding a shared logical variable to different values. One solution to this is to use restricted form of AND-parallelism, which only permits one goal to be active out of each set of goals which share a variable. This gives rise to the concept of a dependency graph, which specifies what goals must be satisfied before others can be matched. Another solution is to allow unrestricted AND-parallelism with "intelligent" backtracking when a binding conflict is detected. An example of this approach is the use of culprit sets, which combines unrestricted parallelism with dependency-directed backtracking. Other techniques for parallelism, such as low-level parallelism and instruction pipe-lining, have also been considered. §1.5.4 Parallelism in nonprocedural programming A nonprocedural program theoretically consists of a set of equations, formulae or functions which are sufficient to characterise the nature of the required result, without describing the evaluation strategy to be employed. It therefore appears that nonprocedural programs are easier to parallelise because, without the procedural notion of assignment, there are no side effects or aliasing problems to be dealt with. All that need be done is to divide up the work that needs to be done, such as function evaluation or satisfaction of predicates, into component parts of the required granularity. In practice, however, such a description of nonprocedural programs is incorrect: for reasons of both implementation and efficiency, the pure nonprocedural program must be augmented with other concepts which reduce the ease of parallelisation.
Digital Commons @ George Fox University Faculty Publications - Graduate School of Counseling Graduate School of Counseling 2004 Does Intervention Change Anything? New Directions in Promoting Positive Youth Development William M. Kurtines Marilyn J. Montgomery Lisa L. Arango Gabrielle A. Kortsch Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gsc Part of theCounseling Commons,Developmental Psychology Commons, and theDevelopment Does intervention change anything? New directions in promoting positive youth development William M. Kurtines, Marilyn J. Montgomery, Lisa Lewis Arango and Gabrielle A. Kortsch Abstract Although a literature on interventions that promote positive development has begun to emerge, important gaps concerning these interventions continue to exist. As part of our program of research, we have made an eﬀort to begin addressing these gaps. An overview of a research project conducted using two sets of multi-ethnic data drawn from the Miami Youth Development Project (Kurtines, Montgomery, Lewis Arango, & Kortsch, 2001) is presented. Though tentative and preliminary, the ﬁndings from the project provide preliminary evidence for the success of Changing Lives Program (CLP) in promoting positive qualitative change. Speciﬁcally, the results document a relation between participation in CLP and short-term qualitative longitudinal change in life course experiences at the individual developmental level. The basic pattern of qualitative change for participants in the CLP intervention condition tended to be positive, signiﬁcant, and in the hypothesized direction relative to nonintervention controls, suggesting that intervention does eﬀect positive change. The literature on promoting positive youth development emerged out of the recognition that interventions targeting troubled (multi-problem) youth need to do more than ''treat'' problem behaviours (i.e., symptoms) or ''prevent'' negative developmental outcomes (Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, 2000). Recent reviews of programs that promote positive youth development (for example, Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins' 1999 review of 25 well-evaluated programs) reveal an accumulation of evidence that the programs do have an impact on young people and that studies of these programs made considerable strides, including increased methodological rigour and sophistication. The answer to the question posed by the title of this paper is thus yes , but it is a qualiﬁed yes. NEW PROBLEMS AND NEW POPULATIONS: PROMOTING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT Despite the consistent pattern of overall positive ﬁndings in the literature, important gaps in research-based knowledge with respect to the impact of youth development interventions still exist. The Catalano review, for example, reported only relatively short-term (pre, post, + follow-ups) studies with outcomes evaluated in terms of magnitude of short-term quantitative change in continuous variables relative to a comparison or control condition. Indeed, consistent with criteria common to the intervention ﬁeld, this was a core component of the deﬁnition of ''well-evaluated.'' The emphasis on short-term outcome studies using quantitative measures and variable-oriented data analytic strategies that characterizes the literature on treatment, prevention, and positive development intervention programs is useful in many ways. However, it places methodological limits on the types of questions that we can ask and the types of answers that we can obtain, particularly in evaluating positive development programs that target troubled youth. We use the term ''troubled'' youth to describe the population we work with (and develop interventions for) rather than ''behaviour problem,'' ''atrisk,'' or ''normative'' youth because although the youth we work with come to our programs with problem behaviours (indeed, typically with multiple problems) and/or are at risk for multiple negative developmental outcomes, our intervention is not designed to target speciﬁc behaviour problems, risk factors, or positive domains. Thus, our programs diﬀer from treatment and prevention programs in that although our programs provide (as needed and available) selected interventions that target speciﬁc behaviour problems and risk/protective factors (e.g., substance use/abuse, risky sexual behaviours, etc.), reducing behaviour problems and modifying risk/protective factors is not our main goal. Moreover, our programs diﬀer from universal youth development programs in the USA, such as the Boy/Girl Scouts, 4H, etc., which aim at facilitating development along a developmental trajectory or life course that is already proceeding in a positive direction. In contrast to such universal youth development programs, our programs target troubled (multiproblem youth) in community settings and aim at altering or changing the course of lives that are proceeding in a negative direction. Employed as a selective intervention, the aim of our program is to alter or change the ''negative'' direction of the life course or pathway of the youth in our programs. That is, we aim to change the lives of troubled young people for the better, where ''change'' means a qualitative change in direction and where ''for the better'' is understood as positive in ways that are contextually situated (e.g., relative to each individual's speciﬁc life course trajectory at the time of entry into the program) as well as culturally, historically, and developmentally appropriate. Our goal is thus to promote positive qualitative change in participants' lives in ways that are individually, culturally, historically, and developmentally meaningful and signiﬁcant. We consequently consider our programs to be open-ended responses that target the intersection of the developmental and historical moment—changing lives in changing times (Lerner et al., 2000). THE MIAMI YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (YDP): THE CHANGING LIVES PROGRAM (CLP) The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is one of the programs currently being developed as part of the Miami Youth Development Project (YDP; http:// w3.ﬁu.edu/ydp/). The YDP is the result of eﬀorts to create a universitycommunity collaboration based on research-related principles consistent with the outreach research model, i.e., a model that focuses on generating innovative knowledge of eﬀective intervention strategies that is also palatable, feasible, durable, aﬀordable, and sustainable in ''real-world'' settings (Jensen, Hoagwood, & Trickett, 1999; Lerner et al., 2000). The CLP is school-based counselling intervention that uses a participatory learning and transformative approach to create contexts in which troubled (multiproblem) young people can change their lives for the better by taking responsibility for their lives and their communities. The CLP, now in its second decade of existence, began as a grass-roots response to an urgent and growing need in the community—the need of young people to ﬁnd themselves and to be reconnected with their lives and families. It has subsequently evolved into a broad-based community partnership. The partnership now consists of Florida International University (FIU) (http://www.ﬁu.edu/choice.html), the public research university in Miami; Communities in Schools (CIS) (http://www.cisnet.org/), a private, non-proﬁt organization that is part of a community-based national network for delivering community resources to schools; and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) (http://www.dadeschools.net/), the fourth largest school system in the United States, with community-based alternative public high schools located throughout greater Miami. CLP counselling services provided by the YDP are currently available to all of the MDCPS alternative high schools, serving approximately 200 to 250 students each year. A multi-ethnic population of youth come to the alternative schools with a history of attendance, behaviour, or motivational problems in their neighbourhood school, and many come from inner city, low-income families who live in disempowering community contexts of pervasive violence, crime, substance abuse, and limited access to resources. NEW THEORIES AND METHODS: THE CHALLENGE OF EXPANDING HORIZONS Since the mid-twentieth century, the scientiﬁc study of human developmental change has been undergoing a dramatic shift in orientation at all levels. During this period, theoretical approaches to understanding developmental change underwent dramatic change, shifting away from conceptualizing developmental change as general, universal, and unidirectional to a focus on the organism's plasticity, from a holistic or personcantered perspective, and with a view of development as selective age-graded change in adaptive capacity across the life span, from conception to old age. Theoretical challenges In this context, as our theoretical framework evolved, the CLP drew its developmental framework (i.e., theory of what changes and how it changes) from both psychosocial developmental theory (Erikson, 1968) and life course theory (Elder, 1998). Thus, we refer to our framework as a ''psychosocial developmental life course'' approach. From psychosocial developmental theory, this approach adopts a view of adolescence as the developmental stage at which the individual is ﬁrst confronted with the diﬃcult challenge (and responsibility) of choosing the goals, roles, and beliefs that give life direction and purpose as well as coherence and integration (i.e., a positive sense of identity). From life course theory, it adopts an emphasis on how individuals construct their own life course through the choices and actions they make within the constraints and opportunities of history and social circumstances. For its intervention strategies (i.e., theory of what to change and how to change it), YDP draws its theoretical framework from Freire's (1970/1983) transformative pedagogy (a pedagogy of dialogue rather than instruction) for empowering marginalized people by enhancing critical consciousness. Methodological challenges In our role as practitioners and educators, we work with young people who come to us in need of change. They ﬁnd their lives moving in directions that they do not necessarily want them to move in, and in desperate need of help to turn their lives around. As practitioners and educators, we work to create contexts in which they can ﬁnd themselves and reconnect with their lives and families. Our goal is to help them transform the negative direction of their lives—to get them launched in positive directions—and we often have the sense that we succeed. As researchers, however, we ﬁnd it diﬃcult to fully document our successes. The measures that we use in investigating our programs capture increases in indices of positive development and decreases in behaviour problems and risk factors, and the data analytic strategies we use to assess the statistical signiﬁcance of this quantitative change, but providing evidence for the type of qualitative life change that is at the heart of our eﬀorts has proved to be a challenge. Therefore, we added another, related agenda to our program of research: to contribute to advancing the methods that are available for studying developmental change by reﬁning measures for assessing qualitative life course change. MEASURING QUALITATIVE LIFE COURSE CHANGE With the goal of program evaluation, we made a systematic eﬀort to document qualitative life course change in our school based intervention in terms of the expressed meaning and signiﬁcance of the life course experiences of participants in the intervention. This has involved the adoption, adaptation, and reﬁnement of the two qualitative performance measures of self-development (both designed for indexing the expressed meaning and signiﬁcance of participants life course experiences) for use in the YDP: . The Life Course Interview (LCI) (Clausen, 1998) is an individually administered open-ended unstructured ''full'' response qualitative performance measure of self-development intended for use in conducting comprehensive qualitative analysis (with relatively small samples) focusing on the meaning and signiﬁcance of participants' experiences of identity transformations across the life course; and . The Possible Selves Questionnaire – Qualitative Extension (PSQ-QE), a qualitative extension of the Possible Selves Questionnaire (PSQ; Oyserman, 1987) reﬁned for use as a group (or individually) administered open-ended ''brief'' response qualitative performance measure of self development. The PSQ-QE is intended for use in conducting qualitative analysis (with large samples) focusing on the meaning and signiﬁcance participants' possible future selves. In addition, we have also developed a framework for the use of relational data analysis in evaluating the CLP. This framework, Relational Data Analysis (RDA), evolved out of eﬀorts to develop a practical, ready-at-hand methodological framework for moderating the methodological splits (e.g., subject – object, quantitative – qualitative, interpretation – observation, variation – transformation, nature – nurture, etc.) that have characterized developmental science (Overton, 2003). Speciﬁcally, our goal was to draw on well-established qualitative and quantitative research methods and procedures, and on relational metatheory (Overton, 1998, 2003) and its embodied person-centred approach to unifying the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research traditions. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? We conducted an RDA of qualitative change in life course experiences using two sets of multi-ethnic data drawn from the Miami YDP (Kurtines et al., 2001). The results of this study illustrate what we have learned so far and suggest future directions for research. Relational data analysis : Life Course Interview The outcome measure used for the RDA of the ﬁrst set of data for the Kurtines et al. (2001) study was the Life Course Interview (LCI). The adaptation of the LCI that we use for the Miami YDP builds on Clausen's (1998) pioneering work on the use of life reviews and life stories in life course research. The LCI is administered twice a year, once at the beginning of the fall semester as part of a pre-evaluation battery and once again at the end of the spring semester as part of the end-of-year evaluation. The data set consisted of 32 participants—22 high school adolescents who participated in the CLP and 10 control students at the same high school. For the LCI data, the audiotaped interviews yielded a total of 448 codable transcriptions records (TRs). From these, response data from 64 Personal Identity and 64 Undergoing Turning Point TRs were analyzed using RDA. The conceptual and theoretical coding phases of RDA for the Personal Identity TRs yielded four theoretically meaningful categories (Negative Identity, Diﬀused – Uncertain, Confused – Moratorium, Self-assured/Secure Identity) and associated subcategories with a moderately complex structure (see Figure 1a), providing evidence for the utility of RDA as a method for identifying theoretically meaningful categories in open-ended and unstructured interview response data. The ﬁndings also provided clear evidence for the concurrent and construct validity of the LCI when analyzed using RDA. The Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis phases of RDA were designed to be conducted by two independent sets of coders representative of two levels of ''theoretical saturation,'' theory neutral (i.e., not representative of any particular theoretical perspective) and theory laden (i.e., representative of the theoretical coders' consensual understanding of the particular theoretical perspective that they exemplify). An analysis of the exact match of the category classiﬁcations by the two sets of independent coders (i.e., the conceptual and theoretical coders) for this data set yielded 100% agreement for the Negative Identity category, 85.4% for Diﬀused – Uncertain, 85.3% Confused – Moratorium, and 81.6% Self-assured/Secure Identity. The overall agreement across all categories was 88.1%, providing strong evidence for concurrence across types of coders. Because the data were collected using a mixed (within and between) quasiexperimental comparison control design, it was also possible to evaluate the strength of the association between participation in the CLP intervention condition and qualitative changes in the hypothesized direction of positive development using variable-oriented quantitative data analytic strategies. Because the research hypothesis investigated focused on both between and within group diﬀerences (assessments repeated over time), the variableoriented data analytic procedure selected for use was a mixed design Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance (RMANOVA), with Personal Identity as the dependent variable. An RMANOVA was used to evaluate the magnitude of the association between intervention participation (yes – no) and qualitative change in identity category classiﬁcation over time (same – diﬀerent), with and without tests for potential moderating eﬀects of gender and/or ethnicity. The results indicated no signiﬁcant main eﬀect for the repeated factor time but a highly signiﬁcant time 6 condition interaction in the hypothesized direction and no signiﬁcant interaction trend for time 6 gender and time 6 ethnicity. Thus, although there were some diﬀerential patterns, the basic pattern of qualitative change for participants in the CLP intervention condition tended to be positive, signiﬁcant, and in the hypothesized direction relative to non-intervention controls. The conceptual and theoretical coding phases for Present Turning Point resulted in the identiﬁcation of three theoretical categories (Not Undergoing Turning Point, Anticipating Turning Point, and Undergoing Turning Point) and four subcategories (Negative, Neutral, Mixed, Positive Turning Point) also with a moderately complex structure (see Figure 1b). In addition, an exact match analysis again also provided evidence for the construct validity of the LCI yielding for this data set the following average percent agreement: 93.6% Not Undergoing Turning Point category; 78.8% Anticipating Turning Point; 87.5% Undergoing Negative Turning Point; 87.5% Undergoing Neutral Turning Point; 93.8% Undergoing Mixed Turning Point; and 90% for the Undergoing Positive Turning Point category. The overall agreement across all categories and subcategories was 88.4%, again providing strong evidence for concurrence across types of coders. Finally, the LTP RMANOVAs yielded a signiﬁcant time 6 condition interaction in the hypothesized direction with participants in the CLP intervention condition reporting that they anticipated or were undergoing a positive life turning point signiﬁcantly more often than participants in the control condition. In addition, the results showed no other 2-, 3-, or 4-way interactions, indicating that these results were not signiﬁcantly moderated by gender or ethnicity. Relational data analysis: Possible selves questionnaire – qualitative extension The outcome measure used for the RDA of the second set of data was the PSQ-QE, which builds on the PSQ (Oyserman, 1987). The PSQ-QE is an extension of the PSQ, adapted and reﬁned for use in our program research to provide a method for eliciting the expressed meaning and signiﬁcance of participants' possible future selves that could be used as a qualitative measure of a core component of self-development. The data set consisted of 96 participants (73 intervention, 23 controls). Of the 96 in intervention, 43 completed a PSQ-QE as part of CLP's core assessment battery during their pre (fall) evaluation, a mid-year (winter) evaluation, and a year-end (spring) evaluation. The RDA analysis included 175 TRs. The ﬁndings of the RDA analysis of the PSQ-QE data, like the LCI analysis, provided evidence for the methodological and theoretical utility of the PSQ-QE as an open-ended (unstructured) ''brief'' response qualitative index of a core component of self-development, only in this case with a measure that can be group administered to relatively large samples. The conceptual and theoretical coding phases of RDA yielded three theoretical categories (Self-oriented, Other-oriented, Other/Self) and six associated subcategories (Self-satisfying, Self-actualizing, Altruistic, Mixed Other/Self, Self-satisfying/Self-actualizing, Self-actualizing/Self-satisfying) of future possible selves, again providing evidence for the utility of RDA as a method for identifying theoretically meaningful categories in openended and unstructured interview response data. The organizational structure of the categories and subcategories was moderately complex (see Figure 1c). An exact match analysis provided evidence for the construct validity of the PSQ-QE, yielding the following average percent agreement: 95.4% Selforiented, Self-satisfying category; 87.5% Self-oriented, Self-actualizing; 92.5% Other-oriented, Altruistic; 85.6% Other/Self, Self-satisfying/Selfactualizing; 84.4% Other/Self, and Self-actualizing/Self-satisfying. The overall average percent agreement across all categories and subcategories was 89.1% PSQ-QE positive intervention gains: Pre – post change (intervention versus control) Because the PSQ-QE is a ''brief'' response qualitative index and can, consequently, feasibly be group administered to relatively a large sample across multiple conditions (intervention, control) and across multiple assessment periods (fall, mid-year, year-end), it was possible with this data set to investigate not only participant intervention gains (pre to mid-year) relative to the control condition, but also intervention maintenance (pre, mid-year, year-end) for participants in the CLP intervention condition. In addition, the additional data points also made it possible to explore more fully the complex moderating eﬀects of gender and ethnicity on CLP intervention response in this richly multicultural/multi-ethnic population of adolescents. An RMANOVA that used PSQ-QE as a dependent variable to evaluate positive intervention gains pre to post yielded a signiﬁcant time eﬀect, no signiﬁcant time 6 condition interaction, and a highly signiﬁcant time 6 condition 6 gender interaction eﬀect (p 5 .001). From Figure 2 it can be seen that for the participants in the CLP intervention condition, the basic pattern of intervention gain for the PSQ-QE paralleled that of the LCI, i.e., the directionality of the basic pattern of change was positive with qualitative change for participants of both genders and all three ethnic groups tending to change in a positive direction, in this case, from Self-satisfying to Self-actualizing/Self-satisfying, relative to the control condition. As can also be seen from Figure 2, the directionality of the basic pattern of change in the control condition from pre to mid-year was negative, with the direction of qualitative change trending from Selfactualizing/Self-satisfying to Self-satisfying. Of additional signiﬁcance from a diversity perspective, however, this basic pattern varied across gender or ethnicity, with participants of both genders and the three ethnic groups displaying diﬀerential patterns of change over the semester. For example, the females in the control condition moved in a positive direction (similar to the CLP intervention condition) while males in the control condition moved in a negative direction over the semester. The pattern of change in the control condition also showed a similar pattern of moderated change across ethnic groups. White non-Hispanics and Black/African Americans in the control condition tended to move in a negative direction over the semester while Latin/Hispanic participants tended to move in a positive direction. Maintenance of intervention gains A second RMANOVA was conducted using the 43 participants in the CLP condition to determine whether the intervention gains from pre to mid-year were maintained at year-end and to explore whether the maintenance of intervention gains was moderated by gender and ethnicity. Because the analysis of intervention maintenance involved evaluating patterns of change over more than two time points (i.e., pre, mid-year, year-end), tests of within-subject contrasts for the repeated factor time and time 6 gender and ethnicity interaction eﬀects were conducted for PSQ-QE. The use of tests of within-subject contrasts allowed for modelling patterns of individual change over time (e.g., within-group change assessed at multiple times). In modelling change, within-subject contrasts for the repeated factor evaluate the curvilinear as well as the linear component of change (i.e., quadratic), allowing for a more complex and complete examination of potential moderators of outcome diﬀerences. The tests of within-subject contrasts for the repeated factor time and time 6 gender and ethnicity interaction eﬀects indicated that the trends for the direction of qualitative change as assessed by PSQ-QE were: (1) positive from pre to mid-year and maintained at the year-end evaluation; and (2) signiﬁcantly moderated by gender and ethnicity. An examination of the tests of within-subject contrasts further indicated that while the time 6 gender and the time 6 ethnicity interactions were not signiﬁcant, there was a signiﬁcant linear component for the time 6 gender 6 ethnicity interaction eﬀect in the hypothesized positive direction. More signiﬁcant, the quadratic component was not signiﬁcant indicating that there was no signiﬁcant change in the year-end evaluation from the positive direction of the pre to mid-year change, i.e., that the positive directional change was maintained at year-end evaluation. An examination of the multivariate tests of signiﬁcance for the betweengroup eﬀects revealed the same pattern of change as for the within-group contrasts. Speciﬁcally, although the main eﬀect for the repeated factor time was signiﬁcant, the time 6 gender and the time 6 ethnicity interaction were not signiﬁcant, there was a signiﬁcant time 6 gender 6 ethnicity interaction eﬀect. Figure 3 presents the proﬁle plots of signiﬁcant interaction eﬀects for the intervention condition for the three assessment times: pre, mid-year, year-end. From the top left proﬁle plot in Figure 3 it can be seen that for the intervention condition, the positive directionality of the basic pattern of change from post to year-end was maintained. As the ﬁgure shows, although the basic trends did not increase from mid-year to year-end, they also did not decrease, i.e., the gains were maintained. What the remainder of the proﬁle plots show (and the signiﬁcant time 6 gender 6 ethnicity interaction eﬀect supports), however, was that this overall pattern was signiﬁcantly moderated by gender and ethnicity. The main source of the moderation eﬀects of pre to post change was from the diﬀerences in the pattern of change by gender and ethnicity. Figure 3 further illustrates the complex nature of this interaction. The top centre proﬁle plot, for example, shows both females and males gain over time and maintain their gains. It also shows, however, that males tended to begin the intervention groups characterizing their future possible selves as Selfsatisfying at pre and to undergo greater change in the direction of characterizing their future possible selves as realizing potentials (Selfactualizing) and/or beneﬁts to others (Altruistic) at post. The top-right proﬁle plot, the time 6 ethnicity interaction, similarly shows that all three ethnic groups gain over time and maintain their gains. It also shows, however, that Latino/Hispanic participants tended to begin the intervention least likely to be characterized as Self-satisfying and they were also least likely to make gains over time and that White non-Hispanics tended to begin the intervention most likely to be characterized as Selfsatisfying and were most likely to make gains over time. Finally, Figure 3 further shows how the pattern of change described by the two-way time 6 gender and time 6 ethnicity interactions were further qualiﬁed by the signiﬁcant three-way time 6 gender 6 ethnicity interaction eﬀect. The ﬁndings represented by these proﬁle plots are also highly suggestive with respect to the issue of amenability to treatment, which concerns the identiﬁcation of subgroups of individuals who are likely to be the most amenable or responsive to a treatment, an issue that has recently come to the foreground in the literature on the development of interventions that target young people. DISCUSSION We began by noting that the answer to the question posed by the title of this paper, ''Does intervention change anything?'' is yes, but we can now add that it is a multiply qualiﬁed yes. Young people in our intervention did change in ways that we think are positive, and RDA appears to make an important potential contribution as a data analytic framework that can detect such change (and with the potential for unifying the long-standing methodological split that has characterized the study of human development). One result of the traditional focus on short-term variational (quantitative) change rather than transformational (qualitative) change is that our knowledge about how interventions are related to the reduction of risky or problem behaviours far outstrips our knowledge of how they are related to the qualitative change in the life course prospects of the individual. That is, little is known about whether such interventions increase the likelihood of qualitative change in the life course experiences, and even less is known about the types of intervention strategies that might facilitate qualitative life course change. As part of our program of research, we consider our work on CLP a contribution to the evolution of positive youth development programs that target changing the lives in troubled youth, and our work on the LCI and PSQ-QE a contribution to the development of measures for documenting qualitative change in the expressed meaning and signiﬁcance of the life course experiences of young people. Although the data presented here are preliminary, the ﬁndings provide evidence for the success of CLP in promoting positive qualitative change. Across both measures the basic pattern of qualitative change for participants in the CLP intervention condition tended to be positive, signiﬁcant, and in the hypothesized direction relative to non-intervention controls. Although our preliminary results are qualiﬁed by indications that young people may respond diﬀerently to interventions, depending on their gender and their ethnicity, there are general trends of change that seem to be the result of our intervention. Speciﬁcally, the results document a relation between participation in CLP and short-term qualitative longitudinal change at the individual developmental level with respect to their life trajectories. With respect to the way they characterized their visions of themselves in the future, most youth initially portrayed Self-satisfying goals but tended to portray their future possible selves as realizing potentials (Self-actualizing) and/or or beneﬁting others (Altruistic) after intervention. Intervention also appeared to foster positive changes in identity (from negative and diﬀused toward self-assured and secure). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, intervention was also associated with the self-perception of a positive change in life course trajectory for many youth, who had sought our assistance in turning their lives around. REFERENCES Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H., & Hawkins, J. D. (1999). Positive youth development in the United States: Research ﬁndings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services. Clausen, J. A. (1998). Life reviews and life stories. In J. Z. Giele & G. H. Elder (Eds.), Methods of life course research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (pp. 189 – 212). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Elder, G. H. (1998). The life course and human development. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development. New York: Wiley. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton. Freire, P. (1970/1983). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder & Herder. Jensen, P., Hoagwood, K., & Trickett, E. (1999). Ivory towers or earthen trenches? Community collaborations to foster ''real world'' research. Applied Developmental Science, 3(4), 206 – 212. Kurtines, W. M., Montgomery, M. J., Lewis Arango, L., & Kortsch, G. A. (2001, May). Promoting positive youth development: Facilitating identity development in multi-problem adolescents. Symposium presented at the Society for Research on Identity Formation, London, Ontario, Canada. Lerner, R. M., Fisher, C. B., Weinberg, R. A. (2000). Toward a science for and of the people: Promoting civil society through the application of developmental science. Child Development, 71(1), 11 – 20. Oyserman, D. (1987). Possible selves and behavior: The case of juvenile delinquency. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Overton, W. (1998). Developmental psychology: Philosophy, concepts, and methodology. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), W. Damon (Series Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., pp. 107 – 187). New York: Wiley. Overton, W. F. (2003). Embodied development: Ending the nativism–empiricism debate. In C. Garcia Coll, E. Bearer, & R. Lerner (Eds.), Nature and nurture: The complex interplay of genetic and environmental inﬂuences on human behavior and development (pp. 201 – 223). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. View publication stats
Rayat Shikshan Sanstha's Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil College, Vashi Autonomous Examination Department [2021-2022] Notice 27.09.2021 All the committee members are requested to attend the Board of Examination meeting scheduled on 29.09.2021 [Wednesday] at 10.00am. Attendance is compulsory. It is mandatory for each member to remain present in the examination department for the same. [Link for the meeting: Join with Google Meet meet.google.com/ptk-gvsc-xeu Special Invitee: Hon. Dr. Vinod P. Patil Director, Board of Examination and Evaluation, University of Mumbai, Mumbai ] Agenda of meeting - 1. To approve the agenda for the BoE meeting on 29 th September 2021. 2. Reading of minutes of meeting organized on 7 th April 2021. 3. Reading of action taken report with respect to meeting conducted on 7 th April 2021. 4. Presentation on result of examinations conducted in First Half of 2021. 5. To approve various examinations to be conducted during Second Half of 2021. 6. Grace Mark issue [N.S.S. / N.C.C. etc.] 7. Any other matter with the permission of chairperson. Rayat Shikshan Sanstha's Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil College, Vashi Autonomous Examination Department [2020-2021] Minutes of Meeting 29.09.2021 The First meeting of the Board of Examination for the academic year 2021-2022 was held online on 29 th September l 2021 [Wednesday] at 10.00am under the Chairmanship of Prin. Dr. Shubhada Nayak The meeting was begun with the welcome of all the members by the Deputy Controller of Examination, Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade which was followed by the discussion of agenda item wise. \| Sr. No. \| Designation \| Name of faculty \| Department \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 01 \| Chief Controller of Examination \| Dr. Shubhada Nayak \| I/C Principal \| \| 02 \| Special Invitee \| Dr. Vinod P. Patil Director, Board of Examination and Evaluation. \| University of Mumbai, Mumbai \| \| 03 \| Deputy Controller of Examination \| Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade \| Microbiology \| \| 04 \| Vice Principal and Evaluation Expert \| Mr. Bhosale Chandrashekhar \| Commerce \| \| 05 \| Examination Committee Member \| Dr. Vivek Bhoir \| Commerce \| \| 06 \| Examination Committee Member \| Mr. Datta Bhosale \| Mathematics \| \| 07 \| Examination Committee Member \| Dr. PratibhaDevane \| English \| \| 08 \| Examination Committee Member \| Mr. Prasad Mane \| Chemistry \| \| 09 \| Examination Committee Member \| Mr. Shrikant Jakkewad \| Mathematics \| \| 10 \| Examination Committee Member \| Ms. Manisha Abhyankar \| Computer Science \| \| 11 \| Examination Committee Member \| Mr. Pandurang Akhade \| BAF \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 12 \| Examination Committee Member \| Dr. Pravin Baviskar \| Psychology \| Business: * Motion1 : from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade: To approve the agenda for Board of Examination meeting on 29 th September 2021. Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. * Agenda for the meeting 29 th September 2021 is approved without any modification. Motion 2:[from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade]: Reading of minutes of meeting organized on 07 th April 2021. Discussion: Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade read the minutes of the preceding meeting which was held on 07 th April 2021. Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. Motion 3:[from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade]: Reading of action taken report with respect to meeting conducted on 07 th April 2021. Discussion: Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade read the action taken report of the previous meeting which was held on 07 th April 2021. \| Motion with description \| Suggestions received \| \|---\|---\| \| Motion1: Approval for minutes and action taken report of the last meeting dated 24th November 2020. \| No suggestion received \| \| A. Theory: Semester End Examinations of Second Half’2020 B. Theory: Semester End Examinations of Second Half’2020 C. Theory: Semester End Examinations of Second Half’2020 \| A. Suggestions received: Preparation & provision of question bank to the students B. Suggestion received: Conduct Mock Test C. Use regular LMS Service Provider \| \|---\|---\| \| Motion 4: Report on various examinations conducted \| No suggestion received \| \| Motion 5: Presentation of Result Analysis \| No suggestion received \| \| Motion 6: To approve various examinations to be conducted during second half of 2020 \| No suggestion received \| \| Motion 7: Any other matter with the permission of chairperson \| No suggestion received \| Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. Motion 4 [from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade]: Presentation on result of examinations conducted in First Half of 2021 Discussion: Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade detailed on report of result of examinations conducted in First Half of 2021. She mentioned that as per guidelines in the circular of Examination given by University of Mumbai, Mumbai college has conducted the following examinations and the results are as mentioned in table below\| Sl. No. \| Program Name \| Declaration date of the result \| Passing Percentage [%] \| Sl. No. \| Program Name \| Declaration date of the result \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| S.Y. B.Com. \| 05/27/2021 \| 65.28 \| 21 \| M. Com. Part II \| 06/28/2021 \| \| 2 \| T.Y. B.Com. \| 05/28/2021 \| 77 \| 22 \| M.A. Psychology Part II \| 06/30/2021 \| \| 3 \| S.Y.B.B.I. \| 05/27/2021 \| 79.66 \| 23 \| M.Sc. Microbiology Part II \| 07/05/2021 \| \| 4 \| T.Y.B.B.I. \| 05/28/2021 \| 96 \| 24 \| M.Sc. Physics Part II \| 06/28/2021 \| \| 5 \| S.Y.B.A.F. \| 05/27/2021 \| 89.92 \| 25 \| M.Sc. Part II Information Technology \| 06/29/2021 \| \| 6 \| T. Y.B.A.F. \| 05/28/2021 \| 94.44 \| 26 \| M.Sc. Part II Bio-analytical Sciences \| 06/30/2021 \| \| 7 \| S.Y.B.M.S. \| 05/28/2021 \| 83.09 \| 27 \| M.Sc. Part II Computer Science \| 06/29/2021 \| \| 8 \| T.Y.B.M.S. \| 05/29/2021 \| 80.31 \| 28 \| M.Sc. Part II Mathematics \| 06/29/2021 \| \| 9 \| S.Y.B.A. \| 05/28/2021 \| 61.22 \| 29 \| M.A. Part II Business Economics \| 06/30/2021 \| \| 10 \| T.Y.B.A. \| 05/29/2021 \| 94.79 \| 30 \| M.A. Part II Geography \| 06/30/2021 \| \| 11 \| S. Y. B. Sc. \| 05/28/2021 \| 71.11 \| 31 \| F.Y.B.B.I \| 05/28/2021 \| \| 12 \| T.Y.B.Sc. \| 05/29/2021 \| 97.93 \| 32 \| F.Y.B.Com. \| 05/28/2021 \| \| 13 \| S.Y.B.Sc.I.T. \| 05/26/2021 \| 64.08 \| 33 \| F.Y.B.A.F. \| 05/28/2021 \| \| 14 \| T.Y. B.Sc.I.T. \| 05/31/2021 \| 77.78 \| 34 \| F.Y.B.M.S. \| 05/29/2021 \| \| 15 \| S.Y. Biotech . \| 05/29/2021 \| 96.67 \| 35 \| F.Y.B.A. \| 05/29/2021 \| \| 16 \| T.Y. Biotech \| 05/31/2021 \| 100 \| 36 \| F.Y.B.Sc. \| 05/29/2021 \| \| 17 \| S.Y.B.Sc. Computer Science \| 05/29/2021 \| 100 \| 37 \| F.Y.B.Sc.I.T. \| 05/31/2021 \| \| 18 \| T.Y.B.Sc. Computer \| 05/31/2021 \| 100 \| 38 \| F.Y.B.Sc. Biotechnology \| 05/31/2021 \| \| \| Science \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 19 \| S.Y.B.VOC. \| 05/29/2021 \| 89.74 \| 39 \| F.Y.B.Sc. Computer Science \| 05/31/2021 \| \| 20 \| T.Y. B. VOC. \| 05/31/2021 \| 100 \| 40 \| F.Y.B.Voc. \| 05/31/2021 \| Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. Motion 5 [from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade]: To approve various examinations to be conducted during Second Half of 2021. Discussion: Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade presented the various examinations to be conducted during Second Half of 2021. Examination Planning 2021-22 Second Half 2 T.Y.B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., Self Finance Courses, Vocational Course S.Y.B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., Self finance courses, Vocational Course A.T.K.T. Examinations of Semester I, II, III, IV, V, and VI [UG Course] and Semester I, II, III and IV [PG Course] August' 2021, [Second Week] M.A., M.Com., M.Sc. ATKT Practical Examination August ' 2021 [ Third Week] September' 2021 [Second Week] Declaration of ATKT Examination Results 3 Notice and Notification of Time Table to the Students: Semester End Examination: September' 2021 [Third Week] S.Y.B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., Self finance courses, Vocational Course Semester End Examination of Semester III and V [UG Course] and Semester- III [PG] October' 2021 [Second Week] T.Y.B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., Self Finance Courses, Vocational Course M.A., M.Com., M.Sc. Practical Examinations Semester III and V [UG Course] and Semester- III [PG] October' 2021 [Forth Week] Declaration of Semester End Examination Results November ' 2021 [Forth Week] Notice and Notification of Time Table to the students: Semester End examination : October' 2021[Forth Week] F.Y.B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., Self finance courses, Vocational Course Semester End Examination of Semester I [UG and PG Course] December' 2021 [First Week] M.A., M.Com., M.Sc. Practical Examinations Semester I [UG Course] and [PG Course] December' 2021 [Second Week] Declaration of Semester End Examination Results January' 2022 [First week] Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. Motion 6[from Dr. Vivek Bhoir]: Grace mark issues [N.S.S. / N.C.C.] Discussion: Dr. Vivek Bhoir asked for the suggestion on Grace mark issues [N.S.S. / N.C.C.] Hon. Vinod Patil sir suggested to follow the University Ordinance 0.229 and implement Grace Mark accordingly. Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. Motion 7 [from Dr. Rajeshri Ghorpade]: Any other matter with the permission of chairperson Discussion: Hon. Vinod Patil sir suggested to conduct Semester End Examination [Semester V] of Third Year for Self Finance Courses by summative pattern and not by Multiple Choice Question pattern. Hon. Principal Dr. Shubhada Nayak madam suggested to get the approval from Hon. Vinod Patil sir of Revised Examination Manual consisting of Online Examination Policy document Vote: All in favor. Resolved: Motion carried. The meeting was concluded by proposing the vote of thanks by Dr. Vivek Bhoir
The Brexit Nightmare: An Interview With Malcolm Sawyer It's been more than two years since citizens in U.K. voted 48 to 52 for a split from European Union. Yet, the conservative government of Theresa May is still trying to come up with a workable Brexit plan, one that some may describe as allowing the U.K. to have the cake and eat it at the same time. Moreover, public opinion in U.K. remains sharply divided over Brexit, and this includes members of the Labour party itself, with some trade union leaders and Labour representatives even warming up to the idea of a second referendum. Will Theresa May's government be able to deliver an agreement before the U.K's exit date, which is set for March 2019? Will Labour vote down May's Brexit deal? And what will the British economy look like in the post-Brexit era? The renowned British economist Malcolm Sawyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Leeds University, sheds light on the Brexit conundrum in an exclusive interview below with C. J. Polychroniou. C. J. Polychroniou: Professor Sawyer, let's begin by asking you the most basic question, which is: what's really holding up Brexit talks? Malcolm Sawyer: There are the sheer complexities of unravelling the involvement of the UK in the European Union built up over 45 years, and the need for agreement over issues ranging from EU citizens rights in UK (and vice versa) after Brexit, the financial obligations of the UK on withdrawal, security cooperation, the nature of future trade relations etc. There are the divisions within the government and the Conservative Party over the issues of the EU and leave or remain. There are basic differences between those who view Brexit in terms of 'taking back control' with little regard for economic costs involved and those who were Remainers seeking close trade ties and other co-operation with the EU after exit. It is then very difficult if not impossible to satisfy both and to arrive at any compromise. Theresa May's Brexit plans have been facing a lot of opposition from rebels in her own party all along, but now it seems that even the Northern Irish party that is propping up her government is making it difficult for the Prime Minister. Is it possible that U.K. could leave the bloc without any Brexit deal at all? The process of UK leaving the EU involves two stages – the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, sometimes seen as akin to a divorce settlement, which has to be settled within 24 months of the start of negotiations under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon which means end of March 2019. The second stage will involve finalizing the future relationships between UK and the EU27 across a wide range of issues though the focus has been on the trade relations (e.g. a free trade area agreement, form of customs union), though it is intended that the broad outlines will be included in the withdrawal agreement. The intention has been for a 21 month transition or implementation period with further negotiations to establish the post-Brexit relationships. A no-deal situation had been used to refer to no specific trade deal between UK and EU27, with trade between UK and EU27 operating under WTO arrangements with the tariffs charged by UK (EU27) on EU27 (UK) goods the same as charged by UK (EU27) on goods from countries with whom there was no specific trade agreements. More recently no-deal has come to mean no withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK, and hence the UK leaving at the end of March 2019 without any agreements over the nature of future relationships. Customs posts and checks would have to be quickly put into operation involving collection of new sets of tariffs and disruption to the just-in-time supply chains across countries, combining to lead to shortages in some key areas (agricultural products, pharmaceuticals often mentioned) and disruption of production. It is clearly possible that UK to 'crash out' of the EU at the end of March 2019. A failure of the UK government to agree the withdrawal agreement with the EU, or a prospective agreement which is then rejected by the UK Parliament, would put the UK firmly on that path, and the chances of one of those coming to past looks to be significant. Has Labour's stance on Brexit changed? There are many currents of opinion within the Labour Party ranging from some Brexit supporters (including some Lexit with opposition to the neo-liberal nature of the EU), through leavers and some remainers who accept the result of the referendum and seek a close and co-operative relationship with the EU and onto remainers who push to reverse the result of the referendum. The position of the Labour Party has been to accept the referendum result and hence support the triggering of Article 50 and the process of leaving the EU – a position from which 47 Labour MPs dissented when the vote was put in Parliament. And six tests on the acceptability of withdrawal and subsequent agreements were set out as early as March 2017 as the triggering of Article 50 took place, though the tests have received rather little political attention until recently. The six tests are: "1. Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU? 2. Does it deliver the "exact same benefits" as we currently have as members of the Single Market and Customs Union? 3. Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities? 4. Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom? 5. Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime? 6. Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?" From the tests the negotiating stance which the Labour Party would have adopted if it had been in power can be inferred. Question marks hang over those tests including the feasibility of securing the benefits of the Single Market without being members of the Single Market (as in effect Norway and members of the European Economic Area are) which in turn would probably require budgetary contributions and acceptance of free movement of labour. The stance has had to evolve to take account with the ways in which the negotiations between UK and EU have proceeded and now the prospects of a nodeal or a deal which is unacceptable (particularly with regard to the so-called Chequers proposals) for the relationships between the UK and the EU27 after the UK leaves. The support for a customs union with the EU has become more evident and the opposition to the type of withdrawal agreement which is being advanced by the UK government. What has been the impact of the Brexit vote on UK's economy so far? The impact on economic activity has been negative though not as large as some were predicting before Brexit. The immediate effect was the decline in the exchange rate of sterling which fell immediately after the referendum vote in June 2016 by the order of 12 per cent against the euro and dollar, and the lower exchange rate has been largely maintained. This fall has contributed to some degree to higher inflation and provided some limited stimulus to net export. Before the referendum, some economists were forecasting economic slowdown — even recession of two quarters of negative growth. Although unemployment has continued to decline, UK economic growth has slowed by comparison with the recent record and with growth in the G7, and output looks to be around 1 per cent lower than it would have been without the Brexit vote. Is there any chance that Brexit will be cancelled? It is very difficult to envisage the political routes through which the cancellation of Brexit could arise. Cancelling Brexit would require a decision to withdraw the UK's notice of intention to leave the EU (the Article 50 process), and this would have to occur well before 29th March 2019 (the date set for withdrawal). This would clearly require the reversal of the government and the Labour opposition's position of accepting the referendum result of June 2016. It looks impossible that such a reversal would happen under the present Conservative government, whether led by May (whose position looks increasingly precarious) or a replacement. And even if it did, the political and social consequences with large protests and civil disobedience do not bear thinking about. What will be Brexit's long-run effects on the UKs economy? There would be many factors will influence the long-run effects (over say one to two decades) on the economy of the UK and its people, though two stand out. First, the nature of the trading relationship between the UK and the EU 27 (the remaining members of the EU after UK exit)—whether close relationship with the internal market, customs union, free trade area or WTO rules. The macroeconomic modelling of bodies such as Treasury, IMF, OECD have generally argued that there would significant effects on output and incomes, with output being lower than it would have been of the order of up to 5 per cent spread over several years, and depending on the nature of post Brexit trading relationships between EU and UK. However, the work of Gudgin, Coutts, Gibson and Buchanan (2018) put the loss of output as much lower. They find that "in the baseline Brexit scenario …GDP is a little higher up to 2020 as the lower exchange rate and interest rates offset the negative impact of uncertainty. After 2020 the loss of trade results in GDP falling below the pre-referendum trend, ending up in 2025 some 1.2% below the pre-referendum forecast. Part of this reduction in GDP comes from lower migration. As a result, there is less of a fall in per capita GDP which ends up 1.5% lower in 2025 but becomes higher than in the prereferendum forecast by 2030." I'm inclined towards those much lower estimates: the establishment of the single market in 1992 with the moves to remove nontariff barriers for trade between EU member states does not appear to have had a significant boost, and think that reversal of membership of the internal market (which is a key element in UK leaving EU) would likewise have little long-term effect. This is a reflection of what Paul Krugman called 'economists little secret' – that while lowering trade barriers bring some gains they are rather small. And in the case of Brexit, the rise in tariffs between UK and the EU would be rather small – from the present zero level to average of 2 to 3 per cent, and there could be some reductions in tariffs depending on trade deals between UK and other non-EU countries. I also take the view that lowering or raising barriers to trade has little long-term effect on employment levels, which depend on the level of aggregate demand. This is not to say that the changes in trade arrangements do not cause disruption with declines in output and employment in some sectors which are potentially offset by rises elsewhere. A 'botched' Brexit which does not address the impacts of its uncertainty on investment and which does not ease the adjustment processes would have not only short-term detrimental effects but could set the economy on a negative path. Second, a great deal depends on the economic and social policies which the UK government pursues in the aftermath of Brexit. The range of policies which have been advocated by the right wing free market Brexiters (notably the European Research Group of some 50 Conservative MPs) would have wide ranging detrimental effects, though the advocates would claim significant benefits from 'being unshackled from the European Union'. A de-regulation agenda with attacks on workers rights and product standards, and a tax cutting agenda on corporation tax and further shifts to a regressive tax regime would be pursued. Trade policies would be pursued seeking trade deals (notably with the USA) which lowers consumer protection standards and opens up NHS to privatization. The inevitably disruptive effects of changing trade regimes following Brexit would lower output and tax revenues, followed by tax rises to 'balance the budget'. In contrast, fiscal and monetary policy could be used to boost demand to offset disruptive effects of Brexit and maintain high levels of employment. The UK government contributed £18.6 billion to the EU budget in 2017 of which nearly £9 billion returns to the UK through agricultural support, regional and structural funds and research support. There would be the opportunity to recast agricultural policies. Regional and structural funds could added to and used more effectively. In the early years following Brexit there would be transitional payments (estimated to be of the order of £38 billion), spread over a number of decades but concentrated in the first years, and there would not be a financial gain to UK budget from Brexit until 2022, but would be thereafter. If the fiscal decision was made, that the equivalent of £9 billion (around ½ per cent of GDP) were now spent domestically rather than 'sent to Brussels', there would be a domestic stimulus, which would also mean tax revenues higher and hence overall impact of £9 billion expenditure on budget deficit much smaller than £9 billion. This would also represent a (relatively slight) improvement in the current account deficit. A vigorous agenda to ease the adjustment processes, alongside enhanced regional policies, and policies for industrial support and worker protection would be highly beneficial, though most of those could be implemented within membership of the EU. Reference Gudgin, G., Coutts, K., Gibson, N., and Buchanan (2018). "The macro-economic impact of Brexit: using the CBR macro-economic model of the UK economy (UKMOD), Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics, vol. 6(2), pp. 7-49, doi:10.22381/JSME6220181 C.J. Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who has taught and worked in universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. His main research interests are in European economic integration, globalization, the political economy of the United States and the deconstruction of neoliberalism's politico-economic project. He is a regular contributor to Truthout as well as a member of Truthout's Public Intellectual Project. He has published several books and his articles have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, newspapers and popular news websites. Many of his publications have been translated into several foreign languages, including Croatian, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. He is the author of Optimism Over Despair: Noam Chomsky On Capitalism, Empire, and Social Change, an anthology of interviews with Chomsky originally published at Truthout and collected by Haymarket Books.
Molecular characterization, sequence variation and association with fat deposition traits of ACOX1 gene in pigs * B. Zuo, H. Yang, J. Wang, M.G. Lei and Y.Z. Xiong 1 Key Laboratory of Swine Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture & Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China (Received 1 March 2007; revised version 6 June 2007; accepted 6 September 2007) ABSTRACT Preoxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1) catalyses the beta-oxidation of very long chain fatty acids and thus plays an essential role in fatty acid degradation. The objective of this study was to clone a gene encoding ACOX1 and to characterize its association with fat deposition in pigs. The complete coding sequence was 1986bp and encoded a protein of 661 amino acids including the carboxyl-terminal sequence (Ser-Lys-Leu) known as a minimal peroxisome-targeting signal. The predicted porcine ACOX1 amino acid sequence shared 88, 84, 81, 86 and 78% identity to that of human, mouse, rat, bovine and chicken counterparts, respectively. The A/C polymorphism in intron 9 was detected by PCR-PstI-RFLP and the allele frequencies of this polymorphism were signiﬁcantly different between Chinese fatty type pig breeds (Meishan, Erhualian, Tongcheng and Qinping) and western commercial pig breeds (Landrace, Large White and Duroc). The association analysis between the A/C polymorphism and carcass traits in 298 Large White × Meishan F 2 offspring showed that the single genotype polymorphism (SNP) genotype was signiﬁcantly associated with traits related to fat deposition such as backfat thickness and carcass fat percentage. The ACOX1 gene was widely expressed in the tissues examined by semi-quantitative reverse transcription (RT) PCR, with the highly abundant in liver, kidney and fat. The present study offered preliminary evidence to further determine the role of the ACOX1 gene in pig fat deposition. KEY WORDS: acyl-CoA oxidase 1, palmitoyl, peroxisomal (ACOX1), SNP, fat deposition, pig * Supported by National Secnce Foundation of P.R. China, 30500358, the National "973" Program of P.R. China, 2006CB102102, the National High Technology Development Project, 2006AA10Z1D6 and Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, 2005ABA142 1 Corresponding author: e-mail: email@example.com INTRODUCTION Peroxisomal beta-oxidation of fatty acids is catalysed by enzymes that are immunologically distinct from the analogous mitochondrial enzymes. Preoxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1) is the ﬁrst and rate-limiting enzyme in the peroxisomal beta-oxidation pathway catalysing the desaturation of acylCoAs to 2-trans-enoyl-CoAs, thereby producing H 2 O 2 (Fournier et al., 1994; Li et al., 2000). Fan et al. (1998) found that homozygous ACOX1-null mice were viable, but growth-retarded and infertile. Expression of the ACOX1 gene was signiﬁcantly increased in male mice fed a high-fat diet, compared with a low-fat diet (Kim et al., 2004). The human ACOX1 gene was located at 17q23-qter by PCR analysis of human/rodent hybrid DNAs (Moghrabi et al., 1995). The porcine ACOX1 gene was physically mapped to SSC12p11-2/3p13 using somatic cell hybrid mapping and was most closely linked to SW2494 (LOD=5.32) by radiation hybrid mapping analysis (Cirera et al., 2003), where signiﬁcant quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting average daily gain, birth weight, backfat thickness and fatty acid composition have been reported in several experiments (Casas-Carrillo et al., 1997; Knott et al., 1998; Clop et al., 2003; Yue et al., 2003). Thus, the ACOX1 gene is a potential positional candidate gene for traits related to fat deposition, given its role in the metabolism of fatty acids. The aim of this study was to examine ACOX1 as a candidate gene for fat deposition and carcass traits. To achieve this target, we characterized the nucleotide sequence and transcription proﬁles of the pig ACOX1, performed screening of ACOX1 for polymorphisms, and examined associations with carcass traits in a Large White × Meishan pig cross. MATERIAL AND METHODS Ampliﬁcation and sequencing of the pig ACOX1 mRNA Total RNA was isolated from longissimus dorsi muscle samples of Landrace pigs using Trizol reagent (Invitrogen, USA). One microgram of treated total RNA was used to synthesize the ﬁrst-strand cDNA using superscript reverse transcriptase and oligo (dT) primer (Promega, USA) following the manufacturer's instructions. To obtain ACOX1 cDNA, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) database mining was performed with BLASTN using the obtained sequence information of the mouse ACOX1 gene (NM_015729). Several partially porcine ESTs highly identical to the ACOX1 sequence (CB285697, BC288205, BI403700, BE232949, BI184671) were selected. From those EST sequences, primer pairs AC-1 and AC2 were designed using Primer 5.0 software (Table 1). PCR was performed in a 25 μl reaction mixture containing: 1× PCR buffer, 1.5 mM MgCl 2 , 150 μM of each dNTP, 0.25 μmol of each PCR primer, 2 units of Taq DNA polymerase (Biostar International, Toronto, ON, Canada), and 2 μl cDNA derived from the longissimus dorsi muscle. PCR was run in GeneAmp PCR system 9600 thermocycler (PerkinElmer Co., USA) with the following cycling conditions: 95°C initial denaturation for 4 min, 35 cycles of 95°C denaturation for 50 s, optimal temperature annealing for 50 s, and 72°C extension for 1 min. A ﬁnal extension was performed at 72°C for 10 min. Table 1. Primers used for ampliﬁcation of ACOX1 gene The PCR products were fractionated on a 1.0% (W/V) agarose gel, and selected bands were puriﬁed using a gel extraction kit (Sangon, Shanghai, China). The puriﬁed PCR products were ligated into the pGEM-T vector (Promega, USA) and transformed into DH5α competent cells (Lingfei Company, Wuhan, China). Cloned PCR products were sequenced by Sangon Company (Shanghai, China). Bioinformatics analysis Nucleotide BLAST programs at NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ BLAST/) were used for sequence homology searches in the public database. The ORF ﬁnder (http://www. ncbi.nlm.nih/gov/gorf/gorf.html) was used to deduce the amino acid sequences. The deduced amino acid sequence was analysed at the ExPASy Molecular Biology Server (http://au.expasy.org/). The instability index was calculated according to the method of Guruprasad et al. (1990). The protein hydrophilicity plot was produced employing the Kyte-Doolittle analysis (http:// www.vivo.colostate.edu/molkit/hydropathy/index.html). The prediction of protein localization sites in cells was performed at PSORT WWW Server (http://psort. ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/form2.html). Amino acid sequences were aligned using Clustal W, version 1.8 multiple alignment program. Identical amino acids are enclosed by black and conservative by gray boxes using the BOXSHADE 3.21 program (http://www.ch.embnet.org/software/BOX_form.html). Polymorphism discovery and PCR-RFLP genotyping To screen for polymorphisms in the ACOX1 gene, partial genomic sequences of ACOX1 were obtained from genomic pools of several pig breeds (Large White, Landrace, Tongcheng, Qingpin, Meishan, Erhualian) using primer pairs AC-3, AC-4 and AC-5. The genomic pools consisted of DNA samples of ﬁve individuals per breed. PCR ampliﬁcations were performed on a GeneAmp PCR system 9600 thermocycler (Perkin-Elmer Co., USA) in a ﬁnal reaction volume of 25 μl consisting of approximately 50 ng of genomic DNA, 1.5 mM MgCl 2 , 150 μM of each dNTP, 0.25 μmol of each primer and 1.5 units of Taq polymerase in a 1× PCR buffer. After an initial denaturation step at 95 °C for 5 min, the reaction mixture was subjected to the following PCR conditions: 35 cycles of 94°C for 45 s, optimal temperature for 45 s, and 72°C for 45 s, plus a ﬁnal extension at 72°C for 10 min. PCR products were puriﬁed with a gel extraction kit (Sangon, Shanghai, China) and bidirectionally sequenced to identify polymorphisms in the ACOX1 gene. The PCR-PstI-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used to verify the presence of the A/C polymorphism identiﬁed at position 374 (the fragments ampliﬁed by primer pair AC-4). In order to improve the efﬁciency of detection, primer pair AC-6 was designed according to the sequence obtained using primer pair AC-4. The PCR was performed using 50 ng of genomic DNA in a ﬁnal volume of 25 μl. The thermal proﬁle was as follows: 95°C for 3 min, 35 cycles of 95°C for 30 s, 61°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 45 s, with a ﬁnal extension at 72°C for 10 min. Ampliﬁcation products (8.5 μl) were digested with 0.5 μl of PstI retriction enzyme (10 U/μl) in a 10 μl volume, and the genotypes were determined by analysis of the digestion products on 2.5% agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. Allele frequencies for PCR-RFLP were studied in three commercial pig breeds (Large White, Landrace, Duroc) and four Chinese indigenous pig breeds (Meishan, Erhualian, Qingping, Tongcheng pigs). mRNA expression of the ACOX1 gene Total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were carried out as described above using spleen, lung, liver, kidney, small intestine, muscle, heart, fat and stomach samples. The samples were collected from three LargeWhite × Meishan crossbred pigs and pooled. Primer pair AC-1 (Table 1) was used for reverse transcription (RT) PCR. The porcine housekeeping gene (G3PDH) speciﬁc primers (Table 1) were used for ampliﬁcation as an internal control. PCR products were separated by electrophoresis on 1.2% agarose gels and visualized by ethidium bromide staining. To validate the results, the RT-PCR was repeated. Electrophoresis band intensities of the PCR products were quantiﬁed using Bandscan software. Mean ACOX1 mRNA expression levels normalized against the corresponding G3PDH were presented. Animal material, traits measurement and association studies The population used in the association analysis consisted of an F 2 population involving Large White and Meishan cross pigs (Zuo et al., 2005; Dai et al., 2006). The pedigree was formed by 298 F 2 , 54 F 1 and 21 grandparent animals in 37 families. The average weight at slaughter was 87.0±7.07 kg. The F 2 pigs were slaughtered at 2000 and 2003 following a common protocol (Xiong and Deng, 1999). The fat deposition and carcass traits were as follows: dressing percentage (DP, %), carcass length (CL, cm), skin percentage (SP, %), bone percentage (BP, %), fat percentage of carcass (FP, %), lean meat percentage (LMP, %), ratio of lean to fat (RLF), backfat thickness at shoulder (BFT1, cm), backfat thickness at 6-7th rib (BFT2, cm), backfat thickness at thorax-waist (BFT3, cm), backfat thickness at buttock (BFT4, cm), average backfat thickness (ABT, cm), leaf and caul fat percentage (LCFP, %), loin eye height (LEH, cm) and loin eye area (LEA, cm 2 ). The association between genotypes and traits was performed with the GLM procedure of SAS version 8.0 software package (SAS Institute, Cary, NC.). The statistical model was assumed to be: where: T ijkl is the observed values of a given trait; µ is the overall mean; s i is effect of sex (i=1 for male or 2 for female), y j is the effect of year (j=1 for year 2000 or 2 for year 2003), g k is the effect of genotype (k=AA, AB and BB), f l is the effect of family (l=37); b ijkl is the regression coefﬁcient of the slaughter weight, X ijkl is the slaughter weight, and e ijkl is the random residual. Both additive and dominance effects were estimated using the REG procedure of SAS version 8.0, where the contrast coefﬁcients for the additive effect were denoted as -1, 0 and 1 for AA, AB and BB, respectively, and the contrast coefﬁcients for the dominance effect was denoted as 1, -1 and 1 for AA, AB and BB, respectively (Liu, 1998). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The AC-1 and AC-2 RT-PCR products were cloned into vector pGEM-T and sequenced. Sequencing results showed that the sizes of the AC-1 and AC-2 PCR products were 1996 bp and 276 bp, respectively. These two overlapping cDNA were assembled into one 2022 bp cDNA and deposited into the Genbank database under the accession number DQ842227. The composite pig AOCX1 cDNA contained 20 bp of the 5'-UTR region, 1986 bp of coding sequence and 16 bp of the 3'-UTR region. The pig ACOX1 mRNA coded for a protein of 661 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 74829.5 Da and theoretical pI of 7.13. The protein had a total of 70 negatively charged residues and 69 positively charged residues. The calculated instability index was 44.57 classifying the protein as unstable with an estimated half-life of 30 h in mammalian reticulocytes in vitro. The porcine ACOX1 polypeptide sequence exhibited 88, 84, 81, 86 and 78% identity to that of human, mouse, rat, bovine and chicken counterparts, respectively. According to the exon/intron organization of the human ACOX1 gene, three PCR primer pairs (AC-3, 4 and 5) were designed to amplify introns 8, 9 and 12 of genomic pools representing commercial pig breeds and Chinese indigenous pig breeds. The PCR products were bidirectionally sequenced. Sequencing results showed that the sizes of the AC-3, AC-4 and AC-5 PCR products were 994 bp, 746 bp and 300 bp for Meishan pigs, respectively. The above gapped sequences of different pig breeds have been deposited into the GenBank database under the accession numbers: DQ842229 (exon 8-9, 9-10, 12-13 of Landrace), DQ842230 (exon 8-9, 9-10 of Large White), DQ842231 (exon 89, 9-10 of Meishan), DQ842226 (exon 8-9 of Erhualian), DQ842232 (exon 910, 12-13 of Tongcheng) and DQ842228 (exon 9-10, 12-13 of Qingping). The Kyte-Doolittle hydrophobicity analysis revealed that the porcine ACOX1 protein was mainly hydrophilic. The protein had no potential signal peptide suggesting that it might be non-secretory. The predicted protein localization site in cells was peroxisome. The peroxisomal acyl Co-enzymeA oxidase (branched chain) 72-kDa subunit was cleaved into the 50 and 22-kDa subunits after import into peroxisomes (Baumgart et al., 1996a,b). The region of the acyl-CoA oxidase 72-kDa subunit cleaved (proteolytic cleavage between Val468 and Ala469) (Miyazawa et al., 1987) was also conserved in the ACOX1 protein of all six species (Figure 1). The consensus sequence for a Ser/Thr dehydratase pyridoxalphosphate attachment site (LVDINSLDSLTEAYKLRAARLVEI) was present in the ACOX1 of the six species (Figure 1). The C-terminus of pig AOCX1, like other species counterparts, contained an SKL motif. This tripeptide has been shown to be a C-terminal peroxisomal import signal present in several peroxisomal matrix proteins (Figure 1). locations of splice donor/acceptor sites in the three introns followed the consensus GT/AG rule (Breathnach et al., 1978). Using the RepeatMasker, we searched the nucleotide sequence of the three genomic fragments for repetitive sequences. Three SINEs (short interspersed nucleotide elements) were identiﬁed. Two SINEs were located in intron 8 and one SINE appeared in intron 9. By comparing the sequences of the pig breeds studied in the pooled samples mentioned above, a total of 44 putative polymorphic sites including ﬁve deletions or insertions were identiﬁed in this 2040-bp sequence. A single nucleotide mutation (C/A) at position 374 within one SINE sequence of intron 9 led to the PstI restriction enzyme site (CTGCA↓G) change and was further detected by PstI restriction enzyme cleavage. There were two PstI sites within the 419-bp fragment ampliﬁed by primer pairAC-6, which were located at the position of 103 bp and 156 bp, respectively. Only the PstI site at 156 bp was polymorphic. Because the 53 bp band was too weak to be shown in the agarose gel, the two allele forms were identiﬁed as:A(316 bp and 103 bp) and B (263 bp and 103 bp) (Figure 2). The existence of the PstI-RFLP was conﬁrmed by additional investigations of 130 unrelated individuals representing seven pig breeds. Allele frequencies for the Table 2. Distribution of PstI-RFLP genotype and allele frequencies in seven pig breeds PstI polymorphism are listed in Table 2. Allele B was exclusively present in Meishan and Erhualian pigs and predominant in Qingping and Tongcheng pigs, whereas only allele A was found in Large White, Landrace and Duroc pigs. The extreme distribution of allele frequencies between Chinese fatty type pigs and commercial lean type pigs may be due to the long-term selection. The porcine ACOX1 mRNA, detected by the cDNA was widely distributed in all the tissues, with the highest level in kidney, then in liver, fat, stomach, lung, spleen, small intestine, heart and the lowest in muscle (Figures 3 and 4). In mouse and rat, the AOCX1 mRNA was detected in all tissues examined by northern blot analysis and quantitative RT-PCR, with the highest level in liver and kidney tissue (Miyazawa et al., 1987; Nöhammer et al., 2000). The results obtained here are in agreement with the reports in mouse and rat although the different method to examine the expression was used. The pattern of porcine AOCX1 cDNA exhibiting the highly abundance in fat is consistent with the important role in lipid metabolism. Our results also show that acyl-CoA oxidase is an evolutionary conserved enzyme with a wide expression pattern. Association studies with backfat thickness and carcass traits The PstI PCR-RFLP was genotyped in the three-generation Meishan by Large White reference family. The distribution of genotypic and allelic frequencies in the resource population is shown in Table 3. The results of signiﬁcant association between ACOX1 genotypes and carcass traits are given in Table 4. Statistically signiﬁcant associations with fat percentage (FP), lean meat percentage (LMP), backfat thickness at shoulder (BFT1), at thorax-waist (BFT2), and average backfat thickness (ABT) were found. Pigs with genotype AB had Table 3. Distribution of genotypic and allelic frequencies in the resource population 2 Table 4. Signiﬁcant association of ACOX1 PstI-RFLP genotypes with carcass traits 1 1 data in the table are least square means ± standard error. Values in each row with different lower case superscripts are signiﬁcantly different at P<0.05, and with capital superscripts are different at P<0.01. Negative values of the additive effects denote a decrease of the trait due to the B allele, * P<0.05 signiﬁcantly lower fat percentage and backfat thickness, but higher lean meat percentage as compared those with genotype AA or BB (Table 4). It is possible that this polymorphism indirectly affects production traits by being in linkage disequilibrium with another polymorphism that directly inﬂuences the quantitative traits analysed. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the ACOX1 gene is very close linked to the marker SW2494 on chromosome 12 (Cirera et al., 2003). An quantitative trait loci (QTL) at a signiﬁcance level for fat depth at approximately 10th rib has been mapped to marker S0143 of pig chromosome 12 in a Wild boar × Meishan family (Yue et al., 2003), while the marker S0143 (6.6 cM) is close linked with the marker SW2494 (13.4 cM) on the USDA linkage map. 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Market View 2023 Current Insurance Market Perspectives A SECURE FUTURE. In the opinion of our practice leaders, the insurance market for industrial and large companies has continued to recover in 2023. Not all business sectors are benefiting from the trend, however. Risks from the Ukraine war, monetary policy and ESG are on the underwriters' radar. In "Market View," Kessler's practice leaders report on the status of their markets and on the developments in the risks faced by Swiss companies. They derive their assessments from the experiences of our experts and from the global exchange with Marsh McLennan. The premium barometer gives you a general guide as to where we think the markets are heading in 2024. Liability Insurance Energy shortages, climate change and inflation The "Energy Perspective 2050+" campaign is giving rise to skepticism among insurers. Climate change carries the risk of lawsuits and litigation. Companies need to rethink their governance and amend their cover. The highly competitive market requires innovation. find themselves confronted by an increasing amount of litigation. The Federal Council launched its "Energy Perspectives 2050+" campaign on August 31, 2022. The campaign, which aims at ensuring a secure energy supply for Switzerland, is focused in particular on climate neutrality. The industry has not hesitated to embark on implementing ambitious projects such as drilling boreholes and wind farms. However, these projects not only encounter resistance in the form of public objections, but also skepticism from insurers. Foreign insurance solutions are sometimes needed in order to embark on certain activities – for projects that are intended to promote Switzerland's independence. CLIMATE CHANGE AS A RISK FACTOR Lawsuits and legal disputes have become an important risk factor in general liability insurance, particularly in relation to climate change. There has been an increase in corporate social responsibility. According to a survey by the Geneva Association, almost 50% of respondents in the liability insurance business think that industrial pollutants will have a considerable impact on medium-term liabilities. If companies are to counteract these pressures, it is important that they rethink their governance and act in a transparent manner, as those companies that fail to meet the expected standards could The high inflation rates are likely to lead to higher loss amounts, which makes it all the more important to choose optimal protection with high guarantees that also encompass the necessary environmental cover. Anticipating needs and breaking new ground is an imperative in this increasingly competitive market. DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMSNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL Liability insurance Kessler Market View 2023 Andreas Strässle and Marcus Donner Practice Leaders Liability Insurance Property Insurance Global shocks, diversified supply chains The global context is characterized by an increasingly protectionist stance by the US and an ongoing decoupling of Western economies from China. Against this backdrop, supply chain diversification is becoming key. In addition to these challenges, companies are confronted with the need to move towards a more ecological and responsible way of working. In particular, they need to focus on ESG factors, which are likely to assume an ever greater importance in the future. Many companies' supply chains have become increasingly dependent on China in recent years. That is something they now need to reconsider in light of the resurgence of inflation and the increasing tensions between the US and China. Production costs have risen and recent actions undertaken by the US government, including the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, reflect this new attitude in the form of unmistakably protectionist policies. It is clear that the US has changed its approach to trade and globalization. The big question is whether other economies will also adopt this approach. Western companies have become conscious of their heavy dependence on Chinese suppliers. Supply chain diversification will be increasingly important. INFLATION AS A CHALLENGE While they differ from country to country, high inflation rates remain a challenge for the insurance industry. On the one hand, sums insured are rising, while on the other, there is a trend towards higher loss amounts, which is in part due to higher construction costs and longer replacement times. A thorough analysis of risks related to supplier defaults and the declaration of insurance values are necessary steps in companies' risk management. DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMSNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL Property insurance Technical insurance Pension Benefits Increase in old-age pensions for unmarried people? In accordance with the law, surviving spouses receive 60% of the old-age pension of their deceased retired partner (spouse's pension benefit entitlement). Regardless of their marital status or living arrangements, unmarried people co-finance these pension entitlements. A model is now being discussed that would allow insured persons to choose the amount of the spouse's pension benefit entitlement before they begin drawing their pension. themselves the extent to which the spouse's pension benefit entitlement is also insured. This option has the advantage of taking into account personal needs, but has the disadvantage of making an already very complex system even more complicated. Furthermore, it also diminishes solidarity within the occupational pension scheme. When an insured person has several options at retirement, that person and their partner must have a clear understanding of the consequences. Boards of trustees are examining ways in which conversion rates could be split with regard to retirement pensions. This would enable insured persons to choose for Kessler Market View 2023 APPEALING TO COLLECTIVE FOUNDATIONS Besides some autonomous foundations, some collective foundations such as Gemini and PKG have already intro- Pascal Schneider Practice Leader Property Insurance duced this model. The benefit entitlement can be reduced or increased up to 100%. If it is increased, the conversion rate is reduced, while if it is reduced, the conversion rate is increased. With Gemini, a man born in 1958 can choose between a spouse's pension benefit entitlement of 60% of his retirement pension and a conversion rate of 5.40% or to increase the spouse's pension benefit entitlement to 100 % and reduce the conversion rate to 4.40%. With retirement assets of CHF 500,000, the annual difference in the retirement pension is CHF 5,000. While very few pension funds offer such a choice, it is a model that more collective foundations are likely to introduce. Personal Insurance Trends and relevant changes The personal insurance market is becoming ever more volatile, with an increase in tendering rounds and rejected bids. Premiums are rising despite market comparisons, but low-risk clients can still find good deals. Providers are focusing on renewal offers, although the remediation requirements are often too high. The personal insurance market environment remains challenging. The developments we are seeing frequently result in increased costs and additional work for companies. There are, however, also opportunities and ways to handle them. Political and legal developments are leading to an increase in regulations and rules – each decision taken must be justifiable. At the same time, however, digitalization and process automation are coming along in leaps and bounds, which opens up the opportunity to focus on the core business and reduce the administrative burden. In the case of daily sickness benefits, the rising cost of transferring risk to the insurer is leading to a trend towards alternative insurance solutions, which is something that increasing numbers of insurers are offering. Larger companies are ever more likely to decide to bear more risk themselves and to take advantage of such solutions, one of which is longer waiting periods. Solutions that offer benefits from the very first day are also gaining in importance. IT must create a good database for absence management, which in turn will simplify administration. Kessler Market View 2023 DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMS Affiliation contracts with a collective foundation Risk insurance for foundations Cédric Deprez and Nadine Wieland Practice Leaders Pension Benefits Round tables with insurance partners are gaining in importance in the benefits process. This makes it possible to proactively avoid benefit reductions when case reports are submitted late and makes it possible for the policyholder and the insurer to discuss and define the processes that make up the benefit procedure. DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMS NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL Daily sickness benefits insurance Accident insurance Supplementary accident insurance Corporate travel insurance Thomas Roggo Practice Leader Personal Insurance Special Risks and Cyber Multilayered market with glimmers of hope The market situation for special risks insurance remains complex. While the market is easing with regard to the directors' and officers' liability (D&O) and trustee liability (PTL) insurance lines, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), fidelity and professional liability insurance remain stable. The cyber insurance market remains challenging, but here too, there are glimmers of hope. into force on 1 September 2023. At the same time, new rules for operators of critical infrastructures are also on their way, which will require the reporting of cyberattacks that have the potential to cause severe damage within 24 hours. Sustainability and the economic environment are issues that are increasingly preoccupying insurers. New laws are increasingly integrating ESG into management and corporate governance, while accusations of greenwashing in asset management are bringing the issue into focus for insurers of financial institutions. In addition, D&O insurers are worried about the expected increase in corporate bankruptcies. Insurers are anticipating a general increase in claims due to the high rates of inflation. The war in Ukraine also remains an issue. Insurers have increasingly introduced territorial exclusions for companies with branches in Russia or Belarus. SPECIAL RISKS The D&O market has entered a soft phase. Insurers' growth targets and the entry of new providers into the market mean that it has recently become possible to negotiate premium reductions when renewing. In some instances, insurers are also offering extensions of cover and multi-year agreements. The EPLI, fidelity and professional liability insurance segments remain stable for the most part. Excluding changes in risk, it can be assumed that conditions will remain unchanged. Should the underlying risk parameters increase, it is likely that insurers will adjust premiums. The limited number of providers restricts the competitive pressure. CYBER There is a trend towards stabilizing conditions in the cyber insurance market. An examination of our Swiss portfolio reveals average premium increases of around 10% in the first half of the year. Where the risk quality of the companies is improving, it is even possible to expand the scope of cover. Improved loss ratios have allowed the cyber insurance market to become more balanced. This turnaround was made possible by companies constantly investing in their IT security as well as premium increases and strict minimum criteria for the underwriting of risks by insurers. For example, one of the things that insurers now expect is a multifactor authentication solution, patch management and a backup concept. Cyber insurance is thus increasingly becoming a hallmark for cyber resilience. The trend towards constantly increasing regulation is also continuing, with Switzerland's new Data Protection Act coming Kessler Market View 2023 DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMSNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL D&O insurance Cyber insurance Fidelity insurance Credit insurance René Fernandez and Till Siegmann Practice Leaders Cyber & Crime and Special Risks Insurance for Transport and Logistics Crises, opportunities and increased e-mobility The current crises are impacting transportation routes and insurance cover, making effective risk management an important consideration for companies. The trend toward e-mobility requires specialized insurance policies for e-vehicle fleets to cover risks such as maintenance, repairs and charging stations. In aviation, the market is weathering the Ukraine war and rising premiums, at a time when travel is rebounding and staff shortages remain a challenge. MARINE INSURANCE The pandemic has led to lockdowns, container shortages and vulnerable transportation routes. Furthermore, the effects of the Ukraine war are making themselves felt. These include increased energy costs due to restrictions as well as no or limited cover for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Transport routes are being scrutinized and sea and air freight are significantly more expensive than before the crises. We perceive great caution in the area of compound risk management among insurers. Container shortages have led to a concentration of assets in Asian ports. Loss scenarios relating to natural hazards or to political tensions are influencing insurers' guidelines. We expect compound risk management to become even more important and insurers to respond with further cover limits. It is therefore essential that companies are aware of the risks in their own value chain if they are to ensure that they manage risks adequately and when purchasing insurance. MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE The trend toward e-vehicles is increasing. This is due to the political promotion of e-mobility, increasing environmental awareness, new technologies and the falling costs of batteries and components, which are having an effect on companies. Demand for specialized fleet insurance for e-vehicles is increasing. This will be on a greater scale for commercial vehicles and fleets. E-vehicle fleets offer numerous benefits, such as lower operating costs and environmental protection, but do entail risks with regard to maintenance and repairs, and as regards the availability of charging stations. Insurers need to offer specific insurance policies that meet the needs of companies with e-fleets. These include cover for charging infrastructure outages, battery defects and data loss due to hacker attacks. Specialized insurance for e-vehicles is therefore increasing in importance. Kessler Market View 2023 AVIATION The insurance market outperformed the previous year. Insurers were able to increase capacity and the appetite for risk remained perceptible, but the first effects of the Ukraine war were starting to make themselves felt in the insurance market. The impact on insurers of the loss of passenger aircraft seized by Russia can be seen in the rising trend in hull war and liability premiums, which have increased sharply in recent months. One reason for this is that some insurers in the UK market decided to reduce capacity significantly, a trend that is expected to continue. The upward trend in travel following the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing. People are traveling again at almost the same rate as before the pandemic. This growth is only being held back by the lack of air and ground personnel. Meeting the demand is a challenge. DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMSNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL Marine insurance Motor vehicle insurance Aviation insurance Patrick Frey and Nicola Carbone Practice Leaders Aviation and Motor Vehicle Insurance International Employee Benefits Minimizing the risks of business travel After coming to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, business travel is back in vogue. It does, however, come with risks. That's why it's worth taking a close look at the services offered by insurers and assistance providers, as well as their tools for business travel. SCRUTINIZING COMPLIANCE Business travel is ramping up again, as it has become apparent that not everything can be negotiated and decided via digital working models and that personal contact is very important. Business trips do, however, come with risks, and employers need to optimally protect their employees from potential dangers. OPTIMAL PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES Unforeseen problems or costs are troublesome for traveling employees, especially costs arising from the cancellation, curtailment or interruption of trips, flight delays or loss of/damage to luggage. Protecting employees is a top priority for employers. As part of the duty of care, measures must therefore be taken to minimize the risk to employees. Employees may suffer an accident or fall ill while on a business trip. Medical expenses abroad or medical repatriation back to Switzerland can be very expensive and the cover provided by compulsory insurance is not sufficient. In the event of an emergency, a traveler is dependent on professional assistance and therefore requires optimal insurance coverage. In addition to an insurance solution, it may be sensible to have access to an assistance center and travel tools, such as insurance company apps that offer travel advice, dashboards for travel managers, and tracking and alert systems. ABOUT KESSLER Kessler is the leading Swiss enterprise specializing in comprehensive risk, insurance and pension benefits consulting. We advise over 1,500 medium-sized and large Swiss companies from the service, trading and manufacturing industries, as well as the public sector. Thanks to our expertise in each of these economic sectors, our highly qualified staff and our leading market position, we contribute significantly to the long-term success of our clients. As a reliable partner, we inspire our clients and open up new perspectives through the safe and successful management of risks. Founded in 1915, Kessler has 330 employees working at its head- Kessler Market View 2023 In addition to insurance coverage, including tools and assistance services, compliance is an important factor. Is an insurance solution for the company in Switzerland sufficient or do other companies abroad also need to be co-insured? Is a local insurance solution sufficient or would it make sense to implement an international program? When considering this question, it is important to examine and scrutinize all aspects such as the structure, costs and possibilities of such a program. DEVELOPMENT OF PREMIUMS INTERNATIONAL International group healthcare insurance International employee benefits Olivier Tobler Personal Insurance Broker quarters in Zurich and its other sites in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Sion and Vaduz. As the Swiss partner of Marsh since 1998, we are part of a network with specialists in all areas of risk management and with great experience in handling global insurance programs. Marsh, the world's leading insurance broker and risk advisor, operates in more than 130 countries and is part of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC). Further information can be found at www.kessler.ch, www.marsh.com and www.mmc.com. T +41 44 387 87 11 www.kessler.ch
2022 Two-Wheeler Technical Regulations HILL CLIMB RACING A-25, Krishna Towers, 50 Sardar Patel Road, Chennai 600113 Ph: +91 44 22352673, 22355304 Fax: 22351684 email: firstname.lastname@example.org web: www.fmsci.co.in INTRODUCTION 1) These rules including the technical regulations, schedules and appendices contained herein, shall govern all competitions in which a two-wheeler (as hereinafter defined) may take part, organized in the territory of the FMSCI under an organizing permit issued by it for other than FIM Championship events. These rules shall be valid from .31 st March 2022. 2) These rules have been drawn up for the proper and equitable conduct of motor sports and are based on the International Sporting Code and the Sporting Code of the FMSCI. Some of the text comprises additions and adoptions drawn up in India to suit local conditions local competitions and local two-wheelers. 3) In so far as they do not conflict with these rules, the supplementary regulations and official instructions applicable to a competition shall be deemed to form part of these rules. 4) The FMSCI has the right to grant an exemption from these rules to suit special conditions or to enable unusual features to be included in the competition and must be specified in the supplementary regulations. 5) International events run under an International Permit issued by the FMSCI must comply with the International Sporting Code as usual. Only refer to these rules in respect of any matter not covered by the Code. 6) Unless otherwise stated, compliance with all regulations in this publication governing groups and classes, safety requirements, lists, technical specifications and definitions is MANDATORY. 7) Changes on consideration of SAFETY MAY BE IMPLEMENTED IMMEDIATELY. All other changes will be implemented after a notice period, which will be decided by the FMSCI council on a case-to-case basis. The council of the FMSCI, may in its own discretion, authorize immediate implementation if deemed necessary or advisable. 8) Approval of a two-wheeler or a component or its homologation is an indication of its acceptance solely for the purpose of these regulations and is not to be taken as a guarantee or warranty as to the standard of its design or manufacture or its fitness or suitability for any use to which it may be put. 9) Questions or requests for clarification or advice on these technical regulations should be made in writing to the Chairman Drag racing commission and forwarded to him through the Secretariat. Only those replies / interpretations signed by him will be valid. 10) These technical regulations have been compiled for both safety and eligibility and form the basis of all motor sports in the territory of the FMSCI. They must be studied by Constructors, Tuners, Competitors, Organizers, Scrutineers, Stewards and all others involved with the administration and conduct of motor sports in the territory of the FMSCI in order to ensure total compliance. 11) Read these regulations carefully. Unless these regulations specifically permit variations and / or modifications and / or additional work of any type to be carried out, the same is expressly forbidden. In other words, unless these regulations state that you can do it… YOU CANNOT. CHAPTER 1: CLASSIFICATION The following classes are the approved classes which can be technically scrutineered by the FMSCI and protests on technical grounds can be investigated. Organizers are free to run any other classes on closed basis only called as Promoter classes (a Maximum of 4 classes). These promoter classes will not be technically scrutineered and protests will not be entertained. 1.1 Groups All two wheelers shall be grouped as follows: 1.1.1 Group SUPER SPORT All solo two-wheelers manufactured / assembled in India/ Sold officially in India, but modified within the frame work of the regulations listed. 1.1.2 Group SUPER SPORT Indian All solo two-wheelers manufactured / assembled in India/ Sold officially in India, homologated with FMSCI but modified within the frame work of the regulations listed. 1.1.3 Group SUPER STOCK Indian All solo two-wheelers manufactured / assembled in India/ Sold officially in India, homologated with FMSCI but modified within the frame work of the regulations listed. 1.2 Classes All Indian two - wheelers will be divided into the following classes according to the Cubic Capacity of their engines. 1.2.1 Scooters Super Sport a) upto 80 cc b 81cc to 110cc c)111cc to 160cc d)161cc and above 1.2.1 (a) Mopeds Super sport a) Upto 75 cc. 1.2.2 Motorcycles A) 2 Stroke Super Sport - up to 130 cc - 131 – 165 cc - 350 cc and above B) 4 Stroke: Super Sport/ SuperSport Indian/ Super Stock Indian - up to 165 cc - 166 – 225 cc - 226 – 360 cc - 361 – 550 cc - 551 – 850 cc - Single / Twin 551 – 750 cc - Single/Twin 751 cc and above C) 4 Stroke Super sport - 851 – 1050 cc - 1051 cc - 1650cc - 1651cc and Above D) Unrestricted All solo two-wheelers whether series production, specials or otherwise, Indian or imported are permitted, provided they meet the safety regulations as defined in Technical Regulations. - up to 360 cc - 361cc and above - NO CLASS CAN BE SUB-DIVIDED. Unless otherwise specified in special provisions imposed by the FMSCI for a certain category of events, organizers are not bound to include all the above-mentioned classes in the supplementary regulations. CHAPTER 1.3: SPECIFIC TECHNICAL REGULATIONS- SUPER SPORT/SUPER SPORTINDIAN/SUPER STOCK INDIAN This chapter describes the specific Technical Regulations and permitted modifications as applicable to different groups for two wheelers as defined in Chapter 1. – Whatever modifications have been carried out, the rider must at all times have easy access to all controls without having to remove his hands and feet from the handlebar and footrest respectively. Weight NOTE- A MAXIMUM WEIGHT REDUCTION OF 40% +/-2%, UNDER THE HOMOLOGATED WEIGHT IS ALLOWED. The Absolute Minimum weight inclusive of tolerance (40% + 2%) is given below in ready to run condition with all fluids and fuel. The weight will be checked post-race. Vehicles not meeting this spec will be disqualified. \| CURB WEIGHT \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| VEHICLE \| WEIGHT in KG \| MIN. WEIGHT in KG \| \| Bajaj Dominar 400 \| 184 \| 107 \| \| Bajaj Pulsar 150 \| 150 \| 87 \| \| Bajaj Pulsar NS160 \| 151 \| 88 \| \| Bajaj Pulsar 180 \| 156 \| 91 \| \| Bajaj Pulsar 220 \| 160 \| 93 \| \| Bajaj Pulsar NS200 \| 156 \| 91 \| \| BMW 310 \| 164 \| 96 \| \| Hero CBZ \| 148 \| 86 \| \| Hero Karizma \| 154 \| 90 \| \| Honda CBR 150 \| 138 \| 80 \| \| Honda CBR 250 \| 167 \| 97 \| \| Husqvarna Svartpilen 250 \| 154 \| 90 \| \| Husqvarna Vitpilen 250 \| 153 \| 89 \| \| KTM 200 \| 148 \| 86 \| \| KTM 250 \| 157 \| 91 \| \| KTM 390 \| 167 \| 97 \| \| TVS Apache RTR 160 \| 140 \| 82 \| \| TVS Apache RTR 180 \| 139 \| 81 \| \| TVS Apache RTR 200 \| 153 \| 89 \| \| TVS Apache RTR 310 \| 174 \| 101 \| \| TVS Fiero \| 115 \| 67 \| \| Yamaha RD 350 \| 155 \| 90 \| \| Yamaha RX 135 5 Speed \| 116 \| 68 \| \| Yamaha RX Z 4 Speed \| 115 \| 68 \| \| Yamaha RX Z 5 Speed \| 115 \| \|---\|---\| \| Yamaha R15 \| 142 \| \| Yamaha R3 \| 173 \| \| Yamaha RX 100 \| 103 \| \| Yamaha RX 135 \| 116 \| IF A PARTICULAR VEHICLE IS NOT LISTED ABOVE, THE ONUS OF DEMONSTRATING A VERIFIABLE WEIGHT RESTS WITH THE COMPETITOR/TEAM. COMMONPERMITTED MODIFICATIONS FORSUPERSPORT/SUPERSPORT INDIAN/SUPER STOCK INDIAN 1.3.1 FRAME/CHASSIS NOTE-THE FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION SHOULD HAVE A MINIMIUM TRAVEL OF 15MM, WHEN THE VEHICLE IS PRESSED DOWN BY HAND The frame/Chassis should be as supplied by the manufacturer (OEM). Struts, clamps for attachment of components such as air filters, tool boxes, mudguards, battery carriers etc. which as a result of strip down to racing trim, having become totally unloaded and stress free, may be removed.Additional members required for fitment of different seat / fuel tank /gear lever are permitted Drilling of holes in other parts of the motorcycle's structural components (Frame/Chassis) is prohibited. 1.3.2 Wheels / Tyres- FREE They must also conform to Art.3.2.9, Art.3.2.10and Art.3.2.11 Drilling of holes on any part of the front wheel, brake, drum, hub or its component parts is permitted provided such modifications do not compromise the structural integrity of the components. 1.3.3 Cooling: Method of cooling free and may be altered from air cooling to liquid cooling or vice versa,Radiators and oil coolers free . Coolant is Free 1.3.4 Fuel Tanks: Free. As long as they are made out of metal (Any metal). And positioned between the handle bar and the rider's seat. The Technical Delegate/Scrutineer shall check the safety and welds and will not compromise on safety, when the fuel tank is not an OE fuel tank. Vehicles with fuel tanks that are not considered safe will not be allowed to start. 1.3.5 Seats- SHOULD BE MADE UP OF A RIGID MATERIAL. THE SEAT SHOULD HAVE A NON-SLIP PADDING WHERE THE RIDER SITS ON. STOPBOX BEHIND THE RIDER IS MANDATORY. 1.3.6 Fuel :Free. Only petrol may be used. ALL FASTENERS AND HOSES THROUGHOUT THE VEHICLE ARE FREE. 1.4 PERMITTED MODIFICATIONS SUPERSPORT 1.4.1 Suspension 1. Front suspension Free 2. Rear suspension Free.However, the pivot point of the swinging arm with respect to the frame shall not be altered. 1.4.2 Brakes: Free Front Brake: The fitment of disc brakes is permitted and highly recommended for non-OEM motorcycles. Any combination disc brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. Disc brake assemblies are FREE. The OE drum brake may be replaced by another drum brake not smaller than the OE drum brake. Rear Brake: Any combination brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. It is permitted to change from disc brake to drum brake or vice versa. In case of a drum brake, The OE drum brake or a drum brake of minimum 130mm diameter must be used. 1.4.3 Engine:The original engine casting including cylinder bore and cylinder head casting must be used, however they may be modified by adding or removing material, so long as the identity of the original part can be ascertained.All the internals are completely Free, the number of valves free. Throttle bodies, carburetors, reed valves etc. are free Electronics and ignition control free. Cylinder head modifications free. Exhaust systemfree. Supercharging / turbo charging/Nitrous or a combination of anyis permitted,However, amultiplication factor of 1.7 will be applied todetermine the CC classification. 1.4.4 Gearbox: The Original Gearbox casting must be used, however they may be modified by adding or removing material, so long as the identity of the original part can be ascertained.Internals are Free, Ratios Free,Method of drive internally/externallyfree, No. of speeds Free, Method of gear shift Free, Pneumatic or electronic shift Permitted. 1.4.5 Clutch: Free All other items not mentioned above in the regulations may be considered as FREE so long as it does not endanger the safety of the two-wheeler or rider. 1.5 PERMITTED MODIFICATIONS SUPERSPORT INDIAN 1.5.1 Suspension: Front Any Indian component fork/triple clamp assembly may be used in original or modified form. Fork travel / damping may be altered. Piston rod bolt is FREE. In case of Earls suspension, the length of the swinging arm may be altered, the shock absorber mounting points may be altered. All shock absorbers shall be Indian components in original or modified form. T-Stem and Triple clamp may be freely modified. Rear The swinging arm may be strengthened by addition of material only. The length of the swinging arm may be altered. The shock absorber mounting points may be altered. The pivot point of the swinging arm with respect to the frame shall not be altered. All shock absorbers shall be Indian components in original or modified form. 1.5.2 Brakes Front Brake: The fitment of disc brakes is permitted and highly recommended for non-OEM motorcycles. Any combination disc brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. Disc brake assemblies are FREE. The OE drum brake may be replaced by another drum brake not smaller than the OE drum brake. Rear Brake: Any combination of Indian component brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. It is permitted to change from disc brake to drum brake or vice versa. In case of a drum brake, The OE drum brake or a drum brake of minimum 130mm diameter must be used. 1.5.3 Engine: The original engine casting including cylinder bore and cylinder head casting must be used, however they may be modified by adding or removing material, so long as the identity of the original part can be ascertained.Throttle bodies, carburetors, reed valves and injectors are free Electronics and ignition control free. Exhaust system free ..Crankshaft assembly free, Cam shaft and rocker arms are free. Piston and piston rings free, reboring permitted to the maximum cc rating of class entered. 1.5.4 Cylinder Head. The original cylinder head must be used, however machining the deck , porting and polishing is permitted. The shape and size of ports are free. No addition of material by welding or otherwise permitted. Valve seats may be modified to change the valve size. The number of valves must remain as homologated. Valve springs are free but type and number to remain as homologated. Valve clearance shims are free. The head gasket is free. 1.5.5 Gearbox: The Original Gearbox casting must be used, however they may be modified by adding or removing material, so long as the identity of the original part can be ascertained.GearRatios Free , No. of speeds should remain as homologated.Front and rear drive chain sprockets are free Method of gear shift Free, Pneumatic or electronic shift Permitted. 1.5.6 Clutch The clutch system (wet or dry type)should remain as homologated. Lightening and balancing permitted on primary gear and clutch basket and clutch centre. Clutch springs free ( shims to increase preload free). Clutch plates and drive discs are free. 1.5.7 Fuel system. Fuel lines ,fuel hoses and fuel filters are free but must be fitted in such a way not to endanger the safety of the vehicle and should be protected from crash damage. Quick release connectors(dry break connectors ) suitable for high pressure fuel may be used. OnlyIndian component fuel pump in original or modified form may be used. Additional fuel pump and sensors are not permitted. 1.6 PERMITTED MODIFICATIONS SUPER STOCK INDIAN 1.6.1 Suspension: Front Any Indian component fork/triple clamp assembly may be used in original or modified form. Fork travel / damping may be altered. Piston rod bolt is FREE. In case of Earls suspension, the length of the swinging arm may bealtered, the shock absorber mounting points may be altered. All shock absorbers shall be Indian components in original or modified form. T-Stem and Triple clamp may be freely modified. Rear The swinging arm may be strengthened by addition of material only. The length of the swinging arm may be altered. The shock absorber mounting points may be altered. The pivot point of the swinging arm with respect to the frame shall not be altered. All shock absorbers shall be Indian components in original or modified form. 1.6.2 Brakes Front Brake: The fitment of disc brakes is permitted and highly recommended for non OEM motorcycles. Any combination disc brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. Disc brake assemblies are FREE. The OE drum brake may be replaced by another drum brake not smaller than the OE drum brake. Rear Brake: Any combination of Indian component brake assembly may be used in original or modified form. It is permitted to change from disc brake to drum brake or vice versa. In case of a drum brake, The OE drum brake or a drum brake of minimum 130mm diameter must be used. 1.6.3 Engine: The original engine casting including cylinder bore and cylinder head casting must be used, however.Throttle bodies, carburetors, reed valves and injectors are free, Electronics and ignition control free. Exhaust system free.Cam shaft and rocker arms are free. Piston and piston rings free, re-boring permitted to the maximum cc rating of class entered. 1.6.4 Cylinder Head. The original cylinder head must be used, however machining the deck, porting and polishing is permitted. The shape and size of ports are free. No addition of material by welding or otherwise permitted. The number of valves and size must remain as homologated. Valve springs are free but type and number to remain as homologated. Valve clearance shims are free. 1.6.5 Front and rear chain sprockets: Free 1.7 Specific regulations for two wheelers Group UNRESTRICTED Provided it complies with regulations listed under Classification of two wheelers and common technical regulations, there is no restriction on the make, design or type of two-wheeler that may be driven in competition held under these regulations, save as may be provided in the Supplementary Regulations Supercharging/Turbo-charging/NitrousOxide or a combination of any is allowed. CHAPTER 2: DEFINITIONS 2.1 Two-Wheeler A two-wheeler is a two wheeled vehicle making only one track on the ground, propelled by an engine and designed essentially to carry one rider and may be another passenger. 2.1.1 Motorcycle A two-wheeler with both the wheel-rims having a diameter not less than 400mm and using a clutch (centrifugal or manual) and a gearbox (manual, variomatic or auto gear) which offers more than a single speed transmission ratio (stepped or stepless) between engine and rear wheel. 2.1.2 Scooter A two-wheeler with both wheel-rims having a diameter less than 400mm and having a free/open space in front of the seat for the passage of rider's legs. 2.1.2 a Moped A two wheeler with both the wheel-rims having a diameter not less than 400 mm and having a single fixed transmission ratio between engine and rear wheel. It may have auxiliary pedals or a kick start. 2.1.3 Indian Two-Wheeler A two-wheeler manufactured in India and is available for sale to the public through the normal commercial outlets of the manufacturer in a minimum of two hundred (200) numbers of identical examples within a period of twelve (12) consecutive months. The two-wheeler may be wholly or partially manufactured and / or assembled in India from Indian and/ or imported components. 2.1.4 Model of two – wheeler A two-wheeler belonging to a production series distinguishable by a specific conception and external general lines of body work and by an identical mechanical construction of the engine and the transmission to the wheels. 2.1.5 Original Equipment of Manufacturer (OEM) All components of a motorcycle that are supplied by the manufacturer as original fitment and homologated with the FMSCI. Wherever "OE" is mentioned, it pertains to the make/model of the motorcycle entered. 2.1.6 Indian component A component manufactured in India and / or a component imported by the manufacturer of an Indian two-wheeler and fitted as 'original equipment' (OE) on the vehicle. This definition also includes any component not fitted by the manufacturer as Original Equipment (OE) provided such component is manufactured in India in a minimum of 2500 nos. within a period of 12 consecutive months and is freely available for sale to the public as an aftermarket direct replacement through normal commercial outlets. It shall have the same function as that of the OE component it replaces. The FMSCI may waive the minimum production requirement should circumstances so warrant. 2.1.7 Definition of "FREE" Wherever the word "FREE" is used in these regulations, without any attached conditions, it is permitted to use any Indian or imported component which may be specially made, the specifications of which are unrestricted in any manner, subject only to conditions of general prescriptions. 2.2 Homologation It is the official certification made by the FMSCI that a minimum number of two hundred (200) Indian two-wheelers of specific model have been made on series production basis to justify classification. All two-wheelers that conform to the definition of Indian two-wheeler will be required to be homologated with the FMSCI to be eligible to compete in any National event in India. Once homologated the vehicle's homologation will continue to stay valid up to 5 years after the discontinuation of that model. Indian two wheelers which have been homologated with FIM will automatically be homologated with the FMSCI. All FIM homologated two wheelers are automatically accepted by the FMSCI. 2.2.1 Homologation Form A form containing all technical data required for homologation and identification of the said two-wheeler. (i) The presentation of homologation form at scrutiny and / or at the start may be required by the organizers who will be entitled to refuse the participation of the entrant in the event of non-presentation. (ii) In case of any doubt remaining after checking of a competing two-wheeler against its homologation form, the scrutineer may refer to either the workshop manual or the spare parts catalogue published by the manufacturer of the two-wheeler (iii) In case of lack of sufficient technical specifications, scrutineers may carry out direct scrutineering by comparison with the said part obtained from the manufacturer or his authorized dealer. The FMSCI homologation form consists of the following: 1. A basic form giving technical specifications of the basic model 2. Additional sheets describing `homologation extensions' which can be variants, errata or evolutions which may be issued from time to time. (a) Variants (VF) These are supply variants (more than one supplier providing the same part to the Manufacturer, where the purchaser does not have any choice). (b) Variants (VO) These are options offered by the Manufacturer through the normal commercial outlets. (c) Interchange of parts within Variants Where the manufacturer has used similar parts in their variants, it is permitted to interchange the parts between variants as long as they are dimensionally and functionally the same. (d) Erratum (ER) Cancels an incorrect piece of information previously furnished by the manufacturer / constructor and replaces it by a corrected one. (e) Evolution (ET) Characterizes modifications made on a permanent basis to the basic model where there is complete cessation of the production of the two-wheeler in its old form. (f) Evolution (ES) Sporting evolution characterized by modification made on a permanent basis intended to render a model more competitive. 2.2.2 For Evolution (ET) changes, any component which is homologated as ET evolution is freely interchangeable within the same model without any modification, as allowed for Variant (VF) or Variant (VO). CHAPTER 3: COMMON TECHNICAL REGULATIONS 3.1 General Conditions In respect of all two wheelers, the drive shall be transmitted to the ground only through the rear wheel of the machine. To reduce the torque in the steering, it is allowed to displace the front wheel and rear wheel leaving a maximum width of 75 mm between them (refer definition of two-wheeler `One Track`). The following items shall not be altered from a homologated two wheelers unless otherwise stated. a) Type of engine. b) Numbers of cylinder(s). c) The material and casting of the crankcase, cylinder, cylinder-head and the gear box shell. d) Position of the cylinder/s and head/s relative to the crankcase and its construction material. Gussets or tubes may be added or removed without compromising the strength of the chassis 3.2 General Prescription The General Prescriptions given below must be adhered to while making any modifications / changes in the twowheeler. The two-wheeler in the form as sold by the manufacturer must undergo necessary changes where its construction is contradictory to the definitions as laid down in Chapter 1. Modification / changes if required for safety purpose as laid down further in this chapter must also be carried out to make the two-wheeler take part in the concerned competition. Measurement of capacity The capacity of each engine cylinder is calculated by the geometric formula which gives the volume of a cylinder, the diameter is represented by the bore, and the height by the space swept by the piston from its highest to lowest point: Where, D = Bore (in cm) and C = Stroke (in cm). 3.2.1 Starting Devices Starting devices are not obligatory for two wheelers in Drag events. 3.2.2Exhaust Pipes The extremity of the exhaust pipes for all two wheelers must not pass the vertical tangent of the rear tyre. Exhaust fumes must be discharged, towards the rear, but not in the manner as to raise dust, foul the tyres or brakes or directly on the track or cause inconvenience to the other rider. 11 3.2.3 Throttle controls For all two wheelers, throttle controls must be self-closing when not held by the hand. 3.2.4 Footrests Footrests may be relocated& must not be positioned more than 100 mm above a straight line passing through the centre of the wheels when the motorcycle is normally loaded. Rear foot peg and assembly's, clamps must be removed. 3.2.5 Chains The locking clips on the connecting links, where fitted, must be tight fitting and fitted in the forward correct direction. 3.2.6 Chain Guards If the primary transmission is exposed, it must be fitted with a guard as safety measure designed in such a manner that under no circumstances can the rider come into accidental contact with the transmission parts. No guard shall be permitted over the secondary chain except at the bottom of the secondary Chain where the chain comes in contact with the sprocket. The chain guard is to prevent the rider's foot from contact with the chain and the rear sprocket. 3.2.7 Kill Switch All motorcycles must be equipped with an electrical contact which disconnects all electricity to the engine. 3.2.8 Brakes All two wheelers must be equipped with one efficient brake operating on each wheel, operated independently and concentrically with the wheel. 220.127.116.11 Brake Light Every competing vehicle shall compulsorily be equipped with at least one functional and clearly visible brake light located at the rear of the vehicle and activated solely on the actuation of the brake pedal/lever and by no other means. Every competitor, on the crossing of the finish line, shall apply brakes to slow the vehicle down. Any competitor who does not do so, as evidenced by the lack of illumination of the brake light, shall be disqualified from the run and will be reported to the stewards. The working of brake lights shall be checked at the Start Line and the start shall be refused if the brake lights are found to be non-functional. 3.2.9 Wheel rims / discs spokes Free;the wheels may be replaced with wheels of a size between 16-18 inches (both inclusive), if not fitted with the original sized wheels. The rear rim should not be more than 50 mm narrower than the contact surface of the rear tyre. Replacement wheels are permitted front and rear of the same size as homologated/as the specific regulations specify. Any modification to the rim or spokes of an integral wheel (cast, moulded, riveted) as supplied by the manufacturer or of a traditional detachable rim, other than for spokes, valves or security bolts is prohibited except for tyre retention screws sometimes used to prevent tyre movement relative to the rim. If rim is modified for these purposes, bolts, screws, etc. must be fitted. All wheel spokes should be taut and intact. 3.2.10 Tyres The tyres should be in sound condition, with no signs of perishing or cracking and with no cuts on the side walls and tread surface. Motorcycles with top speed exceeding 200 km/h should have front tyres with at least 'V'-rating or be of road racing type. Tyre speed rating should be above the top speed of the motorcycle. In controlled tyre events where tyres are supplied by the organizers, tyre regulations as specified in event supplementary regulation shall be followed. 3.2.11 For Drag Racing/Hill climb racing (a) The surface of the tyre can be smooth (i.e., Without treads / grooves-slick) or treaded. (b) The tread pattern is unrestricted (c) If treaded, the safe minimum depth of the tyre tread must be at least 2.5 mm at the pre-event scrutiny. In the classes up to 80cc, this minimum depth is 1.5. mm. (d)The surface of the slick tyre must contain 3 or more hollows at 120 degrees intervals or less, indicating the limit of wear on the centre and shoulder areas of the tyre. The safe minimum depth of the tyre tread must be at least 2.5 mm at the pre-event scrutiny. In the class up to 80cc this minimum depth is 1.5 mm. When at least two of these hollows become worn on different parts of the periphery, the tyre must no longer be used. 3.3 Fuel Free - Only Petrol may be used. Octane boosting additives are permitted. 3.4 Equipment and protective clothing 3.4.1 Helmets Crash Helmets Crash helmets of standard design and construction must be used by competitors in all events. Competitors must ensure that helmets worn are suitable for the type of the event entered. The user must ensure that the crash helmet is in a serviceable condition, that it fits properly and that is secured properly. Only helmets designed for road racing is permitted, motocross type helmets are forbidden. Repairs of any kind are forbidden including stitching of double "D" rings. Helmets to be maintained as supplied by the manufacturer. The decision of the scrutineer/ Technical delegate is final. Helmets must be of the full-face type and the recognized international standards as mentioned below are recomended. * Europe: ECE 22-05 ‘P’ * Japan: JIS T 8133:2000, JIS T 8133:2007 * USA: SNELL M 2005, SNELL M 2010” SHARING OF HELMETS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. Competitors must wear crash helmets at all times during training, practice, qualifying and competition. Fit and security To ensure satisfactory fit and security of your helmet, proceed as follows a) Obtain correct size by measuring the crown of your head b) Check that there is no side-to-sidemovement; a helmet should fit snugly without causing discomfort. c) Tighten straps securely - the chin strap must be under tension at all times; ensure therefore that the strip cannot slip. Chin cups are prohibited. d) With head forward, attempt to pull up the back of the helmet to ensure helmet cannot be removed this way. Ensure you can see clearly over each shoulder. e) Make sure nothing impedes your breathing in the helmet. And never cover your nose or mouth. f) Never wear a scarf, tie or other loose clothing which could come loose and possibly cause an accident. g) Ensure that the visor can be opened with one gloved hand. h) Satisfy yourself that the back of the helmet provides protection for your neck. Condition and care of helmets a) The user himself must bear the prime responsibility for ensuring that his helmet is fit for the purpose intended, since significant damage to the helmet may have been sustained without this being apparent to the Scrutineer. b) It is strongly recommended that the competitor buy the best possible helmet he can (the best is not necessarily the most expensive). A helmet bag should always be used. c) There must be no alteration to the structure of a helmet. Where a radio is fitted this should only be done is accordance with the helmet manufacturer's instructions. d) Repainting of helmets, affixing stickers thereon or drilling holes is not advisable as this may weaken the structure of the helmet; such weakening may not be visually apparent. As there are specialized helmets to suit various disciplines of motor sports, competitors are advised to use the type applicable to the event in which they compete. It is recommended that the helmets are replaced after three years after purchase, irrespective of use they have been put to. The fastening of the chin strap must only be by buckles / clips. Use of plastic interlocking connects is prohibited. e) Use only a weak solution of soft soap and water to clean the interior and exterior of the helmet; do not get the interior too wet. f) The helmet should be stored, preferably in a helmet bag, in a cool dry place away from sunlight when not in use. g) A good helmet, properly cared for, is one very important link in a long chain of safety measures. Do not allow it to become the weak link. Do not rely on others. You are responsible for your own safety. Do not, through your own fault, become a grave burden to others. NOTE: Total protection can never be given by any headgear and the best of crash helmets may not entirely prevent head injury or death in a severe accident. Helmet users must understand that helmets are deliberately constructed so that the energy of severe blow will be absorbed by the helmet and thereby partially destroy it. The damage may not be readily apparent; it is recommended that therefore that any helmet receiving a blow in an accident is replaced. This must be the responsibility of the of the helmet user, who will have been aware of the circumstances under which the helmet was struck. It is neither possible nor reasonable to expect the scrutineer, in every case, to observe significant damage. Where there is any doubt the helmet's fitness, the Chief Scrutineer is empowered to reject the same. It is the competitor himself who must ensure that the helmet which he uses is fully fit for its purpose. It is clear that this is a small insurance to pay for one's life. The competitor must also consider that, should he survive an accident, but receive head injuries having knowingly used a previously damaged helmet, he could be placing enormous burden of care upon his family. Mounting of camera on the helmet is strictly forbidden. In case of mounting of cameras on the bike, the mounting points, brackets etc. should be specifically mentioned to the Scrutineers during pre-event scrutiny and approved by the Scrutineers. Unauthorised mounting of foreign objects to helmets Under no circumstances may objects (including cameras) be mounted or attached to the helmet of the rider unless express permission has been provided by the manufacturer of the helmet. This permission should be available for inspection by the scrutineer / technical delegate at the Event 3.4.2 Gloves The rider must wear full leather competition gloves meant for road racing / drag racing. 3.4.3 Footwear The rider must wear footwear of leather meant for road racing / Drag racing to provide complete protection above the ankles. 3.4.4. Clothing 18.104.22.168 For Hill Climb Racing The rider must wear a one piece or two-piece complete suit of leather of at least 1.2 mm in thickness (on all parts of the suit). Two-piece leather suit must have interlocking zip mechanism between the upper and lower suit. Synthetic materials which may melt and which could harm a rider's skin shall not be used. The following areas are recommended to be padded with at least a double layer of leather or enclosed plastic foam of at least 8mm thick; Shoulders, Elbows, both sides of the torso and hip joint, the back of the torso, knees. Use of a back protector or spine protector separately or built into the leather suit is recommended. 3.4.5 Ponchos Ponchos of any kind shall not be worn for hill climb racing. 3.4.6 Locking devices Front and rear axle and swing arm should be secured with self-lock nuts or locking pins. 3.4.7 Engine Sealing A hole must be made to use wire sealing for the engine.
Policy Procedure Procedures provide practical step by step guidance to describe processes and actions required to enable the implementation of a policy or guideline. They can also be developed to ensure compliance with legislative or policy requirements by members, staff or delegates of the Council \| \| Date of \| Endorsed by \| Publication date \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| endorsement \| \| \| \| 3rd October 2017 \| \| Medical Council NSW \| 10th October 2017 \| Summary To provide step by step guidance on the processes and actions required for the development and management of the organisation's policy documents. Applies to (scope) Medical Council Staff who are responsible for policy development and management, Council Committees in relation to policy consultation and procedure adoption, amendment and rescission and the Medical Council in relation to the adoption, amendment and rescission of policies. Policy No: PROQL002 Policy Procedure 1. Purpose This procedure outlines the steps required throughout the policy lifecycle including processes that need to be followed during policy development, adoption & publication, implementation, review & monitoring, amendment and rescission. 2. Compliance context This procedure should be read in conjunction with the Corporate Policy. Policy Owners and others involved in policy development and management are expected to comply with the processes outlined in this procedure. 3. Responsibilities \| \| Parties responsible \| \|---\|---\| \| \| (Positions/Groups/Bodies) \| \| Assistant Director Medical/ Executive Officer \| \| \| Council Committees \| \| \| Medical Council \| \| Policy No: PROQL002 \| \| Parties responsible \| \|---\|---\| \| \| (Positions/Groups/Bodies) \| \| Policy Owners \| \| \| Quality Team \| \| 4. Procedure for developing and managing policy The Medical Council of NSW develops a range of policy documentation. Policies guide members, hearing members, staff and medical practitioners of NSW. It is therefore imperative that policies are relevant, up to date and accessible in order to maintain efficient and effective guidance. 4.1 What are policy documents? Policy documents include policies, guidelines, procedures, and processes (see definitions). Policies, Guidelines and Procedures are published on Council's website. Processes are written for an internal audience and not relevant to the public, they are not subject to the same requirements as other policy documents and they do not have to be formally endorsed. DEVELOPMENT 4.2 How are policies initiated? Policy proposals evolve for a range of different reasons. They could be developed in response to legislative changes, directives, inquiry Policy No: PROQL002 Policy No: PROQL002 findings, to protect public health and safety, for operational purposes and other ad hoc reasons. In some circumstances the Medical Council or a Council Committee might propose that a policy be developed. Policy proposals are to be approved by Director Medical/Executive Officer. 4.3 Who are Policy Owners? Policy Owners are either the initiators of policy or will be allocated to a policy after a policy concept has been recommended. Policy Owners are responsible for the development and management of policies for their area of operation in the Medical Council. The following position titles/levels can be policy owners: Assistant Director Medical/ Executive Officer, Medical Director & Deputies, Principal Officers and Team Leaders. Policy Owners are responsible for submitting policy proposals for Policies, Guidelines and Procedures, to Director Medical/ Executive Officer once key factors have been considered. See Attachment A Policy Proposal Template, which may assist Policy Owners when devising a proposal. Please note that this does not preclude staff who are not Policy Owners from initiating policy. Any staff member can raise an issue to propose a policy but the Policy Owner is the person who needs to officially submit the Policy Proposal for approval. 4.4 What needs to be considered before creating a policy document? Policy Owners are required to take a number of considerations into account before proceeding to the drafting stage. Advice can be sought from the Quality Team, should Policy Owners require any assistance during their considerations. 4.4.1 Key considerations Key considerations need to be measured for Policies, Guidelines and Procedures. Attachment B - Policy Issues Prompt contains a list of prompts for considerations that need to be measured before developing a policy. The list isn't exhaustive and Policy Owners may also identify other considerations that are specific to the policy that they are developing. 4.4.2 Stakeholders Key stakeholders need to be identified. Consultation and communication requirements should be considered and addressed in policy proposals. Stakeholders, at a minimum, should be given the opportunity to provide comments/ edits on the draft policy document (see 22.214.171.124 below) however the Policy Owner has the discretion to seek additional feedback by other means such via workshops, discussion groups, questionnaires etc 126.96.36.199 Internal comments & edit process The Policy Owner is to submit the draft policy to all staff members directly affected by the policy either individually or via email, or as a group at TMM, for feedback. The Policy Owner may choose to allow staff reviewing the draft policy to make comments using Track Changes on a draft version of the document or they may decide that another approach is more appropriate depending on the volume of feedback anticipated. Whichever approach is taken, the Policy Owner is responsible for recording any feedback received, incorporating any relevant changes to the draft policy and resubmitting the draft to stakeholders for further feedback as required. 4.4.3 Policy type It is imperative that the correct policy type is selected in accordance with the definitions outlined in 4.1. Policy Owners are encouraged to contact the Quality Team should the policy type be unclear. 4.4.4 Timeline for adoption/implementation It is important that Policy Owners plan a timeline for consultation, adoption and implementation of the policy. 4.5 Drafting documents 4.5.1 Templates The Medical Council has an approved set of templates that must be used by Policy writers when drafting policies. The templates are located in TRIM at P11/016. Policy No: PROQL002 4.5.2 Writing style Policy writers have the important task of reaching the intended audience. It is imperative that policies are clear, easy to read, and provide the right level of information. Policy document templates provide further guidance on writing style and policy formatting requirements. 4.5.3 TRIM All policy documents are contained in the TRIM Superclip 17-72. Under this clip policies are grouped into team areas. Under each team there is a container for each policy type containing the following subfolders: - Team Name – ACTIVE Policies – Current - Team Name – SUPERSEDED Policies – Past - Team Name – OBSOLETE Policies – Discarded - Team Name – PENDING Policies – Working Folder Only the Quality Team has administrative rights to make changes in the Active, Superseded and Obsolete policy folders for Policies, Guidelines and Procedures. Policy Owners will be able to work on drafts and store historical or background materials in the Pending Policies folder. 188.8.131.52 Storage of drafts and working documents During the development phase of policy documents, all working documents and drafts are to be stored in TRIM in subfolders titled Team Name – PENDING Policies – Working Folder. This folder can include historical documentation such as directives, letters, emails etc as well as the draft document. When registering documents into this folder Policy Owners must ensure the draft title that the policy relates to is contained in the title of the document and that titling accords with record titling standards. Examples include: - Email - to smith, John- re DRAFT POLICY - 15 March 2017 - Report - from HPCA - re Need for DRAFT POLICY - 12 April 2016 Draft policies are to be kept in this folder and labelled: Draft - [POLICY TITLE] – date Or for amendments Draft amendment- [POLICY TITLE] - date. Date of Publication: 3/10/17 Policy No: PROQL002 Policy No: PROQL002 184.108.40.206 Process Council processes have the same set up in TRIM as the policy documents above. The main distinction is that Process Owners have access and control of all subfolders and are responsible for the maintenance of them. ADOPTION & PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS 4.6 What are the Policy approval requirements? Before seeking the adoption of a policy document there are a number of consultative steps that must be undertaken, in addition to seeking feedback from key stakeholders (see 4.4.2 above). This process varies according to document type. 4.6.1 Policy and guideline approvals Once the owner of a policy has consulted relevant stakeholders (at a minimum Assistant Director Medical/ Executive Officer, Medical Director and Deputies, Principals, Team Leaders and legal, as appropriate) and drafted a Council policy and guideline, the document must be submitted to the following bodies: Diagram 1 COUNCIL For endorsement EXECTUTIVE COMMITTEE PROGRAM STREAM COMMITTEE For approval to proceed to Council TMM For approval to proceed to the Executive Committee The Council is the authorising body for policies and guidelines. Before endorsement the Policy Owner is required to present the draft policy to TMM and the Council's Executive Committee for approval, then to the full Council for endorsement. If the Executive Committee considers further input is required, it will refer the draft policy to the relevant Committee with specific instruction to resolve any issues or questions. Once approved the Committee should then refer the draft policy to the full Council for endorsement. 4.6.2 Procedure approvals Once the owner of a procedure has consulted relevant stakeholders (at a minimum relevant Assistant Director Medical/ Executive Officer, Medical Director and Deputies, Principals, Team Leaders and legal, as appropriate) and drafted the procedure the document must be submitted to the following bodies: Diagram 2 COMMITTEE OR COUNCIL For endorsement TMM For approval to proceed to a Committee Most procedures will be endorsed by committees i.e. The Executive Committee, Conduct Committee, Performance Committee, Corporate Governance Committee or Research Committee, dependent on the content of the procedure. Some procedures will be endorsed by Council, if they are accompanying a policy document. 4.6.3 Process approvals For significant processes i.e. processes that impact health and safety, impact business operations, have financial/resources implications, have legal implications or processes that impact more than one team across Council, the process owner must submit the process to TMM for approval. Process Owners can determine whether prior consultation with stakeholders is necessary. Minor processes or those that are team specific can be approved in team meetings. 4.7 Agenda requirements for policy documents Policy No: PROQL002 In order for a policy, guideline or procedure to be approved the draft policy and an accompanying report needs to be submitted to each consultative and approval body. The Policy Owner is required to prepare the item for the agenda of the relevant meeting. The Policy Owner is encouraged to attend the meeting if possible. When submitting a draft policy to a meeting agenda, the policy is to be included at the beginning of the agenda to allow appropriate time for consideration. 4.8 Content of brief for approval body For policies, guidelines and procedures, briefs seeking approval and/or endorsement should contain the following information: - A summary of background/historical material. - A brief outline of the contents of the document. - A reference to why the Policy type was chosen. - An outline of the consultative process undertaken – including a table responding to stakeholder feedback if a significant amount of feedback has been received or if feedback received has not been taken on board (reasons why it hasn't will need to be outlined in the table). - Recommendations for approval (including a recommendation on whether the document is appropriate for the public domain and can be published on Council's website). - Review date recommendation (if the review date is to fall prior to or after the 5 year default period) Policy Owners can consult the Quality Team if they require assistance with the preparation of the Approval/Adoption brief. 4.9 Post meeting requirements Following the meeting, the Policy Owner is to liaise with the secretary of that meeting to confirm the outcome of the meeting. This can include: - Whether the draft policy requires any changes and if so, whether the draft policy needs to be re-submitted for approval - Whether the authorising body approves the draft policy If the outcome of the relevant meeting is to amend, resubmit to the same group or submit to another authorising body, it is Policy Owner's responsibility to incorporate any changes and report back to relevant bodies as required until the policy is approved. Policy No: PROQL002 Once a policy, guideline or procedure has been adopted, the Policy Owner must refer it to the Quality Team together with a copy of the minutes from the approval body on the day it was adopted. The Quality Team will allocate a policy number, register the policy into the appropriate container in TRIM and publish the document on the Council's website. The Quality Team will also ensure the adoption and publication dates are inserted into the document. The adoption date denotes the day the document was endorsed by Council and the publication date denotes the date the document was published on Council's website. IMPLEMENTATION 4.11 Notification & distribution Once supplied with the relevant documentation as outlined in clause 4.8, the Quality Team will ensure that policies, guidelines, and procedures are published on Council's website and accessible in TRIM. Policy Owners are responsible for the following: - Stakeholder notification - Policy Owners are responsible for ensuring stakeholders and persons responsible for implementation of policies are notified and supplied with a copy of the policy, where possible. - Staff training - Policy Owners are also responsible for training staff, where required, to ensure that the policy content is understood and implemented in accordance with its intent. - Updating handbooks and manuals and other corporate documents - Policy Owners must ensure that relevant handbooks, manuals or other corporate documentation are updated to reflect new or updated policy content. - Council newsletters - Policy Owners can, where appropriate, use Council newsletters to inform stakeholders of the existence of a new policy or amendment/rescission of an old policy document - Council website – Policy Owners can, where appropriate, feature information about policies on the Councils website homepage. - Email/mail distribution – Policies are to be distributed via email or mail to key stakeholders where possible. - Updating Boardbooks – Appropriate policies should be uploaded to Boardbooks for access during meetings. Where a new/amended policy is likely to have a high impact on the wider community or practitioners, Policy Owners should approach the Communications Team on implementation of communication strategy. Date of Publication: 3/10/17 Policy No: PROQL002 REVIEW & MONITORING 4.12 Who is responsible for policy review? Policy Owners are to review policies before the review date. Policy Owners are required to consider any policies due for review in the following financial year during annual planning processes for individual performance plans. Resources should be allocated so that reviews can be prioritised in work schedules and completed prior to their due date. 4.13 How often are policies reviewed? Policies are to be reviewed within a default period of 5 years unless otherwise prescribed, recommended by the Council/approval body or there are changes in circumstances that impact the content or intent of the policy. 4.14 Questions to ask when reviewing Policy documents Policy Owners should consider a range of factors when reviewing policy content. In addition to other considerations that Policy Owners deem relevant, a list of policy review prompts that can assist Policy Owners during the review process, are contained in Attachment C – Review Considerations Prompt. 4.14.1 Review Outcomes Brief A review will not necessarily result in an amendment to the policy. If amendment is required then owners will need to follow amendment procedures outlined in 4.16 below. If the document needs to be rescinded, then rescission procedures outlined in 4.17 below should be followed. If the policy does not need to be amended then a brief should be submitted to the approval body and a copy of the minutes of the meeting it was submitted to must be forwarded to the Quality Team so that the review date can be amended. 4.15 Monitoring policies outside of the review period Policy Owners must continuously monitor the policies that they own regardless of whether or not they are due to be reviewed. Where a policy becomes inappropriate to the operations of Council or non compliant due legislative/regulatory changes, the policy must be amended as soon as practicable. 4.16 Amendment All amendments to Policy documents follow the same processes as a new policy would, as outlined in the above clauses i.e. issues need to be Policy No: PROQL002 considered, stakeholders consulted, relevant parties notified and publication processes followed. It is imperative that the Quality Team are notified when amendments are initiated and again once they have been adopted so that version control can be maintained in TRIM and on Council's website. Previous versions of documents will be contained in TRIM folders labelled (Team Name) – Superseded Policies – Past. Policy Owners are responsible for version control for policies appearing on the Boardbooks application. 4.16.1 Policy and Guideline amendment All amendments to policies and guidelines, with the exception of minor amendments, outlined below, must be approved by formal resolution of Council. 4.16.2 Procedure amendment All amendments to procedures, with the exception of minor amendments, outlined below, must be approved by formal resolution of the Committee or Council. 4.16.3 Process amendment All amendments to minor processes are at the discretion of the process owner. At a minimum, all users of the process must be consulted and informed about amendments. Significant process amendments must be approved by TMM. 4.16.4 Minor amendments Minor amendments to policies and guidelines can be approved by the Assistant Director Medical /Executive Officer. Minor amendments include the following: - Format changes. - Changes to the policy number or name. - Changes to the policy logo or template - Changes to the Policy Owner or those responsible for implementing the policy as a result of an organisational restructure. - Correction of errors to punctuation and grammar. Minor amendments to policies can be approved by Assistant Director Medical/Executive Officer in the following circumstances: - If the amendment does not change the intent of the policy - If there is no impact on the health and safety of the public Date of Publication: 3/10/17 Policy No: PROQL002 - If it does not result in a conflict with any existing policy - If it does not have any legal or financial implications Council are to be informed as soon as practicable of any minor amendments to policies approved in this way. Minor amendments to processes that are administrative in nature and do not impact the process steps can be made by the process owner for both minor and significant processes. 4.17 Rescission 4.17.1 Rescission of Policy documents A Policy and Guideline can only be rescinded by formal resolution of Council or the Corporate Governance Committee. Procedures can only be rescinded by formal resolution of the Committee or Council. Policy document owners are to submit a report to the appropriate approval body outlining the key justifications for rescission. Stakeholders should be consulted and notified of rescissions where possible. Policy Owners can seek guidance from the Medical Council's Quality Team to assist with preparation of rescission reports. It is imperative that the Quality Team are notified of any rescission and provided with a copy of the document DD number and minutes of the meeting where the document was rescinded. The Quality Team will then remove the rescinded Policy document from the Current folders in TRIM and from the public domain on the Council's website. Policy Owners will be responsible for removing rescinded policies from the Boardbooks application. All rescinded policies will remain in TRIM so that they can be accessed by staff when required. They will appear in folders labelled (Team Name) – Obsolete Policies – Discarded. 4.17.2 Rescission of processes Minor process owners can rescind processes as required. The process owner must inform their colleagues in a team meeting that a process is now obsolete. Significant process rescission requires TMM approval. 220.127.116.11 TRIM requirements for rescinded processes Process owners are responsible for ensuring that rescinded processes are reflected as such in TRIM and are transferred to subfolders labelled (Team Name) – Obsolete Policies – Discarded. 4.18 Conflicting policy Policy No: PROQL002 In circumstances where two Medical Council policies contain conflicting content, the later policy will in most circumstances prevail. When a conflict is identified, advice must be sought from the Legal Team. In circumstances where a Medical Council policy conflicts with NSW Health or HPCA policy, these policies will prevail. 5. Legislation and references List specific provisions within legislation/regulations where appropriate and reference other documents in accordance with standard referencing practice. 6. Related policies Medical Council Policy Enterprise Wide Risk Management Policy & Framework NSW Health 13 October 2015 NSW Health Policy Directives and other Policy Documents HPCA Policy Management Framework Policy No: PROQL002 7. Definitions & abbreviations 7.1 Definitions \| \| Word \| Meaning \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Approval Body \| \| \| \| Council members \| \| \| \| Guidelines \| \| \| \| Boardbooks \| \| \| \| Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) \| \| \| \| Health Professional Councils/Councils \| \| \| \| Health practitioners \| \| \| \| Policy documents \| \| \| Policy No: PROQL002 Word \| Policy \| A policy outlines legislative principles and can also reflect the values/philosophies of the Medical Council. It directs conduct and decision making and must be complied with and implemented by members and staff or delegates of the Council and/or Medical Practitioners practising in NSW. It is an overarching document supported by procedures and guidelines, as appropriate \| \|---\|---\| \| Policy Owners \| The individual responsible for policy development and management over policies that they own. The following position titles/levels can be Policy Owners: Assistant Director Medical/ Executive Officer, Medical Director & Deputies, Principal Officers and Team Leaders. \| \| Procedure \| Procedures provide practical step by step guidance to describe processes and actions required to enable the implementation of a policy or guideline. They can also be developed to ensure compliance with legislative or policy requirements by members, staff or delegates of the Council and/or Medical Practitioners practising in NSW. They can be appended to a policy or guideline to inform the targeted audience of the processes that support implementation of the higher level document. \| \| Process \| Processes and process maps are step by step instructions created by individual business units to assist staff in carrying out routine tasks. They may apply to the team that develops them, however in some circumstances they can relate to the whole organization. Significant processes include: processes that impact health and safety, impact business operations, have legal implications or processes that impact more than one team across Council. Minor processes – are team specific and can be approved in team meetings. \| \| Staff \| Includes permanent, temporary, casual, contractors or consultants, working in a full-time or part-time capacity, at all levels of the HPCA. \| Policy No: PROQL002 Meaning \| \| Word \| Meaning \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| TRIM \| \| \| 7.2 Abbreviations \| HPCA \| Health Professional Councils Authority \| \|---\|---\| \| TRIM \| Total Records & Information Management \| \| TMM \| Tuesday Morning Meeting \| 8. Revision history \| \| Version \| \| Approved By \| Amendment notes \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| [Insert – Endorsement date: Rescission date: TRIM Doc No:] \| \| [Insert \| \| \| \| Add to the table or delete rows as required. \| \| \| \| \| Policy No: PROQL002 Attachment A Policy Proposal To be completed by the Policy Owner (the Quality Team can assist). Name of policy: Policy owner: Proposed policy type: Summary of proposed content: Key issues considered: Yes/No (attach Policy Issues Prompt if significant issues have arisen) Key stakeholders (list) : Proposed consultative method: List: i.e. Internal Comment & Edit, workshops, questionnaire etc Proposed timeline for adoption (High Level Phases): Phase Completion date (identify month/year) Research Drafting Stakeholder engagement Report preparation Adoption Notification/ distribution to stakeholders Approval by Assistant Director Medical/Executive Officer: Date: Policy No: PROQL002 Attachment B Policy Issues Prompt To be completed by the Policy Owner (The Quality Team can assist). \| Considerations \| Yes/ No \| Notes/ Action Required in \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| response \| \| \| \| (Expand if Necessary) \| \| Are there any legal factors that need to be considered? Does the Legal Team need to be consulted? \| \| \| \| Is the policy concept within the Medical Council’s sphere of influence/ jurisdiction? \| \| \| \| Is there likely to be a financial or resource impact? Have budget considerations been taken into account? \| \| \| \| What are the key risks associated with developing this policy? What are risks of not developing the policy? (see The Enterprise Wide Risk Management Policy & Framework NSW Health if a comprehensive risk assessment is required) \| \| \| \| Will this policy conflict with any other Council, HPCA or NSW Health Policy? \| \| \| \| Are there any industrial or workplace implications that need to be considered? \| \| \| \| Could the policy attract bad publicity for the Medical Council? Is it controversial? Does Principal Communications & Information Management need to be consulted? \| \| \| \| What is the potential impact on medical practitioners, complainants, those subject to a complaint or patients in general? \| \| \| \| Will this policy impact other Councils? \| \| \| \| Will this policy impact other teams within Council? \| \| \| \| What internal documents might be impacted by the policy? i.e. handbooks and manuals. Will they need to be amended as a result of this policy? Who owns this document? \| \| \| Policy No: PROQL002 Attachment C Review Considerations Prompt To be completed by the Policy Owner (the Quality Team can assist) \| \| Considerations \| Yes/ \| Notes/ action required in response \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| No \| (expand if necessary) \| \| Is the policy still relevant? Should it be rescinded? Consider reasons why. \| \| \| \| \| Are my stakeholders still the same or are there any additional groups/ individuals who now need to be consulted? \| \| \| \| \| Have there been any legal/regulatory changes that might now impact the policy? \| \| \| \| \| Have there been any structural changes that have impacted the policy i.e. Am I still the most appropriate owner? Are there any other teams that might now be impacted that weren’t previously? \| \| \| \| \| Is there any other policy document that has been created that could now be consolidated with this policy? \| \| \| \| \| Is the type of policy document chosen still suitable? \| \| \| \| \| Is there any need to create a supporting policy document to further clarify the content? i.e. Does this policy now need an accompanying procedure? \| \| \| \| \| Are there any ongoing resource implications that now need to be considered? \| \| \| \| Policy No: PROQL002
Summary Q4 and FY/2017 preliminary results presentation [x] In 2017 secular net revenue increased as planned by 5%, but historically low equity market volatility resulted in an overall decline of cyclical net revenue by 2%. [x] As a result, net revenue in 2017 amounted to €2,462 million (+3%); adjusted operating costs decreased slightly to €1,040 million (-1%); adjusted EBITDA (€1,431 million) and net income (€857 million) increased by 6%. [x] In Q4/2017 Deutsche Börse Group achieved its strongest quarter since 2008; growth was driven by the Clearstream segment, the Xetra segment and the index business at MD+S. [x] As a result, net revenue in Q4/2017 amounted to €639 million (+3%); adjusted operating costs decreased to €302 million (-3%); adjusted EBITDA (€338 million) increased by 9% and net income (€194 million) by 8%. [x] Executive Board proposes increase of 2017 dividend per share by 4% to €2.45, a pay-out of 53%. [x] For 2018 Deutsche Börse Group expects further secular net revenue growth of at least 5% and no further overall decline of cyclical net revenue compared to 2017. [x] Efficient management of operating costs will help to ensure full scalability of business model; as a result, at least 5% secular net revenue growth is expected to result in at least 10% net income growth in 2018. [x] From Q1/2018 onwards Deutsche Börse will introduce a new financial segment reporting, which will highlight growth areas and increase modelling transparency. FY/2017 – Preliminary group financials Secular net revenue growth of 5 per cent in 2017 was partly off-set by negative cyclicality €m Q4/2017 – Preliminary group financials Development of key financials in Q4/2017 €m Revenue [x] Net revenue: €639.0m (+3% y-o-y) [x] Net interest income: €37.1m (+69% y-o-y) Total costs [x] Operating costs 1,2 : €301.6m (-3% y-o-y) [x] Adjusted for €21.7m exceptional items, which included litigations, M&A integration, and restructuring [x] Depreciation/amortisation: €42.6m (+28% y-o-y) [x] Increase due to higher investments in growth Earnings [x] EBITDA 1 : €338.3m (+9% y-o-y) [x] Adjusted for a gain from the sale of ICE US Holding Company L.P. (€73.5m) [x] Net income 1 : €194.0m (+8% y-o-y) [x] EPS 1 : €1.04 (+7% y-o-y) Q4/2017 – Eurex 5 Net revenue Q4/2017 – Xetra Q4/2017 – Clearstream Q4/2017 – Market Data + Services Business activity Q4/2017 y-o-y Index [x] Calculation/distribution of indices through STOXX: ETF AuM STOXX €84.5bn 39% ETF AuM DAX Index derivatives €29.7bn 165.0m -10% Data [x] Derivatives and cash market data [x] Regulator reporting services Infrastructure [x] Market connectivity [x] Business process and infrastructure outsourcing 15% 8 Net revenue Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG proposes increase of 2017 dividend per share by 4 per cent to 2.45 Euro Capital management policy Dividend per share and pay-out [x] In general, Deutsche Börse Group aims to distribute 40 to 60% of the adjusted annual net income to shareholders in form of the regular dividend. [x] In years with depressed net income, the pay-out ratio stood at the upper end of this range. [x] Going forward, the Group is expecting substantial earnings growth, therefore, it targets a pay-out ratio in the middle of the 40 to 60% range. [x] Out of the €1 billion proceed from the divestiture of ISE in 2016, the Group is currently implementing two share buyback programmes with a total volume of €400 million until end of 2018. [x] The remaining cash at hand and the recurring free cash is planned to be fully invested into organic and/or external growth opportunities. [x] In case there should be no use for the free cash, additional distributions to shareholders via share buybacks might be considered. New financial segment reporting will highlight growth areas and increase modelling transparency from Q1/2018 onwards New financial segment reporting (from Q1/2018) 1) Under the new financial segment reporting infrastructure services (€116m) are split between Eurex (€74m) and Xetra (€42m) 10 Outlook 2018 – At least 10 per cent net income growth expected [x] For 2018 Deutsche Börse Group expects further secular net revenue growth of at least 5%; major secular opportunities include: Euro OTC clearing, new Eurex products, Commodities (EEX), Foreign exchange (360T), Clearstream (T2S), Investment Fund Services (IFS), as well as the index and data business. [x] In addition, the company expects no further overall decline of cyclical net revenue compared to 2017; the start of the year with normalised market volatility has been encouraging. [x] Efficient management of operating costs will help to ensure full scalability of business model; as a result, at least 5% secular net revenue growth is expected to result in at least 10% net income growth on an adjusted basis. At least 5% secular net revenue growth No further overall decline of cyclical net revenue Cost management to ensure scalability of business model At least 10% net income growth 11 Staff costs 12 Preliminary income statement – Group level adjusted Quarter ended 31 December 2016 654.2 22.0 14.2 690.4 -71.4 619.0 -159.5 -150.0 -309.5 0.2 309.7 -33.4 276.3 -19.2 257.1 -70.0 187.1 180.3 6.8 0.97 Staff costs 13 Preliminary income statement – Segmental level Q4/2016 99.9 -18.5 -32.1 -50.6 11.3 0.0 0.0 49.3 -3.1 0.3 46.2 61% \| 250.8 \| \| 47.1 \| \| 236.3 \| \| 104.8 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| -70.4 \| -64.4 \| -15.2 \| -14.2 \| -67.6 \| -65.4 \| -22.0 \| \| -67.9 \| -85.7 \| -11.4 \| -17.7 \| -48.7 \| -50.2 \| -20.1 \| \| -138.3 \| -150.1 \| -26.6 \| -31.9 \| -116.3 \| -115.6 \| -42.1 \| \| 10.5 \| 15.6 \| 0.8 \| 1.8 \| 9.0 \| 10.0 \| 1.4 \| \| 72.7 \| 37.7 \| 1.5 \| -0.1 \| 0.1 \| -0.1 \| 0.1 \| \| 73.5 \| 37.3 \| 0.0 \| 0.0 \| 0.0 \| 0.0 \| 0.0 \| \| 185.2 \| 155.5 \| 22.0 \| 8.6 \| 120.1 \| 94.9 \| 62.8 \| \| -23.4 \| -21.3 \| -2.2 \| -1.7 \| -14.4 \| -10.9 \| -3.7 \| \| 0.9 \| 3.2 \| 0.0 \| 0.0 \| 0.1 \| 0.1 \| 0.1 \| \| 161.8 \| 134.2 \| 19.8 \| 6.9 \| 105.7 \| 84.0 \| 59.1 \| \| 49% \| 50% \| 48% \| 26% \| 55% \| 50% \| 61% \| 1) Includes internal items Preliminary Q4 and FY/2017 Results Disclaimer Cautionary note with regard to forward-looking statements: This document contains forward-looking statements and statements of future expectations that reflect management's current views and assumptions with respect to future events. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied and that are beyond Deutsche Börse AG's ability to control or estimate precisely. In addition to statements which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words 'may, will, should, expects, plans, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, predicts, potential, or continue' and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those statements due to, without limitation, (i) general economic conditions, (ii) future performance of financial markets, (iii) interest rate levels (iv) currency exchange rates (v) the behaviour of other market participants (vi) general competitive factors (vii) changes in laws and regulations (viii) changes in the policies of central banks, governmental regulators and/or (foreign) governments (ix) the ability to successfully integrate acquired and merged businesses and achieve anticipated synergies (x) reorganization measures, in each case on a local, national, regional and/or global basis. Deutsche Börse AG does not assume any obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of these materials. No obligation to update information: Deutsche Börse AG does not assume any obligation and does not intend to update any information contained herein. No investment advice: This presentation is for information only and shall not constitute investment advice. It is not intended for solicitation purposes but only for use as general information. All descriptions, examples and calculations contained in this presentation are for illustrative purposes only. © Deutsche Börse AG 2018. All rights reserved.
Access to Justice Indicators in the Asia-Pacific Region JULIO C. TEEHANKEE, Ph.D. * Introduction The lack of access to justice and a low degree of social welfare inhibit the capacity of individuals to combat poverty and underdevelopment. While institutional mechanisms that render justice, as a social good may be present, accessing justice beyond its legal character may not always be in place. In this regard, a myriad of institutions and organizations have endeavored to assess the degree and quality of access to justice in developing and underdeveloped societies. Their efforts include the assessment of access to justice with the use of clear-cut indicators as tools for evaluation. Through the years, access to justice advocacy has resonated in several parts of the world. The advocacy has been successful in raising the demands of substantive justice into deliberations that revolve around the legal system. Access to justice advocacy has covered a wide range of issues. Parker (1999) enumerates the issues to include the following: * Accessibility of court processes for resolving disputes over mutual rights and responsibilities; * Availability of adequate legal representation in criminal trials; * Access to more informal legal processes such as small claims courts and administrative tribunals; * Availability of legal advice; * Public legal education A broad reform movement that shares a common interest in making their national legal systems more accessible has adopted access to justice advocacy. In their view, existing legal processes do not necessarily lead to outcomes that are individually or socially just. Advocates of access to justice have struggled for substantive reforms of law and legal procedures to guarantee that the interests of the poor, minorities and diffuse public * Associate Professor, Political Science Department, De La Salle University - Manila interests are articulated and recognized. In addition, the access to justice movement has diligently worked to promote alternative dispute resolution methods to avert legal processes altogether. The worldwide access to justice movement has grown into a collection of multinational, reformoriented associations of legal workers, government reformers, and law and society scholars (Parker, 1999). Diversity best characterizes the Asia-Pacific region. The diversity of the region elicits not only differences in cultural and political institutional arrangements but also in the incidence of development and poverty. Thus, there is an imperative to draw similarities in the strengths and weaknesses, the gains and challenges that permeate the region as regards the indicators of access to justice. This paper reviews the indicators used to measure impacts and processes of access to justice and justice-related programs across the AsiaPacific region and their limitations to assess improvements on access to justice by poor and disadvantaged groups. To this end the paper addresses the question: how is access to justice evaluated by government agencies, civil society organizations, and development agencies in the Asia-Pacific Region? Rights-based approach to access to justice Access to justice advocates has underscored the need to make legal and quasi-legal justice institutions accessible to all. From this perspective, legal institutions are fundamental to the practice of justice. Thus, some access to justice advocates have often "concentrated on the citizen's use of institutions of law as deliberative fora in which private and public dominations can be contested and debated." (Parker, 1999, p. 47) This institutional view of access to justice is premised on legal justice, which in turn, is "concerned with the way in which law distributes penalties for wrongdoing, or allocates compensation in the case of injury or damage." (Heywood, 1999, p. 176) Hence, legal justice necessitates the creation and enforcement of a public set of rules – the law. From an institutional view, law is oftentimes defined as "the administration of justice." (Pollock, 1998) However, law should not be equated with justice, since laws may be just or unjust, as well as the court system through which they are administered. The ends of law and justice may be different, oftentimes contradictory. There are also critical limitations on the role that law can play in realizing justice (Heywood, 2000; Parker, 1999; Pollock, 1998). These limitations of the institutional perspective have resulted in the emergence of an alternative rights-based access to justice. Access to justice, from a rights-based perspective, refers to "the ability of people from disadvantaged groups to prevent and overcome human poverty by seeking and obtaining a remedy, through formal and informal justice systems, for grievances in accordance with human rights principles and standards. (UNDP, 2002, p. 8) This perception goes beyond the administrative character of justice, i.e. justice as a social good. It delves on the capacity of the poor and marginalized to address their grievances by obtaining effective remedies through the existing modes of justice systems. Justice here, therefore, is taken from the "access" perspective and not solely from the "distribution" perspective. Using the rights-based approach to justice therefore requires an assessment of both claimholder and duty-bearer on three particular aspects, namely: capacity, accountability and empowerment. Capacity refers to the ability of both stakeholders to solve problems, perform functions and set and achieve objectives. Consequently, capacity development requires both the accountability and empowerment of both stakeholders. Claimholders need to strengthen their capacities to become accountable in the exercise of rights; duty-bearers often need to be empowered to be able to fulfill their obligations more effectively. Assessing access to justice indicators In assessing indicators of access to justice, two perspectives are deemed to be significant: those of the claimholders and the duty-bearers. Both stakeholders ultimately affect the level of access to justice. Furthermore, a rights-based approach to justice is also used in the assessment of access to justice indicators. Wanting levels of access to justice is a definitive aspect of poverty. Depriving citizens of access to information and awareness of mechanisms to provide remedies for their grievances inhibit their capacities to develop, relegating them in a state of destitution. The lack of access to justice, therefore, serves as a major impediment to poverty eradication. Hence, there is a need to explicate the synergies between access to justice, poverty reduction and human development from a rights-based perspective. Indicators are important as markers for evaluating results. It is primarily an instrument for determining how a project or program is proceeding. As a yardstick for measurement, it provides for monitoring desired levels of performance (e.g. success or failure) on a regular and sustainable basis. Indicators serve to identify problems, resolve and learn from them. In this regard, indicators monitor change on an ongoing basis (Kapoor, 1996). Indicators can set targets, projecting results based on specific objectives that are defined by a project document. They can also be utilized to ascertain the situation of an ongoing project or program (Sudarshan, 2003). Table 1 shows the various types of indicators that address different aspects of evaluation. The provision of justice to citizens is an integral aspect of institutionalizing good governance, human rights and political development. Nonetheless, measuring justice performance may initially prove to be a difficult undertaking (Sudarshan, 2003). Despite the burgeoning literature on socio-economic indicators, the development of performance indicators for human rights and democratic development, in general, and access to justice, in particular, are at an incipient stage. This is drawn out of the essentially qualitative nature of human rights; democratic development and justice provision that "has tended to make analysts shy away from attempts to measure or quantify it." (Kapoor, 1996, p. 1) This study asserts that qualitative and quantitative measurements are far from being incompatible, and are in fact complementary in assessing access to justice. Table 1 Types of Indicators Source: Adapted from Kapoor, 1996, p. 5. Various institutional players employ some form of indicators to assess the level of access to justice in the Asia-Pacific region. They include governmental agencies, civil society organizations and international development agencies. Aside from presenting the indicators used by these players, the following discussion will include the nature of these organizations as it has some bearing on their measurement of access to justice. Governmental agencies Governmental agencies employ indicators that help augment adjudication practices as well as access to due process by poor and disadvantaged groups. Law enforcement, i.e. police and prison systems, is also another aspect that is crucial in enhancing justice delivery. These measurements of access to justice by governmental agencies are crucial since government functions as a purveyor of formal justice systems. Both formal and informal institutional interrelated mechanisms serve to translate social preferences into public policies. Formal mechanisms revolve around the legal system as the "arena in which people can hold political leaders and public officials to account, protect themselves from exploitation by those with more power, and resolve conflicts that are individual or collective (Anderson, 2002, p.1)." On the other hand, improving the effectiveness of dispute resolution mechanisms is a means by which social policies can be addressed through public policies within the judicial domain (Buscaglia, 2001). Beyond institutional effectiveness, access to justice is integral not only in upholding constitutionally guaranteed rights, but also in addressing the broader goal of development and poverty reduction (Anderson, 2003). Hence, there is a marked distinction between "delivery of justice mechanisms" and "access to justice mechanisms." The former refers to the institutional and administrative character of justice, while the latter pertains to the modalities by which the poor and marginalized can obtain effective remedies within the justice system. While most societies in the Asia-Pacific have institutionalized delivery of justice mechanisms in their judicial and legal systems, access to justice mechanisms have been unevenly distributed in the region. Apparently, access to justice has not featured prominently in the good governance agenda of some countries (Anderson, 2003). In other instances, most access to justice initiatives is subsumed under an integrated approach towards justice reform (UNDP, 2003). The UNDP is most active in supporting and monitoring access to justice initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. However, even majority of the UNDP's activities tend to concentrate on the institutional and formal levels (See Figure 1). There is significant support for legal awareness, but there is a weaker involvement in the areas of customary norms, informal and traditional systems, enforcement and civil society oversight (UNDP, 2003). Figure 1 Scope of UNDP Access to Justice Initiatives in Asia and the Pacific NORMATIVE PROTECTION OF RIGHTS LEGAL EMPOWERMENT CAPACITY TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE REMEDIES By International and Constitutional Law FIJI INDONESIA NEPAL IRAN SRI LANKA CHINA MONGOLIA PRAJA By legal and regulatory frameworks INDONESIA CHINA NEPAL CAMBODIA BANGLADESH YEMEN VIETNAM PRAJA By Customary Law INDIA Legal awareness BANGLADESH NEPAL PHILIPPINES MONGOLIA INDONESIA FIJI IRAN INDIA PRAJA YEMEN Legal counsel BANGLADESH IRAN PHILIPPINES Capacity to access justice services INDIA PHILIPPINES IRAN INDONESIA Source: UNDP, 2003, p. 10. Civil Society Organizations The indicators employed by civil society organizations are critical for effective accountability, prevention of impunity and abuse of power by governmental agencies. Acting as watchdogs, civil society organizations enhances the accountability of duty-bearers at the same enhancing the participation of claimholders in formulating, implementing and enforcing laws and policies. Civil society organizations generate informal and alternative systems of justice. They also foment alternative means of access to justice. Civil Society Organizations, in the form of non-governmental organizations, people's organization, trade unions, professional Accessible adjudication Judicial System CAMBODIA IRAN YEMEN NEPAL INDONESIA PHILIPPINES Quasi-judicial bodies NEPAL MONGOLIA INDONESIA SRI LANKA BANGLADESH PHILIPPINES Indigenous/ traditional systems INDIA Enforcement Police BANGLADESH INDIA PRAJA Prison System Civil Society Oversight SRI LANKA PHILIPPINES FIJI PRAJA associations, and other associations, have been in the forefront of the advocacy for access to justice in the region. Their initiatives are oftentimes related with the broader reform agenda of good governance, democratization and human rights. Indeed, the good governance agenda links democracy and human rights with responsive judicial processes as interlocking and mutually supporting phenomena. Substantive democracy includes some of the main prerequisites (separation of powers, judicial independence and effective access to justice) for the poor and marginalized to use judicial processes for protection and redress (Anderson, 2003). In most cases, the incorporation of human rights concepts into law has increased the responsiveness of judicial system and enhanced the ability of litigants and courts to restrain abuses by public officials and political leaders. It is insufficient, however, for human rights to be bestowed "from above" by the state. It is essential that human rights should be claimed "from below" by active individuals and civil society organizations. Human rights discourse can be a very potent tool for political mobilization. The language of rights clearly crystallizes popular understanding, mobilizes political movements and brings forth a "rights revolution." Rights revolution "refers to patterns of governance in which constitutional or human rights become an important vehicle for political struggle on the part of groups seeking more egalitarian outcomes (Anderson, 2003, p. 22)." Compared to democratic development and access to justice, the development of performance indicators for human rights is far more advanced. The literature, however, is mostly restricted to monitoring national trends and human rights treaty violations, instead of monitoring project/program performance. Nonetheless, initial efforts to incorporate a rights-based approach with access to justice initiatives have been undertaken by several organizations. The UNDP Asia-Pacific Rights and Justice Initiative reconfigures its definition of justice from the perspective of respect for fundamental human rights guarantee. It identifies human rights problems as immediate causes preventing access to justice by the poor and marginalized sectors of society. These problems include the "lack of normative protection guaranteeing the existence of a remedy for grievances, as well as the incapacity to seek such remedies even where they formally exist, or the incapacity to provide them when sought (UNDP, 2003, p. 7)." Similarly, the Asian Development Bank Law and Policy Reform (ADB LPR) program has expanded its scope from the originally strong focus on training and retraining of legal professionals to support for legal and judicial reform in Asia using the concept of legal empowerment. The 2001 ADB LPR Report entitled "Legal Empowerment: Advancing Good Governance and Poverty Reduction" asserts "legal empowerment flourishes in a vibrant civil society environment (ADB LPR, 2001, p. 86)." The report also considers the length of time that development-oriented civil society groups have been allowed freely to address citizen rights and responsibilities as an important variable for determining the effectiveness of civil society intervention on behalf of legal empowerment. International development agencies In spheres of development cooperation, international development agencies are increasingly utilizing indicators of access to justice mainly to ascertain the link between justice and development. These agencies relate access to justice as an important factor to realize improvements in the quality of life of individuals. However, there are also differences as regards the practice of justice in relation to the pursuit of development. The World Bank (WB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), three of the more prominent international development organizations, view the relationship between justice and development quite differently. The nature of these organizations affects their take on justice and its impact on development. The World Bank sees justice and the access to a functioning justice sector as important factors in catalyzing economic growth. Much of the Bank's programs often cater to commercial and civil matters, indicating that its tendencies are geared more towards the institutional approach to justice. For instance, the Bank's on-line database 1 on justice and legal reform provides useful information on the institutional background of judicial systems of various countries around the world. Indeed, the main 1 This database on justice can be viewed by visiting their site: www.worldbank.org/ legal/database/Justice. thrust of the Bank's justice and justice-related programs are directed to strengthening the capacities of legal and judicial institutions. If these institutions are able to absorb the demands of and render judicial services to their constituents, then improvements in the quality of life can take place. Economic growth is therefore affected by a sound and functioning judicial system. In this regard, measuring access to justice is tantamount to measuring the capacity of institutions to render habitual judicial services as a means to spur economic growth. On the other hand, UNDP views justice as closely related to poverty eradication. Poverty here is taken beyond mere insufficiencies in income, monetary or otherwise. Human poverty is brought about by inabilities to overcome an individual's state of destitution. Limitations in choices and access deter individuals to determine their path toward improvements in the quality of life. The lack of access to justice, therefore, is not only a defining feature of poverty, but is also an impediment to level-off power inequalities and prevent human poverty. UNDP takes a rights-based approach in order to address this problem. A rights-based approach involves the creation of an environment that is most conducive for any person to have enough choices and access to overcome poverty. The indicators of access to justice used in this perspective emphasize on the capacity of individuals to access justice and justice related-programs. Consequently, these indicators interpret justice as social (substantive) justice. Meanwhile, ADB believes that the existence of a legal environment conducive to development is essential for all developing countries. Thus, the activities and programs that it implements in the field of legal and judicial reform promote the rule of law through a pro-poor legal and institutional framework for economic development. Legal reform as part of the development process means a great deal more than simply the drafting of laws that are accessible, comprehensible and usable. The legal system cannot operate without institutions that make these rules realized through effective and dynamic interpretation and enforcement. Similar to the previous two development agencies, ADB also makes a different interpretation as regards the link between justice and development. In order to establish the relationship between justice and development, there must be an adequate level of legal empowerment. Legal empowerment is defined both as a process and as a goal. 2 As a process, legal empowerment involves the use of law to increase disadvantaged population's control over their lives through a combination of both education and action. As a goal, legal empowerment refers to the actual achievement by the disadvantaged of increased control of their lives through the use of law. The difference between these two lies in the actual control of disadvantaged groups and peoples using the law. Legal empowerment therefore serves as an indicator of access to justice. Furthermore, legal empowerment acts as a link to realize the synergy between governance, justice and poverty eradication. Assessment of access to justice indicators This paper presented various efforts of several formal and informal players to measure the level of access to justice. These players include governmental agencies, civil society organizations and international development agencies. This study collated these indicators using the rights-based framework of the UNDP. The following will assess these indicators in terms of: (a) cost effectiveness in data gathering, (b) sustainability, and (c) adequacy to assess access to justice by the poor and disadvantaged groups. Cost-effectiveness Given limited available resources, there is a need to maximize the utilization of funds for assessing access to justice programs in the region. The quantity and quality of data often determines the scope and impact of access to justice evaluations. The institutional and non-institutional players must recognize the data-gathering advantages inherent in their access to justice activities. Government agencies, in this regard, have the advantage given the vast amount of primary data and statistics it gathers everyday. These data are useful in monitoring and evaluating "delivery of justice" programs in the region. Government agencies must invest on a well-organized system that can maximize the collection and evaluation of institutional information. 2 This definition of the legal empowerment was adapted from the definition of ADB. For a complete discussion, see ADB, 2001, p. 7. Civil Society Organizations are in the best position to gather primary information from the basic sectors themselves. In dealing with the poor and the marginalized sectors, the CSOs can ascertain the impact of "access to justice" programs and mechanisms. Just like government agencies, CSOs should also take effort in developing systems that will properly collate, evaluate and maintain the important data gathered from the field. International Development Agencies have invested much in its various legal and judicial reform projects in the region. Through its vast resources and wide network, it has generated baseline data from the region. Information emanating from its development assistance is useful for evaluating "delivery of justice" and "access to justice" programs in the region. Sustainability The continuous monitoring and evaluation of access to justice initiatives is important to assure its successful implementation. However, several factors hinder the sustainability of the efforts undertaken by access to justice advocates in the region. Greater efforts must be made to address such obstacles in order to assure the continuity of reform efforts. The sustainability of legal and judicial reforms efforts, including application of access to justice performance indicators, of governmental agencies is highly contingent on the priority of government and the availability of funds. Given the multitude of problems facing governments in the region, particularly those in the developing countries, efforts at monitoring performance indicators of access to justice are often compromised. Most CSOs are hampered by their inability to generate internal and domestic funding for their access to justice initiatives. Hence, there is a tendency for most CSOs to become "donor-driven" or dependent on the funding of external international development agencies. Given the realities in underdeveloped and developing countries, it would be difficult to expect most CSOs to immediately transform themselves into financially self-supporting organizations. Thus, it would be more appropriate to measure the sustainability of the impact of access to justice initiatives, rather than expect the sustainability of the organizations advocating judicial reforms. In the same light, international development agencies are prone to "donor-fatigue" due to diminishing financial and logistic sources. Ford Foundation, for example, has closed some of its offices in the region in order to cut back on operational expenses. International Development Agencies are more circumspect in the types of projects it would extend financial support. This will definitely have some impact on access to justice initiatives in the region. Adequacy The efforts by government agencies, civil society organizations and international development agencies to develop performance indicators to assess and measure the degree of access to justice in the region and the world are commendable. The fruits of their initiatives have, thus far, been adequate in generating primary information. However, these indicators reflect particular orientations based on how the institutional and noninstitutional players intend to utilize them. Indicators mostly used by government agencies are oriented toward institutional approaches. The utility of these types of indicators lie in the evaluation and planning for legal development and institution-building. The information culled by civil society organizations, on the other hand, are very useful for issue advocacy and lobbying. The information that emerged from the various studies supported by international development agencies is adequate as baseline data for enhancing institutional development of access to justice mechanisms. These data can also prove helpful in the issue advocacy of civil society organizations in their respective countries and in the region. Summary and recommendations The provision of justice is an important prerequisite for enhancing the protection of human rights and the institutionalization of good governance. In recent years, access to justice initiatives has been undertaken by governmental, non-governmental and international development organizations. There is a need to track the progress of these initiatives through the application of access to justice indicators to draw important lessons in the delivery of justice in the Asia-Pacific region. Indicators are important social scientific tools to measure and monitor desired levels of performance of a project or program. Indicators may ascertain quantitative and qualitative changes that contribute to success or failure of a particular initiative. However, in the development of indicators to measure the performance of access to justice initiatives, the following issues should be taken into account: * The cultural context of the provision of justice services. There is no holistic objective theory or model for assessing access to justice in the Asia-Pacific region. Caution should be taken in appropriating theories or models that emerged out of the historical experiences of the West. * The provision of justice services involves complex human and institutional processes that may be difficult to be captured by a handful of indicators. * The development of political institutions takes a long incremental process. This makes the formulation of indicators more difficult, since it is easier and expedient to assess performance in the short term. The aforementioned issues underscore the challenges involve in the development of access to justice indicators. Nonetheless, these issues can be addressed by undertaking the following: * Indicators should be adapted according to appropriate levels of institutional and political development. * Recognizing that various cultures may share common ethical standards that may allow for a common understanding of the principles of justice. This may be reflected in the international treaties and instruments that are signed by the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. * Providing indirect or proxy indicators if direct results are difficult or too costly to measure. This paper is an initial attempt to provide a cursory view of access to justice indicators collated from an array of sources that include governmental, civil society, and international development organizations. The paper utilized the rights-based approach framework developed by the UNDP Asia-Pacific Justice Initiative as dimensions for the categorization of these indicators. These dimensions include: 1) existence of remedy; 2) capacity to seek remedy; and, 3) capacity to seek effective remedy. The specific indicators identified in this paper are by no means exhaustive, but are illustrative in its attempt to formulate a comprehensive tool for monitoring and evaluating access to justice initiatives. In developing and enhancing access to justice indicators, this paper recommends the following: * Qualitative and quantitative measurements, utilized in tandem, are important tools in assessing access to justice. There is a need to further identify access to justice areas and categories that can be subjected to quantitative and qualitative treatment within the rightsbased framework of the UNDP. This background paper can serve as a jump-off point for a larger study with the objective of developing an access to justice index. * Assessing access to justice is best accomplished through participatory processes that bring together all stakeholders. The parameters, benchmarks and indicators identified in this paper can be enhanced by the participatory development of access to justice indicators through a series of workshops. * Undertake a field study of selected case countries in the Asia-Pacific region to pretest the parameters, benchmarks and indicators identified in this background paper. * Based on the knowledge and experience identified from quantitative, qualitative, and participatory measurements, a manual of access to justice indicators should be finalized and disseminated. REFERENCES Anderson, Michael R. (2003). Access to justice and legal process: Making legal institutions responsive to poor people in LDCs. Sussex: Institute for Development Studies. Asian Development Bank. (2001). Law and policy reform at the Asian Development Bank. Pasig City: Asian Development Bank. Buscaglia, Edgardo. (2001). Investigating the links between access to justice and governance factors: An objective indicators' approach. Vienna: Global Programme Against Corruption. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. (2003) Police as a Service Organization: An agenda for change. Retrieved October 05 2003 from http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/rtc_ea/ea_politic_rtc_n airobi_2003.pdf Golub, Stephen. (2000a). From the Village to the University: Legal Activism in Bangladesh in Mary McClymont & Stephen Golub (Eds.). Many roads to justice: The law related work of Ford Foundation Grantees around the world. USA: The Ford Foundation. pp. 127-159. (2000b). Participatory Justice in the Philippines in Mary McClymont & Stephen Golub (Eds.). Many roads to justice: The law related work of Ford Foundation Grantees around the world. USA: The Ford Foundation. pp. 197-232. Heywood, Andrew. (1999). Political theory: An introduction (2 nd Ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. (2000). Key concepts in politics. New York: St. Martin's Press. Home Office for the United Kingdom. (2003) Police Performance Monitoring 2001/02. Retrieved October 05 2003 from http://www.policereform.gov.uk/docs/ wholeperformancemonitorsdoc.pdf Kapoor, Ilan. (1996). Indicators for programming in human rights and democratic development: A preliminary study. Retrieved October 12, 2003 from http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/ vLUImages/HRDG/$file/IndRend-e.pdf La Salle Institute of Governance. (2003). 2003 Assessment of the Public Attorneys' Office (PAO). Manila: La Salle Institute of GovernanceSupreme Court of the Philippines. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved September 10, 2003 from http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm International Human Rights Instruments. Retrieved September 10, 2003 from http://www.unhchr.ch/html/intlinst.htm Parker, Christine. (1999). Just lawyers: Regulation and access to justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pollock, Jocelyn M. (1998). Ethics in crime and justice: Dilemmas and decisions (3 rd Ed.). New York: West Wadsworth. Romero, Segundo (2000) Civil Society-Oriented Measures for Enhancing: Transparency and Accountability in Governance and the Civil Service. Retrieved October 05, 2003 from http://www.fes.or.kr/Corruption/papers/Philippines.htm Sudarshan, Ramaswamy. (2003). Rules of law and justice: Perspectives from UNDP experience. Retrieved October 12, 2003 from http://www.undp.org/oslocentre/docsjuly03/Rule%20of%20Law%20and% 20Access%20to%20Justice_Perspectives%20from%20UNDP%20experie nce1.doc. 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RESOLUTION NO. 27237 WHEREAS, on recommendation of Management, there was presented for approval, Award of five (5)-year Contract to EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc., with two (2) three-year extension options, covering replacement of the existing Noise and Operations Monitoring System at Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport, and ongoing maintenance services of such system, for cost not to exceed $7,725,732; and appropriation of not to exceed $3,021,506 to cover capital expenditures associated with said project; and WHEREAS, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY) have a number of noise monitors based on the airport's operational level and the extent of the noise exposure on surrounding communities. Currently, LAX has 39 permanent monitors and VNY has 7 permanent monitors. The Noise and Operations Monitoring System (NOMS) collects noise data from the noise monitors and correlates them with flight track data obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) radar system to determine aircraft noise events, and displays the information on a user interface for staff to review, query, analyze and use for all noise management programs and functions; and WHEREAS, the NOMS also includes two (2) other critical integrated software programs. The first is the online flight tracking system, WebTrak, that allows residents to view and identify aircraft operations and submit noise comments for specific flights. The second is a noise comment management system, called Viewpoint, that enables staff effectively to receive and manage noise comments and allows them to investigate and respond to these comments. Viewpoint also allows residents several options of submitting noise comments, such as using a mobile app, an online comment form, WebTrak, or calling the noise comment hotline; and WHEREAS, the existing NOMS has well surpassed its ten (10)-year service life. Since the manufacturer no longer produces replacement parts for the system's hardware, including all permanent noise monitors at both airports, existing parts have had to be refurbished to support current maintenance. While the system's software is current and operational, the hardware components of the system will require replacement to ensure proper operation; and WHEREAS, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) received proposals from the following three (3) firms, in response to the Request for Proposals for services to replace the existing NOMS and perform ongoing system maintenance: - BridgeNet International - EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc.; and - Casper Airport Solutions Inc. WHEREAS, the firms were evaluated according to the following criteria: \| \| Evaluation Criteria \| Points \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 2 3 4 \| Scope of Work and Approach Qualifications and Experience Cost Inclusivity Plan \| \| \| \| Total Points \| \| WHEREAS, after completing the evaluation process, the selection panel unanimously selected EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. (the entity receiving the highest point total) as the most qualified firm to provide the required services. The panel found that the firm demonstrated extensive knowledge and experience in developing, designing and maintaining many systems across the country, as well as serving the majority of the airports in California, and the firm has an extensive understanding of Title 21 requirements pertaining to the noise monitoring system and placement of the noise monitoring terminals. EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. also has the capacity and resources to carry out the project in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, with its local staff stationed in Los Angeles, and to provide replacement parts, troubleshooting, and maintenance support of the NOMS hardware and software components in a timely manner; and WHEREAS, staff then worked with EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. to negotiate the contract services and costs. The firm provided cost options for consideration that are dependent on the duration of the contract term. As the NOMS is designed to provide a minimum life expectancy of ten (10) years and is considered to be a long-term capital investment for LAWA, staff determined it would be most advantageous and cost effective to proceed with a service contract that will cover the system's life expectancy, to ensure LAWA's investment is protected and amortized by having continuous support from the manufacturer, and having a system that will remain operational for many years to come. The NOMS solution also includes a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription solution that allows the system and data to be hosted remotely, thereby reducing internal resources and maintenance costs; and WHEREAS, the Contract for the initial five (5)-year term consists of two (2) phases: the project implementation phase and the maintenance phase. The two (2) three-year options to extend primarily would provide subscription and maintenance services: ˃ Project Implementation Phase – includes the following key services and is expected to be completed within the first year of the Contract - Replace seven (7) noise monitoring terminals (NMTs) at VNY and 26 NMTs at LAX, with the latest noise monitoring equipment and related components for those sites. - Decommission fourteen (14) existing NMTs at LAX by removing all devices, poles, foundations, and any other equipment, and returning the sites to their original state. Said fourteen (14) sites are not required by California Code of Regulations Title 21 since they are located well outside the 65 dB Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) noise impact area (pre-COVID-19 noise levels) and posed ongoing challenges to maintain. Removal will reduce recurring maintenance costs. - Conduct a site assessment of the noise monitoring locations to evaluate the structural integrity and determine whether to reuse the existing infrastructure (foundations, poles and masts). It currently is anticipated, based on a preliminary inspection, that most of the existing infrastructure can be reused. - Upgrade the existing NOMS software to the latest version with focus on enhancing the integration of air traffic control communications and usability of the software. - Perform threshold analysis on all noise monitoring terminal locations to ensure the noise monitors capture aircraft noise and not other noise sources. - Provide Title 21 Certification Plan, which includes a description of the process and all required documentation. - Perform all other required functions and tasks as described in the Contract. ˃ Maintenance Phase – includes the following key services and is expected to commence on the effective date of the Contract and continuing throughout the contract term * Diagnose, repair and replace all NOMS hardware and software components * Perform annual calibration on all permanently installed noise monitors * Provide replacement parts for all noise monitors * Maintain wireless communication service accounts for all noise monitors * Maintain Viewpoint Noise Comment Management Systems * Maintain WebTrak Internet Flight Tracking Systems * Provide technical support * Provide flight track data * Provide software patches, updates and system upgrades * Provide flight data files for noise modeling systems * Provide system hosting services; and WHEREAS, the maintenance service will initially cover the existing NOMS at LAX and VNY to ensure that it remains operational until the new system is in place. Once the replacement project is completed, the maintenance service will shift over and cover the new system for both airports; and WHEREAS, in addition to the services noted above, the Contract also includes other optional services that can be implemented on an as-needed basis during the contract term. Such optional services include installing up to two new NMTs at LAX to better define the 65 dB CNEL noise impact area, deploying portable monitors in residential areas to conduct noise analyses, enhancing or replacing the current Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications system to improve reception, creating additional custom Power BI reports, and performing other tasks. Staff will consider implementing said services upon evaluating the necessity of and business case for conducting such services, thereby providing needed flexibility; and WHEREAS, the cost elements under the Contract for term of up to eleven (11) years are noted as follows: \| \| Description \| \| LAX \| \| VNY \| Total \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Project Implementation and Maintenance Services for the Initial five (5)-year term \| \| $2,575,870 \| \| $ 786,217 \| \| \| \| Renewal Options for Maintenance Services for Years 6-11 \| \| 2,284,501 \| \| 761,501 \| \| \| \| Optional Additional Services - includes up to two (2) new NMTs, portable noise monitoring, and other items to be used as needed within the five (5)-year initial term \| \| 490,479 \| \| 124,826 \| \| \| \| Contingency - Covers any unforeseen items, damage to NMTs, and consumable expenses throughout the eleven (11)-year term \| \| 526,753 \| \| 175,585 \| \| \| \| Total Cost by Airport \| \| $5,877,603 \| \| $1,848,129 \| \| \| \| Not-to-Exceed Contract Value \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Note: Maintenance services include an annual 2% Consumer Price Index adjustment after first year of the contract WHEREAS, funding for the capital elements of the project have been included in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which will cover the project implementation phase such as installation, replacement, and decommissioning of noise monitors, plus other related tasks and services. Estimated capital expenditures are as follows: \| Estimated Capital Expenditures for NOMS Replacement Project for Initial 5-Year Term \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Description \| \| LAX \| \| VNY \| \| Total \| \| Capital Expenditures associated with Contract \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Project Implementation Costs: Replacement of 33 NMTs Decommissioning of 14 NMTs Installation of 2 new NMTs Five (5)-Year SaaS Subscription Project Contingency \| \| $1,815,178 67,318 \| \| $538,829 28,850 \| \| $2,354,007 96,168 \| \| \| Subtotal \| \| $1,882,496 \| \| $567,679 \| \| $2,450,175 \| \| \| Other Capital Expenditures to Support Project Implementation \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Infrastructure Hardware Allowance (Upgrade of ATC communication equipment, server room, etc.) Project Soft Costs: 3rd Party Technical Oversight LAWA Information Technology Project Management \| \| $ 49,000 350,932 \| \| $ 21,000 150,399 \| \| $ 70,000 501,331 \| \| \| Subtotal \| \| $ 399,932 \| \| $171,399 \| \| $ 571,331 \| \| \| Total Estimated Capital Expenditures \| \| $2,282,427 \| \| $739,079 \| \| $3,021,506; and \| \| Note: Costs for individual line items may vary, but the total capital expenditures shall not exceed $3,021,506. WHEREAS, capital funds of $2,282,427 for LAX will be appropriated and allocated from LAX Revenue Fund to WBS Element 1.21.03A-700, and $739,079 for VNY will be appropriated and allocated from VNY Revenue Fund to WBS Element 3.21.01A-700, for total appropriation of $3,021,506 capital funds for the project. If additional capital funding is needed at a later time for the project, staff will request Board approval for additional capital appropriation separately; and WHEREAS, funding for the remaining costs of the Contract, which primarily consists of maintenance and other essential services, will come from the operating budget and will be requested in the annual operating budget process. Funding needed for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 is included in LAWA Operating Budget in Cost Centers 1140006 – Noise Management Section and 1400009 – VNY Noise Management, under Commitment Item 520 – Contractual Services; and WHEREAS, this item, as a continuing administrative, maintenance and personnel-related activity, is exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements pursuant to Article II, Section 2.f. of the Los Angeles City CEQA Guidelines. In addition, replacement or reconstruction of existing utility systems and/or facilities involving negligible or no expansion of capacity is exempt from CEQA requirements pursuant to Article III, Class 2 (3) of the Los Angeles City CEQA Guidelines; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. is required by contract to comply with the provisions of the Living Wage Ordinance; and WHEREAS, Procurement Services has reviewed this action (File 9553) and established a mandatory 5% Small Business Enterprise (SBE) goal for the project. EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. proposed 5% SBE participation; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. is required by contract to comply with the provisions of the Affirmative Action Program; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has been assigned Business Tax Registration Certificate 0000298678-0001-6; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. is required by contract to comply with the provisions of the Child Support Obligations Ordinance; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. must have approved insurance documents, in the terms and amounts required, on file with LAWA prior to execution of the Contract; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Charter Section 1022, staff determined that the work specified on the Contract can be performed more feasibly and economically by Independent Contractors than by City employees; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has submitted the Contractor Responsibility Program Pledge of Compliance, and will comply with the provisions of said program; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has been determined by Public Works, Office of Contract Compliance to be in compliance with the provisions of the Equal Benefits Ordinance; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. will be required to comply with the provisions of the First Source Hiring Program for all non-trade LAX jobs; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has submitted the Bidder Contributions CEC Form 55, and will comply with its provisions; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has submitted the Municipal Lobbying Ordinance CEC Form 50, and will comply with its provisions; and WHEREAS, EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. has submitted the Iran Contracting Act Affidavit, and will comply with its provisions; and WHEREAS, actions taken on this item by the Board of Airport Commissioners will become final pursuant to the provisions of Los Angeles City Charter Section 373; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Airport Commissioners adopted the Staff Report; determined that this action is exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Article II, Section 2.f. and Article III, Class 2 (3) of the Los Angeles City CEQA Guidelines; found that the work can be performed more economically or feasibly by an independent contractor than by City employees; approved Award of five (5)-year Contract to EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc., with two (2) three-year extension options, covering replacement of the existing Noise and Operations Monitoring System at Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport, and ongoing maintenance services of such system, for cost not to exceed $7,725,732; further approved appropriation of not to exceed $3,021,506 to cover capital expenditures associated with said project; and authorized the Chief Executive Officer to execute said Contract with EMS Brüel & Kjær, Inc. dba Envirosuite, Inc. after approval as to form by the City Attorney and approval by the Los Angeles City Council. o0o I hereby certify that this Resolution No. 27237 is true and correct, as adopted by the Board of Airport Commissioners at its Regular Meeting held on Thursday, April 1, 2021. Grace Miguel – Secretary BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS
Neil & Jamie will be in Denver, Colorado: Friday, Jan. 16, 7P.M. at Roeh Israel: 303-337-6254 Saturday, Jan. 17, 10A.M. at Yeshuat Tsion: 303-740-5413 Richest Blessings in the Living Word! Watching Our Words in 2004 Our focus this month is on WORDS: the words we speak, the words spoken to us, the Word of God, the living Word and the Lord's specific word for each of us in 2004. Why words? God is very interested in our words and takes them seriously. Many times, we treat words casually. We fail to realize how powerful they are! One word spoken to a person at the right time can change the destiny of an individual or even a nation. A negative word spoken to a child can cripple him or her emotionally for a lifetime; a word of affirmation and love can empower an individual to achieve great success. We have the power to choose the words we speak. God wants us to choose wisely this year so that we might inherit a blessing. Words in the Torah "Word" in Hebrew is d'var (pronounced d-VAR). The first mention of d'var in the Holy Scriptures is in Genesis 15:1: "After these things, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." The word in this verse is the WORD OF THE LORD, "D'var Adonai." God's first word is one of comfort, reassurance, promise, relationship and blessing. This is a wonderful d'var for each of us in 2004. As children of Abraham through faith in the Messiah Yeshua, each of us can embrace the promise of freedom from fear given in Genesis 15:1. Our God is our protection and source of blessing, just as He was to our Father Abraham. The plural of d'var is d'varim (pronounced d'vah-REEM). The first occurrence of d'varim is found in Genesis 24:30, Rebekah speaks them to her brother Laban. She told him all that Abraham's servant, Eliezar, had said to her. Those were words of blessing, mercy, truth and gratitude. Since, on average, women use more words than men, they have a greater potential to bless, as well as a greater potential to curse. Ladies, let's choose to bless in 2004. Jewish tradition views words as both tangible and powerful. In fact, d'varim also means "things." Words have the power to create. God showed that when He created the world with words. He said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Words have tremendous creative power! Did you know that an entire book of the Bible is called "Words?": The fifth Book of Moses, Deuteronomy, gets its name from the opening phrase in the Hebrew Text, "These are the words." In this book, Moses repeats God's words to His people. The language is noble. The truths are eternal. The words give life. D'varim Chapter 30 includes two verses on "words" that merit special attention: Deuteronomy 30:14—"But the D'VAR (word) is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." Romans 10:8 repeats this D'VAR, helping us understand that the word being referred to is a word of faith that leads to action. Deuteronomy 30:19—Moses reminds God's people in this verse that, as they enter a new season of life, they have a choice between good and evil: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." Words that Hurt Many of us fail to realize just how powerful our words can be. We do not always choose our words wisely. The Lord brought this home to us as we recently read two books by two very different authors: Blessing or Curse by Derek Prince, a renowned Christian Bible scholar who recently went to be with the Lord, and Words that Hurt, Words that Heal by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, a traditional rabbi. Rabbi Telushkin wisely points out that although words are powerful, most of the time we use them lightly. "We choose our clothes more carefully than we choose our words, though what we say about and to others can define them indelibly. That is why ethical speech–speaking fairly of others, honestly about others, and carefully to everyone–is so important. If we keep the power of words in the foreground of our consciousness, we will handle them as carefully as we would a loaded gun." When Rabbi Telushkin lectures around the U.S. he asks the audience if they can go for 24 hours without saying any unkind words about, or to, anybody. A large number respond, "No!" Does this surprise you? It shouldn't. The Bible tells us: "... no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men..." James 3:8-9 Our words have consequences. Gossip, for example, causes damage and pain. It is also forbidden in the Torah. "You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people" (Leviticus 19:16). Rabbi Telushkin describes one type of gossip that most of us are guilty of, but are probably not aware of. In Hebrew this is called lashon ha-ra, literally a bad tongue, and refers to negative, though true, stories. It includes information that lowers the esteem in which people hold the person about whom it is told. Many people assume that there is nothing wrong in spreading negative information about others as long as the information is true. After all, it is not slander, which is spreading negative information which is false. Lashon ha-ra violates the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." It also contradicts the New Covenant exhortation to focus on: "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8). Simply put, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all! Angry Words Rabbi Telushkin cites a Biblical example of the destructive force of angry words in a relationship. David, the king of Israel was married to Michal, the daughter of King Saul. When David escorted the Ark of the Lord back into Jerusalem, he danced with abandon and joy before the Lord. His wife Michal saw him from the palace window and was disgusted by the spectacle. She verbally berated David with words of sarcasm and disdain upon his arrival home (2 Samuel 6:20). David responsed to his wife with cruel, hurtful words reminding her that God had chosen him over her father as King of Israel. David and Michal's angry words are described in Proverbs 12:18 "There is one who speaks like the piercing of a sword." The tragic result of this confrontation was that intimacy between husband and wife ended forever. Michal had no children to the day of her death. Words had destroyed love. Angry words. Words spoken with a lack of self control. (Oh, how we need self control, a fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh!) Rabbi's Telushkin's conclusion: "If a husband or wife, or two siblings or friends, do not restrain their words when they are angry, love is unlikely to survive, no matter how deeply the two people once cared for each other. The ability to control what we say when we're angry is a prerequisite for a lasting relationship." His solution: when you're angry with someone, express your opinion but don't verbally attack them. New Covenant exhortation: "Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). Our Messiah encourages us to work through our anger with the help of His Spirit, to keep our accounts short, forgive, and seek restoration of relationships with healing words. Love can bloom again even after angry words because nothing is impossible with God! Words: Blessings or Curses We have read Derek Prince's book Blessing or Curse more than once. Each time, the Lord has spoken to us and convicted us of sin! We highly recommend this book and ask that you prayerfully seek the Lord about the truths found in it. We have come to realize that words spoken over people can bring curses or blessings into their lives. For example, negative words spoken by a parent to a child, teacher to a pupil, husband to a wife, sister to a brother, etc. can have a lifelong effect on them. "You'll never amount to anything." "You'll never be able to cook." "You're just not good at math." "You'll never succeed." Words like these have contributed to lives falling short of their God-given potential. Jamie remembers words that her mother, who adored her, spoke over her as a child which crippled her until she was well into her thirties: "You're a selfish child." Even after receiving Yeshua and taking on God's giving nature, including having drawers filled with gifts for others, Jamie was still haunted by those words. Neil saw the curse (and the lie) for what it was, pointed it out to Jamie, and helped Jamie break its power in the name of Yeshua. Jamie's mother certainly never meant to curse her beloved daughter, but her negative words had power that she never imagined! By the same token, Jamie's mom always said to her, "You're so smart. You can be anything you want to be. Of course, I think you'll be a teacher because you have that gift." What did Jamie become? First a teacher, then a writer (and still a teacher). Parents: Watch your words! Speak life and blessing to your children. Your influence is much greater than you imagine. Self-imposed curses Yeshua warned His followers about the danger of words carelessly spoken: "... every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37). Many times we speak words about ourselves–something foolish or negative–and then say, "I didn't really mean it." This does not cancel the effect of the words. We have already been ensnared by the words of our mouth (Proverbs 6:2). Derek Prince gives a scriptural example of this in the life of Peter, the disciple who denied Yeshua three times before the Messiah was crucified. After his third denial, the Bible tells us that Peter began to curse and swear, "I do not know this Man of whom you speak" (Mark 14:71)! Peter invoked a curse upon himself that day. Three days later, as recorded in Matthew 16:7, an angel told the women who found Yeshua's tomb empty, to go and tell the disciples–and Peter that He had risen. Derek points out that by his own words, Peter had forfeited his standing as a disciple of Yeshua. Our gracious Messiah, however, gave Peter a chance to be reinstated as one of His talmidim. In John 21:15-17 we read how the Lord asked Peter three times "Do you love Me?" Peter's three affirmative answers revoked his three previous denials. Peter's position was restored. We too can be released from any curses that we have brought upon ourselves through the words of our mouth. All we need to do is: repent, revoke and replace. First, we must acknowledge that we have spoken negative, foolish, harmful words and repent of them. Second, we must cancel whatever we said that was wrong. Third, we must replace our wrong words with right ones. As we do this in faith, God will release us from any curse we have brought upon ourselves and open us up once again to blessings. What do we do if someone else has spoken a curse over us? Derek goes into detail on this, outlining seven steps to be released from any curse. They include confessing your faith in Messiah and His atoning death on your behalf (Romans 10:9-10), repenting of all rebellion and sin (Romans 3:23), receiving forgiveness of all sins (I John 1:9), forgiving anyone who has ever hurt you (Mark 11:25), renouncing all contact with the occult (2 Corinthians 6:14-15), praying a prayer of release, (Mark 11:24) and going forth in God's blessing (Ephesians 3:20). 2004 is the year to be released from every curse, to be totally free to serve the Lord in His end-time harvest field! Salty Words, Healing Words Galore in 2004! This is also the year to have salty words. "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one" (Colossians 4:6). What exactly are salty words? They are words that heal, words that give life, words that give savour to blandness, excitement to boredom, hope to despair, answers to life's deepest questions. Salty words bring blessing. Yeshua used salty words consistently. His words healed, built up, inspired, encouraged. They expressed love, forgiveness and gratitude. They produced life. The words He spoke were spirit and life (John 6:63). Our words need to nurture and heal as well. This year let's be liberal in our use of words like: "I love you." "I appreciate you." "How are you doing?" "I'm sorry, please forgive me." "How can I pray for you?" "God bless you." "You did a great job." "You're really good at that." The Ultimate Healing Word John 1:1 tells us that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God is the Word who created all things. Yeshua is that same Word made flesh (John 1:14). He is the living Word of God. Yeshua's words bring life. That is why we are careful to use His words more than our own on each Jewish Jewels television program. We try carefully to weigh our words and make them count for eternity. Praise the Lord, His words, through us, are having an effect on the lives of many people. (God's Word does not return to Him void. Isaiah 55:11). The words of Yeshua go out to millions of homes over the airwaves. We bless in His name and no one can reverse it! You, our Jewish Jewels family, are an integral part of that blessing. We speak the words in our living room, but you send them forth throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and wherever else the Lord propels them! A Final Word of Blessing May God bless you and your loved ones in 2004 with words of life and love, healing words, salty words and release from every curse that was ever spoken against you. May you prosper greatly this year and sense the presence of God in your life as never before. May God pour His abundant grace upon you and your household, giving you His strength, His peace and His joy on a daily basis. May you be empowered by the Holy Spirit to let go of the old and embrace the new, forgetting those things which are behind. May your destiny as a child of the King be revealed to you in 2004 and may you begin to walk in newness of life as you receive revelation from our Father in Heaven. May His love, which never fails, be your portion until our Messiah returns. And may the salvation of Israel be as dear to your heart, as it is to ours. In Yeshua's Love, Neil and Jamie P.S. Oops! We used the wrong word in our November newsletter. The enemies of the Jews in the Hanukkah story (165 B.C.) were the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) not the Assyrians (who invaded Israel in the 8th century B.C.). Please forgive us.
JUDGMENT Royal Bank of Scotland plc (Respondent) v John Patrick McCormack Wilson and another (Appellants) (Scotland) Royal Bank of Scotland plc (Respondent) v Francis John Wilson and another (Appellants) (Scotland) before Lord Hope, Deputy President Lord Rodger Lord Walker Lady Hale Lord Clarke JUDGMENT GIVEN ON 24 November 2010 Heard on 13 and 14 October 2010 Appellant Alan A Summers QC John P Robertson (Instructed by Aitken Nairn WS) Respondent Rhoderick R McIlvride John Paul Sheridan (Instructed by Anderson Fyfe LLP) LORD RODGER The Facts 1. The appellants, Mr Francis John Wilson and his wife, Mrs Annette Wilson, are the proprietors of a house at 100 Dalum Grove, Loanhead, which is also now their home. On 12 July 1991 they granted a standard security over the house in favour of the respondent, the Royal Bank of Scotland ("the Bank"). The standard security was recorded in the Register of Sasines on 3 December of the same year. 2. The appellants, Mr John Patrick McCormack Wilson and Mrs Norma Wilson, are the proprietors of the neighbouring house at 98 Dalum Grove, Loanhead, which is also now their home. On 28 November 1991 they granted a standard security over the house in favour of the Bank. The standard security was recorded in the Register of Sasines on 4 December 1991. Since it is accepted that material circumstances in the two appeals are the same, for the sake of convenience, I shall concentrate on the appeal by Mr Francis John Wilson and Mrs Annette Wilson ("Mr and Mrs Wilson"), the result in which will be determinative of the appeal by Mr John McCormack Wilson and his wife. 3. The standard security granted by Mr and Mrs Wilson included the personal obligation in respect of which it was granted, in accordance with Form A in Schedule 2 to the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 ("the 1970 Act"). The personal obligation was in these terms: "WE, FRANCIS JOHN WILSON and MRS ANNETTE WILSON, residing at Sixty Three Park Avenue, Loanhead, Midlothian (hereinafter referred to as 'the Obligant') hereby undertake to pay to THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND plc (hereinafter referred to as 'the Bank', which expression includes its successors and assignees whomsoever) on demand all sums of principal, interest and charges which are now and which may at any time hereafter become due to the Bank by the Obligant whether solely or jointly with any other person, corporation, firm or other body and whether as principal or surety…." The deed went on to declare that the interest was to be "at the rate(s) agreed between the Bank and the Obligant or (failing such agreement) determined by the Bank and shall be payable at such dates as may be so agreed or determined by the Bank." 4. After further declarations, the deed continued: "For which sums … the said Francis John Wilson and Mrs Annette Wilson … hereby grant a Standard Security in favour of the Bank over" the house at Dalum Grove. 5. It is worth noting that the deed contained a declaration in terms of which the expression, "the Obligant", was to mean both the persons who granted the security "together and/or any one or more of them; and in all cases the obligations hereby undertaken by the Obligant shall bind all person(s) included in the expression 'the Obligant' and his, her or their executors and representatives whomsoever all jointly and severally without the necessity of discussing them in their order." It follows that Mr Wilson, as an individual, and Mrs Wilson, as an individual, were undertaking both a joint and a several obligation to pay the sums in question. In particular, Mrs Wilson was undertaking to pay any indebtedness of her husband to the Bank. I refer to the discussion by the House of Lords of a comparable term in AIB Group (UK) Ltd v Martin [2002] 1 WLR 94. But, in addition, together with her husband, Mrs Wilson was granting the standard security in respect of both her own indebtedness under the personal obligation and the indebtedness of her husband under that obligation. 6. By a partnership letter dated 8 October 1992 Mr Wilson, along with his brother and his son, became jointly and severally responsible to the Bank for the repayment of any indebtedness or liability of the firm of F J Wilson Associates, and interest and charges thereon. By a further partnership letter dated 15 October 1993 Mr Wilson, along with his brother, became jointly and severally responsible to the Bank for the repayment of any indebtedness or liability of the firm of Wilson Brothers, and interest and charges thereon. 7. On 20 June 1995 Mr Alistair Henderson, Assistant Recoveries Manager in the Bank's Insolvency Unit, wrote to Mr Wilson in these terms: "Our Penicuik Branch I regret to learn that your indebtedness to the Bank as undernoted at our above Branch is not being repaid in accordance with arrangements and I have therefore to advise that unless within ten days from the date of this letter you effect repayment of the whole sums due to the Bank or, alternatively, make a substantial payment to account within that period coupled with acceptable proposals to take care of the remaining indebtedness I shall have no alternative but to institute proceedings against you for recovery. Such proceedings will involve expense for which you will be liable and it is therefore in your own interest to give this matter your immediate attention." The note showed that the Business Current Account of Wilson Brothers was overdrawn in the sum of £22,250.61 excluding accrued interest and charges, while the equivalent sum for the Business Current Account of F J Wilson Associates was £26,211.88. There was a further indebtedness of £854.07 on a Business Term Loan to F J Wilson Associates. 8. Mr McIlvride, who appeared for the Bank, accepted that, when they sent this letter, the Bank were demanding payment of Mr Wilson's debt under his personal obligation in the standard security and were intending to exercise their powers under the standard security, to take possession of the house at Dalum Grove and to eject Mr Wilson and his family, if the debt were not paid. But the sheriff found that, when Mr Wilson received and read the letter, he did not understand this. He thought that the Bank were merely seeking the sums of money from him. Mrs Wilson did not see the letter until early in 2007 and no similar letter was ever sent to her. 9. No part of any of the sums mentioned in the letter of 20 June 1995 has been repaid to the Bank. A certificate of default dated 3 February 2006 indicates that, by then, the indebtedness in respect of Wilson Brothers had reached £141,247.52, including accrued interest of £1,865.85, and in respect of F J Wilson Associates it had reached £99,172.81, including accrued interest of £1,310.05. These proceedings 10. In April 1998 the Bank began proceedings in Edinburgh Sheriff Court against Mr and Mrs Wilson. Besides the usual crave for expenses, the initial writ contained two craves. In the first crave, which constituted an application under section 24(1) of the 1970 Act, the Bank asked the court: "To grant warrant to the pursuers in terms of section 24(1) of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 to enter into possession of [the house at Dalum Grove] being the subjects described in the Standard Security by Francis John Wilson and Mrs Annette Wilson for all sums of money due and that may become due to The Royal Bank of Scotland plc … and to exercise in relation to the said subjects all powers competent to a creditor in lawful possession of the security subjects including the power of sale of the said security subjects." In the initial writ as originally drafted the Bank went on to crave removing of Mr and Mrs Wilson with a view to selling the subjects. But in the course of the hearing of an earlier appeal relating to a defence raised by Mrs Wilson, the Second Division granted leave to Mr McIlvride for the Bank to amend the crave to one for ejection: Royal Bank of Scotland v Wilson 2004 SC 153, 157, para 14. The second crave is now in these terms: "To grant warrant to officers of court summarily to eject the defenders, and their family, goods, gear, and effects, from the said subjects, and to make the same void and redd, that the pursuers, or others in their name, may enter thereto and peaceably possess and enjoy the same." 11. On 27 April 1998 the initial writ was served on Mr and Mrs Wilson. This was the first time that she became aware that the Bank were seeking to repossess her home and eject herself and the family. 12. The action has been in one court or another for over twelve years. After Mrs Wilson's particular defence was rejected by the Second Division in Royal Bank of Scotland v Wilson 2004 SC 153, a proof before answer was allowed. Eventually, it took place in February 2007 and on 2 May 2007 Sheriff Stoddart assoilzied Mr and Mrs Wilson. The Bank appealed to the Court of Session and on 5 May 2009 an Extra Division (Lord Nimmo Smith, Lord Reed and Lord Drummond Young) allowed the appeal and granted decree as craved: Royal Bank of Scotland Plc v Wilson 2009 SLT 729. In effect, therefore, the Bank were granted a decree for the ejection of Mr and Mrs Wilson from their home. The Wilsons appeal against that interlocutor. 13. As is immediately apparent from the fact that Mr and Mrs Wilson have not paid any of their indebtedness to the Bank, the appeal relates to rather technical legal issues which are said to stand in the way of the Bank enforcing their security. Moreover, both Mr and Mrs Wilson have for many years been aware of the debt and of the steps which the Bank are taking to enforce their security. But a striking feature of the case is that the letter which the Bank sent to Mr Wilson on 20 June 1995 did not make any express reference to the standard security. Indeed, as already mentioned, at the time Mr Wilson did not realise that the Bank were indicating that they would, if necessary, take steps to enforce their security. 14. The steps taken to alert Mrs Wilson were even less satisfactory. Although, by virtue of the personal obligation in the standard security, she was personally liable for her husband's indebtedness under the partnership letters, the Bank have never sought to enforce that liability against her. Had they done so, they would have required to demand payment from her and she would have become aware of the situation. But presumably the Bank thought that there would be no point in trying to enforce her liability to pay the debt since she would not have had the resources to do so. What the Bank did, however, was to take steps which they considered would be sufficient to enforce the standard security that she and Mr Wilson had granted as proprietors of their home at Dalum Grove. The Bank wrote to Mr Wilson to demand payment. When he did not pay, they treated him as being in default and chose to enforce their security by applying to the court under section 24(1). This meant that the Bank did not contact Mrs Wilson at any stage before they launched these proceedings by serving the initial writ. This Court has to decide whether the Bank were entitled to enforce their standard security and obtain a decree of ejection of Mr and Mrs Wilson in this way. The 1970 Act 15. In Multi-Link Leisure Developments v North Lanarkshire Council 2010 SC 302, 308, para 24, Sir David Edward QC, giving the opinion of an Extra Division of the Inner House, indicated that their Lordships were more familiar with the mindset of the Scots conveyancer than with the mindset of the man on the Jubilee line on his way to Canary Wharf. But even if the man on the Glasgow underground on his way to Buchanan Street were familiar with the mindset of the Scots conveyancer, he would often find his language and approach somewhat challenging. As its title suggests, the 1970 Act deals with matters of conveyancing. Moreover, it does so in a manner which makes few concessions to those not steeped in the art. Indeed, even Professor Gretton and Professor Reid have felt moved to warn that "The law about the enforcement of standard securities is a subject of great and unnecessary complexity: it is a veritable maze": Conveyancing (third edition, 2004), para 19-32. The Court must try to find a way through that maze. 16. Part II of the 1970 Act created a brand new form of security over heritable property, the standard security. Although securities granted in the old forms remained valid, all new securities had to take the form of a standard security. But, as Mr Summers QC emphasised on behalf of Mr and Mrs Wilson, Part II of the 1970 Act did not create a comprehensive code to regulate the way that the standard security was to operate. Rather, Parliament created the new form of security and laid down certain rules as to its operation but, for the rest, slotted it into a modified version of the existing statutory and common law regulating heritable securities. To see this, it is sufficient to refer to section 20(1), which provides that the creditor's rights are to be in addition to "any right conferred by any enactment or by any rule of law", and to section 32: "The provisions of any enactment relating to a bond and disposition or assignation in security shall apply to a standard security, except in so far as such provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of this Part of this Act, but, without prejudice to the generality of that exception, the enactments specified in Schedule 8 to this Act shall not so apply." It may therefore be necessary to travel outside the 1970 Act to see how the standard security works in particular situations. 17. The scheme of the 1970 Act is sometimes confusing, since it requires the reader to go backwards and forwards between the provisions contained in the body of Part II and the contents of Schedules 2 to 9. For example, section 9(2) provides that it is to be competent to grant and record a standard security to be expressed in conformity with one of the forms prescribed in Schedule 2 to the Act. Schedule 2 contains two forms of standard security, Form A, "to be used where the personal obligation is included in the deed", and Form B, which is to be used "where the personal obligation is constituted in a separate instrument or instruments." Appended to Schedule 2 are various notes telling the conveyancer what to do in certain situations. But, in order to discover the meaning of Form A, the reader has to return to section 10. That section explains what is meant by the personal obligation in Form A, thus avoiding the need for the draftsman of the standard security to spell it all out. The technique is familiar from, say, section 119 of the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868, with its (1594-word) commentary on Form No 1 of Schedule FF to that Act. 18. The effect of recording a standard security under section 9(2) is to be found in section 11. But, to discover the conditions which are to regulate the standard security (subject to any variations validly agreed by the parties), section 11(2) directs the reader to Schedule 3. This schedule contains the Standard Conditions, the first six of which impose various obligations on the debtor, e g, to maintain and repair the security subjects and to insure them. Conditions 7 to 10 relate to powers of the creditor, while 11 concerns the exercise of the debtor's right of redemption. 19. For present purposes conditions 8, 9 and 10 are of importance. They must therefore be set out, so far as relevant: "8. The creditor shall be entitled, subject to the terms of the security and to any requirement of law, to call-up a standard security in the manner prescribed by section 19 of this Act. 9. (1) The debtor shall be held to be in default in any of the following circumstances, that is to say— (a) where a calling-up notice in respect of the security has been served and has not been complied with; (b) where there has been a failure to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security; (c) where the proprietor of the security subjects has become insolvent. … 10. (1) Where the debtor is in default, the creditor may, without prejudice to his exercising any other remedy arising from the contract to which the standard security relates, exercise, in accordance with the provisions of Part II of this Act and of any other enactment applying to standard securities, such of the remedies specified in the following sub-paragraphs of this standard condition as he may consider appropriate. (2) He may proceed to sell the security subjects or any part thereof. (3) He may enter into possession of the security subjects and may receive or recover feuduties, ground annuals or, as the case may be, the rents of those subjects or any part thereof. (4) Where he has entered into possession as aforesaid, he may let the security subjects or any part thereof. (5) Where he has entered into possession as aforesaid there shall be transferred to him all the rights of the debtor in relation to the granting of leases or rights of occupancy over the security subjects and to the management and maintenance of those subjects. (6) He may effect all such repairs and may make good such defects as are necessary to maintain the security subjects in good and sufficient repair, and may effect such reconstruction, alteration and improvement on the subjects as would be expected of a prudent proprietor to maintain the market value of the subjects, and for the aforesaid purposes may enter on the subjects at all reasonable times. (7) He may apply to the court for a decree of foreclosure." 20. It is not the practice of conveyancers to set out these conditions in the standard security itself. So the debtor cannot discover the conditions regulating the security simply from reading it. To set them out would, of course, increase the length of the deed – and so defeat one of Parliament's aims in devising this form of shorthand deed. But, further than that, listing the contents of standard condition 10 would be potentially misleading, unless, at the very minimum, various sections in Part II of the Act were also reproduced. For example, it is only by consulting section 20 that the reader finds confirmation that, when a debtor fails to comply with a calling-up notice under section 19, the creditor can indeed exercise any appropriate power under standard condition 10. Equally, it is only by consulting section 23 that the reader discovers that – by contrast – if the debtor fails to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security after the service of a notice of default under section 21, the creditor can actually only exercise his powers under standard condition 10(2), (6) and (7) – unless he makes an application to the court under section 24 for a warrant giving him other powers. 21. Bearing in mind the structure of Part II of the Act, I turn to look more closely at the way that the legislation operates in the present case. The application under section 24(1) 22. As already explained, the Bank set events in train by writing to Mr Wilson in June 1995. Although he did not understand their letter in this way, by sending it, the Bank intended to warn him that they would take steps to enforce their standard security if he did not pay. Since his personal obligation under the standard security was to pay on demand, his liability to pay was not triggered until this demand was made. In other words he was not in default until he failed to comply with the demand. The question is: what steps does the 1970 Act envisage that a creditor in the position of the Bank will take in those circumstances? 23. As Lord Walker pointed out at an early stage in the hearing, subsections (1) and (2) of section 19 seem to provide a clear answer, that the creditor "shall" serve a calling-up notice: "(1) Where a creditor in a standard security intends to require discharge of the debt thereby secured and, failing that discharge, to exercise any power conferred by the security to sell any subjects of the security or any other power which he may appropriately exercise on the default of the debtor within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a), he shall serve a notice calling-up the security in conformity with Form A of Schedule 6 to this Act (hereinafter in this Act referred to as a 'calling-up notice'), in accordance with the following provisions of this section. (2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a calling-up notice shall be served on the person last infeft in the security subjects and appearing on the record as the proprietor, and should the proprietor of those subjects, or any part thereof, be dead then on his representative or the person entitled to the subjects in terms of the last recorded title thereto, notwithstanding any alteration of the succession not appearing in the Register of Sasines." Form A in Schedule 6 is in these terms: “TAKE NOTICE that CD ( designation ) requires payment of the principal sum of £ with interest thereon at the rate of .................. per centum per annum from the .................. day of ........................ ( adding if necessary , subject to such adjustment of the principal sum and the amount of interest as may subsequently be determined) secured by a standard security by you ( or by EF) in favour of the said CD ( or of GH to which the said CD has now right) recorded in the Register for .................. on .................. And that failing full payment of the said sum and interest thereon ( adding if necessary , subject to any adjustment as aforesaid), and expenses within two months after the date of service of this demand, the subjects of the security may be sold.” If the Bank had served a calling-up notice, by virtue of section 19(2), it would have had to be served on Mrs Wilson, as one of the proprietors of the security subjects. 24. Under a calling-up notice Mr Wilson would have had two months in which to pay the full amount due to the Bank – after which he would have been in default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a). By virtue of section 20(1) and (2), the Bank would then have been entitled to exercise any of their rights under the security and, in particular, their right to enter into possession and to sell the house. 25. In fact, however, the Bank did not proceed under section 19, but took an entirely different course. The Bank treated Mr Wilson as having failed to comply with a requirement arising out of the security, other than a requirement under a calling-up notice. So they treated him as being in default under standard condition 9(1)(b). 26. Assuming, for the moment, that this was permissible, when Mr Wilson failed to comply with the demand to pay the debt, the Bank would have been entitled to serve a notice of default under section 21, calling on him to purge his default by paying the debt within one month. If Mr Wilson had been aggrieved by the requirement to pay, he could have applied to the court under section 22. If he had not objected, or his objection had been rejected and the notice of default upheld, then Mr Wilson would have been required to comply with the requirement in the notice. Failing which, the Bank would have been entitled to exercise their powers under standard condition 10(2), (6) and (7). 27. As explained already, the Bank did not go down this route. Instead, eventually, in April 1998 – still on the basis that Mr Wilson was in default under standard condition 9(1)(b) – they made an application to the court under section 24, which provides: "(1) Without prejudice to his proceeding by way of notice of default in respect of a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b), a creditor in a standard security, where the debtor is in default within the meaning of that standard condition or standard condition 9(1)(c), may apply to the court for warrant to exercise any of the remedies which he is entitled to exercise on a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a). (2) For the purposes of such an application as aforesaid in respect of a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b), a certificate which conforms with the requirements of Schedule 7 to this Act may be lodged in court by the creditor, and that certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts directed by the said Schedule to be contained therein." As the first crave (at para 9 above) shows, the Bank asked the court to grant warrant to enter into possession of the house at Dalum Grove (standard condition 10(3)) and to exercise in relation to the house all powers competent to a creditor in lawful possession, including the power of sale (standard condition 10(2)). By granting decree in terms of the first crave, the Extra Division granted the Bank warrant to exercise those powers. The Bank's crave for ejection 28. In the Inner House and in the hearing before this Court much of the argument was directed, however, to the Bank's second crave as amended, which, it will be recalled, is a crave for the ejection of Mr and Mrs Wilson and their family from their home. 29. Assuming that the Bank were granted the power under standard condition 10(3) to enter into possession of the subjects, under standard condition 10(1) they could only exercise this power in accordance with the provisions of Part II and "of any other enactment applying to standard securities". Paragraphs 18 to 24 of Schedule 8 to the 1970 Act show that section 5 of the Heritable Securities (Scotland) Act 1894 ("the 1894 Act") is among the provisions of that Act which apply to standard securities. Section 5 provides: "Where a creditor desires to enter into possession of the lands disponed in security, and the proprietor thereof is in personal occupation of the same, or any part thereof, such proprietor shall be deemed to be an occupant without a title, and the creditor may take proceedings to eject him in all respects in the same way as if he were such occupant: Provided that this section shall not apply in any case unless such proprietor has made default in the punctual payment of the interest due under the security, or in due payment of the principal after formal requisition." As counsel for the Bank accepted, this section applies in the present case where the Bank wish to enter into possession of security subjects which are in the personal occupation of the proprietors, Mr and Mrs Wilson. In that situation section 5 allows the creditor to take summary proceedings for ejection, provided that the proprietor has made default in the punctual payment of the interest due under the security, or in due payment of the principal after formal requisition. (The language of the section is not well adapted to a case where only one of the proprietors is in default.) 30. Mr McIlvride acknowledged that the Bank had not established that Mr Wilson had failed to make punctual payment of any interest due under the security. So they have to show that there has been default by Mr Wilson "in due payment of the principal after formal requisition" (emphasis added). For his part, Mr Summers accepted that, if the Bank had served a calling-up notice in Form A in Schedule 6, this would have met the requirement of a formal requisition. He pointed out that the terms of such a calling-up notice were comparable in their material respects to the Form of Schedule of Intimation, Requisition, and Protest, which is Form No 2 in Schedule FF to the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868 – the form that would have been in use at the time when section 5 of the 1894 Act was enacted. But, he submitted, since the Bank had proceeded under section 24 of the 1970 Act, they had never served any kind of notice which could constitute a "formal requisition" for purposes of section 5 of the 1894 Act. So they were not entitled to ask the court for decree of eviction. 31. The Extra Division dealt with this point in para 44 of their judgment, 2009 SLT 729, 738: "We agree with the submission by counsel for the Bank that the Sheriff erred in holding that warrant for ejection can only be granted if a formal requisition of payment has been made in terms of section 5 of the 1894 Act. For the reasons given above, warrant for ejection may competently be granted where the debtor in a standard security is in default in terms of standard condition 9(1)(b). The only voucher that is required is a Schedule 7 certificate. No separate requisition is required. The effect of section 24 of the 1970 Act is that such a certificate constitutes a formal requisition for the purposes of section 5. In any event, there is no difference between these provisions. The requirement in a notice of default is the same as a requisition. The word 'formal' means no more than that it must be made in the statutory form. Moreover, the comma in the proviso to section 5, and the absence of further words such as 'in either case', make it clear that the phrase 'after formal requisition' only applies to payment of principal and not to interest." As already explained, the point about payment of interest does not arise in this case since the Bank have not established that there has been a failure in that respect. So far as the Division proceeded on the basis that a Schedule 7 certificate can constitute a "formal requisition" for the purposes of section 5 of the 1894 Act, Mr McIlvride explained that he had not advanced that argument before the Division and felt unable to support this aspect of their reasoning. A Schedule 7 certificate contains no requirement of any kind: it is simply a piece of evidence which is created for, and used in, the proceedings. It cannot therefore constitute the formal requisition which must precede the proceedings for ejection. Moreover, even if the requirement in a notice of default in the form in Form B in Schedule 6 would count as a formal requisition, as the Extra Division argued, that is irrelevant in the present case since the Bank did not serve such a notice. It respectfully appears to me that the reasoning of the Extra Division on this point cannot be upheld. 32. Counsel preferred to base his argument on part of the wording of section 24(1) of the 1970 Act. He argued that, if the court did indeed grant the Bank warrant to exercise any of the remedies which a creditor is entitled to exercise on a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a), then the Bank would be in the same position as if they had served a calling-up notice with which Mr Wilson had not complied. In other words, the Bank must be treated as having, in effect, served a calling-up notice which – as Mr Summers accepted – would constitute a formal requisition for purposes of section 5 of the 1894 Act. So the court could grant decree to eject Mr and Mrs Wilson, who had no substantive defence to the Bank's claim. 33. The argument certainly has its attractions, not least because – as Mr McIlvride stressed – Mr and Mrs Wilson know perfectly well what they have been asked to pay and they have had ample opportunity to put forward their defence. Nevertheless, I would not accept the argument since the simple fact is that section 5 of the 1894 Act only allows the creditor to take proceedings for ejection if they have been preceded by a formal requisition. Mr Summers referred to a number of authorities, including Inglis' Trs v Macpherson 1911 2 SLT 176, to show that section 5 was passed in order to introduce a new summary procedure for obtaining the drastic remedy of ejection. Mr McIlvride accepted this. That being so, it would, in my view, be wrong to water down the precondition imposed by Parliament for using that summary procedure. In more concrete terms, if a formal notice had been given, Mrs Wilson would have been warned about the situation and about the danger of being ejected from her home, before any proceedings were started. Which seems only reasonable. Approaching the matter on this footing, I would have allowed the appeal. 34. Mr McIlvride's cri de coeur – that to impose a requirement on the Bank to make a formal requisition is tantamount to requiring them to serve a calling-up notice – really brings us back to the fundamental point. Were the Bank actually, all along, obliged to serve a calling-up notice if they wanted to require payment of the debt and, failing payment, to sell the Wilsons' house? I must retrace my steps to see if there is another way through the maze. Must a creditor serve a calling-up notice when section 19(1) applies? 35. The terms of section 19(1) are quoted at para 23 above. It is not disputed that the subsection applies to the situation in this case: undoubtedly, therefore, the Bank could have served a calling-up notice, with the result that any default would be under standard condition 9(1)(a). The question is: were they bound to do so? Section 19(1) ("he shall serve a notice calling up the security") appears to say that they were. But, in practice, it has not been treated as requiring a creditor to serve a calling-up notice in these circumstances. Rather, it has been treated as permitting a creditor to use the calling-up procedure, but as also permitting him, in the alternative, to treat the debtor as being in default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b). On that approach, the creditor can serve a calling-up notice under section 19, or serve a notice of default under section 21, or simply apply to the court for a warrant under section 24. Section 19(1) is simply one option for the creditor: he can use it if he wants, but he can also choose to use one of the other remedies, if he wants. Such, we were told, is the way the legislation has been interpreted in practice. 36. Counsel mentioned that at the hearing in the Inner House one of the judges questioned whether this was the correct interpretation of these sections. But, understandably, the point was not pursued after their Lordships were referred to the decision of the Extra Division (Lord Sutherland, Lord MacLean and Lord Allanbridge) in Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901. This decision would certainly have been well known to Lord Drummond Young who had been counsel for the Bank of Scotland. It is not binding on this Court, however, and its reasoning must be scrutinised. A footnote to another report of the case, 1998 SCLR 577, 585, suggests that an appeal to the House of Lords may have been contemplated. If so, it was not pursued. 37. In Millward Lord MacLean gave the court's decision, which is summarised at p 903H-I: "In our opinion the law is correctly stated in Halliday's Conveyancing Law and Practice (2nd ed), that the creditor may serve a calling up notice where a creditor in a standard security intends to require repayment of the principal sum and interest, but he is not required to do so. He may, alternatively, serve a notice of default." As this summary suggests, their Lordships appear to have been much influenced by their perception that the late Professor Halliday, whom they rightly described as "the architect of the Act", considered that a creditor who intends to require repayment of the principal sum and interest is not obliged to serve a calling-up notice under section 19(1) and has the alternative of serving a notice of default under section 21(1). It is noticeable that they make no mention of an application to the court under section 24(1). Before looking more closely at what Professor Halliday said, I must examine an assumption that apparently underlies the Extra Division's approach in Millward. 38. In outlining the parties' arguments Lord MacLean recorded, 1999 SLT 901, 903B-C, that counsel for the Bank had "acknowledged" that section 19 of the Act applied only when there was a requirement of discharge of the entire debt. In the present case the Bank required Mr Wilson to repay the entire debt and so it is – strictly speaking – unnecessary to decide whether that view is correct. Moreover, the point may be unlikely to arise very often in practice since most banks and building societies will include an acceleration clause entitling them to require repayment of the entire loan if the debtor fails to pay any part of the total debt when it becomes due. 39. Nevertheless, it should not be assumed that it is only where the creditor requires repayment of the entire sum that serving a calling-up notice under section 19(1) is competent. Presumably – no reasoning is given in Millward – the view that this is the position is based on the opening words of section 19(1): "Where a creditor in a standard security intends to require discharge of the debt thereby secured…". The suggestion must be that the combination of "the debt thereby secured" and "discharge" indicates that Parliament is referring to the situation where the creditor requires the debtor to pay the whole of the debt or perform the whole of the obligation ad factum praestandum for which the security has been granted. 40. As Lord Clarke pointed out in the course of the argument, however, section 9(8)(c) provides that "debt" means "any obligation due, or which will or may become due, to repay or pay money … and any obligation … ad factum praestandum…." An obligation to repay £50K of a loan of £100K must fall within the words "any obligation due … to repay … money" and the debtor who repays £50K discharges that obligation, which is secured by the standard security. Moreover, where Parliament wishes to refer to the whole of the debt due from the debtor, it uses the expression "whole amount due". See sections 18(4), 27(1)(c), 28(2) and 30(1) and standard condition 11(4) and (5) in Schedule 3. For these reasons, it seems difficult to restrict the scope of section 19(1) to situations where the creditor intends to recover the entire debt. 41. It may be worth mentioning another point about the opening words of section 19(1). They refer to the creditor in a standard security intending to require discharge of "the debt thereby secured". That expression aptly describes the debtor's liability under any personal obligation, irrespective of whether it is constituted by a separate instrument (Form B in Schedule 2) or in the deed itself (Form A). So a calling-up notice applies to both. It is much less clear that the same can be said of a notice of default – or of the procedure in section 24(1). Both of those procedures apply where the debtor is in default "within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b)" and, reading short, that standard condition applies where there has been a failure to comply with a requirement "arising out of the security". Where the debtor fails to comply with a personal obligation constituted by a separate instrument, he fails to comply with a requirement under that instrument. But it is hard to see how he can properly be said to have failed to comply with a requirement "arising out of the security". 42. It is true that, when Parliament refers to "the whole amount due under the security" in section 28(4), for example, this must refer to standard securities in Form B as well as Form A. But, by section 30(2), that expression has to be read in the light of the definition of "whole amount due" in section 18(4). So read, the expression provides no basis for ignoring the specific words used in standard condition 9(1)(b). 43. There is therefore a difficulty in holding that a notice of default could apply to a failure to pay a sum due under a separate instrument. This tends to support the view that serving a calling-up notice under section 19(1) is the only competent route in the circumstances, since it is hard to see why Parliament would have intended to distinguish between Form A and Form B standard securities in this respect. Other complications can be envisaged, but it is unnecessary to explore them. 44. I can now return to the reasoning of the court in Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901. The Extra Division appear to have been influenced by their perception that conveyancing practitioners used notices of default "even in situations where they could use calling up notices": 1999 SLT 901, 903G. In particular, they had been told, at p 903C-D, that the Bank of Scotland tended to use calling-up notices for residential property and notices of default for commercial property, apparently on the view that commercial debtors did not need to be given so long to pay. But the facts of this case suggest that other financial institutions do not follow that policy. In any event the practice of even the most distinguished conveyancers cannot prevail if it is irreconcilable with the provision enacted by Parliament. 45. Against the background of the perceived practice of conveyancers, the Extra Division suggested, at p 903G-H, that, if a creditor had to use the calling-up procedure in section 19(1), this would mean that the creditor could use a notice of default where 99% of the debt had been demanded, but would have to use a calling-up notice where 100% had been demanded. They did not consider that the statutory framework in sections 19 to 22 necessarily led to that conclusion. Indeed it does not: the substance of the supposed objection dissolves if, contrary to the Division's assumption, a calling-up notice can be served in cases where the creditor has asked for payment of less than the whole debt. 46. The Extra Division really based their conclusion, that a calling-up notice and a notice of default are alternatives, on their understanding of Professor Halliday's view. They referred to his Conveyancing Law and Practice Vol 2 (second edition, 1997), para 54-05: "Where a creditor in a standard security intends to require repayment of the debt thereby secured and, failing such repayment, to exercise any of his powers in respect of a security, he may serve a calling up notice." The court emphasised the word "may". But the simple fact is that Parliament used the word "shall" in section 19(1). Although their Lordships must have accepted the submission of counsel for the bank that "shall" had to be read "in a permissive and not a mandatory sense", they do not explain what there is in the Act, or indeed in authority, to justify that interpretation of section 19(1). For my part, I can see nothing. 47. Moreover, I very much doubt whether Professor Halliday actually intended to say otherwise. It is noticeable that, while the Division emphasised the word "may" in the passage which they quoted, the author did not. Nor did he say that, alternatively, the creditor may serve a notice of default in such cases. The Division cited the second (posthumous) edition of his Conveyancing Law and Practice (revised by Mr I J S Talman), but the same applies to the first edition, published during his lifetime: Conveyancing Law and Practice Vol 3 (first edition, 1987), paras 39-03, and 39-19 and 39-20. The same also goes for his commentary on the 1970 Act, the first edition of which was published very shortly after the Act was passed. In The Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act (first edition, 1970), para 1-27; (second edition, 1977), para 1-26, Professor Halliday – who was in a position to know – said that the provisions for the enforcement of the standard security had posed the most difficult questions of policy for the legislature. In his view sections 19 to 29 incorporated "a compromise solution which permits considerable flexibility in procedures but affords reasonable protection to the debtor on essential matters." He went on to describe the calling-up procedure (first edition, para 1-28; second edition, para 1-27), before continuing in the next paragraph: "A new additional remedy is provided which permits the creditor to proceed in certain circumstances by way of serving a notice of default." While Professor Halliday was pointing to the wider range of remedies which the new statute made available to the creditor to cater for different situations, there is nothing to show that he considered that serving a notice of default was an alternative to serving a calling-up notice – far less, that the section 24(1) procedure was also such an alternative. 48. What Professor Halliday did emphasise – and rightly emphasise – was the quite different point that a calling-up notice and a notice of default are not mutually exclusive. In other words, a creditor can use both, if that is appropriate. Lord MacLean refers, 1999 SLT 901, 903E-F, to the relevant passage in Professor Halliday's Conveyancing Law and Practice Vol 2, para 54-22. Passages to a similar effect are found in his earlier works. There may indeed be situations where the creditor will want to exercise both rights at the same time and, as section 21(1) shows, there is nothing to prevent this. For example, if the security subjects were deteriorating, the creditor might well wish to serve both a calling-up notice requiring the debtor to pay the debt and a notice of default requiring him to fulfil his repairing obligation. Although the Extra Division drew attention to this point, it does nothing to support their view that a notice of default can be used as an alternative to the calling-up notice. That is an altogether different matter. 49. The auctoritas of Professor Halliday among conveyancers was, and is, immense. But, for judges at least, in the end even a word from Professor Halliday would have to yield to the words of Parliament. In that event it would also be worth bearing in mind the observation of the Earl of Halsbury LC, that the worst person to construe a statute is the person who was responsible for its drafting, since he "is very much disposed to confuse what he intended to do with the effect of the language which in fact has been employed": Hilder v Dexter [1902] AC 474, 477. Happily, however, in my view there is no sufficient reason to conclude that Professor Halliday intended to say anything that is inconsistent with the text of the statute. 50. Finally, it is noticeable that serving a calling-up notice under section 19 entitles the creditor to exercise a wider range of powers on default than those that are available on default after service of a notice of default under section 21. Compare section 20(1) with section 23(2). The disparity is instructive: if Parliament had really intended that the two remedies should operate as alternatives in this particular situation, it might have been expected to align the rights and powers available to the creditor to deal with it. 51. For these reasons I would overrule the decision in Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901 on this point and hold that, in a case falling within the scope of section 19(1), the creditor must serve a calling-up notice. That interpretation ensures that all debtors are treated alike and, in particular, that they are all given the two-month period in which to pay, that is specified in the callingup notice. Professor Halliday stressed that, in enacting the enforcement powers, Parliament had been concerned to strike the right balance between creditors and debtors. Interpreting section 19(1) in this way ensures that Parliament's policy on this important matter is given effect. Conclusion 52. In these cases case the Bank did not serve a calling-up notice back in 1998. Mr McIlvride was unable to say why. He was also unable to say why they had not done so at some later stage when the cases had become bogged down in technical arguments about section 24 of the 1970 Act and section 5 of the 1894 Act. Unfortunately, for all the reasons which I have given, the Bank have pursued the wrong course. I would therefore allow the appeals, recall the interlocutor of the Extra Division, sustain the first plea-in-law for the first defender and the plea-inlaw for the second defender and assoilzie both defenders in each of the appeals. 53. It is only right that I should acknowledge the assistance that I have derived from the excellent submissions of counsel on both sides. LORD HOPE 54. I agree with Lord Rodger that these appeals must be allowed and I would make the orders that he proposes. I also agree with him that, on a correct analysis of the relevant provisions of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 ("the 1970 Act"), the Bank pursued the wrong course when they decided to enforce these securities. It has to be recognised however that this conclusion runs counter to the way these provisions have been widely understood and applied in practice for the past four decades. So I should add some words of my own to explain why I too have come to be of that view. 55. The 1970 Act was the product of a movement for reform of conveyancing law and practice which had been embodied in a series of reports, of which the relevant one for present purposes was the Report of the Halliday Committee (Cmnd 3118) which was published in December 1966. It contained proposals for the modernisation and simplification of the existing system which formed the basis for the measures enacted in Parts II to IV of the 1970 Act. Among the proposals in the Halliday Report was the introduction of a new statutory security. It was to be incompetent to create a heritable security by any other means after 29 November 1970, when the relevant provisions were to come into force six months after the Act was passed: section 54(2)(a). 56. The new standard security was to follow one of the forms prescribed in Schedule 2. Form A was for use where the personal obligation was included in the deed. It contains an obligation to pay the debt. Form B was for use where the personal obligation was included in a separate instrument or instruments. It contains no obligation to pay the debt and is limited to creating the security, but the nature of the debt and the instrument or instruments constituting it must be referred to and sufficiently identified. The introduction to the commentary on the Act in Current Law Statutes noted that a valuable innovation under section 11 was the incorporation in the new security of the standard conditions prescribed in Schedule 3, unless conventionally varied. They were to regulate every standard security. The import of the form of bond and disposition in security prescribed was much more limited. Absent special agreement to the contrary, the creditor could insure the subjects against all loss by fire and recover the premiums from the debtor, but it was not until he had entered into possession that he was given any statutory powers of management: Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924, section 25(1)(a). It has been suggested that the creditor was entitled to object to any act which diminished the security: Gordon, Scottish Land Law (2 nd ed, 1999), para 2012. Where the security was constituted by way of ex facie absolute disposition, a back letter would typically contain obligations on the debtor such as to keep the subjects in good repair or to observe title conditions. It would also set out the terms on which the ex facie absolute owner was entitled to enter into possession in the event of the debtor's default in the fulfilment of any of his obligations: Gordon, para 20-100. But the benefit of incorporating the standard conditions was that everything that was relevant to the maintenance and enforcement of the security was set out in the statute. 57. It is plain that much thought was given to the design of the forms, which were supplemented by the seven notes annexed to Schedule 2, and to the content of the standard conditions. These were matters of particular interest to the conveyancer, whose expertise lies the framing of deeds that give effect to the transaction that the client wishes to enter into and will meet the requirements for registration. A conveyancer in practice deals mainly with the sale and purchase of heritable property: Sinclair, Handbook of Conveyancing Practice in Scotland (3 rd ed, 1995), para 1.1. His task is usually complete when the deed that transfers title to the purchaser or the deed that creates the heritable security is registered. What to do if a creditor has to enforce his security because the debtor has failed to perform his obligations under it has normally passed to someone else. The draftsman of the 1970 Act had to consider this problem, however, and the relevant provisions are to be found in sections 19 to 28 and in standard conditions 8 to 11. Section 19 provides for the calling-up of the security, and section 20 sets out the rights of the creditor if the debtor is in default in failing to comply with the calling-up notice. Section 21 introduces what the commentator in Current Law Statutes described as an entirely new remedy, the notice of default. 58. These provisions need to be read in the light of standard condition 9(1), which provides: "The debtor shall be held to be in default in any of the following circumstances, that is to say – (a) where a calling-up notice in respect of the security has been served and has not been complied with; (b) where there has been a failure to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security; (c) where the proprietor of the security subjects has become insolvent." 59. The circumstances listed in standard condition 9(1) are not presented as alternatives which are exclusive of each other. Necessarily so, as all three circumstances could be present in the event of the debtor's insolvency. But, as the wording indicates, they are distinct circumstances. The question that these appeals give rise to is whether a creditor who wishes to enforce the security to obtain performance of the debt for which security was given can choose whether to proceed by way of a calling-up notice or may proceed instead on the basis that the debtor is in default under standard condition 9(1)(b). Finding the right answer to this question is important if the creditor wishes, as the Bank does in this case, to obtain an order to eject a debtor who is in personal occupation of the subjects of the security under section 5 of the Heritable Securities (Scotland) Act 1894, which applies to standard securities by virtue of section 32 of the 1970 Act. That section applies if the debtor has made default "in due payment of the principal after formal requisition". It is not in doubt that a calling-up notice which is served under section 19 of the 1970 Act is a formal requisition for the purposes of section 5 of the 1894 Act. But the kind of default referred to in standard condition 9(1)(b), which is the route that the Bank has chosen to enforce the securities in this case, does not require the service of a calling-up notice. The requirements of section 5 could have been met by serving a notice of default which was appropriately worded, but the Bank did not regard this as a step that needed to be taken. 60. Mr Summers QC's case for Mr and Mrs Wilson was that the Bank had failed to serve on them a document that could be described as a formal requisition for the purposes of section 5 of the 1894 Act. He set out his argument in this way. Summary ejection by a heritable creditor of a proprietor with a valid and subsisting title is not possible apart from section 5: Inglis's Trustees v Macpherson 1911 2 SLT 176, 177-178, per Lord President Dunedin; Craigie, Scottish Law of Conveyancing; Heritable Rights (1899), p 949. If there is no formal requisition within the meaning of that section, the proprietor cannot be ejected. The word "formal" is not defined in the 1894 Act, but it should be understood as requiring the creditor to provide full details of the security to the proprietor so that the basis for the demand is made clear. What will be required to achieve that clarity will depend on the circumstances of the case. In this case the absence of any reference to the security in the Bank's demand letters gave the misleading impression that this was a demand that was made of the husbands only, in respect of their obligations as partners for partnership debt: see para [6] where their terms are set out by Lord Rodger. No such letter was sent to the wives, and there was no mention in the letters of their obligations under the standard securities. 61. In the Inner House this argument was rejected by the Extra Division (Lords Nimmo Smith, Reed and Drummond Young): 2009 SLT 729, paras 39-44. In para 44, delivering the opinion of the court, Lord Nimmo Smith said: "We agree with the submission by counsel for the bank that the sheriff erred in holding that warrant for ejection can only be granted if a formal requisition of payment has been made in terms of section 5 of the 1894 Act. For the reasons given above, warrant for ejection may competently be granted where the debtor in a standard security is in default in terms of standard condition 9(1)(b). The only voucher that is required is a Schedule 7 certificate. No separate requisition is required. The effect of section 24 of the 1970 Act is that such a certificate constitutes a formal requisition for the purposes of section 5. In any event there is no difference between these provisions. The requirement in a notice of default is the same as a requisition." The Schedule 7 certificate referred to in this passage is the certificate that the creditor may lodge in court under section 24(2) of the 1970 Act. If it contains the information required by the Schedule, which includes specification of the standard security in respect of which the default is alleged to have occurred and full details of the default, it will be prima facie evidence of the facts founded on as the default. These details were given in the certificates of default that the Bank lodged in January and February 2006, long after the actions were served in April 1998. They were not to be found in the demand letters which were sent to the husbands in June 1995. 62. The propositions which I have quoted from the Extra Division's opinion do not fit easily with the concept of a formal requisition as an essential preliminary for the taking of proceedings for ejection under section 5 of the 1894 Act. This was explained by Gloag and Irvine, Law of Rights in Security (1897), p 98. After noting that a creditor was entitled to remove the debtor by an action of removing in the Court of Session (see, eg, Blair v Galloway 1853 16 D 291), the authors said that no-one was entitled to make rules by contract which tend to establish a diligence different from that established by law and that extreme powers in a bond, although consented to by the debtor, will not be enforced: "Thus where it was stipulated that in the event of the debtor falling into arrears for two months with monthly instalments of the debt it should be in the power of the creditor to remove him 'without any warning or legal process whatever,' it was held that such extreme powers could not be legally enforced, and that a petition to the sheriff for summary removal of the debtor from the occupation of the subjects was incompetent. But the powers of a creditor in this respect have been enlarged by the Heritable Securities Act, 1894. It is there provided that where a debtor is in the natural possession of the lands covered by the security, or a part thereof, and has made default in payment of the interest under the security, or of the principal after a formal requisition for payment, the creditor may take proceedings to eject him as if he were an occupant without title. That is to say, it is presumed, he may bring a summary action of removing in the sheriff court." 63. The requirement that there should be a formal requisition or demand for payment was not new. Section 119 of the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868 made provision for the service of a demand for payment in the form of No 2 of Schedule FF, which is headed "Form of Schedule of Intimation, Requisition and Protest." The essential requirement of the formal requisition referred to in section 5 of the 1894 Act is that the proprietor should be put on notice before summary proceedings for possession are brought against him that the principal sum due under the bond and disposition in security is due for payment and that, in the event of non-payment by a given date, the creditor may proceed to take proceedings against him. The reference to default in payment "after" formal requisition in section 5 makes it clear that the requisition must come first. The default occurs if, and only if, the demand that it sets out is not complied with. 64. The Extra Division's conclusion that the requirement for a formal requisition was met by the lodging of the Schedule 7 certificates eight years after the raising of these actions seems hard to understand in the light of that background. But the point is the same however long or short the interval was between the raising of the actions and the lodging in court of the certificates. Unless there was clear wording in the 1970 Act to support it, it would seem that the Extra Division ought to have held that the statutory requirement was not satisfied because Mr and Mrs Wilson were not put on notice before the actions were raised that the Bank was proposing to enforce the security. Section 5 of the 1894 Act was not amended by the 1970 Act, so that section is left to speak for itself. It cannot be said that the change in the timing of the requirement that follows from the Extra Division's decision has been addressed directly. Section 32 of the 1970 Act provides, however, that the provisions of any enactment relating to a bond and disposition or assignation in security shall apply to a security, except in so far as such provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of Part II of that Act. This makes it necessary to look more closely at the wording of these provisions. 65. It has to be said that it was no part of Mr Summers's argument that the Bank had pursued the wrong course by relying on a standard condition 9(1)(b) default and applying to the sheriff court under section 24 instead of serving a calling-up notice. He concentrated on the Bank's failure to serve a further document which could be regarded as a formal requisition before the actions were raised. It was Mr McIlvride's attempt, in a very able argument, to answer this point that led to the scrutiny of the provisions of Part II which has led in turn to the conclusion that the Bank's error can be traced back to their choice of remedy and to the conclusion, too, that the passage in Lord MacLean's opinion in Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901, 903 on which the Extra Division relied to the effect that there was a choice of remedies was unsound. 66. It is perhaps worth noting that the point that Lord MacLean made in Bank of Scotland v Millward had already been considered in the sheriff court. In United Dominions Trust Ltd v Site Preparations Ltd (No 1) 1978 SLT (Sh Ct) 14 and United Dominions Trust Ltd v Site Preparations (No 2) 1978 SLT (Sh Ct) 21 it was argued that a failure to pay interest was not "a failure to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security" as required by standard condition 9(1)(b). It was said that the liability to pay interest arose out of the existence of the debt and that the appropriate procedure to follow was the calling-up procedure. In the first case Sheriff DB Smith said at p 16 that it would be a very strained interpretation of standard condition 9(1)(b) to hold that a failure to pay interest was not a failure to comply with the requirement arising out of the security. In the second Sheriff Wm C Henderson said at p 23 that the requirements to pay interest and/or capital were every bit as much requirements arising out of the security as the other standard conditions incorporated by reference in the security documents. These cases are cited in Gloag and Henderson, Law of Scotland (12 th ed, 2007), para 37-09, fn 137 for the proposition that failure to pay interest under a loan secured is a failure to comply with a requirement of the security for the purposes of standard condition 9(1)(b): see also Cusine and Rennie, Standard Securities (2 nd ed, 2002), para 8.21. 67. The Extra Division in Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901 relied for its conclusion that standard conditions 9(1)(a) and 9(1)(b) were alternative and not mutually exclusive on Professor Halliday's statements in his Conveyancing Law and Practice (2 nd ed, 1997), para 54-05 that where a creditor in a standard security intends to require repayment of the debt thereby secured and, failing such payment, to exercise any of his powers in respect of a security he "may" serve a calling up notice and in para 54.22 that the remedies of serving a calling-up notice and serving a notice of default were not mutually exclusive. It also relied on a passage in the latter paragraph where Professor Halliday said that where there was serious default in payment of interest and capital and the debtor has abandoned the subjects, which are deteriorating, service of a notice of default may be the quickest approach to a sale of the security subjects. 68. Lord Rodger doubts whether, when he used the word "may", Professor Halliday intended to indicate that the word "shall" in section 19(1) was to be read in a permissive, and not a mandatory, sense. But a further indication that it was indeed Professor Halliday's view that this word was to be read in the permissive sense is to be found in a passage from his commentary on the 1970 Act, The Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 (2 nd ed, 1977), at para 10.19, where he discussed the circumstances in which a notice of default could be used: "Any failure by the debtor to implement an obligation enforceable under a standard security will entitle the creditor to serve a notice of default. Default in payment of interest or of a periodical instalment of capital and interest, or breach of an obligation under standard conditions 1, 2, 3 or 5, or failure to implement an obligation undertaken in the personal obligation or in a variation of the standard conditions, are obvious examples. The only qualification is that the failure should be remediable." 69. Professor Halliday is not alone in failing to notice the distinction between circumstances in which a calling-up notice is required and those where recourse must be had instead to a notice of default or a section 24 application to the sheriff court. Cusine and Rennie say in their introduction to para 8.14 that there is some doubt about what condition 9(1)(b) means, the question being whether "a failure to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security" is wider than a failure to comply with something mentioned in a notice of default. In their view this phrase means "a failure to comply with any condition of the standard security, or the standard conditions, ie anything except failure to comply with a calling-up notice." But I understand them to accept that the passage which they quote from Professor Halliday's Commentaries is an accurate statement of the effect of the 1970 Act. This is certainly the predominant view that is taken in the textbooks. The approach is to view the Act as providing the creditor with a basket of remedies and then providing him with the calling-up notice, the notice of default and the application to the sheriff court for a warrant as different routes by which they can be obtained. 70. In The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia: Conveyancing (2005), paras 223-224 it is stated that a calling-up notice is to be used where the creditor wants payment of all the debt, and that a notice of default is used where there has been failure to comply with any requirement of a security. The word "other" which the statute uses in standard condition 9(1)(b) is omitted from the reference to the notice of default, suggesting that this is a mechanism that can be used for any failure to comply with a requirement of the security. Cusine and Rennie, Standard Securities, para 8.03 say that a creditor who wishes the debt to be discharged by payment of the amount due or performance of an obligation ad factum praestandum "may" serve a calling-up notice, but that it would also be appropriate to serve a calling-up notice in respect of a default which cannot be remedied. The editors of the 12 th edition of Gloag and Henderson, Law of Scotland, in their carefully re-written chapter on Rights in Security, para 37.09 say that where the creditor in a standard security intends to require discharge of the debt secured and, failing discharge, to exercise any power conferred by the security to sell the subjects, the creditor "may" serve a calling-up notice. They too omit the word "other" before the word "requirement" when they summarise the circumstances when a notice of default may be used. Gretton and Reid, Conveyancing (3 rd ed, 2004), para 19.36, referring to Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901, say that the calling-up procedure and the notice of default procedure are often alternatives, and that in practice there is a certain tendency amongst institutions to use the former for residential standard securities and the latter for commercial ones. They do however note that the law in this area is of labyrinthine complexity: Conveyancing 2009, p 179. 71. There may indeed be cases where the calling-up procedure and the notice of default procedure are both available as alternatives. The example given by Professor Halliday in Conveyancing Law and Practice, para 54.22, where there has been serious default in payment of interest and capital and the debtor has abandoned the subjects, which are deteriorating, may be such a case. But a case such as the present, where the creditor is faced with a defaulting debtor who is in personal possession of the subjects and intends to seek an order for the debtor's summary ejection under section 5 of the 1894 Act, cannot be dismissed so easily. Treating a calling-up notice and a notice of default as alternatives between which the creditor may choose at his option runs into serious difficulty when this is tested against the section 5 requirement that ejection is a remedy that may only be sought where the debtor is in default after formal requisition. The calling-up procedure satisfies that requirement. The notice of default procedure and the warrant procedure referred to in section 24, without more, do not. 72. The answer to the problem is to be found in the words of the statute, to which all too frequently insufficient attention appears to have been given. The word "default" is used in standard condition 9 to describe three quite different circumstances. In Laird v Securities Insurance Co Ltd 1895 22 R 452,461 Lord Adam said that this meant nothing more or less than that the debtor had failed to pay. But the word takes its meaning from its context. Each of the circumstances referred to in standard condition is treated as a "default" for the purposes of Part II of the 1970 Act. There is a default for these purposes where the proprietor of the subjects has become insolvent, even though there has not yet been any failure in payment of any part of the debt which is secured by the standard security: standard condition 9(1)(c). That there is a difference between the defaults contemplated by standard conditions 9(1)(a) and 9(1)(b) is indicated by the word "other" which appears before the words "requirement arising out of the security" in standard condition 9(1)(b). In other words, standard condition 9(1)(a) refers to the kind of requirement which is to be dealt with by serving a calling-up notice. Standard condition 9(1)(b) refers to any requirement which is not to be so dealt with. To understand the difference between them it is necessary to refer back to section 19, in which the calling-up procedure is described. 73. Section 19(1) states that when a creditor in a standard security intends to require discharge of the "debt" thereby secured and, failing that, to exercise any of the powers which he may appropriately exercise on the default of the creditor within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a), he "shall" serve a notice callingup the security. The word "debt" is widely defined in section 9(8)(c), which must be read together with section 9(3) which provides that the grant of any right over land or an interest in land for the purpose of securing any debt by way of a heritable security shall only be capable of being effected by standard security. It includes any obligation due, or which will become due, to pay or repay money. It also includes any obligation ad factum praestandum. No distinction is drawn between obligations to pay the whole or part of the principal, the payment of the principal by instalments or the payment of interest or capital. So the word "debt" in section 19(1) refers to anything and everything that is "secured" by the grant of the interest referred to in the standard security. Where the Act means to refer to the whole amount due it says so: see section 18(4). The word "debt" is not so limited. 74. Section 21(1) introduces the valuable innovation referred to in the introduction to the commentary on the Act in Current Law Statutes. It applies where the debtor is in default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b) and the default is remediable. As standard condition 9(1)(b) refers to a failure to comply with any other requirement arising out of the security, this section must be taken to refer to defaults other than in respect of the debt secured by the standard security. Content for its application is to be found in the requirements that are set out in standard condition 1 (maintenance and repair), standard condition 2 (completion of buildings), standard condition 3 (observance of conditions in title) and standard condition 5 (insurance) and any other similar conditions that may have been included by way of variation to maintain the value of the security subjects. It was a weakness of the previous law that the steps that might be taken to achieve this were not clearly spelled out in the statutes. The innovation is broadened by giving the creditor the right under section 24(1) to apply to the court for a warrant to exercise any of the remedies which he is entitled to exercise on a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a). 75. The Bank is this case has been seeking all along to require discharge of the debt secured by the standard security. Mr McIlvride said that its position was that a calling-up notice was appropriate for use where the property had been abandoned and the creditor could exercise the powers referred to in standard condition 10 immediately. If the debtor was still in occupation it was preferable to proceed under section 24 and apply to the court for a warrant to exercise them. Unfortunately this approach overlooks the fact that the summary process of ejection, to which resort may be needed in these circumstances, is available only under section 5 of the 1894 Act and then only if the proprietor is in default after a formal requisition has been served on him. Section 19(1), properly understood according to its own terms and read together with standard condition 9(1)(a), addresses this problem. The route that standard condition 9(1)(b) indicates does not, as it is designed to deal with requirements arising under the standard security other than the discharge of the debt secured by it. So even if the Bank had taken the further step of serving a notice that met the requirements of section 5, it would not have been entitled to the order it seeks as it did not serve a calling-up notice as required by section 19(1). LORD WALKER 76. I agree with the judgments of Lord Hope and Lord Rodger. LADY HALE 77. I agree that this appeal should be allowed, for two reasons. The first formed no part of counsel for the appellants' argument but emerged during the hearing before us. Section 19(1) of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 requires that a creditor in a standard security who intends to require the discharge of the debt secured and, failing that, to exercise any of his enforcement powers "shall" serve a calling up notice. Although we were referred to textbooks and authorities since the Act which have assumed that "shall" means "may", we were not referred to anything in the Report of the Halliday Committee (Cmnd 3118), which led to the Act, suggesting that it was intended that a creditor could by-pass the calling up procedure required by section 19(1), either by serving a notice of default under section 21 or by applying to the court for a warrant under section 24. 78. If practice south of the border is anything to go by, the policy makers whose decisions lead to legislation are not actually responsible for the words which Parliamentary counsel use in translating their instructions into statutory language. I would therefore be surprised if Professor Halliday were responsible for the words used in the Act. This makes the absence of any prior recommendations on this point the more telling. Without them, we need only focus on the actual language of the Act. 79. Although section 24 says that a creditor may apply to the court for a warrant if the debtor is in default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(b) or (c), it does not say that a default within the meaning of standard conditions 9(1)(b) or (c) is to be equated with a default within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a) or vice versa. In other words, it does not displace the requirements of section 19(1). 80. In policy terms, it would be very surprising if it did. Why provide for the calling up procedure at all, if it can simply be got round by going to court under section 24? There is obvious good sense in a policy which requires prior notice to the proprietors that a creditor intends to call in his security if the debt is not paid. This case is a good example. We do not know whether these debtors could have found a way of discharging their debts had they and their wives been told at the outset that their homes were at risk. In some cases, no doubt, it would be quite impossible. But in others, there might be enough surplus value (what we south of the border would call "equity") in the home to raise alternative finance to pay off the loan or the home might be sold to do this before the debt had escalated to astronomical proportions as it has done here. The Bank, of course, has every interest in allowing the debt to mount up until it gets close to the value of the home. Without the calling up procedure the creditor can simply allow the debt to escalate without suffering any disadvantage. There has to be something to make him declare his hand at a time when the debtor may be able to do something about it. 81. Secondly, in cases like this, there has to be power actually to get the occupiers out of the premises. Without this the other remedies, such as the power of sale, will not work. As I understand it, the only way in which this can now be done is under section 5 of the Heritable Securities (Scotland) Act 1894. This requires a formal requisition, at least for repayment of the principal. The calling up procedure supplies this, although no doubt there are other ways. The policy is the same. A debtor should be given an opportunity of remedying his default before he is dispossessed. It is not much to ask. Who knows whether these wives had sums in their own bank accounts which might have enabled them to discharge these debts had they been told? It is sexist simply to assume that they did not. 82. It is such an injustice to deprive these wives of their homes without even asking whether they might have had the resources to discharge their husbands' debts that I cannot believe that, even in 1970, Parliament could have contemplated it. We have been given no reason to think that it did. 83. These reasons are simply a supplement to the reasons given by Lord Hope and Lord Rodger. In agreement with them both, therefore, I would allow this appeal. LORD CLARKE 84. I agree that this appeal should be allowed on the simple basis that, as Lord Rodger has demonstrated, Bank of Scotland v Millward 1999 SLT 901 was wrongly decided. The effect of section 19(1) of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 is that a creditor in a standard security who intends to require discharge of the secured debt and, failing that discharge, intends to exercise "any power conferred by the security to sell any subjects of the security or any other power which he may appropriately exercise on the default of the debtor within the meaning of standard condition 9(1)(a) … shall serve … 'a calling up notice'". (My emphasis.) 85. In Bank of Scotland v Millward the Inner House construed 'shall' as if it said 'may'. However, it gave no convincing reason for doing so and there is in my opinion no warrant for construing the word 'shall' in that way in the context of the Act. As I see it, the purpose of the subsection was to ensure that the proprietors of secured property should be given proper notice of the creditor's intention to take possession of or to sell the property. The giving of such a notice is a simple step and would have saved years of litigation in this case. The Bank did not give such a notice on the facts of this case. It follows that, although this point was not taken on behalf of the appellants until it arose in the course of the argument in this appeal, for the reasons given by Lord Rodger, I would allow the appeal on that ground.
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES WASHINGTON, D.C. 20424-0001 MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ROCKY MOUNTAIN DISTRICT, DENVER, COLORADO Respondent and NATIONAL COUNCIL OF FIELD LABOR LOCALS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 3416 Charging Party David L. Pena Counsel for the Respondent Julia D. Hurst andMatthew Jarvinen Counsel for the General Counsel, FLRA Richard W. Coon Representative of the Charging Party Before: GARVIN LEE OLIVER Administrative Law Judge DECISION Statement of the Case The unfair labor practice complaint alleges that Respondent violated section 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), 5 U.S.C. §§ 7116(a)(1) and (5), by terminating a practice of permitting unit employee field inspectors to park their privately owned vehicles and government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center. The complaint alleges that Respondent took the action without providing the Charging Party (Local 3416 or Union) prior notice and an opportunity to negotiate over the substance or over the impact and implementation of the change. Respondent's answer admitted the allegations as to Respondent, the Union, and the charge, but denied any violation of the Statute. A hearing was held in Denver, Colorado. The Respondent, Charging Party, and the General Counsel were represented and afforded full opportunity to be heard, adduce relevant evidence, examine and cross-examine witnesses, and file post-hearing briefs. The Respondent and General Counsel filed helpful briefs. Based on the entire record, including my observation of the witnesses and their demeanor I make the following findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations. 1 Case No. DE-CA-20400 Findings of Fact The National Council of Field Labor Locals, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, (NCFLL) is the exclusive representative of a nationwide consolidated unit of employees appropriate for collective bargaining. Local 3416 is an agent of NCFLL for purposes of representing unit employees in Respondent's Rocky Mountain District. (G.C. Exs. 1(b) and 1(c)). The official policy of the Mine Safety and Health Admin-istration (MSHA) regarding overnight parking of government owned vehicles (GOVs) has been stated in Department of Labor regulations, DLMS-2, paragraph 1546 since at least 1984. As relevant here, that policy states that GOVs "should be parked at the official duty station on government-owned or controlled lots." (Respondent's Exhibits 1-4; Tr. 58-59). This case concerns the parking of vehicles by employees of Respondent's Metal and Non-Metal Mine Safety and Health Division whose duty station is 730 Sims Street, Lakewood, Colorado. There is an open parking lot adjacent to the building. Approximately 50 government vehicles are parked there on a regular basis, and it is also open for parking by the public. (Tr. 67, 72). Since at least 1985, with Respondent's knowledge and acquiescence, unit employee field inspectors have been permitted to park their privately owned vehicles (POVs) and GOVs at the Denver Federal Center which is between 6th and Alameda and Kipling and Union Streets, also in Lakewood, Colorado. The Denver Federal Center is a large complex of buildings with several government controlled parking lots. It is normally a three to ten minute drive from the Denver Federal Center to the Sims Street office, or a 20-30 minute walk. (Tr. 31-32, 37, 68). The drive could take longer, up to 30 minutes, depending on the time of day. (Tr. 68, 73). In approximately 1985, in response to concerns regarding vandalism which was occurring to both GOVs and POVs at the Sims Street location, Local 3416 President Richard W. Coon and Respondent's District Manager William Gardner reached an agreement that inspectors could avail themselves of the option of parking both POVs and GOVs at the Denver Federal Center. Inspectors could drive POVs to the Denver Federal Center, park their POVs, pick up their assigned GOVs to drive to the Sims Street location and then to the field. Inspectors are normally out of town on temporary duty assignments from Monday morning until Friday for several weeks a month. The assigned GOV is used to accomplish this work. The assigned GOV would be parked in the Denver Federal Center on weekends or whenever the inspector was at the Sims Street duty station. The inspector's POV would be parked in the Denver Federal Center while the inspector was out of town. An inspector was required to obtain a parking sticker for the POV from the General Services Administration which controls parking at the Denver Federal Center. (Tr. 15-19). The practice continued with the knowledge of Acting District Manager Marvin Nichols in 1986 (Tr. 20-21), and of District Manager Vernon Gomez from 1986 to November 1991 (Tr. 21-22). In the 1980s there were about 20 inspectors in the Division. At the time of the hearing there were ten. (Tr. 30). Initially Ronald Simpson and three other inspectors took advantage of the parking option. (Tr. 19-20). Since about 1987 only Ronald Simpson has continued to avail himself of the opportunity. (Tr. 28). Mr. Simpson would typically drive his POV to the Denver Federal Center on Monday, park his POV there, pick up his GOV, drive it to the Sims Street location, spend a period of time there, and then proceed to the field for mine inspections. Mr. Simpson sometimes drove in with his wife, who worked at the Denver Federal Center. (Tr. 37-38). On or about January 24, 1992, Respondent, by District Manager Roderic M. Breland, terminated the practice of allowing field inspectors to park their GOVs at the Denver Federal Center. (1) Breland made no change concerning POVs. Mr. Breland issued instructions that Simpson's GOV should be parked at the Sims Street duty station lot in accordance with MSHA policy. There is no evidence that Respondent notified the Union and gave it an opportunity to bargain. (Tr. 60, 63). Respondent has nine GOVs. Eight are used by the field inspectors. One is used by the district office staff consisting of the District Manager, Assistant Manager, Administrative Officer, and two specialists who need to travel away from the office on occasion and to downtown Denver, a distance of about ten miles. The Union President also has permission to use the district office government vehicle on occasion. (Tr. 61-63). Mr. Breland testified that the GOVs are not exclusively for the use of the inspectors to whom they are assigned. Thus, it is necessary to have the vehicles parked in the convenient Sims Street location in case employees other than he assigned inspectors need to use them. Four-wheel-drive and sedan vehicles need to be assigned based on the type of terrain in which they are to be driven. Mr. Breland cited an instance when it took considerable effort to locate Mr. Simpson's GOV at the Denver Federal Center when Mr. Simpson was not using it. It was needed for an inspector from outside the office who needed a GOV for official purposes. (Tr. 63-64). Mr. Breland also testified that security is a concern in requiring GOVs to be parked at the Sims Street location. Although the Sims Street parking lot is open to the public, it is patrolled by the Federal Protective Service. From about 1986 to 1988 the Sims address had more incidents of vandalism than the Denver Federal Center, but in recent years Sims Street has had far fewer reported acts of vandalism. From 1989 through 1991 there were 21 reported instances of vandalism at the Denver Federal Center while there was only one reported at the Sims Street location. (Tr. 45-47, 65-66). Since approximately January 24, 1992, Mr. Simpson no longer drives his POV to the Denver Federal Center, nor does he leave it overnight while on temporary duty or travel. Mr. Simpson's wife, who is employed at the Denver Federal Center, drives him to his Sims Street duty station where his assigned GOV is now parked. (Tr. 37-38). Discussion and Conclusions The unfair labor practice complaint alleges that Respondent violated section 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Statute by unilaterally terminating a practice of permitting unit employee field inspectors to park their privately owned vehicles and government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center. The record reflects that Respondent did not terminate a practice of permitting inspectors to park POVs at the Denver Federal Center, but did change the practice of permitting inspectors to park GOVs at the Denver Federal Center. The record shows that prior to this change, inspectors would park their POVs at the Denver Federal Center, where they would pick up assigned GOVs and proceed to the Sims Street duty station and on to perform mine inspections in the field as assigned. The inspectors could return their assigned vehicle to the Denver Federal Center at the end of their field assignments and pick up their own vehicles. This practice constituted a condition of employment. See U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, El Paso District Office, 34 FLRA 1035, 1042-48 (1990) (INS). It was also a past practice consistently exercised for an extended period of time with the Respondent's knowledge and consent. Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 25 FLRA 277, 286 (1987). Respondent contends that its determination to have government vehicles parked at the Sims Street office location involved a determination of its internal security practices, under section 7106(a)(1) of the Statute, and of its methods and means of performing work, pursuant to section 7106(b)(1), and it was not obligated to bargain on the decision. Internal Security Under section 7106(a)(1) of the Statute, management's right to determine its internal security practices includes the right to determine the policies and practices that are necessary to safeguard its operations, personnel and physical property against internal and external risks. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1920 and U.S. Department of Defense, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Fort Hood Exchange, Fort Hood, Texas, 47 FLRA 340, 348 (1993) (AFGE). The agency must demonstrate a link or reasonable connection between its goal of safeguarding its personnel, property, or operations and its practice or decision designed to implement that goal. The Authority will not examine the extent to which the practices adopted by management to achieve its security objectives actually facilitate the accomplishment of those objectives. Id. at 348-49. In the instant case, Respondent investigated the incidence of reported vandalism of vehicles located at both the Denver Federal Center and 730 Sims Street. The Federal Protective Service reported that from 1989 to 1991, while there were 21 reported instances of damage to vehicles parked at the Denver Federal Center, there was only one reported incident of such vandalism reported at the Sims Street location. Thus, it cannot be disputed, on this record, that MSHA's vehicles are more secure at the Sims Street location than at the Denver Federal Center. Moreover, implicit in the Department's regulations on the overnight parking of GOVs are security concerns. The requirement that GOVs be parked on government controlled lots recognizes security needs with respect to government property, and seeks to ensure that GOVs are in a secure location over which the government has control. The lot at Sims Street is patrolled by the Federal Protective Service. Thus, Respondent has demonstrated a reasonable connection between its action and the security of its property. Accord-ingly, the Respondent was not required to negotiate with the Union concerning its decision to require that GOVs be parked at the Sims Street location. Method and Means In this case the Respondent directed that GOVs should be parked directly adjacent to the duty station. GOVs are used by field inspectors to inspect mines and by the administrative staff to travel in the Denver area on official business on occasion. By locating the vehicles in a convenient location directly adjacent to the duty station Respondent facilitates its ability to accomplish its work in an efficient and effective manner. Thus, Respondent's decision as to where GOVs should be parked is nonnegotiable at its election as it constitutes a "means of performing work" within the meaning of section 7106(b) of the Statute. Cf. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 644, 21 FLRA 1046 (1986); INS, supra. Impact and Implementation Where an agency in exercising a management right under section 7106(a) of the Statute changes conditions of employment of unit employees, it still has an obligation to bargain over the matters set forth in section 7106(b)(2) and (3) of the Statute if the change results in an impact upon unit employees or such impact was reasonably foreseeable. U.S. Government Printing Office, 13 FLRA 203 (1983). In Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, 24 FLRA 403 (1986) (SSA), the Authority reassessed and modified the de minimis standard previously used to identify changes in conditions of employment which require bargaining. The Authority stated that in order to determine whether a change in conditions of employment requires bargaining, it would carefully examine the pertinent facts and the circumstances presented in each case. The Authority further stated that in examining the record, principal emphasis would be placed on such general areas of consideration as the nature and extent of the effect or reasonably foreseeable effect of the change on the conditions of employment. The Authority also stated that equitable considerations would be taken into account in balancing the various interests involved, that the number of affected employees and the parties' bargaining history would be given limited application; and that the size of the bargaining unit would no longer be a consideration. The General Counsel argues that the change was more than de minimis. The General Counsel claims that all ten inspectors who were given the opportunity to park both their GOVs and POVs at the Denver Federal Center no longer have the opportunity to park both the GOVs and POVs in a secure area should they choose to do so, meaning that new transportation arrangements have to be made in order to get to and from work. The General Counsel points out that Mr. Simpson no longer drives his POV into the office because he is unable to park it in a secure area, and he had to find another means of getting to the office. Respondent contends that no bargaining was required since the change was de minimis. Respondent points out that the change affected only a single employee; that since 1987, no other employee has engaged in the practice that Mr. Simpson has followed. Respondent claims that the result of the change from Mr. Simpson's perspective is that he no longer has to commute to and from the Denver Federal Center to his office, but is driven directly to work by his wife without the necessity of stopping at the Denver Federal Center to pick up the GOV. Respondent asserts that the only effect of the change has been a minor inconvenience to Mr. Simpson's wife, a non-employee to whom Respondent owes no duty. Respondent maintains that Mr. Simpson's desire to park his POV at the Denver Federal Center for security reasons is not based in fact because the Sims Street parking lot is more secure. Moreover, he was not required to make any change in the parking location of his POV; in fact his wife continues to park a POV at the Denver Federal Center. Respondent claims equitable considerations are clearly on its side when the Agency's interest regarding the security of its GOVs and its ability to carry out its work in an efficient and effective manner is weighed against the minor inconvenience to Mr. Simpson and his wife. The Authority has rejected the contention that a change was no more than de minimis because, in part, it involved only one employee. Veterans Administration Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, 47 FLRA 419 (1993) (VA). The Authority has held that bargaining is required in such circumstances "so long as there was a demonstrable effect or a reasonably foreseeable effect on that employee or others in the bargaining unit." United States Immigration and Naturali-zation Service, United States Border Patrol, Del Rio, Texas, 47 FLRA 225, 232 (1993) (INS). The Authority has also held that the effect of changes on bargaining unit employees need not be limited only to those experienced in the workplace. VA, 47 FLRA at 423-24 (effect of the change involved outside employment); Department of the Air Force, Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 39 FLRA 1357, 1372 (1991) (change regarding time spent in training exercises could involve an employee's family, travel, and/or educational plans). In light of the above Authority precedent, and in view of the demonstrable effect of the change on Mr. Simpson's commuting arrangements, it is concluded that Respondent violated section 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Statute by terminating the practice of permitting unit employee field inspectors to park government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center without providing the Union appropriate notice and an opportunity to negotiate over the impact and implementation of the change. The General Counsel proposes that the remedy for the unfair labor practice include a return to the status quo ante. Balancing the nature and circumstances of the violation against the degree of disruption in government operations that would be caused by such a remedy, pursuant to Federal Correctional Institution, 8 FLRA 604 (1982), it is concluded that a status quo ante remedy is not appropriate. The impact experienced by the adversely affected employee on his personal commuting is slight whereas allowing GOVs to be parked at the Denver Federal Center instead of at the Sims Street duty station would, as demonstrated by the record, impair the efficiency and effectiveness of the Respondent's operations. Based on the foregoing findings and conclusions, it is recommended that the Authority issue the following Order: ORDER Pursuant to section 2423.29 of the Federal Labor Relations Authority's Rules and Regulations and section 7118 of the Statute, it is hereby ordered that the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Rocky Mountain District, Denver, Colorado, shall: 1. Cease and desist from: (a) Failing and refusing to give the National Council of Field Labor Locals, AFGE, Local 3416, AFL-CIO, the agent of the exclusive representative of its employees, prior notice of changes in the practice of permitting bargaining unit employees to park government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center, and an opportunity to bargain concerning the impact and implementation of such a change. (b) In any like or related manner interfering with, restraining or coercing its employees in the exercise of their rights assured by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. 2. Take the following affirmative action in order to effectuate the purposes and policies of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute: (a) Upon request, bargain with the National Council of Field Labor Locals, AFGE, Local 3416, AFL-CIO, concerning the impact and implementation of the change in the practice of permitting bargaining unit employees to park government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center. (b) Post at its facilities in Denver, Colorado copies of the attached Notice on forms to be furnished by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Upon receipt of such forms, they shall be signed by District Manager, and shall be posted and maintained for 60 consecutive days thereafter, in conspicuous places, including all bulletin boards and other places where notices to employees are customarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken to insure that such Notices are not altered, defaced, or covered by any other material. (c) Pursuant to section 2423.30 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, notify the Regional Director of the Denver Region, 1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 100, Denver, CO 80204 in writing, within 30 days from the date of this Order, as to what steps have been taken to comply herewith. Issued, Washington, DC, September 30, 1993 GARVIN LEE OLIVER Administrative Law Judge AS ORDERED BY THE FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY AND TO EFFECTUATE THE POLICIES OF THE FEDERAL SERVICE LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS STATUTE WE HEREBY NOTIFY OUR EMPLOYEES THAT: WE WILL NOT fail and refuse to give the National Council of Field Labor Locals, AFGE, Local 3416, AFL-CIO, the agent of the exclusive representative of our employees, prior notice of changes in the practice of permitting bargaining unit employees to park government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center, and an opportunity to bargain concerning the impact and implementation of such a change. WE WILL NOT In any like or related manner interfere with, restrain or coerce our employees in the exercise of their rights assured by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. WE WILL upon request, bargain with the National Council of Field Labor Locals, AFGE, Local 416, AFL-CIO, concerning the impact and implementation of the change in the practice of permitting bargaining unit employees to park government owned vehicles at the Denver Federal Center. (Activity) Date: ___________________________ By: ____________________________________________ (Signature) (Title) This Notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive days from the date of posting and must not be altered, defaced or covered by any other material. If employees have any questions concerning this Notice or compliance with any of its provisions, they may communicate directly with the Regional Director of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Denver Region, 1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 100, Denver CO 80204, and whose telephone number is: (303) 844-5224. 1. Mr. Breland, who came to the office as assistant manager in March 1991, testified that he learned that Simpson was parking his GOV at the Denver Federal Center when a request from Simpson, submitted through his supervisor, for overtime or compensatory time, was supported partly on the basis that the time was used to rotate his POV and GOV through the Denver Federal Center. (Tr. 60). Mr. Simpson denied that he had ever claimed overtime or compensatory time for travel between 730 Sims and the Denver Federal Center. (Tr. 42, 88). It is not necessary to resolve whether Simpson requested overtime or compensatory time. Although Mr. Breland contended that he did not previously know that GOVs were being parked at the Denver Federal Center, he acknowledged that supervisor De Herrera was aware of the option and "said it was not worth the hassle to him . . . [and] the others that he knew never thought it was worth their own personal time to be rotating their vehicles and never gave it much thought." (Tr. 75).
Cambridge O Level ISLAMIC STUDIES 2068/23 Paper 2 Development, Sources, Beliefs and Observances October/November 2022 MARK SCHEME Maximum Mark: 60 Published This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have considered the acceptability of alternative answers. Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for Teachers. Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes. Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the October/November 2022 series for most Cambridge IGCSE™, Cambridge International A and AS Level components and some Cambridge O Level components. Generic Marking Principles These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers. They should be applied alongside the specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these marking principles. GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1: Marks must be awarded in line with: * the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question * the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts. * the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2: Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions). GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3: Marks must be awarded positively: * marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit is given for valid answers which go beyond the scope of the syllabus and mark scheme, referring to your Team Leader as appropriate * marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do * marks are not deducted for errors * marks are not deducted for omissions * answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these features are specifically assessed by the question as indicated by the mark scheme. The meaning, however, should be unambiguous. GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4: Rules must be applied consistently, e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed instructions or in the application of generic level descriptors. GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5: Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question (however; the use of the full mark range may be limited according to the quality of the candidate responses seen). GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6: Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should not be awarded with grade thresholds or grade descriptors in mind. Generic levels of response marking grids for AO1 Knowledge and understanding The table should be used to mark the 10 mark part (b) questions for Sections A and B and the 12 mark part (a) questions for Section C. \| Level \| \| Marks \| \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| for \| \| for \| \| \| \| Sections \| \| Section \| \| \| \| A and B \| \| C \| \| 4 \| 8–10 \| \| 10–12 \| \| \| 3 \| 5–7 \| \| 7–9 \| \| \| 2 \| 3–4 \| \| 4–6 \| \| \| 1 \| 1–2 \| \| 1–3 \| \| Generic levels of response marking grids for AO2 Evaluation The table should be used to mark the 6 mark part (c) questions for Sections A and B and the 8 mark part (b) questions for Section C. \| Level \| \| Marks \| \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| for \| \| for \| \| \| \| Sections \| \| Section \| \| \| \| A and B \| \| C \| \| 4 \| 6 \| \| 7–8 \| \| \| 3 \| 4–5 \| \| 5–6 \| \| \| 2 \| 2–3 \| \| 3–4 \| \| \| 1 \| 1 \| \| 1–2 \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1(a) \| \| State four things Abu Bakr did when Muhammad (pbuh) died. Responses may include four the following and/or other relevant information: • Abu Bakr wept • He kissed the forehead of the Prophet (pbuh) • He advised the companions where to bury Muhammad (pbuh) when they were unsure • Abu Bakr calmed the people • He reminded Muslims that they worship God, not Muhammad (pbuh) • He discussed what to do with the Ansar and companions • Abu Bakr suggested that a leader from the Quraysh should to chosen, as this was Arab custom • He withheld his own name from being put forward • He proposed the names of ‘Umar and Abu Ubaidah • He accepted the role of leader when ‘Umar suggested it and others agreed One mark for each response. \| \| \| \| 1(b) \| \| Explain how Abu Bakr dealt with other states. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO1 Knowledge and understanding. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: Abu Bakr dealt with some states by sending armies to confront them and conquer. Thereby he expanded the territory held by the Caliphate. Areas taken included Oman, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Abu Bakr had sent young commander Usamah bin Zaid to Syria, despite the criticism of some Medinans, but he stuck by his decision and Usamah returned victorious, expanding the Caliphate in that direction. Abu Bakr had the intelligence to know that his two biggest enemies, the Byzantines and Persians, might attack the young Muslim Caliphate, so he decided to strike first. He took advantage of the fact that these two empires were weakened by years of battle. In 633 CE / 11 AH he sent raiding forces to capture towns in Iraq and Palestine. Abu Bakr inspired the forces to fight hard to keep the strength of the Muslims and keep the memory of Muhammad (pbuh) and his inspiration fresh in their minds. In order to deal with other states, Abu Bakr established military cantonments and a reserve force to strengthen the army. He instructed his armies to deal with the women and children in other states kindly. He told them not to damage crops or trees. Abu Bakr asked people to respect the rights of others including those of other religions such as priests, and as a result many looked on the Caliphate positively and were happy to accept Abu Bakr as their leader. This helped the Caliphate to expand. \| \| \| Cambridge O Level – Mark Scheme PUBLISHED \| Question \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 2(a) \| \| Briefly describe the events regarding the death of Umar. Responses may include four from the following and/or other relevant information: • Events took place in the year 644 CE / 23 AH • ‘Umar was killed by a Persian slave • Named Abu Lulu’ah • He held a grudge against ‘Umar • This may have been because of a disagreement about tax rates • ‘Umar was leading fajr prayers • In the mosque in Medina • The slave stabbed him 6 times • The slave then killed himself • ‘Umar was badly injured, and died some days later • He was buried alongside Abu Bakr and Muhammad (pbuh) in the House of ‘Ayesha One mark for each response. \| \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 2(b) \| \| Explain how ‘Uthman dealt with the problems he faced during his reign. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO1 Knowledge and understanding. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: ‘Uthman faced revolts and rebellions from parts of his Caliphate. It was difficult to control now that the Caliphate had grown larger and people were used to their own customs in outlying areas. Some people took advantage of ‘Uthman’s mild temperament and perceived softness compared to his predecessor, ‘Umar. ‘Uthman allowed Mu’awiyah to set up a navy to defeat the Byzantines, which helped solve the problem of threats from that corner. He sent ‘Abdullah ibn Zubayr and ‘Abdullah ibn Sa’ad to reconquer parts of North Africa which had rebelled. There, the army of Gregory the Patrician of Africa was defeated and Gregory was killed. This helped to establish ‘Uthman’s reputation. ‘Uthman also sent forces east to neutralise the threat of the Persians and expand the Empire further into Central Asia. The problem of officials being disloyal grew up. ‘Uthman attempted to address this by putting some of his relatives into positions of governorships as he believed he could trust them. ‘Uthman faced some people who were lax in their following of Islam. Others were accused of corruption. ‘Uthman aimed to give them a chance to mend their ways by giving them minor punishments in the hope they would take his mercy and become loyal to him. However, some people took advantage of this situation. Finally, ‘Uthman faced the problem of arguments between troops from different areas because they heard the Qur’an being recited in different ways. This was causing division. ‘Uthman addressed this problem by appointing Zayd ibn Thabit to check and produce an authoritative text and destroy all errant versions. \| \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 2(c) \| \| In your opinion, what was ‘Uthman’s greatest achievement? Give reasons to support your answer. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO2 Evaluation. In addressing AO2 Evaluation in this question candidates need to show that they have considered different approaches and support a clear judgment and/or give a reasoned answer. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: Candidates could choose any one of ‘Uthman’s achievements and explain reasons why they have identified that as the greatest. Candidates might choose the standardisation of the Qur’an as his greatest achievement. ‘Uthman completed the process of compiling a written Qur’an by asking Zayd ibn Thabit to check the mushaf from Hafsah. He ordered that all other versions be destroyed, and thanks to this Muslims today still read the same Qur’an, unchanged since the time of ‘Uthman. His bold move put a stop to divisions in the way it was being recited, and kept Muslims united around the word of God. On the other hand, it could be argued that ‘Uthman’s military expansion was his greatest achievement. He had the idea to build a naval fleet which enabled him to conquer Crete and Cyprus. He sent his armies into Egypt, Asia Minor and North Africa, where he expanded the Caliphate and encouraged many more people to accept Islam as their religion. Were it not for this, Islam might not have spread so far and wide as it did. \| \| 6 \| \| PUBLISHED \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 3(a) \| \| State four objects on which the Qur’an was written during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh). Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: • Parchments • Papyrus • Bones • Stones • Scapula bones • Leaf stalks • Date palm bark • Wood/tree trunks • Leathers/skins One mark for each response. \| \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 3(c) \| \| In your opinion, which stage of compiling the Qur’an was most significant? Give reasons to support your answer. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO2 Evaluation. In addressing AO2 Evaluation in this question candidates need to show that they have considered different approaches and support a clear judgment and/or give a reasoned answer. Candidates could choose any stage of the process of compilation and give reasons to justify their choice, or even define all stages as equally important. It could be argued that the collection of fragments by Zayd and ‘Umar was the most significant part of the process. These fragments came from scribes during the life of the Prophet (pbuh) and provided primary source material. This was a first step which was then taken to check with witnesses. As an important first step, it could be argued that this was the most significant stage in the compilation process. A different perspective is that the checking and verification process could be considered the most significant stage. This ensured that the written Qur’an stayed true to the memorised Qur’an retained in the minds of the Huffaz reciters. It gave Muslims confidence that the written version was true to the original. Or it could be argued that the final stage under ‘Uthman was the most significant stage. This produced an authorised version which remains unchanged today. Without this stage there could still be different versions in existence, leading to disunity amongst Muslims. ‘Uthman ensured Muslims united around a single, authoritative text. \| \| 6 \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4(a) \| \| Identify two different types of prophet and give an example of each. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: • A prophet who is a Messenger (rasul) receives a holy book from God • Examples include Muhammad (pbuh), Isa (AS), Musa (AS) and Dawud (AS) • Other prophets (nabiyy) bring guidance to their people • There are 124 000 prophets including Adam (AS), Yusuf (AS), Idris (AS), Nuh/Noah (AS), Lut (Lot) and Ismail (AS) One mark for each response. \| \| \| \| 4(b) \| \| Choose two prophets and describe the ways they warned their people. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO1 Knowledge and understanding. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: Candidates can choose any two prophets. Those mentioned in the syllabus include Musa (AS), Isa (AS) and Muhammad (pbuh). Musa (AS) warned the Egyptians, led by Pharaoh, of their immorality and taught them to turn away from idols and worship the one true God. He showed them proof through miracles, particularly the encounter with the magicians at Pharaoh’s court, in which Musa (AS) threw down his staff and it became a snake and ate up those of the magicians. This was a sign of the power of the one, true God and a warning to Pharaoh. God supported Musa (AS) by sending warnings in the form of plagues, droughts and turning water into blood, but the Egyptians still did not turn from their ways. Isa (AS) debated and argued with the high priests of the Temple in Jerusalem about religion. He warned against materialism, and the taking of money for religious advice. He taught people to worship only one God, and that they were misinterpreting the Law of Moses. He warned that people were being misled and did not need the high priests to interpret for them. Isa (AS) warned against hypocrisy, showing off and gaining false praise. People should focus on the hereafter, not accumulating wealth in this world. Muhammad (pbuh) warned the idol worshippers of Mecca to turn away from false statues and worship the one, unseen God. He told his family who rebuked him, then preached in the marketplaces of Mecca. An important part of his message was a warning: that God will judge everyone in the afterlife and send some to eternal life in paradise; others to the fire of hell. This warning was intended to turn people away from wrongdoing but it was rejected by many at the beginning of his prophethood, as they would not change their ways. Later, many heeded his warnings and accepted Islam. \| \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4(c) \| \| Discuss the lessons Muslims today could learn from the warnings given by prophets. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO2 Evaluation. In addressing AO2 Evaluation in this question candidates need to show that they have considered different approaches and support a clear judgment and/or give a reasoned answer. Candidates might refer to the general warnings given to turn away from idols and worship the one true God. It is all too easy in the modern world to focus on material things and make them a focus of all that a person does in life, in effect like an idol. The warnings of Isa (AS) against materialism could be applied here, as well as the teachings of Muhammad (pbuh) to focus on life in the hereafter, and God’s judgment, in preference to accumulating wealth in this world. Muslims might focus on the warning that they will all face judgment in the future, from which there is no escape. Every deed will be weighed up, so they should be warned that bad deeds, such as telling a lie, neglecting someone in need or being neglectful of their prayers might have consequences in the afterlife. This warning might help those who have forgotten some of the demands of Islam focus on the straight path. \| \| 6 \| \| \| Question \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Question \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\| Cambridge O Level – Mark Scheme PUBLISHED \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 6(a) \| \| Describe the relationship between the belief in one God (tawhid) and the statement of Shahada. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO1 Knowledge and understanding. Responses may include the following and/or other relevant information: Tawhid is the first Article of Faith, one of the main beliefs of Muslims. It is the belief in one God without any partners. God is unseen and cannot be represented by any object, idol or image. Nothing can be associated with God: God does not have any sons or partners. This strong belief in the oneness of God is central to all beliefs held by Muslims. The Shahada is the first Pillar of Islam within the Five Pillars which Muslims practice. It means to witness, and it is said aloud in front of witnesses when a person accepts Islam as their religion. It is also said daily during the five daily prayers. A Muslim state that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (pbuh) is the Messenger of God. The article of faith in tawhid is, then, closely linked to the practice of saying the Shahada. When a Muslim state the Shahada, the one God comes to mind and doubt is driven away. Saying the Shahada proves to others that a Muslim accepts the oneness of God. It gives a Muslim strength. By saying it five times a day, a Muslim may develop God-consciousness (taqwah). This means that they think about God, and God’s guidance for what they should do, throughout the day and at all times in their life. A Muslim may say the Shahada at other times, such as if they fear something, or they fear they might be approaching the moment of death. This links to Muslim beliefs because Muslims believe that God wills everything in their lives and that God will judge them after death in the afterlife. So, by saying the Shahada Muslims are submitting to the will of God and recognising that everything comes from God. \| \| \| \| \| Question \| \| Answer \| Marks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 6(b) \| \| Discuss the significance of declaring the Shahada when choosing to become a Muslim. Mark according to levels of response descriptors for AO2 Evaluation. In addressing AO2 Evaluation in this question candidates need to show that they have considered different approaches and support a clear judgment and/or give a reasoned answer. Adults who learn about Islam and come to understand and accept the beliefs of Islam, may choose to join the religion. This may be referred to as converting, or reverting, or simply embracing Islam. It is important that the person freely chooses Islam and is not forced under duress. Before accepting Islam, they should learn the words of the Shahada, and what they mean, because this is the basic statement of faith which they must accept and profess if they are to become a Muslim. To become a Muslim, someone must not only accept the Shahada but declare it in front of witnesses. This ceremony is rather like when a Muslim baby is introduced to the faith and includes reading the adhan in the ear. It is like the adult has been reborn in Islam. The public declaration of the Shahada enables other Muslims to see and support the new member of their faith. People may welcome the new Muslim and teach him or her about their faith. Some may share sweet rice and invite him or her to events in the community, so they feel they are a full member of the ummah, the worldwide family of Muslims, and can gain support from it. \| \| \|
Bill Elliott Racing Proudly Announces 2010 Contingency Sponsors As Bill Elliott Racing (BER) prepares to officially kick off the 2010 season with scheduled races in ARCA, CRA, PASS, ASA Challenge, Show Me The Money, Miller Lite, Blizzard series and Gulf Coast Championship events, the team is proud to announce their line-up of product and service sponsors. "We are pleased to be associated with such outstanding organizations. Each and every one of these companies has worked diligently to enhance their products' performance, knowing that every aspect of a race car attributes to the overall success of the team," said team owner, Bill Elliott. "We are proud to promote these organizations at all of our team's racing events throughout the 2010 season and thank each and every one of them for their support of our Driver Development Team Members. The BER team will represent these sponsors with integrity and family values. We are confident that this will be a 'winning' partnership for everyone." Alpinestars: One Goal. One Vision. Alpinestars is a world leading manufacturer of professional racing products, high-performance apparel, technical footwear and clothing. From F1 to CART, the World Rally Championship, NASCAR and Sportscars, Alpinestars works with the top drivers to bring design innovations to all aspects of professional auto racing. For more information, visit www.alpinestars.com. Aluminum Racing Products, located in Greenbriar, Tenn., is a leading manufacturer of fiberglass composite ABC Late Model and Truck Bodies. With ARP's commitment to quality products and excellence in service and shipping, they are the "right fit" for racers nationwide. For more information on the complete line of ARP bodies and mounting accessories, contact Brad Cook or Josh Adams at 888-245-1468. For more information, visit www.arbodies.com. Barnes Distribution, a business unit of Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B), has grown to be one of the largest industrial distributors and is an industry leader in the distribution of maintenance, repair, operating and production (MROP) supplies, security products and springs. Our highly recognized brand names include Bowman Distribution®, Curtis Industries ®, Kar Products®, Mechanics Choice®, Raymond®, Motalink® and Autoliaisons®. From distribution centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Barnes Distribution serves over 100,000 customers. For more information, visit www.barnesdistribution.com. At Billet Performance Karting, we build championship-winning racing karts and supply teams with everything they need to reach the winners' circle! Our 1,300-square-foot shop is stocked with everything you need to go racing, and if you want something we don't have in stock, we'll order it for you. Our complete machine shop means we can do work in-house. Our DynoJet chassis dyno will help squeeze every bit of speed from your kart. And with over 25 years of experience, owner Barry Lewis has the answers you need. Chase Elliott got his start in racing and won his first championship while working with Barry Lewis and the Billet Performance Karting team in the Colorado Sprint Championship Series in 2006 and 2007. For more information, please visit www.billetperformancekarting.com. Spare parts from Bosch impress by their quality, reliability and innovative technology. They only go into serial production once they meet our very stringent requirements. With state of the art lights and brake systems, batteries with extremely long lives, wiper blades, starters and air filters that let six times less pollutants into the interior of your car, Bosch provides high quality spare parts that make driving safer, more comfortable and more eco-friendly. Naturally, Bosch spare parts are available for almost all vehicle types in ex-works quality. That means: Spare parts from Bosch have the same first class quality as those fitted in your car by the manufacturer. For more information, visit www.bosch.com. Circle Racing Wheels has always been known for building a superior product, and this relentless adherence to strict design and quality control standards has made Circle the brand that racers can rely on. In 2005, CRW moved its operation to Fresno CA to join forces with long established wheel manufacturer, Wheel Vintiques. Under the leadership of Mike Stallings, Wheel Vintiques has grown to become one the most highly regarded wheel manufacturers in the country. Mike Stallings has been involved in racing since childhood. Today, he campaigns both a 360 and 410 winged Sprint Car at local central California tracks, and occasionally runs with the big boys on the World of Outlaws tour. However, the realities of running a business have limited his participation to mostly local events…where he has enjoyed modest success. From a manufacturing standpoint, Mike's participation is no doubt a "best of both worlds" situation, as it gives Stallings direct contact with racers and actual hands-on experience with the company's products – plus he has the flexibility to promptly transfer this input to Circle's design, engineering and manufacturing operations. Under the roof of the 43,000 square foot, state of the art facility, CRW builds the most competitive racing wheels on the market today. CRW employees and production management are all dedicated individuals who each take personal pride in producing the hundreds of high quality race wheels that we turn out daily. We look forward to serving you, and providing you with the best wheel values on the market. Our goal is to earn your business and provide you with the highest level of service. For more information, visit www.circleracing.com. FLUIDYNE High Performance is located in the heart of Race City USA, Mooresville, North Carolina. Since 1993, FLUIDLYNE has produced and sold oil coolers and custom radiators for High Performance Race Cars ranging from grassroots racers to World Rally cars and from Legends cars to Sprint Cup cars where FLUIDLYNE was the Official Oil Cooler of NASCAR for many years. Product applications range from exotic Street Rods to rugged Monster Trucks and from 700hp Muscle Cars to 4cycle Quads and Motorcycles. Our customers have proven FLUIDLYNE's superior performance in championships won on everything from dirt tracks to the salt flats and from the Gumball Rally to the Baja 1000. At FLUIDLYNE High Performance, we take pride in achieving one simple goal: Making products that perform … built by people who care! Over the past twelve years, The Decal Source has taken service to a whole new level in the racing graphics industry. Our emphasis on premium quality and fast personalized service has established us as a valued partner to many of auto racing's most successful teams. From short tracks to super speedways, no job is too big or too small. "We Make It Happen" for champions from all aspects of racing. TDS designs and graphics have adorned the cars and trucks of NASCAR Sprint Cup Champions, Nationwide Champions, Camping World Truck Champions, World of Outlaw and NHRA Champions. Visit www.TDSWraps.com for services we can make happen for you. Challenges are what we do best. Hedman Hedders began as a one man shop in 1954. Bob Hedman, founder of Hedman Hedders, sold his highly sought after exhaust tubes to fellow racers on the salt flats of the Mojave Desert. But, what started out as a way to make a few bucks to pay for Bob's racing hobby, quickly turned into the premier hedder manufacturer for both the racing and street hedder marketplaces. Originally designed for straightline drag racers, word spread quickly about Hedman's reputation for building hedders that gave you the best boost in power for your dollar. It wasn't long before Hedman Hedders was the brand of choice among racing's elite engine builders, racers and race series. Familiar names like Don Garlits, Warren Johnson, Shirley Muldowney, Bob Chandler and his BIG FOOT Race Team, and the IROC series. Hedman Hedders constantly reshapes itself to meet environmental requirements and incorporates computer technology to ensure that its products offer the best performance improvement. Whether you're a Pro or sportsman racer, Hedman Hedders builds your hedder with one goal in mind, optimum performance. Even if you're not a racer, the lessons Hedman learns at the track and on the dyno, make it into every street hedder we design. For more information, please visit www.hedman.com. The Lincoln Electric Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, fume extraction equipment and plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. The company holds a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. Lincoln Electric and NASCAR announced a five-year extension of their agreement in which Lincoln Electric remains an exclusive automotive partner under the NASCAR Performance brand and retains its competition contingency sponsorship which includes the Sprint Cup Series in 2009. Lincoln Electric became the exclusive NASCAR Performance sponsor of welders and welding helmets in 2000 and held contingency award programs in the Nationwide Series, Truck Series, Canadian Tire Series and the Whelen All-American Series. For more information, please visit www.lincolnelectric.com. Winning isn't easy. It takes teamwork, sweat and making split-second decisions in the pits. But that's only part of it. You can't get there without having the right tools on hand. 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Penske Racing Shocks are available direct from the manufacturer or through many dealers worldwide. Visit them on the web at www.penskeshocks.com. Racing champions know Performance Friction brakes. Hundreds of races and more than 1,500 championships have been won on Performance Friction Carbon Metallic® pads, ranging from NASCAR Sprint Cup to IndyCar to the Australian Porsche Cup. Last year alone, over 120 racing champions all over the world drover to victory on Performance Friction brakes. Performance Friction brake pads and rotors are 100 percent American made in our Clover, South Carolina, production plant. With world-class manufacturing processes in place, our 200,000 square foot facility supplies brake pads and rotors for domestic and international markets, major automotive retailers including Auto Zone and Pep Boys, and thousands of brake installers through our local distributor networks. For more information, please visit www.performancefriction.com. 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Look around at any major racing event and you'll see Racing Electronics everywhere…helping our loyal customers…professional and amateur, racer or race fan. Racing Electronics…See us at the track! For more information, visit www.racingelectronics.com. HMS Motorsport is the exclusive importer and distributor for SCHROTH Racing Harnessbelts. They provide SCHROTH belts directly to more than 65% of the Sprint Cup and IRL Professional Drivers. SCHROTH cam lock belts are manufactured in Germany. SCHROTH Latch Link belts are manufactured at the HMS facility using German webbing, adjusters, and US supplied latch & link hardware. Both types of belts are available with either SFI 16.1 or SFI 16.5 certifications. All SCHROTH harnessbelts are made with Polyester webbing milled to a unique patented design developed by Carl Schroth. HMS can customize any belt to specific lengths and or combination of left side, right side, pull-up or pull-down lap adjusters. 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Interested parties should contact Cindy Elliott at Bill Elliott Racing, 706-265-3030 email@example.com . For more information the Bill Elliott Racing team, please visit www.BillElliott.com, www.chaseelliott.com , and www.billelliottracing.com About Bill Elliott Racing: In 2008, NASCAR legend Bill Elliott launched a Driver Development program as an extension of Bill Elliott Racing. Based on the principles of teamwork, strong work ethic and positive attitudes, the program aims to guide young drivers through the highs and lows of life in auto racing and to make them leaders on and off the track. Please visit www.BillElliott.com for more information on the Bill Elliott Racing team. ###
Beaches of Jamaica: Access and Rights The Editor, Sir: We write in response to two articles appearing in the Gleaner over the past week under the byline of Professor Carolyn Cooper – No Beach for Local Tourist, and Ms Diana McCauley – The problem of beach exclusion. Both articles highlighted a real resource management challenge Jamaica has faced over the past 50 years, wherein access to, and use of a seemingly common and freely available natural resource the beach, is increasingly being denied to a wide number of Jamaicans. It is unquestionable that the beaches are of great value to Jamaica in social, environmental and economic terms. The country's beaches are also world renowned. The enjoyment of the beach and beach facilities must be an integral part of the life of the citizens of Jamaica. The coastline of Jamaica is approximately 795 km (494 miles) long, with approximately 30% (238.5 km) being characterized as sandy beach. In recent years there has been significant development of Jamaica's coastal areas related to the tourism industry. Discussions surrounding the issues of public access to beaches are usually focused on the sense of exclusion from some beaches particularly beaches associated with hotels. The hotel beaches are also purportedly the better beaches, and in this regard, it is also felt that there are not enough operational public beaches available as an alternative. Rights of access to the foreshore, the floor of the sea and beaches in Jamaica In Jamaica there is no statute that conveys any general rights over the foreshore or the floor of the sea save and except those provisions contained in the Beach Control Act, 1956. The Legal Definition of a Beach is the Foreshore and Floor of the Sea. These are defined as follows: The foreshore is "that portion of land adjacent to the sea that lies between the ordinary high water and low water marks, being alternately covered and uncovered as the tide ebbs and flows." The floor of the sea is: "the soil and subsoil off the coast of the Island between low water mark and the outer limits of the territorial sea of the Island and shall be deemed to include the water column and superadjacent to the floor of the sea and the natural resources therein and the Exclusive Economic Zone." Ownership of the foreshore is vested in the Crown except where rights are acquired under or by virtue of the Registration of Titles Act or any express grant or licence from the Crown subsisting immediately before 1956. The portion of the beach above the foreshore may be private or public property. The Beach Control Act did not seek to convey general rights to the public to gain access to and use the foreshore or the floor of the sea. Section 3 vests ownership in the Crown and declares that no person shall be deemed to have any rights in or over the foreshore or the floor of the sea except such rights acquired under the Act. These rights include any rights enjoyed by fishermen engaged in fishing as a trade, where such rights existed immediately before the 1 st June 1956. Rights of fishing and bathing may however be acquired by custom, that is, Prescriptive Rights, and such customary rights are addressed in Section 14 of the Beach Control Act and Sections 4 and 9 of the Prescription Act, 1882. In common law, the public has no general rights of access to the foreshore or the floor of the sea or to beaches. There are no general common law rights over the foreshore except to pass over it for the purpose of navigation or fishing. Privileges to bathe may be enjoyed within a licensed beach subject to the rights of the licensee. These beaches are subject to the Beach Control (Hotel, Commercial and Public Recreational Beaches) Regulations 1978 and the Beach Control (Licensing) Regulations, 1956. Beach Access in Caribbean Islands Rights and entitlements to the beach and the extent of land holdings along the coast are expressively different in former French and British territories. In St. Lucia which has a French colonial history, the land adjacent to the beach forms the "Queen's Chain" and is owned by the government. As a general policy, land within the Chain cannot be purchased, only leased. Haiti, which also had a French colonial past, has a similar pattern of coastal land ownership as St. Lucia, where no private interest can own land within 16 m of high water mark. In many of the islands once under British control as is the case in Jamaica, private ownership of coastal lands extends to the high water mark. In cases of coastline change, and unless there is specific legislation, British Common Law provides for a seaward or landward change in the property boundary only if the change is of a gradual nature. A sudden change of the property boundary, such as due to reclamation or a new sea defence structure does not change the boundary. In Barbados, the beach is considered public property, since the foreshore is public land. The ownership of the area of beach land between the high water mark and a structure such as a property fence or a building is often unstated. This area however is typically viewed as public land and therefore available for the use and enjoyment of the public at large. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, owners of beachfront lands must ensure that there is a public access to the beach. Permanent structures must be at least 12m from the high water mark, and permits are required from the Physical Planning and Development Board. Availability of public access beaches It is acknowledged that more of the island's coastline and beach areas need to be accessible and available for public use and recreation. In fact Section 12 of the Beach Control Act provides that "the Authority shall from time to time determine the needs and requirements of the public in relation to the use of any portion of land, … the foreshore for or in connection with bathing or any other form of lawful recreation…" Most of the public bathing beaches were established through the work of the Beach Control Authority starting from the mid-1950's through acquisition of lands, reservation of beach lots in sub-divisions, negotiations with landowners and access gained by prescriptive rights. Unfortunately, over the years a significant number of these properties due to limited public funding, have been left unattended, facilities have become derelict, some taken over by squatters and some affected by coastal erosion. A number of government agencies are in possession of these properties – traditionally referred to as public beaches. These agencies include the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA)/National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Commissioner of Lands (COL), Parish Councils, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), the Tourism Product Development Company and the Fisheries Division. Public beaches span the coast however most of these properties are located along the north coast adjacent to the major highway. On the south coast, these beaches are often a good distance away from the major highway. On average, public beaches/access points are located approximately five miles apart. The insert Map and Table provides an appreciation of the distribution and location of these properties across all parishes. In the case of St. Ann – the Parish visited by Professor Carolyn Cooper on New Year's Day, there are eight (8) such beach properties/beach access points. Four of these properties are operational and are licenced by the NRCA. Two of these properties are presently being upgraded (see Table). As mentioned before, one of the challenges faced is the maintenance cost to operate the facilities. In the past, successive governments have endeavored to pursue a free access policy, however with limited public funding these properties have by and large, succumbed to neglect. It is in this regard that Cabinet in October 2014 by way of Cabinet Decision #39/14 agreed to the charge of a nominal entrance fee to these beaches to support maintenance and development activities. It is acknowledged that the number of public access points/beach areas along the coast must be increased. However as a priority, the existing beach properties in disrepair will need to be rehabilitated to the standard of a safe bathing beach, scenic vista and or seaside park as is suitable. Another category of beaches available to the public are those privately owned properties that provide access to the public at a charge. These include for example, James Bond and Bamboo/Reggae Beaches – St Mary; Waves Beach – Hillshire, St Catherine; Shan Shay, Frenchman's, and San San Beaches in Portland. These are licensed by the NRCA as commercial recreational beaches. Policies on beach access The main policy instrument for the management of beaches is the Beach Control Act, administered by the Beach Control Authority (now the Natural Resources Conservation Authority). As referenced by Ms McCauley, the enactment of the Beach Control Act in 1956 was itself a recommendation from a Commission of Inquiry set up in 1954 because of public agitation that fishermen were being "squeezed out" of beaches and the public could not find places to go. It was decided to develop comprehensive legislation to deal with the problem. The objective of the Beach Control Act is to regulate the use and development of the shoreline and the floor of the sea. Jamaica's coastal policy as set out in parish Development Orders clearly recognizes the value of recreation and aesthetic areas and the importance of preserving access to the coast. The most recent Development Orders prepared by the Town and Country Planning Authority have included policies on public access to the beach. For example Policy CD 3 of the Town and Country Planning (Negril and Green Island Area) Confirmed Development Order, 2015 states "The local planning authority will not grant permission for any development on land adjacent to the line of high water mark which would preclude general public access to and along the foreshore". Policy SP C13 of the Town and Country Planning (Trelawny Parish) Confirmed Development Order, 2015 states "that the beaches listed in the Appendix will be preserved for the purposes identified and no permission will be given for any development or activity that will conflict with their use in any way." Strategy to increase access The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation has completed work on a Beach Access and Management Policy which outlines a clear framework for the sustainable management of our beaches, with special emphasis on the important issue of public access. It is expected that the this Policy will be presented to Cabinet for approval as a Green Paper, together with further details of and updates on public bathing beaches early in 2017. One of the key elements of the draft Beach Access and Management Policy is the development of the beach access programme which will: - Identify, re-open (where necessary) and preserve existing access ways; - Monitor the provision of access to the beach at new coastal zone development; - Plan Government acquisition of land for access ways; - Negotiate easements to provide access to the foreshore in existing developments; - Designate access points to the foreshore, taking into account safety considerations and the need for access by disabled persons, where possible; and - Address the provision of adequate parking where appropriate The draft Policy also recommends amendment of the Beach Control Act to define the term "beach" and to give the public the right to passage along the foreshore and to bathe in the sea subject to the rights of licence holders and private property owners. Importantly, the draft Beach Access and Management Policy speaks to the development of a Beach Management Programme for the development and rehabilitation of public beaches. The Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment through its Tourism Enhancement Fund has initiated an island wide Beach Development Programme for public beaches. The programme has over the last eighteen (18) months resulted in the rehabilitation of the Lyssons – St Thomas, Boston – Portland, Burwood – Trelawny and Annatto Bay – St Mary beaches. It is expected that the rollout of these initiatives will improved access by Jamaicans to our coast and beaches. We are, etc. National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) World Famous Boston Beach – Portland. Public access beach owned by the NRCA. Recently rehabilitated with funding from the Tourism The location of all designated public beaches across the Island. Most public beaches are located along the North Coast Table: Location of Public Beaches \| Name Of Beach \| \| \| Owner/Agency In \| Status \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| Possession \| \| \| \| Westmoreland (6) \| \| \| \| \| Whitehouse \| \| Ministry of Housing \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Bluefields Beach Park \| \| UDC \| \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Old Fort (Fort) \| \| Westmoreland P.C. \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Little Bay \| \| Reserved in subdivision. \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Norman Manley Beach Park \| \| COL/Negril Area Land Authority \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Long Bay Beach Park 1 and 2 \| \| UDC \| \| Beach and facilities operational (upgrade underway) \| \| \| Hanover (6) \| \| \| \| \| Bloody Bay \| \| UDC \| \| \| \| Lances Bay \| \| Hanover P.C. \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Bulls Bay \| \| Hanover P.C. \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Watson Taylor Park \| \| Hanover P.C. \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Tryall \| \| BCA/NRCA \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Orchard \| \| \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| \| St. James (7) \| \| \| \| \| Walter Fletcher \| \| UDC/ Aqua Sol Theme Park \| \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Doctors Cave \| \| Doctors Cave Bathing Beach Club \| \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Cornwall \| \| \| \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Sunset \| \| St. James P.C. \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Coral Gardens \| \| Reserved in subdivision \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Greenwood \| \| St. James P.C. \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Barnett Hall \| \| BCA/NRCA \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| \| Trelawny (7) \| \| \| \| \| Flamingo \| \| Reserved in sub. \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Half Moon Bay \| \| BCA/NRCA \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Victoria Park \| \| COL. \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Burwood \| \| Trelawny P.C \| \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Silver Sands/ Jacob Taylor \| \| BCA/NRCA \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Rio Bueno \| \| BCA /NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| St. Ann (8) \| \| \| \| Puerto Seco \| \| Jamaica Bauxite Mine Limited \| Beach upgrade underway \| \| Cardiff Hall (Flavours) \| \| St. Ann P.C. \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Salem (Sharkies) \| \| BCA /NRCA \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Priory \| \| St. Ann P.C. \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Roxborough \| \| St. Ann P.C. \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Dunn’s River \| \| UDC/St. Ann Dev. Company \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Sailors Hole \| \| UDC \| Beach upgrade underway \| \| Turtle Beach \| \| UDC \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| \| St. Mary (5) \| \| \| \| Rio Nuevo \| \| BCA/NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Murdock \| \| St. Mary P.C. \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Pagee \| \| COL \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Frontier \| \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Annotto Bay \| \| St. Mary P.C. \| Beach upgrade underway \| \| \| Portland (17) \| \| \| \| Orange Bay \| \| BCA/NRCA \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Rodney Hall \| \| Reserved in Subdivision \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Hope Bay \| \| BCA/NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Hermitage \| \| Reserved in Subdivision \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Wydah \| \| Reserved in Subdivision \| Beach/coast access point \| \| St.Margaret’s Bay \| \| BCA /NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Folly \| \| COL \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Drapers \| \| Reserved in subdivision \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Blue Hole (San- San) \| \| Cold Harbour Limited \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Winifred’s Rest \| \| UDC \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Boston \| \| BCA /NRCA \| Beach and facilities operational \| \| Bryans Bay \| \| \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Long Bay \| \| \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Innis Bay \| \| COL \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Buff Bay \| \| BCA/NRCA \| Beach/coast access point \| \| Spring Gardens \| \| BC.A/NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| \| Manchioneal \| \| BCA/NRCA \| Beach/coast access point \| \| \| St. Thomas (6) \| \| \| \| Prospect \| \| Reserved in Subdivision \| \| \| Retreat \| \| BCA/ NRCA \| Beach and facilities require rehabilitation \| 9 9
GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OFFICE OF POLICE COMPLAINTS FINDINGS OF FACT AND MERITS DETERMINATION Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 5-1107(a), the Office of Police Complaints (OPC), formerly the Office of Citizen Complaint Review (OCCR), has the authority to adjudicate citizen complaints against members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) that allege abuse or misuse of police powers by such members, as provided by that section. This complaint was timely filed in the proper form as required by § 5-1107, and the complaint has been referred to this Complaint Examiner to determine the merits of the complaint as provided by § 5-1111(e). I. SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT ALLEGATIONS The COMPLAINANT filed a complaint with the Office of Police Complaints (OPC), formerly the Office of Citizen Complaint Review (OCCR), on September 17, 2002. COMPLAINANT alleged that on August 29, 2002, two subject officers, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) SUBJECT OFFICER #1, Third District, and SUBJECT OFFICER #2, Third District, harassed her. COMPLAINANT further alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 also used language or engaged in conduct toward her that was insulting, demeaning, or humiliating. Specifically, COMPLAINANT said that while she was standing in an alley behind 1429 Clifton Street, N.W., waiting for her car to be repaired, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 and SUBJECT OFFICER #2 stopped their police cruiser nearby. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 approached COMPLAINANT, "like he was going to then shoot [her] or hurt [her]." Complainant alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 made her show him what she had in her pockets, which was white tissue paper. COMPLAINANT alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 told her to "take what [she] had out of [her] pockets and acting like [she] had stolen something or [had] crack cocaine in [her] pockets." The complainant also alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 "continued to tell [her] to shut up and treated [her] like [she] was not a citizen or human." SUBJECT OFFICER #1 took the complainant's license and ran a check for warrants in his patrol car while SUBJECT OFFICER #2 stayed with the complainant. II. EVIDENTIARY HEARING No evidentiary hearing was conducted regarding this complaint because, based on a review of OPC's Report of Investigation, the Complaint Examiner determined that the Report of Investigation presented no genuine issues of material fact in dispute that required a hearing. See D.C. Mun. Regs., Title 6A, § 2116.3. III. FINDINGS OF FACT Based on a review of OPC's Report of Investigation and the objections submitted by SUBJECT OFFICER #1 on April 25, 2005, the Complaint Examiner finds the material facts regarding this complaint to be: 1. On August 29, 2002, at approximately 12:40 p.m., COMPLAINANT was standing in an alley behind 1429 Clifton Street, N.W., waiting for her car to be repaired. 2. On August 29, 2002, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) SUBJECT OFFICER #1, was training SUBJECT OFFICER #2, as they patrolled the area of 1429 Clifton Street, N.W. 3. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 and SUBJECT OFFICER #2 saw COMPLAINANT standing in the alley. They then got out of their police cruiser and approached COMPLAINANT. 4. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 asked COMPLAINANT what she was doing in standing in the alley. COMPLAINANT told him she was having work done on her car in one of the garages in the alley. 5. COMPLAINANT was holding a tissue in her hand and SUBJECT OFFICER #1 told her to unroll the tissue. 6. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 then asked COMPLAINANT what she had in her pocket. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 told the complainant to remove the items from her pocket. 7. COMPLAINANT removed several tissues from her pocket, which SUBJECT OFFICER #1 then ordered her to unroll. COMPLAINANT unrolled each tissue and showed the officers there was nothing inside of them. 8. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 then asked COMPLAINANT for her identification. COMPLAINANT told SUBJECT OFFICER #1 that her driver's license was in her car and that the car was being worked on at a garage, which was further down the alley. She was told to get her license. 9. COMPLAINANT walked toward the garage to her car and the officers followed her to the garage. 10. COMPLAINANT got her license from the car and gave it to one of the officers. 11. Once SUBJECT OFFICER #1 was in possession of the license, he walked back to his patrol car and checked COMPLAINANT's name for warrants while SUBJECT OFFICER #2 waited with COMPLAINANT. The computer did not return any warrants issued in the complainant's name. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 walked toward the complainant to return her license. 12. When SUBJECT OFFICER #1 returned, COMPLAINANT saw WITNESS #1, a candidate for a seat on the District of Columbia Council, across the street. COMPLAINANT called out to her to get her attention. 13. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 then gave COMPLAINANT back her license, and both officers returned to their police car and departed the scene. IV. DISCUSSION Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 5-1107(a): "The Office [of Police Complaints] shall have the authority to receive and to … adjudicate a citizen complaint against a member or members of the MPD … that alleges abuse or misuse of police powers by such member or members, including: (1) harassment; (2) use of unnecessary or excessive force; (3) use of language or conduct that is insulting, demeaning, or humiliating; (4) discriminatory treatment based upon a person's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, family responsibilities, physical handicap, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business; or (5) retaliation against a person for filing a complaint pursuant to [the Act]." Harassment, as defined by MPD Special Order 01-01, Part III, Section G, includes "acts that are intended to bother, annoy, or otherwise interfere with a citizen's ability to go about lawful business normally, in the absence of a specific law enforcement purpose." 1 Language or conduct that is insulting, humiliating, or demeaning, as defined by MPD Special Order 01-01, Part III, Section H "includes, but is not limited to acts, words, phrases, slang, slurs, epithets, 'street' talk or other language which would be likely to demean the person to whom it is directed or to offend a citizen overhearing the language; demeaning language includes language of such kind that its use by a member tends to create disrespect for law enforcement whether or not it is directed at a specific individual." 1 The Police Complaints Board, formerly the Citizen Complaint Review Board, which is OPC's governing body, promulgated regulations regarding OPC on August 30, 2002. See 49 D.C. Reg. 8347. This Merits Determination does not rely on the definition of "harassment" contained in the regulations because the underlying conduct alleged in the complaint occurred before the regulations took effect on August 30, 2002. MPD General Order 201.26, Part I, Section C provides that "[a]ll members of the department shall be courteous and orderly in their dealings with the public. They shall perform their duties quietly, remaining calm regardless of provocation to do otherwise." MPD General Order 304.10 governs police-citizen contacts, stops and frisks. Under this general order, a police officer has the authority to conduct a "stop" of a citizen when the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe the citizen is involved in criminal activity. The general order defines a stop as "the temporary detention of a person for the purpose of determining whether probable cause exists to arrest that person." The general order further states, "A stop occurs whenever an officer uses his/her authority to compel a person to halt, remain in a certain place, or to perform some act (such as walking to a nearby location where the officer can use a radio or telephone." The general order provides the basis for a stop to be when an officer "reasonably suspects that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit any crime." (Emphasis in original). The general order also requires the officer to provide justification for the stop. It states, "Every officer conducting a stop must be prepared to cite the particular factors which supported the determination that 'reasonable suspicion' was present. The record of the stop (P.D. Form 251 or P.D. Form 76) shall contain all factors relied on, whether or not they are specifically described in part IB2." Section IB2 provides factors that an officer may consider when making a determination that they have reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop. A police officer can also have a "contact" with a citizen. A contact is defined by MPD General Order 304.10 as a "face-to-face communication with an individual citizen under circumstances in which the citizen is free not to respond, and to leave." The general order states that "contacts may be initiated by an officer when he/she reasonably believes that some investigatory inquiry into a situation is warranted." However, a contact requires the "voluntary cooperativeness of a citizen who is free not to respond and to leave." Additionally, the general order states that "[p]ersons 'contacted' may not be detained in any manner against their will, nor frisked. They may not be required to answer the officer's questions or to respond in any way to the officer if they choose not to do so. The officer may not use force or coercion to require citizens to stop or to respond. Officers must constantly keep in mind that the distinction between a 'contact' and a 'stop' … depends in large part on whether under the particular circumstances a citizen could reasonably perceive that he/she is not free to leave the officer's presence. Therefore, since the individual may [leave], and is presumed to be innocent of wrongdoing of any kind, officers shall take special care to act in as a restrained and courteous manner as possible. Officers should avoid gruffness, short responses which could be misunderstood or requests that sound as commands. All verbal requests during the 'contact' should be phrased with optional words such as 'may,' 'would you mind,' or words of similar import." (Emphasis in original). Based on the guidance provided in MPD General Order 304.10, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 and SUBJECT OFFICER #2 conducted a stop of COMPLAINANT. For the interaction between the officers and the complainant to be a contact, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 would have had to make it clear to COMPLAINANT that her cooperation was voluntary. Based on SUBJECT OFFICER #1's own version of the event, the officers' conduct would not have reasonably indicated to COMPLAINANT that she was free to leave. In fact, even when SUBJECT OFFICER #1 asked for COMPLAINANT's driver's license and she indicated it was in her car, she was escorted to where her car was located. Also according to their own versions, the officers did not used words indicated by the general order such as "may, would you mind, or words of similar import" that would have made it clear to COMPLAINANT that her cooperation was voluntary. In fact, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 demanded she show them what was in her pockets and to unroll the tissues once she pulled them out. He also demanded her license. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 ordered COMPLAINANT to show him what she had in her pockets, thereby conducting a search of her. Even after she explained she only had tissue in her pockets, he made her open each tissue to verify they did not contain anything. Even though he did not place his hands on her, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 used his law enforcement authority to conduct a search of COMPLAINANT by ordering her to show him the contents of her pockets. This search was not based on any reasonable suspicion or probable cause. SUBJECT OFFICER #1's only justification for stopping COMPLAINANT was that she was standing in an alley, in an area known for drug activity, and that as he approached she may have put something in her pocket. SUBJECT OFFICER #2, who was three days out of the academy and in training at the time, said he did not recall the incident at all, but remembered that he heard the area where the incident occurred was a known drug area where several drug arrests have been made in the past. Even if it were true that the area where COMPLAINANT was standing was located in a high drug area, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 indicated that COMPLAINANT was alone. He never indicated that he witnessed her trying to sell or buy drugs from any other person. MPD General Order 304.10 does not support the officer's right to detain COMPLAINANT based on her being in the alley and maybe having something in her hands. If he wanted to talk to her for a consensual contact, he was required to follow the guidance pertaining to citizen contacts, absent any reasonable suspicion or probable cause to do otherwise. Additionally, if he had probable cause to stop COMPLAINANT, order her to show him what she had in her pockets, and demand her identification, then he was required to document that probable cause and the stop properly, as provided by the general order. Once COMPLAINANT attempted to get the attention of WITNESS #1, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 terminated the stop and left the area. Additionally, officers are required by MPD General Order 304.1 to file a Form P.D. 251 or Form P.D 76 and articulate the reasonable suspicion to justify a stop. Based on the information provided by MPD, the officers failed to complete either of these required forms after stopping and searching COMPLAINANT. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 confirmed most of the facts provided by COMPLAINANT. SUBJECT OFFICER #2 was unable to recall the incident. COMPLAINANT was standing in an alley waiting for her car to be repaired. Two police officers approached her without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. One of the officers asked her if she had put anything in her pocket. When she denied placing anything in her pocket, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 ordered her to empty her pants pockets. After COMPLAINANT took the tissues out of her pockets and showed them to the officers, SUBJECT OFFICER #1 asked for her license to check for warrants and she was escorted to her car to retrieve her purse. A reasonable person would have felt that he or she was being detained and thus not free to leave and decline the officers' requests. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 acknowledged that COMPLAINANT was very upset that she had been stopped and stated that "COMPLAINANT (sic) was noticeably annoyed by our presence." Also, had COMPLAINANT believed she was free to leave and not respond to the officers' request, she would not have yelled to try to get the D.C. Council candidate's attention regarding the stop. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 prevented COMPLAINANT from going about her lawful business when he stopped her. He further did not have a legitimate justification to order her to show him what she had in her hand and in her pockets. He also did not have legitimate justification to order her to retrieve her license, because she was not operating a motor vehicle at the time. In addition, he failed to document the stop as required by MPD General Order 304.10. The Complaint Examiner therefore concludes that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 harassed COMPLAINANT in violation of MPD Special Order 01-01 and MPD General Order 304.10. The allegation against SUBJECT OFFICER #2 is a closer call. SUBJECT OFFICER #2 was a probationary police officer (trainee), on his third day in patrol; he had graduated from the Academy two weeks earlier. There is no dispute that SUBJECT OFFICER #2 exited the patrol car, approached COMPLAINANT, accompanied SUBJECT OFFICER #1 during the stop, and stood with COMPLAINANT while SUBJECT OFFICER #1 went back to the patrol car to check on warrants. However, in her complaint and her interview, COMPLAINANT did not identify SUBJECT OFFICER #2 as issuing any orders or commands or asking her any questions. All of the actions which distinguished the encounter as a stop and detention, as opposed to a voluntary contact, were described by COMPLAINANT as being taken by SUBJECT OFFICER #1. Therefore, the Complaint Examiner concludes that there is insufficient evidence to sustain the allegation that SUBJECT OFFICER #2 harassed COMPLAINANT in violation of MPD Special Order 01-01 and MPD General Order 304.10. Language or Conduct MPD General Order 201.26, Part I, Section C, No. 1 and 3 states: "All members of the department shall be courteous and orderly in their dealings with the public. They shall perform their duties quietly, remaining calm regardless of provocation to do otherwise. . . . Members shall refrain from harsh, violent, coarse, profane, sarcastic, or insolent language. Members shall not use terms or resort to name calling which might be interpreted as derogatory, disrespectful, or offensive to the dignity of any person." COMPLAINANT alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 told her to "shut-up" after she asked him and SUBJECT OFFICER #2 their reason for stopping her. She alleged that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 "continued to tell [her] to shut up and treated [her] like [she] was not a citizen or human" after she tried to get the attention of a woman she believed to be WITNESS #1, a candidate to the District of Columbia Council. She also stated that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 responded "What are you calling her for, I am not scared of her or anybody." COMPLAINANT also told OPC that SUBJECT OFFICER #1 made her feel as though he was going to shoot or hurt her. However, she did not provide any specific description of the actions of the officers that made her feel threatened. She did state that the officers walked towards her, then asked her questions and ordered that she empty her pockets and retrieve her license. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 denied approaching the complainant in a threatening manner. SUBJECT OFFICER #1 also denied using the word "shut-up" at any point during his interaction with the complainant, and stated that he did not curse or threaten COMPLAINANT. While there may have been other witnesses present during the interaction act (e.g., "WITNESS #2"), OPC was unable to locate or interview WITNESS #2. While COMPLAINANT was stopped, detained, and required to empty her pockets and retrieve her license, there is insufficient evidence to support an allegation of disrespectful and offensive conduct by SUBJECT OFFICER #1. Because there is no independent evidence or corroborating witnesses to the incident, and SUBJECT OFFICER #1's description of the incident differs from COMPLAINANT's, the Complaint Examiner concludes that there is insufficient evidence to sustain the allegation of the use of language toward COMPLAINANT that was insulting, demeaning, or humiliating, in violation of MPD General Order 201.26. With respect to SUBJECT OFFICER #2, the complainant did not allege any language or conduct by SUBJECT OFFICER #2 to support this aspect of the complaint against SUBJECT OFFICER #2. Therefore the Complaint Examiner concludes that this allegation against SUBJECT OFFICER #2 is unfounded. V. SUMMARY OF MERITS DETERMINATION SUBJECT OFFICER #1, Third District \| Allegation 1: \| Sustained \| \|---\|---\| \| Allegation 2: \| Insufficient Facts \| SUBJECT OFFICER #2, Third District Submitted on May 24, 2005. ________________________________ RICHARD JEROME Complaint Examiner
Quality ID #406: Appropriate Follow-up Imaging for Incidental Thyroid Nodules in Patients Quality ID #406: Appropriate Follow-up Imaging for Incidental Thyroid Nodules in Patients 2024 COLLECTION TYPE: MIPS CLINICAL QUALITY MEASURES (CQMS) MEASURE TYPE: Process – High Priority DESCRIPTION: Percentage of final reports for computed tomography (CT), CT angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) studies of the chest or neck for patients aged 18 years and older with no known thyroid disease with a thyroid nodule < 1.0 cm noted incidentally with follow-up imaging recommended. INSTRUCTIONS: This measure is to be submitted each time a patient undergoes a computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging with an incidental thyroid nodule finding during the performance period. There is no diagnosis associated with this measure. It is anticipated that Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians who provide the professional component of diagnostic imaging studies for computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging will submit this measure. Measure Submission Type: Measure data may be submitted by individual MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or third-party intermediaries. The listed denominator criteria are used to identify the intended patient population. The numerator options included in this specification are used to submit the quality actions as allowed by the measure. The quality data codes listed do not need to be submitted by MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or third-party intermediaries that utilize this modality for submissions; however, these codes may be submitted for those third-party intermediaries that utilize Medicare Part B claims data. For more information regarding Application Programming Interface (API), please refer to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website. DENOMINATOR: All final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA studies of the chest or neck for patients aged 18 and older with an incidentally-detected thyroid nodule < 1.0 cm noted DENOMINATOR NOTE: The intent of this measure is to ensure patients with incidental findings that are highly likely to be benign do not receive follow up imaging routinely. Denominator eligible patients would be those for whom an incidental thyroid nodule of < 1.0 is noted in the final report. Denominator Criteria (Eligible Cases): AND Patients aged ≥ 18 years on date of encounter Patient encounter during the performance period (CPT): 70486, 70487, 70488, 70490, 70491, 70492, 70498, 70540, 70542, 70543, 70547, 70548, 70549, 71250, 71260, 71270, 71271, 71555, 72125, 72126, 72127, 71550, 71551, 71552, 72141, 72142, 72156 Telehealth Modifier (including but not limited to): WITHOUT AND GQ, GT, 95, POS 02, POS 10 Incidental Thyroid Nodule < 1.0 cm noted in report: G9552 NUMERATOR: Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging recommended for reports with an incidentally-detected thyroid nodule < 1.0 cm noted Numerator Instructions: INVERSE MEASURE – A lower calculated performance rate for this measure indicates better clinical care or control. The "Performance Not Met" numerator option for this measure is the representation of the better clinical quality or control. Reporting that numerator option will produce a performance rate that trends closer to 0%, as quality increases. For inverse measures, a rate of 100% means all of the denominator eligible patients did not receive the appropriate care or were not in proper control. Numerator Options: Performance Met: Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging recommended (G9554) OR Denominator Exception: Documentation of medical reason(s) for recommending follow-up imaging (e.g., patient has multiple endocrine neoplasia, patient has cervical lymphadenopathy, other medical reason(s)) (G9555) OR Performance Not Met: Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging not recommended (G9556) RATIONALE: Thyroid nodules are common, with estimates of prevalence as high as 50%. Desser and Kamaya found that the majority of incidentally noted thyroid nodules were benign with approximately 5% being malignant. Due to the common nature of small thyroid nodules combined with the low malignancy, nonpalpable nodules detected on US or other anatomic imaging studies are termed incidentally discovered nodules or ''incidentalomas.'' Nonpalpable nodules have the same risk of malignancy as palpable nodules with the same size. Generally, only nodules >1 cm should be evaluated, since they have a greater potential to be clinically significant cancers. (ATA, 2009) CLINICAL RECOMMENDATION STATEMENTS: In patients <35 years with an incidental thyroid nodule (ITN) detected on CT, MRI, or extrathyroidal ultrasound, the Committee recommends further evaluation with dedicated thyroid ultrasound if the nodule is ≥1 cm and has no suspicious imaging features, and if the patient has normal life expectancy. In patients ≥35 years with an ITN detected on CT, MRI, or extrathyroidal ultrasound, the Committee recommends further evaluation with dedicated thyroid ultrasound if the nodule is ≥1.5 cm and has no suspicious imaging features, and if the patient has normal life expectancy. (ACR, 2014) COPYRIGHT: The Measure is not a clinical guideline, does not establish a standard of medical care, and has not been tested for all potential applications. The Measure, while copyrighted, can be reproduced and distributed, without modification, for noncommercial purposes, e.g., use by health care providers in connection with their practices. Commercial use is defined as the sale, license, or distribution of the Measure for commercial gain, or incorporation of the Measure into a product or service that is sold, licensed or distributed for commercial gain. Commercial uses of the Measure require a license agreement between the user and the American College of Radiology (ACR). Neither ACR nor its members shall be responsible for any use of the Measure. The PCPI's and AMA's significant past efforts and contributions to the development and updating of the Measures are acknowledged. ACR is solely responsible for the review and enhancement ("Maintenance") of the Measure as of August 1, 2020. ACR encourages use of the Measure by other health care professionals, where appropriate. THE MEASURE AND SPECIFICATIONS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ©2023 American College of Radiology. All Rights Reserved. Applicable FARS/DFARS Restrictions Apply to Government Use. Limited proprietary coding may be contained in the Measure specifications for convenience. A license agreement must be entered prior to a third party's use of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT ® ) or other proprietary code set contained in the Measures. Any other use of CPT or other coding by the third party is strictly prohibited. ACR and its members disclaim all liability for use or accuracy of any CPT or other coding contained in the specifications. CPT® contained in the Measures specifications is copyright 2004-2023 American Medical Association. LOINC® copyright 2004-2023 Regenstrief Institute, Inc. SNOMED CLINICAL TERMS (SNOMED CT®) copyright 2004-2023. The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO). ICD-10 is copyright 2023 World Health Organization. All Rights Reserved. 2024 Clinical Quality Measure Flow for Quality ID #406: Appropriate Follow-up Imaging for Incidental Thyroid Nodules In Patients Disclaimer: Refer to the measure specification for specific coding and instructions to submit this measure. SAMPLE CALCULATIONS Data Completeness= Eligible Population / Denominator (d=80 procedures) = 80 procedures Performance Met (a=40 procedures) + Denominator Exception (b=10 procedures) + Performance Not Met (c=20 procedures) = Performance Rate*= Data Completeness Numerator (70 procedures) – Denominator Exception (b=10 procedures) = 60 procedures 70 procedures=87.50% Performance Met (a=40 procedures) =40 procedures=66.67% See the posted measure specification for specific coding and instructions to submit this measure. NOTE: Submission Frequency: Procedure *A lower calculated performance rate for this measure indicates better clinical care or control. CPT only copyright 2023 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. The measure diagrams were developed by CMS as a supplemental resource to be used in conjunction with the measure specifications. They should not be used alone or as a substitution for the measure specification. v8 2024 Clinical Quality Measure Flow Narrative for Quality ID #406: Appropriate Follow-up Imaging for Incidental Thyroid Nodules in Patients Disclaimer: Refer to the measure specification for specific coding and instructions to submit this measure. 1. Start with Denominator 2. Check Patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years on date of encounter: a. If Patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years on date of encounter equals No, do not include in Eligible Population/Denominator. Stop processing. b. If Patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years on date of encounter equals Yes, proceed to check Patient encounter during the performance period as listed in Denominator. 3. Check Patient encounter during the performance period as listed in Denominator* : a. If Patient encounter during the performance period as listed in Denominator* equals No, do not include in Eligible Population/Denominator. Stop processing. b. If Patient encounter during the performance period as listed in Denominator* equals Yes, proceed to check Telehealth Modifier as listed in Denominator. 4. Check Telehealth Modifier as listed in Denominator: a. If Telehealth Modifier as listed in Denominator* equals Yes, do not include in Eligible Population/Denominator. Stop processing. b. If Telehealth Modifier as listed in Denominator* equals No, proceed to check Incidental Thyroid Nodule less than 1.0 cm noted in report: 5. Check Incidental Thyroid Nodule less than 1.0 cm noted in report: a. If Incidental Thyroid Nodule less than 1.0 cm noted in report equals No, do not include in Eligible Population/Denominator. Stop processing. b. If Incidental Thyroid Nodule less than 1.0 cm noted in report equals Yes, include in Eligible Population/Denominator. 6. Denominator Population: * Denominator Population is all Eligible Procedures in the Denominator. Denominator is represented as Denominator in the Sample Calculation listed at the end of this document. Letter d equals 80 procedures in the Sample Calculation. 7. Start Numerator 8. Check Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging recommended: a. If Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging recommended equals Yes, include in Data Completeness Met and Performance Met*. Data Completeness Met and Performance Met** letter is represented in the Data Completeness and Performance Rate in the Sample Calculation listed at the end of this document. Letter a equals 40 procedures in the Sample Calculation. b. If Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging recommended equals No, proceed to check Documentation of medical reason(s) for recommending follow-up imaging. 9. Check Documentation of medical reason(s) for recommending follow-up imaging: a. If Documentation of medical reason(s) for recommending follow-up imaging equals Yes, include in Data Completeness Met and Denominator Exception. * Data Completeness Met and Denominator Exception letter is represented in the Data Completeness and Performance Rate in the Sample Calculation listed at the end of this document. Letter b equals 10 procedures in the Sample Calculation. b. If Documentation of medical reason(s) for recommending follow-up imaging equals No, proceed to check Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging not recommended. 10. Check Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging not recommended: a. If Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging not recommended equals Yes, include in Data Completeness Met and Performance Not Met*. Data Completeness Met and Performance Not Met** letter is represented in the Data Completeness in the Sample Calculation listed at the end of this document. Letter c equals 20 procedures in the Sample Calculation. b. If Final reports for CT, CTA, MRI or MRA of the chest or neck with follow-up imaging not recommended equals No, proceed to check Data Completeness Not Met. 11. Check Data Completeness Not Met: * If Data Completeness Not Met, the Quality Data Code or equivalent was not submitted. 10 procedures have been subtracted from the Data Completeness Numerator in the Sample Calculation. Sample Calculations Data Completeness equals Performance Met (a equals 40 procedures) plus Denominator Exception (b equals 10 procedures) plus Performance Not Met (c equals 20 procedures) divided by Eligible Population/Denominator (d equals 80 procedures). All equals 70 procedures divided by 80 procedures. All equals 87.50 percent. Performance Rate** equals Performance Met (a equals 40 procedures) divided by Data Completeness Numerator (70 procedures) minus Denominator Exception (b equals 10 procedures). All equals 40 procedures divided by 60 procedures. All equals 66.67 percent. See the posted measure specification for specific coding and instructions to submit this measure. *A lower calculated performance rate for this measure indicates better clinical care or control. NOTE: Submission Frequency: Procedure The measure diagrams were developed by CMS as a supplemental resource to be used in conjunction with the measure specifications. They should not be used alone or as a substitution for the measure specification.
1 st SEMESTER, AY 2012-2013 JUNE 2012 \| 06/01/2012 \| Friday \| Start of Academic Year 2012-2013 \| RO/Colleges \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 06/01/2012 \| Friday \| DocRev/IQA Preparation for SY 2012-2013 \| QMS/IQA Team/Colleges \| \| 06/01/2012 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 06/01/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 06/01/2012 \| Friday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| CBA \| \| 06/01-13/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Release of approved Course Syllabi \| CCDIT \| \| 06/04/2012 \| Monday \| 1st Trimester Opening of Classes for Batch 24 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 06/04/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 06/06/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CCS \| \| 06/06/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 06/07/2012 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 06/07-08/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| RLE Orientation \| CON \| \| 06/08/2012 \| Friday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| LIBRARY \| \| 06/08/2012 \| Friday \| CAS Retreat \| CAS \| \| 06/09/2012 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter check up \| SSD \| \| 06/09/2012 \| Saturday \| Faculty Re-Orientation and Meeting \| NSTP \| \| 06/11/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 06/11/2012 \| Monday \| Opening of Classes (tentative) Parents and Students Orientation Enhancement Start up to the end of Semester \| SOM \| \| 06/11/2012 \| Monday \| Publication of Vox nostra \| PRDO \| \| 06/11/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| 1 DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS 06/12/2012 Monday Independence Day (Non-Working) -- \| 06/13/2012 \| Tuesday \| Opening of Classes (1st Semester – AY 2012-2013) \| Colleges \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 06/13/2012 \| Tuesday \| SSC Information Booth \| SPSO \| \| 06/14/2012 \| Wednesday \| Start of RLE for 2nd Year Midwifery Students \| SOM \| \| 06/14/2012 \| Wednesday \| Election of Officers \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 06/15/2012 \| Thursday \| Diagnostic Test \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 06/15/2012 \| Thursday \| DYCIAN Christening \| CHMT \| \| 06/15/2012 \| Thursday \| Community Mass \| SPSO \| \| 06/15/2012 \| Thursday \| College Orientation \| CON \| \| 06/16/2012 \| Friday \| 1st Parent Orientation Seminar \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 06/16/2012 \| Saturday \| 1st Session and Selection of Leaders and Election of Officers \| NSTP \| \| 06/18/2012 \| Monday \| Colloquium \| PRDO \| \| 06/18-30/2012 \| Mondays thru Saturdays \| Library Orientation for Freshmen students application for new library card/validation and distribution of Library brochure \| LIBRARY/ COLLEGES \| \| 06/19/2012 \| Tuesday \| College Orientation \| SPSO \| \| 06/19-06/23/2012 \| Tuesday to Friday \| Classroom Orientation \| SPSO \| \| 06/20/2012 \| Wednesday \| Orientation on Institutional Extension Programs for SY 2012- 2013 (FRIDAY CAMPAIGNS) \| OEA \| \| 06/21/2012 \| Thursday \| Death Anniversary of Dr. Ismael “Tatay” E. Yanga, Sr. \| DYCI Org. \| \| 06/21-07/06/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Call for preparation and submission of TQs/TOS for Prelim Exam (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT \| \| 06/21-07/06/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Check/review and approval of TQs/TOS \| CCDIT/VPAA \| \| 06/22/2012 \| Friday \| Re-orientation of the adopted community of the school/ Launching of the Institutional Extension Activities to the adopted community under the umbrella of Project SOFIA \| OEA/CON \| \| 06/22/2012 \| Friday \| Selection of Leaders/Election of Officers \| SOM \| \| 06/22/2012 \| Friday \| Self-Awareness Seminar \| CON \| \| 06/23/2012 \| Saturday \| Orientation and General Assembly with Parents \| NSTP \| \| 06/23/2012 \| Saturday \| General Assembly of CCS Students with Parents \| CCS \| \| 06/23/2012 \| Saturday \| Tatay’s Death Anniversary \| SPSO \| \| 06/25/2012 \| Monday \| Document Review \| PRDO \| \| 06/27/2012 \| Wednesday \| Staff Meeting \| PRDO \| \| 06/27-30/2012 \| Wed-Sat \| Book Selection and Acquisition via 16th Philippine Academic Book Fair sponsored by the Assoc. of Booksellers for the Academe and the Professions (ABAP), SM Megatrade Hall, SM Mega Mall \| LIBRARY \| \| 06/29/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| SSD \| STATUS 06/29/2012 DAY Friday ACTIVITIES Faculty & Staff Meeting RESPONSIBLE UNIT CAREGIVER \| 06/29/2012 \| Friday \| Initial implementation of FRIDAY Campaigns @Batia Elem. School \| OEA \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 06/29/2012 \| Friday \| Initial implementation of Family Awareness Lectures for the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program @Paombong, Bulacan \| OEA with CON/SOM & CAREGIVER \| \| 06/29/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of Adopt-a-Child Campaign @Batia Elem. School \| OEA/ Accounting Offices \| \| 06/29/2012 \| Friday \| SSC Elections \| SPSO \| \| 06/30/2012 \| Saturday \| NSTP Law and Module 1 – Citizenship Training \| NSTP \| \| 06/2012 \| Per schedule \| ACA Meeting \| VPAA \| \| 06/2012 \| Per schedule \| Request for Calibration of Equipment \| SSD \| \| 06/2012 \| Per schedule \| Start of conducting of Customer Survey (1st semester) \| SSD \| \| 06/2012 \| Everyday \| Checking of electrical facilities \| SSD \| \| 06/2012 \| 1st-2nd Week \| Implementation of Safety Measures \| SSD \| \| 06/2012 \| 1st-2nd Week \| Assistance for the Opening of Classes \| SSD \| \| 06/2012 \| Per schedule \| DocRev/IQA Preparation for SY 2012-2013 \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 06/2012 \| Per schedule \| Last Day of Enrolment (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 06/2012 \| 1 month \| Signing of contract and appointment - Admin., Faculty and Non-Teaching \| DYCI Org. \| \| 06/2012 \| 1 month \| Approval of Faculty Teaching Load for 1st Semester of SY 2012-2013 \| HRD \| \| 06/2012-01/2013 \| 7 mos \| OP: Review and Revision of Administrative Manual \| HRD+Manual Review Comm. \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Per schedule \| Quality Management System Local and national Trainings and Seminars \| QMS/IQA Team \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| PACUCOA related activities \| QMS/Top Mgt./ DYCI Org. \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| CHED/TESDA Monitoring & Evaluation \| QMS/ Concerned College \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Masterlisting and Review of Documents Updating of 201 Files \| HRD \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Queries on legal issues in employee relations \| HRD+Legal Consultant \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Review of Administrative and Staff Manuals \| HRD+Comm. On Manual Review \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Consultation with DYCIFEA \| HRD \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Trainings and Seminars (internal and external) \| HRD+ Colleges/ Depts. \| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Recruitment and Hiring of \| HRD \| DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS Employees \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| Internal Audit (QMS Schoolwide, CME-ISO) \| HRD \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 06/2012-05/2013 \| Year round \| External Audit (CHED, TESDA, ISO and PACUCOA \| HRD \| \| 06-07/2012 \| Every Friday \| Community Adopted Barangay Bolacan \| CBA \| \| 06-09/2012 \| 3 mos \| OP: Final Review of the Performance Evaluations (Peer, Supervisor, Self, Student) \| HRD+Review Committee \| \| JULY 2012 \| \| \| \| \| 07/02/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 07/02-07/2012 \| Mon-Sat \| Hands-On Training on Inrotrac Custom 100 \| LIBRARY/CE LOGIC \| \| 07/02-31/2012 \| Mondays & Tuesdays \| DYCI Library Freedom from Fines (Amnesty Month) \| LIBRARY \| \| 07/02/2012 \| Monday \| Monday after Feast of Krus sa Wawa \| SPSO \| \| 07/04/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 07/05/2012 \| Thursday \| Club Membership \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 07/05/2012 \| Thursday \| Parents Meeting/Consultation re: Candle Lighting & Pinning Ceremonies \| SOM \| \| 07/05/2012 \| Thursday \| Clinical Rotation Plan \| SOM \| \| 07/05/2012 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 07/05/2012 \| Thursday \| Meeting of SSC with SPS Director \| SPSO \| \| 07/06/2012 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 07/06/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 07/06/2012 \| Friday \| Accreditation of ICOs and DBOs \| SPSO \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Parenting Seminar \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Module 1 (Citizenship Training) \| NSTP \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| NSTP/OEA \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Election of YMPACT Officers \| CBA \| \| 07/07/2012 \| Saturday \| Competency Appraisal \| CON \| \| 07/08/2012 \| Sunday \| Feast of the Holy Cross of Wawa \| BOC-MGU \| \| 07/09/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 07/09/2012 \| Monday \| Staff Meeting \| LIBRARY \| \| 07/09-12/2012 \| Mon-Thu \| Modular Examination \| CAREGIVER \| \| 07/11/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 07/11-14/2012 \| 4 days \| PRELIMINARY EXAMNATION WEEK (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 07/12/2012 \| Thursday \| Meeting of SSC with VPAA \| SPSO \| \| 07/13/2012 \| Friday \| DYCIAN Cares Opening \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 07/13/2012 \| Friday \| IQA Planning/Document Review Planning for SY 2012-2013 \| QMS/ IQA Team \| \| 07/13/2012 \| Friday \| Initial Feeding with Lectures under the supervision of CON \| OEA \| \| 07/13/2012 \| Friday \| Deadline for submission of Candidacy for new set of ACES Officers \| CCS \| RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS 07/14/2012 DAY Saturday ACTIVITIES Module 2 – Drug Education \| 07/14/2012 \| Saturday \| YMPACT Meeting \| CBA \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 07/14/2012 \| Saturday \| Acquaintance Party (PM) \| CON \| \| 07/16/2012 \| Monday \| Candle Lighting/Acquaintance Party \| SOM \| \| 07/16-18/2012 \| Mon-Wed \| Nutrition Week Celebration \| CHMT \| \| 07/17/2012 \| Tuesday \| General Alejo Santos’s Day (local holiday) \| -- \| \| 07/18/2012 \| Wednesday \| Election of New set of ACES Officer \| CCS \| \| 07/19-20/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| CHMT Fresh Retreat \| CHMT \| \| 07/20/2012 \| Friday \| Publication – Philomatheia \| PRDO \| \| 07/20/2012 \| Friday \| New ACES Officer Meeting \| CCS \| \| 07/20/2012 \| Friday \| Induction of Officers \| SPSO \| \| 07/20-21/2012 \| Fri-Sat \| FIRST MONTHLY TEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 07/20-08/07/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Call for preparation of TQs and submission TOS for Midterm exam (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 07/20-08/07/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Reminder for preparation of TQs/TOS for Midterm Exam \| VPAA/CCDIT \| \| 07/21/2012 \| Saturday \| DYCI Barkada Kontra-Droga Day and Seminar on DEPC \| NSTP \| \| 07/25/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CCS \| \| 07/26-27/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| Nutrition Month Celebration \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 07/27/2012 \| Friday \| Call for submission of PIA on Midterm Exam results \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 07/27/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| SSD \| \| 07/27/2012 \| Friday \| Development of IQA Checklist/Document Review Checklist for SY 2012-2013 \| QMS/ Concerned units \| \| 07/27/2012 \| Friday \| Follow-up feeding with Lectures under the supervision of SOM \| OEA \| \| 07/27/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of Friday Campaigns @Batia Elem School and Paombong, Bulacan \| OEA with extension representatives \| \| 07/28/2012 \| Saturday \| NSTP 1 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION \| NSTP \| \| 07/28/2012 \| Saturday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| CBA \| \| 07/29/2012 \| Friday \| Orientation Day (Freshmen and Tranferees) \| \| \| 07/30/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & staff Meeting \| CAREGIVER \| \| 07/31/2012 \| Tuesday \| Publication – Episteme \| PRDO \| \| 07/2012 \| Per schedule \| ACA Meeting \| VPAA \| \| 07/2012 \| 1 month \| Review of Quality Manuals and Quality Forms \| QMS Team \| \| 07/2012 \| Per schedule \| Training/Workshop for Internal Quality Auditors \| QMS/ IQA Team \| \| 07/2012 \| Everyday \| Checking of electrical facilities \| SSD \| \| 07/2012 \| 1st Wed & 1st Fri \| Assistance for Mass (College and Basic Education) \| SSD \| \| 07/2012 \| Per schedule \| Release of approved TQs/TOS for Prelim Exam \| CCDIT \| \| 07/2012 \| Per schedule \| Feast of the Holy Cross of Wawa 2012 (Non-Working) \| -- \| NSTP DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS of the Holy Cross of Wawa \| 07/2012 \| Per schedule \| Curriculum Review \| CCDIT/ Concerned College \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| AUGUST 2012 \| \| \| \| \| 08/01-04/2012 \| Wed-Sat \| Film Palooza @the Library \| LIBRARY \| \| 08/01-10/2012 \| 1 ½ week \| Preparation for Course Evaluation by Students Survey (1st Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT via Colleges \| \| 08/01-18/2012 \| Wed –Sat \| Try-out and selection of BULPRISA Participants (Athletic and Cultural) \| SPSO \| \| 08/01/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 08/02/2012 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 08/02/2012 \| Thursday \| Linggo ng Wika Celebrattion \| CAS \| \| 08/03/2012 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 08/03/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 08/04/2012 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 08/04/2012 \| Saturday \| Module 3 – Disaster Risk Reduction and Management \| NSTP \| \| 08/04/2012 \| Saturday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| NSTP/OEA \| \| 08/06/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 08/06/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 08/09/2012 \| Thursday \| Start of Clinical Practicum 100 (RLE) \| SOM \| \| 08/09/2012 \| Thursday \| BSP & GSP Selections \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 08/10/2012 \| Friday \| BSP & GSP Membership \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 08/10/2012 \| Friday \| Follow-up Feeding Program and lectures under the supervision of CHMT \| OEA \| \| 08/10/2012 \| Friday \| Preparation and Submission of faculty research proposal \| CON \| \| 08/11/2012 \| Saturday \| Leadership Training \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 08/11/2012 \| Saturday \| Seminar on Disaster Preparedness with Bulacan Rescue Team \| NSTP \| \| 08/11/2012 \| Saturday \| ACES Meeting \| CCS \| \| 08/13/2012 \| Monday \| Birthday celebration of DYCI President \| DYCI Org. \| \| 08/13/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting – Curriculum Review \| SOM \| \| 08/13-16/2012 \| Mon-Thur \| MIDTERM EXAMINATION WEEK (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 08/13-16/2012 \| Mon-Thur \| Course Evaluation Survey Week (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| c/o Colleges \| \| 08/14/2012 \| Tuesday \| FIRST QUARTER ACADEMIC CONTEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 08/16-18/2012 \| Thu-Sat \| 1ST PERIODIC TEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 08/17/2012 \| Friday \| Publication – The Rock \| PRDO \| \| 08/17/2012 \| Friday \| Pre-Audit/Pre-Document Review Meeting for SY 2012-2013 \| QMS/IQA Team/ Concerned Units \| \| 08/18/2012 \| Saturday \| Module 4 – Environmental Education and Awareness \| NSTP \| \| 08/20-24/2012 \| Mon –Fri \| Linggo ng Wika \| SPSO \| DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS 08/21/2012 Tuesday Proposal PRDO STATUS 09/05/2012 DAY Wednesday ACTIVITIES Faculty Meeting (PM) RESPONSIBLE UNIT CON \| 09/06/2012 \| Thursday \| Staff Meeting \| LIBRARY \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 09/06/2012 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 09/07/2012 \| Friday \| Salute to DYCIAN graders \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 09/07/2012 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 09/07/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 09/07/2012 \| Friday \| Follow-up Feeding Program and Lectures under COA \| OEA \| \| 09/07/2012 \| Thursday \| JAPI Orientation \| CBA \| \| 09/08/2012 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 09/08/2012 \| Saturday \| NSTP Outdoor Exposure \| NSTP \| \| 09/10/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 09/10/2012 \| Monday \| CHMT Convention \| CHMT \| \| 09/11/2012 \| Tuesday \| CHMT Inter-Level Skills Competition \| CHMT \| \| 09/12/2012 \| Wednesday \| Search for Mr. and Ms. CHMT 2012 \| CHMT \| \| 09/12-16/2012 \| Wed-Sun \| Book Selection and Acquisition via 33rd Manila International Book Fair, SMX Convention Center, SM MOA \| LIBRARY \| \| 09/13/2012 \| Thursday \| ATHoM Acquaintance Party \| CHMT \| \| 09/14/2012 \| Friday \| MAGIS Award \| SPSO \| \| 09/14/2012 \| Friday \| Faculty Research Proposal Defense \| CON \| \| 09/15/2012 \| Saturday \| 1st Quarter Distribution of Cards \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 09/15/2012 \| Saturday \| NSTP Outdoor Exposure \| NSTP \| \| 09/17/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 09/17-19/2012 \| Mon-Wed \| Off-Campus Expo \| CHMT \| \| 09/17-20/2012 \| \| SEMI-FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 09/17-10/13/2012 \| Mondays thru Saturdays \| Signing of Clearance (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| LIBRARY \| \| 09/19-21/2012 \| Wed-Fri \| IQA/DocRev for SY 2012-2013 \| QMS/IQA Team/ Concerned Units \| \| 09/20-23/2012 \| Mon-Thu \| Modular Examination \| CAREGIVER \| \| 09/20/2012 \| Thursday \| SSC Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 09/21/2012 \| Friday \| Follow-up Feeding Program and Lectures under CCS \| OEA \| \| 09/21/2012 \| Friday \| Publication – Navis \| PRDO \| \| 09/21/2012 \| Friday \| Thesis Defense \| CHMT \| \| 09/21/2012 \| Friday \| Parents Meeting/Consultation in Prep for November Board Exam \| SOM \| \| 09/21/2012 \| Friday \| SPSO Staff Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 09/22/2012 \| Saturday \| Module 5 – National Security Concerns \| NSTP \| \| 09/22/2012 \| Saturday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| NSTP/OEA \| \| 09/24-28/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| COC Filing \| CHMT \| \| 09/24-29/2012 \| 5 DAYS \| BLS/First Aid Training for Batch 24 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 09/21-22/2012 \| Fri-Sat \| 2nd Monthly Tests \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 09/22/2012 \| Saturday \| 3rd DYCIAN Cares \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 09/24/2012 \| Monday \| Submission of IQA/DocRev Report \| QMS/IQA Team \| 09/24-10/05/2012 DAY 2 weeks ACTIVITIES of TQs/TOS for Final Exam (1 RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS st CCDIT/Colleges Sem, STATUS 10/06/2012 DAY Saturday ACTIVITIES Cleaning of drainage and gutter RESPONSIBLE UNIT SSD \| 10/06/2012 \| Saturday \| Module 5 – National Security Concerns \| NSTP \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 10/08/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 10/8-9/2012 \| Mon-Tue \| Case Presentation & CI Evaluation and Revalida for Mid 102 \| SOM \| \| 10/08-10/2012 \| Mon-Wed \| Student Organization candidates campaign period \| CHMT \| \| 10/10/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 10/10-13/2012 \| Wed-Sat \| FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 10/10-13/2012 \| Wed- Sat \| Final Examination for non- graduating \| CBA \| \| 10/12/2012 \| Friday \| 2ND QUARTER MONTHLY ACADEMIC CONTEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 10/12/2012 \| Friday \| Customer satisfaction Survey \| CHMT \| \| 10/13/2012 \| Saturday \| End of 1st Semester AY 2012-2013 \| RO \| \| 10/13/2012 \| Saturday \| Seminar on Bullying and Students’ Bill of Rights \| NSTP \| \| 10/15/2012 \| Monday \| 2nd Trimester Opening of Classes for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 10/15/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| CBA \| \| 10/15-26/2012 \| 2 weeks \| RLE – PCM for Batch 24 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 10/15-11/02/2012 \| 2 weeks \| 1st Semestral Break (2 weeks) \| Colleges \| \| 10/15-17/2012 \| Mon- Wed \| Make-Up Duty \| CON \| \| 10/18-20/2012 \| Thu-Sat \| 2nd PERIODIC TEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 10/18-19/2012 \| Thu – Fri \| Student Leader Recollection \| SPSO \| \| 10/19/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of FRIDAY CAMPAIGNS @Batia Elem. School and Paombong, Bulacan \| OEA \| \| 10/19/2012 \| Friday \| Publication – ITEch \| PRDO \| \| 10/19/2012 \| Friday \| Research Output of faculty and Staff/ ATHoM Officers election \| CHMT \| \| 10/20/2012 \| Saturday \| 4TH DYCIAN CARES \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 10/20/2012 \| Saturday \| NSTP 1 FINAL EXAMINATION \| NSTP \| \| 10/22/2012 \| Monday \| Distribution of Acquisition Lists to different Colleges \| LIBRARY \| \| 10/22/2012 \| Monday \| Submission of Semester-End Requirements \| CAS \| \| 10/25/2012 \| Thursday \| SSC Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 10/22-26/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| Maintenance of equipment and facilities \| CHMT \| \| 10/22-26/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| Make-Up Duty \| SOM \| \| 10/23/2012 \| Tuesday \| Distribution of Class Cards (Final Grade) \| CAS \| \| 10/24/2012 \| Wednesday \| Dr. Ismael E. Yanga, Sr. & Dra. Elida D. Yanga’s Birth Anniversaries \| DYCI Org. \| \| 10/24-26/2012 \| Wed-Fri \| 1st Follow-up on the effectiveness of the corrective actions of the IQA/DocRev Findings \| QMS/All Concerned Units \| \| 10/25-26/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| UN Day \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 10/26/2012 \| Friday \| Final call for submission of PIA on both Midterm and Final exam results (1st Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT \| 2 nd SEMESTER, AY 2012-2013 \| NOVEMBER 2012 \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 11/01/2012 \| Thursday \| All Saint’s Day (Non-Working) \| -- \| \| 11/02/2012 \| Friday \| All Soul’s Day (Non-Working) \| -- \| \| 11/03/2012 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Opening of Classes – 2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013 \| RO/Colleges \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Updating of back-up copy of records \| SSD \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CCS \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 11/05/2012 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 11/05-09/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| Enrolment and registration for 2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013 \| NSTP \| STATUS 11/05-10/2012 DAY Mon-Fri ACTIVITIES NURSES' Week RESPONSIBLE UNIT CON \| 11/06/2012 \| Tuesday \| Parents and Students RLE Consultation \| SOM \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 11/07/2012 \| Wednesday \| Start of RLE Clinical Practicum 101- A, Clinical Practicum PHC 2 & Clinical Practicum 102-B \| SOM \| \| 11/07/2012 \| Wednesday \| Announcement of Honors (2nd Quarter) \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 11/07/2012 \| Wednesday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 11/07/-09/2012 \| Wed-Fri \| Enhancement/Enrichment Classes \| CON \| \| 11/08/2012 \| Thurday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 11/08-09/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| TESDA Review/Orientation for Batch 24 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 11/09/2012 \| Friday \| Salute to DYCIAN graders \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 11/09/2012 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 11/09/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 11/09/2012 \| Friday \| Submission of Use and User Statistics Report (1st Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| LIBRARY \| \| 11/09/2013 \| Friday \| Faculty Re-orientation and Meeting \| NSTP \| \| 11/09/2013 \| Friday \| ACES Meeting \| CCS \| \| 11/10/2012 \| Saturday \| Selection of leaders and election of officers \| NSTP \| \| 11/10/2012 \| Saturday \| NC II Assessment \| CAREGIVER \| \| 11/11/2012 \| Sunday \| Feast of St. Martin of Tours \| -- \| \| 11/12/2012 \| Monday \| Monday after St. Martin of Tours Feast \| SPSO \| \| 11/12/2012 \| Monday \| YMPACT Monthly Meeting \| CBA \| \| 11/12-16/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| RLE Orientation \| CON \| \| 11/13/2012 \| Tuesday \| Staff Meting \| LIBRARY \| \| 11/15/2012 \| Thursday \| 3rd QUARTER ACADEMIC CONTEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 11/15-17/2012 \| Thu-Sat \| CCS Week \| CCS \| \| 11/16/2012 \| Friday \| Follow-up feeding program with lectures under COED and CG \| OEA \| \| 11/16/2012 \| Friday \| Preparation for Community Extension \| SPSO \| \| 11/17/2012 \| Saturday \| 2ND Quarter Distribution of Cards \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 11/17/2012 \| Saturday \| General Assembly and Orientation with Parents \| NSTP \| \| 11/17/2012 \| Saturday \| Competency Appraisal 2 \| CON \| \| 11/19-22/2012 \| 4 days \| Modular Examination for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 11/21-23/2012 \| Wed-Fri \| 78th National Book Week Celebration \| LIBRARY \| \| 11/21-23/2012 \| Wed-Fri \| 2nd Follow-up on the effectiveness of the corrective actions of the IQA/DocRev Findings \| QMS/All Concerned Units \| \| 11/21-30/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Call for preparation and submission of TQs/TOS for Prelim Exam (2nd Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 11/21-30/2012 \| 2 weeks \| Checking/review and approval of TQs/TOS for Prelim exam \| CCDIT/VPAA \| \| 11/23/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of FRIDAY CAMPAIGNS @Batia Elem School \| OEA \| DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS and Paombong, Bulacan STATUS 12/10/2012 DAY Monday ACTIVITIES Updating of documents RESPONSIBLE UNIT SSD \| 12/10-13/2012 \| Mon-Thu \| ATHoM Christmas Bazaar \| CHMT \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 12/10-14/2012 \| Mon-Fri \| LSG Distribution \| LIBRARY \| \| 12/12/2012 \| Wednesday \| Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe \| SPS-CM \| \| 12/12/2012 \| Wednesday \| Cookies on Display Activity \| CHMT \| \| 12/13/2012 \| Thursday \| Christmas Party for a Cause \| CHMT \| \| 12/13-14/2012 \| Thu-Fri \| Closing-Out on the effectiveness of Corrective actions of the IQA/DocRev Findings \| QMS/All Concerned Units \| \| 12/13-15/2012 \| Thu-Sat \| 3rd PERIODIC TEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 12/14/2012 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| SSD \| \| 12/14/2012 \| Friday \| Community Outreach for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 12/14/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of Friday Campaigns @Batia Elem. School \| OEA \| \| 12/14/2012 \| Friday \| Publication – Caring Connections \| PRDO \| \| 12/14/2012 \| Friday \| Christmas Party for Community Adopted Barangay Bolacan \| CBA \| \| 12/14-15/2012 \| Fri-Sat \| CNSC Gift Giving and Medical Mission \| CON \| \| 12/15/2012 \| Saturday \| 6th DYCIAN Cares (Christmas Party) \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 12/15/2012 \| Saturday \| Institutional Gift Giving and medical mission “Bayanihan para sa Paskong Mas Makabuluhan Year 7” \| OEA \| \| 12/15/2012 \| Saturday \| Christmas Party and Gift Giving in the community \| NSTP \| \| 12/15-24/2012 \| 2 weeks \| SIMBANG GABI 2012 \| SPS-CM \| \| 12/20/2012 \| Thursday \| Christmas Party & Gift-Giving (Principal & Faculty) \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 12/21/2012 \| Friday \| DYCI Schoolwide CHRISTMAS PARTY \| INSTITUTIONAL \| \| 12/25/2012 \| Monday \| Christmas Day \| -- \| \| 12/21/2012 upto 01/02/2013 \| 2 weeks \| Christmas Break \| -- \| \| 12/30/2012 \| Saturday \| Rizal Day \| -- \| \| 12/31/2012 \| Sunday \| New Year’s Eve \| -- \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| ACA Meeting \| VPAA \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Career Orientation/Marketing Promotion @Bulacan Christian School & Doña Trinidad Mendoza Institute (Bulakan, Bulacan) \| SOM \| \| 12/2012 \| 1st Wed & 1st Fri \| Assistance for Mass (College and Basic Education) \| SSD \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Annual Inventory Report/ Losses and Damage Report \| SSD/PC/ OIC- Colleges \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Release of approved TQs/TOS \| CCDIT \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Curriculum Review \| CCDIT/ Concerned College \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Preparation of Narrative Report – Course Evaluation Survey (1st Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT \| \| 12/2012 \| Per schedule \| Marian Gift-Giving 2012 \| OEA/DYCI Org. \| DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS JANUARY 2013 \| 01/01/2013 \| Tuesday \| New Year’s Day \| -- \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 01/03/2013 \| Thursday \| Resume of Offices/Classes (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges/ Offices \| \| 01/03/2013 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 01/04/2013 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 01/04/2013 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 01/04/2013 \| Friday \| Call for preparation and submission of TQs/TOS for Midterm Exam (2nd Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 01/04/2013 \| Friday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAREGIVER \| \| 01/05/2013 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 01/05/2013 \| Saturday \| Pre-Deployment and Planning Preparation \| NSTP \| \| 01/07/2013 \| Monday \| Master listing of documents (communications) \| SSD \| \| 01/07/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 01/07/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 01/07/2013 \| Monday \| Resume of RLE \| \| \| 01/07/2013 \| Monday \| Preparation for Foundation Week \| SPSO \| \| 01/07-10/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| Modular Examination for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 01/08/2013 \| Tuesday \| Distribution of Course Evaluation Narrative Report (1st Sem, AY 2012- 2013) to the Colleges \| CCDIT \| \| 01/09/2013 \| Wednesday \| Feast of the Black Nazarene \| -- \| \| 01/09/2013 \| Wednesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CCS \| \| 01/09-11/2013 \| Wed-Fri \| CBA Week \| CBA \| \| 01/11/2013 \| Friday \| Accomplishment Report \| LIBRARY \| \| 01/11/2013 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| LIBRARY \| \| 01/11/2013 \| Friday \| Educational Tour \| CBA \| \| 01/11/2012 \| Friday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 01/12/2013 \| Saturday \| ACES Meeting \| CCS \| \| 01/12-02/23/2013 \| Saturdays \| Community Immersion \| NSTP \| \| 01/14/2013 \| Monday \| Publication – Chef d’ Oeuvres \| PRDO \| \| 01/14-17/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| MIDTERM EXAMINATION WEEK (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 01/17/2013 \| Thursday \| SSC Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 01/18-19/2013 \| Fri-Sat \| 4TH MONTHLY TEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 01/18/2013 \| Friday \| SPS Staff Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 01/19/2013 \| Saturday \| 7th DYCIAN Cares \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 01/21/2013 \| Monday \| Publication – The Young Executives \| PRDO \| \| 01/21-26/2013 \| Mon-Sat \| GOD-CENTERED WEEK \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 01/23/2013 \| Wednesday \| Chinese New Year Celebration (Non-Working) \| -- \| \| 01/24/2013 \| Thursday \| QMS Planning for SY 2013-2014 (Pre-Strategic Planning) \| QMS & Participants for the Pre-Strat \| \| 01/23-25/2013 \| Wed-Sat \| 1st year & 2nd year Tour \| CHMT \| \| 01/24-25/2013 \| Thu-Sat \| Classroom Observation \| SOM \| \| 01/25/2013 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| SSD \| \| 01/25/2012 \| Friday \| Implementation of FRIDAY \| OEA \| DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS CAMPAIGNS @Batia Elem. School \| 01/28/2013 \| Monday \| Research Conference (In-House)/ Audit Compliance \| PRDO \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 01/28-31/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| PRE-SCHOOL WEEK \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 01/29-02/02/2013 \| Mon-Fri \| BLS/First Aid Training for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 01/30/2013 \| Wednesday \| Call for submission of PIA on Midterm Exam results and Office’s copy of TOS/TQs \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 01/2013 \| Per schedule \| ACA Meeting \| VPAA \| \| 01/2013 \| Per schedule \| Career Orientation @Colegio de Calumpit (Malolos City, Bulacan) \| SOM \| \| 01/2013 \| TBA \| SCITE Conference \| CCS \| \| 01/2013 \| Everyday \| Checking of electrical facilities \| SSD \| \| 01/2013 \| 1st week of the month \| General Cleaning \| SSD \| \| 01/2013 \| 2nd week of the month \| Coding of equipment, tools and machineries \| SSD \| \| 01/2013 \| 3rd week of the month \| Inspection of Fire Extinguisher \| SSD \| \| 01/2013 \| Per schedule \| Curriculum Review \| CCDIT/ Concerned College \| \| 01/2013 \| Per schedule \| Preparation for Course Evaluation Survey (2nd Semester, AY 2012- 2013) \| CCDIT via colleges \| \| 01-03/2013 \| Saturdays \| Improvement of Home Eco. Building @Batia Elem School with NSTP \| OEA \| \| FEBRUARY 2013 \| \| \| \| \| 02/01/2013 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 02/01/2013 \| Friday \| PRE-SCHOOL WEEK \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 02/01/2013 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 02/01/2013 \| Friday \| Publication – COA Newsletter \| PRDO \| \| 02/01-02/2013 \| Fri-Sat \| 4th Thesis Final Defense \| CCS \| \| 02/02/2013 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| \| 02/03/2013 \| Sunday \| Blas Ople Day \| -- \| \| 02/04/2013 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 02/04/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 02/04/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 02/04-07/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| Clearance and completion days \| CAREGIVER \| \| 02/05/2013 \| Tuesday \| Call for preparation and submission of TQs/TOS for Semi-Final Exam (2nd Sem, AY 2012-2013) \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 02/06/2013 \| Wednesday \| 5th DYCI Research Forum \| PRDO \| \| 02/06-09/2013 \| Wed-Sat \| Book Selection and Acquisition at leading bookstores \| LIBRARY \| \| 02/07/2013 \| Thursday \| Mass Binyag \| CHMT \| \| 02/07/2013 \| Thursday \| Cupcakes on Display Activity \| CHMT \| \| 02/07/2013 \| Thursday \| Pre-Valentine Lunch Date \| CHMT \| \| 02/08/2012 \| Friday \| Faculty Meeting (PM) \| CON \| \| 02/8-9/2013 \| Fri-Sat \| BLS Training \| SOM \| \| 02/12/2013 \| Tuesday \| Death Anniversary – Nanay Sofia D. Yanga \| DYCI Org. \| 02/13/2013 DAY Wednesday ACTIVITIES Announcement of Honors (3 RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS rd \| 02/14/201-3 \| Wednesday \| Valentine’s Day \| -- \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 02/14/2013 \| Wednesday \| SSC Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 02/15/2013 \| Thursday \| Salute to DYCIAN graders \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 02/15/2013 \| Friday \| SPSO Staff Meeting \| SPSO \| \| 02/16/2013 \| Friday \| 3rd Quarter Distribution of Cards \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 02/18/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 02/18-21/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| SEMI-FINAL EXAMINATIO WEEK (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| RO/Colleges \| \| 02/18-21/2013 \| Mon-Thu \| Course Evaluation Survey Week (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| c/o Colleges \| \| 02/18-03/02/2013 \| 3 weeks \| OJT – Hospital for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 02/19/2013 \| Tuesday \| BATTLE OF THE BEST \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 02/21/2013 \| Thursday \| Staff Meeting \| SSD \| \| 02/22/2013 \| Friday \| Implementation of FRIDAY CAMPAIGNS @Batia Elem. School \| OEA \| \| 02/22/2013 \| Friday \| Newsletter release \| CHMT \| \| 02/23/2013 \| Saturday \| Faculty and Staff Meeting \| CBA \| \| 02/22-23/2013 \| Wed-Sat \| SEMI-FINAL EXAMS \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 02/23/2013 \| Saturday \| 8th DYCIAN Cares (Field Trip) \| GRADE SCH \| \| 02/25/2013 \| Monday \| EDSA Anniversary (Non-Working) \| -- \| \| 02/25-03/17/2013 \| Mondays to Saturdays \| Signing of Clearance (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) \| LIBRARY \| \| 02/26/2013 \| Tuesday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAREGIVER \| \| 02/27/2013 \| Wednesday \| Retrieval and collation of accomplished Course Evaluation Survey \| CCDIT \| \| 02/27/2013 \| Wednesday \| Call for preparation and submission of TQs/TOS for Final Exam (2nd sem, AY, 2012-2013) \| CCDIT/Colleges \| \| 02/27-03/04, 2013 \| 2 weeks \| Checking/review/approval and release of TQs/TOS for Final Exam \| CCDIT/VPAA \| \| 02/28/2013 \| Thursday \| Publication – SOFIA \| PRDO \| \| 02/2013 \| Per schedule \| ACA Meeting \| VPAA \| \| 02/2013 \| Per schedule \| Career Orientation \| SOM \| \| 02/2013 \| Per schedule \| 63rd Founding Anniversary of DYCI \| OEA & DYCI Org. \| \| 02/2013 \| Per schedule \| Blood-Letting with NKTI \| OEA/CON \| \| 02/2013 \| Per schedule \| Celebration of Oral Hygiene Month with KADEBU \| OEA/MDC \| \| 02/2013 \| Everyday \| Checking of electrical facilities \| SSD \| \| 02/2013 \| 1st Wed & 1st Fri \| Assistance for Mass (College and Basic Education) \| SSD \| \| 02/2013 \| 1st week of the month \| Property Tagging \| SSD \| \| 02/2013 \| 1 week \| 63rd Founding Anniversary – DYCI \| DYCI Org. \| \| MARCH 2013 \| \| \| \| \| 03/01/2013 \| Friday \| Community Mass \| SPS-CM/ Colleges \| \| 03/01/2013 \| Friday \| Staff Meeting \| CCDIT/QMS \| \| 03/01/2013 \| Friday \| Midwifery 103 Seminar \| SOM \| \| 03/02/2013 \| Saturday \| Cleaning of drainage and gutter \| SSD \| GRADE SCH. RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS 03/02/2013 DAY Saturday ACTIVITIES Evaluation of Community \| 03/02/2013 \| Saturday \| Documentation and Preparation of Narrative Report \| NSTP \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 03/04/2013 \| Monday \| Updating of documents \| SSD \| \| 03/04/2013 \| Monday \| 3rd Trimester Opening of classes for Batch 26 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 03/04/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CHMT \| \| 03/04-08/2013 \| Mon-Fri \| NCM 107 Seminar Week \| CON \| \| 03/04-15/2013 \| 2 weeks \| RLE (PCM) for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 0306/2013 \| Wednesday \| Risk Management Meeting for SY 2013-2014 \| QMS/RISK MGT COMMITTEE \| \| 03/06/2013 \| Wednesday \| Faculty Meeting \| CON \| \| 03/07/2012 \| Thursday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| CAS \| \| 03/08/2013 \| Friday \| Release of approved TQs/TOS for Final Exam \| CCDIT \| \| 03/08-09/2013 \| Saturday \| FINAL EXAM (Graduating and Honor Pupils) \| GRADE SCH \| \| 03/09/2013 \| Saturday \| Compilation and finalization of documentation on Community Immersion \| NSTP \| \| 03/09/2013 \| Saturday \| YMPACT Monthly Meeting \| CBA \| \| 03/11-12/2013 \| Mon-Tue \| Staff Performance Evaluation by Client \| LIBRARY \| \| 03/14-15/2013 \| Thu-Fri \| FINAL EXAM (Undergraduate) \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 03/14-15/2013 \| Thu-Fri \| Retreat 4th year \| CHMT \| \| 03/15/2013 \| Friday \| Announcement of Honors (Final) \| GRADE SCH. \| \| 03/16/2013 \| Saturday \| NSTP Pre-Graduation Practice and submission of requirements \| NSTP \| \| 03/16/2013 \| Saturday \| Pre-Board Examination \| CON \| \| 03/18/2013 \| Monday \| Faculty & Staff Meeting \| SOM \| \| 03/18-20/2013 \| Mon-Wed \| FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) for Graduating Students \| RO/Colleges \| \| 03/18-19/2013 \| Mon-Tue \| Pre-Board Examination rationalization \| CON \| \| 03/20/2013 \| Wednesday \| Thanksgiving Ceremony \| CHMT \| \| 03/21-22/2013 \| Thu-Fri \| TESDA Review/Orientation for Batch 25 \| CAREGIVER \| \| 03/21-23/2013 \| Thu-Sat \| FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK (2nd Semester, AY 2012-2013) for Non-Graduating Students \| RO/Colleges \| \| 03/22/2013 \| Friday \| Implementation of FRIDAY CAMPAIGNS @Batia Elem. School \| OEA \| \| 03/22/2013 \| Friday \| Publication –The Servant \| PRDO \| \| 03/23/2013 \| Saturday \| NSTP Graduation \| NSTP \| \| 03/23/2013 \| Saturday \| Graduation Ball \| CHMT \| \| 03/25/2013 \| Monday \| Midwifery 103 Case Presentation/ Revalida and CI Evaluation \| SOM \| \| 03/25/2013 \| Monday \| Opening of Classes for Summer 2013 \| CON \| \| 03/25-29/2013 \| Mon-Fri \| Make-Up Duty \| SOM \| NSTP DAY ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE UNIT STATUS 03/26/2013 Tuesday Final Defense PRDO STATUS 04/19/2013 DAY Friday ACTIVITIES Publication RESPONSIBLE UNIT PRDO
The "Normalization" of Argentine Politics Steven Levitsky Journal of Democracy, Volume 11, Number 2, April 2000, pp. 56-69 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2000.0040 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/17037 Levitsky.new created from email by SL on 1-27 (6185 words). Levitsky.txt created by ME on 2/ 1 (5878 words). PRE created from TXT by SL on 2/2. Chart created in PRE by SL on 2/4. MP edits entered by ME on 2/4 (5879 words). AA's entered by ME on 2/7 (5910 words). Further AA's entered on 2/23 (5914 words). PRE revised with TXT by SL on 2/23. PGS created from PRE by SL on 2/23. THE "NORMALIZATION" OF ARGENTINE POLITICS Steven Levitsky Steven Levitsky, assistant professor of government at Harvard University, is the author (with David Collier) of "Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research," published in April 1997 in World Politics. His essay "Fujimori and Post-Party Politics in Peru" appeared in the July 1999 issue of the Journal of Democracy. On 24 October 1999, Fernando de la Rua of the opposition Alliance for Jobs, Justice, and Education was elected president of Argentina, defeating Eduardo Duhalde of the incumbent Justicialista (or Peronist) Party (PJ) by a margin of 49 percent to 38 percent. Former economics minister Domingo Cavallo, running on the center-right Action for the Republic party ticket, finished third with 10 percent. The election was unprecedented in several respects. De la Rua's assumption of the presidency marked the first time that Argentine democracy had survived two consecutive transfers of power from one party to another, as well as the first time that a Peronist had been removed from national office by democratic means. In addition, the new Alliance government, which is made up of the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) and the center-left Front for a Country in Solidarity (FREPASO), is the first real coalition government in Argentina's modern democratic history. Perhaps the most striking change, however, was the routine—even boring—character of the election. De la Rua, a conventional politician without any of the charisma or "outsider" appeal of his predecessor Carlos Menem, ran a bland campaign that centered on clean government and institutional integrity. And in stark contrast to 1989, when hyperinflation and mass looting forced Raúl Alfonsín to hand over the presidency to Menem six months before the end of his term, the 1999 transition took place without a hitch and virtually without controversy. In short, a central characteristic of the 1999 election— Argentina's tenth national election since the collapse of military rule in 1983—was the unprecedented degree to which electoral politics had become routinized. This turn toward "normalized" democratic politics represents a major break with the past. For most of this century, Argentina has been considered one of the world's leading democratic underachievers. Despite its high levels of wealth and education, large middle class, relatively egalitarian social structure, and developed civil society, civilian regimes repeatedly broke down between 1930 and 1976. As Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi note, Argentina is the wealthiest country ever to have suffered a democratic breakdown. 1 Moreover, only a few years ago, the Menem government's concentration and abuse of executive power seemed to suggest that Argentine democracy remained badly flawed. Scholars offered relatively pessimistic assessments of the regime, often treating it as a leading case of unconsolidated or "delegative" democracy. 2 By the end of the decade, however, Argentina had diverged substantially from other "problematic" cases in Latin America (such as Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and had in many ways begun to resemble its better institutionalized neighbors in Chile and Uruguay. These developments suggest the need to rethink some recent accounts of contemporary Argentine democracy. In retrospect, many of these analyses appear to have been overly pessimistic: They tended to overstate the degree and impact of the Menem government's abuses of executive power, and they tended to understate important democratic advances that, while partially obscured by Menem's "hypermajoritarian" behavior, nevertheless continued through the 1990s. Reexamining Argentine Democracy Argentine democracy evolved in diverging and seemingly contradictory ways in the 1990s. On the one hand, the Menem government's concentration and abuse of power weakened representative institutions, thereby eroding what Guillermo O'Donnell has called "horizontal accountability." 3 President Menem governed in a highly unilateral manner, acting in ways that were often perceived to violate the spirit—if not the letter—of the constitution. In 1990, for example, the government pushed through legislation (over the objections of the opposition and with a contested quorum) expanding the size of the Supreme Court from five to nine judges and then stacked it with Menem loyalists. Menem also made widespread use of his power to issue executive decrees, issuing 336 "Decrees of Necessity and Urgency" between July 1989 and August 1994. By contrast, the government of Raúl Alfonsín issued just 10 such decrees between 1983 and 1989. Finally, Menem's reckless pursuit of constitutional reforms permitting his reelection also had a debilitating effect on democratic institutions. In 1994, Menem essentially bullied the UCR into negotiating a constitutional reform by threatening to hold a plebiscite on the issue. Faced with the likelihood that Menem would win the vote and the real possibility that such an outcome would provoke an institutional crisis, UCR leader Raúl Alfonsín abandoned his opposition to reelection and negotiated what became known as the Olivos Pact. In 1998, despite the clear unconstitutionality of running for a third term, Menem pushed the Peronist party congress to declare its support for his candidacy, toyed publicly with the idea of another plebiscite, and finally sought—unsuccessfully—to gain a court ruling permitting his candidacy. Even when the government remained within its constitutional bounds, its failure to seek a multiparty consensus even on constitutional issues (like the reelection clause and the size of the Supreme Court) and other matters of fundamental importance to democracy (like the 1990 pardon of military officers imprisoned for human rights violations during the 1976–83 dictatorship) clearly had a debilitating effect on the country's already fragile republican institutions. In light of this hypermajoritarian and at times dubiously constitutional behavior, scholars tend to characterize Argentine democracy as having fared poorly—and even as having regressed—in the 1990s. Following the important work of Guillermo O'Donnell, for example, contemporary Argentina is frequently characterized as a "delegative democracy." 4 It has also been variously described as a "democracy in turmoil," 5 a "persistently unconsolidated" democracy, 6 and a case of "neopopulism." 7 Some analysts even raised concerns that the Menem government would not leave power peacefully. 8 Although the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of Argentine democracy certainly merit attention, they are not the whole story. Indeed, attention to the "delegative" tendencies of the Menem government has tended to obscure a range of other dimensions on which the regime fared rather well. Argentine democracy consolidated and in some respects even "deepened" in the 1990s. In terms of the core features of political democracy, for example, Argentina scored better than most of its Latin American neighbors—including Brazil and Chile—throughout the decade. 9 The fairness of elections was unquestioned, basic civil and political rights were broadly and consistently protected, and press freedom was extensive. 10 Although there was a troubling rise in the number of threats and attacks on journalists during the Menem administration, 11 the overall climate was one of extensive freedom, and the Argentine media were arguably the most vigorous, independent, and sophisticated in Latin America. Democratic rights were buttressed by a relatively well-organized and active civil society. Civic organizations responded vigorously to acts of political violence perpetuated by groups with reputed ties to the state. For example, both the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in downtown Buenos Aires (which killed 86 people) and the 1997 murder of news photographer José Luis Cabezas were met with large-scale protests and sustained, well-organized campaigns that compelled the government to undertake serious investigations. Perhaps the greatest democratic advances were made in the area of civil-military relations. The Argentine military, which carried out six coups between 1930 and 1976 and was responsible for massive human rights violations during the 1976–83 dictatorship, is now thoroughly under civilian control. In contrast to neighboring countries such as Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, as well as Argentina under the Alfonsín government, the military's presence in politics is now virtually nil. Military officers do not issue independent proclamations, and their subordination to civilian authorities is unquestioned. Moreover, the internal culture of the armed forces shifted in a substantially more democratic direction in the 1990s. This shift was clearly seen in General Martín Balza's public recognition of military wrongdoing during the 1976–83 "Dirty War." Such an act—particularly by the country's highest-ranking military officer—would have been unthinkable a decade earlier. President Menem, whose reputed ties to former military rebels and 1990 pardon of top military officers made him an unlikely candidate to advance civilian supremacy, played a major role in reining in the military. After crushing a military rebellion in 1990, Menem slashed the military's budget from 2.6 to 1.7 percent of GDP, reduced the size of the army by a third, abolished the draft, and privatized military-owned enterprises. In addition to these advances on the core aspects of democracy, a variety of institutional innovations—many of which were part of the 1994 constitutional reform—can be said to have improved the quality of democracy. These include the direct election of the president (previously elected via an electoral college), of senators (previously elected by provincial legislatures), and of the mayor of the Federal Capital (previously appointed by the president); the passage of legislation requiring that every third spot on parties' legislative lists be occupied by a woman; the introduction of a national ombudsman (Controladuría); and the elimination of the requirement that the president be a Roman Catholic. 12 Finally, on the dimension of horizontal accountability, the "delegative" nature of the Argentine regime may have been somewhat overstated. To the extent that the delegative label fit the Argentine case under the Menem government, it did so only for its first 18–24 months in office. It was during this period that Menem stacked the Supreme Court, pardoned top military officers, and issued the most controversial "Necessity and Urgency Decrees." Although Menem remained a powerful president after 1990, he cannot be said to have governed at the margins of political parties and the legislature. Notwithstanding his often plebiscitarian rhetoric, Menem was routinely forced to negotiate with the PJ legislative leadership, governors, and top business and labor representatives. Indeed, virtually all of the government's post-1990 reform measures, including the 1991 Convertibility Plan (which by law pegs the Argentine peso to the dollar at a one-to-one rate, and is widely credited with ending hyperinflation), went through the congress, and many of these initiatives were either substantially modified or blocked entirely. Finally, although the 1994 constitutional reform process was born of Menem's rather single-minded effort to gain reelection, the final product was based on an important set of compromises with the UCR. Moreover, the new constitution was approved by all of the major political parties, which infused it with a degree of political consensus that was unprecedented in modern Argentine history. In sum, while some aspects of Argentina's democratic regime were weakened under Menem, others—including basic political liberties, freedom of the press, and civilian control over the military—were maintained and even strengthened. Indeed, these democratic rights remained intact through both the 1989–90 hyperinflation crisis and the Menem government's radical economic reforms. Although the Argentine liberalization process was among the most rapid and far-reaching in the world, it was undertaken without limits on democratic contestation (as in pre1989 Chile and Mexico), an autogolpe (as in Peru), violent repression of protests (as in Venezuela), or labor repression and states of siege (as in Bolivia). The Threat of Hypermajoritarianism Notwithstanding the relative strengths of contemporary Argentine democracy, there is little question that hypermajoritarianism posed a serious threat to the quality—if not the stability—of the country's representative institutions in the early 1990s. The Menem government's concentration and abuse of power was facilitated by a distinctive power imbalance that emerged as a result of the 1989–90 hyperinflation crisis and its aftermath. The crisis weakened civil society and dulled public opposition to abuses of power. Indeed, many politicians and citizens alike welcomed Menem's "strong hand" as necessary to combat hyperinflation. This situation was exacerbated by the government's extraordinary success in stabilizing the economy, as a result of which Menem and Economic Minister Domingo Cavallo came to be viewed as "indispensable" by much of the economic elite and a significant fraction of the electorate. This perceived indispensability raised the threshold of public tolerance for abuses of power. It also facilitated Menem's effort to reform the constitution and run for reelection. The fact that reelection was backed by the bulk of the economic establishment and—according to surveys—a large majority of voters helped Menem break down the opposition of the UCR via a threat to hold a plebiscite on the issue. TABLE—THE FRAGMENTATION OF THE OPPOSITION VOTE, 1991–95 (Percentages) \| PARTY \| 1991 LEGISLATIVE \| 1993 LEGISLATIVE \| 1994 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY \| 1995 PRESIDENTIAL \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| PJ UCR Big Front/ FREPASO Right/Provincial1 Left / Center-Left MODIN2 (Nationalist) \| 40 29 -- 16 11 4 \| 43 30 4 11 3 6 \| 39 21 13 12 3 9 \| 50 17 29 -- 2 2 \| 1 This includes the conservative Center Democratic Union (UCeDe), which received 6 percent of the presidential vote and 9 percent of the legislative vote in 1989 but declined precipitously thereafter. 2 Movement for Dignity and National Independence, led by former military rebel Aldo Rico. Sources: Data taken from Rosendo Fraga, Argentina en las Urnas 1916–1994 (Buenos Aires: Editorial Centro de Estudios Unión Para la Nueva Mayoria, 1995). The crisis also weakened and fragmented the political opposition. The UCR was discredited both by the disastrous economic performance of the Alfonsín government and by the party's support for the Olivos Pact. As the Radicals' electoral performance declined (from a high of 52 percent in 1983 to just 17 percent in 1995), the middle-class antiPeronist vote fragmented. In urban centers such as the Federal Capital, middle-class votes migrated to the Big Front (which later became FREPASO), a new center-left coalition that captured 13 percent of the vote in the 1994 constituent assembly elections and a striking 29 percent in the 1995 presidential elections. In the interior, middle-class votes migrated to a range of provincial parties. Hence, while the bulk of the middle-class electorate continued to vote anti-Peronist in the 1991–95 period, this opposition vote was dispersed among several competing parties. The result was a weak and divided opposition widely perceived as incapable of posing a serious alternative to Menem. Menem's perceived indispensability and the crisis of the opposition enabled the PJ to establish itself as a near-dominant party in the party system in the 1989–95 period. Menem brought together two distinct segments of the electorate: 1) "Menemist" voters (approximately 10–15 percent of the electorate)—independent and generally conservative middle-class and upper-middle-class voters who backed the PJ out of support for the economic program; and 2) traditional—predominantly working and lower class—Peronist voters (approximately 30–35 percent of the electorate). Together, these two segments constituted a powerful electoral coalition; in the face of a fragmented opposition, this coalition became virtually unbeatable. As the Table above shows, the PJ easily won the 1991 and 1993 midterm elections and the 1994 constituent assembly elections, and Menem won by an overwhelming margin in the 1995 presidential election. Despite the fact that the PJ won only a plurality in each of these elections, its margin of victory never fell below 11 percentage points. The PJ's string of landslide victories (which, going back to 1987, totaled six in a row) and the perceived absence of a viable opposition raised fears that the PJ would establish itself as a hegemonic party. Some observers even began to speak ominously of the "Mexicanization" of Argentine politics. While single-party dominance is not necessarily undemocratic, in a country with fragile republican institutions and virtually no tradition of consensus-based politics, such a context creates dangerous opportunities for the abuse of governmental power. As noted above, President Menem did in fact take advantage of this temporary power imbalance to govern in a highly unilateral manner. Had Peronism's political dominance continued, such hypermajoritarianism might have seriously eroded the country's representative institutions. As it turned out, however, the threat of Peronist hegemony proved to be a paper tiger, and the specter of "Mexicanization" quickly evaporated. The Transition to "Postcrisis" Politics The crisis conditions that gave birth to both Menemism and hypermajoritarianism eroded during Menem's second term. Two developments were critical to this outcome. The first was the emergence of what might be called "postcrisis" politics. Between 1989 and 1993, the salience of the economic crisis was such that other issues, including those surrounding Menem's abuse of power, were devalued by a large sector of the electorate. Over the course of the 1990s, however, fears of a return to hyperinflation faded and economic stability was increasingly taken for granted. As a result, postcrisis issues like corruption, consumer rights, and judicial independence gained salience. The emergence of these new issues reshaped the dynamics of political competition, largely at the expense of the Peronists. Because the Menem government fared poorly on most postcrisis issues (particularly corruption), its image began to erode as the atmosphere of crisis subsided. A second (and related) development was the resurrection and unification of the middle-class opposition. The UCR and FREPASO, which had been widely viewed as incapable of governing in the early and mid-1990s, undertook two critical strategic changes beginning in 1994. First, they accepted the core elements of the new economic model. Aware that they could not build a winning electoral coalition in opposition to the Menem reforms, FREPASO leaders announced in late 1994 that they would not seek to modify the government's Convertibility Plan, privatization, or trade liberalization. Although the UCR opposed the Convertibility Plan in the 1995 election, most Radical leaders committed themselves to the new model after 1995. Second, the UCR and FREPASO formed the Alliance in August 1997, which ended the PJ's electoral "hegemony" virtually overnight. With the bulk of the (predominantly middle-class) anti-Peronist vote united into a single bloc, the PJ's capacity to win elections—let alone landslides—with 40–45 percent of the vote was suddenly open to question. With the emergence of the Alliance as a credible alternative, Menem and the PJ ceased to be perceived as indispensable for economic stability. The Alliance's commitment to the Convertibility Plan—made public on the very day of its formation—was widely viewed as credible. According to a September 1997 survey, for example, 95 percent of Argentines believed that economic stability would survive into the future, no matter who was in power. 13 A survey of business leaders carried out during the same month found that 72 percent believed that the economy would remain the same or improve if the Alliance gained power. 14 These changes shifted the balance of power in the Argentine party system. Less than six months after its formation, the Alliance defeated the PJ by 46 to 36 percent in the 1997 legislative elections. This victory was made possible by the large-scale defection of independent— predominantly middle-class and upper-middle-class—voters who, confident that economic stability was assured, gave priority to noneconomic issues like corruption, judicial independence, and education. The Alliance and Cavallo's Action for the Republic party, 15 both of which centered their campaigns on such "postreform" issues, captured a large number of these ex-"Menemist" voters, essentially reducing the PJ to its core working-class and lower-class electorate. As a result, the PJ's string of six straight electoral victories—and more importantly, the aura of Peronist hegemony—was broken. The change in the balance of power was also made manifest in 1998, when Menem engaged in a reckless, if ultimately half-hearted, attempt to run for a third term. Menem had succeeded in reforming the constitution in 1994 because he enjoyed the support of his party, of the bulk of the economic establishment, of roughly two-thirds of the electorate, and—with the Olivos Pact—of the UCR. Four years later, however, the situation had changed markedly. Not only was Menem's "re-reelection" bid opposed by half of the PJ and a large part of the economic establishment, but surveys showed that an overwhelming majority (about 80 percent) of Argentines rejected it as well. Moreover, the opposition to Menem's reelection bid was strong and united and included Cavallo. Menem sought to obtain a favorable ruling from the Menemist-dominated Supreme Court, but in this new political context, the president's allies on the court, aware of the potential consequences of such an illegitimate ruling (including impeachment and even prosecution if Menem were to lose the election), quietly made it clear that they would take no such action. As a result, Menem was left with no alternative but to hand over the presidency, as scheduled, in December 1999. The October 1999 Elections The October 1999 elections marked the consolidation of postcrisis politics. As in 1997, the Alliance neutralized the PJ's advantage on the economic issue by unambiguously accepting the new economic model, which enabled the election to be fought out over postcrisis issues. Both de la Rua and third-party candidate Domingo Cavallo effectively presented themselves as postcrisis alternatives, combining a promise of economic continuity with a clean-government appeal. De la Rua, who was the heavy favorite from the outset, ran a cautious campaign. He made few mistakes and—beyond his pledge to clean up government— few promises. Although many of de la Rua's FREPASO allies were uncomfortable with the conservative tone of the campaign, FREPASO leader and vice-presidential candidate Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez kept them in line, and the Alliance suffered surprisingly little internal conflict. By contrast, Duhalde's candidacy was plagued with difficulties. The PJ, torn between Menem's neoliberalism and Duhalde's more populist profile, was unable to present a coherent message. Moreover, due to the intense power struggle that arose as a result of Menem's unwillingness to give up control of the party, Duhalde's campaign received little support from—and often appeared to be actively undermined by—the president. Most importantly, however, the PJ failed to build a broad multiclass appeal. Duhalde, whose record as governor of the province of Buenos Aires included alliances with a variety of shady political figures and a failure to reign in the province's notoriously corrupt and abusive police force, never made serious inroads into the middle-class electorate. The Alliance's victory was thus a product of the breakdown of the Menemist electoral coalition. Although Duhalde managed to retain the bulk of the traditional Peronist electorate, he failed to attract most of the independent and conservative voters who had backed Menem in 1995. These voters, no longer perceiving the PJ as indispensable for economic stability and growing increasingly intolerant of the Menem government's corruption and abuses, opted en masse for the Alliance or Cavallo. Hence, although the PJ was hurt by the economic downturn that marked the final year of Menem's presidency, its defeat was not primarily the result of public opposition to the government's economic program. It was generally wealthier, proreform voters, rather than the poor or the unemployed, who abandoned the PJ in 1997 and 1999. While some of these voters defected in response to the recession, most appear to have done so in response to the government's shortcomings on noneconomic issues. Paradoxically, then, the unraveling of the Menemist coalition was in large part a product of the Menem government's own economic success. Only when the reforms had been consolidated and economic stability could be taken for granted did postcrisis issues like corruption and judicial independence gain salience, and only then did the independent voters who had sustained the Menemist coalition abandon the PJ. In many ways, the October election represented a victory for conventional politics. Whereas the early 1990s had witnessed the rise of "outsider" and antiparty candidates, including ex-athletes, musicians, and even former military leaders, the 1999 election was dominated by traditional parties and politicians. De la Rua is a classic career politician. A longtime UCR leader, he had been a familiar face in Argentine politics—most recently as mayor of the city of Buenos Aires—for nearly three decades. Moreover, as de la Rua himself repeatedly recognized throughout the campaign, he was a relatively boring candidate. Unlike Menem, he did not race sports cars or appear in public with celebrities; he rarely made newsworthy public statements and promised few sweeping policy changes. Nevertheless, he was quite popular. A similar story unfolded at the provincial level, where established politicians captured virtually every one of the country's 23 governorships. "Outsider" or nonparty candidates were scarce and generally fared poorly. 16 The election thus showed the continued strength of Argentina's two traditionally dominant parties. After more than a decade of decline, the UCR regained both the presidency and the governorships of such key provinces as Entre Rios and Mendoza; although the PJ lost the presidency, it won nearly two-thirds of the country's governorships and remains Argentina's largest party. Given the cycles of political conflict, regime instability, and repression that characterized Argentine politics for much of the postwar period, the advent of a more conventional, routinized, and even boring politics is almost certainly a positive development. The 1999 election may also produce important changes in the way politics is done in Argentina. The hypermajoritarianism that characterized the Menem government is likely to be replaced by a more consensus-based politics. Whereas the economic crisis and the weakness and discrediting of the UCR permitted Menem to concentrate power and govern unilaterally, the post-Menemist political map is much more pluralist. Because the de la Rua government is based on a coalition rather than a single party, policy making will require constant negotiations between the UCR and FREPASO. Moreover, the PJ controls 14 of 23 governorships, including those of the three largest and most industrialized provinces (Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santa Fe), and the Peronists maintain firm control of the senate. The Alliance also fell short (albeit barely) of a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and will therefore have to build alliances with provincial parties or Action for the Republic. Finally, the new government will (at least initially) face a Supreme Court with a pro-Menem majority. In short, power is fragmented. To govern effectively, de la Rua will have to negotiate and share power, not only with his FREPASO allies, but also with the Peronists. This new pattern of consensus-based policy making was evident in the passage of the de la Rua government's first budget in late December 1999. After several weeks of haggling, the final budget was based on a compromise with top Peronist governors and senate leaders. While such consensus-building is the essence of "normal" democratic politics, in a country where democracy has often degenerated into hypermajoritarianism, it represents a major change. Prospects for the Future There are real reasons for optimism regarding the future of Argentine democracy. All the country's major social and political actors have demonstrated a clear commitment to democratic "rules of the game" for more than a decade, and those rules are buttressed by a relatively strong civil society, vigorous independent media, and a reasonably stable and effective party system. Moreover, a broad consensus has developed in the party system around the most fundamental issues facing the country, including macroeconomic policy, military policy, and foreign policy. Although one may question the benefits of such a Chile-like narrowing of the agenda for the quality of political representation, it will almost certainly contribute to regime stability. In the economic realm, the end of the hyperinflation crisis has been critical to the stabilization of politics; it has enhanced state capacity, lengthened the time horizons of social and political actors, and reduced the likelihood of praetorianism and large-scale social conflict. Finally, many of the factors that have been cited as major sources of past regime instability, such as the existence of a powerful populist "threat" and the party system's failure to adequately protect the interests of the country's socioeconomic elite, 17 have largely disappeared. With the weakening of organized labor and Menem's embrace of orthodox economic policies, neither Peronism nor the Peronist-dominated labor movement poses a serious threat to economic elites, and although Argentina continues to lack a conservative party, business leaders and conservative elites have been extremely well represented in both the Menem and de la Rua governments. In sum, although the concept of consolidation is a notoriously slippery one, 18 it is reasonable to suggest that Argentine democracy has been consolidated. What are the short-term prospects for democratic governance under the Alliance? Some observers have suggested that the Peronist opposition could become a destabilizing force under de la Rua as it did under past non-Peronist elected governments in the 1960s and—to a lesser extent— the 1980s. Indeed, only slightly more than a decade ago, the Peronistled General Labor Confederation (CGT) led 13 general strikes against the Alfonsín government. Yet there are reasons to expect the PJ to adopt a more conciliatory posture today. First, organized labor is weaker than it has been at any time since 1945, and because its future strength hinges on the de la Rua government's policies on issues like labor-market deregulation and the union-administered health insurance system, it has a strong incentive to negotiate with, rather than confront, the new government. Second, the PJ, lacking an institutionalized authority structure, is likely to fragment in opposition. Although this would make it harder to negotiate programmatic accords, it would also reduce the likelihood that Peronism will pose a serious threat to governability. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the PJ has undergone a fundamental transformation since the 1980s. For the first time, the PJ now has an experienced, professionalized leadership, both in the governorships and in the legislature. The party's emerging leaders— particularly newly elected governors José Manuel de la Sota (Córdoba), Carlos Reutemann (Santa Fe), and Carlos Ruckauf (Buenos Aires)— have a strong stake in maintaining political and economic stability, for their future presidential aspirations hinge on their capacity to govern well in their provinces. The PJ leader with the greatest stake in de la Rua's failure is probably Menem, for a new crisis is probably his only means of returning to the presidency in 2003. Yet although Menem remains party president, he has little influence over the Peronist governors, which will severely limit his capacity to rally the party behind a hard-line oppositionist project. Indeed, it was the governors, not Menem, who defined the PJ's strategy during the initial months of the de la Rua administration. The greatest challenges to the new government will likely be the economy and crime. The Convertibility Plan leaves governments in a difficult bind. On the one hand, abandoning convertibility is nearly impossible from a political standpoint, both because of widespread fear of renewed inflation and because such a change requires congressional approval (and the initiation of congressional debate on the issue risks provoking a flurry of speculation). On the other hand, the peso is almost certainly overvalued, and convertibility has sharply limited the government's capacity to respond to either Brazil's recent devaluation or the recent economic downturn. Unable to use monetary policy or the exchange rate as macroeconomic tools, Argentine governments have little alternative but to turn repeatedly to fiscal adjustment. To make matters worse, the de la Rua government inherited a substantial fiscal deficit, which compelled it to pursue a new adjustment program immediately after taking office. With unemployment hovering around 14 percent and many middle-class and working-class Argentines still reeling from a decade of adjustment, it unclear how long these cycles of belt-tightening can be sustained. A second area of concern is public security. The crime issue has raised so much public concern that Buenos Aires governor Carlos Ruckauf appointed Aldo Rico, an ultranationalist former military rebel who espouses highly authoritarian means of maintaining public order (and put some of them into practice as mayor of the municipality of San Miguel), as his secretary of security. That Rico's appointment was not only acceptable but indeed highly popular in Argentina's largest province suggests that the failure of moderate and liberal politicians to address the crime problem adequately could have very negative implications for civil liberties. Given the relative strength of Argentina's core democratic institutions, however, these problems are unlikely to be regime-threatening. If de la Rua can deliver on his promise of a "boring" government without major scandals, large-scale policy reversals, or institutional crises, the routinization—and perhaps deepening—of Argentine democracy can be expected to continue. Indeed, it is one of the great paradoxes of Menem's presidency that at its close, in spite of Menem's evident lack of interest in strengthening democratic institutions, the prospects for stable democracy have perhaps never been better. NOTES The author thanks David Altman, Javier Corrales, Jorge Domínguez, Sebastian Etchemendy, James McGuire, Michael Shifter, and Guillermo O'Donnell for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. 1. Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi, "Modernization: Theories and Facts," World Politics 49 (January 1997), 170. 2. See Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy," Journal of Democracy 5 (January 1994): 55–69; Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996): 200–204; Larry Diamond, Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), 34–35. 3. See Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy" and Guillermo O'Donnell, "Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies," Journal of Democracy 9 (July 1998): 112–26. 4. See Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy"; Liliana De Riz, "Argentina: Democracy in Turmoil," in Jorge I. Domínguez and Abraham F. Lowenthal, eds., Constructing Democratic Governance: South America in the 1990s (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996); Carlos S. Ni~no, "Hyper-Presidentialism and Constitutional Reform," in Arend Lijphart and Carlos H. Waisman, eds., Institutional Design in New Democracies (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1996); Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation, 200–204; Ferrera Rubio and Goretti, "When the President Governs Alone"; and Larry Diamond, Developing Democracy, 34–35. For a critique of this view, see Vicente Palermo and Marcos Novaro, Politica y poder en el gobierno de Menem (Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma Ensayo, 1996), 477–505. 5. Liliana De Riz, "Argentina: Democracy in Turmoil." 6. Philippe C. Schmitter, "Transitology: The Science or the Art of Democratization?" in Joseph S. Tulchin (with Bernice Romero), ed., The Consolidation of Democracy in Latin America (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1995), 17. 7. Kenneth M. Roberts, "Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Populism in Latin America: The Peruvian Case," World Politics 48 (October 1995): 110–11; Kurt Weyland, "Neopopulism and Neoliberalism in Latin America: Unexpected Affinities," Studies in Comparative International Development 31 (Fall 1996), 3. 8. Liliana De Riz, "Argentina: Democracy in Turmoil," 165; and Marcos Novaro, "Shifting Alliances: Party Politics in Argentina," NACLA Report on the Americas 31 (May–June 1998), 15. 9. Argentina scores better than Brazil and slightly worse than Chile on Freedom House's 1998–99 index. However, in several areas, including civilian control over the military and some civil liberties (such as free speech), the Argentine record is arguably better than that of Chile. 10. In 1992, President Menem attempted to enact a "Truth in the Press" law that would have threatened press freedom. However, the measure provoked substantial public opposition and was abandoned. 11. According to Freedom House, more than 1,000 attacks on, or threats to, journalists were reported during Menem's ten years in office. Among the most notorious cases are the 1993 beating of Hernan López Echague (who was writing a book on Buenos Aires governor Eduardo Duhalde) by thugs linked to Duhalde's political machine and the 1997 killing of news photographer José Luis Cabezas, apparently at the orders of mafia boss Alfredo Yabran, who has maintained ties to several top government officials. 12. See James W. McGuire, Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997), 252–53. 13. Clarín (Buenos Aires), 4 September 1997, 9. 14. Clarín (Buenos Aires), 22 September 1997, 11. 15. After leaving the government in 1996, Cavallo became one of Menem's most vocal critics, particularly on issues of corruption. 16. Such was the case in the Buenos Aires suburb of La Matanza, where a television personality known as "Pinky" lost a highly publicized mayoral race to a little known PJ politician; in Buenos Aires, where the outsider gubernatorial candidacy of former police official Luis Patti fizzled; and in Tucuman, where ex-General Antonio Bussi's Republican Force was defeated by PJ senator Julio Miranda. 17. See Torcuato Di Tella, "Stalemate or Coexistence in Argentina," in James Petras and Maurice Zeitlin, eds., Latin America: Reform or Revolution (Greenwich: Fawcett Publishers, 1968), 323–24; Guillermo O'Donnell, Modernization and BureaucraticAuthoritarianism (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, 1979), 167–97; Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier, Shaping the Political Arena (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 105; and Edward Gibson, Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). 18. See Guillermo O'Donnell, "Illusions About Consolidation," Journal of Democracy 7 (April 1996): 34–51.
The Italian version of the Erasmus MC modifications to the Nottingham Sensory Assessment (EmNSA-I) for patients following brain lesion: translation and reliability study. Abstract Introduction: Sensory impairment is frequent following brain lesion, but no validated tool is available in Italian language for sensory assessment. The aim of this study is to develop the Italian version of the Erasmus MC modifications to the Nottingham Sensory Assessment (EmNSA-I) and investigate its internal consistency, intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. Methods: All consecutive patients diagnosed with acquired brain injury or stroke were considered for inclusion in the study. The translation and cultural adaptation process was completed and the testing procedures of the EmNSA-I were standardized. Subsequently, internal consistency, intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the EmNSA-I were investigated. Conclusion: The EmNSA-I is a reliable screening tool and the only one in the Italian language to evaluate primary somatosensory impairments in rehabilitation department inpatients with acquired brain injury or stroke. Further research is necessary to consolidate these results and establish the validity and responsiveness of the Italian version of the Erasmus MC modifications to the NSA. For Peer Review Results : A consecutive sample of 34 inpatients was enrolled. The internal consistency of the tactile sensations and the proprioception items of the EmNSA-I were generally acceptable to excellent with a range of Cronbach's alpha between 0.73 and 0.97. The intra-rater reliability of the tactile sensations and the proprioception items of the EmNSA-I were generally good to excellent with a range of weighted kappa coefficients between 0.47 and 1.00. Likewise, the inter-rater reliabilities of these items were predominantly good to excellent with a range of weighted kappa coefficients between 0.42 and 0.92. Introduction Acquired brain injuries often result in a loss of sensation. Sensory impairment seems to be present in at least 60% of stroke survivors. 1 No specific data report epidemiology and impact of sensory loss following traumatic brain injuries. Tactile sensation is normally more affected than proprioceptive sensation, with greater involvement of the upper limb compared to the lower limb. 2 Somatosensory function plays an important role in full motor impairment recovery and absence of sensory impairment was recorded in all patients with full motor recovery. 3 Sensation plays an important role in motor control during gait, responding to environmental and physiological conditions. 4 An alteration in sensory input is known to increase risk of falls. 5 In functional activities of the upper limb sensation correlates to timing and strength during reaching and grasping. 6 Independence in activities of daily living and participation is negatively influenced by impaired sensation. 2,7 The Nottingham Sensory Assessment (NSA) was first created in the UK in 1991, 10 revised by the same authors in 1998. 11 In 2006 a new revision of the scale was tested on patients with intracranial disorders of various etiology. This scale, Erasmus MC modifications to the (revised) Nottingham Sensory Assessment (EmNSA), showed good to excellent reliability. 12 For Peer Review For these reasons, health professionals consider an evaluation of sensation key in the global assessment of patients in a clinical rehabilitation setting. 8 However, it is not always investigated thoroughly in clinical practice and a validated tool in the Italian language was not found in the literature. An appropriate tool in the assessment of patients following brain injury should be simple and fast to complete, non-ambiguous, and reliable both in terms of internal consistency and intra- and inter- rater reliability. 9 The EmNSA differs from other assessments of sensation available in the literature as it assesses all body parts and requires limited time and cost [12]. This study aims to translate the EmNSA in the Italian language and evaluate the reliability of the Italian version in terms of internal consistency and intra- and inter- rater reliability in patients with acquired brain injury or stroke. 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 48 47 49 51 50 52 54 53 55 57 56 58 60 59 Methods The study took place at the rehabilitation department of the Ferrara University Hospital. The project was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Province of Ferrara (protocol n.32/2012) and follows the principles identified by the Helsinki declaration. Reporting of all process was conducted following STARD statement (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies). 13 A STARD checklist is available as additional file. Translation process The translation and validation of the EmNSA in the Italian language was authorized by the authors of the original scale 12 . The translation process was carried out following the guidelines put forward by Sousa 14 and Baeza 15 and any doubts that emerged during the translation process were resolved through discussion and clarification with one of the authors of the original NSA and the EmNSA scales 14–16 . The EmNSA score sheet and the guidelines were translated from English into Italian by two independent bilingual translators. Consulting a third expert, an Italian native speaker, the discrepancies between the two translations were resolved and a Preliminary Initial Translated Version of the Instrument in the Target Language (PI-TL) was obtained, through a consensus process 14 . The PI-TL version was then translated into English by two independent English native speakers, who had no knowledge of the original version of the scale, obtaining two backward translations. A focus group formed by the four translators, the two physiotherapists and the medical doctor involved in the research, compared the two backward translations, the original version and the PI-TL, to develop a pre-final version of the instrument in Italian, the target language (P-FTL), obtaining conceptual, semantic and content equivalence 14 . In order to standardize the assessment a brief theoretical and practical training was carried out for the raters 17 , who piloted the guidelines by assessing 5 patients. The data from these patients were not considered in the statistical analysis. This pilot study aimed to clarify the process, and following feedback received from the raters, through a consensus process, small changes to the graphic layout of the score sheet were made to make it easier to use. The EmNSA score sheet included photos indicating the position of the therapists' hands during assessment of proprioception. These photos were kindly provided by the authors of the Original EmNSA scale. The final version was then used in the study to investigate its psychometric properties. Following the experimental phase the instrument's psychometric properties were analysed and a final EmNSA-I was obtained. The reliability study Participants All consecutive patients, of 18 years or older, admitted to the rehabilitation department of the Ferrara University Hospital and diagnosed with acquired brain injury or stroke were considered for inclusion in the study. Sampling was consecutive and non-probabilistic, seeking to include all patients. No time limits were set in terms of time since the acute event. Exclusion criteria were the presence of other neurological conditions that may affect sensory function, peripheral or spinal nerve injuries, diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, a score less than 5 in the Level of Cognitive Functioning (LCF) scale indicating that the assessment could not be completed reliably, 18 or a diagnosis of dysphasia when this meant the patient was not able to understand simple instructions, assessed with Aachen Aphasia Test. 19 Written informed consent was obtained from the patients. In order to guarantee anonymity, each patient was assigned a numeric code used in the study database. The instrument The EmNSA is a qualitative ordinal scale which assesses the loss of tactile and proprioceptive sensation in the upper and lower limb. For each item a score of 0 is assigned if no sensation is reported, 1 if sensation is partially impaired, 2 if sensation is intact. In the EmNSA guidelines, when a score of 2 for light touch is assigned for the whole limb, a score of 2 is assigned for all other tactile modalities of that limb. In this study, all tactile modalities were assessed, independent from the score obtained for light touch, in order to allow for a comprehensive analysis of the data. The equipment needed to assess tactile sensation consists of a cotton wool ball and a toothpick. Procedure For Peer Review All patients admitted to the rehabilitation department of the University hospital of Ferrara who met the inclusion criteria were assessed by two physiotherapists, Rater A (10 years of experience) and Rater B (23 years of experience). The assessment took place in a comfortable and quiet environment. Every patient was assessed in the supine lying position, with forearms supinated. The patients were requested to close their eyes during the assessment. Any clothing was removed from the tested part, while respecting the patient's dignity. The stimuli for tactile sensation were administered on each limb, starting distally, using the predefined points of contact in the following order: light touch (LT), pressure (PR), pinprick (PP), sharp/blunt discrimination (S/B). These stimuli were provided with cotton wool ball (light touch), the rater's index finger (pressure), and toothpick (pinprick). Proprioceptive sensation was tested by mobilising the body parts from distal to proximal. There was an interval of 1-2 hours between assessments by Rater A and Rater B. A re-test was completed by Rater A after 24-72 hours. Each rater did not have access to the assessment completed by the other. Statistical analysis Assessment of intra- and inter-rater reliability was carried out using weighted kappa coefficient (κw). 20 The κw was used in its quadratic formula. 21 The scores obtained were categorized following Fleiss's classification. 22 A confidence interval of 95% was established to guarantee an acceptable level of accuracy. 23 Homogeneity of the scale's items was defined by Cronbach's Alpha Index, following the categorization suggested by De Vellis. 24 The statistical analysis was carried out on the data referring to the affected side or the most affected side in the case of bilateral somatosensory impairment. This was chosen based on total scores across all sensory modalities and body areas. The descriptive analysis and internal consistency analysis was carried out with the statistical software 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 48 47 49 51 50 52 54 53 55 57 56 58 60 59 IBM SPSS Statistics v19.0.0 (IBM Company); the agreement analysis was carried out with the statistical software MedCalc v12.3.0 (MedCalc Software). Results A total of 44 patients who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to the rehabilitation department. The final cohort comprised 34 patients, as 10 were discharged before the assessments could be completed. The mean (SD) age was 54 (17). The characteristics of the total sample are summarized in Table 1. Dysphasia affected 9% (n=3) of the study group and was such that the patients were able to take part in the study. The severity of sensory deficit was classified following the same system used in the original EmNSA study 12 , and 40% of the sample demonstrating severely impaired sensation, 30% slightly impaired and 30% normal sensation. [INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE] Internal consistency for all the tactile sensations was excellent. For proprioception, excellent internal consistency was found for the upper limb, but this was only at an acceptable level for the lower limb (Table 2). For the intra-rater reliability analysis the weighted kappa coefficient values were predominantly excellent (range 0.84 – 0.98) with only 5 (12,5%) of the 40 results showing a moderate agreement (Figure 1a). Weighted Kappa coefficient values for inter-rater reliabilities were excellent for 21 (52,5) of the 40 values calculated, with 15 (37,5%) values classified as good and 4 (10%) as moderate (Figure 1b). No adverse effects were recorded during testing procedures. [INSERT TABLE 2 ABOUT HERE] [INSERT TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE] [INSERT TABLE 4 ABOUT HERE] [INSERT FIGURE 1 ABOUT HERE] Discussion The Italian version of the "Erasmus MC modifications to the (revised) Nottingham Sensory Assessment" (EmNSA-I) demonstrated, both for tactile and proprioceptive sensation an intra- and inter-rater reliability predominantly good to excellent. Furthermore, the internal consistency results contribute to confirming the EmNSA-I as a scale with good reliability, which justifies its use in clinical practice. The results of the study support the use of the Italian translation of the scoresheet and guidelines, to include the photographs provided by the authors of the EmNSA which, from feedback received by the raters, aid the interpretation of the guidelines for proprioception. The lower agreement in the inter-rater reliability observed in the EmNSA-I could probably be due to the different sample recruited for the assessment. The Italian sample included a higher number of patients following TBI who tend to have a greater increase in muscle tone than stroke patients, making the assessment of proprioception more difficult. Furthermore, the raters' different level of experience could contribute to this discrepancy. Both versions show less reliability in the assessment of the lower limb compared to the upper limb, which may be explained by considering their different cortical representation. This result could also be related to the fact that in the stroke population the upper limb is more affected than the lower limb 2 . Furthermore, the lower agreement found may in part depend on the reliability of the method of testing as the lower agreement found in the lower limb in the For Peer Review No major differences were found comparing different level of sensory loss present in the two samples. In this study, 30% of patients had no sensory loss, 70% had sensory loss, (29% slight and 41% severe). The original EmNSA was conducted on a sample of patients where 28% had no sensory loss, 72% had sensory loss, (slight in 33% and severe in 39%). Comparing this study with the original reliability study for EmNSA, considering the total scores across all items and modalities, similarly to the original scale, the results are mainly good to excellent, with no poor agreement (Table 3, 4). In both studies intra-rater reliability, as expected, was higher than inter-rater reliability across all modalities. assessment of proprioception could be related to the lower limb generally being heavier, which can make the assessment more challenging for the therapist due to difficulties in handling the limb. The lower agreement found for pinprick compared to light touch and pressure leads to a few observations. In the original study, pinprick is considered a tactile stimulus, however it is possible that when applying the stimulus with a toothpick, nociceptors are activated, due to the reduced surface stimulated 25 . This result can be interpreted as indicating that pinprick could be considered as a pain rather than tactile sensation. In compiling the final version of the guidelines, these observations led to modify the criteria for assigning score for tactile sensation. In this final version the pinprick test is carried out even if the patient has obtained a score of 2 in light touch. For the sharp/blunt discrimination the patient must have a score of 2 in light touch, pressure and pin prick. The interpretation of the sharp/blunt discrimination item is also open to further discussion. A deeper analysis exploring what kind of information this test is providing would be useful in interpreting the clinical findings. Moreover, following brain injury some patients are likely to have difficulties comparing two different stimuli as this is a more cognitively demanding task. Evaluating the Italian scale in light of the criteria identified by Connell in her systematic review on sensory assessment 26 , the time needed to complete the test is 10-15 min, the same as for EmNSA, the materials are easily available and the cost is negligible. Following the principles set out by StolkHornsveld et al. 12 the inclusion criteria are representative of patients with acquired brain injury or stroke who are admitted to hospital for neurological rehabilitation in Italy, further justifying the use of the EmNSA-I in the clinical context. The raters, working within the rehabilitation unit, were is some cases aware of the patient's medical history, which constitutes a limitation of this study. Moreover, the intra-rater reliability data was obtained from one rater only, therefore a further analysis of intra-rater reliability by at least two raters with different levels of experience is recommended. Conclusion 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 48 47 49 51 50 52 54 53 55 57 56 58 60 59 Sensory function plays an important role in daily activities and following acquired brain lesion loss of sensation is frequent. Despite this, sensory deficits are not always investigated thoroughly in clinical practice and no validated and reliable tool is available for the assessment of somatosensory impairment for Italian health professionals. The aim of this study was therefore to present the validation in Italian of the EmNSA scale. The EmNSA-I is a standardised reliable assessment scale that can be completed rapidly and simply and does not need specific or expensive equipment. It is the only sensory assessment scale for patients with acquired brain injury or stroke available in Italian. Clinical messages • Sensory impairment is frequent following brain lesion • No Italian tools were present for sensory assessment • The EmNSA-I is a standardised reliable assessment scale • Further studies needed to confirm our results Acknowledgments This project was completed thanks to close collaboration with the Rehabilitation Department at the University of Ferrara. We would like to thank the translators Carlo Perrone, Lucio Marcello, Maddalena Amadori. Author Contributions AB, GB, EM, SL, JLC and NB conceived the study and participated in its design. AB, GB and EM performed clinical data collections. AB and SS analysed the data. AB, SL and SS interpreted the results. AB, SL and SS drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the submitted version. Competing Interests No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. 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Impaired discrimination of surface friction contributes to pinch grip deficit after stroke. Neurorehabil Neural Repair 2007; 21: 263–272. 7. Desrosiers J, Rochette A, Noreau L, et al. Long-term changes in participation after stroke. Top Stroke Rehabil 2006; 13: 86–96. 8. Winward CE, Halligan PW, Wade DT. Current practice and clinical relevance of somatosensory assessment after stroke. Clin Rehabil 1999; 13: 48–55. For Peer Review 9. Lyden PD, Hantson L. Assessment scales for the evaluation of stroke patients. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 1998; 7: 113–127. 10. Lincoln N, Crow J, Jackson J, et al. The unreliability of sensory assessments. Clin Rehabil 1991; 5: 273–282. 11. Lincoln N, Jackson J, Adams S. Reliability and Revision of the Nottingham Sensory Assessment for Stroke Patients. Physiotherapy 1998; 84: 358–365. 12. Stolk-Hornsveld F, Crow JL, Hendriks EP, et al. 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Translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese of the Measure of Parental Style (MOPS)--a self-reported scale--according to the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) recommendations. Rev Bras Psiquiatr 2010; 32: 159–163. 16. Wild D, Grove A, Martin M, et al. Principles of Good Practice for the Translation and Cultural Adaptation Process for Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) Measures: report of the ISPOR Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation. Value Health 2005; 8: 94–104. 17. Brorson S, Hróbjartsson A. Training improves agreement among doctors using the Neer system for proximal humeral fractures in a systematic review. J Clin Epidemiol 2008; 61: 7–16. 19. Willmes K, Poeck K, Weniger D, et al. Facet theory applied to the construction and validation of the Aachen Aphasia Test. Brain Lang 1983; 18: 259–276. 20. Cohen J. Weighted kappa: nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psychol Bull 1968; 70: 213–220. 21. Fleiss JL, Cohen J. The Equivalence of Weighted Kappa and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient as Measures of Reliability. Educational and Psychological Measurement 1973; 33: 613– 619. 22. Fleiss JL. Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. 2nd ed. New York: WileyInterscience, 1981. 23. Sim J, Reid N. Statistical inference by confidence intervals: issues of interpretation and utilization. Phys Ther 1999; 79: 186–195. 24. DeVellis R. Scale development: theory and applications. SAGE, 2003. 25. Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessel TM, et al. Principles of Neural Science. Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 2012. 26. Connell LA, Tyson S. Measures of sensation in neurological conditions: a systematic review. Clinical Rehabilitation. Epub ahead of print 2011. DOI: 10.1177/0269215511412982. 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 48 47 49 51 50 52 54 53 55 57 56 58 60 59 Table 1. Characteristics of the sample a severe: absent or impaired sensory function in five or more test item; slight: absent or impaired sensory function in less than five test item; absent: normal sensory function in every test item. For Peer Review 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 48 47 49 51 50 52 54 53 55 57 56 58 60 59 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 Table 3. Comparison of weighted kappa values for the intra-rater reliability between EmNSA-I and EmNSA (Rater A) a Kappa value could not be calculated For Peer Review 2 4 6 5 7 9 8 10 12 11 13 15 14 16 18 17 19 21 20 22 24 23 25 27 26 28 30 29 31 33 32 34 36 35 37 39 38 40 42 41 43 45 44 46 Table 4. Comparison of weighted kappa values for the inter-rater reliability between EmNSA-I and EmNSA a Kappa value could not be calculated For Peer Review 2 Reporting checklist for diagnostic test accuracy study. Based on the STARD guidelines. 2 4 Participants #8 Where and when potentially eligible participants were Pag. 7, 8 identified (setting, location and dates) 2 None The STARD checklist is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY. This checklist can be completed online using https://www.goodreports.org/, a tool made by the EQUATOR Network in collaboration with Penelope.ai
OFFICE LEASE BETWEEN VIRGINIA COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES, LTD. ("LANDLORD") AND TENANT ("TENANT") DATE OF LEASE ________________________________ BUILDING _______________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS OFFICE LEASE AGREEMENT This Office Lease Agreement (the "Lease"), made and entered into on this the 17 th day of May, 2004, between Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd., a Limited Partnership ("Landlord") and Tenant ("Tenant"). WITNESSETH: 1. Definitions. The following are definitions of some of the defined terms used in this Lease. The definition of other defined terms are found throughout this Lease. A. "Building" shall mean the office building at Virginia, McKinney, County of Collin, State of Texas, currently known as Professional Park at Stonebridge Ranch. B. "Base Rent": Base Rent will be paid according to the following schedule, subject to the provisions of Section 5. hereof. For the purposes of this Section 1.B., "Lease Year" shall mean the twelve (12) month period commencing on the Commencement Date, and on each anniversary of the Commencement Date. Years 2-9 will be annually adjusted based on a 3% rate of inflation. Total Building Sq Footage 15,400 Tenant Rentable Space 1,400 Common Area 1,000 Initial Rate per square foot $20.00 \| PERIOD \| ANNUAL BASE RENT \| MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS OF BASE RENT \| MONTHLY ADDITIONAL RENT \| APPROX. MONTHLY NNN \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| First Lease Year \| $28,000.00 \| $2,333.33 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Second Lease Year \| $28,840.00 \| $2,403.33 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Third Lease Year \| $29,705.20 \| $2,475.43 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Fourth Lease Year \| $30,596.36 \| $2,549.70 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Fifth Lease Year \| $31,514.25 \| $2,626.19 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Sixth Lease Year \| $32,459.67 \| $2,704.97 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Seventh Lease Year \| $33,433.46 \| $2,786.12 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Eighth Lease Year \| $34,436.47 \| $2,869.71 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| \| Ninth Lease Year \| $35,469.56 \| $2,955.80 \| $151.66 \| $621.25 \| The Base Rent due for the first month during the Lease Term (hereinafter defined) shall be paid by Tenant to Landlord contemporaneously with Tenant's execution hereof. C. "Additional Rent": shall mean Tenant's Pro Rata Share of Basic Costs (hereinafter defined) and any other sums (exclusive of Base Rent) that are required to be paid to Landlord by Tenant hereunder, which sums are deemed to be Additional Rent under this Lease. Additional Rent and Base Rent are sometimes collectively referred to herein as "Rent." D. "Basic Costs" shall mean all direct and indirect costs and expenses incurred in connection with the Building as more fully defined in Exhibit C attached hereto. E. "Security Deposit" shall mean the sum of $4,666.66 (Four Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Six Dollars and 66/100). The Security Deposit shall be paid by Tenant to Landlord contemporaneously with Tenant's execution hereof. F. "Commencement Date", "Lease Term" and "Termination Date" shall have the meanings set forth in subsection I.F.(1) or I.F.(2) below. (1) N/A (2) The "Lease Term" shall mean a period of 108 months commencing on the sooner to occur of (a) September 1, 2004 (the "Target Commencement Date") or (b) the date upon which the Tenant occupies the Premises, which shall be no later than five (5) days after the Certificate of Occupancy is issued for Premises. Landlord's Work in the Premises will have been substantially completed as such date is determined pursuant to Section 3.A. hereof (the later to occur of such dates being defined as the "Commencement Date"). The "Termination Date" shall, unless sooner terminated as provided herein, mean the last day of the Lease Term. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Termination Date, as determined herein, does not occur on the last day of a calendar month, the Lease Term shall be extended by the number of days necessary to cause the Termination Date to occur on the last day of the last calendar month of the Lease Term. Tenant shall pay Base Rent and Additional Rent for such additional days at the same rate payable for the portion of the last calendar month immediately preceding such extension. The Commencement Date, Lease Term (including any extension by Landlord pursuant to this subsection 2.F.(2) and Termination Date shall be set forth in a Commencement Letter prepared by Landlord and executed by Tenant in accordance with the provisions of Section 3.A. hereof. G. "Premises" shall mean the office space located within the Building and outlined on Exhibit A to this Lease. H. "Approximate Rentable Area in the Premises" shall refer to the gross rentable square footage within the constructed building and any other area designated for the exclusive use of Tenant plus an allocation of the Tenant's pro rata share of the square footage of the "Common Areas" and the "Service Areas" (as defined below). For purposes of the Lease it is agreed and stipulated by both Landlord and Tenant that the Approximate Rentable Area in the Premises is 1,400 square feet. In addition to the Approximate Rental Area in the Premises of 1,400 square feet, the Premises shall include attic space available to Tenant for storage purposes. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in this instrument, the attic space available to Tenant for storage purposes shall not be included in the Approximate Rental Area in the Premises and shall not be included in calculating Tenant's Pro Rata Share as set forth herein. I. The "Approximate Rentable Area in the Building" is 15,400 square feet. The Approximate Rentable Area in the Premises and the Approximate Rentable Area in the Building as set forth herein may be revised at Landlord's election if Landlord's architect determines such estimate to be inaccurate in any material degree after examination of the final drawings of the Premises and the Building. J. "Tenant's Pro Rata Share" shall mean nine and 10/100 (9.1%) which is the quotient (expressed as a percentage), derived by dividing the Approximate Rentable Area in the Premises by the Approximate Rentable Area in the Building. K. "Permitted Use" shall mean general office use and no other use or purpose. L. "Base Year" shall mean 2004. M. "Guarantor(s)" shall mean Tenant and any other party that agrees in writing to guarantee Tenant's obligations under the Lease. N. "Broker" shall mean N/A. O. "Building Manager" shall mean Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. or such other company as Landlord shall designate from time to time. P. "Building Standard", shall mean the type, brand, quality and/or quantity of materials Landlord designates from time-to-time to be the minimum quality and/or quantity to be used in the Building or the exclusive type, grade, quality and/or quantity of material to be used in the Building. Q. "Business Day(s)" shall mean Mondays through Fridays exclusive of the normal business holidays of New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day ("Holidays"). Landlord, from time to time during the Lease Term, shall have the right to designate additional Holidays, provided such additional Holidays are commonly recognized by other office buildings in the area where the Building is located. R. "Common Areas" shall mean those areas located within the Building or on the Property used for corridors, elevator foyers, mail rooms, restrooms, mechanical rooms, elevator mechanical rooms, property management office, janitorial closets, electrical and telephone closets, vending areas, and lobby areas (whether at ground level or otherwise), entrances, exits, sidewalks, skywalks, tunnels, driveways, parking areas and parking garages and landscaped areas and other similar facilities provided for the common use or benefit of tenants generally and/or the public. S. "Default Rate" shall mean the lower of (i) the Prime Rate plus six percent (6%) or (ii) the Maximum Rate. T. "Maximum Rate" shall mean the highest rate of interest from time-to-time permitted under applicable federal and state law. U. "Normal Business Hours" for the Building shall mean 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays, exclusive of Holidays. V. "Prime Rate" shall mean the per annum interest rate announced by and quoted in the Wall Street Journal from time-to-time as the prime or base rate. W. "Property" shall mean the Building and the parcel(s) of land on which it is located, other improvements located on such land, adjacent parcels of land that Landlord operates jointly with the Building, and other buildings and improvements located on such adjacent parcels of land. X. "Service Areas" shall mean those areas within the Building used for stairs, elevator shafts, flues, vents, stacks, pipe shafts and other vertical penetrations (but shall not include any such areas for the exclusive use of a particular tenant). Y. "Notice Addresses" shall mean the following addresses for Tenant and Landlord, respectively: Tenant: Tenant with a copy to: Landlord: Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. Attn: Property Manager with a copy to: Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. Attn: Owner's Representative Payments of Rent only shall be made payable to the order of: Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. at the following address: 601 Broad Leaf Lane McKinney, Texas 75070 or such other name and address as Landlord shall, from time to time, designate. 2. Lease Grant. Subject to and upon the terms herein set forth, Landlord leases to Tenant and Tenant leases from Landlord the Premises together with the right, in common with others, to use the Common Areas. 3. Adjustment of Commencement Date/Possession. A. If the Lease Term, Commencement Date and Termination Date are to be determined in accordance with Section 1.F.2. above, the Lease Term shall not commence until the later to occur of the Target Commencement Date or 5 days after the Certificate of Occupancy is issued and the date that Landlord has substantially completed the work to be performed by Landlord as set forth in the Work Letter Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit D ("Landlord's Work"); provided, however, that if Landlord shall be delayed in substantially completing the Landlord's Work as a result of the occurrence of any of the following (a "Delay"): (1) Tenant's failure to furnish information in accordance with the Work Letter Agreement or to respond to any request by Landlord for any approval of information within any time period prescribed, or if no time period is prescribed, then within two (2) Business Days of such request; or (2) Tenant's insistence on materials, finishes or installations that have long lead times after having first been informed by Landlord that such materials, finishes or installations will cause a Delay; or (3) Changes in any plans and specifications requested by Tenant; or (4) The performance or nonperformance by a person or entity employed by on or behalf of Tenant in the completion of any work in the Premises (all such work and such persons or entities being subject to prior approval of Landlord); or (5) Any request by Tenant that Landlord delay the completion of any of the Landlord's Work; or (6) Any breach or default by Tenant in the performance of Tenant's obligations under this Lease; or 4 (7) Any delay resulting from Tenant's having taken possession of the Premises for any reason prior to substantial completion of the Landlord's Work; or (8) Any other delay chargeable to Tenant, its agents, employees or independent contractors; then, for purposes of determining the Commencement Date, the date of substantial completion shall be deemed to be the day that said Landlord's Work would have been substantially completed absent any such Delay(s). The Landlord's Work shall be deemed to be substantially completed on the date that Landlord's Work has been performed or would have been performed absent any Delay(s), other than any details of construction, mechanical adjustment or any other matter, the noncompletion of which does not materially interfere with Tenant's use of the Premises. The adjustment of the Commencement Date and, accordingly, the postponement of Tenant's obligation to pay Base Rent and other sums due hereunder shall be Tenant's sole remedy and shall constitute full settlement of all claims that Tenant might otherwise have against Landlord by reason of the Premises not being ready for occupancy by Tenant on the Target Commencement Date. Promptly after the determination of the Commencement Date, Landlord and Tenant shall enter into a letter agreement (the "Commencement Letter") on the form attached hereto as Exhibit F setting forth the Commencement Date, the Termination Date and any other dates that are affected by the adjustment of the Commencement Date. If this Lease requires Landlord to perform Landlord's Work in the Premises, the Commencement Letter shall identify any minor incomplete items of the Landlord's Work as reasonably determined by Landlord's architect (the "Punchlist Items"), which Punchlist Items Landlord shall promptly remedy. Tenant, within five (5) days after receipt thereof from Landlord, shall execute the Commencement Letter and return the same to Landlord. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, Landlord may elect, by written notice to Tenant, not to adjust the Commencement Date as provided above if such adjustment would cause Landlord to be in violation of the existing rights granted to any other tenant of the Building. If Landlord elects not to adjust the Commencement Date, the Commencement Date shall be the Target Commencement Date, provided that Base Rent and Additional Rent shall not commence until the date that Landlord's Work has been substantially completed (or would have been substantially completed absent any Delays). B. By taking possession of the Premises, Tenant is deemed to have accepted the Premises and agreed that the Premises is in good order and satisfactory condition, with no representation or warranty by Landlord as to the condition of the Premises or the Building or suitability thereof for Tenant's use. C. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Lease, Landlord shall not be obligated to tender possession of any portion of the Premises or other space leased by Tenant from time to time hereunder that, on the date possession is to be delivered, is occupied by a tenant or other occupant or that is subject to the rights of any other tenant or occupant, nor shall Landlord have any other obligations to Tenant under this Lease with respect to such space until the date Landlord: (1) recaptures such space from such existing tenant or occupant; and (2) regains the legal right to possession thereof. This Lease shall not be affected by any such failure to deliver possession and Tenant shall have no claim for damages against Landlord as a result thereof, all of which are hereby waived and released by Tenant. If Landlord is prevented from delivering possession of the Premises to Tenant due to the holding over in possession of the Premises by a tenant or other occupant thereof, Landlord shall use reasonable efforts to regain possession of the Premises in order to deliver the same to Tenant. If the Lease Term is to be determined pursuant to Section 1.F.(1) hereof, the Commencement Date shall be postponed until the date Landlord delivers possession of the Premises to Tenant, in which event the Termination Date shall, at the option of Landlord, correspondingly be postponed on a per diem basis. If the Lease Term is to be determined pursuant to Section 1.F.(2), the Commencement Date and Termination Date shall be determined as provided in Section 3.A. above. D. If Tenant takes possession of the Premises prior to the Commencement Date, such possession shall be subject to all the terms and conditions of the Lease and Tenant shall pay Base Rent and Additional Rent to Landlord for each day of occupancy prior to the Commencement Date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Tenant, with Landlord's prior approval, takes possession of the Premises prior to the Commencement Date for the sole purpose of performing any Landlord-approved improvements therein or installing furniture, equipment or other personal property of Tenant, such possession shall be subject to all of the terms and conditions of the Lease, except that Tenant shall not be required to pay Rent with respect to the period of time prior to the Commencement Date during which Tenant performs such work. Tenant shall, however, be liable for the cost of any services (e.g. electricity, HVAC, freight elevators) that are provided to Tenant or the Premises during the period of Tenant's possession prior to the Commencement Date. Nothing herein shall be construed as granting Tenant the right to take possession of the Premises prior to the Commencement Date, whether for construction, fixturing or any other purpose, without the prior consent of Landlord. 4. Use. The Premises shall be used for the Permitted Use, being for the practice of Oral and Cosmetic Surgery and for no other purpose. Tenant agrees not to use or permit the use of the Premises for any purpose which is illegal, dangerous to life, limb or property or which, in Landlord's sole judgement, creates a nuisance or which would increase the cost of insurance coverage with respect to the Building. Tenant will conduct its business and control its agents, servants, employees, customers, licensees, and invitees in such a manner as not to interfere with, annoy or disturb other tenants or Landlord in the management of the Building and the Property. Tenant will maintain the Premises in a clean and healthful condition, and comply with all laws, ordinances, orders, rules and regulations of any governmental entity with reference to the use, condition, configuration or occupancy of the Premises. Tenant, within ten (10) days after the receipt thereof, shall provide Landlord with copies of any notices it receives with respect to a violation or alleged violation of any such laws, ordinances, orders, rules and regulations. Tenant, at its expense, will comply with the rules and regulations of the Building attached hereto as Exhibit B and such other rules and regulations adopted and altered by Landlord from time-to-time and will cause all of its agents, employees, invitees and visitors to do so. All such changes to rules and regulations will be reasonable and shall be sent by Landlord to Tenant in writing. Tenant shall not dispense any drugs or medicines to persons other than Tenant's own patients. In the practice of medicine at the Premises, Tenant shall have the right to perform only such laboratory tests and diagnostic procedures which are ancillary and incidental to the care and treatment of Tenant's patients, and not for third parties or for an independent profit motive. Prior to the installation and use of any diagnostic, laboratory or radiology equipment, Tenant shall provide Landlord with a list of such equipment and its intended use; a list of any hazardous substances, wastes or materials, as hereinafter defined, which will be used or generated in connection with such laboratory and/or diagnostic tests; and Tenant's proposed procedures for the use, storage and disposal of any hazardous substances, wastes or materials, including but not limited to the procedure for silver recovery for any radiology equipment. . 5. Base Rent A. Tenant covenants and agrees to pay to Landlord during the Lease Term, without any setoff or deduction except as otherwise expressly provided herein, the full amount of all Base Rent and Additional Rent due hereunder and the full amount of all such other sums of money as shall become due under this Lease (including, without limitation, any charges for replacement of electric lamps and ballasts and any other services, goods or materials furnished by Landlord at Tenant's request), all of which hereinafter may be collectively called "Rent." In addition Tenant shall pay and be liable for, as Additional Rent, all rent, sales and use taxes or other similar taxes, if any, levied or imposed by any city, state, county or other governmental body having authority, such payments to be in addition to all other payments required to be paid to Landlord by Tenant under the terms and conditions of this Lease. Any such payments shall be paid concurrently with the payments of the Rent on which the tax is based. The Base Rent and Additional Rent for each calendar year or portion thereof during the Lease Term, shall be due and payable in advance in monthly installments of the first day of each calendar month during the Lease Term and any extensions or renewals hereof, and Tenant hereby agrees to pay such Base Rent and Additional Rent to Landlord without demand. If the Lease Term commences on a day other than the first day of a month or terminates on a day other than the last day of a month, then the installments of Base Rent and Additional Rent for such month or months shall be prorated, based on the number of days in such month. No payment by Tenant or receipt or acceptance by Landlord of a lesser amount than the correct installment of Rent due under this Lease shall be deemed to be other than a payment on account of the earliest Rent due hereunder, nor shall any endorsement or statement on any check or any letter accompanying any check or payment be deemed an accord and satisfaction, and Landlord may accept such check or payment without prejudice to Landlord's right to recover the balance or pursue any other available remedy. The acceptance by Landlord of an installment of Rent on a date after the due date of such payment shall not be construed to be a waiver of Landlord's right to declare a default for any other late payment. All amounts received by Landlord from Tenant hereunder shall be applied first to the earliest accrued and unpaid Rent then outstanding. Tenant's covenant to pay Rent shall be independent of every other covenant set forth in this Lease. B. To the extent allowed by law, all installments of Rent not paid when due shall bear interest at the Default Rate from the date due until paid. In addition, if Tenant fails to pay any installment of Base Rent and Additional Rent or any other item of Rent when due and payable hereunder, a "Late Charge" equal to five percent (5%) of such unpaid amount will be due and payable immediately by Tenant to Landlord. C. The Additional Rent payable hereunder shall be adjusted from time-to-time in accordance with the provisions of Exhibit C attached hereto and incorporated herein for all purposes. 6. Security Deposit. The Security Deposit shall be held by Landlord without liability for interest and as security for the performance by Tenant of Tenant's covenants and obligations under this Lease including but not limited to those set forth in Section 10 hereof, it being expressly understood that the Security Deposit shall not be considered an advance payment of Rent or a measure of Tenant's liability for damages in case of default by Tenant. Landlord shall have no fiduciary responsibilities or trust obligations whatsoever with regard to the Security Deposit and shall not assume the duties of a trustee for the Security Deposit. Landlord may, from time-to-time, without prejudice to any other remedy and without waiving such default, use the Security Deposit to the extent necessary to cure or attempt to cure, in whole or in part, any default of Tenant hereunder. Following any such application of the Security Deposit, Tenant shall pay to Landlord on demand the amount so applied in order to restore the Security Deposit to its original amount. If Tenant is not in default at the termination of this Lease, the balance of the Security Deposit remaining after any such application shall be returned by Landlord to Tenant within sixty (60) days thereafter. If Landlord transfers its interest in the Premises during the term of this Lease, Landlord may assign the Security Deposit to the transferee and thereafter shall have no further liability for the return of such Security Deposit. Tenant agrees to look solely to such transferee or assignee or successor thereof for the return of the Security Deposit. Landlord and its successors and assigns shall not be bound by any actual or attempted assignment or encumbrance of the Security Deposit by Tenant. Landlord shall not be required to keep the Security Deposit separate from its other accounts. 7. Services to be Furnished by Landlord. A. Landlord agrees to furnish Tenant the following services: (1) All heating, ventilating and air conditioning required to accommodate Tenant's design shall be installed at the Tenant's expense subject to Landlord's prior written approval. The cost of operation and maintenance of the equipment shall be the responsibility of the Tenant. (2) Maintenance and repair of all Common Areas in the manner and to the extent reasonably deemed by Landlord to be standard for buildings of similar class, age and location. (3) Fluorescent and incandescent bulb and ballast replacement in the Common Areas and Service Areas. (4) Access control to the Building during other than Normal Business Hours shall be provided in such form as Landlord deems appropriate. Tenant shall cooperate fully in Landlord's efforts to maintain access control to the Building and shall follow all regulations promulgated by Landlord with respect thereto. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary Tenant expressly acknowledges and agrees that Landlord is not warranting the efficacy of any access personnel, service, procedures or equipment and that Tenant is not relying and shall not hereafter rely on any such personnel service, procedures or equipment. Landlord shall not be responsible or liable in any manner for failure of any access personnel, services, procedures or equipment to prevent, control, or apprehend anyone suspected of causing personal injury or damage in, on or around the Project. B. If Tenant requests any other utilities or building services in addition to those identified above, or any of the above utilities or building services in frequency, scope, quality or quantities substantially greater than the standards set by Landlord for the Building, then Landlord shall use reasonable efforts to attempt to furnish Tenant with such additional utilities or building services. Landlord may impose a reasonable charge for such additional utilities or building services, which shall be paid monthly by Tenant as Additional Rent on the same day that the monthly installment of Base Rent is due. C. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, the failure by Landlord to any extent to furnish, or the interruption or termination of these defined services in whole or in part, resulting from adherence to laws, regulations and administrative orders, wear, use, repairs, improvements alterations or any causes beyond the reasonable control of Landlord shall not render Landlord liable in any respect nor be construed as a constructive eviction of Tenant, nor give rise to an abatement of Rent, nor relieve Tenant from the obligation to fulfill any covenant or agreement hereof. Should any of the equipment or machinery used in the provision of such services for any cause cease to function properly, Landlord shall use reasonable diligence to repair such equipment or machinery. 8. Leasehold Improvements/Tenant's Property. All fixtures, equipment, improvements and appurtenances attached to, or built into, the Premises at the commencement of or during the Lease Term, whether or not by, or at the expense of, Tenant ("Leasehold Improvements"), shall be and remain a part of the Premises; shall be the property of Landlord; and shall not be removed by Tenant except as expressly provided herein. All unattached and moveable partitions, trade fixtures, moveable equipment or furniture located in the Premises and acquired by or for the account of Tenant, without expense to Landlord, which can be removed without structural damage to the Building or Premises, and all personally brought into the Premises by Tenant ("Tenant's Property") shall be owned and insured by Tenant. Landlord may, nonetheless, at any time prior to, or within one (1) month after, the expiration or earlier termination of this Lease or Tenant's right to possession, require Tenant to remove any Leasehold Improvements performed by or for the benefit of Tenant and all electronic, phone and data cabling as are designated by Landlord (the "Required Removables") at Tenant's sole cost. In the event that Landlord so elects, Tenant shall remove such Required Removables within ten (10) days after notice from Landlord, provided that in no event shall Tenant be required to remove such Required Removables prior to the expiration or earlier termination of this Lease or Tenant's right to possession. In addition to Tenant's obligation to remove the Required Removables, Tenant shall repair any damage caused by such removal and perform such other work as is reasonably necessary to restore the Premises to a "move in" condition. If Tenant fails to remove any specified Required Removables or to perform any required repairs and restoration within the time period specified above, Landlord, at Tenant's sole cost and expense, may remove the Required Removables (and repair any damage occasioned thereby) and dispose thereof or deliver the Required Removables to any other place of business of Tenant, or warehouse the same, and Tenant shall pay the cost of such removal, repair, delivery, or warehousing of the Required Removables within five (5) days after demand from Landlord. 9. Signage. Landlord shall provide and install, at Tenant's cost, all letters or numerals on the exterior of the Premises; all such letters and numerals shall be in the standard graphics for the Building and no others shall be used or permitted on the Premises without Landlord's prior written consent. In addition, Landlord will list Tenant's name in the Building's directory, if any, located at the Building. 10. Repairs and Alterations by Tenant. A. Except to the extent such obligations are imposed upon Landlord hereunder, Tenant shall, at its sole cost and expense, maintain the Premises in good order, condition and repair throughout the entire Lease Term, ordinary wear and tear excepted. Tenant agrees to keep the areas visible from outside the Premises in a neat, clean and attractive condition at all times. Tenant shall be responsible for all repairs, replacements and alterations in and to the Premises, Building and Property and the facilities and systems thereof, the need for which arises out of (1) Tenant's use or occupancy of the Premises, (2) the installation, removal, use or operation of Tenant's Property (as defined in Section 8. above), (3) the moving of Tenant's Property into or out of the Building, or (4) the act, omission, misuse or negligence of Tenant, its agents, contractors, employees or invitees. All such repairs, replacements or alterations shall be performed in accordance with Section 10.B. below and the rules, policies and procedures reasonably enacted by Landlord from time to time for the performance of work in the Building. If Tenant fails to maintain the Premises in good order, condition and repair, Landlord shall give Tenant notice to perform such acts as are reasonably required to so maintain the Premises. If Tenant fails to promptly commence such work and diligently pursue it to its completion, then Landlord may, at is option, make such repairs, and Tenant shall pay the cost thereof to Landlord on demand as Additional Rent, together with an administration charge in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the cost of such repairs. Landlord shall, at its expense (except as included in Basic Costs) keep and maintain in good repair and working order and make all repairs to and perform necessary maintenance upon: (a) all structural elements of the Building; and (b) all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems that serve the Building in general; and (c) the Building facilities common to all tenants. B. Tenant shall not make or allow to be made any alterations, additions or improvements to the Premises, without first obtaining the written consent of Landlord in each such instance, which consent may be refused or given on such conditions as Landlord may elect. Prior to commencing any such work and as a condition to obtaining Landlord's consent, Tenant must furnish Landlord with plans and specifications acceptable to Landlord; names and addresses of contractors reasonably acceptable to Landlord; copies of contracts; necessary permits and approvals; evidence of contractor's and subcontractor's insurance in accordance with Section 15. hereof; and a payment bond or other security, all in form and amount satisfactory to Landlord. Tenant shall be responsible for insuring that all such persons procure and maintain insurance coverage against such risks, in such amounts and with such companies as Landlord may require, including, but not limited to, Builder's Risk and Worker's Compensation insurance. All such improvements, alterations or additions shall be constructed in a good and workmanlike manner using Building Standard materials or other new materials of equal or greater quantity. Landlord, to the extent reasonably necessary to avoid any disruption to the tenants and occupants of the Building, shall have the right to designate the time when any such alterations, additions and improvements may be performed and to otherwise designate reasonable rules, regulations and procedures for the performance of work in the Building. Upon completion, Tenant shall furnish "as-built" plans, contractor's affidavits and full and final waivers of lien and receipted bills covering all labor and materials. All improvements, alterations and additions shall comply with the insurance requirements, codes, ordinances, laws and regulations, including without limitation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tenant shall reimburse Landlord upon demand for all sums, if any, expended by Landlord for third party examination of the architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing plans for any alterations, additions or improvements. In addition, if Landlord so requests, Landlord shall be entitled to oversee the construction of any alterations, additions or improvements that may affect the structure of the Building or any of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing or life safety systems of the Building. In the event Landlord elects to oversee such work, Landlord shall be entitled to receive a fee for such oversight in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the cost of such alterations, additions or improvements. Landlord's approval of Tenant's plans and specifications for any work performed for or on behalf of Tenant shall not be deemed to be representation by Landlord that such plans and specifications comply with applicable insurance requirements, building codes, ordinances, laws or regulations or that the alterations, additions and improvements constructed in accordance with such plans and specifications will be adequate for Tenant's use. 11. Use of Electrical Services by Tenant. A. All electricity used by Tenant in the Premises shall be paid for by Tenant by a separate charge or charges billed by the utility company(ies) providing electrical service and payable by Tenant directly to such utilities company(ies). Landlord shall have the right at any time and from time-to-time during the Lease Term to contract for electricity service from such providers of such services as Landlord shall elect (each being an "Electric Service Provider"). Tenant shall cooperate with Landlord, and the applicable Electric Service Provider, at all times and, as reasonably necessary, shall allow Landlord and such Electric Service Provider reasonable access to the Building's electric lines, feeders, risers, wiring, and any other machinery within the Premises. Landlord shall in no way be liable or responsible for any loss, damage, or expense that Tenant may sustain or incur by reason of any change, failure, interference, disruption, or defect in the supply or character of the electric energy furnished to the Premises, or if the quantity or character of the electric energy supplied by the Electric Service Provider is no longer available or suitable for Tenant's requirements, and no such change, failure, defect, unavailability, or unsuitability shall constitute an actual or constructive eviction, in whole or in part, or entitle Tenant to any abatement or diminution of rent, or relieve Tenant from any of its obligations under the Lease. B. Tenant's use of electrical services furnished by Landlord shall not exceed in voltage, rated capacity, or overall load that which is standard for the Building. In the event Tenant shall request that it be allowed to consume electrical services in excess of Building Standard, Landlord may refuse to consent to such usage or may consent upon such conditions as Landlord reasonably elects (including the installation of utility service upgrades, submeters, air handlers or cooling units), and all such additional useage (to the extent permitted by law), installation and maintenance thereof shall be paid for by Tenant as Additional Rent. Landlord, at any time during the Lease Term, shall have the right to separately meter electrical useage for the Premises or to measure electrical useage by survey or any other method that Landlord, in its reasonable judgment, deems appropriate. 12. Use of Water by Tenant. Water in the Premises for any approved reason, including a private lavatory or kitchen, cold water, shall be supplied by the Landlord, from the Building water main through lines and fixtures installed at Tenant's sole cost and expense with the prior reasonable consent of Landlord. If Tenant desires hot water in the Premises, Tenant, at its sole cost and expense and subject to the prior reasonable consent of Landlord, may install a hot water heater in the Premises. Tenant shall be solely responsible for the maintenance and repair of any such water heater. 13. Entry by Landlord. Tenant shall permit Landlord or its agents or representatives to enter into and upon any part of the Premises to inspect the same, or to show the Premises to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, tenants (during the last (12) twelve months of the Lease Term or earlier in connection with a potential relocation) or insurers, or to clean or make repairs, alterations, or additions thereto, including any work that Landlord deems necessary for the safety, protection or preservation of the Building or any occupants thereof, or to facilitate repairs, alterations or additions to the Building or any other tenant's premises. Except for any entry by Landlord in an emergency situation or to provide normal cleaning and janitorial service, if so provided, Landlord shall provide Tenant with reasonable prior notice of any entry into the Premises, which notice may be given verbally. Landlord shall have the right to temporarily close the Premises or the Building to perform repairs, alterations or additions in the Premises or the Building, provided that Landlord shall use reasonable efforts to perform all such work on weekends and after Normal Business Hours. Entry by Landlord hereunder shall not constitute a constructive eviction or entitle Tenant to any abatement or reduction of Rent by reason thereof. 14. Assignment and Subletting A. Except in connection with a Permitted Transfer (defined in Section 14.E. below), Tenant shall not assign, sublease, transfer or encumber any interest in this Lease or allow any third party to use any portion of the Premises (collectively or individually, a "Transfer") without the prior written consent of Landlord, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. Without limitation, it is agreed that Landlord's consent shall not be considered unreasonably withheld if: (1) the proposed transferee's financial condition does not meet the criteria Landlord uses to select Building tenants having similar leasehold obligations; (2) the proposed transferee's business is not suitable for the Building considering the business of the other tenants and the Building's prestige, or would result in a violation of another tenant's rights; (3) the proposed transferee is a governmental agency or occupant of the Building; (4) Tenant is in default beyond any applicable notice and cure period; or (5) any portion of the Building or the Premises would likely become subject to additional or different laws as a consequence of the proposed Transfer. Any attempted Transfer in violation of this Section 14, shall, exercisable in Landlord's sole and absolute discretion, be voidable. Consent by Landlord to one or more Transfer(s) shall not operate as a waiver of Landlord's rights to approve any subsequent Transfer(s). In no event shall any Transfer or Permitted Transfer release or relieve Tenant from any obligation under this Lease or any liability hereunder. B. If Tenant requests Landlord's consent to a Transfer, Tenant shall submit to Landlord financial statements for the proposed transferee, a complete copy of the proposed assignment, sublease and other information as Landlord may reasonably request. Landlord shall within thirty (30) days after Landlord's receipt of the required information and documentation either: (1) consent or reasonably refuse consent to the Transfer in writing; (2) in the event of a proposed assignment of this Lease or a proposed sublease of the entire Premises for the entire remaining term of this Lease, terminate this Lease effective the first to occur of ninety (90) days following written notice of such termination or the date that the proposed Transfer would have come into effect. If Landlord shall fail to notify Tenant in writing of its decision within such thirty (30) days period after the later of the date Landlord is notified in writing of the proposed Transfer or the date Landlord has received all required information concerning the proposed transferee and the proposed Transfer, Landlord shall be deemed to have refused to consent to such Transfer, and to have elected to keep this Lease in full force and effect. Tenant shall pay Landlord a review fee of $1,000.00 for Landlord's review of any Permitted Transfer or requested Transfer. In addition, Tenant shall reimburse Landlord for its actual reasonable costs and expenses (including without limitation reasonable attorney's fees) incurred by Landlord in connection with Landlord's review of such requested Transfer or Permitted Transfer. C. Tenant shall pay to Landlord fifty percent (50%) of all cash and other consideration which Tenant receives as a result of a Transfer that is in excess of the rent payable to Landlord hereunder for the portion of the Premises and Term covered by the Transfer within ten (10) days following receipt thereof by Tenant. If Tenant is in Monetary Default (defined in Section 22. below), Landlord may require that all sublease payments be made directly to Landlord, in which case Tenant shall receive a credit against rent in the amount of any payments received (less Landlord's share of any excess). D. Except as provided below with respect to a Permitted Transfer, if Tenant is a corporation, limited liability company, partnership or similar entity, and the entity which owns or controls a majority of the voting shares/rights at the time changes for any reason (including but not limited to a merger, consolidation or reorganization), such change of ownership or control shall constitute a Transfer. The foregoing shall not apply so long as Tenant is an entity whose outstanding stock is listed on a nationally recognized security exchange, or if at least eighty percent (80%) of its voting stock is owned by another entity, the voting stock of which is so listed. E. Tenant may assign its entire interest under this Lease or sublet the Premises to any entity controlling or controlled by or under common control with Tenant or to any successor to Tenant by purchase, merger, consolidation or reorganization (hereinafter, collectively, referred to as "Permitted Transfer") without the consent of Landlord, provided: (1) Tenant is not in default under this Lease; (2) if such proposed transferee is a successor to Tenant by purchase, said proposed transferee shall acquire all or substantially all of the stock or assets of Tenant's business or, if such proposed transferee shall acquire all or substantially all of the stock or assets of Tenant's business or, if such proposed transferee is a successor to Tenant by merger, consolidation or reorganization, the continuing or surviving corporation shall own all or substantially all of the assets of Tenant; (3) such proposed transferee shall have a net worth which is at least equal to the greater of Tenant's net worth at the date of this Lease or Tenant's net worth as of the day prior to the proposed purchase, merger, consolidation or reorganization as evidenced to Landlord's reasonable satisfaction; (4) such proposed transferee operates the business in the Premises for the Permitted Use and no other purpose; and (5) Tenant shall give Landlord written notice at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of the proposed purchase, merger, consolidation or reorganization. F. Tenant agrees that in the event Landlord withholds its consent to any Transfer contrary to the provisions of this Section 13, Tenant's sole remedy shall be to seek an injunction in equity or compel performance by Landlord to give its consent and Tenant expressly waives any right to damages in the event of such withholding by Landlord of its consent. 15. Mechanic's Liens. Tenant will not permit any mechanic's liens or other liens to be placed upon the Premises, the Building, or the Property and nothing in this Lease shall be deemed or construed in any way as constituting the consent or request of Landlord, express or implied, by inference or otherwise, to any person for the performance of any labor or the furnishing of any materials to the Premises, the Building, or the Property or any part thereof, nor as giving Tenant any right, power, or authority to contract for or permit the rendering of any services or the furnishing of any materials that would give rise to any mechanic's or other liens against the Premises, the Building, or the Property. In the event any such lien is attached to the Premises, the Building, or the Property, then, in addition to any other right or remedy of Landlord, Landlord may, but shall not be obligated to, discharge the same. Any amount paid by Landlord for any of the aforesaid purposes including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys' fees, shall be paid by Tenant to Landlord promptly on demand as Additional Rent. Tenant shall within ten (10) days of receiving such notice of lien or claim (a) have such lien or claim released or (b) deliver to Landlord a bond in form, content, amount and issued by surety, satisfactory to Landlord, indemnifying, protecting, defending and holding harmless the Indemnities against all costs and liabilities resulting from such lien or claim and the foreclosure or attempted foreclosure thereof. Tenant's failure to comply with the provisions of the foregoing sentence shall be deemed an Event of Default under Section 22. hereof entitling Landlord to exercise all of its remedies therefor without the requirement of any additional notice or cure period. 16. Insurance. A. Landlord shall maintain such insurance on the Building and the Premises (other than on Tenant's Property or on any additional improvements constructed in the Premises by Tenant), and such liability insurance in such amounts as Landlord elects. The cost of such insurance shall be included as a part of the Basic Costs, and payments for losses thereunder shall be made solely to Landlord or the mortgagees of Landlord as their interests shall appear. B. Tenant shall maintain at its expense, (1) in an amount equal to full replacement cost, special form (formerly known as all risk) property insurance on all of its personal property, including removable trade fixtures and leasehold and tenant improvements, and Tenant's Property located in the Premises and in such additional amounts as are required to meet Tenant's obligations pursuant to Section 18 hereof and with deductibles in an amount reasonably satisfactory to Landlord, and (ii) a policy or policies of commercial general liability insurance (including endorsement or separate policy for owned or non-owned automobile liability) with respect to its activities in the Building and on the Property, with the premiums thereon fully paid on or before the due date, in an amount of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence per person coverage for bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or combination thereof (the term "personal injury" as used herein means, without limitation, false arrest, detention or imprisonment, malicious prosecution, wrongful entry, liable and slander), provided that if only single limit coverage is available it shall be for at least $2,000,000 per occurrence with an umbrella policy of at least $2,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence. Tenant's insurance policies shall name Landlord and Building Manager as additional insureds and shall include coverage for the contractual liability of Tenant to indemnify Landlord and Building Manager pursuant to Section 16 of this Lease and shall have deductibles in an amount reasonably satisfactory to Landlord. Prior to Tenant's taking possession of the Premises, Tenant shall furnish evidence satisfactory to Landlord of the maintenance and timely renewal of such insurance, and Tenant shall obtain and deliver to Landlord a written obligation on the part of each insurer to notify Landlord at least thirty (30) days prior to the modification, cancellation or expiration of such insurance policies. In the event Tenant shall not have delivered to Landlord a policy or certificate evidencing such insurance at least thirty (30) days prior to the expiration date of each expiring policy, Landlord may obtain such insurance as Landlord may reasonably require to protect Landlord's interest (which obtaining of insurance shall not be deemed to be a waiver of Tenant's default hereunder). The cost to Landlord of obtaining such policies, plus an administrative fee in the amount of fifteen percent (15%) of the cost of such policies shall be paid by Tenant to Landlord as Additional Rent upon demand. C. The insurance requirements set forth in this Section 16 are independent of the waiver, indemnification, and other obligations under this Lease and will not be construed or interpreted in any way to restrict, limit or modify the waiver, indemnification and other obligations or to in any way limit any party's liability under this Lease. In addition to the requirements set forth in Sections 16 and 17, the insurance required of Tenant under this Lease must be issued by an insurance company with a rating of no less than A-VIII in the current Best's Insurance Guide, or A- in the current Standard & Poor Insurance Solvency Review, or that is otherwise acceptable to Landlord, and admitted to engage in the business of insurance in the state in which the Building is located; be primary insurance for all claims under it and provide that any insurance carried by Landlord and Landlord's lenders is strictly excess, secondary and noncontributing with any insurance carried by Tenant; and provide that insurance may not be cancelled, nonrenewed or the subject of material change in coverage of available limits of coverage, except upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to Landlord and Landlord's lenders. Tenant will deliver either a duplicate original or a legally enforceable certificate of insurance on all policies procured by Tenant in compliance with Tenant's obligations under this Lease, together with evidence satisfactory to Landlord of the payment of the premiums therefor, to Landlord on or before the date Tenant first occupies any portion of the Premises, at least thirty (30) days before the expiration date of any policy and upon the renewal of any policy. Landlord must give its prior written approval to all deductibles and self-insured retentions under Tenant's policies. Tenant may comply with its insurance coverage requirements through a blanket policy, provided Tenant, at Tenant's sole expense, procures a "per location" endorsement, or equivalent reasonably acceptable to Landlord, so that the general aggregate and other limits apply separately and specifically to the Premises. D. If Tenant's business operations, conduct or use of the Premises or any other part of the Property causes an increase in the premium for any insurance policy carried by Landlord, Tenant will, within ten (10) days after receipt of notice from Landlord, reimburse Landlord for the entire increase. E. Neither Landlord nor Tenant shall be liable (by way of subrogation or otherwise) to the other party (or to any insurance company insuring the other party) for any personal injury or loss or damage to any of the property of Landlord or Tenant, as the case may be, with respect to their respective property, the Building, the Property or the Premises or any addition or improvements thereto, or any contents therein, to the extent covered by insurance carried or required to be carried by a party hereto even though such loss might have been occasioned by the negligence or willful acts or omissions of the Landlord or Tenant or their respective employees, agents, contractors or invitees. Since this mutual waiver will preclude the assignment of any such claim by subrogation (or otherwise) to an insurance company (or any other person), Landlord and Tenant each agree to give each insurance company which has issued, or in the future may issue, policies of insurance, with respect to the items covered by this waiver, written notice of the terms of this mutual waiver, and to have such insurance policies properly endorsed, if necessary, to prevent the invalidation of any of the coverage provided by such insurance policies by reason of such mutual waiver. For the purpose of the foregoing waiver, the amount of any deductible applicable to any loss or damage shall be deemed covered by, and recoverable by the insured under the insurance policy to which such deductible relates. In the event that Tenant is permitted to and self-insures any risk for which insurance is required to be carried under this Lease, or if Tenant fails to carry any insurance required to be carried by Tenant pursuant to this Lease, then all loss or damage to Tenant, its leasehold interest, its business, its property, the Premises or any additions or improvements thereto or contents thereof shall be deemed covered by and recoverable by Tenant under valid and collectible policies of insurance. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, Landlord shall not be liable to the Tenant or any insurance company (by way of subrogation or otherwise) insuring the Tenant for any loss or damage to any property, or bodily injury or personal injury or any resulting loss of income or losses from worker's compensation laws and benefits, even though such loss or damage might have been occasioned by the negligence of Landlord, its agents or employees, or Building Manager, if any such loss or damage was required to be covered by insurance pursuant to this Lease. 17. Indemnity. To the extent not expressly prohibited by law, neither Landlord nor Building Manager nor any of their respective officers, directors, employees, members, managers, or agents shall be liable to Tenant, or to Tenant's agents, servants, employees, customers, licensees, or invitees for any injury to person or damage to property caused by any act, omission, or neglect of Tenant, its agents, servants, employees, customers, invitees, licensees or by any other person entering the Building or upon the Property under the invitation of Tenant or arising out of the use of the Property, Building or Premises by Tenant and the conduct of its business or out of a default by Tenant in the performance of its obligations hereunder. Tenant hereby indemnifies and holds Landlord and Building Manager and their respective officers, directors, employees, members, managers and agents ("Indemnitees"), harmless from all liability and claims for any property damage, or bodily injury or death of, or personal injury to, a person in or on the Premises, or at any other place, including the Property or the Building and this indemnity shall be enforceable to the full extent whether or not such liability and claims are the result of the sole, joint or concurrent acts, negligent or intentional, or otherwise, of Tenant, or its employees, agents, servants, customers, invitees or licensees. Such indemnity for the benefit of Indemnitees shall be enforceable even if Indemnitees, or any one or more of them have or has caused or participated in causing such liability and claims by their joint or concurrent acts, negligent or intentional, or otherwise. Notwithstanding the terms of this Lease to the contrary, the terms of this Section shall survive the expiration or earlier termination of this Lease. 18. Damages from Certain Causes. To the extent not expressly prohibited by law, Landlord shall not be liable to Tenant or Tenant's employees, contractors, agents, invitees or customers, for any injury to person or damage to property sustained by Tenant or any such party or any other person claiming through Tenant resulting from any accident or occurrence in the Premises or any other portion of the Building caused by the Premises or any other portion of the Building becoming out of repair or by defect in or failure of equipment, pipes, or wiring, or by broken glass, or by the backing up of drains, or by gas, water, steam, electricity, or oil leaking, escaping or flowing into the Premises (except where due to Landlord's willful failure to make repairs required to be made pursuant to other provisions of this Lease, after the expiration of a reasonable time after written notice to Landlord of the need for such repairs), nor shall Landlord be liable to Tenant for any loss or damage that may be occasioned by or through the acts or omissions of other tenants of the Building or of any other persons whomsoever, including, but not limited to riot, strike, insurrection, war, court order, requisition, order of any governmental body or authority, acts of God, fire or theft. 19. Casualty Damage. If the Premises or any part thereof shall be damaged by fire or other casualty, Tenant shall give prompt written notice thereof to Landlord. In case the Building shall be so damaged that substantial alteration or reconstruction of the Building shall, in Landlord's sole opinion, be required (whether or not the Premises shall have been damaged by such casualty) or in the event there is less than two (2) years of the Lease Term remaining or in the event Landlord's mortgagee should require that the insurance proceeds payable as a result of a casualty be applied to the payment of the mortgage debt or in the event of any material uninsured loss to the Building, Landlord may, at its option, terminate this Lease by notifying Tenant in writing of such termination within ninety (90) days after the date of such casualty. If Landlord does not thus elect to terminate this Lease, Landlord shall commence and proceed with reasonable diligence to restore the Building, and the improvements located within the Premises, if any, for which Landlord had financial responsibility pursuant to the Work Letter Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit D (except that Landlord shall not be responsible for delays not within the control of Landlord) to substantially the same condition in which it was immediately prior to the happening of the casualty. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Landlord's obligation to restore the Building, and the improvements located within the Premises, if any, for which Landlord had financial responsibility pursuant to the Work Letter Agreement, shall not require Landlord to expend for such repair and restoration work more than the insurance proceeds actually received by the Landlord as a result of the casualty and Landlord's obligation to restore shall be further limited so that Landlord shall not be required to expend for the repair and restoration of the improvements located within the Premises, if any, for which Landlord had financial responsibility pursuant to the Work Letter Agreement, more than the dollar amount of the Allowance, if any, described in the Work Letter Agreement. When the repairs described in the preceding two sentences have been completed by Landlord, Tenant shall complete the restoration of all improvements, including furniture, fixtures and equipment, which are necessary to permit Tenant's reoccupancy of the Premises. Except as set forth above, all cost and expense of reconstructing the Premises shall be borne by Tenant, and Tenant shall present Landlord with evidence satisfactory to Landlord of Tenant's ability to pay such costs prior to Landlord's commencement of repair and restoration of the Premises. Landlord shall not be liable for any inconvenience or annoyance to Tenant or injury to the business of Tenant resulting in any way from such damage or the repair thereof, except that, subject to the provisions of the next sentence, Landlord shall allow Tenant a fair diminution of Rent during the time and to the extent the Premises are unfit for occupancy. If the Premises or any other portion of the Property is damaged by fire or other casualty resulting from the fault or negligence of Tenant or any of Tenant's agents, employees, or invitees, the rent hereunder shall not be diminished during the repair of such damage and Tenant shall be liable to Landlord for the cost of the repair and restoration of the Property caused thereby to the extent such cost and expense is not covered by insurance proceeds. 20. Condemnation. If the whole or any substantial part of the Premises or if the Building or any portion thereof which would leave the remainder of the Building unsuitable for use as an office building comparable to its use on the Commencement Date, or if the land on which the Building is located or any material portion thereof, shall be taken or condemned for any public or quasi-public use under governmental law, ordinance or regulation, or by right of eminent domain, or by private purchase in lieu thereof, then Landlord may, at its option, terminate this Lease and the rent shall be abated during the unexpired portion of this Lease, effective when the physical taking of said Premises or said portion of the Building or land shall occur. In the event this Lease is not terminated, the rent for any portion of the Premises so taken or condemned shall be abated during the unexpired term of this Lease effective when the physical taking of said portion of the Premises shall occur. All compensation awarded for any such taking or condemnation, or sale proceeds in lieu thereof, shall be the property of Landlord, and Tenant shall have no claim thereto, the same being hereby expressly waived by Tenant, except for any portions of such award or proceeds which are specifically allocated by the condemning or purchasing party for the taking of or damage to trade fixtures of Tenant, which Tenant specifically reserves to itself. 21. Hazardous Substances. A. Tenant hereby represents and covenants to Landlord the following: No toxic or hazardous substances or wastes, pollutants or contaminants (including, without limitation, asbestos, urea formaldehyde, the group of organic compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls, petroleum products including gasoline, fuel oil, crude oil and various constituents of such products, radon, and any hazardous substance as defined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657, as amended ("CERCLA") (collectively, "Environmental Pollutants") other than customary office supplies and cleaning supplies stored and handled within the Premises in accordance with all applicable laws, will be generated, treated, stored, released or disposed of, or otherwise placed, deposited in or located on the Property, and no activity shall be taken on the Property, by Tenant, its agents, employees, invitees or contractors, that would cause or contribute to (i) the Property or any part thereof to become a generation, treatment, storage or disposal facility within the meaning of or otherwise bring the Property within the ambit of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. 5901 et. seq., or any similar state law or local ordinance, (ii) a release or threatened release of toxic or hazardous wastes or substances, pollutants or contaminants or medical, special or infectious wastes, from the Property or any part thereof within the meaning of, or otherwise result in liability in connection with the Property within the ambit of CERCLA, or any similar state law or local ordinance, or (iii) the discharge of pollutants or effluents into any water source or system, the dredging or filling of any waters, or the discharge into the air of any emissions, that would require a permit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et. seq., or the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et. seq., or any similar state law or local ordinance. B. Tenant expressly waives, to the extent allowed by law, any claims under federal, state or other law that Tenant might otherwise have against Landlord relating to the condition of such Property or the Premises or the Leasehold Improvements or personal property located thereon or the presence in or contamination of the Property or the Premises by hazardous materials. Tenant agrees to indemnify and hold Indemnitees (as defined in Section 16) harmless from and against and to reimburse Indemnitees with respect to, any and all claims, demands, causes of action, loss, damage, liabilities, costs and expenses (including attorneys' fees and court costs) of any and every kind or character, known or unknown, fixed or contingent, asserted against or incurred by Landlord at any time and from time-totime by reason of or arising out of the breach of any representation or covenant contained in Section 20.A above. C. Tenant shall immediately notify Landlord in writing of any release or threatened release of toxic or hazardous wastes or substances, pollutants or contaminants of which Tenant has knowledge whether or not the release is in quantities that would require under law the reporting of such release to a governmental or regulatory agency. D. Tenant shall also immediately notify Landlord in writing of, and shall contemporaneously provide Landlord with a copy of: (1) Any written notice of release of hazardous wastes or substances, pollutants or contaminants on the Property that is provided by Tenant or any subtenant or other occupant of the Premises to a governmental or regulatory agency; (2) Any notice of a violation, or a potential or alleged violation, of any Environmental Law (hereinafter defined) that is received by Tenant or any subtenant or other occupant of the Premises from any governmental or regulatory agency; (3) Any inquiry, investigation, enforcement, cleanup, removal, or other action that is instituted or threatened by a governmental or regulatory agency against Tenant or any subtenant or other occupant of the Premises and that relates to the release or discharge of hazardous wastes or substances, pollutants or contaminants on or from the Property; (4) Any claim that is instituted or threatened by any third-party against Tenant or any subtenant or other occupant of the Premises and that relates to any release or discharge of hazardous wastes or substances, pollutants or contaminants on or from the Property; and (5) Any notice of the loss of any environmental operating permit by Tenant or any subtenant or other occupant of the Premises. E. As used herein "Environmental Laws" mean all present and future federal, state and municipal laws, ordinances, rules and regulations applicable to environmental and ecological conditions, and the rules and regulations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and any other federal, state or municipal agency, or governmental board or entity relating to environmental matters. F. Landlord may at its option terminate this Lease in the event Tenant engages in a prohibited use and fails to cure such violation within thirty (30) days following Tenant's receipt of written notice from Landlord 22. Americans with Disabilities Act . Tenant agrees to comply with all requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Public Law (July 26, 1990)) ("ADA") applicable to the Premises and such other current acts or other subsequent acts, (whether federal or state) addressing like issues as are enacted or amended. Prior to construction of Tenant Premises, Tenant agrees to submit plans to Landlord's approved ADA licensed building inspector and architect for ADA approval. Tenant agrees to indemnify and hold Landlord harmless from any and all expenses, liabilities, costs or damages suffered by Landlord as a result of additional obligations which may be imposed on the Building or the Property under such acts by virtue of Tenant's operations and/or occupancy, including the alleged negligence of the Landlord. Tenant acknowledges that it will be wholly responsible for any provision of the Lease which could arguably be construed as authorizing a violation of the ADA. Any such provision shall be interpreted in a manner which permits compliance with the ADA and is hereby amended to permit such compliance. 23. Events of Default A. The following events shall be deemed to be "Events of Default" under this Lease: (1) Tenant shall fail to pay when due any Base Rent, Additional Rent or other amount payable by Tenant to Landlord under this Lease (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a "Monetary Default"). (2) Any failure by Tenant (other than a Monetary Default) to comply with any term, provision or covenant of this Lease, which failure is not cured within thirty (30) days after delivery to Tenant of notice of the occurrence of such failure provided, however, that if the term, condition, covenant or obligation to be performed by Tenant is of such nature that the same cannot reasonably be performed within such thirty-day period, such default shall be deemed to have been cured if Tenant commences such performance within said thirty-day period and thereafter diligently undertakes to complete the same, and in fact, completes same within sixty (60) days after notice. (3) Any failure by Tenant to observe or perform any of the covenants with respect to (a) assignment and subletting set forth in Section 13, (b) mechanic's liens set forth in Section 14, or (c) insurance set forth in Section 15. (4) Tenant or any Guarantor shall (a) become insolvent, (b) make a transfer in fraud of creditors (c) make an assignment for the benefit of creditors, (d) admit in writing its inability to pay its debts as they become due, (e) file a petition under any section or chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, as amended, pertaining to bankruptcy, or under any similar law or statute of the United States or any State thereof, or Tenant or any Guarantor shall be adjudged bankrupt or insolvent in proceedings filed against Tenant or any Guarantor thereunder; or a petition or answer proposing the adjudication of Tenant or any Guarantor as a bankrupt or its reorganization under any present or future federal or state bankruptcy or similar law shall be filed in any court and such petition or answer shall not be discharged or denied within sixty (60) days after the filing thereof. (5) A receiver or trustee shall be appointed for all or substantially all of the assets of Tenant or any Guarantor or of the Premises or of any of Tenant's property located thereon in any proceeding brought by Tenant or any Guarantor, or any such receiver or trustee shall be appointed in any proceeding brought against Tenant or any Guarantor and shall not be discharged within sixty (60) days after such appointment or Tenant or such Guarantor shall consent to or acquiesce in such appointment. (6) The leasehold estate hereunder shall be taken on execution or other process of law in any action against Tenant. (7) Tenant shall abandon or vacate any substantial portion of the Premises. (8) Tenant shall fail to take possession of and occupy the Premises within thirty (30) days following the Commencement Date and thereafter continuously conduct its operations in the Premises for the Permitted Use as set forth in Section 4 hereof. (9) The liquidation, termination, dissolution, forfeiture of right to do business or death of Tenant or any Guarantor. 24. Remedies. A. Upon the occurrence of any Event of Default, Landlord shall have the following rights and remedies, in addition to those allowed by law or equity, any one or more of which may be exercised without further notice to or demand upon Tenant and which may be pursued successively or cumulatively as Landlord may elect: (1) Landlord may re-enter the Premises and cure any default of Tenant, in which event Tenant shall, upon demand, reimburse Landlord as Additional Rent for any cost and expenses which Landlord may incur to cure such default; and Landlord shall not be liable to Tenant for any loss or damage which Tenant may sustain by reason of Landlord's action, regardless of whether caused by Landlord's negligence or otherwise. (2) Landlord may terminate this Lease by giving to Tenant notice of Landlord's election to do so, in which event the Term shall end, and all right, title and interest of Tenant hereunder shall expire, on the date stated in such notice; (3) Landlord may terminate the right of Tenant to possession of the Premises without terminating this Lease by giving notice to Tenant that Tenant's right to possession shall end on the date stated in such notice, whereupon the right of Tenant to possession of the Premises or any part thereof shall cease on the date stated in such notice; and (4) Landlord may enforce the provisions of this Lease and may enforce and protect the rights of Landlord hereunder by a suit or suits in equity or at law for the specific performance of any covenant or agreement contained herein, or for the enforcement of any other appropriate legal or equitable remedy, including recovery of all moneys due or to become due from Tenant under any of the provisions of this Lease. Landlord shall not be required to serve Tenant with any notices or demands as a prerequisite to its exercise of any of its rights or remedies under this Lease, other than those notices and demands specifically required under this Lease. TENANT EXPRESSLY WAIVES THE SERVICE OF ANY STATUTORY DEMAND OR NOTICE WHICH IS A PREREQUISITE TO LANDLORD'S COMMENCEMENT OF EVICTION PROCEEDINGS AGAINST TENANT, INCLUDING THE DEMANDS AND NOTICES SPECIFIED IN 735 ILCS §§ 5/9-209 AND 5/9210). TENANT WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LAWSUIT BROUGHT BY LANDLORD TO RECOVER POSSESSION OF THE PREMISES FOLLOWING LANDLORD'S TERMINATION OF THIS LEASE PURSUANT TO SECTION 23A(2) OR THE RIGHT OF TENANT TO POSSESSION OF THE PREMISES PURSUANT TO SECTION 23A(3) AND ON ANY CLAIM FOR DELINQUENT RENT WHICH LANDLORD MAY JOIN IN ITS LAWSUIT TO RECOVER POSSESSION. B. If Landlord exercises either of the remedies provided in Sections 23.A.(2) or 23.A.(3), Tenant shall surrender possession and vacate the Premises and immediately deliver possession thereof to Landlord, and Landlord may re-enter and take complete and peaceful possession of the Premises, with process of law, full and complete license to do so being hereby granted to Landlord, and Landlord may remove all occupants and property therefrom, using such force as may be necessary to the extent allowed by law, without being deemed guilty in any manner of trespass, eviction or forcible entry and detainer and without relinquishing Landlord's right to Rent or any other right given to Landlord hereunder or by operation of law. C. If Landlord terminates the right of Tenant to possession of the Premises without terminating this Lease, Landlord shall have the right to immediate recovery of all amounts then due hereunder. Such termination of possession shall not release Tenant, in whole or in part, from Tenant's obligation to pay Rent hereunder for the full Term, and Landlord shall have the right, from time to time, to recover from Tenant, and Tenant shall remain liable for, all Base Rent, Additional Rent and any other sums accruing as they become due under this Lease during the period from the date of such notice of termination of possession to the stated end of the Term. In any such case, Landlord may relet the Premises or any part thereof for the account of Tenant for such rent, for such time (which may be for a term extending beyond the Term) and upon such terms as Landlord shall determine and may collect the rents from such reletting. Landlord shall not be required to accept any tenant offered by Tenant or to observe any instructions given by Tenant relative to such reletting. Also, in any such case, Landlord may make repairs, alterations and additions in or to the Premises and redecorate the same to the extent deemed by Landlord necessary or desirable and in connection therewith change the locks to the Premises, and Tenant upon demand shall pay the cost of all of the foregoing together with Landlord's expenses of reletting. The rents from any such reletting shall be applied first to the payment of the expenses of reentry, redecoration, repair and alterations and the expenses of reletting and second to the payment of Rent herein provided to be paid by Tenant. Any excess or residue shall operate only as an offsetting credit against the amount of Rent due and owing as the same thereafter becomes due and payable hereunder, and the use of such offsetting credit to reduce the amount of Rent due Landlord, if any, shall not be deemed to give Tenant any right, title or interest in or to such excess or residue and any such excess or residue shall belong to Landlord solely, and in no event shall Tenant be entitled to a credit on its indebtedness to Landlord in excess of the aggregate sum (including Base Rent and Additional Rent) which would have been paid by Tenant for the period for which the credit to Tenant is being determined, had no Event of Default occurred. No such reentry or repossession, repairs, alterations and additions, or reletting shall be construed as an eviction or ouster of Tenant or as an election on Landlord's part to terminate this Lease, unless a written notice of such intention is given to Tenant, or shall operate to release Tenant in whole or in part from any of Tenant's obligations hereunder, and Landlord, at any time and from time to time, may sue and recover judgment for any deficiencies remaining after the application of the proceeds of any such reletting. D. If this Lease is terminated by Landlord pursuant to Section 23.A.(2), Landlord shall be entitled to recover from Tenant all Rent accrued and unpaid for the period up to and including such termination date, as well as all other additional sums payable by Tenant, or for which Tenant is liable or for which Tenant has agreed to indemnify Landlord under any of the provisions of this Lease, which may be then owing and unpaid, and all costs and expenses, including without limitation court costs and attorneys' fees incurred by Landlord in the enforcement of its rights and remedies hereunder, and, in addition, Landlord shall be entitled to recover as damages for loss of the bargain and not as a penalty (i) the unamortized portion of any concessions offered by Landlord to Tenant in connection with this Lease, including without limitation Landlord's contribution to the cost of tenant improvements and alterations, if any, installed by either Landlord or Tenant pursuant to this Lease or any work letter in connection with this Lease, (ii) the aggregate sum which at the time of such termination represents the excess, if any, of the present value of the aggregate rents which would have been payable after the termination date had this Lease not been terminated, including, without limitation, Base Rent at the annual rate or respective annual rates for the remainder of the Term provided for in this Lease and the amount projected by Landlord to represent Additional Rent for the remainder of the Term over the then present value of the then aggregate fair rent value of the Premises for the balance of the Term, such present worth to be computed in each case on the basis of a ten percent (10%) per annum discount from the respective dates upon which such Rents would have been payable hereunder had this Lease not been terminated, and (iii) any damages in addition thereto, including without limitation reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs, which Landlord sustains as a result of the breach of any of the covenants of this Lease other than for the payment of Rent. E. Landlord shall use commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate any damages resulting from an Event of Default by Tenant under this Lease. Landlord's obligation to mitigate damages after an Event of Default by Tenant under this Lease shall be satisfied in full if Landlord undertakes to lease the Premises to another tenant (a "Substitute Tenant") in accordance with the following criteria: (1) Landlord shall have no obligations to solicit or entertain negotiations with any other prospective tenants for the Premises until Landlord obtains full and complete possession of the Premises including, without limitation, the final and unappealable legal right to relet the Premises free of any claim of Tenant; (2) Landlord shall not be obligated to lease or show the Premises, on a priority basis, offer the Premises to a prospective tenant when other premises in the Building suitable for that prospective tenant's use are (or soon will be) available; (3) Landlord shall not be obligated to lease the Premises to a Substitute Tenant for a Rent less than the current fair market Rent then prevailing for similar uses in comparable buildings in the same market area as the Building, nor shall Landlord be obligated to enter into a new lease under other terms and conditions that are unacceptable to Landlord under Landlord's then current leasing policies for comparable space in the Building; (4) Landlord shall not be obligated to enter into a lease with a Substitute Tenant whose use would: (i) violate any restriction, covenant, or requirement contained in the lease of another tenant of the Building; (ii) adversely affect the reputation of the Building; or (iii) be incompatible with the operation of the Building as an office building; (5) Landlord shall not be obligated to enter into a lease with any proposed Substitute Tenant which does not have, in Landlord's reasonable opinion, sufficient financial resources to operate the Premises in a first class manner; and (6) Landlord shall not be required to expend any amount of money to alter, remodel, or otherwise make the Premises suitable for use by a proposed Substitute Tenant unless: (i) Tenant pays any such sum to Landlord in advance of Landlord's execution of a lease with such tenant (which payment shall not be in lieu of any damages or other sums to which Landlord may be entitled as a result of Tenant's default under this Lease); or (ii) Landlord, in Landlord's reasonable discretion, determines that any such expenditure is financially justified in connection with entering into any such substitute lease. F. All property of Tenant removed from the Premises by Landlord pursuant to any provision of this Lease or applicable law may be handled, removed or stored by Landlord at the cost and expense of Tenant, and Landlord shall not be responsible in any event for the value, preservation or safekeeping thereof. Tenant shall pay Landlord for all expenses incurred by Landlord with respect to such removal and storage so long as the same is in Landlord's possession or under Landlord's control. All such property not removed from the Premises or retaken from storage by Tenant within thirty (30) days after the end of the Term or the termination of Tenant's right to possession of the Premises, however terminated, at Landlord's option, shall be conclusively deemed to have been conveyed by Tenant to Landlord as by bill of sale without further payment or credit by Landlord to Tenant. G. Tenant hereby grants to Landlord a first lien upon the interest of Tenant under this Lease to secure the payment of moneys due under this Lease, which lien may be enforced in equity, and Landlord shall be entitled as a matter of right to have a receiver appointed to take possession of the Premises and relet the same under order of court. H. If Tenant is adjudged bankrupt, or a trustee in bankruptcy is appointed for Tenant, Landlord and Tenant, to the extent permitted by law, agree to request that the trustee in bankruptcy determine within sixty (60) days thereafter whether to assume or to reject this Lease. I. The receipt by Landlord of less than the full rent due shall not be construed to be other than a payment on account of rent then due, nor shall any statement on Tenant's check or any letter accompanying Tenant's check be deemed an accord and satisfaction, and Landlord may accept such payment without prejudice to Landlord's right to recover the balance of the rent due or to pursue any other remedies provided in this lease. The acceptance by Landlord of rent hereunder shall not be construed to be a waiver of any breach by Tenant of any term, covenant or condition of this Lease. No act or omission by Landlord or its employees or agents during the term of this Lease shall be deemed an acceptance of a surrender of the Premises, and no agreement to accept such a surrender shall be valid unless in writing and signed by Landlord. J. In the event of any litigation between Tenant and Landlord to enforce any provision of this Lease or any right of either party hereto, the unsuccessful party to such litigation shall pay to the successful party all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred therein. Furthermore, if Landlord, without fault, is made a party to any litigation instituted by or against Tenant, Tenant shall indemnify Landlord against, and protect, defend, and save it harmless from, all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by it in connection therewith. If Tenant, without fault, is made party to any litigation instituted by or against Landlord, Landlord shall indemnify Tenant against, and protect, defend, and save it harmless from, all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by it in connection therewith. 25. No Waiver. Failure of Landlord to declare any default immediately upon its occurrence, or delay in taking any action in connection with an event of default, shall not constitute a waiver of such default, nor shall it constitute an estoppel against Landlord, but Landlord shall have the right to declare the default at any time and take such action as is lawful or authorized under this Lease. Failure by Landlord to enforce its rights with respect to any one default shall not constitute a waiver of its rights with respect to any subsequent default. 26. Peaceful Enjoyment. Tenant shall, and may peacefully have, hold, and enjoy the Premises, subject to the other terms hereof, provided that Tenant pays the Rent and other sums herein recited to be paid by Tenant and timely performs all of Tenant's covenants and agreements herein contained. This covenant and any and all other covenants of Landlord shall be binding upon Landlord and its successors only with respect to breaches occurring during its or their respective periods of ownership of the Landlord's interest hereunder. 27. Substitution. Landlord at its sole discretion shall be entitled to cause Tenant to relocate from the Premises to a comparably-sized space, of comparable design and tenant improvements (the "Relocation Space") within the Building or adjacent buildings within the same Property at any time upon sixty (60) days' prior written notice to Tenant. The reasonable costs actually incurred in connection with the physical relocation of the Tenant to the Relocation Space shall be at the expense of Landlord and all other costs, if any, involved with such relocation shall be borne by Tenant. Such a relocation shall not terminate or otherwise affect or modify this Lease except that from and after the date of such relocation, "Premises" shall refer to the Relocation Space into which Tenant has been moved, rather than the original Premises as herein defined and the Base Rent shall be adjusted so that immediately following such relocation the Base Rent for the Relocation Space on a per square foot of Rentable Area basis shall be the same as the Base Rent immediately prior to such relocation for the original Premises on a per square foot of Rentable Area basis. Tenant's Pro Rata Share shall also be adjusted in accordance with the formula set forth in the Lease. 28. Holding Over. In the event of holding over by Tenant after expiration or other termination of this Lease or in the event Tenant continues to occupy the Premises after the termination of Tenant's right of possession pursuant to Section 23.A(3) hereof, occupancy of the Premises subsequent to such termination or expiration shall be that of a year-to-year tenancy. Tenant shall, throughout the entire holdover period, be subject to all the terms and provisions of this Lease and shall pay for its use and occupancy an amount (on a per month basis without reduction for any partial months during any such holdover) equal to the greater of (a) the then current market rate, or (b) the Base Rent and Additional Rent which would have been applicable had the Lease Term continued through the period of such holding over by Tenant. No holding over by Tenant or payments of money by Tenant to Landlord after the expiration of the Lease Term shall be construed to extend the Lease Term or prevent Landlord from recovery of immediate possession of the Premises by summary proceedings or otherwise unless Landlord has sent written notice to Tenant that Landlord has elected to extend the Lease Term. In addition to the obligation to pay the amounts set forth above during any such holdover period, Tenant shall also be liable to Landlord for all damages, including, without limitation, any consequential damages, which Landlord may suffer by reason of any holding over by Tenant and Tenant shall also indemnify Landlord against any and all claims made by any other tenant or prospective tenant against Landlord for delay by Landlord in delivering possession of the Premises to such other tenant or prospective tenant. 29. Subordination to Mortgage/Estoppel Certificate. Tenant accepts this Lease subject and subordinate to any mortgage, deed of trust or other lien presently existing or hereafter arising upon the Premises, or upon the Building and/or the Property and to any renewals, modifications, refinancings and extensions thereof, but Tenant agrees that any such mortgagee shall have the right at any time to subordinate such mortgage, deed of trust or other lien to this Lease on such terms and subject to such conditions as such mortgagee may deem appropriate in its discretion. The provisions of the foregoing sentence shall be self-operative and no further instrument of subordination shall be required. However, Landlord is hereby irrevocably vested with full power and authority to subordinate this Lease to any mortgage, deed of trust or other lien now existing or hereafter placed upon the Premises, or the Building and/or the Property and Tenant agrees within ten (10) days after demand to execute such further instruments subordinating this Lease or attorning to the holder of any such liens as Landlord may request. The terms of this Lease are subject to approval by the Landlord's existing lender(s) and any lender(s) who, at the time of the execution of this Lease, have committed or are considering committing to Landlord to make a loan secured by all or any portion of the Property, and such approval is a condition precedent to Landlord's obligations hereunder. In the event that Tenant should fail to execute any subordination or other agreement required by this Section promptly as requested, Tenant hereby irrevocably constitutes Landlord as its attorney-in-fact to execute such instrument in Tenant's name, place and stead, it being agreed that such power is one coupled with an interest in Landlord and is accordingly irrevocable. Tenant agrees that it will from time-to-time upon request by Landlord execute and deliver to such persons as Landlord shall request a statement in recordable form certifying that this Lease is unmodified and in full force and effect (or if there have been modifications, that the same is in full force and effect as so modified), stating the dates to which rent and other charges payable under this Lease have been paid, stating that Landlord is not in default hereunder (or if Tenant alleges a default stating the nature of such alleged default) and further stating such other matters as Landlord shall reasonably require. Tenant agrees periodically to furnish within ten (10) days after so requested by Landlord, ground lessor or the holder of any deed of trust, mortgage or security agreement covering the Building, the Property, or any interest of Landlord therein, a certificate signed by Tenant certifying (a) that this Lease is in full force and effect and unmodified (or if there have been modifications, that the same is in full force and effect as modified and stating the modifications), (b) as to the Commencement Date and the date through which Base Rent and Tenant's Additional Rent have been paid, (c) that Tenant has accepted possession of the Premises and that any improvements required by the terms of this Lease to be made by Landlord have been completed to the satisfaction of Tenant, (d) that except as stated in the certificate no rent has been paid more than thirty (30) days in advance of its due date, (e) that the address for notices to be sent to Tenant is as set forth in this Lease (or has been changed by notice duly given and is as set forth in the certificate), (f) that except as stated in the certificate, Tenant, as of the date of such certificate, has no charge, lien, or claim of offset against rent due or to become due, (g) that except as stated in the certificate, Landlord is not then in default under this Lease, (h) as to the amount of the Approximate Rentable Area of the Premises then occupied by Tenant, (i) that there are no renewal or extension options, purchase options, rights of first refusal or the like in favor of Tenant except as set forth in this Lease, (j) the amount and nature of accounts payable to Landlord under terms of this Lease, and (k) as to such other matters as may be requested by Landlord or ground lessor or the holder of any such deed of trust, mortgage or security agreement. Any such certificate may be relied upon by any ground lessor, prospective purchaser, secured party, mortgagee or any beneficiary under any mortgage, deed of trust on the Building or the Property or any part thereof or interest of Landlord therein. 30. Notice. Any notice required or permitted to be given under this Lease or by law shall be deemed to have been given if it is written and delivered in person or mailed by Registered or Certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, or sent by a nationally recognized overnight delivery service to the party who is to receive such notice at the address specified in Section 1.Y. of this Lease. When so mailed, the notice shall be deemed to have been given upon receipt. When sent by overnight delivery service, the notice shall be deemed to have been given upon receipt. The address specified in Section 1.Y. of this Lease may be changed from time to time by giving written notice thereof to the other party. 31. Landlord's Lien. In addition to any statutory lien for rent in Landlord's favor, Landlord (the secured party for purposes hereof) shall have and Tenant (the debtor for purposes hereof) hereby grants to Landlord, a continuing security interest for all Base Rent, Additional Rent and other sums of money becoming due hereunder from Tenant, upon all goods, wares, equipment, fixtures, furniture, inventory, accounts, contract rights, chattel paper and other personal property of Tenant situated on the Premises subject to this Lease and such property shall not be removed therefrom without the consent of Landlord until all arrearages in Rent as well as any and all sums of money then due to Landlord hereunder shall first have been paid and discharged. In the event of a default under this Lease, landlord shall have, in addition to any other remedies provided herein or by law, all rights and remedies under the Uniform Commercial Code, including without limitation the right to sell the property described in this Section at public or private sale upon ten (10) days notice to Tenant which notice Tenant hereby agrees is adequate and reasonable. Tenant hereby agrees to execute such other instruments necessary or desirable in Landlord's discretion to perfect the security interest hereby created. Any statutory lien for Rent is not hereby waived, the express contractual lien herein being granted in addition and supplementary thereto. Tenant warrants and represents that the collateral subject to the security interest granted herein is not purchased or used by Tenant for personal, family or household purposes. Tenant further warrants and represents that the lien granted herein constitutes a first and superior lien and the Tenant will not allow the placing of any other lien upon the property described in this Section without the prior written consent of Landlord. 32. Surrender of Premises. Upon the termination, whether by lapse of time or otherwise, or upon any termination of Tenant's right to possession without termination of the Lease, Tenant will at once surrender possession and vacate the Premises, together with all Leasehold Improvements (except those Leasehold Improvements Tenant is required to remove pursuant to Section 8 hereof), to Landlord in good condition and repair, ordinary wear and tear excepted; conditions existing because of Tenant's failure to perform maintenance, repairs or replacements as required of Tenant under this Lease shall not be deemed "reasonable wear and tear." Tenant shall surrender to Landlord all keys to the Premises and make known to Landlord the explanation of all combination locks which Tenant is permitted to leave on the Premises. Subject to the Landlord's rights under Section 23 hereof, if Tenant fails to remove any of Tenant's Property within one (1) day after the termination of this Lease, or Tenant's right to possession hereunder, Landlord, at Tenant's sole cost and expenses, shall be entitled to remove and/or store such Tenant's Property and Landlord shall in no event be responsible for the value, preservation or safekeeping thereof. Tenant shall pay Landlord, upon demand, any and all reasonable expenses caused by such removal and all storage charges against such property so long as the same shall be in possession of Landlord or under the control of Landlord. In addition, if Tenant fails to remove any Tenant's Property from the Premises or storage, as the case may be, within ten (10) days after written notice from Landlord, Landlord, at its option, may deem all or any part of such Tenant's Property to have been abandoned by Tenant and title thereof shall immediately pass to Landlord under this Lease as by a bill of sale. 33. Rights Reserved to Landlord. Landlord reserves the following rights, exercisable without notice, except as provided herein, and without liability to Tenant for damage or injury to property, person or business and without affecting an eviction or disturbance of Tenant's use or possession or giving rise to any claim for setoff or abatement of rent or affecting any of Tenant's obligations under this Lease: (1) upon thirty (30) days prior notice to change the name or street address of the Building; (2) to install and maintain signs on the exterior and interior of the Building; (3) to designate and approve window coverings to present a uniform exterior appearance; (4) to make any decorations, alterations, additions, improvements to the Building or Property, or any part thereof (including, with prior notice, the Premises) which Landlord shall desire, or deem necessary for the safety, protection, preservation or improvement of the Building or Property, or as Landlord may be required to do by law; (5) to have access to the Premises at reasonable hours to perform its duties and obligations and to exercise its rights under this Lease; (6) to retain at all times and to use in appropriate instances, pass keys to all locks within and to the Premises; (7) to approve the weight, size, or location of heavy equipment, or articles within the Premises; (8) to close or restrict access to the Building at all times other than Normal Business Hours subject to Tenant's right to admittance at all times under such regulations as Landlord may prescribe from time to time, or to close (temporarily or permanently) any of the entrances to the Building;; provided Landlord shall have the right to restrict or prohibit access to the Building or the Premises at any time Landlord determines it is necessary to do so to minimize the risk of injuries or death to persons or damage to property (9) to change the arrangement and/or location of entrances of passageways, doors and doorways, corridors, elevators, stairs, toilets and public parts of the Building or Property; (10) to regulate access to telephone, electrical and other utility closets in the Building and to require use of designated contractors for any work involving access to the same; (11) if Tenant has vacated the Premises during the last six (6) months of the Lease Term, to perform additions, alterations and improvements to the Premises in connection with a reletting or anticipated reletting thereof without being responsible or liable for the value or preservation of any then existing improvements to the Premises; and (12) to grant to anyone the exclusive right to conduct any business or undertaking in the Building provided Landlord's exercise of its rights under this clause 12, shall not be deemed to prohibit Tenant from the operation of its business in the Premises and shall not constitute a constructive eviction. 34. Miscellaneous. A. If any term or provision of this Lease, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall, to any extent, be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this Lease, or the application of such term or provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each term and provision of this Lease shall be valid and enforced to the fullest extent permitted by law. B. Tenant agrees not to record this Lease or any short form or memorandum hereof. C. This Lease and the rights and obligations of the parties hereto shall be interpreted, construed, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the state of Texas. D. Events of "Force Majeure" shall include strikes, riots, acts of God, shortages of labor or materials, war, governmental laws, regulations or restrictions, or any other cause whatsoever beyond the control of Landlord or Tenant, as the case may be. Whenever a period of time is herein prescribed for the taking of any action by Landlord or Tenant (other than the payment of Rent and all other such sums of money as shall become due hereunder), such party shall not be liable or responsible for, there shall be excluded from the computation of such period of time, any delays due to events of Force Majeure. E. Except as expressly otherwise herein provided, with respect to all required acts of Tenant, time is of the essence of this Lease. F. Landlord shall have the right to transfer and assign, in whole or in part, all of its rights and obligations hereunder and in the Building and Property referred to herein, and in such event and upon such transfer Landlord shall be released from any further obligations hereunder, and Tenant agrees to look solely to such successor in interest of Landlord for the performance of such obligations. G. Tenant hereby represents to Landlord that it has dealt directly with and only with the Broker as a broker in connection with this Lease. Landlord and Tenant hereby indemnify and hold each other harmless against any loss, claim, expense or liability with respect to any commissions or brokerage fees claimed on account of the execution and/or renewal of this Lease due to any action of the indemnifying party. H. If there is more than one Tenant, or if the Tenant as such is comprised of more than one person or entity, the obligations hereunder imposed upon Tenant shall be joint and several obligations of all such parties. All notices, payments, and agreements given or made by, with or to any one of such persons or entities shall be deemed to have been given or made by, with or to all of them. I. The individual signing this Lease on behalf of Tenant represents (1) that such individual is duly authorized to execute or attest and deliver this Lease on behalf of Tenant in accordance with the organizational documents of Tenant; (2) that this Lease is binding upon Tenant; (3) that Tenant is duly organized and legally existing in the state of its organization, and is qualified to do business in the state in which the Premises is located. J. Tenant acknowledges that the financial capability of Tenant to perform its obligations hereunder is material to Landlord and that Landlord would not enter into this Lease but for its belief, based on its review of Tenant's financial statements, that Tenant is capable of performing such financial obligations. Tenant hereby represents, warrants and certifies to Landlord that its financial statements previously furnished to Landlord were at the time given true and correct in all material respects and that there have been no material subsequent changes thereto as of the date of this Lease. K. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Lease, the expiration of the Lease Term, whether by lapse of time or otherwise, shall not relieve Tenant from Tenant's obligations accruing prior to the expiration of the Lease Term, and such obligations shall survive any such expiration or other termination of the Lease Term. L. Landlord has delivered a copy of this Lease to Tenant for Tenant's review only, and the delivery hereof does not constitute an offer to Tenant or an option. This Lease shall not be effective until an original of this Lease executed by both Landlord and Tenant and an original Guaranty, if applicable, executed by each Guarantor is delivered to and accepted by Landlord, and this Lease has been approved by Landlord's mortgagee, if required. M. Landlord and Tenant understand, agree and acknowledge that (i) this Lease has been freely negotiated by both parties; and (ii) in any controversy, dispute or contest over the meaning, interpretation, validity, or enforceability of this Lease or any of its terms or conditions, there shall be not inference, presumption, or conclusion drawn whatsoever against either party by virtue of that party having drafted this Lease or any portion thereof. N. The headings and titles to the paragraphs of this Lease are for convenience only and shall have no affect upon the construction or interpretation of any part hereof. O. Receipt by Landlord of Tenant's keys to the Premises shall not constitute an acceptance of surrender of the Premises. 35. Renewal Options. A. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in this instrument, Landlord grants to Tenant two (2) options (the "Option") to extend the Lease Term for an additional period of 60 months each (the "Extension"), on the same terms, conditions and covenants set forth in this Lease, except as provided below. Each Option may be exercised only by written notice delivered to the Landlord no later than twenty (90) days before, the expiration of the Lease Term or the preceding Extension of the Lease Term, whichever is applicable. If Tennant fails to deliver to Landlord written notice of the exercise of an Option within the prescribed time period, such Option and any succeeding Option will lapse, and there will be no further right to extend the Lease Term or the preceding Extension of the Lease Term, whichever is applicable. Each Option may only be exercised by Tenant on the express condition that, at the time of the exercise, Tenant is not in default under any of the provisions of this Lease. The foregoing Options are personal to Tenant and may not be exercised by an assignee or subtenant without Landlord's written consent. The annual Base Rent for the first year of the first Extension of the Lease Term shall be $46,370.60. The annual Base Rent for years 2 through 5 of the first Extension of the Lease Term shall be adjusted based on a 3% rate of inflation. The annual Base Rent for the first year of the second Extension of the Lease Term will be the Fair Market Rental determined as follows: (1) The "Fair Market Rental" of the Premises means the price that a ready and willing tenant would pay as of the commencement of the second Extension of the Lease Term as monthly rent to a ready and willing landlord of premises comparable to the Premises if the property were exposed for lease on the open market for a reasonable period of time, and taking into account the term of the second Extension, the amount of improvements made by the Tenant at its expense, the creditworthiness of Tenant, and all of the purposes for which the property may be used and not just the use proposed to be made of the Premises by Tenant. Upon proper written notice by Tenant to Landlord of Tenant's intention to elect to exercise the option for the second Extension (which may be before Tenant actually exercises the Option), Landlord shall, within twenty (20) days thereafter, notify Tenant in writing of Landlord's proposed Fair Market Rental amount, and Tenant shall thereupon notify Landlord of Tenant's acceptance or rejection of Landlord's proposed amount. Failure of Tenant to reject Landlord's Fair Market Rental amount within fifteen (15) days after receipt of Landlord's notice will be deemed Tenant's acceptance of Landlord's proposed Fair Market Rental amount. (2) If Landlord and Tenant have not been able to agree on the Fair Market Rental Amount within forty (40) days following the exercise of the Option for the second Extension, the Fair Market Rental for the second Extension will be determined by the following appraisal process. Landlord and Tenant shall endeavor in good faith to select a single Appraiser. The term "Appraiser" means a State Certified Real Estate Appraiser licensed by the State of Texas to value commercial property. If Landlord and Tenant are able to agree upon and select a single Appraiser, that Appraiser will determine the Fair Market Rental for the second Extension. If Landlord and Tenant are unable to agree upon a single Appraiser within ten (10) days after the end of the forty (40) day period, each will then appoint one Appraiser by written notice to the other, given within seven (7) days after the end of the forty (40) day period. Within five (5) business days after the two Appraisers are appointed, the two Appraisers will appoint a third Appraiser. If either Landlord or Tenant fails to appoint it's Appraiser within the prescribed time period, the single Appraiser appointed will determine the Fair Market Rental amount of the Premises. Each party will bear the cost of the Appraiser appointed by it and the parties will share equally the cost of the third Appraiser. The Fair Market Value of the Premises will be the average of two of the three appraisals that are closest in amount, and the third appraisal will be disregarded. (3)If the Fair Market Rental is not determined before the commencement of the second Extension, then Tenant shall continue to pay to Landlord the Base Rent applicable to the Premises immediately before the second Extension until the Fair Market Rental amount is determined, and when it is determined, Tennant shall pay to Landlord the difference between the Base Rent actually paid by Tennant to Landlord and the new Base Rent. 36. Entire Agreement. This Lease, including the following Exhibits: Exhibit A - Outline and Location of Premises Exhibit B – Rules and Regulations Exhibit C - Payment of Basic Costs Exhibit D - Work Letter Exhibit E - Additional Provisions Exhibit F – Commencement Letter constitutes the entire agreement between the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter of this Lease and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings between the parties related to the Premises, including all lease proposals, letters of intent and similar documents. Tenant expressly acknowledges and agrees that Landlord has not made and is not making, and Tenant, in executing and delivering this Lease, is not relying upon, any warranties, representations, promises or statements, except to the extent that the same are expressly set forth in this Lease. All understandings and agreements heretofore had between the parties are merged in this Lease which alone fully and completely expresses the agreement of the parties, neither party relying upon any statement or representation not embodied in this Lease. This Lease may be modified only be a written agreement signed by Landlord and Tenant. Landlord and Tenant expressly agree that there are and shall be no implied warranties of merchantibility, habitability, suitability, fitness for a particular purpose or of any other kind arising out of this Lease, all of which are hereby waived by Tenant, and that there are no warranties which extend beyond those expressly set forth in this Lease. 37. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSED HEREIN, TENANT SHALL NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN ABATEMENT OF RENT OR TO TERMINATE THIS LEASE AS A RESULT OF LANDLORD'S DEFAULT AS TO ANY COVENANT OR AGREEMENT CONTAINED IN THIS LEASE OR AS A RESULT OF THE BREACH OF ANY PROMISE OR INDUCEMENT IN CONNECTION HEREWITH, WHETHER IN THIS LEASE OR ELSEWHERE AND TENANT HEREBY WAIVES SUCH REMEDIES OF ABATEMENT OF RENT AND TERMINATION. TENANT HEREBY AGREES THAT TENANT'S REMEDIES FOR DEFAULT HEREUNDER OR IN ANY WAY ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THIS LEASE INCLUDING ANY BREACH OF ANY PROMISE OR INDUCEMENT OR WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, SHALL BE LIMITED TO SUIT FOR DIRECT AND PROXIMATE DAMAGES PROVIDED THAT TENANT HAS GIVEN THE NOTICES AS HEREINAFTER REQUIRED. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED IN THIS LEASE, THE LIABILITY OF LANDLORD TO TENANT FOR ANY DEFAULT BY LANDLORD UNDER THIS LEASE SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE INTEREST OF LANDLORD IN THE BUILDING AND THE PROPERTY AND TENANT AGREES TO LOOK SOLELY TO LANDLORD'S INTEREST IN THE BUILDING AND THE PROPERTY FOR THE RECOVERY OF ANY JUDGMENT AGAINST THE LANDLORD, IT BEING INTENDED THAT LANDLORD SHALL NOT BE PERSONALLY LIABILE FOR ANY JUDGMENT OR DEFICIENCY. TENANT HEREBY COVENANTS THAT, PRIOR TO THE FILING OF ANY SUIT FOR DIRECT AND PROXIMATE DAMAGES, IT SHALL GIVE LANDLORD AND ALL MORTGAGEES WHOM TENANT HAS BEEN NOTIIFIED HOLD MORTGAGES OR DEED OF TRUST LIENS ON THE PROPERTY, BUILDING OR PREMISES ("LANDLORD MORTGAGEES") NOTICE AND REASONABLE TIME TO CURE ANY ALLEGED DEFAULT BY LANDLORD. 74725:83381 : DALLAS : 1206461.1 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Landlord and Tenant have executed this Lease in multiple original counterparts as of the day and year first above written. WITNESS/ATTEST LANDLORD: By: By: Name: Name: Title: Title: WITNESS/ATTEST TENANT: By: By: Name: Name: Tenant Title: Title: President EXHIBIT A OUTLINE AND LOCATION OF PREMISES This Exhibit is attached to and made a part of the Lease dated ________, _____ by and between Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. (“ Landlord ”) and Tenant ( “Tenant ”) for space in the Building located at Virginia, McKinney, Texas 75070. EXHIBIT B RULES AND REGULATIONS The following rules and regulations shall apply, where applicable, to the Premises, the Building, the parking garage associated therewith (if any), the Property and the appurtenances thereto: 1. Sidewalks, entrances, passageways, courts, corridors, vestibules, halls, elevators and stairways in and about the Building shall not be obstructed nor shall objects be placed against glass partitions, doors or windows which would be unsightly from the Building's corridors from the exterior of the Building. 2. Plumbing, fixtures and appliances shall be used for only the purpose for which they were designed and no foreign substance of any kind whatsoever shall be thrown or placed therein. Damage resulting to any such fixtures or appliances from misuse by Tenant or its agents, employees or invitees, shall be paid for by Tenant and Landlord shall not in any case be responsible therefor. 3. Any sign, lettering, picture, notice, advertisement installed within the Premises which is visible from the public corridors within the Building shall be installed in such manner, and be of such character and style, as Landlord shall approve, in writing in its reasonable discretion. No sign, lettering, picture, notice or advertisement shall be placed on any outside window or door or in a position to be visible from outside the Building. No nails, hooks or screws (except for customary artwork or wall hangings) shall be driven or inserted into any part of the Premises or Building except by Building maintenance personnel, nor shall any part of the Building be defaced or damaged by Tenant. 4. Tenant shall not place any additional lock or locks on any door in the Premises or Building without Landlord's prior written consent. A reasonable number of keys to the locks on the doors in the Premises shall be furnished by Landlord to Tenant at the cost of Tenant, and Tenant shall not have any duplicate keys made. All keys and passes shall be returned to Landlord at the expiration or earlier termination of this Lease. 5. Tenant shall refer all contractors, contractors representatives and installation technicians for Landlord for Landlord's supervision, approval and control before the performance of any contractual services. This provision shall apply to all work performed in the Building including, but not limited to installation of telephones, telegraph equipment, electrical devices and attachments, doors, entranceways, and any and all installations of every nature affecting floors, walls, woodwork, window trim, ceilings, equipment and any other physical portion of the Building. Tenant shall not waste electricity, water or air conditioning 6. Movement in or out of the Building of furniture or office equipment, or dispatch or receipt by Tenant of any merchandise or materials which require the use of elevators, stairways, lobby areas, or loading dock areas, shall be restricted to hours designated by Landlord. Tenant must seek Landlord's prior approval by providing in writing a detailed listing of such activity. If approved by Landlord, such activity shall be under the supervision of Landlord and performed in the manner stated by Landlord. Landlord may prohibit any article, equipment or any other item from being brought into the Building. Tenant is to assume all risk for damage to articles moved and injury to persons resulting from such activity. If any equipment, property and/or personnel of Landlord or of any other tenant is damaged or injured as a result of or in connection with such activity, Tenant shall be solely liable for any and all damage or loss resulting therefrom. 7. All corridor doors, when not in use, shall remain closed. Tenant shall cause all doors to the Premises to be closed and securely locked before leaving the Building at the end of the day. 8. Tenant shall keep all electrical and mechanical apparatus owned by Tenant free of vibration, noise and airwaves which may be transmitted beyond the Premises. 9. Canvassing, soliciting and peddling in or about the Building or Property is prohibited. Tenant shall cooperate and use its best efforts to prevent the same. 10. Tenant shall not use the Premises in any manner which would overload the standard heating, ventilating or air conditioning systems of the Building. 11. Tenant shall not utilize any equipment or apparatus in such manner as to create any magnetic fields or waves which adversely affect or interfere with the operation of any systems or equipment in the Building or Property. 12. Bicycles and other vehicles are not permitted inside or on the walkways outside the Building, except in those areas specifically designated by Landlord for such purposes. 13. Tenant shall not operate or permit to be operated on the Premises any coin or token operated vending machine or similar device (including, without limitation, telephones, lockers, toilets, scales, amusements devices and machines for sale of beverages, foods, candy, cigarettes or other goods), except for those vending machines or similar devices which are for the sole and exclusive use of Tenant's employees, and then only if such operation does not violate the lease of any other tenant in the Building. 14. Tenant shall utilize the termite and pest extermination service designated by Landlord to control termites and pests in the Premises. Except as included in Basic Costs, Tenant shall bear the cost and expense of such extermination services. 15. Tenant shall not open or permit to be opened any window in the Premises. This provision shall not be construed as limiting access of Tenant to any balcony adjoining the Premises. 16. To the extent permitted by law, Tenant shall not permit picketing or other union activity involving its employees or agents in the Building or on the Property, except in those locations and subject to time and other constraints as to which Landlord may give its prior written consent, which consent may be withheld in Landlord' sole discretion. 17. Tenant shall comply with all applicable laws, ordinances, governmental orders or regulations and applicable orders or directions from any public office or body having jurisdiction, with respect to the Premises, the Building, the Property and their respective use or occupancy thereof. Tenant shall not make or permit any use of the Premises, the Building or the Property, respectively, which is directly or indirectly forbidden by law, ordinance, governmental regulation or order, or direction of applicable public authority, or which may be dangerous to person or property. 18. Tenant shall not use or occupy the Premises in any manner or for any purpose which would injure the reputation or impair the present or future value of the Premises, the Building or the Property; without limiting the foregoing, Tenant shall not use or permit the Premises or any portion thereof to be used for lodging, sleeping or for any illegal purpose. 19. All deliveries to or from the Premises shall be made only at times, in the areas and through the entrances and exits designated for such purposes by Landlord. Tenant shall not permit the process of receiving deliveries to or from the Premises outside of said areas or in a manner which may interfere with the use by any other tenant of its premises or any common areas, any pedestrian use of such area, or any use which is inconsistent with good business practice. 20. Tenant shall carry out Tenant's permitted repair, maintenance, alterations, and improvements in the Premises only during times agreed to in advance by Landlord and in a manner which will not interfere with the rights of other tenants in the Building. 21. Landlord may from time to time adopt appropriate systems and procedures for the security or safety of the Building, its occupants, entry and use, or its contents. Tenant, Tenant's agents, employees, contractors, guests and invitees shall comply with Landlord's reasonable requirements thereto. 22. Landlord shall have the right to prohibit the use of the name of the Building or any other publicity by Tenant that in Landlord's opinion may tend to impair the reputation of the Building or its desirability for Landlord or its other tenants. Upon written notice from Landlord, Tenant will refrain from and/or discontinue such publicity immediately. 23. Neither Tenant nor any of its employees, agents, contractors, invitees, customers or patients shall smoke in any area inside the building. This property is designated a non-smoking property. EXHIBIT C PAYMENT OF BASIC COSTS (USE FOR NET DEALS) This Exhibit is attached to and made a part of the Lease dated ________, _____ by and between Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. ( “Landlord” ) and Tenant ( “Tenant” ) for space in the Building located at Virginia, McKinney, Texas 75070. A. During each calendar year, or portion thereof, falling within the Lease Term, Tenant shall pay to Landlord as Additional Rent hereunder Tenant's Pro Rata Share of Basic Costs (as defined below) for the applicable calendar year. Prior to January 1 of each calendar year during the Lease Term, or as soon thereafter as practical, Landlord shall make a good faith estimate of Basic Costs for the applicable full or partial calendar year and Tenant's Pro Rata Share thereof. On or before the first day of each month during such calendar year, Tenant shall pay Landlord, as Additional Rent, a monthly installment equal to onetwelfth of Tenant's Pro Rata Share of Landlord's estimate of Basic Costs. Landlord shall have the right from time to time during any such calendar year to revise the estimate of Basic Costs for such year and provide Tenant with a revised statement therefor (provided, however, Landlord agrees that Landlord shall not issue a revised statement more than twice in any calendar year), and thereafter the amount Tenant shall pay each month shall be based upon such revised estimate. If Landlord does not provide Tenant with an estimate of the Basic Costs by January 1 of any calendar year, Tenant shall continue to pay a monthly installment based on the previous year's estimate until such time as Landlord provides Tenant with an estimate of Basic Costs for the current year. Upon receipt of such current year's estimate, an adjustment shall be made for any month during the current year with respect to which Tenant paid monthly installments of Additional Base Rent based on the previous years estimate. Tenant shall pay Landlord for any underpayment upon demand. Any overpayment in excess of the equivalent of one (1) month's Base Rent shall, at Landlord's option, be refunded to Tenant or credited against the installment(s) of Additional Rent next coming due under the Lease. Any overpayment in an amount equal to or less than the equivalent of one (1) month's Base Rent shall, at Landlord's option, be refunded to Tenant or credited against the installment of Additional Rent due for the month immediately following the furnishing of such estimate. Any amount paid by Tenant based on any estimate shall be subject to adjustment pursuant to Paragraph A below, when actual Basic Costs are determined for such calendar year. B. As soon as is practical following the end of a calendar year during the Lease Term, Landlord shall furnish to Tenant a statement of Landlord's actual Basic Costs for the previous calendar year. If for any calendar year the Additional Rent collected for the prior year, as a result of Landlord's estimate of Basic Costs, is in excess of Tenant's actual Pro Rata Share of Basic Costs for such prior year, then Landlord shall refund to Tenant any overpayment (or at Landlord's option apply such amount against Additional Base Rent due or to become due hereunder). Likewise, Tenant shall pay to Landlord, on demand, any underpayment with respect to the prior year whether or not the Lease has terminated prior to receipt by Tenant of a statement for such underpayment, it being understood that this clause shall survive the expiration of the Lease. C. Basic Costs shall mean all direct and indirect costs, expenses paid and disbursements of every kind (subject to the limitations set forth below) which Landlord incurs, pays or becomes obligated to pay in each calendar year in connection with operating, maintaining, repairing, owning and managing the Building and the Project including but not limited to, the following: (1) All labor costs for all persons performing services required or utilized in connection with the operation, repair, replacement and maintenance of and control of access to the Building and the Project, including but not limited to amounts incurred for wages, salaries and other compensation for services, professional training, payroll, social security, unemployment and other similar taxes, workers' compensation insurance, uniforms, training, disability benefits, pensions, hospitalization, retirement plans, group insurance or any other similar or like expenses or benefits. (2) All management fees, the cost of equipping and maintaining a management office at the Building, accounting services, legal fees not attributable to leasing and collection activity, and all other administrative costs relating to the Building and the Property. (3) All Rent and/or purchase costs of materials, supplies, tools and equipment used in the operation, repair, replacement and maintenance and the control of access to the Building and the Property. (4) All amounts charged to Landlord by contractors and/or suppliers for services, replacement parts, components, materials, equipment and supplies furnished in connection with the operation, repair, maintenance, replacement and control of access to any part of the Building, or the Property generally, including the heating, air conditioning, ventilating, plumbing. electrical, elevator and other systems and equipment of the Building and the property. At Landlord's option, major repair items may be amortized over a period of up to five (5) years or largest period permitted. (5) All premiums and deductibles paid by Landlord for fire, flood and extended insurance coverage, earthquake and extended coverage insurance, liability and extended coverage insurance, Rent loss insurance, elevator insurance, boiler insurance and other insurance customarily carried from time to time by landlords of comparable office buildings or required to be carried by Landlord's mortgagee. (6) Charges for all utilities, including but not limited to water, electricity, gas and sewer, but excluding those electrical charges for which tenants are individually responsible. (7) "Taxes", which for purposes hereof, shall mean (a) all real estate taxes and assessments on the Property, the Building or the Premises, and taxes and assessments levied in substitution or supplementation in whole or in part of such taxes, (b) all personal property taxes for the Building's personal property, including license expenses, (c) all taxes imposed on services of Landlord's agents and employees, (d) all sales, use or other tax, excluding state and/or federal income tax now or hereafter imposed by any governmental authority upon Rent received by Landlord, (e) all other taxes, fees or assessments now or hereafter levied by any governmental authority on the Property, the Building or its contents or on the operation and use thereof (except as relate to specific tenants), and (f) all costs and fees incurred in connection with seeking reductions in or refunds in Taxes including, without limitation, any costs incurred by Landlord to challenge the tax valuation of the Building or Property, but excluding income taxes. Estimates of real estate taxes and assessments for any calendar year during the Lease Term shall be determined based on Landlord's good faith estimate of the real estate taxes and assessments. Taxes and assessments hereunder are those accrued with respect to such calendar year, as opposed to the real estate taxes and assessments paid or payable for such calendar year. (8) All landscape expenses and costs of repairing, resurfacing and striping of the parking areas and garages of the Property, if any. (9) Cost of all maintenance service agreements, including those for equipment, alarm service, window cleaning, drapery or mini-blind cleaning, janitorial services, metal refinishing, pest control, uniform supply, landscaping and any parking equipment. (10) Cost of all other repairs, replacements and general maintenance of the Property and Building neither specified above nor directly billed to tenants, including the cost of maintaining all Common Areas. (11) The amortized cost of capital improvements made to the Building or the Property which are (a) primarily for the purpose of reducing operating expense costs or otherwise improving the operating efficiency of the Property or Building; or (b) required to comply with any laws, rules or regulations of any governmental authority or a requirement of Landlord's insurance carrier. The cost of such capital improvements shall be amortized over a period of five (5) years, or longer (at Landlord's option), and shall, at Landlord's option, include interest at a rate that is reasonably equivalent to the interest rate that Landlord would be required to pay to finance the cost of the capital improvement in question as of 74725:83381 : DALLAS : 1206461.1 the date such capital improvement is performed, provided if the payback period for any capital improvement is less than five (5) years, Landlord may amortize the cost of such capital improvement over the payback period. (12) Any other charge or expense of any nature whatsoever which, in accordance with general industry practice with respect to the operation of a first class office building, would be construed as an operating expense. D. Basic Costs shall not include repairs and general maintenance paid from proceeds of insurance or by a tenant or other third parties, and alterations attributable solely to individual tenants of the Property. Further, Basic Costs shall not include the cost of capital improvements (except as above set forth), depreciation, interest (except as provided above with respect to the amortization of capital improvements), lease commissions, and principal payments on mortgage and other non-operating debts of Landlord. Capital improvements are more specifically defined as: (1) Costs incurred in connection with the original construction of the Property or with any major changes to same, including but no limited to, additions or deletions of corridor extensions, renovations and improvements of the Common Areas beyond the costs caused by normal wear and tear, and upgrades or replacement of major Property systems; and (2) Costs of correcting defects (including latent defects), including any allowances for same, in the construction of the Property or its related facilities; and (3) Costs incurred in renovating or otherwise improving, designing, redesigning, decorating or redecorating space for tenants or other occupants of the Property or other space leased or held for lease in the Property. E. If the Building and the other buildings Landlord operates in conjunction therewith are not at least ninetyfive percent (95%) occupied, in the aggregate, during any calendar of the Lease term or if Landlord is not supplying services to at least ninety-five percent (95%) of the Approximate Rentable Area of the Building and such other buildings at any time during any calendar year of the Lease Term, actual Basic Costs for purposes hereof shall, at Landlord's option, be determined as if the Building and such other buildings had been ninety-five percent (95%) occupied and Landlord had been supplying services to ninety-five percent (95%) of the Approximate Rentable Area of the Building and such other buildings during such year. If Tenant pays for its Pro Rata Share of Basic Costs based on increases over a "Base Year" and Basic Costs for any calendar year during the Lease Term are determined as provided in the foregoing sentence, Basic Costs for such Base Year shall also be determined as if the Building and such other buildings had been ninety-five percent (95%) occupied and Landlord had been supplying services to ninety-five percent (95%) of the Approximate Rentable Area of the Building and such other buildings. Any necessary extrapolation of Basic Costs that are affected by changes in the occupancy of the Building (including, at Landlord's option, Taxes) to the cost that would have been incurred if the Building had been ninety-five percent (95%) occupied and Landlord had been supplying services to ninety-five percent (95%) of the Approximate Rentable Area of the Building. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Landlord and Tenant have executed this exhibit as of the day and year first above written. WITNESS/ATTEST LANDLORD: By: By: Name: Name: Title: Title: WITNESS/ATTEST TENANT: TENANT By: By: Name: Name: Tenant Title: Title: President EXHIBIT D WORK LETTER [Tenant performs work with Allowance provided by Landlord] This Exhibit is attached to and made a part of the Lease dated the ____ day of ________, __, by and between Virginia Commercial Properties, LTD ("Landlord") and Tenant ("Tenant") for space in the Building located at Virginia, McKinney, Texas 75070. Alterations and Allowance. Tenant, following the delivery of the Premises by Landlord and the full and final execution and delivery of this Lease and all prepaid Rent and security deposits required hereunder, shall have the right to perform alterations and improvements in the Premises (the "Initial Alterations"). Notwithstanding the foregoing, Tenant and its contractors shall not have the right to perform Initial Alterations in the Premises unless and until Tenant has complied with all of the terms and conditions of Article 10.B. of this Lease, including, without limitation, approval by Landlord of the final plans for the Initial Alterations and the contractors to be retained by Tenant to perform such Initial Alterations. Tenant shall be responsible for all elements of the design of Tenant's plans (including, without limitation, compliance with law, functionality of design, the structural integrity of the design, the configuration of the premises and the placement of Tenant's furniture, appliances and equipment), and Landlord's approval of Tenant's plans shall in no event relieve Tenant of the responsibility for such design. Landlord's approval of the contractors to perform the Initial Alterations shall not be unreasonably withheld. The parties agree that Landlord's approval of the general contractor to perform the Initial Alterations shall not be considered to be unreasonably withheld if any such general contractor (i) does not have trade references reasonably acceptable to Landlord, (ii) does not maintain insurance as required pursuant to the terms of this Lease, (iii) does not have the ability to be bonded for the work in an amount of no less than $1,000,000, (iv) does not provide current financial statements reasonably acceptable to Landlord, or (v) is not licensed as a contractor in the state/municipality in which the Premises is located. Tenant acknowledges the foregoing is not intended to be an exclusive list of the reasons why Landlord may reasonably withhold its consent to a general contractor. Provided Tenant is not in default, Landlord agrees to contribute the sum of $15 per square foot (the "Allowance") toward the cost of performing the Initial Alterations in preparation of Tenant's occupancy of the Premises The Allowance may only be used for the cost of preparing design and construction documents and mechanical and electrical plans for the Initial Alterations and for hard costs in connection with the Initial Alterations. The Allowance shall be paid to Tenant or, at Landlord's option, to the order of the general contractor that performed the Initial Alterations, within thirty (30) days following receipt by Landlord of (1) receipted bills covering all labor and materials expended and used in the Initial Alterations; (2) a sworn contractor's affidavit from the general contractor and a request to disburse from Tenant containing an approval by Tenant of the work done; (3) full and final waivers of lien; (4) as-built plans of the Initial Alterations; and (5) the certification of Tenant and its architect that the Initial Alterations have been installed in a good and workmanlike manner in accordance with the approved plans, and in accordance with applicable laws, codes and ordinances, and (c) a certificate of occupancy for the Premises. The Allowance shall be disbursed in the amount reflected on the receipted bills meeting the requirements above. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, Landlord shall not be obligated to disburse any portion of the Allowance during the continuance of an uncured default under the Lease, and Landlord's obligation to disburse shall only resume when and if such default is cured. In no event shall the Allowance be used for the purchase of equipment, furniture or other items of personal property of Tenant. In the event Tenant does not use the entire Allowance by _______________, 2004, any unused amount shall accrue to the sole benefit of Landlord, it being understood that Tenant shall not be entitled to any credit, abatement or other concession in connection therewith. Tenant shall be responsible for all applicable state sales or use taxes, if any, payable in connection with the Initial Alterations and/or Allowance. Tenant agrees to accept the Premises in its "as-is" condition and configuration, it being agreed that Landlord shall not be required to perform any work or, except as provided above with respect to the Allowance, incur any costs in connection with the construction or demolition of any improvements in the Premises. This Exhibit shall not be deemed applicable to any additional space added to the original Premises at any time or from time to time, whether by any options under the Lease or otherwise, or to any portion of the original Premises or any additions to the Premises in the event of a renewal or extension of the original Term of this Lease, whether by any options under the Lease or otherwise, unless expressly so provided in the Lease or any amendment or supplement to the Lease. Medical Office Building Lease Tenant Finish Shell Building Interior Description: 1. Floor: 5" thick reinforced concrete floor with central 4 ft. Wide plumbing leave out 2. Walls: Exposed metal studs at perimeter. One hour fire rated tenant separation wall at existing adjacent occupant wall(s), if any. 3. Ceilings: Exposed roof structures 4. Perimeter Doors: Insulated hollow metal doors on south side of building. Glass store front doors on north side of building @ bays A/B and D/E. Tenant to pay for any required new or relocated doors and associated work. Locks to be paid for by tenant and specified by landlord. 5. *Closers are required on all outside doors to be paid for by tenant. Tenant Finish Responsibilities: 1. Completion of floor slab 2. All perimeter thermal insulation and membrane 3. All drywall, insulated ceilings, all interior finishes, MEP work, fire sprinkler work, all MEP homeruns to building connections, all plumbing work, demising wall to roof. 4. HVAC specifications to be provided by Tenant to owner and must be approved by owner 5. All HVAC ducting from air handlers to Premises and units (A/C & Heating) 6. Tenant space designers are responsible for contacting building owner for shell building standard drawings and specs., MEP systems, Etc. 7. Finished tenant drawings are to comply with building standard finish-out specs, MEP systems, signage and all applicable codes, ordinances and regulations. Any deviations from building standards must be approved by the building owner before any work is begun. 8. Two sets of ASBILTs for each project including all Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, gas, and fire sprinkler. 9. We require a copy of ADA TAS registration and confirmation of passing TAS inspection before move in. 10. Blinds are to be placed on all outside windows (2" wood blinds-white) provided by tenant. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Landlord and Tenant have entered into this Exhibit as of the date first written above. WITNESS/ATTEST LANDLORD: By: By: Name: Name: Title: Title: WITNESS/ATTEST TENANT: TENANT By: By: Name: Name: Tenant Title: Title: President EXHIBIT E ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS This exhibit is attached to and made a part of the Lease dated _______, _____ by and between Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. (“ Landlord ”) and Tenant (“ Tenant ”) for space in the Building located at Virginia, McKinney, Texas 75070. (TO BE INSERTED IF APPLICABLE) IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Landlord and Tenant have executed this Lease as of the day and year first written above. WITNESS/ATTEST LANDLORD: By: By: Name: Name: Title: Title: WITNESS/ATTEST TENANT: ____________________________________ By: By: Name: Name: Tenant Title: Title: President EXHIBIT F COMMENCEMENT LETTER Date________________ Tenant Tenant Re: Commencement Letter with respect to that certain Lease dated _________ by and between Virginia Commercial Properties, Ltd. as Landlord and Tenant, as Tenant for an Approximate Rentable Area in the Premises of square in the Building located at Virginia., McKinney, Texas 75090. Dear : In accordance with the terms and conditions of the above referenced Lease, Tenant hereby accepts possession of the premises and agrees as follows: The Commencement Date of the Lease is _________________________; The Termination Date of the Lease is ____________________________. Landlord agrees to complete the work in the Premises identified in the punchlist jointly prepared by Landlord and Tenant dated ________________. Please acknowledge your acceptance of possession and agreement to the terms set forth above by signing all three (3) copies of this Commencement Letter in the space provided and returning two (2) fully executed copies of the same to my attention. Sincerely, XXXXXXXXX Property Manager Agreed and Accepted: TENANT: TENANT By: Name: Tenant Title: President
Game On Big Nate Lincoln Peirce Eventually, you will definitely discover a supplementary experience and completion by spending more cash. still when? complete you agree to that you require to acquire those every needs later than having significantly cash? Why dont you attempt to acquire something basic in the beginning? Thats something that will lead you to comprehend even more roughly the globe, experience, some places, behind history, amusement, and a lot more? It is your unconditionally own time to comport yourself reviewing habit. in the course of guides you could enjoy now is Game On Big Nate Lincoln Peirce below. his family, friends, and teachers Big Nate Lives It Up Andrews McMeel Publishing believer in his future as a cartoonist. Equipped with a No. 2 pencil and the unshakable belief that he is No. 1, Nate fights a daily battle against overzealous teachers, undercooked cafeteria food, and all-around conventionality. 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He's a self-described genius, a sixth-grade renaissance man, and a full-fledged Page 1/3 Andrews McMeel Publishing The Complete Big Nate collects every daily and Sunday cartoon ever syndicated. Presented in a numbered series of e-books, each containing one year's worth of strips, this is a goldmine for all Big Nate fans to see many cartoons that have never been published in books. Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is the star of Big Nate. As a popular middle-grade book character, Nate is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth grade Renaissance Man. Nate, who lives with his dad and older sister, has a habit of annoying his family, friends, and teachers with his sarcasm. The Complete Big Nate: #15 Andrews McMeel Publishing The Complete Big Nate collects every daily and Sunday cartoon ever syndicated. Presented in a numbered series of e-books, each containing one year's worth of strips, this is a goldmine for all Big Nate fans to see many cartoons that have never been published in books. Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is the star of Big Nate. As a popular middle-grade book character, Nate is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth grade Renaissance Man. Nate, who lives with his dad and older sister, has a habit of annoying Game On Big Nate Lincoln Peirce with his sarcasm. Big Nate: Release the Hounds! HarperCollins Sixth-grader Nate Wright is on top of the world . . . with a little help from his friends! His best buddies, Francis and Teddy, stick with Nate through thick and thin—usually thin. They've seen it all. Nate's disastrous love life, his chess tournament trash talking, even his misguided attempt to be a "bad boy." 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Big Nate books have sold more than 4.5 million copies and been on the New York Times best-seller list for more than a year. Nate Wright is known to his pals and teachers for many things, his penchant for February, 27 2024 mischief and his school record for detentions being the foremost. But beating out brainiac Gina's grades is not one of those things! In Big Nate Makes the Grade, the school life goings-on of Nate, his pals, and his long-suffering teachers are recounted in hilarious detail. Now in full-color with poster! Big Nate Doodlepalooza Andrews McMeel Publishing The Complete Big Nate collects every daily and Sunday cartoon ever syndicated. Presented in a numbered series of e-books, each containing one year's worth of strips, this is a goldmine for all Big Nate fans to see many cartoons that have never been published in books. Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is the star of Big Nate. As a popular middle-grade book character, Nate is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth grade Renaissance Man. Nate, who lives with his dad and older sister, has a habit of annoying his family, friends, and teachers with his sarcasm. Big Nate: Blow the Roof Off! Andrews McMeel Publishing Now an animated series from Paramount + & Nickelodeon! For fans of Jeff Kinney and Raina Telgemeier, here comes the second novel in the New York Times bestselling Big Nate series. BIG NATE will surpass all others! But it won't be easy. He's stuck with Gina, his all-time enemy, in a class project for his least favorite teacher Mrs. Godfrey, aka Godzilla. To make matters worse, Gina ALSO ends up on his fleeceball team, right when Nate is set to win his first fleeceball championship ever. This is his moment for glory, but Gina's sure to steal his thunder, or ruin everything. Will Nate win or lose? Pass or fail? Or end up in detention . . . AGAIN? Meet BIG NATE, self-described genius and definitely NOT the teacher's pet in this comic-strip novel perfect for anyone who's ever been to middle school. "Big Nate is funny, big time" —Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid Big Nate: Game On! Andrews McMeel Publishing "Big Nate is funny, big time."—Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid This third Big Nate activity book—now in paperback—is jampacked with new activities for Nate fans of all ages. Do Page 2/3 you feel lost without a crossword puzzle in hand, a maze to confound your sense of direction, or perhaps a scribble to turn into a work of art? Well, fear not, because Big Nate Doodlepalooza has all those things . . . and more! 110% guaranteed relief from boredom, including (but not limited to) brand-new sudoku puzzles, Nate and friends trivia, secret codes, mazes, and doodling games galore! Little Big Nate: No Nap! Andrews McMeel Publishing [Big Nate Fun Blaster; PB 9780062349514; TR 9780062090454] Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney says, "Big Nate is funny, big time!" Big Nate Fun Blaster will rock your socks off! This second Big Nate themed activity book is bursting with awesome all new activities for Nate fans, including trivia quizzes, super sudoku puzzles, crackable codes, create-yourown comics, amazing mazes, poetry slams, ridiculous rhymes, marvelous Mad Libs, and much more. Nate's New York Times bestselling world comes to life with a ton of black-and-white illustrations…some of which YOU get to create! Big Nate Fun Blaster is a great addition to the bestselling collection of Big Nate books, sure to be enjoyed by all fans of Big Nate. The Complete Big Nate: #7 Andrews McMeel Publishing "Celebrate twenty-five years of the Big Nate cartoon strip with this jam-packed compendium of everything you've ever wanted to know about the character and Lincoln Peirce, the creator behind him."--Amazon.com Corn Muffins Big Nate: Beware of Low-Flying Andrews McMeel Publishing When Little Big Nate gets a new pack of crayons, his illustrations really come to life! In this delightful board book, Little Big Nate's imagination and love of drawing Game On Big Nate Lincoln Peirce will inspire even the youngest readers to express themselves through artwork. Big Nate and Friends Andrews McMeel Publishing The Complete Big Nate collects every daily and Sunday cartoon ever syndicated. Presented in a numbered series of e-books, each containing one year's worth of strips, this is a goldmine for all Big Nate fans to see many cartoons that have never been published in books. Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is the star of Big Nate. As a popular middle-grade book character, Nate is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth grade Renaissance Man. Nate, who lives with his dad and older sister, has a habit of annoying his family, friends, and teachers with his sarcasm. The Complete Big Nate: #9 Harper Collins 211, [9] p. : ill. ; Big Nate: Game On! Andrews McMeel Publishing This latest Big Nate installment by bestselling author Lincoln Peirce will take readers on a hilarious, romantic, rock-and-roll adventure! Nate Wright is born to be wild! And when Enslave the Mollusk is invited to play at the P.S. 38 annual open house, he and his bandmates are on the stairway to heaven. While the kids rock, the school year rolls on. Mrs. Godfrey is back in black, Gina thinks she's hot stuff, and Coach John is dazed and confused. The good news: Nate's finally reunited with Trudy, his summer crush. But when he finds out she's a—gulp—seventh grader, will Nate lose that lovin' feeling? Middle school is a long, strange trip, and this new collection of riotous Big Nate comics just might BLOW THE ROOF OFF! The Complete Big Nate: #10 Andrews McMeel Publishing Nate Wright's life is just like his locker--it's full of surprises. The monstrous Mrs. Godfrey springs a pop quiz on Nate AND his grandparents. His horoscope predicts bad news for Nate's soccer career. And worst of all, he's forced to cut back on his beloved Cheez Doodles. It's enough to drive any kid crazy. Luckily, Nate's not just any kid. He's the ultimate sixth-grade survivor. When everything's falling apart, he finds a way to hold it together … but nobody said it would be easy. Welcome to the February, 27 2024 world of Big Nate! Cream Puffs HarperCollins Leave it to Big Nate to stake his claim on anything in reach! Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is the star of Big Nate, the daily and Sunday comic strip. As a popular middle-grade book character, Nate is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He's a selfdescribed genius and sixth grade Renaissance Man. Nate, who lives with his dad and older sister, enjoys pestering his family and teachers with his sarcasm. Big Nate: Revenge of the Page 3/3 Game On Big Nate Lincoln Peirce February, 27 2024
Deutsch USAGE OF MEDICAL JOURNAL ARTICLES IN BIOSTATISTICAL TRAINING FOR RESIDENTS Reena Deutsch University of California, San Diego USA Each year, a new crop of physicians enters residency training programs in medical teaching institutions worldwide. Second and subsequent year residents continue with the programs in which they have participated in a prior year. The educational curriculum may include a biostatistical component, where the instructor is presented with an opportunity to focus on biostatistical issues bearing on various aspects of medical practice and research. This paper describes such a presentation in a university medical school residency training program. The training session centered on research findings published recently in the medical literature. Issues regarding topic, journal, and article selection, teaching aids, approaches to illustrating aspects of study design, power analysis, statistical methodology, and interpretation of results, promoting contact with a biostatistical consultant, and feedback from lecture attendees are described. INTRODUCTION The technique of using medical journal articles as an aid for medical instruction is not new. Linzer (1987) described the historical background of journal clubs, defined as groups of individuals who meet to critically discuss articles in the current medical literature. The first reference to such a group goes back to 1875. Alguire (1998) summarized published reports of goals, organization, and teaching methods of journal clubs in five medical specialties over the previous decade. Woods and Winkel (1982) discussed various formats for journal clubs which strive to provide a forum for the education of residents in the techniques of critical reading. Using medical literature to improve physician knowledge in clinical study design and biostatistics is also well documented. Letterie and Morgenstern (2000) successfully developed a program to link experimental design, statistical concepts, and clinical studies. Markert (1989) concluded that a residents' journal club for research methods and statistics can be instructive and successful. Others have described mixed results in effectiveness demonstrated from the approach to linking study design, statistical methodologies, and clinical research (See Langkamp, Pascoe, and Nelson, 1992; Diserens et al., 1994). In the only randomized, controlled study cited by Alguire (1998), Linzer, Brown, and Frazier et al. (1988) reported that residents who were journal club members, but not a control group, significantly improved their reading habits and knowledge scores on epidemiology and biostatistics tests given pre- and post-intervention. Residency training programs provide postgraduate physicians with a broad range of opportunities. These programs expose this population to a variety of situations that may serve them well in clinical practice as well as in medical research careers. To judge the validity of published research findings and applicability to clinical practice, physicians-in-training must be familiar with biostatistical terminology and concepts. Further, it is vital that clinicians have the skills required to read, understand, and critically evaluate the medical literature. For those residents who will conduct their own independent clinical research, a background in study design and biostatistical techniques will be beneficial. Without this knowledge, physicians are at risk of basing clinical decisions on their evaluation of research findings without adequate tools to guide them properly. Journal clubs traditionally consist of regular meetings held over a sustained period of time and are usually led or facilitated by either a faculty physician in the specialty area of the residents, or residents are assigned or volunteer to present an article (see Alguire, 1998; Letterie & Morgenstern 2000; Markert, 1989). Incorporating the approach of a journal club into a single lecture to postgraduate physicians on a biostatistical topic presented by a biostatistician presents considerable challenges. The available timeframe is substantially abbreviated, and the instructor lacks clinical expertise in the medical area of the audience. Several invited single biostatistical lectures to participants of various residency training programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine have been ICOTS6, 2002: Deutsch previously presented. These seminars, designed to apply successful features of journal club instruction described in the literature, allowed experimentation with different formats and degrees of incorporating publications into the presentations as a tool for biostatistical instruction. The usage of medical journal articles from a wide range of applications was a noted strength of a prior seminar series in biostatistics applied to clinical research taught to medical faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical research staff (see Deutsch, in press). The articles were offered as case studies and ran throughout entire seminar sessions. They promoted active participation by the attendees and stimulated classroom interest and discussion. Inclusion of current published research findings in the curriculum received overwhelmingly positive reactions from lecture attendees and maintained the attention of the participants. They contributed direct application to the understanding and interpretation of publications in the participants' own field. An hour-long lecture to introduce and discuss a biostatistical topic as part of the Fall 2001 seminar schedule for residents in Family Medicine at UCSD was developed. It was built upon pedagogic lessons learned from earlier experiences. A medical journal article was an integral part of the presentation. The single article review format described by Woods and Winkel (1982) was utilized throughout the session. Preparation, presentation, challenges, and relevant issues regarding this seminar are described. GOALS The one-hour formal exposure to a biostatistical topic reported here included three goals: (1) to convey that study design and analysis techniques in clinical research studies can greatly influence the results; (2) to provide adequate background and examples so that residents will develop skills in evaluating published results in their field of practice within the biostatistical context and further develop their existing interpretative skills; and (3) to illustrate the process of forming a statistical analysis plan when conducting medical research. It is difficult to meet these goals in a one hour session. Lessons learned from previous biostatistical training sessions for residents in other medical specialties at UCSD revealed that there are few prescribed restrictions but many challenges to overcome. Efforts were directed towards one specific topic encompassing enough depth to achieve the specified goals to the maximum extent possible. A recent article published in the medical literature that reports research findings illustrating aspects of the chosen topic was intended to focus discussion on linking the research objectives, study design, data analytical techniques, results, and conclusions. TOPIC SELECTION After conferring with the faculty organizer of the residency training session, diagnostic testing was selected as the lecture topic. Residents in Family Medicine are exposed to published reports about diagnostic and screening tests used in clinical practice, yet they typically have no formal training regarding assessment of test accuracy. The program organizer requested that the basic terminology and definitions related to diagnostic testing be addressed in as simple, yet meaningful, manner as possible. Tips and guidance on the interpretation of diagnostic test performance assessment were planned for the presentation. JOURNAL AND ARTICLE SELECTION As Letterie and Morgenstern (2000) report, the greatest obstacle to implementing teaching through the use of clinical literature is that of finding clinical studies that best and clearly demonstrate the targeted concepts. Additionally, the selected publication needs to be balanced with the clinical interest of the residents. A Medline search was performed using keywords diagnostic test and screening test. A review of potentially relevant online journals was conducted, and current publications offered by the UCSD School of Medicine library were browsed. A clear statement and description of study hypotheses, design, and results were among the criteria used to identify an appropriate paper. Further, usage of common measures related to assessing accuracy of diagnostic tests and integration of basic conventional applications of diagnostic test assessments within a clinical research study were sought. A recent publication date of 2000 or 2001 was preferable, but a slightly older publication date would have been acceptable. ICOTS6, 2002: Deutsch The publication selected as the example for the lecture, found among the current journals displayed at the university library, was in the Clinical Prediction Guide section of the American College of Physicians Journal Club (ACPJC) (2001). It summarized the clinical study and results reported in an article from The New England Journal of Medicine (Haydel et al., 2000). The clarity of the report and general application to diagnostic and screening tests provided a satisfactory example, and it met all pre-requisites for selection. The process of selecting an appropriate publication proved to be tedious, time consuming, and frustrating. Many articles reported sensitivity and specificity but no other useful measures of diagnostic testing. Other articles provided insufficient detail to allow critical evaluation of the reported study design and methods. Some articles contained complicated aspects that might prove to be problematic within the setting of an introductory overview of the topic. Obtaining a journal article that adequately illustrated the topic in a straightforward manner was critical to the success of the lecture and to making it meaningful and interesting to the residents. Excessively complex designs were expected to confound the planned presentation and were avoided. LECTURE CONTENT Terms commonly associated with the general topic of diagnostic test assessment were listed for the lecture attendees. These included: * Incidence * Prevalence * Sensitivity * Specificity * Positive predictive value * Negative predictive value * Likelihood ratio of a positive test * Likelihood ratio of a negative test * Misclassification rate. The first two terms, incidence and prevalence, were introduced, defined, and contrasted to provide the global setting for disease diagnosis. Immediately thereafter, the selected journal article was presented. Briefly, the article reports on a study where a set of criteria was established for non-comatose patients presenting to an emergency room with minor head injury. The aim of the study was to distinguish, based on the specified criteria, between those who need to have computed tomography (CT) and those who do not. For this study, all subjects in a training and a validation sample had CTs, and those subjects with abnormalities found with CT scanning were considered to have "needed" the CT scan. The process of developing the diagnostic model described in the article was discussed during the presentation, and the importance of validating the ensuing model was underscored. The lecture emphasized the need to identify well-defined diagnostic criteria and a specific outcome. Issues relating to study design were introduced in the article and explained within the framework of the reported study. Applications of study design and methods to research findings in general were discussed. The impact of sample size was pointed out. Results published in the article were closely examined. Corresponding to the diagnostic test assessments contained in the article summary, the measures listed above were introduced, predominantly in pairs (sensitivity vs. specificity, positive predictive value vs. negative predictive value, likelihood ratio of a positive test vs. likelihood ratio of a negative test). The terms were defined and contrasted, and calculations were presented. Normally, avoidance of mathematical computations is advisable in training sessions for residents (see Simpson, 1995), but the calculations, based only on the entries of a 2 x 2 table, were extremely simple and highly illustrative of the concepts behind the measures, thus they were casually presented. Moreover, since 95% confidence intervals were presented in the publication, this analysis method was also introduced regarding its application and general meaning. Lastly, findings in the paper were systematically critiqued. ICOTS6, 2002: Deutsch TEACHING AIDS A slide presentation, available electronically from the author, was created with Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 software (1987-99). Colorful graphics, tables, and lists were presented in a simple, yet visually stimulating, way. Avoidance of bland black-and-white presentation media, such as with overhead transparencies, was expected to be more likely to acquire and maintain the attention of the residents. Figure 1 is a copy of a slide (black and white version for publication) which shows an example of how the study data referred to during the lecture were used to illustrate measures common in diagnostic test assessment. Figure 2 reflects a slide that lists and compares pertinent information about positive and negative predictive values. Calculations for the data and diagnostic test measures reflected in Figures 1 and 2, respectively, are displayed as Figure 3. All other diagnostic test measures were presented in a similar fashion. Figure 1. Slide Showing Sample Data and Terminology/Notation for Diagnostic Testing 1 Figure 3. Slide Showing Calculations for Positive and Negative Predictive Values A copy of the ACPJC summary article (2001) was distributed as a handout to all residents in attendance. The article handout had selected text annotated with color-coded highlight marker to attract the attention of participants to specific parts of the report during the discussion. A hard ICOTS6, 2002: Deutsch copy version of the electronic slide presentation was also distributed to each participant to reduce the need for note-taking, to assist in following the lecture, and to be available as a reference after the seminar. Included in the handout of slides was a listing of web sites containing electronic tutorials and automated diagnostic test measure calculators, as well as citations for related journal articles for future reference. RESULTS AND EVALUATION Approximately 13 residents attended the lecture. During the presentation, questions were solicited, and some attendees participated enthusiastically. Among questions asked by the audience was one requesting a simple way to conceptualize likelihood ratios. Alternative versions of the definition were furnished, and participants offered other suggestions. One attendee inquired about the process of determining the sample size needed to assess diagnostic performance adequately. This led to a discussion of the important factors involved in power and the appropriateness of consulting someone with expertise in study design and biostatistics. A few attendees gave unsolicited verbal feedback after the lecture and offered positive appraisal for the journal article approach and overall presentation. Written evaluations were submitted by all attendees and revealed an overall multiple-choice rating of "good" (choices were excellent, good, fair, poor, no opinion). Five of the 13 respondents gave no additional comments. Written feedback that was received included statements that the presentation was clear, well organized, good, and helpful. Two evaluations suggested even more clinical examples. Among the responses aimed with a more narrow focus, three responders wrote that the topic was too dry, and three commented on the sleep-deprived state of the residents. DISCUSSION Despite the restrictive one-hour limit, the three aims stated in the Goals section above seem, at least in part, to have been achieved. First, the usage of the selected published research report was ideal to emphasize the impact of study design and analysis methodologies on reported findings and subsequent conclusions. The publication provided an excellent example to follow the traditional flow of clinical research, clearly illustrating how each step of the process is dependent upon the previous assumptions and methods. Secondly, awareness of technical aspects of assessing diagnostic test performance will likely assist residents in future assessments of measures that they are exposed to in clinical practice or research. Finally, the last goal was, to some extent, achieved through discussion of issues that arise when developing a research plan. Based on feedback, though, inclusion of additional clinical examples should be considered in future lectures. Discussion of actual research cases has a tendency to offer suitable occasions to point out the benefits of consulting with a biostatistician. These can occur when describing the research design phase or when interpreting complicated or unfamiliar analysis results. This tendency was demonstrated in the recent experience, where ample opportunities arose during the presentation of the research article to encourage residents to consult with a biostatistician for specific circumstances. Similar opportunities to encourage consultation for study design and biostatistical issues arose in previous lectures where published articles from the medical literature were part of the curriculum. The need for this resource must be reinforced because of the tendency of some physicians to under-appreciate the technical aspects of study design, data collection, and statistical analysis and overestimate their expertise in these areas. It is unknown whether efforts to promote critical reading and interpretation of findings published in medical journals, or to provide a deeper and broader understanding of statistical methods and study design, have been successful. The perception of some attendees that the presented topic was "dry" may negatively impact on understanding and retention. Nevertheless, usage of a relevant research publication from the medical literature is supported by reported findings of their positive influence and has consistently met with encouraging feedback from postgraduate physicians. The underlying benefits of the general approach of using the journal article as the foundation for lectures to residents remain promising. ICOTS6, 2002: Deutsch ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Partially supported by General Clinical Research Center grant NIH M01 RR00827. REFERENCES Alguire P.C. (1998). A review of journal clubs in postgraduate medical education. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 13, 347-353. Deutsch R. (in press) A seminar series in applied biostatistics for clinical research fellows, faculty and staff. Statistics in Medicine. Diserens D., Giger U., Bull R., Cotter S., Meyers K. Smith J., & Wardrop J. (1994). The lecture vs. the journal article. Academic Medicine, 69, 976-977. Haydel M.J., Preston C.A., Mills T.J., Luber S., Blaudeau E., & DeBlieux P.M.C. (2000) Indications for computed tomography in patients with minor head injury. The New England Journal of Medicine, 343, 100-105. Langkamp D.L., Pascoe J.M., & Nelson D.B. (1992). The effect of a medical journal club on residents' knowledge of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. Family Medicine, 24, 528-530. Letterie G.S., & Morgenstern L.S. (2000). The Journal Club, Teaching critical evaluation of clinical literature in an evidence-based environment. Journal of Reproductive Medicine, 45, 299-304. Linzer M. (1987). The journal club and medical education: over one hundred years of unrecorded history. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 63, 475-478. Linzer M., Brown J.T., Frazier L.M., et al. (1988). Impact of a medical journal club on housestaff reading habits, knowledge, and critical appraisal skills. JAMA, 260, 2537-2541. Markert, R.J. (1989). A research methods and statistics journal club for residents. Academic Medicine, 64, 223-224. Microsoft®PowerPoint®2000 (1987-1999). Microsoft Corporation. Simpson J.M. (1995) Teaching statistics to non-specialists. Statistics in Medicine, 14, 199-208. Woods J.R., Jr., & Winkel C.E. (1982) Journal club format emphasizing techniques of critical reading. Journal of Medical Education, 57, 799-801. Clinical Prediction Guide (2001). A decision rule with 7 clinical criteria identified patients with minor head injury who did not need computed tomography. ACP Journal Club, 134, 74.
Category: 400 Number: 423 Subject: VEHICLE ACQUISITION/REPLACEMENT AND ASSIGNMENT UTILIZATION POLICY 1. PURPOSE: The purpose of this Vehicle Acquisition/Replacement and Assignment Utilization Policy is to establish administrative regulations which standardize the procedures utilized to obtain/replace or assign County-owned and/or leased vehicles for the purpose of conducting official County business. 2. AUTHORITY: The St. Clair County Board of Commissioners. Administrative policies shall be subject to revision or termination by the Board of Commissioners at its discretion. The Administrator/Controller, or designee, is responsible for the enforcement of this policy. 3. APPLICATION: The regulations and procedures outlined in this policy statement are to apply to all County-owned and/or leased vehicles assigned to individual departments or the Motor Pool. 4. RESPONSIBILITY: The authority to procure vehicles and the administration of this policy are the responsibility of the Administrator/Controller or designee. Vehicle assignment shall be made upon the recommendation of the appropriate department head. 5. DEFINITION(S): NONE 6. POLICY: 6.1 General Statement. 6.1.1 The acquisition of all County-owned and/or leased vehicles shall be coordinated through the Purchasing Division and within the parameters of the budget established by the County Board of Commissioners. 6.1.2 The County will only acquire the minimal features necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the employees' position. 6.1.3 The employee, department head, or elected official is not authorized to make any acquisitions or upgrades to vehicles leases or purchases without authorization from Administrator/Controller and/or the Board of Commissioners. 6.1.4 The department head and/or the elected official will be responsible for reviewing and verifying the assignment status of vehicles to their staff at least once annually in accordance with this policy. The department head, elected official and/or Administrator/Controller shall have the authority to require an employee to periodically present vehicle for inspection. 6.1.5 All County owned and/or leased vehicles shall remain the property of the County. The Administrator/Controller may revoke the use of the vehicle at any time for any reason. 6.1.6 All County owned and/or lease vehicles shall be for use by County employees only, unless otherwise indicated in this policy. 6.1.7 The Administrator/Controller or designee shall maintain an accurate vehicle assignment list. The department head and/or elected official must immediately notify the Administrator/Controller or designee of any changes in the assignment status of a vehicle. 6.1.8 The County will comply with all U.S. Internal Revenue Service requirements regarding the taxability of the personal use of County vehicles. (Generally, the non-business commuting portion of the use of a County vehicle is considered a taxable benefit to an employee.) 6.2 Assignment of County-Owned Vehicles. 6.2.1 All employees who have access to a County-owned vehicle shall be so identified as meeting the criteria established for vehicle assignment (see Motorpool and Driving Policy Number 322). The authority to assign vehicles rests with the Administrator/Controller. Should a change in the demands of a particular position or department necessitate a change in vehicle assignment status, a request shall be considered and if warranted, be approved by the Administrator/Controller. Vehicles will be assigned on the basis of functional requirements of the employee's position and should not be construed as being a substitute for other compensation or as a fringe benefit. Vehicles are assigned and certain privileges in their use granted only as a means of providing effective management of County functions. Assignment criteria are established as follows: 126.96.36.199 Special Use Assignment - With Take Home Privileges: Vehicles are assigned under this classification in order to provide an employee with access to a County-owned vehicle for those employees whose duties and responsibilities require a vehicle be assigned which includes permanent take-home privileges. 188.8.131.52.1 Criteria for Assignment and Use: A vehicle will be assigned to a position on a special use basis when: 184.108.40.206.1.1 The responsibilities of that position require the routine and regular conduct of County business before or after normal working hours. 220.127.116.11.1.2 Emergency use on a routine or regular basis will be required before or after normal working hours. 18.104.22.168.1.3 The responsibilities of the position are such that it is to the convenience of the County to assign a vehicle. 22.214.171.124.1.4 A demonstrated security risk warrants such assignment to protect County property. 126.96.36.199.1.5 All employees requesting the use of a vehicle shall submit to the requirements and standards outlined in the Motorpool and Driving Policy Number 322 for approved drivers. 188.8.131.52 Limited Use Assignment: Vehicles assigned under this classification shall be assigned to departments to provide direct access to County-owned vehicles to those employees whose positions require routine utilization of a vehicle during normal working hours. Take home privileges are not permitted under normal circumstances under limited use assignment. 184.108.40.206.1 Criteria for Assignment and Use: Under this classification, County-owned vehicles will be assigned to a department when: 220.127.116.11.1.1 The nature of the vehicle use is routine, predetermined and predictable. 18.104.22.168.1.2 The use of a private vehicle would be inappropriate. 22.214.171.124.1.3 All employees requesting the use of a vehicle shall submit to the requirements and standards outlined in the Motorpool and Driving Policy Number 322 for approved drivers. 126.96.36.199.2 Employee use of Limited Use Assignment vehicles shall be subject to Department Head approval. 188.8.131.52 On Call/Emergency Assignment: Vehicles may be assigned under this classification to those employees who are assigned "on call" duty beyond normal working hours in order to ensure a quick response to emergency or after-hour calls for service. 184.108.40.206.1 Criteria for Assignment and Use. Under this classification vehicles will be provided through the department to those employees who periodically are assigned "on call" duty by their department head or elected official when: 220.127.116.11.1.1 A demonstrated need for a County vehicle to ensure a quick response to an emergency or after-hour calls has been verified by the department head or elected official and approved by the Administrator/Controller. 18.104.22.168.1.2 Employee is designated to be "on call" for a specific function or purpose. 22.214.171.124.1.3 Employees requesting the use of a vehicle shall submit to the requirements and standards outlined in the Motorpool and Driving Policy Number 322 for approved drivers. 126.96.36.199.2 Employees meeting this criteria and "on call" will be allowed to drive the vehicle to and from work. Personal use of the vehicle is strictly prohibited. 188.8.131.52 Pool Assignment. Pool vehicles are for general use by County employees who do not have a vehicle assigned to their particular position. All County owned vehicles not otherwise assigned will be designated Pool Vehicles. Vehicles so designated may be assigned to a multi-department pool. Use of pool vehicles shall be monitored by the Administrator/Controller or designee. See Motorpool and Driving Policy Number 322 for guidelines and use. 6.3 Procedures for Implementation of the Vehicle Use Administration Regulation 6.3.1 General Assignment 184.108.40.206 Designation of vehicle assignments in accordance with the policy will be in compliance with instructions issued by the Administrator/Controller, and will be based upon review of recommended vehicle use plans submitted by the departments. 6.3.2 Record Maintenance 220.127.116.11 The Administrator/Controller or designee will develop and maintain records sufficient to ensure proper utilization of County vehicles. These records should include vehicle assignment, vehicle use and, in particular, such information warranted under special use assignment to ensure accountability of vehicles used beyond normal working hours. 18.104.22.168 Adequate records of private vehicles used will be maintained on a departmental basis to ensure accountability of public funds. 6.4 Vehicle Maintenance 6.4.1 Ensure that the County vehicle is in proper operating condition at all times. Any malfunctions should be reported immediately to the Department Head. 6.4.2 Be in such physical condition to assure safe operation of the vehicle and to prevent a hazard to the driving public. 6.4.3 Inform the immediate supervisor of any condition which presents a safety hazard to either the employee or the general public in the operating of a vehicle. 6.5 Vehicle Markings 6.5.1. Purpose 22.214.171.124 To clearly identify County-owned vehicles at all times when in the conduct of County Business except for security purposes upon specific approval by the Administrator/Controller. 6.5.2 Criteria for Marking 126.96.36.199 All County vehicles, except certain law enforcement vehicles and vehicles identified by the Administrator/Controller as appropriate for no markings, are to be marked with County emblems. 6.5.3 Markings – Type 188.8.131.52 All County marked vehicles shall have a standard marking which is visible at night. The standard marking shall be approved by the Administrator/Controller. 6.5.4 Non-allowed Markings 184.108.40.206 All County vehicles shall not contain any markings, signs, names or any other visible features that are not approved by the Administrator/Controller and are not absolutely necessary in order to identify the vehicle for its intended purpose of serving the taxpayers. Such non-allowed markings, signs, names or any other visible features shall not appear on the surface of County vehicles including but not limited to side panels, hood, roof, doors, windows, trunk, bumpers, license plates, tires. 6.6 Vehicle Replacement 6.6.1 Vehicle Replacement will be determined by Administrator/Controller or the Board of Commissioners. Determination will be based on identified need, departmental input, vehicle condition, and budget. 6.6.2 Administrator/Controller or designee will determine the mechanism for evaluating vehicle condition. 6.7 Monitoring Responsibilities 6.7.1 The responsibility for monitoring the compliance of this Administrative Policy has been assigned to the Administrator/Controller, or designee. 7. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES: 7.1 Exceptions. Any exceptions or unusual circumstances that are not provided for in this policy must have specific prior approval from the Administrator/Controller. 8. INSURANCE: St. Clair County is partially self-insured, including Auto Insurance. The County's insurance provider is Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority (MMRMA). All insurance claims, and any contact with MMRMA, are handled by the Risk Management Coordinator in the Administrator/Controller's office. Any and all incidents, including vehicles accidents, shall be immediately reported to the Risk Management Coordinator and affected employee shall complete the Claim/Incident Report form and submit to Risk Management Coordinator. Auto Physical Damage Claims require three (3) bids to be sent directly to Risk Management Coordinator who will select the vendor as determined to be in the best interest of the County. Bids shall be coordinated by the established County vehicle maintenance and repair vendor. Auto Liability Claims are also forwarded to Risk Management Coordinator for processing. The County shall consider a wrecked vehicle a total loss when the total cost to repair it exceeds 70% of the vehicles actual cash value. Actual cash value shall be determined by using an on-line pricing site that takes into account the make, model, mileage, options, etc., such as Kelly Blue Book, NADA, Edmunds or an average thereof, as determined by the Risk Management Coordinator. In regards to a pursuit vehicle, other factors may be taken into consideration, including but not limited to the integrity of the frame and engine for high speeds, etc. For Road Patrol Vehicles: The County shall replace a totaled vehicle with the same or similar make/model/options as long as it is in the same class and price range for full replacement value. Limitations on the full replacement value shall be that the County will purchase up to two years newer model only; for example a 2010 Dodge Charger can be replace with a 2012 same or similar model in the same price range. If the totaled vehicle is more than two years old, the insurance fund shall provide actual cash value at the highest rate towards the purchase of a replacement vehicle with a newer model year. Any difference in cost shall be the responsibility of the departmental budget, as the typical replacement schedule is every three years. All Other Vehicles: The County shall provide the actual cash value of the vehicle towards the purchase of a replacement vehicle. If the replacement vehicle exceeds the actual cash value then the department shall be responsible for those additional costs. In addition, if any department wants to upgrade the make, model, options, etc., the insurance fund shall only provide the funding up to the max as outlined above. For example if a Road Patrol vehicle was totaled (4-door sedan - $20,000) and the department wanted to upgrade to SUV ($29,000), the department would be responsible for the upgrade cost of $9,000. The same would apply if a $15,000 (actual cash value) maintenance truck was to be replaced with a $25,000 truck. The department would be responsible for the additional $10,000. Upgrades to vehicles and/or fleets shall be a budgeted expenditure and shall have no impact on the insurance fund. The insurance fund shall replace or repair any equipment on a vehicle that was damaged. If the equipment can be re-used or salvaged, the insurance fund shall not pay for additional equipment. The insurance fund shall cover the expense of moving the salvaged equipment from one vehicle to another. If a department upgraded a vehicle and the equipment was not damaged on the original vehicle, the insurance fund shall not be responsible for any new equipment purchases. When a vehicle of same or similar make/model is purchased, the insurance will acquire new equipment, if necessary. Disposal of vehicles and equipment shall be the responsibility of the Risk Management Coordinator. Any and all proceeds shall be returned to the insurance fund. 9. FUEL: All County-owned and/or leased vehicles assigned to individual departments or the Motor Pool will utilize the current fueling program as established by the Administrator/Controller and approved by the Board of Commissioners. The Administrator/Controller reserved the right to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis. See Fueling Procedures for details and instructions. 8. ADMINISTRATOR/CONTROLLER AND LEGAL COUNSEL REVIEW: The Administrator/Controller has determined that this policy as submitted to the Board of Commissioners contains the necessary substance in order to carry out the purpose of the policy. Corporation Counsel has determined that this policy as submitted contains content that appears to be legal activities of the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners. Approved as to Substance: Administrator/Controller Approved as to Legal Content: County Corporation Counsel Adopted: November 28, 2008 Amended: January 17, 2013
ICC Iranian Chemical Communication Original Research Article Payame Noor University http://icc.journals.pnu.ac.ir Disposable single-use electrochemical sensor: A novel hollow fiber based tool for environmental monitoring of cadmium Fatemeh Moeinpour, Zarrin Es'haghi* Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, P.O. BOX 19395-4697 Tehran, Iran Received: 12 Feb 2018, Accepted: 24 July 2018, Published: 1 July 2018 Abstract The objective of this study is to design a simple, fast, sensitive and single-use electrode with the simultaneous capability of preconcentration and measuring for application in a three-electrode voltammetry system to identify and measure the heavy metal cadmium. The design process of this sensor consists of several stages. The polyurethane foam and multi-walled carbon nanotube nanoparticles were functionalized and the new nanocomposite was synthesized. Besides,with the help of an organic solvent, established on the pencil graphite electrode, it was covered with hollow fiber. In this work, for the first time, the organic solvent was employed instead of ionic liquid. The designed sensor was used to detect and measure heavy metal cadmium through differential pulse voltammetry technique, whose appearance of a sharp peak at -0.82 V indicates thepresence ofcadmium. It was found that the presence of air molecules as the analyte carrier (between hollow fiber cavities and in fixed nanocomposite on the graphite) instead of organic solvents or ionic liquids was desirable. All the synthesis stages of nanocomposite were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy. Finally, the nanocomposite morphology was obtained with a Scanning Electron Microscope. A calibration curve was drawn and a linear response with a range of 2.39 to 47.6 µM was plotted. The LOD of the designed sensor was 0.399 µM for cadmium. The mentioned sensor was used to recognize the measurement of analyte in real biological samples of urine, nail, and wastewater of the laboratory. Keywords:Cadmium; DPV; polyurethane foam; hollow fiber; one-use electrode. Introduction Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury are rapidly increasing to an alarming level. Cadmium has seventh-ranked in 'Top hazardous substances priority list' published by the Environmental Protection Agency. Cadmium can be easily dissolved and transported by water [1]. Therefore, the development of simple analytical instruments, methods, and procedures with low detection limits are needed Corresponding author: Zarrin Es'haghi Tel: +98 (51) 38691099, Fax: +98 (51) 38683001 E-mail:email@example.com [2]. Different analytical methods such as coprecipitation, liquid–liquid extraction, synthesized nanoparticles, solid phase extraction and also electroanalysis of different electrode surfaces, including solid electrodes, Nafion-modified electrodes, and microelectrodes were described for the separation and determination of cadmium [3-12]. Among them, stripping voltammetry determination of cadmium using mercury-based electrodes are of the very sensitive analytical methods available. But it is strongly recommended to replace mercury with other materials. Nowadays, modified carbon electrodes with features such as sensitivity, rapid renewal of the electrode surface and simplicity of preparation are the viable alternatives of mercury-based electrodes [13,14]. Because of mercury toxicity, the development of voltammetry methods for measuring cadmium with no mercury is desirable [15]. In this research, we designed a novel electrode with high detection limit to replace mercury electrode in cadmium detection. The adsorption is the most common method for trace element concentrations, therefore, the research focus is on natural organic or mineral adsorbents [16,17]. Many types of adsorbents and recently polyurethane foam has been developed for the recovery of metal ions from aqueous media [18-20]. The importance of polyurethane foam (PUF) has been increased as a sorbent due to its efficiency, low cost, handling and storage [21]. The application of polyurethane foam for separation and preconcentration of various metal ions has attracted considerable attention [22]. The aim of this work is to design a sensor out of new nanocomposite via simultaneous approaches of preconcentration and determination of trace concentration of cadmium in real aqueous and biological samples with supporting of hollow fiber as phase divider and organic solvent instead of ionic liquid for the first time in three electrodes system with differential pulse voltammetry technique. The interference of some common heavy metal ions, such as Cu (II), Zn (II) and Fe (II) and other ions was investigated. Experimental Apparatus All differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurements were done by Metrohm Model 797 Computrace (Switzerland) using a three electrode system. The working electrode was a newly designed sensor based on Pencil Graphite Electrode(PGE). A Metrohm pH meter 827 (Switzerland) was applied to solutions pH measurements. Dispersing nanocomposite in an organic solvent and their fixing on the graphite pencil electrode were carried out by an Ultrasonic Processor, model UP 400S (Germany). The FTIR spectra were recorded via application of a Shimadzu FTIR-8400 Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometer (Japan). All experiments were carried out at room temperature. Chemical and reagents Organic solvents and all reagents in analytical grade were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) and Sigma-Aldrich. The Cd (II) stock solution was prepared by dissolving the calculated amount of cadmium nitrate in deionized water. Phosphate buffers in various pH were prepared by mixing disodium hydrogen phosphate and sodium dihydrogen phosphate salts in suitable ratios. The polypropylene hollow fiber membrane was obtained from Membrana (Wuppertal, Germany, wall thickness 200 µm, the inner diameter 600 µm, and the pore size 0.2 µm). The multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) with 10–40 nm diameters, 1–25µm length, 5–10 nm core diameter, 40–600 m2/g BET surface area (SBET), V total 0.9 cm 3 g/L, bulk density of 0.1 g/ cm 3 , true density of 2.1 g/cm 3 and 98% < purity, were purchased from Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry, Tehran, Iran. Synthesis of nanocomposite Functionalization of MWCNT and PUF At first, 1g of multi-walled carbon nanotube was functionalized by sonication in the mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid (30:70) for 6 h with 60% amplitude and 0.5 Sec cycles. FTIR spectrum of the initial and functionalized MWCNT was investigated. Besides, 1g of commercial polyurethane foam (PUF) was finely shaved and soaked in HCl 3M for 24h. After being washed with distilled water, it was placed in HCl 0.1M and cooled in an ice bath. During the strong stirring process of PUF, 10 ml of ethyl iodide was added dropwise to it and was left in the fridge for 24 h [23]. The obtained Polyurethane foam ion exchange(PUFIX) was air-dried and blended in an agate mortar. FTIR spectrum of primary PUF and PUFIX were recorded. Synthesis of nanocomposite PUFIXMWCNT In order to synthesize PUFIX-MWCNT nanocomposites, the PUFIX and functionalized MWCNT were refluxed for 6 h under 55 0 C in 40 mL ethanol. The produced black powder MWCNTPUFIX was washed with distilled water and acetone, respectively and dried at room temperature. The product was blended in an agate mortar. FTIR spectrum of consecutive steps was obtained and SEM test was performed for finding nanocomposite particle size. Finally, the synthesized nanocomposite was used for new sensor fabrication. Fabrication HF-GE electrode for LSSPME procedure First, in order to remove the pollutions of graphite pencil rods, they were cleaned with water and acetone. Besides, segments of the polypropylene hollow fiber with 15.0 mm length were prepared and cleaned with distilled water and acetone. It was dried at room temperature and one end of the hollow fiber segment was closed with the help of heating. By an Ultrasonic Processor, 10 mg of the synthesized nanocomposite was dispersed in 2.0 mL of existing solvent until the uniform mixture was obtained. The graphite pencil rod was placed in this mixture for 8-10 min and, then, was carefully inserted into the hollow fiber segment and placed as a one-use working electrode without carryover, in a voltammetry cell for preconcentration and extraction of cadmium in one step as a new approach. For obtaining an appropriate peak analyte, the four various statements were investigated: 1- The PGE (O.D 0.7 mm) which was covered by hollow fiber, was sonicated in n-octanol solution containing dispersed nanocomposite, and placed in the apparatus on which no peak was observed. 2- The PGE (O.D 0.5 mm), covered by hollow fiber, was sonicated in n-octanol solution containing dispersed nanocomposite, and used as a working electrode, again no peak was observed. 3- The PGE (O.D 0.5 mm) was placed in n-octanol solution containing dispersed nanocomposite and sonicated for about 10 minutes, after that, the fixed PGE was covered by hollow fiber. In this case, a relatively intense peak was observed. 4- The PGE (O.D 0.5 mm) was placed in n-octanol solution containing dispersed nanocomposite and then was sonicated for about 10 minutes, besides, the hollow fiber segment was soaked at n-octanol for 10 min in order to fill cavities of the hollow fiber. Finally, the prepared PGE was covered by filled hollow fiber. In this sense, there was no peak. So, the third statement was selected as the optimum and the sensor was prepared in this way. For LSSME procedure, the standard working solution of cadmium in phosphate buffer at pH 7 was added to voltammetry cell with working electrode HF-GE. The scanning was carried out in the range of -0.5 to -1.5 volt and the related cadmium peak was observed and recorded. In this process, the analyte molecules were extracted into the outer wall of the hollow fiber. Then to aid air molecules, the analyte was crossed from cavities and brought to infixed nanocomposite on the graphite pencil rod and the analyte peak was observed. Several parameters such as environment pH (from 3 to 11), type of supporting electrolyte and its concentration, nanocomposite concentration, dispersive organic solvent, scan rate and the effect of some additives were optimized. Finally, the calibration curve and LOD and LOQ were investigated and the real samples were studied under optimized parameters' condition. Results and discussion Characterization of synthesized nanocomposite Structure confirmation with FT-IR spectrum The functionalization and chemical structure of MWCNT which were identified by FTIR Typically 30 scans over the range of 4000–400 cm -1 were taken from each sample. As seen in Figure 1, the presence of the oxygenated groups was confirmed by the broadband of FTIR spectra between 3000 and 3700 cm -1 [24]. And it could be detected the presence of C=C bond at around 1645.2 cm -1 as a percentage of the nanotube functionalization product is visible. The peaks at 1519.8 and 1415.2 cm -1 can be attributed to the presence of NO2 as a result of nitric acid and sulfuric acid application for functionalization procedure. As can be seen in spectra of PUF and PUFIX, the bands at 3402.2 are due to free NH and the peak at 1580.4 cm -1 corresponds to the presence of urethane (–NHCOO–) groups. Two bands at 1527.5 and 1410 cm -1 for a NO2 group, and 1072.3 cm -1 aredue to a carbonyl group which shifted to lower energy because of conjugated double bonds in PUF and PUFIX[25,26]. Structure confirmation through SEM images Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of synthesized nanocomposite was performed. As can be seen in Figure 2, the threaded structure of MWCNT (Figure 2, b) and porous particles of PUF (Figure 2, a) have been used in the manufacture of MWCNTPUFIX (Figure 2, c) helping to capture the analyte and as a result increase the preconcentration and extraction yield. It is clear from (Figure 2, c) that nanocomposite has been obtained with r≈53nm. Optimization of parameters Effect of pH The effect of pH on the preconcentration, determination, and extraction of Cd (II) ion from aqueous donor phase was investigated by adjusting the pH of a phosphate buffer solution at the required values over the range of 2.0–11.0. As shown in Figure 3, the current and thus the electrode response were increased with the increase of analyte acidity up to pH 6 and in continuing decrease. Thus pH 6is comfortable to continue the experimentation. The pKa value of phosphate buffer 0.05 M is 6.86 [29]. Thus the extracted value of Cd to sensor surface increases at the pHof about 6-7 [30]. Besides, a decrease is observed at adsorption of Cd to nanocomposite due to the positively charged cadmium species with the electrostatic repulsion of the protonated active sites on the MWCNTPUFIX [31]. Effect of organic solvent The effect of organic solventsontheprocess efficiency was investigated usingseveralsolventswithconsecutive carbon numbers containingacetone, 1butanol, cyclohexanol, 1-octanol, and 2-decanol. Dispersion process was carried out, but in acetone and 1butanol there was no dispersion as well. Therefore, three electrodes were prepared with the use of cyclohexanol, 1-octanol, and 2-decanol. Moreover, they were separately used as working electrodes in a three-electrode system. The sensor-made using 2-decanoldid not show any peak, but the sensor made using cyclohexanol showed a low current peak with high background effect. Finally, the sensor was prepared with the use of 1-octanol and a sharp peak with no background current. Therefore 1-octanol was selected as the optimum organic solvent. Concentration of nanocomposite The influence of the nanocomposite concentration in the organic solvent on the peak current was investigated and shown in Figure 4. For this purpose, nanocomposite concentration over the range, 0.5 to 10 mg/mL were dispersed. The results indicated that the peak current is increased with the increase in the amount of nanocomposite due to the increase in binding sites facilitating the accumulation of cadmium at the electrode surface. However, the highest peak currents were obtained with 7.5 mg/mL of the nanocomposite in noctanol. Figure 4. Effect of nanocomposite concentration on peak current Effect of scan rate The scan rate is an important and effective parameter in voltammetry technique with considerable impact on peak current. The scan rates were investigated from 10 to 100 mv/S. By increasing the speed of scanning, peak current was clearly reduced. Therefore, the highest peak with the lowest rate was observed. This could be explained as the slow scan gives more opportunities to the analyte for path wending from voltammetry cell to hollow fiber cavities and then transferring to the nanocomposite vicinity. Thus, the simultaneous slowing down in the preconcentration and measure processes could increase the efficiency of the sensor To check that, the difference between peak currents is due to random error or significant difference, carried out the one-way ANOVA test. Its data and calculationsare present in Table 1. Table 1.The data and calculations of one- way ANOVA for studying effects of scan rate on peak current SS; Sum of squares MS; Mean of squares df; degree of freedom F Calc ; F Calculated F Crit ; F Critical As can be seen, the calculated F (14.30) is bigger than critical F 0.95 (3.38). As a result, the difference between peak currents is not due to random error, and results have a significant difference. So, with 0.95 confidence and P 0.05, lowest scan rate, has best results. Effect of supporting electrolyte As supporting electrolyte has an important role in the electroactivity of the ions and thus on the electrochemical process efficiency, its type and concentration should be optimized. For this purpose, the three most commonly used electrolytes containing sodium perchlorate, Robinson buffer and phosphate buffer were tested. In a differential pulse voltammetry technique (DPV) the best result of cadmium peak current was shown at the presence of phosphate buffer as a supporting electrolyte. In the following, phosphate buffers 0.05 and 0.1 M showed a better effect on the extraction process in phosphate buffer 0.05 M. Results of supporting electrolyte optimization are well depicted in Figure 5. Figure 5. Effect of the type and concentration of supporting electrolyte on cadmium peak current Effect of some additives The impacts of the non-ionic surfactant charged polyelectrolyte solution and salts on the determination of Cd (II) with designed sensor were examined usingthe addition ofTriton X-100, chitosan, potassium chloride and sodium chloride respectively. The solutions with different concentrations of additives were prepared in 10 mLof the buffer solution containing cadmium in voltammetry cell. The peak currents were recorded in the presence of different amounts of them.Overall, all of the additives showed a positive effect on extraction efficiency and peak current. As can be seen in Figure 6, the best peak current in the presence of KCl 2.0 mM was observed. For investigating the reason for the difference between peak currents, the two-way ANOVA test was done. The data and calculations for this study are presented in Table 2. Table 2. The data and calculations of two- way ANOVA for investigation of the effect of additive concentration and additive typeon peak current (µA) Additive type SS; Sum of squares MS; Mean of squares df: degree of freedom FCrit; FCritical As the results show, in the columns, the calculated F (9.71) is bigger than critical F 0.95 (3.16) and in the rows, the calculated F (7.66) is bigger than critical F 0.95 (2.66) too. So, the results of the type and concentration of additives with 0.95 confidence and P 0.05, have a significant difference. And the difference between peak currents is not due to random error. Calibration curve and linear range For plotting the calibration curve, the optimum condition of DPV technique was applied and concentration of Cd (II) versus the peak height was drawn. The HF-PGE electrode response was linear from 2.39 to 47.6 µM, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9933. The LOD was obtained 0.399 µM was based on three times of standard deviation divided by the slope of the calibration graph, and the quantification limit was 1.00 µM. The results were shown to be appropriate for the determination of cadmium (Figure 7), indicatingthat the method could be employed for theanalysis of cadmium (II) in biological and water samples. Also, a comparison between the designed method and the previously reported method is presentedin Table 3. Table 3. A comparison between previously reported method and the proposed method for Cd determination The effect of interferences In the DPV technique, interfering molecules in the sample solution may be co-deposited on the active sites of the electrode surface, resulting in changes in the stripping peak current. The interference may be the result of two main factors: (i) intermetallic compound formation and (ii) the competition between analytes and interfering ions for active sites on the electrode surface. The interference study was performed by adding various potentially interfering metal cations including different fold excess with target metal ions into a standard solution containing 2 µM Cd 2+ under the optimized working conditions. As listed in Table 4, the change in the peak current of Cd 2+ was less than 10% after adding interfering ionsup to the values listed. Thus, the fabricated sensor displayed appropriate selectivity for Cd 2+ in the heavy metal analysis. Table 4. The effect of ion interferences on the analyte peak current in cadmium determination Real sample treatment Three wastewater samples, collected from chemistry laboratories, were analyzed by this sensor. The samples were filtered and adjusted to pH 6 with the addition of HCl 0.1 M solution. Urine samples often do not require pretreatment [39], for urine studies the initial pH of urine was checked and adjusted to pH 6 with NaOH 0.1 M and diluted with a phosphate buffer of the optimum pH to one-tenth. In order to prepare nail sample, it was cleaned by the solution of water and acetone with a ratio of 1:1. In this sense, the aim was to remove all thepollutions and fats. Then, it was dried and the 0.01 g of it for 24 h soaked in 1 mL concentrated HCl. The 0.1 mL of obtaining mixture was diluted with 25 mL of optimum buffer. After real sample treatment, specified amounts of cadmium were spiked and the HF-LSSPME procedure with the mentioned sensor by differential pulse voltammetry technique was carried out. It is notable that, recognition and determination of cadmium in nail samples with PGE electrode was impossible due to high background effects and broadening peaks. But by application of this sensor, a peak without background effects was observed. Results are shown in Table 5. Table 5. Analytical results for determination of cadmium in real samples Relative Recovery% Conclusion In this work designing a sensitive and simple disposable electrode for use in an electrochemical three electrode system has been carried out for detection and determination of heavy metal cadmium. This research suggests that the MWCNTs properties can be improved by being combined with functionalized polyurethane foam. The PUFIX-MWCNT, as infixed nanocomposite, would increase the preconcentration, extraction, and determination of Cd in a simultaneous approach. It is noticeable that the designed sensor is fast and requires very low organic solvents. The method has satisfactory LOD and LOQ and results show that the new sensor is useful to develop the cadmium analysis method with the acceptable response. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Payame Noor University for supporting this research. References [1] M.I.J. Stich, S.M. Borisov, U. Henne, M. Schäferling, Sensor. Actuat. 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Khodavirdilo, Asian J. Green Chem., 2018, 2, 338-363 [13] M. Lu, K.E. Toghill, R.G. Compton, Electroanal., 2011, 23, 10891094. [14] D.S. Rajawat, N. Kumar, S.P. Satsangee, J. Anal. Sci. Technol., 2014, 5, 19-27. [15] M.A. El Mhammedi, M. Achak, M. Bakasse,Am. J. Anal. Chem., 2010, 1, 150-161. [16] A. Denzli, B. Garipcan, S. Emir, S. Patir, R. Say, Adsorpt. Sci. Technol., 2002, 207, 607-617. [17] E. Deydier, R. Guilet, P. Sharrock, J. Hazard. Mater., 2003, 101, 55-64. [18] X. Chang, N. Jiang, H. Zheng, Q. He, Z. Hu, Y. Zhai, Y. Cui, Talanta., 2007, 71, 38-43. [19] F.S. Rojas, C.B. Ojeda, J.M.C. Pavon, Talanta., 2007, 15, 951-956. [20] L.S.G. Teixeira, R.B.S. Rocha, E.V. Sobrinho, P.R.B. Guimarães, L.A.M. Pontes, J.S.R. Teixeira, Talanta., 2007, 72, 1073-1076. [21] L.C. Zhou, Y.F.Li, X.Bai, G.H. Zhao, J. Hazard. Mater., 2009, 167, 1106-1113. [22] E.A. Moawed, M.F. El-Shahat, Anal. Chim. Acta., 2013, 788, 200-207. [23] H. Sone, B. Fugetsu, S. Tanaka, J. Hazard. Mater., 2009, 162, 423-429. [24] E.A. Moawed, Anal. Chim. Acta., 2006, 580, 263-270. [25] M.A. Atieh, Int. J. Environ. Sci. Dev., 2011, 2, 142-145. [26] I. Sheikhshoaie, S. Davari, S. Ramezanpour, Chem. Methodologies., 2018, 2, 47-55. [28] H. Arefazar, A. Moghimi, Orient. J. Chem., 2016, 32, 2525-2532. [29] A.A. Green, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1933, 55, 4571-4587. [30] G.F. Qin, M.Y. Jiang, H.Sh. Mei, Y.K. Rong, J.J. Ma, J. Chem. Soc. Pak., 2015, 37, 272-276. [31] M. Behbahani, A. Bagheri, M.M. Amini, O. Sadeghi, M. Salarian, F. najafi, M. Taghizadeh, Food. Chem., 2013, 141, 48-53. [32] A.A. ALqadami, M.A. Abdalla, Z.A. Alothman, K. Omer, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health., 2013, 10, 361-374. [33] Z. Es'haghi, T. Heidari, E. Mazloomi, Electrochimica Acta., 2014, 147, 279-287. [34] D. Jedryczko, P. Pohl, M. Welna, Food Chem., 2017, 15, 220-229. [35] A. Hafuka, A. Takitani, H. Suzuki, T. Iwabuchi, M. Takahashi, S. Okabe, H. Satoh,Sensors., 2017, 17, 22912301. [36] L.R. Verola Mataveli, M.L. 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STARTING A FOUNDATION A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS 3 rd Edition STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the foundations who contributed their stories so generously to this guide. We gratefully acknowledge the financial contribution made by some PFC members to support the costs of production. ©2004 Philanthropic Foundations Canada, 2nd edition revised and reprinted in 2008. Third edition revised and reprinted 2015. Cette publication est également disponible en français. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Would you like to be more engaged in your giving? Do you want to have a sustained impact on your community or in an area that motivates you? Are you looking for ways to involve others in your family? These are some of the questions you may be asking yourself if you are considering starting a foundation. Choosing the giving option that suits you best starts with an examination of your motives, personal style and context, and value and interests. Legal and tax considerations are important to your decision, but your individual preferences are even more critical. PFC offers guidance to help you determine your own highly personal answers. OUTLINE OF THIS GUIDE SECTION 1 addresses the question: Why become involved in long-term giving? We have summarized some of the most frequently heard motives. SECTION 2 outlines the choices available for long-term giving such as, giving through a public foundation or donor-advised fund, and giving through a private foundation. Throughout the guide, we have included the stories of individuals who started a private foundation. From newly established foundations to fourth-generation inheritors, these contributors provide inspiration for the emerging philanthropist. SECTION 3 is a series of questions and answers. These are some of the key issues to be considered when determining whether a private foundation is the right option for you: How much time can you commit? How much control and involvement do you want in the foundation? What are some of the administrative implications? We hope you'll find this publication useful and a helpful tool in discovering the rich possibilities and rewards of personal philanthropy. 3 4 SECTION 1 WHY GIVE? I think philanthropy can give meaning to your life. I don't want to have a lot of regrets when I'm 85, 95. I want to be able to say, you gave back, you made a difference. Every year, more private foundations are being created in Canada. The number of donor-advised funds is also growing. Long-term giving is more and more popular among Canadian philanthropists. Co-founder 2nd generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS Long-term Giving What do we mean by long-term giving? We use the term in this guide to refer to a more structured type of giving, which takes the form of a fund, either endowed or periodically renewed, and which typically engages the donor with recipients in a more sustained way. This guide does not address direct or planned gifts to charities made in response to a general fundraising appeal and which do not directly and personally engage the donor, even through an intermediary. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Long-term giving refers to consistent, structured and engaged giving. In business, it would be a business plan; in philanthropy it is a giving plan. Motivations for Giving There are many motivations for becoming involved in long-term giving. In the following section, some of these motivations are briefly described. We interviewed nine Canadians who, either by themselves or through their families, have chosen to establish foundations. While these are very different people, their motives are surprisingly consistent: to become more personally engaged in philanthropy, to apply their expertise and experience to the management of their philanthropy, to take advantage of the personal flexibility offered by a foundation and to involve their families in the act of giving with them. 1. An Opportunity to Give Back to Communities The first, and perhaps the most important reason that many philanthropists cite for their decision to engage in structured giving is a very personal one: it is their desire to give back to the community and to society. They feel that their personal wealth has been earned with the support of the communities in which they live and work. They are fortunate enough to be able to give some of it back by making a significant and sustained gift that will benefit many others. It allows them to contribute to the communities and institutions they choose. Altruism is indeed a major driver of the creation of foundations. 2. An Opportunity for Personal Engagement Becoming more involved in your giving often reflects your desire to shape your SECTION 1 gift more personally. As a long-term donor, you can be engaged in choosing the projects and people you give to, in influencing goals and desired outcomes, in observing the impact of the funds and other support that you give, and in sharing the lessons learned and results with others. While funds can vary dramatically in size and focus, donors report that they consistently return the same rewards for those who become engaged: rich learning experiences, and a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Many donors say that they work harder than they ever have before – because they want to. The more engaged they become, the more satisfying many of them find their involvement. Foundations have a way of engaging your skills, talents, experience, and knowledge very deeply. It's money for the common good. I think there are a lot of philanthropists who are taking that responsibility seriously. Executive Director 2nd generation foundation I didn't know entirely what I was getting into when I started. If I hadn't become so personally involved, I'm not sure I'd be doing today what I'm doing. I'm completely passionate about my work with the foundation. I can't imagine my life any other way. Co-founder 1st generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 5 6 SECTION 1 The foundation has opened up lots of opportunities for us. In some cases, we end up doing volunteer work for the organizations we fund. There are so many people out there doing truly great things – it's been hugely inspiring for us to be able to work with them. MAKING A DIFFERENCE Executive Director 3rd generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS A businessman in mid-career with a young family, and his brother, made a smart investment in a company that made them instant millionaires. Sadly, the brother, who had no family of his own, died prematurely of cancer. Before he died, the businessman made him a promise: that his unexpected wealth would go into a charitable foundation. He set aside the money as promised, in an endowment, and managed the investment so that it would grow. Initially, he continued to make gifts from the foundation to the hospital that had taken care of his brother. He didn't spend much time on it at the beginning. But, being a hands-on businessman, he eventually started asking questions about how the money was being spent, and discovered that it was difficult, if not impossible, to get a clear idea of the foundation's impact on the hospital. So he decided to make more thoughtful decisions about his grant-making. He started spending more personal time on foundation work and discovered that there were pressing needs in his community, where his brother's foundation could make an important and visible difference. He changed the foundation's focus, started visiting and interacting directly with community organizations, and became aware of a larger network of active foundations making significant changes in their communities. He became not only an active philanthropist but also a believer, and indeed a missionary for foundation philanthropy. Today, he actively champions the creation of new foundations, describing the enormous and unexpected personal satisfaction that he is getting from what he does. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 3. Uniting the Family around a Common Purpose Family foundations can be rallying points for extended family members. Foundations allow several family members and even generations to bring together their various skills, talents, and interests for a shared cause. Many founders and trustees of family foundations describe the family foundation as a positive and engaging opportunity for the family to work together. A family foundation can also be instrumental in shaping common values and family identity. A foundation structure is an excellent vehicle to teach younger generations the values of philanthropy, and other important skills, such as investment management, resource allocation, project evaluation and assessment of impact. SECTION 1 4. Creating a Sustainable Legacy Because a foundation or a donor-advised fund generally makes grants from the return on invested assets, the foundation or fund can make funding commitments that last many years (as long as the assets remain undepleted). While there is no requirement to hold funds in perpetuity, the majority of foundations choose to grow or maintain their assets rather than to spend them down in the long term. Not all donors choose to have a foundation that endures beyond their lifetime. But whether for their lifetime, or for an enduring purpose, donors create foundations to leave a lasting philanthropic imprint on society. The desire to create an enduring legacy is closely related to the desire to give back in a sustained way to one's community, possibly to return the assistance that was given to the donor at another stage in his or her life. I would have missed out hugely if I had decided to give to charity by another vehicle. The private foundation allows me to be involved at a much deeper, richer level. We're doing things we never would have thought of doing if we hadn't been involved personally through this foundation. Co-founder 1st generation foundation My dad is a doctor working in Montreal. I'm by profession a social worker and consultant. If it weren't for the foundation, I would never have had the opportunity to work so closely with my father, my cousin, my sister, and my younger cousin. Executive Director 3rd generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 7 If you're giving money away to charity every year, you get a tax deduction, and you support a charity. But if you have a foundation, two things happen: you get the tax deduction, and you can still manage that capital. If you're used to managing your money, with a foundation, you get the same satisfaction of managing it and seeing it thrive in successful projects. 5. Getting Involved in Higher-Risk Philanthropy Chairman and President 1st generation foundation A grant made to that particular innovative idea or approach just might contribute to the next major break-through in cancer research, in youth mental health or in preventing school drop-out. The ability to respond quickly without conditions, to make multi-year commitments and to try out new approaches are particularly attractive characteristics to many philanthropists. In many cases, long-term philanthropists are extremely motivated to make change in the world around them. To do this involves risk-taking. A private approach to giving enables them to do this. The grant-maker in a private foundation has considerable freedom to decide which grants he or she makes individually or with family and colleagues. There is one important rule. The federal government requires that all foundation grants must be made to registered charities. But there are few other restrictions on the choice of recipient or on the way in which decisions are made by the grantmaker. Many foundation donors are able to spot great ideas, react quickly, and take risks on the unproven. SUSTAINING A LEGACY An older couple with a successful business started a foundation. The wife, who had been a social worker, was especially keen to do so, having been involved for many years in fundraising for various causes, and knowing what it felt like to be on the asking side. Soon after the foundation was set up, the husband passed away. Following her husband's death, the wife had the foundation to keep her involved in her community, developing connections with projects that she cared about deeply. She says, "it kept me in touch with people, with a world that I was part of." More recently, her two daughters have become more directly involved with the foundation. All three are now selecting projects together, visiting sites and sharing their common interest in supporting grassroots charities. The family is discussing a succession plan so that the daughters can pursue the work that has been started, and will become even more committed to the work of the foundation. Today, they share something in common that all three find very personally rewarding. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 8 6. Managing One's Own Assets Endowments and private foundations provide you with a high degree of control over the management of the fund or foundation assets. Foundation directors can work with investment consultants or manage the investments of the foundation themselves. Individuals who choose to manage the foundation's investments SECTION 1 often do so because they bring to the job significant experience and expertise in asset management as well as the ability to tolerate risk. Indeed, many private foundations are created by individuals who have generated their assets in the course of their own careers and who feel confident in their abilities to manage and grow these assets in a charitable fund. We consulted many different foundations and organizations and found that none of the models we saw suited what we wanted to do. We didn't want to hand over our capital to someone else to manage or decide where it should be distributed. Co-founder 1st generation foundation FULFILLING A PASSION A foundation created in 1997 by a young entrepreneur reflects his passions for art, technology, and education, and his preferences for projects that are focused but borderless. "Our world is trans-national and we wanted to do our little bit to expand the cultural possibilities new technologies imply." The founder chose from the beginning to fill a unique niche, supporting artists and preserving art created with the help of technology. The foundation builds on the founder's considerable talents and expertise in these areas. From the beginning, the foundation made the decision to be a citizen of the world because new communications technologies transcend geographical boundaries. The young foundation wanted to help expand the cultural possibilities of new technologies, particularly the internet. Working through agency agreements with qualified donees, it prioritized emerging regions of the world, committing over half its grants to projects and artists outside Canada. This meant bringing together a staff willing to work and travel globally, a demanding requirement for a small foundation. The founder is deeply involved in the decisions of the foundation, lending his personal stamp to its work. His unique and lasting contribution is being made to the world's cultural heritage, shared through the World Wide Web. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 9 SECTION 2 PLANNING YOUR LONG-TERM GIVING How Do People Give? When choosing which option is right for you, there are a variety of factors to consider. Creating a donor-advised fund within a community foundation, or creating a private foundation are two possible options. Each allows varying degrees of control, and each has specific characteristics. Of course you will want to speak with a trusted financial or legal advisor about the tax, legal and regulatory implications of your long-term giving option. But before these more formal issues are considered, you should think about personal aspirations, styles and preferences. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA There are two long-term giving options reviewed in this guide: * to develop a donor-advised fund managed by another foundation, such as a public foundation; and * to establish your own private foundation. This guide focuses on the option of creating a private foundation. Your choice of option may not be your final choice. It is certainly possible, and some donors do, evolve from one option to another. The point is to choose the vehicle that fits you best at a given time. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS Giving through a Public Foundation Donors to public foundations can give in four ways: n to the unrestricted funds of the foundation n through a designated fund n through a field of interest fund n through a donor-advised fund. Review this checklist as a way of assessing your motivations. SECTION 2 Checklist of Factors to Consider in Giving To a Public Foundation n You wish to establish a legacy to the community by setting up a permanent fund. n Your fund is relatively small, and you want to keep overhead costs and administrative tasks to a minimum. n You would like to have a fund in yours, or another family member's name but don't want the work entailed in managing it directly. n You do not wish to deal with grantseekers directly. n You don't have the time to undertake due diligence in researching local opportunities or issues, or the effectiveness of grant-seekers. n You like the idea of supporting an organization that is building an endowment for community benefit. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Giving through a Private Foundation A private foundation is the most highly structured form of long-term giving. The amount of time and effort involved for the donor may be greater, but the corresponding opportunities for engagement and reward are also higher. You should consider a private foundation if: * You are seeking greater rewards and willing to take possibly higher risks in your giving. Private foundations are better suited to a higher degree of risk because the donor takes ultimate responsibility. Much like an investor, the philanthropist is willing to accept a certain level of risk. * You are interested in making a difference, through an organization that reflects your interests, and that can be adapted quickly to changing opportunities or evolving ideas. * You wish to direct where the funds are spent and be more personally engaged with the process of giving and with the recipients. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS * You wish to have a more hands-on experience with grant-seekers, and are interested in developing grant-making skills. * You wish to fund issues or programs that are outside your community, such as national or international assistance projects. * You wish to engage your family or enhance family identity through a vehicle that brings the different generations together around a shared project. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA * The endowment fund is of sufficient size to warrant a higher start up cost and/or administrative overhead, or you expect the fund to grow in future years. * You want to be part of a foundation network, and perhaps collaborate with other funders. Again, this has to do with the degree of involvement and participation you wish to have. In many communities, there are local foundation groups that meet regularly to share information. Membership in a national network can provide you with access to other funders to share ideas and resources. Review the checklist as a quick way of assessing your motives and preferences. Checklist of Factors to Consider in Choosing a Private Foundation n You want to manage invested assets directly n You have some time to devote to foundation work n You want to make your own assessment of grants n You want to have an opportunity to involve members of your family n You want to work in collaboration with other funders n You want to work with or have closer interaction with grantees n You want to fund new charitable projects, either local, national or international n You want a tax incentive for a gift of cash or securities* * You should contact a financial or legal professional for full details on the tax benefits. For example, the donor and family can continue to make personal donations through the foundation or they can make an initial 10-year gift. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA SECTION 3 STARTING A FOUNDATION So, you have reviewed the options in the previous section and the private foundation seems right for you. What do you need to consider before you launch the process of creating a foundation? This section is structured as a series of questions and answers to help you reflect more deeply on your choice and on the things you need to know before you start. The advantage of the family foundation is that it's a family business. It's the business of philanthropy, and it's something that the family engages in together. Executive Director 2nd generation foundation We had to have a much better idea of what our focus was and what the logic to the Foundation is, because it's very difficult for someone to come in when those rules are not quite yet established. Executive Director 2nd generation foundation Focus, Values and Mission Q&A How important is it to have a particular mission? Do I need to know where I want to give? If you already have a general idea, it is helpful to take the time early on to think it through and to clarify it. If you want to grant in the area of homelessness, for example, or environmental protection, or health research, the more specific you can be, the more easily you will be able to frame the goals of your giving through the foundation. A stated purpose or area of interest and/or geographic region will allow you to direct your efforts, to communicate better with potential grantees and to define your activities. But this depends on context and circumstance. Some foundations are clearly focused from the beginning. Others are not, as family members pursue different goals. It may be easier to select a focus after a few years of experience in grant-making. Whatever the case may be, missions are constantly evolving. The point is to take the time to be as specific as possible. Q&A How do I develop an area of interest into a purposeful grant-making foundation? You can consult with community leaders or with other foundations already active in the community. You can hold a family and/or board retreat to discuss shared values, interests, and knowledge of the community. You can talk to experts and academics in your field of potential interest to consider critical unmet needs or emerging issues. Or you can begin with some initial grants and reflect on experience and outcomes after a period of time. SECTION 3 A consultant on philanthropic strategy and mission can be very helpful. There are many useful guides and articles to support you through this process. Family Involvement Q&A Do I want my family involved in the foundation? Can they sit on the board? What about the younger generation? The degree of family involvement depends on a number of factors. It is ultimately a personal and individual choice. There are no restrictions in a private foundation on the number of family members that can be involved. Members of the family STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA can certainly sit on the board. They are permitted to constitute a majority of the board if desired by the founders. In practice, the number of family members involved depends on the founders. However, it is important to think about family size, relationships among siblings, role of in-laws, and succession planning, if more members of the family are going to have a sustained involvement. If you're going to have a lot of related family members involved, set conflict of interest guidelines. Have some policies or a healthy discussion that is recorded for posterity for successive meetings on how personal interests should be dealt with. GETTING INVOLVED Chairman 3rd generation foundation I think there's also that generational thing that would have been useful to address from the beginning. If we were expected to be board members, it would have been helpful to sit down at the beginning and say, oK, so what are our collective expectations from this? Executive Director 2nd generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS A young woman who played an important role in her family's successful business, decided to set up a family foundation after the business was sold. She did this because looking back at what she had most enjoyed in the business, and what had held the most meaning for her, was the foundation she'd established for the company and the work that went into it raising money and awareness for aids research. But why set up a foundation, without any direct philanthropic experience? She says, "I didn't want to just sign cheques to different organizations without being more involved." In the early stages, she didn't know much about private foundations. She knew that she could learn by doing. And she did, taking courses with other family philanthropists and talking to as many people as possible. She was looking, she said, for something to throw herself into. After a few months of personal exploration and consultation, her foundation committed its resources to a new endeavour – building a "youth in philanthropy" initiative that engages youth in the granting process. She believes that young people will benefit hugely from an early involvement in making gifts to their own communities. "I knew that I wanted to make a difference on a local grassroots level... we don't need to take on the whole world to feel we've made an impact." PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Q&A How important is it to have a process for making decisions in our family foundation? Family debates can lead to healthy disagreements or to unhealthy stalemates in decision-making. Once again, it is important to give this some careful consideration before proceeding with a family foundation that envisages active family involvement. There are many resources and advisors in this field and it is worth consulting them if the process of family decision-making needs more definition. Guidelines for your grantmaking can easily be prepared from existing examples or templates. Q&A Should we have rules about conflict of interest? Yes, it is important to define such rules but they don't have to exist before you begin. The commitment to separation of the personal interests of family members from their duties and functions as board SECTION 3 members and staff is an important principle of ethical behaviour and of accountability for a private foundation. Management and Governance Q&A How much capital do I need? One does not have to be a multimillionaire to start a foundation. Indeed, the majority of private Canadian foundations have assets of less than $1 million. There is no minimum requirement for capital endowments. Many foundations suggest that there should be enough invested capital to permit the foundation to meet an annual disbursement equal to a minimum 3.5% of invested assets without encroaching on its capital (unless this is desired by the donor). An initial endowment gift can be added to in subsequent years. You can contribute to the endowment and so can family members and friends. Q&A What are the general costs involved in setting up? The costs of setting up should be carefully assessed. There will be costs associated with the legal and accounting expertise that you need to incorporate, register and organize the foundation. There may also be costs associated with office space and initial supplies, if the foundation is not sharing space with a family office or other related organization. You should estimate a minimum of $5,000 up to a maximum $25,000 (for more complex foundations) in fees and costs associated with start up, consider the operational costs on a yearly basis, which could be lower if you have a way of sharing expenses and using volunteer staff. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA We've struggled with the issue of succession over the last two or three years. One of the interesting things about a family foundation is that it's a business and it's a family. It has all the trials, tribulations and benefits of a family business. It's working together, getting to know one another, doing good. It's also people growing up in different families, maybe different values, disparate age groups, geographically diverse, different interests, philosophies and skills coming together to work in this family business. Chairman 3rd generation foundation STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS FINDING YOUR FOCUS In May 2001, facing a growing workload and increasingly poorly targeted applications, a 35-year-old foundation decided to undertake a review of its mission. historically, the family foundation had funded organizations serving families and children at risk in the greater Montreal and Toronto regions. The seven board members agreed to start the review with three basic assumptions: * to continue to address the needs of children at risk, which respected the wishes of the founder; * to continue to operate the foundation as a family process, also a wish of the founder. (one operating option, discarded early on, was to turn over the capital to the local community foundation as a donor-designated fund) and; * to make fewer but larger grants ($50,000-75,000/annum) than in the past to help kick-start new projects and take a more 'satisfying' stake in a program or project. Without any expertise in the genetic, psychological, medical, sociological, or educational areas of children's welfare and health, the board members realized that they needed help. After consulting with other foundations, the foundation developed an economical 'do-it-ourselves' review process. Six well-known experts in various fields of children's health were invited to present a series of lunch-hour 'tutorials' to the board. Each speaker educated the board in recent discoveries and directions in their particular fields. Within nine months it was clear that the foundation would re-direct its granting to fund research and innovative therapies addressing risk factors in early childhood development. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Q&A How much time do I want/have to devote to managing my foundation? You should determine whether you want to be personally involved in administration. This could involve chairing the board, managing the foundation's portfolio, with or without the help of advisors, and, if you are directly interested in grant-making, visiting sites and dealing directly with grantees. This can draw on more of your time. You also need to consider your availability and interest. Some foundation donors are not interested in a high level of personal involvement and turn over almost all management tasks to a family office or advisor, which SECTION 3 handles most of the administration. Others take on the administration as a full-time or part-time job, paid or unpaid. Yet others hire one or more staff (family or non-family) to take on some of the responsibilities. You need to situate yourself on this spectrum of involvement and decide whether you need a staff person or not. One way that some new foundations manage their time is by accepting proposals by invitation only, rather than through open calls for proposals. You can also restrict the volume of unsolicited proposals by being open and clear about the foundation's interests and guidelines. Realistically, it may take up to 18 months from the beginning to determine the level of time and energy required and what needs to be done. Q&A How much control do I want over investments? Do I need an investment manager? As a founder and principal donor, it is very important for you to decide on how you want to manage the foundation's assets. You could do this with the help of your board, or you may rely on investment consultants and/or portfolio managers. As a measure of accountability and prudent management, you will want to establish both an investment policy and strategy according to your risk tolerance, keeping in mind that you need to generate enough return to meet the disbursement quota and other expenses. This is an area where you will want to seek financial advice before proceeding. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Q&A How long do I want my foundation to operate? This is a strategic question that you should consider early on. The majority of foundations are created to promote sustained giving over time. Only a minority set themselves the goal of spending down in the lifetime of the donor. If a major motive of the donor is to engage family members and to enlist younger generations, or to create a permanent legacy in the community, then the foundation's investment policy should be structured so as to grow its assets over time. If, on the other hand, the endowment is intended to be spent, then the gift will not be restricted and the donor will draw down on capital and plan for sunsetting the foundation within a shorter period of time. There are a variety of factors to consider when determining how long you want the foundation to exist. There are pros and cons to each of these options. The table below lists some of the factors to consider. \| SUNSET FOUNDATION PERPETUITY \| \| \|---\|---\| \| The founder has no family or no close associates to whom to pass on the foundation assets and activities \| The founder has family members or associates he/she wishes to pass on the foundation to \| \| The founder has a specific purpose that he/ she wishes to achieve in his/her lifetime \| The founder has no urgent goal that must be reached in his/her lifetime \| \| The founder believes that the assets should be spent down as quickly as possible as a way of benefiting the community or achieving a goal \| The founder believes that the foundation should be a continuing source of funding into the community \| \| The foundation encroaches on its capital and runs it down over time in order to fund a substantial program of its own charitable activities \| The foundation concentrates on grant-making, and while running its own programs may still be an option, the assets are maintained over time \| STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Q&A How do I set up a board? You need to think carefully about the skills, experience and personal attributes of the board members. Some foundation creators select trusted legal and financial advisors as well as family or friends to be board members. Typically, boards of family foundations run anywhere between 5 and 10 members. If you are incorporated, there is a minimum of 3 directors. Q&A Should board members be compensated? The remuneration of foundation board members is uncommon. In some provincial jurisdictions such as Ontario, it is prohibited by law. Most board members serve as volunteers. Reimbursement is allowed, and is relatively common, for expenses incurred in the course of board meetings and events, such as travel and accommo- dation expenses. Q&A What are typical administrative expenses? is there a general rule for foundation administrative expenses? There is no general rule or requirement, but typically the expenses of endowed foundations range from 0.75% to 1.5% of their assets (not including investment management fees). Of course, if the foundation uses family or other volunteers, the operating expenses will be less than 1% of assets. Operating foundations, that is endowed foundations that run programs directly and have more staff, will find that they have recurrent costs that are a higher percentage of assets. Some typical administrative expenses include: legal, incorporation and registration fees, accounting and audit fees, office rental and supplies, staff salaries and benefits (if applicable), travel and subscriptions/ memberships. Q&A SECTION 3 How much must I give out in grants every year? By federal law, a private foundation must disburse to qualified donees every year an amount equal to 3.5% of its invested assets. This is called the disbursement quota. Under certain circumstances, if a foundation is not able to meet this quota from its investment returns or donated funds in a given year, it can use excesses accumulated over a five-year rolling average of disbursements. If it cannot meet the quota by using previous excesses, or by encroaching on capital, then it can apply for administrative relief to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Investment management fees are not eligible for inclusion in the calculation of the disbursement quota. It is important to pay attention to the requirement that you must make grants only to qualified recipients. These recipients, called qualified donees by the federal government, are mostly Canadian registered charities; they could also include governments, the United Nations, certain foreign universities, and registered amateur athletic associations. Q&A Do I need to report on the activities of my foundation? There is no legal requirement to issue a public annual report. However, many foundations choose to do so and/or to set up a Web site where they describe their activities. Each year, every registered charitable organization, including foundations, is required to submit a report to CRA outlining its activities and disbursements made in the previous fiscal year. Foundations must declare their assets as well as their grants, and list the names of their board of directors. Information in this report is made publicly available online by the CRA on its Web site, although some personal information is withheld. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Structure and Tax Issues Many answers to governance and structural questions can be found in Good Governance: A Guide for Canadian Foundations, available from PFC. Q&A Do all foundations have the same structure? No. Once you have made the decision that you wish to establish a foundation, there are a number of organizational steps you must complete. First, you must decide what your legal status will be. Foundations can be structured as: * a trust (a separate legal entity established by a trust document and managed by trustees). * a not-for-profit corporation (incorporated under provincial or federal acts). STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS * an unincorporated association of individuals. An unincorporated association is not a separate legal entity and has no legal status apart from its members. Second, all foundations whether incorporated or not, must also register with CRA as a charitable organization. (See also the question on the following pages on how to register a charity). Third, you must decide how the foundation will be funded. Most private foundations invest their financial assets, and disburse the investment income, with a minimum prescribed amount each year (3.5% of the value of the foundation's invested assets). Some endowed foundations use part of their income to run their own charitable programs or services. There is no statutory limitation on private foundations and they can devote 100% of their resources to direct charitable activities. Public foundations must disburse 50% or more of their income on grantmaking. Occasionally, a donor will prefer to make annual PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA contributions to a foundation. You should consult your financial and/or legal advisor about which structure is best suited to your particular situation. Q&A How do I incorporate the foundation? One can incorporate a not-for-profit corporation in accordance with the terms of either federal legislation or applicable provincial legislation. Incorporation provides limited liability for the members and is often the legal structure required by governments for an organization to be eligible for funding or to carry out certain activities. Steps to be taken usually include the drafting of articles of incorporation, a name search, name registration and the filing of an application for incorporation. There are some fees involved, but we do recommend that you invest in professional legal advice before proceeding. You do need to define your charitable objective in order to register with CRA. The standard object for a grant-making foundation generally is to receive and maintain a fund or funds and from time to time use the capital and income therefrom to make grants to qualified donees as defined under the Income Tax Act. You should consider the objects carefully in light of what you wish to do with the foundation. If you intend to do overseas grant-making, or you wish to operate charitable programs, you will need to be more specific in the objects. Q&A Are there options other than incorporation? A donor who does not wish to incorporate may choose to use a fiduciary trust (set up in their will) which will be registered with CRA after their death, or the donor may register with CRA during their lifetime SECTION 3 using an inter-vivos trust (which operates under a Trust deed prepared during the lifetime of the donor). Trusts are regulated provincially. A trust structure allows the donor to use a trustee such as a corporate trustee (often where there is no family to replace board members) to administer the trust foundation under the donor's instructions into perpetuity. An inter-vivos trust is often the preferred option by donors wishing to disburse the resources during their lifetime. There are other giving options that are designed to enable you to make a substantial gift without depriving yourself of the income on capital during your lifetime, such as a charitable remainder trust, or a charitable gift annuity. A financial advisor or gift planner could provide details. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA Q&A How do I obtain charitable status? When a charity is registered with CRA, it is registered either as a charitable organization, a public foundation (e.g. community foundation) or a private foundation (e.g. family foundation). The application to the Canada Revenue Agency for registration as a charity requires completion of a form. There are a number of attachments required for the application to be complete: * An official copy of the governing documents under which the foundation was established. * A statement of activities the foundation intends to carry out. This is the most important attachment as the wording must not simply be a repeat of the legal objects but must state clearly exactly how those objects will be fulfilled. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS * Financial statements for the last completed year or, if not in operation, a proposed budget or estimate of income and expenditures. * A list of officers of the foundation. In more complex cases, it is sometimes helpful to file a completed draft application with the Charities Directorate of CRA requesting an opinion on the acceptability of the wording of the objects BEFORE applying for registration. The reason for doing so is to avoid the extra time and expense entailed if CRA rejects the application for charitable registration because the objects are not satisfactory. The registration process can take between three and six months. PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 24 Q&A Are there tax benefits to creating a private foundation? Yes, as a donor to your own foundation, you receive the same tax benefits as you would if you donated to a public charity or to a public foundation. You would receive a tax credit for any donation of cash or traded securities. The first $200 of donations receives a credit that is calculated at the lowest marginal tax rate (depending upon province of residence); donations in excess of $200 receive a credit calculated at the highest marginal tax rate. In addition, if you donate assets in the form of traded securities, you will receive a tax credit for the market value of the securities at time of donation, and you will not have to pay any capital gains tax on the appreciated value. For more details, you should consult your financial or legal advisor. CONCLUSION If you have picked up this guide and read it through, it is because you and perhaps your family have a strong interest in creating a charitable foundation, as an enduring way of contributing to the well-being of your community and your world. We hope that this guide has helped you think through some of the key questions that you need to ask yourself before you move forward. This is not an easy choice. But it is an enormously rewarding choice, as many of the stories and personal testimonies suggest. SECTION 3 One of the best ways of learning and strengthening commitment to this form of philanthropic activity is to share the experience with others. Through the national network of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, members and individual foundations exchange, support and learn from each other. The resources of Philanthropic Foundations Canada are freely available to new philanthropists through our Web site www.pfc.ca Additional resources are available through contact with our staff. PFC offers two useful guides for private foundation donors: Good Goverance: A Guide for Canadian Foundations and Good Grantmaking: A Guide for Canadian Foundations. We hope that the stories and information in this guide have inspired you to go further and to embark on what may be for you a truly compelling and enriching form of long-term engagement in your community. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA RESOURCES SECTION 4 THINKING ABOUT STARTING A FOUNDATION? The online version of this guide and other grant-making resources and tools are available at at www.pfc.ca. STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS About Foundations Philanthropic Foundations Canada PFC is a national member association of grant-making foundations. PFC provides resources on starting and managing a foundation and on many other topics ranging from grant-making to trends in philanthropy and the voluntary sector in Canada. PFC organizes networking activities that provide regular opportunities to exchange information and meet with other grant-making foundations. Need resources and tools about grantmaking? Visit the PFC Resource Library at www.pfc.ca for the following: PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA * Are you looking for information on the Canadian foundation sector? Go to Canadian Foundation Facts. * Are you looking for resources and tools on grantmaking? Go to the Resource Library. * Are you looking for information on what's happening in Canadian philanthropy? Go to the President's blog. * Are you looking for stories and profiles of Canadian foundations and grantmakers in action? Go to Profiles in Philanthropy. * Are you looking for collaborators and funders with shared interests? Go to Funder Affinity Groups. * Are you looking for other philanthropic organizations and information sources? Go to About Philanthropy. NOTES SECTION 4 NOTES 28 STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA NOTES STARTING A FOUNDATION: A GUIDE FOR PHILANTHROPISTS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA 615 René-Lévesque Blvd. West, #1220 Montréal (Québec) H3B 1P5 514-866-5446 firstname.lastname@example.org www.pfc.ca
CALL FOR PROJECTS Additional Information and FAQ Project category descriptions PLANNING PROJECTS Transit-oriented development (TOD) plans TOD plans are based on the basic tenets of transit-oriented development; mixed land uses, higher residential densities, and pedestrian-friendly environments. These plans produce recommendations for an appropriate mix of land uses and transportation improvements to support increased transit ridership within a ¼- to ½- mile radius of a rail station, major bus station, or along a major bus corridor. They also address urban design elements, including streetscape improvements, and recommend multi-modal mobility improvements to and within the station area. Emphasis should also be placed on an equitable planning process, encouraging improved or increased access to both housing and jobs near transit, the identification of the health benefits of implementing TOD plan recommendations, and an in-depth understanding of the parking utilization in the study area. If your community has an existing TOD plan, but it is more than ten years old or out of touch with current market realities or best planning practices, the RTA will work with you to update the plan with a focus on updating the market assessment, development program and implementation strategies. More information on TOD is found on the RTA's Transit-Oriented Development Page. Examples include completed TOD plans for Bartlett and Libertyville. Transportation plans (including downtown, neighborhood, subarea and corridor planning) This project type is intended to help develop pipelines of potential projects for future competitive grant applications. Downtown, Neighborhood and Subarea Transportation Plans These transportation plans characterizes transportation system deficiencies in an area the size of a neighborhood, business district, or other focus area, develops goals for improvement, and proposes specific projects to address the goals. Projects could include packages of safety countermeasures, state of good repair enhancements, bicycle and pedestrian upgrades, improvements to freight movement, and a number of operations improvements such as intersection reconfigurations, addition of turn lanes or through lanes, arterial access management, etc. Transit-specific plans identify ways to improve access to existing transit bus routes and rail stations for residents and commuters in a targeted neighborhood or station area. Existing modes being used to access transit services are examined which lead to the development of recommendations for improvement. Possible improvements include pedestrian amenities such as sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian signal heads, bus shelters, bus pads, and station amenities such as benches, wayfinding signage, etc. Other recommendations could include the implementation of additional modes to further advance connectivity, particularly in suburban settings, to transit stops and stations, such as offering bike share, carpool, car share, and discounted ride share programs to the residents. The plan will include an implementation strategy that prioritizes and suggests phasing for the recommendations. The Aurora Station Boulevard Transit Plan Update and the La Grange Stone Avenue Station Access Improvement Plan are good examples of completed neighborhood access to transit plans. Corridor Plans Transit-specific corridor plans develop recommendations for transit-served corridors to enhance local mobility, further advance transit-supportive land use and development guidelines along the corridor or study area. These plans can identify ways to improve multi-modal access to existing or planned transit routes and facilities and identify opportunities to enhance transit-related infrastructure. Possible improvements investigated include amenities such as sidewalks, bus shelters, bus pads, and multimodal transit centers, as well as roadway improvements to reduce traffic congestion and improve the speed and reliability of bus service. Transit-focused plans can also identify options to solve the "last-mile problem" for reverse commuters by recommending improved connections among the transit services used by reverse commuters, such as Pace Vanpools or community transit services, and identifying increased roles that employers can take to improve transit opportunities within the study area. Projects will be assessed for feasibility and engineering, including cost estimation, conducted at the concept level. Plans will include recommendations on project funding approaches and priorities and will also typically include land use, zoning, and development components to spur economic development within the study area. Planning for vulnerable populations, identifying innovative ways to include economically disconnected residents, and/or studying areas that have experienced disinvestment is highly encouraged. The RTA encourages Transit Corridor Plans to be multi-jurisdictional and have a study area that crosses through two or more adjoining municipalities. The Harlem Avenue Corridor Plan (http://harlemcorridor.com/) and 95th Street Corridor Plan (http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/programs/lta/oak-lawn) are good examples of completed transit corridor plans. Bicycle and pedestrian-focused transportation plans These plans address non-motorized and transit-based transportation needs, often with the goal of improving and increasing transit access and use of transportation alternatives. Beginning with an inventory of existing resources and conditions, the planning process engages local stakeholders in conversations that lead to the identification of problem or conflict locations, the development of feasible solutions, and a plan for implementing the identified solutions. Topics can include route planning and infrastructure, intersections, stations and transfer points, signage and signalization, streetscapes and furnishings, and access for people with disabilities. Examples include the Arlington Heights Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, Wheeling Active Transportation Plan, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Multimodal Transportation Plan. Comprehensive and economic development plans Comprehensive plans establish a long-term vision for a community and provide a policy framework intended to help the community achieve that vision and community goals. Typically an 18-24 month process, comprehensive planning involves the public and community stakeholders (business owners, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, staff, etc.) in conversations about challenges, opportunities, priorities, and aspirations for the future of the community. Economic development planning may also include the investigation of economic and workforce development strategies, policies, and best practices that foster sustainable growth. Early stages of the planning process involve an inventory and assessment of the community's existing conditions including population, housing, economic development, transportation, land use, and natural resources. This examination may include other topics relevant to individual communities such as stormwater management, health, historic preservation, natural resources or agricultural preservation, or community character. Subsequent stages involve developing and discussing planning scenarios, preparing future land use plans and maps, and establishing effective policies and implementation strategies for moving forward. Communities with specific stormwater management challenges and an interest in integrating green infrastructure and land use based solutions within the comprehensive plan are also encouraged to apply. In addition, communities facing near-term development pressure who wish to preserve significant natural resources or agricultural lands and/or coordinate water supply are encouraged to apply. CMAP-funded comprehensive plans include Brookfield, Franklin Park, and North Chicago, and examples of Economic Development plans can be found here and here. Downtown, neighborhood, or subarea land use plans These plans typically address specific area or topical needs or challenges rather than the all-inclusive approach used for comprehensive plans. These types of plans may focus on economic development and revitalization, flooding, capital improvement prioritization, housing, retail, industry, or a combination of these topics for a discrete area of a community. While the planning process for these smaller-scale plans is similar to that for comprehensive plans, they result in more specific recommendations and implementation strategies for the particular topics and areas of interest. Sample plans include the Aurora Downtown Master Plan, Riverside Central Business District Plan, and the Chinatown Community Vision Plan. Site-specific plans These plans would address a specific, locally controlled site in a community rather than a subarea or corridor. This effort is meant to help communities identify the type of land use most appropriate for a single redevelopment site based on previous planning work, local zoning regulations, and existing market data and analysis. A site-specific plan will result in a basic understanding of what type of use is most appropriate on the site, where development should be located on the site, and how to estimate potential development costs. This type of plan is appropriate for communities interested in redeveloping a municipally-owned site, in which case the plan may include developing an RFP/RFQ for the subject site. Sustainability, climate action, or climate resilience plans Sustainability plans serve to identify and forward the environmental goals and resilience strategies of a community. Such plans can address a wide range of potential topics depending on a community's specific interests and issues, including land use and development, transportation, energy, water resources, waste management, greenhouse gas emissions, municipal operations, and others. The planning process is similar to that of a comprehensive plan, with a detailed existing conditions analysis and thorough public participation process, followed by the development of recommendations. Implementation of a sustainability plan is of particular importance, since making progress in reversing current environmental trends is essential to long-term sustainability. Setting quantitative targets is a way to ensure that implementation strategies are effective and that the community is held accountable for making progress toward its sustainability goals. Climate action or resilience plans, on the other hand, are focused on climate mitigation as well as preparing a community for potential challenges due to climate change, such as more frequent and intense storm events, droughts, and extreme temperatures. Such plans in the region are likely to focus on stormwater management and flooding challenges as well as specific strategies related to land use, transportation, waste, and other areas that might be employed to reduce emissions. Sample plans include sustainability plans in Park Forest and Niles. Planning priorities reports Communities with limited planning experience, few or no professional planning staff, or several competing planning priorities may not be certain what type of planning project they should pursue. In this case, CMAP recommends starting with a planning priorities report to help identify the community's needs and priorities. Planning priorities reports involve interviews with local stakeholders, review of past planning work, analysis of local data, and recommendations for subsequent planning work. Communities that know they have planning needs but are not certain exactly how to solve them are good candidates for planning priorities reports. Examples include recent plans in Hampshire and Richmond. Parking management and pricing plans Priced parking has many benefits in areas with significant demand for parking, and is included in ON TO 2050's transportation revenue recommendations. Implementation will depend on municipal efforts to pursue the recommendation, such as plans that assess pricing of publicly owned parking spaces on streets, municipal parking lots and garages to provide revenue for local transportation improvements and facilitate land to be transitioned to revenue-generating uses. More information on innovative parking strategies can be found the Village of Hinsdale Innovative Parking Management Plan and the Berwyn Depot District Parking Management Plan. Planning assessments or studies on special topics CMAP encourages applicants to propose other innovative projects that would help implement ON TO 2050 at the local level. Examples of relevant past projects include: economic or workforce development (such as the Franklin Park industrial areas plan and studies of shared services (such as the Lower Fox River Partnering Initiative). CMAP encourages applications that focus on planning efforts that advance the region's Economically Disconnected Areas, and those that integrate transportation, land use, and quality of life issues. Also eligible are targeted assessments, which would look at one or more specific topics within an existing plan. Links to various types of specialized projects are available on the LTA home page of CMAP's website. Potential sponsors of these types are encouraged to contact CMAP to discuss their idea before submitting an application to determine eligibility. Some other examples of these types of special topics include: Water-related plans Communities seeking to plan for water resources, including for issues such as stormwater management and urban flooding, improved water quality, water demand, and other planning related activities, may be eligible for CMAP's LTA assistance. Stormwater management and urban flooding plans can utilize CMAP's regional flood susceptibility index to help prioritize green infrastructure and land use based solutions. Communities seeking to implement water conservation strategies and/or incorporate future water demand and supply considerations in decision-making are also encouraged to apply. For plans focused on water quality, plans within watersheds that have Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved watershed-based plans are preferred; however, assistance will not be restricted to these communities. Watershed-focused organizations may apply with demonstrated support from the community or communities where the plan will occur. Proposals for watershed implementation and water quality focused plans will be reviewed jointly by Illinois EPA and CMAP staff. Examples of this type of plan include Evanston's Water Conservation and Efficiency Plan and the Midlothian 147 th Street Corridor Plan. Housing plans CMAP has developed housing plans for municipalities around the region to help address their most pressing housing issues, create a balanced mix of housing types, serve the needs of current and future residents and workers, and enhance the livability of participating communities. Examples of previous plans include the Affordable Housing Strategy for Impact DuPage and plans created through the Homes for a Changing Region partnership with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) and Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC). That partnership is now working with the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) on a shorter high-impact housing technical assistance offering that works with local leaders to identify the most pressing local housing problems, brings in topical experts to discuss those challenges with local leaders, and then produces an action plan that recommends specific steps to address those identified issues. Municipalities, community groups, and counties interested in housing planning are encouraged to apply for this new iteration of our housing work. IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS Zoning ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and unified development ordinances Clearly-defined development regulations are a key implementation step to forward the vision established by local plans and policies. They also minimize uncertainty for applicants by streamlining administrative requirements and development review processes while promoting the community's goals for design, form, and character. CMAP and/or the RTA will work with local government staff to create development standards and review processes that make investment in the community more attractive to potential developers, business owners, and residents seeking to improve their property. The project team will assess the current regulations and existing conditions in each chosen community and deliver a revised zoning ordinance, subdivision ordinance, unified development ordinance (UDO), or other appropriate document. Zoning updates can be completed for an entire municipality, sub-area, for a specific TOD area, or for a specific section of the ordinance. Please see the RTA's TOD and Zoning Report for more information, and sample TOD zoning code updates in Brookfield and Winthrop Harbor. Examples of community-wide zoning updates funded by CMAP include Richton Park and Berwyn. Developer discussion panels Developers bring a realistic outlook to the future of the real estate market. Facilitating discussions early in the redevelopment of a parcel will allow the community and potential developers to outline needs, goals and incentives while working together to utilize land to its highest and best use. For municipalities that have adopted long-range land use plans or have participated in a corridor plan with identified opportunity sites, but have had difficulty connecting with the development community, assistance will be provided to solicit guidance and advice from development experts through a half-day discussion panel. This panel discusses the development climate and potential strategies to prepare for and attract development in a specific subarea, corridor, or particular site. Multiple bordering municipalities along a corridor that has been studied may apply jointly for a discussion panel. Additionally, if a community owns and controls a development-ready parcel of property, RTA and/or CMAP staff can assist with the preparation of an RFP. Examples of summary reports from previous developer discussion panels are available for Des Plaines, River Grove, Richmond, and Aurora. Special funding districts In order to transform the ideas from their TOD plan into reality, municipalities often establish economic development funding districts. This usually includes creating a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, Special Service Area (SSA), or Business Improvement District (BID) within the plan's study area. These tools are a great way to help finance the implementation of completed plans including transit infrastructure investment. The RTA will help municipalities with planning for these districts/areas in their community with the type of district that best implements the recommendations of their plan. Consultant tasks will include assisting the municipality with proposing an ordinance to enact the district and with completing the public process required for ordinance adoption. Training To achieve the goals set forth in ON TO 2050, the region must take deliberate, focused action to improve the capacity of all municipal governments to lead by building the expertise, networks, and capabilities of communities across the region. CMAP conducts trainings for a variety of audiences including plan commissioners, zoning board members, elected/appointed officials, staff, and other decision makers. These trainings can help individuals understand their responsibilities related to planning as well as their role in shaping the overall region's future. Training can include topics such as development and facilitation of improved performance in zoning and subdivision regulations, plan implementation, conservation design, sustainability, GIS and other software programs, using research and analysis resources, and others. Communities are invited to submit applications for trainings on planning topics relevant to their local context for consideration in this call for projects. Innovative implementation projects Implementation projects are the focus of the Community Planning program and an increasing emphasis of the LTA program. While the primary types of implementation projects are outlined in this section, the RTA and CMAP recognize that applicants may have different implementation needs that will help move an adopted plan forward. The RTA and CMAP are open to taking on new, innovative implementation projects through this program that can improve land use and transportation. If you have an idea for an implementation project that is not listed here, please contact the RTA or CMAP to discuss before submitting an application. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) What sources fund this program? Funding for this program comes from a combination of federal, state, local, and philanthropic funds from the RTA and CMAP. Is a local contribution required? Local contribution depends on the type and size of the project proposed. CMAP and the RTA will provide contribution rate information to applicants upon request, and applicants will be advised of the estimated local contribution amount prior to project selection. Please contact the RTA or CMAP with any questions. What types of projects have the RTA and CMAP funded in the past? CMAP has funded comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, unified development ordinances, housing policy studies, corridor plans, neighborhood/subarea plans, sustainability plans, municipal staff and elected official training, stormwater management plans, water conservation studies, and many other specialized plans. A full list of previously funded CMAP plans is available at http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/lta/. The RTA has funded TOD Plans, transit improvement plans, corridor studies, TOD zoning code updates, developer discussion panels, and transit access improvement studies. A full list of previously funded RTA plans is found at http://www.rtams.org/rtams/planningProgram.jsp?id = 1 . Can I submit more than one idea? You may submit more than one project proposal. Please submit a separate application for each project idea proposed. What projects are NOT eligible? Project phases such as land acquisition, engineering, or capital investment are not eligible through either program. Eligible projects must focus on planning and small-scale implementation activities. Can I request money to cover staff time at my organization? These programs do not offer funds for staff time. Any financial commitment from CMAP or the RTA is dedicated to hiring external contractors/consultants or providing RTA or CMAP staff assistance. If I applied to either the RTA or CMAP in past years and was not selected, can I apply this year? Yes, you are eligible to apply again. Only those projects that meet evaluation criteria and focus are prioritized. Feel free to reach out to the RTA or CMAP to discuss how you could improve your application this year. If I have received assistance in past years, can I apply again? Yes. CMAP and the RTA encourage applicants to submit applications that seek to implement existing plans, particularly if CMAP or the RTA assisted with preparing previous plans. You may also submit applications for completely separate projects as well. However, please make sure that your application does not duplicate work done recently – it will not be eligible. How competitive is the application process? Very competitive. CMAP and the RTA have limited resources for these programs, and not all applications will be selected. Historically, the RTA and CMAP have selected less than 40% of applications received. How are applications evaluated? Applications are evaluated based on criteria derived by the RTA and CMAP. The RTA will evaluate and select transit-related applications for the Community Planning program, while CMAP will evaluate and select applications for the LTA program. Criteria are described in the main text of this document. How are CTA, Metra, and Pace involved in transit-related projects? Each transit agency potentially impacted by the study is invited to participate. CMAP and RTA may collaborate on projects as well. Who manages the project if selected? The local sponsor is responsible for overall project management. CMAP or RTA staff assist with project development and management. Staffing and agency responsibilities will be determined and clarified in an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) prior to project commencement. Administrative and invoicing responsibilities vary depending on the assigned funding agency (CMAP or RTA) and procurement method selected. Who determines which agency manages the selected project? Projects with a direct public transit focus are typically managed by the RTA. Others are typically managed or staffed by CMAP. You do not need to specify at the time of submitting the application whether you think your project is a better fit for the RTA or for CMAP – this will be determined during the application review. How do CMAP and the RTA decide which projects are staff-led, and which projects are consultant-led? During the application review and evaluation process, staff will contact applicants to gain a better understanding of their project and determine what type of assistance is most appropriate. After selection, the agencies confirm with the applicant whether the project will be accomplished through assigning RTA or CMAP staff time, conducting a consultant selection process led by CMAP or RTA, or other options. What are the next steps for project selection once the application is submitted? RTA and CMAP staff will begin a review of the applications immediately following the receipt of all submittals. While staff make the final selections, feedback is solicited from the RTA Service Boards (CTA, Pace and Metra) and other external agencies as appropriate. During this time, staff will also contact applicants to ask questions as necessary. The applications are qualitatively reviewed by the set of criteria listed in the application. Applicants will be notified by RTA or CMAP with the decision. Subsequent steps for projects selected for funding will depend on which agency funds the selected project. A detailed timeline is included in the program guide. What is the anticipated timeframe to begin selected projects? A detailed timeline is included in the program guide. Who do I contact if I still have questions? Please contact Michael Horsting (email@example.com) or Tony Manno (firstname.lastname@example.org) for any questions. What if I am not sure what type of project my community needs? Please describe the issue you are trying to solve to the best of your ability. We will work with you to determine what planning product best meets your community's needs. Please see the description for the Planning Priorities Reports if you are unsure which planning project is most appropriate and you need assistance prioritizing potential projects. My project is a special topic which does not directly relate to transit or transportation. What is the likelihood of being selected? Resource availability varies and may change from year to year. CMAP continually applies for non-transportation funding sources to supplement our transportation sources. CMAP encourages applicants to propose innovative projects that would help implement ON TO 2050 at the local level, as those projects may fit within existing funding sources or help us to identify and seek out new sources. I am a nongovernmental organization and would like to submit an application. You require support from the relevant local government – can you explain what that means? Please note that nongovernmental applicants are only considered for inclusion in CMAP's LTA program. The RTA does not partner with nongovernmental groups or agencies – if you are specifically interested in RTA funding, please work with a relevant local government to have them submit an application with you or on your behalf. CMAP works nongovernmental applicants, but only with the explicit support of any local government affected by the project. If you are a nongovernmental group proposing a project in a suburban municipality, please provide a letter of support for your application from the municipality. If your project affects more than one municipality, please provide letters from each of them. If your project is in the City of Chicago, we require a letter of support from any Alderman whose ward is affected by the project. How is local contribution calculated? More information on local financial contributions is available at www.cmap.illinois.gov/programs/lta/call-for-projects or by contacting Tony Manno (email@example.com or 312.386.8606). Will applicants need to have the local contribution in-hand at the time of the application? No – CMAP and the RTA expect applicants to have the local contribution available at the time the project begins. The funding agencies are flexible with project start dates, and can work around local budget cycles. CMAP will invoice for local contribution payments prior to the project kick-off; the RTA will invoice for local contribution payments once a project is completed. CMAP Offices 233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 800 Chicago, Illinois 60606 312-454-0400 firstname.lastname@example.org www.cmap.illinois.gov RTA Administrative Offices 175 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 1650 Chicago, IL 60604 312-913-3200 www.rtachicago.org The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is our region's comprehensive planning organization. The agency and its partners are developing ON TO 2050, a new comprehensive regional plan to help the seven counties and 284 communities of northeastern Illinois implement strategies that address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) is the unit of local government charged with financial oversight, funding, and regional transit planning for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra, and Pace bus and Pace's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Paratransit Service. The RTA system serves two million riders each weekday with 145 CTA rail stations, 240 Metra commuter rail stations, 350 bus routes, with a combined 7,200 transit route miles throughout Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties of northeastern Illinois.
The Republic of Union of Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports Essential Health Services Access Project & Additional Financing of Essential Health Services Access Project ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 25 October 2019 The Republic of Union of Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports Essential Health Services Access Project & Additional Financing of Essential Health Services Access Project ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 25 October 2019 Content 1 Introduction and Objective 1. Introduction and Objective 1.1 Project description The Additional Financing of Essential Health Services Access Project (EHSAP-AF) will continue to build on the Government's commitment to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the implementation of the National Health Plan (NHP). The NHP aims to expand access to essential services for everyone without undue financial burden. The Additional Financing (AF), which shares the objective of ongoing EHSAP, aims to support NHP by increasing access to essential health services of adequate quality, with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH). The Global Financing Facility (GFF) was launched in July 2015 to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a specific focus on the health and nutrition outcomes of women, children, and adolescents. The global objective of GFF is: to increase funding and improve services, coverage and equity for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N). GFF approaches this objective by addressing wider health service delivery and health financing challenges. In Myanmar, a GFF grant of US$10 million will complement the proposed Additional Financing from IDA to tackle key service delivery bottlenecks that are systemic and institutional in nature to improve RMNCAH-N outcomes. In addition, using resources beyond the $10 million grant, the GFF will support technical work on agreed priorities outlined below, complementing project investments. Project Development Objective The Project Development Objective (PDO) remains the same: to increase coverage of basic essential package of health services of acceptable quality, with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health. Key changes to the original design and scope are as follows: 1. Modifying Component 1 to add another dimension of strengthening service delivery at primary health care level—i.e., Component 1.2 on fully functional health service delivery infrastructure; 2. Modifying original Component 2 on Systems Strengthening, Capacity Building and Project Management Support, with two sub-components—2.1. that emphasizes systems strengthening to improve service delivery at PHC level; and 2.2. that finances innovations, project management and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E); 3. Addition of GFF Trust Fund support to Myanmar's efforts on making greater strides in improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health outcomes, in particular reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality through increased institutional deliveries and improved newborn care; 4. Modifying Component 3 on Contingent Emergency Response to enable rapid reallocation of unused IDA funds under the AF to respond to health needs arising from unanticipated eligible crisis or emergency; and access to the Pandemic Emergency Facility (PEF), a global window that provides surge financing to IDA countries to provide timely funds to respond to pandemics; 5. Improvement of implementation arrangements based on lessons learnt thus far, inter alia, the establishment of a Project Management and Operations Support Team (P-MOST) at the central level and additional human resources for planning and financial management at the selected region/state level; 6. Updating the Results Framework, including PDO indicators and DLIs, to reflect the changes in the project activities, and to incorporate lessons learned from the project implementation so far; 7. Changing the disbursement modality of the components—Component 1.2 and Component 2.2 would adopt an input-based disbursement modality; and Component 1.1 and 2.1 would use results-based financing, using DLIs; 8. Extension of the life of the project by revising the Closing Date from March 31, 2021 to September 30, 2024. Description of Project components Component 1: Strengthening Service Delivery at the PHC Level Component 1 of AF project will continue, as under EHSAP, to improve the readiness of PHC facilities to deliver essential health services, especially for women, and children including newborns, this being a prerequisite for achieving Myanmar's aspiration to achieve UHC by 2030. It is now organized into two sub-components to give clarity and distinction between the focus of this component under the OC and the AF: (1.1) Health Facility Funds; and (1.2) Fully Functional Health Service Delivery Infrastructure. Sub Component 1.1 - Health Facility Funds (USD 84 Million of IDA under OC): Under OC, this sub component focused on increasing operational budget to health facilities in all townships through Health Facility Funds to address the lack of adequate and predictable fund flow for operational expenses at the frontlines. Having implemented for four years (FY 15/16 to FY18/19) and disbursements made based on the achievement of DLI targets, this subcomponent is now completed. Sub Component 1.2 – Fully Functional Health Service Delivery Infrastructure (USD 65 Million of IDA under AF): Under AF, this sub component will invest in fully functional health service delivery infrastructure (FFHSDI) in selected disadvantaged townships in Ayeyarwady Region and Shan State. These two geographical areas bear a large burden of health and nutrition gaps in Myanmar, in part due to population size, aggravated by difficult terrain, and conflict in the latter case. A nationwide assessment of vulnerability carried out in Myanmar found that Ayeyarwady Region and Shan State have the largest populations of vulnerable persons in the country (MIMU 2018). EHSAP has been supporting supply side readiness by helping to provide timely and flexible operational funds to the primary health care facilities, i.e., at Township level and below. Recognizing that the operational funds can be effective only if adequate infrastructure is available, AF proposes to respond to the Government request for infrastructure financing; it has been agreed that such infrastructure does not merely consist of buildings; rather they would include equipment, supplies of essential medical and non-medical consumables, water supply, electricity and such amenities, adequate operational & maintenance budget, and sufficient numbers of skilled personnel, i.e., fully functional health service delivery infrastructure (FFHSDI). The facility layout, amenities and other inputs mentioned afore should be commensurate with the prescribed standards for the respective type of health facility, and match the service needs of the basic Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) in accordance with the National Health Plan (NHP). The IDA investment under the sub component 1.2 would finance the capital investments in infrastructure (buildings, equipment, water, sanitation & furniture) such as well-functioning delivery rooms and newborn care facilities in township and station hospitals, and reconstruction and renovation of health centers below the township level, such as rural health centers (RHCs) and sub-RHCs; and the Government would ensure adequate financing from its own budget for the recurrent costs of human resources, operational expenses and essential medicines. At the same time, MOHS will ensure that the sanctioned positions for essential health workers are filled in these facilities. Specifically, putting in place FFHSDI contributes to maternal and newborn health and enables institutional deliveries and adequate post-natal care for women and newborns. As institutional delivery is identified as the best-known intervention in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, pregnant mothers having access to institutions (i.e., health facilities) with FFHSDI, is an essential component to bringing down the maternal and neonatal deaths. Table 1: Description of proposed works \| Type of Facility \| Estimated No. Facilities (Comp 1) \| Description \| Proposed Works \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Township Hospital \| About 12 to 15 \| 50 to 100 beds; - usually staffed by 8 to 29 doc- tors (some specialists, such as dentist, optometrist) - Basic Health Staff (Health Assistants, Midwives, Nurses) - Technician(s) \| No new hospitals. Works may involve expansion and improvement (renovation and equipping) of the labor room, operation theater, lab, and neonatal care room, water and sanitation, wheel chair access, and electricity. \| \| Station Hospitals \| About 30 \| Up to 25 beds - usually staffed by 2-6 doctors (no specialist) - basic health staff (Health Assis- tant, Midwives, Nurses) \| \| \| Type of Facility \| Estimated No. Facilities (Comp 1) \| Description \| Proposed Works \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Rural Health Centers (pls see below some exam- ples of new RHCs in MM) \| About 200 \| No Beds; has 2-4 rooms, including one labor room - No doctor - Only basic health staff (Health Assistant, Midwives, Lady Health Visitor) \| Rebuilding and refur- bishment of entire facility. \| \| Sub-Rural Healt Centers \| \| No Beds; 1 or 2 room - No doctor, no Health Assistant - Only one midwife and in some places also a public health supervisor, who is responsible for environmental sanitation \| Rebuilding and refurbishment of entire facility. \| MOHS will contract United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to oversee and manage the implementation of this sub component 1.2. UNOPS has extensive experience developing rural health infrastructure in diverse settings across the country, working with a variety of stakeholders, including EHOs, and has a solid track record of producing results appreciated by the government, providers, and communities. In view of the significant amount of civil works (construction, renovations and refurbishment of existing health facilities at township level and below) and other hardware procurement, this component would use input-based disbursements. Component 2: Systems Strengthening, Innovation, and Project Management Under EHSAP, this component supported development of strategies, guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs), capacity building, and project management activities. With AF, the component will scale up or deepen health systems strengthening activities that were initiated under OC, support project management and expand innovation that takes advantage of the rapid penetration of ICT in Myanmar and the MOHS digital tablet platform for frontline providers. The component is now organized into two sub-components: (2.1) Systems Strengthening (USD 36 million); and (2.2) Innovation, Project Management Support and M&E (USD 9 million). Component 2.1. Systems Strengthening (USD 29 million of IDA and USD 7 million of GFF under AF) This sub-component, which uses DLIs or Performance-Based Conditions as a disbursement modality, focuses on deepening and scaling up health systems activities that began under the EHSAP. They include (i) implementing a quality readiness checklist for MNCH care; (ii) extending human resources to the community level that provide integrated outreach and services; (iii) expanding infection prevention and control and health care waste management; (iv) institutionalizing inclusive mechanisms at the R/S level for multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination; and better and more timely data on (v) public finances and (vi) supply chain. Complementing Rural Health Infrastructure in Ayeyarwady and Shan Quality of MNCH care. Under EHSAP, skills building of midwives in Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) and Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) were scaled up nationwide. Under AF, MOHS would institutionalize the use of these skills according to the quality checklist to be applied to providers and facilities at township level and below. Human Resources at the Community Level. MOHS has developed a Community-Based Health Worker (CBHW) Strategy. The strategy is in the process of being endorsed and its implementation will require both operational and financial support. CBHW is a critical link between the households, namely women and children, and the health providers. The AF has identified key milestones related to implementation of CBWH strategy that will facilitate expansion of essential MNCH and nutrition services at the frontlines in Ayeyarwady and Shan. Infection Control and Health Care Waste Management. The AF will build on HCWM work already done under EHSAP and will help ensure effective HCWM and infection prevention and control measures are applied at the PHC facilities. This effort would help to curb and prevent sepsis deaths. In Myanmar, sepsis causes about 11% of all maternal deaths (both direct and indirect), and about 8% of all neonatal deaths. Specific benchmarks towards implementation of adequate HCWM and infection prevention and control (per national guidelines) have been designed as a DLI. Strengthening mechanisms at the region/state level for multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination to promote inclusion and peace Strengthening mechanisms at the region/state level for multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination to promote inclusion and peace. The project will not finance direct service delivery in conflict affected areas, as they are being financed by Access to Health Fund (ACCESS), WHO and NGOs. EHSAP supported health departments at the Region and State level with skills building, supervision, community engagement and convening of stakeholders. AF would build on that support by strengthening institutional mechanisms and processes for greater dialogue, collaboration and coordination between MOHS and other key providers—private, NGOs, CSOs and ethnic health providers. AF would support Health Departments in regions/states to conduct Joint Annual Reviews and learning events to discuss progress and bottlenecks of services and interventions. Guidelines and templates for multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination will be developed. This support is intended to build trust, promote dialogue and build consensus, thereby helping to promote peace and inclusion in conflict affected areas and in remote places. Institutionalizing the collaboration through multi-stakeholder platforms at the R/S level would also benefit interventions and direct service delivery in conflict-affected areas financed by Access to Health Fund, WHO and NGOs. In addition, R/SHDs will be supported to build their capacity for community engagement. EHSAP already has a Community Engagement Planning Framework. In the context of the AF, this CEPF has been updated, with a focus on increased inclusion. Additional resources will be provided to conduct community engagement as part of the project implementation and its monitoring and oversight. In the Regions, the emphasis will be to ensure coordinated and effective service delivery in hard to reach and remote areas. In the States, the focus will be on inclusion of ethnic health providers and other stakeholders involved in service delivery in conflict affected areas. It will complement the support from ACCESS, which has commenced its support to State Health Departments of Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Rakhine, and Shan to strengthen functions of planning, supervision, and capacity building. Improving Health Systems Efficiency Public Finance Management. Under the ongoing EHSAP project as well as complementary technical assistance and analytics using Bank-executed trust fund/grant over the last four years, significant investments have been made to laying the foundations for modernizing and strengthening the public finance management (PFM) system and skills in the MOHS, particularly at the central, R/S and township departments of public health and medical services. Under the sub-component, investments will continue primarily to (i) roll out and nurture the nascent system strengthening tools piloted and introduced earlier so that their application is nationwide, uniform and systemic across the health sector at all levels; (ii) develop and strengthen institutional capacity within central and R/S departments to address the FM skills gap (especially at subnational levels) and FM data management and analysis skills (at central level); (iii) undertake initiatives and institute mechanisms for better information sharing, collaboration, harmonized planning and budgeting processes and timelines across various programs/units and finance units in the departments of public health and medical services; and (iv) procure necessary equipment and software. The PFM DLI will focus on interventions at the systems levels, with the union level taking the primary responsibility for implementation. Supply Chain and Procurement. The success in delivery of essential health services depends on the timely, uninterrupted, and adequate supply of medicines, vaccines, and other essential commodities at the various service delivery points. With thousands of rural health centers and subcenters spread across the country, procuring the medical and non-medical consumables essential for minimum acceptable quality of health care, and distributing the appropriate quantities to all the health facilities, managing the stock inventory and ordering replenishments in a timely fashion, and ensuring accountability to prevent misuse, are all daunting tasks without an efficient procurement and logistics system. Myanmar has developed a National Health Supply Chain Strategy for medicines, medical supplies, and equipment spanning 2015-2020, but it is yet to be fully adopted and implemented. The project will support a component of this strategy related to establishing the e-logistics information systems and performance monitoring. This DLI will focus on interventions at the systems levels, with the union level taking the primary responsibility for implementation. Component 2.2: Innovation, Project Management and M&E Under EHSAP, this sub component supported development of strategies, guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs), capacity building, and project management activities. With AF, the sub component will scale up activities that were initiated under EHSAP, support project management and expand innovation that takes advantage of the rapid penetration of ICT in Myanmar and the MOHS digital tablet platform for frontline providers. The sub component will be jointly financed by the proceeds from OC (USD 16 million IDA) and AF (USD 6 million IDA and USD 3 million GFF). Innovation ICT-based innovations: This sub-component would finance activities related to ICT based innovations. MOHS has demonstrated commitment to applying ICT to improve service delivery. Health staff and providers at the township and below are provided with tablet PCs / handheld devices with SIM cards. This ICT infrastructure provides an enormous opportunity to scale up innovations using smartphones and internet. ICT will be employed to train providers, track progress on infrastructure development, collect and report data from the field, communicate messages to consumers (both for behavior change, such as adopting healthy lifestyles and for seeking care), send reminders to attend antenatal care sessions, or immunizations for children, and to seek feedbacks from the community. Telehealth. AF would finance pilots and scaling up of telehealth that will improve quality of care and bring health services closer to the community and to populations whose access to fixed health facilities is limited. Teleconsultations is already being tested in Myanmar. For example, the Parami Hospital (privately owned) has been implementing a program of teleradiology service in the Mon State. in cooperation with MOHS. Telehealth interventions hold great promise towards bringing much needed input to improving access and quality of health services to under-served areas and for benefiting frontline providers in the public sector as well as with NGOs and EHOs working in remote and conflict-affected areas. As such, AF would finance an assessment for introducing telehealth in Myanmar at scale and finance two pilots (one in Ayeyarwady and the other in Shan). The pilots would focus on providing medical and technical support to front line providers. Private Sector Engagement. The private sector can bring resources, expertise and innovations to support improvement of health outcomes. The MOHS would like to expand its engagement with private sector health actors in Myanmar. Dialogue with key stakeholders has highlighted the need for a systematic plan of public-private engagement underpinned by comprehensive analytical work on private sector and public-private dialogue though workshops and seminars. The GFF will support using additional funds for an assessment, establishment of a private-public dialogue platform, capacity building within MOHS, and a public-private partnership. Project Management and M&E Project Management. This sub-component would support project related management functions, including planning, budgeting, reporting, as well as communication and coordination across the MOHS implementation units. It would include operational costs of the Management and Operations Support Team (MOST), which would consist of MOHS designated staff and national consultants with expertise on financial management, procurement/contract management, M&E, and community engagement. MOST would be primarily responsible for day-to-day management, including procurement and contract management, work planning and budgeting, overseeing training. It would also provide semi-annual progress reports and annual DLI reports. In addition, MOST would be responsible for building capacity related to the project, such as the DLIs, and on other specific topics, such as conflict sensitivity and medical ethics. In addition, it will oversee the project grievance mechanism for AF and seek beneficiary feedback on a proactive basis using ICT. M&E. This sub-component would support independent verification of DLI achievement, implementation of the project grievance mechanism, and regular stakeholder feedback. In addition, it will finance household surveys (baseline, midline, and endline) and facility assessment (baseline, midline, and endline) in selected townships receiving FFHSDI. ICT will be used across the various activities to improve the quality, reliability, and timeliness of data collected. With the support of a dedicated M&E specialist within MOST, Project Oversight Committee will be presented with data that has been reviewed, analyzed in a timely manner and in a user-friendly form. Review meetings by senior management (both at the central and at the R/S levels) will be held regularly to ensure greater utilization of the relevant data. This would enable problem-solving and mid-course corrections. An important aspect of the M&E is to measure whether the project benefits are reaching the populations who are at risk of exclusion. The project will seek to measure the inclusiveness in the following way: (i) inclusion in the decision making process at the subnational level (e.g., annual plans developed and reviewed with active participation from ethnic health providers, CSOs and non-government health organizations at subnational level; biannual review meetings between MOHS and ethnic health providers/ NGOs at subnational level; membership of ethnic providers/ CSOs/NGOs in township investment planning committees with a dedicated role assigned to them); (ii) inclusion in the improved coverage of services resulting from investments in FFHSDI. A baseline, midline and endline in the selected townships receiving FFHSDI investments to track and monitor the beneficiaries including beneficiary satisfaction, for which the data would be disaggregated by gender, age groups, language, and residence. For the verification of results from Component 2.1, it is proposed to have the Department of Medical Research (DMR) continue with the independent verification. DMR has no role in implementation of project activities and is under the supervision of an independent and external verification oversight committee comprising eminent private individuals. A third-party agency will also be recruited using grant financing (separate and external to the project), executed by WBG to monitor inclusion and conflict-sensitivity of the project interventions. Component 3: Contingent Emergency Response ($0) This is a provisional zero-amount component that allows for rapid reallocation of credit proceeds during an eligible emergency, disaster, or catastrophic event, with implementation guided by the Emergency Response Manual (ERM). In such an event, MOHS would be able to respond to health problems and issues arising out of eligible crises or emergencies. ERM for the CERC will be an Annex to the revised Operations Manual. In the event the component is triggered, the Results Framework will be revised through formal restructuring to include appropriate indicators related to the emergency response activities. Component 3 has no allocation and no financing unless an emergency is declared. Capped at 10% of the allocated amount, the proceeds of the credit allocated to Component 2.2 will be used in the event that the CERC is triggered. Under the original EHSAP, CERC was triggered to address the impact of flooding and landslide in Chin using the Immediate Response Mechanism. Under AF, however, CERC would finance activities to be implemented only by MOHS to address health related consequences of a natural disaster (such as flooding, landslide, or earthquake) and to respond to epidemics and outbreaks. CERC would finance procurement of goods, services, works, and incremental operating costs related to such emergency responses by MOHS (see Annex). In case of a national emergency related to a disease outbreak or epidemic, AF would be re-structured to enable Myanmar to access funds from the Pandemic Emergency Facility (PEF), a global window to provide surge financing to IDA countries to provide timely funds to respond to pandemics. Project Location To do geographic prioritization for Component 1 (FFHSDI), all 330 townships were first ranked according to a composite index of welfare needs - measured by the multi-dimensional disadvantage index (MDI) 1 , infrastructure need, and implementation capacity measured by sanctioned human resources (HR) capacity 2 . From the list of townships ranked by the composite index, 19 townships (the number that could be covered with the available resource envelope of US$65 million, based on the township-wise cost estimates from NHP) were identified by including the topmost townships. Townships under prolonged active conflict were omitted, as were the townships numbering less than three within a R/S (clustering the townships would enhance operational feasibility and better oversight and monitoring). Of the selected townships, all seven in Ayeyarwady are government controlled, while in Shan about 6 of the 12 contain non-government-controlled areas, which include Self-Administered Zone/Division and other EAO-controlled areas. Assessment of FFHSDI gaps. For each of the selected townships, a new needs assessment would be carried out, as the existing cost estimates are very rough. The assessment includes two steps. The first would be a review of MOHS data on the current condition of facilities and the second would consist of site visits and interviews with key stakeholders and the use of an ICT tool developed to capture the baseline of FFHSDI needs and gaps. The assessment in Shan State will be conducted to include input from relevant EHOs and NGOs. The Component 2 systems strengthening, innovations and M&E activities have both targeted support in Ayeyarwady and Shan as well as other national level systems strengthening activities that will benefit the whole nation, instead of a specific project location. The project locations under Component 3 will depend on the nature and scope of the emergency. Project Implementation agency The health matters are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS). The MoHS is headed by a Union Minister who is assisted by a Deputy Minister. There are seven departments within the MoHS, each responsible for different aspects of health care, such as: Department of Public Health and Department of Medical Services (responsible for provision of health services and deployment of health workers); Departments of Medical Research (responsible for conducting medical research and provide evidence based data for policy making); Department of Human Resources for Health (responsible for production of health workforce); Department 1 MDI is devised by the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population with assistance from the World Bank Group, and measures deprivation using indicators of education, employment, health, water, housing and assets. 2 Infrastructure need and HR capacity were taken from the Health Inputs Scoring Index (HISI) developed for the purposes of the National Health Plan (NHP), by the NHP Implementation Monitoring Unit. of Traditional Medicine (responsible for the development of Myanmar Traditional Medicine); Department of Food and Drug Administration (responsible for the safety and quality of food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics) and Department of Sports and Physical Education (responsible for mass sports). MOHS will contract United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), an agency with successful track record, to oversee and manage the delivery of rural health infrastructure including safeguards. This sub-component would involve an output-based contract between MOHS and UNOPS, with direct payment to be made from WB to UNOPS. UNPOS has experience in managing and implementing the large development funds in Myanmar, including the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), Access to Health Fund (ACCESS) and the Joint Peace Fund (JPF). Furthermore, UNOPS is the Principal Recipient for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) in Myanmar and manages the Regional Artemisinin-Resistance Initiative Towards Elimination of Malaria (RAI2E). UNOPS has extensive experience developing rural health infrastructure in diverse settings across the country, working with a variety of stakeholders, including ethnic health providers, and has a solid track record of producing results appreciated by the government, providers, and communities. UNOPS had to-date built over 140 rural health facilities across the country, of which 46 are in conflict-affected areas including in Shan. The inclusion of an experienced agency (UNOPS) and their agreement to implement project safeguards policy requirements will add capacity and assist with mitigation of risks associated with Component One fully functional health service delivery infrastructure. UNOPS advised that its environmental management systems are ISO 14001 certified. 1.2 Objective and scope of Environmental Management Plan With reference to the initial environmental assessment of EHSAP and the discussion with Occupational and Environmental Health Department of Ministry of Health and Sports, the project investments may cause some potential adverse environmental impacts associated with new construction activities and small/big scale renovation activities planned for selected health care facilities and provision of medical equipment that can generate waste. The document aims to guide the project implementation agencies towards meeting good practice on environmental management aspects during the implementation of the proposed project activities, including improving the hygiene conditions linked to the handling and disposal of healthcare wastes, and those environmental risks concerning mismanagement of waste management in general. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) and the World Bank evaluated that some aspects of the EHSAP-AF project's implementation could lead to an increase in site-specific environmental and health risks. This Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has been amended to meet the project recognized potential of healthcare activities in creating additional waste that may be hazardous to human health and the environment. In this respect, it is important to ensure that when such waste is generated by the project activities there must be safe and reliable methods for its handling to avoid any public health consequences and any significant impact on the environment. Overall, this calls for public awareness strengthening and for sound waste management system to be put in place at the project area of intervention. The EMP defines measures to (i) identify all anticipated significant environmental risks, and (ii) describe with technical details mitigation framework. The EMP includes two main parts: (i) An Environmental Codes of Practice (ECOPs) to be implemented by contractors (or those responsible) for health care facilities construction, renovation/refurbishment activities financed by the project; and (ii) A general waste management plan to be followed by health care facilities (HCFs) receiving relevant financing under the project as described in project components and within the project main development objective. The methodology used to provide the information in this document has been based on person-toperson interviews of relevant stakeholders 3 , the review of existing EMP of EHSAP project, and brief desk literature review. The project has selected geographical coverage under Component 1 for infrastructure investment and will include some townships from Ayeyarwady region and Shan state. Therefore, based on this document, and the feedback that will be captured during the continuous consultative process with stakeholders as part of project implementation, simple sitespecific EMPs including actual site assessment and additional relevant information may need to be developed during project implementation. 3 Township Health Department Medical Officer; Environmental Health Personnel; Health Visitor from local Maternal and Child Health Center; Mon Women Network; Deputy Medical Director; Deputy Director of Nay Pyi Taw City Development Committee for waste management sector, Deputy Director of Medical Care; Basic Health Staff, etc. Environmental policies applicable to the Project 2 2. Environmental policies applicable to the Project 2.1 National environmental regulations National and international legal tools which are relevant to environmental management in the project are; * Environmental Conservation Law * National Environment Policy (Draft) * National Health Policy * Chemical Safety Law * CDC Laws * Environmental Conservation Rules * Public Health Law 4 * Private Health Care Law * Hospital Guidelines * Hospital infection Control Guidelines * International Conventions o Stockholm o Basel o Minamata 2.2 World Bank environmental safeguard policies * OP/BP 4.01 Environmental Assessment * OP/BP 4.10 Indigenous People * Public Consultations and Information Disclosure * The World Bank Group Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) General Guidelines and WBG EHS guidelines for Health Care Facilities * World Bank Group Good Practice Note: Asbestos: Occupational and Community Health Issues 4 Existing 1972 Law and new draft Baseline information about environmental status in health facilities 3 3. Baseline information about environmental status in health facilities 3.1 Environmental considerations in construction of health facilities (HCFs) Design of HCFs. Department of Public Health (DPH) under MOHS has pre-approved designs for Rural Health Centers (RHC) and Sub Rural Health Centers (sub-RHC), which are considered inadequate from the perspective of environmental requirements of health infrastructure. The Table 1 summarizes insufficiencies in the current approved designs of health facilities in comparison to an international benchmark (e.g., UNOPS's designs). Effort is ongoing to revise the designs of RHC and Sub-RHC to include placenta pits. Use of asbestosis. Asbestos is one of the most known occupational carcinogens, causing about half of the deaths from occupational cancers. The largest users are now those from developing and transition economies in Asia. Asbestos was widely used in the construction sector in Myanmar until the 1990s and is still imported and produced. Old health facilities could contain asbestos materials in the roofs, posing health risks to the construction workers. Table 1: Comparison of UNOPS's and MOHS's designs of HCF \| Facilities \| UNOPS’s design \| MOH’s design \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Tube well fitted with Water Pump \| √ \| √ \| \| Overhead and underground storage tank \| √ \| √ \| \| Boundary Fencing and Gate \| √ \| √ \| \| Landscaping (Footpath and some plantation) \| √ \| X \| \| Placenta Pit \| √ \| X \| \| Incinerator \| √ \| X \| \| Solar Power System \| √ \| X \| \| Sub-rural health center design \| \| \| \| Post delivery room added \| √ \| X \| \| One additional WC in the main building \| √ \| X \| \| Fire exit door \| √ \| X \| \| Rain water harvesting system \| √ \| X \| \| Hand washing facilities in the GE and Post Delivery Rooms \| √ \| X \| \| Two external toilets provided with hand washing facilities \| √ \| X \| \| Internal Floor – Ceramic Tile \| √ \| X \| \| Provision of Drainage & Water in the Delivery Room \| √ \| X \| \| Generator room (Solar Controller Room) \| √ \| X \| \| Boundary Fencing and Gate \| √ \| √ \| \| Placenta Pit \| √ \| X \| \| Incinerator \| √ \| X \| \| Solar Power System \| √ \| X \| Note: √ in place X not in place The HCF designs in Table include environmental hygiene facilities such as toilets and drainage system for wastewater collection and treatment, as well as placenta pit and incinerator for infectious waste disposal. However, they don't cover Life and Fire Safety measures. 3.2 Healthcare waste management In general, regulatory, policy and administrative guidelines and framework for health care waste management (HCWM) exist to smaller extent in written form (e.g., as part of the hospital guideline). However, dissemination of printed materials in easy to access and readily available manner to all levels of health staff, and communication and understanding of these framework and guidelines among primary care level health staff as well as consistent implementation of such guidelines still need significant improvement and capacity building. There are ongoing efforts to strengthen the existing guidelines for better formalization, to be more comprehensive and in line with good practices, and to have better compliance of health staff to the guidelines. Under EHSAP, MOHS is developing a healthcare waste management guidelines and standardized operating procedures of healthcare waste management for HCFs at township level and below. The brief assessment carried out as part of the project preparation pointed out various limitations in the current health sector relevant to project activities as listed below: * Inadequacies in the legal, regulatory, policy and administrative framework of healthcare waste management and treatment; * Incomplete information about current health legislation, technical guidelines and other policies linked to possible environmental impacts (and their management) generated by health care activities in Myanmar; * Relatively simple/minimal health-care waste management practices in health care facilities with regard to handling inclusive of waste pre-treatment, collection, storage, transportation and final disposal; * Health-care waste at the source of generation is not being segregated according to its type for easy treatment and final disposal; * Poor compliance with health-care waste characterization related waste quantities and composition and limited information on waste generation; * Lack of segregation of waste according to categories; * Insufficient knowledge on and practice of health-care waste minimization, reuse and recycling approach at township and sub-levels; * Lack of regional/centralized disposal facility to handle large quantities of healthcare waste; * Low level of awareness of and poor compliance with code of conduct, universal precaution and technical guidelines for safety measures; * Lack of written standards for waste operation procedures * Insufficient resources for training of health care personnel and education and public awareness in link to healthcare waste management, required in future Comprehensive Township Health Plan. Further, availability of appropriate equipment and technologies to deal with health-care waste treatment and final disposal in country is limited and almost non-existent. Small scale incinerators including brick incinerators and single chamber incinerators are still used commonly in Township hospitals while numerous deficiencies in design, siting, operational and management result in poor performance. Open burning and dumping are being applied in both RHCs and sub-RHCs. 4 Potential environmental impacts 4. Potential environmental impacts 4.1 Potential environmental impacts due to construction and renovation activities The project will finance construction, renovation and refurbishing of HCFs with the boundary of existing health facilities. Without proper design, basic environmental hygiene facilities (hand washing facilities, toilets and waste disposal facility) may be neglected. The construction and renovation activities may generate limited adverse environmental impacts such as dust, noise, vibration, waste, solid waste and safety issues. Also, there could be isolated health risks associated with exposure to asbestos containing materials in the case of old facilities that are using asbestos roofs. Additionally, in the case of building renovation activities including changes of internal layout (e.g., walls), there is a potential risk on the structure and safety of the existing buildings. These impacts are assessed to be of small scale, localized, in short-term period and manageable if good design and construction practices are followed. In this project case, specific Environmental Code of Practices (ECOPs) will be followed to avoid any possible impacts during such construction and renovation works. The HCFs staff or those who will be carrying out these works will be responsible to implement the ECOPs. 4.2 Potential environmental impacts during the operational phase The project will improve the capacity of healthcare providers at the local level and provide them with basic health items and medical instruments (e.g., syringe, needles, and drugs). Therefore, healthcare waste and relevant wastewater will be increased slightly. The generation of healthcare waste has been studied and documented by World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank and other institutions. According to WHO's guideline on safe management of waste generated from healthcare activities, between 75% and 90% of the waste produced by health-care providers is comparable to domestic waste. The remaining 10 - 25% of health-care waste is regarded as "hazardous" and may pose a variety of environmental and health risks. A large part of the wastewater from health-care facilities is of a similar quality to domestic wastewater and poses the same risks 5 . Findings from published studies and from World Bank financed "Hospital Waste Management Support Project" are similar. Infectious waste generation primary health unit is 0,02-0.03 kg/patient/day; from maternity is 2.9 kg/patient/day; from district 5 https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/wastemanag/en/ hospital is 0.1-0.15 kg/bed/day. In Vietnam, generation of wastewater from hospital is 0.4 m 3 of wastewater per bed per day. The 10-25% of solid healthcare waste regarded as "hazardous waste" includes sharps waste, infectious waste, pathological waste, pharmaceutical waste, cytotoxic waste, chemical waste, radioactive waste. At primary healthcare settings, hazardous healthcare wastes are mainly sharps, infectious wastes, anatomical waste (placenta) and small amount of pharmaceutical waste. Pathogens in infectious waste and wastewater may enter the human body by a number of routes: through a puncture, abrasion, or cut in the skin; through the mucous membranes; by inhalation; by ingestion. Sharps represent a double risk. They may not only cause physical injury but also infect these wounds if they are contaminated with pathogens. There is concern about infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis viruses B and C, for which there is strong evidence of transmission from injury by syringe needles contaminated by human blood. Additionally, the general public is very sensitive about the visual impact of anatomical waste, that are recognizable human body parts including placenta. All individuals exposed to hazardous healthcare waste are potentially at risk, including those within healthcare establishments and those outside these sources. The main groups at risk are the following: health staff, patients, patient relatives and visitors, workers in waste disposal facilities including scavengers. The project will continue to promote good practices in healthcare waste management given its hazards to environment and health as well as public sensitivity. Potential impacts of healthcare waste to environment and health are deemed to be site specific, manageable and for which mitigation measures can be readily designed. Under EHSAP, healthcare waste management guideline has been developed for HCFs at township level and below, and HCFs financed in AF project will follow this guideline. 5 Typical mitigation measures 5 Typical mitigation measures 5.1 Measures to mitigate impacts due to construction and renovation activities Prior to the construction/renovation execution, the design of HCF should be reviewed and approved by authorized and competent agencies. Basic environmental hygiene facilities such as hand washing facilities in the General Examination room and post delivery room, external toilets with hand washing facilities, and waste disposal facility (placenta pit) shall be included in the HCF design. During civil works, the HCF staff or contractor shall be responsible for following the Environmental Code of Practices (ECOPs) to mitigate environmental impacts (see Table 1). Table 1: Environmental Code of Practices Environmental issue Design of HCF does not include environmental hygiene facilities and Life and Fire Safety (L&FS) measures Dust, noise and vibration generated from construction, rehabilitation or minor civil works Mitigation measures * The MOHS should review the current design of rural health center and sub-rural health center and make sure that hygiene and waste management facilities are included. * L&FS master planning should be included in the design of the new facilities. hospitals in line with GIIP + national legal requirements. For the refurbished hospitals, MOHS should insure that all national legal L&FS requirements are met, upon completion of the construction. * The HCF staff or the contractor(s) is responsible for compliance with relevant national legislation with respect to ambient air quality, noise and vibration * The HCF Staff and the contractor(s) undertaking works shall ensure that the generation of dust is minimized and implement a dust control plan to maintain a safe working environment and minimize disturbances for patients, staff and surrounding community * The HCF Staff and the contractor(s) undertaking works shall implement dust suppression measures (e.g. water paths, covering of material stockpiles, etc.) as required. Materials used shall be covered and secured properly during transportation to prevent scattering of soil, sand, materials, or generating dust. Exposed soil and material stockpiles shall be protected against wind erosion * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall ensure onsite latrine be properly operated and maintained to collect and dispose waste water from those who do the works * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) should not carry out construction activities generating high level of noise during HCF activities, especially when services are being delivered to the clients. Environmental issue Solid waste generated from construction, rehabilitation or minor civil works Asbestos containing materials (ACM) generated from construction, renovation or minor civil works Mitigation measures * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall develop and follow a brief site-specific solid waste control procedure (storage, provision of bins, site clean-up, bin clean-out schedule, etc.) before commencement of any financed rehabilitation works; * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall use litter bins, containers and waste collection facilities at all places during works. * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) may store solid waste temporarily on site in a designated place prior to off-site transportation and disposal through a licensed waste collector. Transport management plan in line with WBG good practice should be developed. * The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall dispose of waste at designated place identified and approved by HCF management or local authority. Open burning or burial of solid waste at the HCF premises shall not be allowed. It is prohibited for the HCF Staff or the contractor(s) to dispose of any debris or construction material/ paint in environmentally sensitive areas (including watercourse). * Recyclable materials such as wooden plates for trench works, steel, scaffolding material, site holding, packaging material, etc shall be segregated and collected on-site from other waste sources for reuse or recycle (sale). * The asbestos audit will be undertaken as required prior to / at the beginning of refurbishment. * Safe removal of any asbestos-containing materials or other toxic substances shall be performed and disposed of by specially trained workers in line with the WBG guidelines on asbestos management (Annex 8.10). Because specific regulation has not yet been developed in Myanmar, International occupational health and safety guidelines will be applied during removal of ACM from HCF undergoing Renovation. * If ACM at a given HCF is to be removed or repaired, the PMU will stipulate required removal and repair procedures in the contractor's contract. * Contractors will remove or repair ACM strictly in accordance with their contract. Removal personnel will have proper training prior to removal or repair of ACM. * All asbestos waste and products containing asbestos is to be buried at an appropriate landfill and not to be tampered or broken down to ensure no fibers are airborne. Disposal of waste containing asbestos should be agreed with MOHS. * No ACM will be used for renovation works. \| Environmental issue \| Mitigation measures \| \|---\|---\| \| Safety risks during works, health staff, patients and their relatives \| • The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall comply with all national and good practice regulations regarding workers’ safety. • The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall prepare and implement a simple action plan to cope with risk and emergency (e.g., fire, earthquake, floods) • The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall have or receive minimum required training on occupational safety regulations and use of personal protective equipment • Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management plans will be developed by the contractors where ECOPs don’t suffice. This OHS management plans will include OHS trainings, OHS monitoring at the construction site and maintaining records of work related injury statistics and follow up on corrective actions. • The HCF Staff or the contractor(s) shall provide safety measures as appropriate during works such as installation of fences, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, restricted access zones, warning signs, overhead protection against falling debris, lighting system to protect HCF staff and patients against construction risks. \| 5.2 Measures to mitigate impacts from healthcare waste Under the ongoing EHSAP, healthcare waste management SOPs, Guideline and training modules were developed by MOHS to provide guidance for managing waste generated from healthcare activities (see Annex 8.1-8.6). The guideline is directed towards health care facilities staff, administrators, regulatory agencies, hospital service organizations, consulting firms and environmental compliance personnel. The training modules are directed towards managerial level health professionals and operational level health professionals, distinguished into knowledgebased and skill-based training modules. HCF shall implement a healthcare waste management plan including standardized operating procedures, which reflects mainly good practice methods on how to properly manage and contain solid healthcare waste generated during common activities in HCFs. These methods are indicated in the table below: Environmental issue Solid healthcare waste, especially sharps and infectious waste generated from healthcare activities Mitigation measures HCFs will implement standard operating procedures of solid healthcare waste including: minimization, segregation, storage, transport, treatment and final disposal of solid HCW. The principals of solid health care waste management are described in accordance with MOHS's healthcare waste management guidelines. Standard operating procedures are presented in annex 8.1-8.6. Waste Minimization: Quantity of HCW should be minimized through; Reducing * Quantifying the waste produced. * Examining each work process steps to determine where wastes are produced and to devise measures for waste prevention or reduction. * Devising ways of reducing waste with employees. * Partnering with relevant stakeholders to assist waste minimization. Reusing * Reusing drums, cartridges and containers where possible. * Selling or donating reusable waste to other organizations. Recycling * Segregating wastes wherever possible to aid recycling and provide an indication of why waste is forming. * Diverting recyclable wastes from the general waste, identifying recyclers and organizing regular collections. Segregation of HCW: * All health care waste should be segregated as soon as it is generated. * Each type of waste should be contained in designated bags and containers. * Sharp waste should be segregated into sharp containers or red color bags. * Infectious waste, pathological waste, anatomical waste should be segregated into separate yellow color bags with appropriate labels and logos. * Separate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Double yellow bags should be used for high risk infectious waste. * General waste should be segregated into black color waste. Labeling * All bags and containers must be identified at the point of production and should be clearly marked with biohazard symbol. * Name/department of the waste generator should be included in the label. * The date when the scheduled wastes are first generated should be posted onto the container with appropriate label for storage of waste. * Labelling can be done in a number of ways, at least writing the information on the bag or container. * Clinical waste requiring autoclaving or other equivalent treatment should be labelled accordingly. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. Autoclave: Ccommonly used for the treatment of highly infectious waste, such as microbial cultures or sharps. Small amount of waste (about 5-8 kg) requires a 60 minute cycle at 121'C (minimum) and 1 bar (100 kPa). Validation of autoclave should be conducted and microbial inactivation efficacy of autoclaves should be checked periodically by using color-changing indicator strips. Chemical Disinfection: 0.5% Chlorine solution, 5% sodium hypochlorite, 30% hydrogen peroxide, bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or other chemical disinfectants can be used for non-autoclavable infectious waste. Disposal of HCW: * Placenta and small anatomical waste should be disposed to placenta pit where there is no effective incinerator. * Pharmaceutical waste should be encapsulated or inertized. * General waste, sharp waste and treated waste should be disposed to municipal waste collecting system. * Sharp waste should be disposed to sharp pit where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * General waste and treated waste should be disposed to controlled land filling where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Large anatomical waste should be buried in appropriate site. Standardized Incinerator: Two-chambered incinerators with proper temperature, required chimney heights should be used. The temperature must be at least of 850'C to ensure minimal emission of toxic gases at the primary chamber. High chimney (higher than nearby roofs) is required. Appropriate location (at least of 500 meters away from populated areas) is required. Ash disposal facilities is also required. Pressured gas containers, radioactive wastes, radiographic wastes, halogenated plastics like PVC, mercury, cadmium and ampoules of heavy metals should never be incinerated. To minimize gas emission, the project will encourage the application of non-burn technologies rather than incinerator. The project will not finance new small scale onsite incinerator. If existing on-site incinerators are used, mitigation measures will be taken to control emissions to air in line with WBG EHS for healthcare facilities and WHO's guidelines for safe management of waste generated from healthcare activities. The good practices as follow: Environmental issue Mitigation measures 6 Environmental management 6. Environmental management 6.1 Institutional arrangement (roles and responsibilities) The primary healthcare teams and HCFs will ensure that health care waste generated from healthcare activities will be properly managed through the adoption of the health care waste management guidelines. HCFs are encouraged to apply non-burn technologies for treatment and disposal of sharps and infectious waste. No new small-scale incinerators will be financed by the project. Existing incinerators will be properly maintained to ensure that medical waste is treated and disposed of according to the guidelines, and surrounding communities/residents will not be disturbed from smell and smoke. HCFs having construction and renovation works will follow the basic design of health centers and/or hospitals and ECOPs described in Table 1. It will ensure that civil works contracts contain a clause on good environmental practice and proper housekeeping measures, including adherence by contractors to the use of asbestos-free construction materials. HCFs should apply Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for HCWM to ensure safe management of hazardous wastes which are generated by health care facilities. All health care facilities should have special infrastructures and necessary equipment and consumables for HCWM. For government health care facilities, department concerned should draw a budget line to ensure separate allotment for expenses of proper HCWM. A complete infrastructure and a strong financial mechanism should be developed to ensure sustainability of effective and proper HCWM for each health care facility. HCF should establish HCWM committee or team. All health care providers and workers of health care facilities should attend the prescribed HCWM training courses. Training curriculum on HCWM for township level and below has been developed under EHSAP and will be used in the Additional Financing. The third party agency (UNOPS) with the support of MOHS staff from the Construction Divisions and Occupational and Environmental Health Section under the guidance of the Director General of Departments of Public Health and Medical Services (at central level) and Township Medical Officers (at township level) will coordinate activities to ensure that the project investments comply with national environmental management requirements and the World Bank's safeguard policies, including provisions of this EMP. Responsibilities of the third party agency (UNOPS), the Construction Divisions, Occupational and Environmental Health Section, DPH, DMS and TMOs will include, but are not limited to the following tasks: * Supervise safeguard implementation by HCFs (with help of technical consultants); * Implement safeguards training plan to HCFs and relevant staff involved in safeguards implementation; * Ensure adequate budget (operation costs) for relevant costs affiliated with compliance with EMP provisions and overall environmental safeguards implementation. MOHS will contract United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), an ISO 14001 certified agency with successful track record, to oversee and manage the delivery of rural health infrastructure. This sub-component would involve an output-based contract between MOHS and UNOPS, with direct payment to be made from WB to UNOPS. The safeguard responsibilities of UNOPS will include, but not limit to, the following: (i) risk screening or impact assessment for each HCF, (ii) site-specific EMP for each HCF to mitigate potential impacts, (iii) site-specific EHS performance monitoring and supervision, (iv) training and communication, (v) auditing and monitoring, etc. Detailed safeguard responsibilities of UNOPS be described in the TOR of the contract they will sign with the Government. UNOPS has extensive experience developing rural health infrastructure in diverse settings across the country, working with a variety of stakeholders, including ethnic health providers, and has a solid track record of producing results appreciated by the government, providers, and communities. UNOPS had to-date built over 140 rural health facilities across the country, of which 46 are in conflict-affected areas including in Shan. The inclusion of an experienced agency (UNOPS) and their agreement to implement project safeguards policy requirements will add capacity and assist with mitigation of risks associated with Component One fully functional health service delivery infrastructure. The Bank will continue providing compliance supervision, capacity building and operational support to the implementation of the Project, including safeguards, and UNOPS will be required to follow World Bank safeguards policy in their contractual arrangements entered for the fully functional health service delivery infrastructure. The World Bank project team will provide guidance and technical assistance to the third-party agency, the Construction Divisions and Occupational and Environmental Health Section, DPH, DMS and TMOs on project implementation including safeguard execution. 6.2 Monitoring and reporting During implementation of civil works - new construction, renovation and refurbishing activities, the HCFs and local (township/village tract/village) health communities will be responsible for day to day supervision on implementation of mitigation measures as specified in the ECOPs. They will be guided in this task by contracted third party agency (UNOPS), designated staff from Construction Divisions and Occupational and Environmental Health Section of DPH and DMS, and technical consultants hired by the project with the primary role to enhance safeguards capacity and environmental management during the entire period of project implementation. The participating HCFs shall include if necessary on the safeguard implementation to Director General of DPH and DMS and TMOs as part of their progress reports. The health committees, Construction Divisions and Occupational and Environmental Health Section under DG of DPH and DMS, and TMOs are responsible for supervising the implementation of HCWM plans by the HCFs (see Annex 6 checklist). This Checklist is a general tool designed for observation and review of records in the assessment of healthcare waste management. If necessary, it could be revised during implementation to reflect any additional aspects relevant to each facility. Local communities are encouraged to undertake monitoring and provide feedbacks through existing community mechanisms which will be strengthened as part of the project. If there are complaints from local project-affected groups, the Project Steering Committee at union level, the State/Region Health Departments, Township Health Departments, and the HCFs should assess in a timely manner the validity of complaints and take any necessary actions to remedy the situation. Construction Divisions, Occupational and Environmental Health Section of Department of Public Health and Project Steering Committee are responsible to provide technical guidance as needed to the third-party agency, State and Regional Health Directors, TMOs/SMOs and HCFs to enable them in fulfilling their supervision responsibilities and related reporting and documentation requirements. Consequently, Director General of DPH and DMS and Project Steering Committee is responsible to ensure that the project supports specialists (national or international) that have relevant technical skills on health care waste management and safeguards implementation in order to provide adequate guidance and training as necessary to local HCFs staff and others involved in project safeguards implementation. The Construction Divisions has been using the construction supervision checklist and completion checklist to manage construction of health facilities. These checklists should be supplemented with additional criteria associated to environment, health and safety. 6.3 Training and capacity building Solid healthcare waste and Occupational Health and Safety training program has been developed under the EHSAP and provided to healthcare providers at some HCFs on aspects linked to Medical Waste Management and Occupational Health and Safety. Consultants with knowledge of environmental safeguard implementation (e.g., ECoPs and EMP provisions) will be hired to provide implementation support and monitor compliance with the project safeguard instruments. The project will hire consultant(s) with health care waste management skills that will provide guidance and training to Occupation and Environmental Health Staff at DPH and DMS (central level), State/Region Health Department staff, Township and Station Medical Officers, and HCF staff on health care waste management. Further, a Training of Trainers (ToT) program will be developed under the project to reach all primary stakeholders involved in HCFs. Component 2 would finance activities over the four and a half year period, which include among other aspects, capacity building for health care waste management targeting the strengthening of related procedures and regulations; skills of staff, and providing initial supplies to allow proper implementation of procedures in facilities. 6.4 Budget The cost for safeguard implementation is estimated under project component 1 (as part of the third party agency's responsibility for compliance with environmental safeguards standards during implementation) and under project component 2 (as part of the project management and M&E). Overall annual operations cost (e.g., sludge management, waste disposal, transportation, maintenance and replacement, etc.) should be factored in and estimated by beneficiary HCFs when they prepare the annual workplan and budget for their facilities, which are submitted to the central MOHS as part of their annual budget proposal. 7 Public consultation and disclosure 7. Public consultation and disclosure Key stakeholders include: (i) MOHS and project implementing agencies; (ii) Region/State and Township authorities, including health administrators and local government; (iii) public health care providers (hospitals, health care centers); (iv) private sector, City Development Committees (Pollution Control and Cleansing Department), NGOs, CSOs, and ethnic health providers; (v) UN agencies, including UNOPS, donors—bilaterals and multilaterals; and (vi) private providers, ethnic health providers providing health services in some ethnic nationality/minority areas which are not covered by the Government; professional organizations; NGOs and civil society organizations with an interest in the health care sector; and local communities at township and village levels, including vulnerable and under-served population groups such as ethnic minorities. In order to address the safeguard policy OP 4.01 requirements, MOHS updated the EMP that includes: (i) specific ECoPs to address impacts linked to planned minor refurbishment, renovation and works; and (ii) HCWM Plan and Standard Operating procedures adapted to the project that will ensure proper HCWM. During the revision of the EMP, meaningful consultations were conducted. Consultative workshops with stakeholders were held in April 2017 to discuss HCWM guidelines development. The updated EMP, including the ECoPs and the HCWM Plan and CEPF, were disclosed in country on May 29, 2019. Public consultations were undertaken in Taunggyi, Shan State on 22 October 2019 and in Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region on 23 October 2019 to review the revised safeguards documents as well as non-technical summary of additional comments from Regional Safeguards. Participants suggested that the infrastructure supported under the project should be disabilityfriendly and should have a facility-appropriate healthcare waste management arrangement. No changes were required or made in the EMP/ECoP after the public consultations as participants' comments were already addressed in the updated version consulted during public consultations. 8 Annexes 8.1 SOPs of Health Care Waste Management for Township Hospitals \| (Logo) Township Hospital \| Standard Operating Procedures Health Care Waste Management \| Document No. \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| Date issued \| \| \| \| Date reviewed \| 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of health care waste in the station hospital. 1.2. Scope of Application All rooms of station hospital in which health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste in station hospital (including all hospital staff, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded waste bags * Labels * Color-coded waste containers * Sharp containers 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Contain each type of waste in designated bags and containers. * Segregate sharp waste into sharp containers or red color bags or containers. * Segregate infectious waste, pathological waste and anatomical waste into separate yellow color bags or containers with appropriate labels and logos. * Segregate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Use double yellow bags for high risk infectious waste. * Segregate general waste into black color bags or containers. 6 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct storage of health care waste in the station hospital. 6 Or in accordance with responsible municipal instruction. If the infectious waste collecting bags are torn or leak and contaminated clean the containers immediately, place it under the direct sunlight. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste storage room or place shall apply this procedure. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Storage room or place of a size appropriate to the volume of waste produced * Storage equipments and containers (bins, drums, cans, etc.) * Labels 2.5. Method * Store different health care waste streams separately in standard storage equipment and specific storage containers such as bins, drums, cans etc. * Ensure storage time of health care waste should not exceed 48 hours. * Bury or dispose anatomical waste daily. * Clean and disinfect storage room or place and equipment at least once a week. * Locate specific areas for the initial storage of wastes, in the wards and departments, near the source of waste. * Locate central storage area away from food preparation, public access and exit route. * Locate central storage area separately from general waste storage areas. * Do not mix landfill and incinerable waste in the central storage area. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of health care waste in the station hospital. 3.2. Scope of Application All transportation of health care waste of the station hospital shall apply this procedure. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Basket * Trolley * Cart These are not used for any other purposes and meet the following specifications √ Easy to load and unload √ No sharp edges that could damage waste bags or containers during loading and off loading √ Easy to clean 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers from initial storage area regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Plan internal transport routes from initial storage to central store to minimize the passage of waste through patient care areas and other clean areas. * Use dedicated wheeled containers, trolleys or carts to transport the waste containers to central storage area. Reserve these vehicles only for the transportation of clinical waste. * Clean and disinfect wheeled containers, trolleys or carts regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of health care waste in the station hospital. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Autoclave * Needle cutter / Hub cutters * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method * Autoclave autoclavable infectious waste before disposal. * Disinfect non-autoclavable infectious waste chemically by using bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or others (Aseptol/ Dettol). * Use needle cutter to displace needles from syringes. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of health care waste in the station hospital. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Standardized Incinerator * Sharp pit * Placenta pit * Materials for encapsulation and inertization * Sanitary Land Fill 5.5. Method * Incinerate non-treated infectious waste, placenta and small anatomical waste (by combustion or pyrolysis and gasification). * Dispose placenta and small anatomical waste to placenta pit where there is no effective incinerator. * Encapsulate or inertize the pharmaceutical waste. If feasible send back expired unused pharmaceutical products to the supplier or the provider. * Dispose general waste, sharp waste and treated waste to municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Bury large anatomical waste in appropriate site. * Dispose waste water according to the reference of safe management of waste from healthcare activities developed by WHO. * Dispose laboratory waste according to the reference of instructions developed by National Health Laboratory, Myanmar. 6. Issuance \| \| Name \| Title \| Signature \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Prepared by \| \| \| \| \| Checked by \| \| \| \| 8.2 SOPs of Health Care Waste Management for Station Hospitals \| (Logo) Station Hospital \| Standard Operating Procedures Health Care Waste Management \| Document No. \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| Date issued \| \| \| \| Date reviewed \| 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of health care waste in the station hospital. 1.2. Scope of Application All rooms of station hospital in which health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste in station hospital (including all hospital staff, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded waste bags * Labels * Color-coded waste containers * Sharp containers 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Contain each type of waste in designated bags and containers. * Segregate sharp waste into sharp containers or red color bags or containers. * Segregate infectious waste, pathological waste and anatomical waste into separate yellow color bags or containers with appropriate labels and logos. * Segregate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Use double yellow bags for high risk infectious waste. * Segregate general waste into black color bags or containers. 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct storage of health care waste in the station hospital. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste storage room or place shall apply this procedure. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Storage room or place of a size appropriate to the volume of waste produced * Storage equipments and containers (bins, drums, cans, etc.) * Labels 2.5. Method * Store different health care waste streams separately in standard storage equipment and specific storage containers such as bins, drums, cans etc. * Ensure storage time of health care waste should not exceed 48 hours. * Bury or dispose anatomical waste daily. * Clean and disinfect storage room or place and equipment at least once a week. * Locate specific areas for the initial storage of wastes, in the wards and departments, near the source of waste. * Locate central storage area away from food preparation, public access and exit route. * Locate central storage area separately from general waste storage areas. * Do not mix landfill and incinerable waste in the central storage area. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of health care waste in the station hospital. 3.2. Scope of Application All transportation of health care waste of the station hospital shall apply this procedure. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Basket * Trolley * Cart These are not used for any other purposes and meet the following specifications √ Easy to load and unload √ No sharp edges that could damage waste bags or containers during loading and off loading √ Easy to clean 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers from initial storage area regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Plan internal transport routes from initial storage to central store to minimize the passage of waste through patient care areas and other clean areas. * Use dedicated wheeled containers, trolleys or carts to transport the waste containers to central storage area. Reserve these vehicles only for the transportation of clinical waste. * Clean and disinfect wheeled containers, trolleys or carts regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of health care waste in the station hospital. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Autoclave * Needle cutter / Hub cutters * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method * Autoclave autoclavable infectious waste before disposal. * Disinfect non-autoclavable infectious waste chemically by using bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or others (Aseptol/ Dettol). * Use needle cutter to displace needles from syringes. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of health care waste in the station hospital. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Standardized Incinerator 7 * Sharp pit * Placenta pit * Materials for encapsulation and inertization * Sanitary Land Fill 5.5. Method * Incinerate non-treated infectious waste, placenta and small anatomical waste (by combustion or pyrolysis and gasification). * Dispose placenta and small anatomical waste to placenta pit where there is no effective incinerator. * Encapsulate or inertize the pharmaceutical waste. If feasible send back expired unused pharmaceutical products to the supplier or the provider. * Dispose general waste, sharp waste and treated waste to municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Bury large anatomical waste in appropriate site. * Dispose waste water according to the reference of safe management of waste from healthcare activities developed by WHO. * Dispose laboratory waste according to the reference of instructions developed by National Health Laboratory, Myanmar. 6. Issuance \| \| Name \| Title \| Signature \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Prepared by \| \| \| \| \| Checked by \| \| \| \| 8.3 SOPs of Health Care Waste Management for Urban Health Centers \| (Logo) Urban Health Center Address \| Standard Operating Procedures Health Care Waste Management \| Document No. \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| Date issued \| \| \| \| Date reviewed \| 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of health care waste in the urban health center. 1.2. Scope of Application All rooms of urban health center in which health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste in urban health center (including all hospital staff, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded waste bags * Labels * Color-coded waste containers * Sharp containers 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Contain each type of waste in designated bags and containers. * Segregate sharp waste into sharp containers or red color bags or containers. * Segregate infectious waste, pathological waste and anatomical waste into separate yellow color bags or containers with appropriate labels and logos. * Segregate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Use double yellow bags for high risk infectious waste. * Segregate general waste into black color bags or containers. 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct storage of health care waste in the urban health center. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste storage room or place shall apply this procedure. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Storage room or place of a size appropriate to the volume of waste produced * Storage equipments and containers (bins, drums, cans, etc.) * Labels 2.5. Method * Store different health care waste streams separately in standard storage equipment and specific storage containers such as bins, drums, cans etc. * Ensure storage time of health care waste should not exceed 48 hours. * Bury or dispose anatomical waste daily. * Clean and disinfect storage room or place and equipment at least once a week. * Locate specific areas for the initial storage of wastes near the source of waste. * Locate central storage area away from food preparation, public access and exit route. * Locate central storage area separately from general waste storage areas. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of health care waste in the urban health center 3.2. Scope of Application All transportation of health care waste onsite and offsite the urban health center shall apply this procedure. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Basket * Trolley * Cart These are not used for any other purposes and meet the following specifications √ Easy to load and unload √ No sharp edges that could damage waste bags or containers during loading and off loading √ Easy to clean 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers from initial storage area regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Clean and disinfect waste containers regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of health care waste in the urban health center. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Needle cutter / Hub cutters * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method * Disinfect non-autoclavable infectious waste chemically by using bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or others (Aseptol/ Dettol). * Use needle cutter to displace needles from syringes. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of health care waste in the urban health center. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Sharp pit 8 * Placenta pit 9 * Sanitary Land Fill 5.5. Method * Dispose placenta and small to placenta pit. * Dispose general waste, sharp waste and treated waste to municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit where there is no municipal waste collecting system. * Transport pharmaceutical waste to Township Hospital or Station Hospitals in order to be encapsulated and inertized. 6. Issuance \| \| Name \| Title \| Signature \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Prepared by \| \| \| \| \| Checked by \| \| \| \| \| Approved by \| \| \| \| 8 Where there is enough space. 8.4 SOPs of Health Care Waste Management for Rural Health Centers 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of health care waste in the rural health center. 1.2. Scope of Application All rooms of rural health center in which health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste in rural health center (including all staff, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded waste bags * Labels * Color-coded waste containers * Sharp containers 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Contain each type of waste in designated bags and containers. * Segregate sharp waste into sharp containers or red color bags or containers. * Segregate infectious waste, pathological waste and anatomical waste into separate yellow color bags or containers with appropriate labels and logos. * Segregate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Use double yellow bags for high risk infectious waste. * Segregate general waste into black color bags or containers. 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct storage of health care waste in the rural health center. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste storage room or place shall apply this procedure. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Storage room or place of a size appropriate to the volume of waste produced * Storage equipments and containers (bins, drums, cans, etc.) * Labels 2.5. Method * Store different health care waste streams separately in standard storage equipment and specific storage containers such as bins, drums, cans etc. * Ensure storage time of health care waste should not exceed 48 hours. * Bury or dispose anatomical waste daily. * Clean and disinfect storage room or place and equipment at least once a week. * Locate specific areas for the initial storage of wastes near the source of waste. * Locate health care waste storage area separately from general waste storage areas. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of health care waste in the rural health center 3.2. Scope of Application All transportation of health care waste of rural health center shall apply this procedure. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Basket * Trolley * Cart These are not used for any other purposes and meet the following specifications √ Easy to load and unload √ No sharp edges that could damage waste bags or containers during loading and off loading √ Easy to clean 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers from initial storage area regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Clean and disinfect waste containers regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of health care waste in the rural health center. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Needle cutter / Hub cutters * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method * Disinfect infectious waste chemically by using bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or others (Aseptol/ Dettol). * Use needle cutter to displace needles from syringes. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of health care waste in the rural health center. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Sharp pit * Placenta pit * Sanitary land fill 5.5. Method * Dispose placenta to placenta pit. * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling. * Transport pharmaceutical waste to Township Hospital or Station Hospitals in order to be encapsulated and inertized. 6. Issuance \| \| Name \| Title \| Signature \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Prepared by \| \| \| \| \| Checked by \| \| \| \| 8.5 SOPs of Health Care Waste Management for Rural Health Sub-centers \| (Logo) Rural Health Sub-center Address \| Standard Operating Procedures Health Care Waste Management \| Document No. \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| Date issued \| \| \| \| Date reviewed \| 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of health care waste in the rural health sub-center. 1.2. Scope of Application All rooms of rural health sub-center in which health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste in sub-center (including all staff, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded waste bags * Labels * Color-coded waste containers * Sharp containers 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Contain each type of waste in designated bags and containers. * Segregate sharp waste into sharp containers or red color bags or containers. * Segregate infectious waste, pathological waste and anatomical waste into separate yellow color bags or containers with appropriate labels and logos. * Segregate pharmaceutical and chemical waste into brown color bags or containers. * Use double yellow bags for high risk infectious waste. * Segregate general waste into black color bags or containers. 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct storage of health care waste in the rural health sub-center. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste storage room or place shall apply this procedure. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Storage room or place of a size appropriate to the volume of waste produced * Storage equipments and containers (bins, drums, cans, etc.) * Labels 2.5. Method * Store different health care waste streams separately in standard storage equipment and specific storage containers such as bins, drums, cans etc. * Ensure storage time of health care waste should not exceed 48 hours. * Bury or dispose anatomical waste daily. * Clean and disinfect storage room or place and equipment at least once a week. * Locate specific areas for the initial storage of wastes near the source of waste. * Locate health care waste storage area separately from general waste storage areas. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of health care waste in the rural health sub-center 3.2. Scope of Application All transportation of health care waste of rural health sub-center shall apply this procedure. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Basket * Trolley * Cart These are not used for any other purposes and meet the following specifications √ Easy to load and unload √ No sharp edges that could damage waste bags or containers during loading and off loading √ Easy to clean 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers from initial storage area regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Clean and disinfect waste containers regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of health care waste in the rural health center. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Needle cutter * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method * Disinfect infectious waste chemically by using bleaching powder, lime solution, calcium oxide or others (Aseptol/ Dettol). * Use needle cutter to displace needles from syringes. * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of health care waste in the rural health sub-center. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this treatment procedure before disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Sharp pit * Placenta pit * Sanitary land fill 5.5. Method * Dispose placenta to placenta pit. * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling. * Transport pharmaceutical waste to Township Hospital or Station Hospitals in order to be encapsulated and inertized. 6. Issuance \| Prepared by \| \|---\| \| Checked by \| \| Approved by \| 8.6 SOPs for Needle-Syringe Management at PHC Immunization Posts 1. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Segregation 1.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct segregation of needle and syringes waste in the immunization posts either outreach activities or within any health facilities. 1.2. Scope of Application All immunization posts under the coverage of any health facilities in which needle and syringe health care waste is generated shall apply this procedure. 1.3. Responsibility All persons who generate health care waste during immunization activities within the jurisdiction of any health facilities (including all basic health staffs, patients, attendants and visitors) shall apply this procedure. 1.4. Equipment and Supplies * Autos disable syringes and needles * Needle/hub cutter * Sharp containers * Color-coded waste bags 1.5. Method * Segregate health care waste as soon as it is generated. * Segregate needles in needle/hub cutter container and other sharp wastes including syringes, used or empty vials and ampoules into sharp containers or red color bags. * Segregate general waste into black color waste bags 2. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Storage 2.1. Purpose This procedure aims to ensure correct storage of needles and immunization syringes at immunization posts of any health facilities or in the outreach activities. 2.2. Scope of Application Storage bags, Storage containers, Storage room or place for immunization wastes and sharp wastes shall apply this procedure. 2.3. Responsibility Persons dedicated to conduct outreach immunization activities and have a responsibility to bring back immunization wastes to their respective health facilities and shall apply the storage procedure of respective health facilities. 2.4. Equipment and Supplies * Color-coded bags and puncture proof containers * Back packs 2.5. Method * Store immunization wastes such as needles, syringes initially in color-coded bags and puncture proof containers * Store general wastes in black color bags * Clean and disinfect storage equipment at least once a week. 3. Standard Operating Procedure of Waste Transportation 3.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct transportation of immunization wastes such as, syringes, vaccine vials and ampoules from immunization posts and after completion of outreach immunization activities to the respective health facilities. 3.2. Scope of Application All kind of transportation of immunization waste at/ to any health facilities shall apply the procedure on transportation of their respective health facilities. 3.3. Responsibility Person in charge of health care waste transportation shall apply this procedure. 3.4. Equipment and Supplies * Bags * Basket * Back packs 3.5. Method * Remove bags and containers regularly. * Minimize manual handling of waste bags. * Handle all waste bags by the neck. * Discard defanged syringes into separate containers * Clean and disinfect waste containers regularly and immediately after spillage or accidental discharge. 4. Standard Operating Procedure of Treatment of Waste 4.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct treatment of immunization wastes such as needles, syringes, vaccine vials and ampoules in any health facilities. 4.2. Scope of Application Storage containers, room or place for health care waste shall apply the treatment procedure of their respective health facilities before disposal. 4.3. Responsibility Person in charge of storage, transport and treatment of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 4.4. Equipment and Supplies * Chemicals: Bleaching powder, Lime solution, Calcium oxide, 2% Chlorine solution, Hydrogen peroxide, Aseptol/Dettol 4.5. Method Syringes * Use needle/hub cutter to displace needles from syringes * Disinfect defanged syringes by 2% chlorine solution in order to be recycled. Vaccine vials * It should be applied according to the instructions developed by Central Expanded Program of Immunization Division. 5. Standard Operating Procedure of Disposal of Waste 5.1. Purpose This procedure is issued to ensure correct disposal of immunization wastes in any health facilities. 5.2. Scope of Application Storage room or place for health care waste shall apply this procedure for disposal. 5.3. Responsibility Person in charge of disposal of health care waste shall apply this procedure. 5.4. Equipment and Supplies * Sharp pit * Standardized Incinerator * Autoclave * Secured burial pit * Sanitary land fill 5.5. Method * Dispose sharp waste to sharp pit * Dispose general waste and treated waste to sanitary land filling. * Dispose vaccine vials according to the instructions developed by Central Expanded Program of Immunization Division, high temperature incineration or secured burial pits. 8.7 Checklist for Application of HCWM SOPs in a Health Care Facility Name of the Health Facility: Address: Name of the Head of Health Facility: Name and Designation of Waste Management In-charge: Date of Inspection: Score: All Yes = 1 point, Any No = 0 point \| Sr. \| \| Yes \| No \| Score \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| Establishment of SOP \| \| \| \| \| \| Have the SOPs been issued? \| \| \| \| \| \| Are SOPs placed on Notice board? \| \| \| \| \| \| Have all staff and workers read and signed the SOPs? \| \| \| \| \| \| Has the in-charge of HCWM been assigned? \| \| \| \| \| 2 \| Segregation of HCW \| \| \| \| \| \| Do the staff and workers segregate the waste? \| \| \| \| \| \| Do the staff and workers use colour coding? \| \| \| \| \| \| Are waste containers placed properly? \| \| \| \| \| \| Do the staff and workers use the color-coded waste bags? \| \| \| \| \| \| Is there a needle cutter in injection room? (ignore if not supplied) \| \| \| \| \| \| Do the staff practice needle cutting? (ignore if not supplied) \| \| \| \| \| \| Is there sharp container in the injection room? \| \| \| \| \| 3 \| Storage of HCW \| \| \| \| \| \| Are different wastes stored differently? \| \| \| \| \| \| Does storage time of health care waste not exceed 48 hours? \| \| \| \| \| \| Is anatomical waste buried or disposed daily? \| \| \| \| \| \| Is storage room and equipment cleaned and disinfected at least once a week? \| \| \| \| \| \| Are there specific areas for the initial storage of wastes in the wards and departments or near the source of waste? \| \| \| \| \| \| Is location of central storage area away from food preparation, public access and exit route? \| \| \| \| \| \| Is central storage area located separately from general waste storage areas? \| \| \| \| \| Sr. \| \| Yes \| No \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4 \| \| \| \| \| \| Are waste bags and containers from initial storage removed regularly? \| \| \| \| \| Is there an instruction to minimize manual handling of waste bags? \| \| \| \| \| Is there a practice of handling all waste bags by the neck? \| \| \| \| \| Is there a plan for internal transport routes from initial storage to central store? \| \| \| \| \| Are there dedicated wheeled containers, trolleys or carts to transport the waste containers? \| \| \| \| \| Is there a practice to clean and disinfect wheeled containers, trolleys or carts regularly? \| \| \| \| \| Is there an instruction to clean and disinfect wheeled containers, trolleys or carts immediately after spillage or accidental discharge? \| \| \| \| 5 \| \| \| \| \| \| Is autoclavable infectious waste autoclaved before disposal? \| \| \| \| \| Is non-autoclavable infectious waste disinfected by using chemicals before disposal? \| \| \| \| \| Does staff use needle cutters? (if supplied) \| \| \| \| 6 \| \| \| \| \| \| Is an incinerator in use? (ignore if there is no incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Is non-treated infectious waste incinerated? (ignore if there is no incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Is small anatomical waste incinerated? (ignore if there is no incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Is placenta incinerated? (ignore if there is no incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Is a sharp pit in use? (ignore if there is an incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Is a placenta pit in use? (ignore if there is an incinerator) \| \| \| \| \| Does a sanitary land filling practice? (ignore if there is an incinerator) \| \| \| \| 7 \| \| \| \| \| \| Is there a record keeping system? \| \| \| \| \| Have any training regarding health care waste management given? \| \| \| Total Score: () out of 7. Other Finding(s) Is there a public participation on waste management? Is there any experience of inspection on application of SOPs? Impressing Is overall compliance of waste management satisfactory? Instruction / Recommendation: \| \| Name \| Designation \| Signature \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Checked by \| \| \| \| \| Countersigned by \| \| \| \| 8.8 WBG Good Practice Note: Asbestos: Occupational and Community Health Issues SUMMARY The purpose of this Good Practice Note is to increase the awareness of the health risks related to occupational asbestos exposure, provide a list of resources on international good practices available to minimize these risks, and present an overview of some of the available product alternatives on the market. The need to address asbestos-containing materials (ACM) as a hazard is no longer under debate but a widely accepted fact. Practices regarding asbestos that are normally considered acceptable by the World Bank Group (WBG) in projects supported through its lending or other instruments are addressed in the WBG's General Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines. 10 This Good Practice Note provide background and context for the guidance in the WBG EHS Guidelines. Good practice is to minimize the health risks associated with ACM by avoiding their use in new construction and renovation, and, if installed asbestos-containing materials are encountered, by using internationally recognized standards and best practices (such as those presented in Appendix 3) to mitigate their impact. In all cases, the Bank expects borrowers and other clients of World Bank funding to use alternative materials wherever feasible. ACM should be avoided in new construction, including construction for disaster relief. In reconstruction, demolition, and removal of damaged infrastructure, asbestos hazards should be identified and a risk management plan adopted that includes disposal techniques and end-of-life sites. ASBESTOS AND HEALTH RISKS What is Asbestos, and Why are We Concerned with its Use? Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals. It was once used widely in the production of many industrial and household products because of its useful properties, including fire retardation, electrical and thermal insulation, chemical and thermal stability, and high tensile strength. Today, however, asbestos is recognized as a cause of various diseases and cancers and is considered a health hazard if inhaled. 11 The ILO estimates that over the last several decades 100,000 deaths globally have been due to asbestos exposure, 12 and the WHO states that 90,000 people die a year globally because of occupational asbestos exposure. 13 10 http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/gui_EHSGuidelines2007_GeneralEHS/$FILE/Final+-+General+EHS+Guidelines.pdf (pp. 71, 91, 94) . 11 http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/draft.WHO.policy.paper.on.asbestos.related.diseases.pdf. See also Stayner L, et al., "ExposureResponse Analysis of Risk of Respiratory Disease Associated with Occupational Exposure to Chrysotile Asbestos." Occupational Environmental Medicine. 54: 646-652 (1997). 12 http://www.ilo.org/wow/Articles/lang--en/WCMS_081341 13 http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/asbestosrelateddiseases.pdf Over 90% of asbestos 14 fiber produced today is chrysotile, which is used in asbestos-cement (AC) construction materials: A-C flat and corrugated sheet, A-C pipe, and A-C water storage tanks. Other products still being manufactured with asbestos content include vehicle brake and clutch pads, roofing, and gaskets. Though today asbestos is hardly used in construction materials other than asbestos-cement products, it is still found in older buildings in the form of friable surfacing materials, thermal system insulation, non-friable flooring materials, and other applications. The maintenance and removal of these materials warrant special attention. Because the health risks associated with exposure to asbestos area now widely recognized, global health and worker organizations, research institutes, and some governments have enacted bans on the commercial use of asbestos (see Box 1), and they urge the enforcement of national standards to protect the health of workers, their families, and communities exposed to asbestos through an International Convention. 15 BOX 1. BANS ON THE USE OF ASBESTOS AND ASBESTOS PRODUCTS A global ban on commercial use of asbestos has been urged by the Building and Wood Workers Federation (IFBWW), the International Metalworker's Federation, the International Trade Union Confederation, the government of France, and the distinguished scientific group Collegium Ramazzini. All member states of the European Union and over 40 countries worldwide (see Appendix 1) have banned all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile. 16 In June 2006, the General Conference of the ILO adopted a resolution to "promote the elimination of all forms of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials." * Landrigan PJ, Soffritti M. "Collegium Ramazzini Call for an International Ban on Asbestos." Am. J. Ind. Med. 47: 471-474 (2005). * The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat keeps track of national asbestos bans. http:// ibassecretariat.org./lka_alpha_asb_ban_280704.php * General Conference of the International Labor Organization, "Resolution Concerning Asbestos," Provisional Record, International Labor Conference, Ninety-fifth Session, Geneva, 2006, Item 299, pp. 20/47-48. * World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/asbestosrelateddiseases.pdf Health Concerns Linked to Asbestos-Containing Products Health hazards from breathing asbestos dust include asbestosis, a lung scarring disease, and various forms of cancer (including lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum). 17 These diseases usually arise decades after the onset of asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma, a signal tumor for asbestos exposure, occurs among workers' family members from dust on the workers' clothes 14 Asbestos defined in Castleman, B. Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects 5th Ed. New York: Aspen, 2005, 894 pp. 15 ILO Asbestos Convention No. 162, (see http:www.ilo.org/ilolex or http://www.itcilo.it/actrav/osh_es/m%F3dulos/legis/c162.htm) 16 http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/asbestosrelateddiseases.pdf. Directive 2003/18/EC of the European Council and Parliament amending Council Directive 83/477/EEC, and Directive 99/77/EEC 17 http://www.euro.who.int/document/aiq/6_2_asbestos.pdf and among neighbors of asbestos air pollution point sources. 18 Some experimental animal studies show that high inhalation exposures to all forms of asbestos for only hours can cause cancer. 19 Very high levels of airborne asbestos have been recorded where power tools are used to cut A-C products and grind brake shoes. For chrysotile asbestos, the most common variety, there is no threshold (nonzero) of exposure that has been shown to be free from carcinogenic risks. Construction materials are of particular concern, because of the large number of workers in construction trades, the difficulty of instituting control measures, and the continuing threat posed by in-place materials that eventually require alterations, repair, and disposal. 20 Renovations and repairs in buildings containing A-C materials can also endanger building occupants. In addition to the problems from products made with commercial asbestos, asbestos also occurs as a contaminant in some deposits of stone, talc, vermiculite, iron ore, and other minerals. This can create health hazards for workers and residents at the site of excavation and in some cases in the manufacture and use of consumer products the materials are used to make. While asbestos is a known carcinogen when inhaled, it is not known to be carcinogenic when ingested, as through drinking water, 21 although pipe standards have been issued for asbestos-cement pipes conducting "aggressive" water. 22 From the industrial hygiene viewpoint, asbestos creates a chain of exposure from the time it is mined until it returns to the earth at landfill or unauthorized disposal site. At each link in the chain, occupational and community exposures coexist. Workers in the mines are exposed to the fibers while extracting the ore; their families breathe fibers brought home on work clothes; workers in the mills and factories process the fiber and manufacture products with it; and their families are also secondarily exposed. Communities around the mines, mills, and factories are contaminated with their wastes; children play on tailings piles and in contaminated schoolyards; transportation of fiber and products contaminates roads and rights-of-way. 23 Tradesmen who install, repair and remove ACM are exposed in the course of their work, as are bystanders in the absence of proper controls. Disposal of asbestos wastes from any step in this sequence not only exposes the workers handling the wastes but also local residents when fibers become airborne because of insufficient covering and erosion control. Finally, in the absence of measures to remove ACM from the waste stream and dispose of them properly, the cycle is often repeated when discarded material is scavenged and reused. 24 Increasing Use of Asbestos Fiber There is evidence that, after a decline in the 1990s, the use of asbestos fiber is increasing globally. A recent study 25 shows that a 59% increase in metric tons was consumed in 12 countries from 2000 to 2004. 18 "Asbestos." World Health Organization IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans/ Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity: An Updating of IARC Monographs 1 to 42, Suppl. 7. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1987, pp. 106-116. 19 Wagner JC, Berry G, Skidmore JW, Timbrell V. "The Effects of the Inhalation of Asbestos in Rats." Br. J. Cancer 29: 252-269 (1974). 20 International Program on Chemical Safety, "Conclusions and Recommendations for Protection of Human Health," Chrysotile Asbestos, Environmental Health Criteria 203. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1998, p. 144. 21 http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2000/a68673_guidelines_3.pdf 22 http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2000/a68673_tech_aspects_4.pdf 23 Jones, Robert "Living in the Shadow of the Asbestos Hills (The Need for Risk Based Cleanup Strategies for Environmental Asbestos Contamination in South Africa)." Environmental Exposure, Crisis Preparedness and Risk Communication, Global Asbestos Congress, Tokyo, Japan, November 19 - 21, 2004. http://park3. wakwak.com/~gac2004/en/index_abstract_e.html. See also Oberta, AF "Case Study: An Asbestos Cement Plant in Israel -- Contamination, Clean-up and Dismantling." Hellenic Asbestos Conference, Athens, Greece, October 29 - 31, 2002. http://www.ibas.btinternet.co.uk/Frames/f_lka_hellen_asb_conf_rep.htm 24 Boer, A.M., L.A. Daal, J.L.A. de Groot, J.G. Cuperus "The Combination of the Mechanical Separator and the Extraction Cleaner Can Process the Complete Asbestos-containing Waste-stream and Make it Suitable for Reuse." European Conference on Asbestos Risks and Management, Rome, Italy, December 4 -6, 2006. http://venus.unive.it/fall/menu/Boer.pdf 25 R. Virta, US Geological Survey, 2007. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AND STANDARDS FOR WORKING WITH ASBESTOS International Convention The International Labor Organization (ILO) established an Asbestos Convention (C162) in 1986 to promote national laws and regulations for the "prevention and control of, and protection of workers against, health hazards due to occupational exposure to asbestos." 26 The convention outlines aspects of best practice: Scope and Definitions, General Principles, Protective and Preventive Measures, Surveillance of the Working Environment, and Workers' Health. As of March 4, 2008, 31 countries had ratified the Convention; 27 17 of them have banned asbestos. Some of the ILO asbestos convention requirements: * work clothing to be provided by employers; * double changing rooms and wash facilities to prevent dust from going home on street clothes; * training of workers about the health hazards to themselves and their families; * periodic medical examinations of workers, * periodic air monitoring of the work environment, with records retained for 30 years; * development of a work plan prior to demolition work, to protect workers and provide for proper waste disposal; and * protection from "retaliatory and disciplinary measures" of workers who remove themselves from work that they are justified in believing presents a serious danger to health. Standard considerations for working with and procuring ACM are common to most projects. An overview of some basic ones is provided in Appendix 5. International Standards and National Regulations Standards and regulations for work involving ACM have been published by nongovernmental organizations and government agencies. Appendix 3 provides a listing of some resources, including international organizations (e.g., WHO, ISO, ASTM) and national governments (e.g., UK, US, Canada, South Africa). The resources range from manuals to individual standards and cover a variety of work guidelines, including surveys, identification, inspection, maintenance, renovation, repair, removal, and disposal. Some of the key issues discussed in these standards and regulations are as follows: 5 * The scale of occupational hazards. The health risk is not simply a function of the properties of the ACM, but also reflects the type of work being done and the controls used. Although A-C products, for example, may seem to intrinsically present less of a risk than fire-proofing, air monitoring has shown that cutting dry A-C sheet with a power saw can 26 www.ilo.org/ilolex 27 http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm release far greater amounts of airborne fibers than scraping wet, saturated fireproofing off a beam. The relationship between the nature of A-C products, the work being done and the controls used to control the release of fibers and debris is important (as discussed in ASTM E2394 and HSG189/219 28 ). * Controlling exposure to airborne fibers. Because asbestos fibers are primarily an inhalation hazard, the basic purpose of the regulations and standards is to control the concentration of asbestos fibers in the air inhaled by workers or others. Concentration limits have been set by regulations in numerous countries for workers whose duties involve contact with ACM; however, they do not purport to totally eliminate the risk of asbestos disease, but only to reduce it. Exposure limits for individuals other than workers, including occupants of buildings and facilities and the community, are lower than those for workers in deference to the very young and old as well as the physically compromised. * Measuring exposure to airborne fibers. Compliance with exposure limits is demonstrated by air sampling in workers' breathing zone or in the space occupied by the affected individuals, with analysis of the sample by optical or electron microscopy, as explained in Appendix 3. Abatement protocols determine whether a building can be reoccupied after asbestos abatement. * Proper disposal. Proper disposal of ACM is important not only to protect the community and environment but also to prevent scavenging and reuse of removed material. ACM should be transported in leak-tight containers to a secure landfill operated in a manner that precludes air and water contamination that could result from ruptured containers. Similar requirements apply to remediation of sites such as mines, mills, and factories where asbestos fiber was processed and products manufactured. (See EPA NESHAP regulations, Appendix 3.) * Transboundary movement of waste. Waste asbestos (dust and fibers) is considered a hazardous waste under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. The Basel Convention imposes use of a prior informed consent procedure for movement of such wastes across international borders. Shipments made without consent are illegal. Parties have to ensure that hazardous waste is disposed of in an environmentally sound manner (ESM. Strong controls have to be applied from the moment of generation, to its storage, transport, treatment, reuse, recycling, recovery and final disposal. 29 * Identifying asbestos products. A-C products include flat panels, corrugated panels used for roofing, water storage tanks, and pressure, water, and sewer pipes. In some countries asbestos may still be used in making wallboard, heat-resistant gloves and clothes for industrial use, and brake and clutch friction elements and gaskets used in vehicles. 30 Thermal 28 See Appendix 3 29 See Basel Convention Secretariat http://www.basel.int/ 30 In 2004, Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Ukraine together accounted for about three-quarters of world asbestos consumption. Other major consumers of asbestos are Iran, Brazil, Vietnam, and Indonesia. insulation containing asbestos and sprayed asbestos for insulation and acoustic damping were widely used through the 1970s and should be looked for in any project involving boilers and insulated pipes. Insulation dating from before 1980 should be presumed to contain asbestos unless analyzed and found not to. The microscopic methodology for analyzing bulk samples for the presence of asbestos is widely available in industrialized countries and is not expensive; it is less available in developing countries. In a developing country samples may have to be mailed out for testing; alternatively, training may be available for a laboratory in the country. * Training. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of training for working with ACM in any capacity—whether it involves inspections, maintenance, removal, or laboratory analysis. The duration of the training as well as the course content depends on the type of work the individual will be doing. Quality control and proficiency testing for laboratories and individual analysts are also important. ALTERNATIVES TO ASBESTOS-CONTAINING MATERIALS Growing Marketplace Safer substitutes for asbestos products of all kinds are increasingly available (see Appendix 4). These include fiber-cement products using combinations of local vegetable fibers and synthetic fibers, as well as other products that serve the same purposes. 31 The WHO is actively involved in evaluating alternatives. 32 Cost and Performance Issues Fiber-cement roof panels using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or polypropylene combined with cellulose now cost 10-15% more to manufacture than A-C sheets. Polypropylene-cellulose-cement roofing, a new product, is made at a cost of about 12 percent more than A-C roofing and has superior impact resistance. The non-asbestos fiber-cement panels are lighter, less brittle, and have improved nailability over A-C. The increase in the overall cost of building construction that such products represent is to some degree offset by the obviation of special hygiene measures in installation/ maintenance/renovation, the lack of a continuing hazard to building workers and occupants, and reduced costs of waste removal and disposal. Micro concrete tiles are cheaper than A-C to produce, and can be made in a basic workshop near the building site with locally available small contractors and materials, lowering transport costs. Compared with A-C pipes, iron pipes can be transported and installed with less difficulty and breakage, take greater compression loading and last longer. 31 7. The U.K. Health and Safety Executive commissioned a report that concluded that the main replacement fibrous materials for asbestos in fiber-cement products and brakes are less hazardous than chrysotile asbestos. See Harrison PTC, et al. "Comparative Hazards of Chrysotile Asbestos and Its Substitutes: A European Perspective." Envir. Health Persp. 107: 607-611 (1999). http://www.ehponline.org/members/1999/107p607-611harrison/harrison-full.html 32 http://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/asbestos/en/ WORLD BANK GROUP APPROACH TO ASBESTOS HEALTH RISK The WBG EHS Guidelines are technical reference documents with general and industry-specific examples of Good International Industry Practice (GIIP). 33 When one or more members of the WBG are involved in a project, the EHS Guidelines are applied as required by their respective policies and standards. The WBG's EHS Guidelines 34 specify that the use of ACM should be avoided in new buildings and construction or as a new material in remodeling or renovation activities. Existing facilities with ACM should develop an asbestos management plan that clearly identifies the locations where the ACM is present, its condition (e.g., whether it is in friable form or has the potential to release fibers), procedures for monitoring its condition, procedures to access the locations where ACM is present to avoid damage, and training of staff who can potentially come into contact with the material to avoid damage and prevent exposure. The plan should be made available to all persons involved in operations and maintenance activities. Repair or removal and disposal of existing ACM in buildings should be performed only by specially trained personnel 35 following host country requirements or, if the country does not have its own requirements, internationally recognized procedures. 36 Decommissioning sites may also pose a risk of exposure to asbestos that should be prevented by using specially trained personnel to identify and carefully remove asbestos insulation and structural building elements before dismantling or demolition. 37 33 Defined as the exercise of professional skill, diligence, prudence, and foresight that would be reasonably expected from skilled and experienced professionals engaged in the same type of undertaking under the same or similar circumstances globally. The circumstances that skilled and experienced professionals may find when evaluating the range of pollution prevention and control techniques available to a project may include, but are not limited to, varying levels of environmental degradation and environmental assimilative capacity as well as varying levels of financial and technical feasibility 34 http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/gui_EHSGuidelines2007_GeneralEHS/$FILE/Final+-+General+EHS+Guidelines.pdf (pp. 71, 91, 94) 35 Training of specialized personnel and the maintenance and removal methods applied should be equivalent to those required under applicable regulations in the United States and Europe (examples of North American training standards are available at: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/training.html) 36 Examples include the ASTM International E1368 - Standard Practice for Visual Inspection of Asbestos Abatement Projects; E2356 - Standard Practice for Comprehensive Building Asbestos Surveys; and E2394 - Standard Practice for Maintenance, Renovation and Repair of Installed Asbestos Cement Products. 37 http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/gui_EHSGuidelines2007_GeneralEHS/$FILE/Final+-+General+EHS+Guidelines.pdf (pp. 71, 91, 94) APPENDIX 1. COUNTRIES THAT HAVE BANNED THE USE OF ASBESTOS APPENDIX 2. WORLD BANK GROUP ASBESTOS REFERENCES APPENDIX 3 . LIST OF RESOURCES FOR ASBESTOS STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS NOTE: this listing is not meant to be all-inclusive, but is a sample of available information. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS WHO Policy and Guidelines (www.who.org) www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Publications_and_Documents_prevention_guidelines.pdf(p. 70) www.searo.who.int/en/Section23/Section1108/Section1835/Section1864_8658.htm International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (www.iso.org) ISO 10312 (1995): Ambient air -- Determination of asbestos fibres -- Direct transfer transmission electron microscopy method. [Method similar to ASTM D6281] ISO 13794 (1999): Ambient air – Determination of asbestos fibres – Indirect-transfer transmission electron microscopy method. ISO/FDIS 16000-7: Indoor air – Part 7: Sampling strategy for determination of airborne asbestos fibre concentrations. ISO 8672: Air quality -- Determination of the number concentration of airborne inorganic fibres by phase contrast optical microscopy -- Membrane filter method (1993) [Method similar to AIA RTM1] Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal Basel Convention Secretariat (www.basel.int) International Labour Organization (www.ilo.org) Chemical Safety Card, ICSC 0014: www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cis/products/icsc/ dtasht/_icsc00/icsc0014.htm European Union (europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32003L0018& model=guichett) Directive 2003/18/EC amending Council Directive 83/477/EEC on the Protection of Workers from the Risks Related to Exposure to Asbestos at Work. (March 2003). Provides regulations including: worker protection, training and medical surveillance; inspections for asbestos-containing materials; notification of asbestos work; air sampling; exposure limits of 0,1 fibres per cm³ (8-hr TWA) measured by Phase Contrast Microscopy. NATIONAL STANDARDS ASTM International (www.astm.org) ASTM International (www.astm.org) Manual on Asbestos Control: Surveys, Removal and Management – Second Edition (March 2005). Author: Andrew F. Oberta, MPH, CIH. Discusses in detail how E2356, E2394 and E1368 are used to support an asbestos management program. E2356 Standard Practice for Comprehensive Building Asbestos Surveys. July, 2004. Covers baseline surveys for management of ACM and includes assessment protocols to make and prioritize removal vs. maintenance decisions. ASTM E2356 provides information for long-term management of ACM in a Baseline Survey and for preparation of the plans and specifications for a removal project. It contains detailed procedures and equipment (mostly ordinary hardware items) needed to take bulk samples of common types of suspect ACM. Once materials have been identified as asbestos-containing, an assessment is made as to which can be left in place. Quantitative assessment of the Current Condition and Potential for Disturbance of all friable and non-friable materials allows removal priorities to be tabulated and graphically displayed. Budgetary estimates for removal can be established on the basis of the quantitative assessments. E2394 Standard Practice for Maintenance, Renovation and Repair of Installed Asbestos Cement Products (October 2004). Describes materials, hazardous operations, necessary precautions and infrastructure requirements with detailed procedures in appendices. Not intended for installation of asbestos-cement products in new construction or renovation. E1368 Standard Practice for Visual Inspection of Asbestos Abatement Projects (May 2005). Provides an approach to managing a removal project to enhance prospects of passing final inspections and clearance air sampling. Describes preparation, removal and inspection procedures and criteria. E2308 Standard Guide on Limited Asbestos Screens of Buildings (2005). Provides the minimum amount of information needed to facilitate a real estate transaction. D6281 Standard Test Method for Airborne Asbestos Concentration in Ambient and Indoor Atmospheres as Determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy Direct Transfer (TEM). A method for distinguishing asbestos from non-asbestos fibers on an air sample filter and identifying and quantifying smaller and thinner fibers than Phase Contrast Microscopy D7201: Practice for Sampling and Counting Airborne Fibers, Including Asbestos Fibers, in the Workplace, by Phase Contrast Microscopy (with an Option of Transmission Electron Microscopy) Combines methodology of NIOSH 7400 and 7402 Australia (www.ascc.gov.au/ascc/AboutUs/Publications/NationalStandards/ListofNationalCodesofPractice.htm) Safe Removal of Asbestos 2nd edition [NOHSC: 2002 (2005)] Code of Practice for the Management and Control of Asbestos in the Workplace [NOHSC: 2018 (2005)] U. K. Health and Safety Executive (http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm) Asbestos Regulations (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20062739.htm) Asbestos Essentials (http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.htm). Includes sections on manager Tasks and methods and equipment. Publications include: Working with Asbestos in Buildings INDG289 08/01 C600. An overview (16 pages) of asbestos hazards and precautions MDHS100 Surveying, sampling and assessment of asbestos containing materials (2001). Contains many illustrations and examples of asbestos-containing products as well as sampling and analytical methods. MDHS100 is comparable in thoroughness to ASTM in its discussion of bulk sampling techniques and equipment, organizing a survey and assessment of ACM using a numerical algorithm based on the product type, extent of damage, surface treatment and type of asbestos fiber. The document contains numerous photographs of typical ACM found in buildings. HSG189/2 Working with asbestos cement (1999). Describes asbestos-cement products and methods of repairing and removing them, including fiber concentrations for controlled and uncontrolled operations. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations (2002). Requirements for the protection of people being exposed to asbestos, including the requirement for those with responsibility for the maintenance and/or repair of non-domestic premises, to identify and manage any risk from asbestos within their premises National Institute of Building Sciences (http://www.nibs.org/pubsasb.html) Guidance Manual: Asbestos O&M Work Practices, Second Edition (1996). Contains procedures for small- scale work on friable and non-friable ACM including asbestos-cement products. Asbestos Abatement and Management in Buildings: Model Guide Specification. Third Edition (1996). Contains information on project design and surveillance as well as applicable US regulations, plus removal contractor requirements for abatement work in specification format. Austrian Standards Institute (http://www.on-norm.at/index_e.html) ONORM M 9406, Handling of products containing weakly bound asbestos, 01 08 2001. Contains a protocol and algorithm for assessing the condition and potential fiber release from friable asbestos-containing materials. International Chrysotile Association (www.chrysotile.com). [Please note this organization represents asbestos industries and businesses] Recommended Technical Method No. 1 (RTM1), Reference Method for the determination of Airborne Asbestos Fibre Concentrations at workplaces by light microscopy (Membrane Filter Method). Method using Phase Contrast Microscopy for counting fibers on an air sampling filter that does not distinguish asbestos from other fibers Recommended Technical Method No. 2 (RTM2) Method for the determination of Airborne Asbestos Fibres and Other Inorganic Fibres by Scanning Electron Microscopy. Method that identifies smaller fibers than Phase Contrast Microscopy and can distinguish types of asbestos fibers. U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/asbestos) Occupational Safety and Health Guidelines for Asbestos (www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/0041.pdf) Recommendations for Preventing Occupational Exposure (www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ asbestos/#prevention) Method 7400, Asbestos and other fibers by PCM (1994).Phase Contrast Microscopy method similar to AIA RTM1 that counts all fibers greater than 5μm long with a 3:1 aspect ratio Method 7402 Asbestos by TEM (1994). Method using Transmission Electron Microscopy that identifies and counts asbestos fibers greater than 5μm long and greater than 0.25μm in diameter with a 3:1 aspect ratio U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/asbestos) Resources include managing asbestos-containing materials in buildings, schools, and the automotive industry. Includes procedures for inspection, analysis of bulk samples, assessment of friable ACBM, response actions (removal, encapsulation, enclosure), Operations and Maintenance, and clearance air sampling. National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Subpart M - Asbestos. 40 CFR Part 61. (1990). Regulations include: definitions of friable and non-friable asbestos-containing materials; notification requirements for renovation and demolition of buildings and facilities containing ACM; work practices to prevent visible emissions; disposal of ACM and waste material in approved landfills; and operation and closure of landfills. 20T-2003 Managing Asbestos in Place: A Building Owner’s Guide to Operations and Maintenance Programs for Asbestos-Containing Materials “Green book” (1990) Guidance document covering: organizing an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) program including training O&M workers; recognizing types of O&M; work practices and precautions for O&M work. EPA-600/R-93/116 Method for the Determination of Asbestos in Bulk Building Materials (1993) Polarized Light Microscopy, Gravimetry, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy methods of identifying and quantifying asbestos fibers in bulk building materials. The identification of materials as containing asbestos is done by analysis of bulk samples, usually with Polarized Light Microscopy. The analytical procedures described and the equipment to perform the analyses is similar to that found in academic or commercial geology laboratories, but specialized training to identify and quantify asbestos fibers in bulk building materials is needed as well as quality control and proficiency testing programs. Polarized Light Microscopy, Gravimetry, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy methods of identifying and quantifying asbestos fibers in bulk building materials U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Department of Labor) (www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos) / (www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/standards.html) Occupational Exposure to Asbestos (Construction Industry Standard) 29CFR1926.1101. (1994). Regulations for: Permissible Exposure Limits of 0.1 f/cc over a full shift (8 hr time-weighted average) and short-term exposure limit of 1.0 f/ml for 30 minutes; employee exposure monitoring for compliance with the PELs; work practices for friable and non-friable ACM; respiratory protection; worker decontamination and hygiene facilities; notification of employees and other employers of employees; medical surveillance; record-keeping and training. OSHA Method ID 160 Asbestos in Air (1994). Phase Contrast Microscopy method similar to NIOSH 7400 Ontario Ministry of Labour (Canada) (www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Source/Regs/English/2005/R05278_e.htm) Ontario regulation 278/05 Designated Substance — asbestos on construction projects and in buildings and repair operations (2005). Regulations covering: respiratory protection and work procedures; inspections for asbestos; management of friable and non-friable asbestos; advance written notice; asbestos bulk sampling and analysis; glove bag requirements and procedures; negative air enclosures; and clearance air testing requirements (0.01 f/cc by Phase Contrast Microscopy). WorkSafe British Columbia (Canada) (www2.worksafebc.com/publications/OHSRegulation/Part6.asp) Part 6 Substance Specific Requirements: Asbestos. Regulations covering: identification of asbestos- containing materials; substitution with non-asbestos materials; worker training; exposure monitoring; containment and ventilation of work areas; work practices; decontamination; respirators and protective clothing. Republic of South Africa, Department of Labour (www.acts.co.za/ohs/index.htm - type ‘asbestos’ in search box) Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993; Asbestos Regulations, 2001.Regulations covering: notification; assessment and control of exposure; Occupational Exposure Limit of 0.2 f/cc - 4 hr TWA measured by Phase Contrast Microscopy; training; air monitoring; medical surveillance; non-employee exposure; respirators, personal protective equipment and facilities; asbestos building materials including asbestos cement sheeting and related products; disposal. APPENDIX 4 . SOME ALTERNATIVES TO ASBESTOS-CONTAINING PRODUCTS \| Asbestos product \| Substitute products \| \|---\|---\| \| Asbestos-cement corrugated roofing \| Fiber-cement roofing using synthetic fibers (polyvinyl alcohol, polypropylene) and vegetable/cellulose fibers (softwood kraft pulp, bamboo, sisal, coir, rattan shavings and tobacco stalks, etc.); with optional silica fume, fly ash, or rice husk ash. Microconcrete (Parry) tiles; galvanized metal sheets; clay tiles; vegetable fibers in asphalt; slate; coated metal tiles (Harveytile); aluminum roof tiles (Dekra Tile); extruded uPVC roofing sheets; recycled polypropylene and high-density polyethylene and crushed stone (Worldroof); plastic coated aluminum; plastic coated galvanized steel. \| \| Asbestos-cement flat sheet (ceilings, facades, partitions) \| Fiber-cement using vegetable/cellulose fibers (see above), wastepaper, optionally synthetic fibers; gypsum ceiling boards (BHP Gypsum); polystyrene ceilings, cornices, and partitions; façade applications in polystyrene structural walls (coated with plaster); aluminum cladding (Alucabond); brick; galvanized frame with plaster-board or calcium silicate board facing; softwood frame with plasterboard or calcium silicate board facing. \| \| Asbestos-cement pipe \| High pressure: Cast iron and ductile iron pipe; high-density polyethylene pipe; polyvinyl chloride pipe; steel-reinforced concrete pipe (large sizes); glass-reinforced polyester pipe. Low pressure: Cellulose-cement pipe; cellulose/PVA fiber-cement pipe; clay pipe; glass-reinforced polyester pipe; steel-reinforced concrete pipe (large diameter drainage). \| \| Asbestos-cement water storage tanks \| Cellulose-cement; polyethylene; fiberglass; steel; galvanized iron; PVA- cellulose fiber-cement \| \| Asbestos-cement rainwater gutters; open drains (mining industry) \| Galvanized iron; aluminum; hand-molded cellulose-cement; PVC \| APPENDIX 5 . CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKING WITH ASBESTOS MATERIALS IN EXISTING STRUCTURES A. Evaluation of alternatives 1. Determine if the project could include the installation, replacement, maintenance or demolition of: * Roofing, siding, ducts or wallboard * Thermal insulation on pipes, boilers, and ducts * Plaster or fireproofing * Resilient flooring materials * Other potentially asbestos-containing materials 2. If the use of asbestos-containing materials (ACM) has been anticipated for new construction or renovation, provide information about alternative non-asbestos materials and their availability. For new construction, determine the expected difference for the entire project— on initial and operating costs, employment, quality, expected service life, and other factors— using alternatives to ACM (including consideration of the need for imported raw materials). 3. In many cases, it can be presumed that ACM are part of the existing infrastructure that must be disturbed. If there is a need to analyze samples of existing material to see if it contains asbestos, provide information on how and where can that be arranged. 4. Once the presence of ACM in the existing infrastructure has been presumed or confirmed and their disturbance is shown to be unavoidable, incorporate the following requirements in tenders for construction work in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. B. Understanding the regulatory framework 1. Review the host country laws and regulations and the international obligations it may have entered into (e.g., ILO, Basel conventions) for controlling worker and environmental exposure to asbestos in construction work and waste disposal where ACM are present. Determine how the qualifications of contractors and workers who maintain and remove ACM are established, measured, and enforced. 2. Determine whether licensing and permitting of the work by authorities is required. 3. Review how removed ACM are to be disposed of to minimize the potential for pollution, scavenging, and reuse. 4. Incorporate the following requirements in tenders involving removal, repair, and disposal of ACM. C. Considerations and possible operational requirements related to works involving asbestos 1. Contractor qualification * Require that contractors demonstrate having experience and capability to observe international good practice standards with asbestos, including training of workers and supervisors, possession of (or means of access to) adequate equipment and supplies for the scope of envisioned works, and a record of compliance with regulations on previous work. 2. Related to the technical requirements for the works * Require that the removal, repair, and disposal of ACM shall be carried out in a way that minimizes worker and community asbestos exposure, and require the selected contractor to develop and submit a plan, subject to the engineer's acceptance, before doing so. * Describe the work in detail in plans and specifications prepared for the specific site and project, including but not limited to the following: - Containment of interior areas where removal will occur in a negative pressure enclosure; - Protection of walls, floors, and other surfaces with plastic sheeting; - Construction of decontamination facilities for workers and equipment; - Removing the ACM using wet methods, and promptly placing the material in impermeable containers; - Final clean-up with special vacuums and dismantling of the enclosure and decontamination facilities; - Disposal of the removed ACM and contaminated materials in an approved landfill; 38 - Inspection and air monitoring as the work progresses, as well as final air sampling for clearance, by an entity independent of the contractor removing the ACM. * Other requirements for specific types of ACM, configurations and characteristics of buildings or facilities, and other factors affecting the work shall be enumerated in the plans and specifications. Applicable regulations and consensus standards shall be specifically enumerated. 38 Alternative guidance for circumstances where approved landfills are not available for disposal of hazardous substances, such as asbestos, guidance is provided in the EHS General Guideline, reference above as well as in the Guideline on Waste Management Facilities. http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sustainability.nsf/ AttachmentsByTitle/gui_EHSGuidelines2007_WasteManagement/$FILE/Final+-+Waste+Management+Facilities.pdf 3. Related to the contract clauses 39 * Require that the selected contractor provide adequate protection to its personnel handling asbestos, including respirators and disposable clothing. * Require that the selected contractor notifies the relevant authorities of the removal and disposal according to applicable regulations as indicated in the technical requirements and cooperates fully with representatives of the relevant agency during all inspections and inquiries. 4. Related to training and capacity building * Determine whether specialist industrial hygiene expertise should be hired to assure that local contractors learn about and apply proper protective measures in work with ACM in existing structures. Originator: World Bank, Operations Policy and Country Services 39 Standard contract clauses for asbestos work exist but are too extensive for this short note. To view an example, the U.S. National Institute of Building Sciences "Asbestos Abatement and Management in Buildings: Model Guide Specification" has a complete set – in copyright form – and the clauses and instructions for using them fill a two-inch binder. The Republic of Union of Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ex rel. MISTY WALL, Relator, Plaintiffs, v. VISTA HOSPICE CARE, INC. d/b/a VISTACARE, and VISTACARE, INC., Defendants. § § § § § § § § § § § No. 3:07-cv-00604-M MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Before the Court are Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket Entry #235], Motion to Strike the Testimony of Dr. Kriegler [Docket Entry #229], and Motion to Strike the Testimony of Dr. Karl Steinberg [Docket Entry #232], as well as Relator's Motion to Strike the Opinion of Dr. Michael Salve [Docket Entry #246], Motion to Strike the Opinions of Drs. Bull and Hughes [Docket Entry #249], and Motion to Exclude Witnesses Pursuant to Rule 37(c)(1) [Docket Entry #254]. The Court held a hearing on the Motions on May 6, 2016. For the reasons stated on the record and in this Opinion, the Defendants' Motions to Strike the Testimony of Drs. Kriegler and Steinberg are GRANTED in part, the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, and Relator's Motions are DENIED as moot. 1 Defendants also filed objections to Relator's summary judgment evidence [Docket Entry #336]. To the extent the objections are not addressed below, they are DENIED as moot. 1 At the hearing, the Court also DENIED Defendants' Motion to Strike Sur-Rebuttal Expert Testimony [Docket Entry #233], and Motion to Strike Testimony of Elizabeth Lattanzi and Barbara Huffstetler [Docket Entry #332] and will not address those Motions here. I. BACKGROUND Relator Misty Wall brings this qui tam action on behalf of the United States for alleged violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729, et seq. ("FCA"), in connection with claims for the Medicare Hospice Benefit ("MHB"), between 2003 and 2012. Defendants Vista Hospice Care, Inc. and VistaCare, Inc. ("the VistaCare entities" or "Defendants") 2 provided hospice services in fourteen states during the relevant period, as to all of which Relator makes claims. 3 Approximately 93% of Defendants' patients are Medicare beneficiaries. Relator, a social worker employed at Defendants' Denton, Texas office from April 2003 eligible for the MHB to be certified as eligible, and then submitting claims for ineligible patients; until April 2005, claims Defendants violated the FCA by: (1) causing patients who were not (2) certifying compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute ("AKS"), while engaging in schemes to pay kickbacks to promote hospice enrollment; and (3) retaliating against Relator for lawful acts taken in furtherance of the Relator's FCA claims. Relator claims such retaliation also violated the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Relator filed suit on April 6, 2007 [Docket Entry #1]. The Court dismissed a number of Relator's claims, and Relator filed a Second Amended Complaint, asserting claims the Court had dismissed without prejudice [Docket Entry #58]. In light of new Fifth Circuit case law, the Court later granted Relator leave to reassert a claim previously dismissed with prejudice, and 2 Defendants have been acquired multiple times during this suit. Odyssey Healthcare, Inc. acquired the VistaCare entities in 2008. Gentiva Health Services acquired Odyssey in 2010, and Kindred Healthcare merged with Gentiva in early 2015. Only the VistaCare entities are named as defendants. 3 The states are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. Relator filed a Third Amended Complaint [Docket Entry #81]. On July 23, 2012, the Court dismissed more of Relator's claims [Docket Entry #91]. On August 30, 2013, Relator and Defendants jointly moved for leave for Relator to file a Fourth Amended Complaint. Other relators—Elizabeth Lattanzi and Barbara Huffstetler (nurses who had been employed by Defendants' Montgomery, Alabama location)—had filed another suit against the VistaCare entities, for alleged FCA violations that occurred after Relator's employment by the Defendants ended. The parties signed an agreement, dated August 30, 2013, by which Lattanzi and Huffstetler agreed to dismiss their case, and Defendants agreed to allow Relator to file her Fourth Amended Complaint, extending the relevant period in this case to 2012, and not to challenge Wall's status as Relator for the extended time period [Docket Entry #260, at A20]. Lattanzi and Huffstetler are not parties to this case, but they have signed an agreement with Relator that entitles them, collectively, to 35% of any recovery in this case. III. THE MEDICARE HOSPICE BENEFIT The MHB is a benefit under Medicare Part A, a 100% federally subsidized health insurance program. The MHB is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"). The MHB pays a predetermined fee, based on the type of care provided by the hospice provider, for each day an eligible patient receives hospice care. 4 The government conditions reimbursement to providers of hospice services on certification of hospice eligibility. 5 The MHB provides two 90-day benefit periods for eligible 4 That per diem payment is limited by two caps: the first limits the total amount a hospice provider can receive annually from Medicare for a particular patient, and the second limits the total amount a hospice provider can receive annually for all of its Medicare patients. 5 42 U.S.C. § 1395f. patients, followed by an unlimited number of 60-day benefit periods. 6 At the end of each period, the patient can be recertified for hospice care if the patient still meets the requirements for eligibility. 7 During the first 90 days, a hospice provider must obtain a written certification that the patient is "terminally ill" from (1) the hospice medical director or a physician in the hospice interdisciplinary group ("IDG"), 8 and (2) the individual's attending physician (if any). 9 For subsequent periods, certification of terminal illness may be from either the hospice medical director or a physician in the hospice IDG. 10 The hospice provider is to obtain the written certification "at the beginning of the period," 11 and "must obtain the written certification before it submits a claim for payment." 12 The regulations provide that "[i]f the hospice cannot obtain the written certification within 2 calendar days, after a period begins, it must obtain an oral certification within 2 calendar days and the written certification before it submits a claim for payment." 13 A patient is terminally ill when "the individual has a medical prognosis that his or her life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course." 14 The attending physician and medical director must certify that the patient is terminally ill based on their clinical judgment of normal course of the patient's illness. 15 "Clinical information and other documentation that support the medical prognosis must accompany the certification and must be filed in the medical 6 42 U.S.C. § 1395d(a)(4). 7 Id. § 1395f(a)(7). 8 The IDG must include at least one physician, one registered professional nurse, one social worker employed by the agency or organization, and at least one pastoral or other counselor. 42 C.F.R. § 418.56. 9 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7)(A)(i). The attending physician is a physician, who may or may not be employed by the hospice, "whom the individual identifies as having the most significant role in the determination and delivery of medical care to the individual at the time the individual makes an election to receive hospice care." 42 U.S.C. § 1395x(dd)(3)(B). 10 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7)(A)(ii). 11 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7)(A). 12 42 C.F.R. § 418.22. 13 42 C.F.R. § 418.22. 14 42 U.S.C. § 1395x(dd)(3)(A); 42 C.F.R. § 418.3. 15 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7). record . . . . Initially, the clinical information may be provided verbally, and must be documented in the medical record and included as part of the hospice's eligibility assessment." 16 The certification also must include a narrative description of the patient, and the certifying physician must "confirm[ ] that he/she composed the narrative based on his/her review of the patient's medical record or, if applicable, his/her examination of the patient." 17 "[E]ligibility for hospice services under the [MHB] has always been based on the prognosis of the individual, not [the] diagnosis . . . ." 18 The prognosis takes into account the diagnoses and all other things that relate to a patient's life expectancy. 19 Thus, "the medical director must consider the primary terminal condition, related diagnoses, current subjective and objective medical findings, current medication and treatment orders, and information about unrelated conditions when considering the initial certification of the terminal illness." 20 CMS recognizes that prognostication is "uncertain" and not "an exact science." In a Program Memorandum to Intermediaries/Carriers, CMS has stated: Recognizing that prognoses can be uncertain and may change, Medicare's benefit is not limited in terms of time. Hospice care is available as long as the patient's prognosis meets the law's six month test. This test is a general one. As the governing statute says: "The certification of terminal illness of an individual who elects hospice shall be based on the physician's or medical director's clinical judgment regarding the normal course of the individual's illness." CMS recognizes that making medical prognostication of life expectancy is not always an exact science. Thus, physicians need not be concerned. There is no risk to a physician about certifying an individual for hospice care that he or she believes to be terminally ill. 21 16 42 C.F.R. § 418.22. 17 418.22(b)(3)(iii). 18 78 Fed. Reg. 48234, 48245 (Aug. 7, 2013). 19 78 Fed. Reg. 48234, 48245–46. 20 73 Fed. Reg. 32088, 32138 (June 5, 2008); 42 C.F.R. § 418.25(b) ("In reaching a decision to certify that the patient is terminally ill, the hospice medical director must consider at least the following information: (1) Diagnosis of the terminal condition of the patient; (2) Other health conditions, whether related or unrelated to the terminal condition; (3) Current clinically relevant information supporting all diagnoses."). 21 Program Memorandum Intermediaries/Carriers, Subject: Provider Education Article, CMS-Pub. 60AB (Mar. 28, 2003) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7)) (A1275-81). CMS has not created clinical benchmarks that must be satisfied to certify a patient as terminally ill. In 2008, CMS announced a rule specifying what a hospice medical director "must consider" in making an initial certification. 22 CMS initially proposed a rule labeling considerations as "criteria," but removed that word, explaining: In the proposed rule, we called [areas to consider] "criteria," and we believe that this term may have been the source of commenter concern. Our intent was to ensure that medical directors carefully examine all relevant information that is gathered about the patient before making this determination . . . . We have removed the term "criteria" in order to remove any implication that there are specific CMS clinical benchmarks in this rule that must be met in order to certify terminal illness. 23 CMS guidance also states that a patient who stabilizes or improves may nevertheless remain eligible for hospice care. [B]eneficiaries in the terminal stage of their illness that originally qualify for the [MHB] but stabilize or improve while receiving hospice care, yet have a reasonable expectation of continued decline for a life expectancy of less than 6 months, remain eligible for hospice care. The [hospice medical director] must assess and evaluate the full clinical picture of the Medicare hospice beneficiary to make the determination whether the beneficiary still has a medical prognosis of 6 months or less, regardless of whether the beneficiary has stabilized or improved. 24 See also 75 Fed. Reg. 70372, 70448 (Nov. 17, 2010) ("A patient's condition may temporarily improve with hospice care."); 74 Fed. Reg. 39384, 39399 (Aug. 6, 2009) ("We also acknowledge that at recertification, not all patients may show measurable decline."). CMS administers Medicare through Medicare Administrative Contractors ("MACs"), private companies that process and pay Medicare claims. MACs issue Local Coverage 22 42 C.F.R. § 418.102(b) ("The physician must consider the following when making this determination: (1) The primary terminal condition; (2) Related diagnosis(es), if any; (3) Current subjective and objective medical findings; (4) Current medication and treatment orders; and (5) Information about the medical management of any of the patient's conditions unrelated to the terminal illness."). 23 73 Fed. Reg. 32088, 32138 (June 5, 2008). 24 79 Fed. Reg. 50452, 50471 (Aug. 22, 2014) (emphasis added). Determinations ("LCDs"), which are "administrative and educational tools to assist providers in submitting correct claims," and they also give "guidance to the public and medical community." 25 Each LCD covers only a specific geographical area, 26 and LCDs specify different clinical criteria depending on the primary terminal diagnosis of the patient. Meeting the clinical criteria in LCDs for the patient's primary diagnosis is one path to eligibility under the MHB, but hospices may "otherwise demonstrate to the [MAC] that the patient has a terminal prognosis." 27 Thus, although a patient may not meet an LCD's criteria for a primary diagnosis, evidence of terminal decline or other comorbidities, like additional diagnoses, could justify a prognosis of less than six months. 28 Hospice providers use various clinical tools to document eligibility, specifically the Functional Assessment Staging Scale ("FAST"), the Palliative Performance Scale ("PPS"), and Mid-Arm Circumference ("MAC"). The FAST scoring, generally used for Alzheimer's and dementia patients, ranges from one to seven, with one indicating fully functional, and seven representing complete loss of function. 29 The PPS also measures functionality, with 100% representing fully functional, and 0% death. 30 MAC is used to measure a decline in weight. CMS does not require particular FAST or PPS scores or a change in MAC for eligibility, and the 25 Medicare Program Integrity Manual, Ch. 13.1.3, available at https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/pim83c13.pdf. 26 The MACs at issue here are Palmetto GBA and National Government Services ("NGS"). See Kriegler Report, Def. Appx. at 524. 27 Steinberg Report, Rel. Appx. at 8. The parties agree that, at least under the LCDs at issue, failure to meet criteria in an LCD does not mean a patient is ineligible. See Resp. to Mot. for Summary J. [Docket Entry #302-1] at 3 (referring to LCDs as "guidance" and "a key tool."); Steinberg Rebuttal Report, Rel. Appx. at 497–98 ("If the patient met the LCDs, in general I found them to be per se eligible. . . . I concluded in some cases that patients could be eligible even when they clearly did not meet the LCDs after looking at the patient's decline, comorbidities, and other clinical factors."); Steinberg Depo, Docket Entry #239-2, at A 973 (stating that LCDs are "guidelines," are "not requirements," and patients "definitely can" be eligible for the MHB if they do not satisfy all the criteria in an LCD). 28 Def. Appx. at 972–73. 29 Steinberg Report, Rel. Appx. at 8–9. 30 Id. parties agree that, although some LCDs use such scores to determine automatic coverage, they are not necessary for eligibility. As Relator's expert acknowledged, determination of terminal illness is not based on any set of clinical benchmarks. 31 In order to receive the MHB, an eligible patient must file an election statement acknowledging that the patient "has been given a full understanding of the palliative rather than curative nature of hospice care, as it relates to the individual's terminal illness." 32 Palliative care is "patient and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering" and "involves addressing physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and . . . facilitat[ing] patient autonomy, access to information, and choice." 33 The election must also acknowledge that "certain Medicare services" are waived by the election, namely "Medicare services that are related to the treatment of the terminal condition for which hospice care was elected or a related condition," except for services provided by the designated hospice or the individual's attending physician. 34 As long as a particular treatment does not extend a patient's life expectancy beyond six months, the regulations do not specify that the decision to receive any treatment renders a patient ineligible. An election of hospice care continues through the initial election period and through subsequent election periods without a break in care as long as the individual: (1) remains in the care of a hospice; (2) does not revoke the election; and (3) is not discharged. 35 A patient is free to revoke the election of the MHB at any time and for any reason. 36 31 Steinberg Depo., Docket Entry #239-2, at A 973–94. 32 42 C.F.R. § 418.24. 33 42 C.F.R. § 418.3. 34 42 C.F.R. § 418.24; see also 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(a)(1)(c) ("[N]o payment may be made . . . for any expenses incurred for items or services . . . in the case of hospice care, which are not reasonable and necessary for the palliation or management of terminal illness."). 35 42 C.F.R. § 418.24. 36 42 C.F.R. § 418.28. IV. RELATOR'S EVIDENCE Relator's evidence consists of: (1) documents and testimony alleged to establish "a culture of admitting and maintaining patients who were ineligible for hospice," including depositions of Wall, Lattanzi, Huffstetler, and some of Defendants' other employees, who describe pressure allegedly imposed on them and others to falsify information in patient charts, which allegedly resulted in such information being falsified, and physicians certifying patients without reviewing patient files; 37 (2) a report by Relator's expert, Dr. Steinberg, a hospice physician, summarizing his review of 291 patient files and conclusion that a large percentage of those patients were not eligible for the MHB for at least some days they were on the MHB, because they did not have a prognosis of six months or less; and (3) a report by Dr. Kriegler, Relator's expert statistician, in which he extrapolates from Dr. Steinberg's report to draw conclusions about the number of false claims submitted for approximately 12,000 patients. A. DEFENDANTS' BUSINESS PRACTICES AND CULTURE 1. "Open Access" Policy Relator points to Defendants' "Open Access" philosophy, arguing "VistaCare educated its employees to admit patients 'early' in their illness, thereby extending the period of time during which a patient could receive the benefits of hospice care." 38 Relator notes that hospice providers with open access philosophies are the most profitable providers, and that Defendants adopted the philosophy in part to increase profits. Defendants admit they hoped to have a profitable business, but claim they did not admit patients before they reached eligibility, instead attempting to enroll patients as soon as they were eligible. Indeed, Defendants advertised the 37 Relator also points to evidence which does not appear relevant to any false claim, specifically, evidence that Defendants withdrew expensive services from patients after enrollment and encouraged patients to revoke hospice care if they wanted to pursue expensive treatments. 38 Resp. at 5. Case 3:07-cv-00604-M Document 408 Filed 06/20/16 Page 10 of 53 PageID 29357 Open Access philosophy as a "philosophy of care . . . that accepts all eligible patients, regardless 39 of medical complexity, hope for recovery, environment of care, or financial restrictions." Defendants claim that, because CMS pays a per diem regardless of the cost of services, some providers would not admit patients with expensive care needs, while Defendants would admit 40 such patients. 2. Admitting Patients Before Determining Eligibility Relator alleges Defendants had a policy of admitting patients prior to determining their eligibility, with the intention of discharging ineligible patients before the first benefit period expired. Wall testified, "I was often told to admit people, and we will determine eligibility later," 41 and Dr. Priscu, a contract doctor at the Indianapolis location, stated that he believed "it came from corporate that [nurses] were supposed to admit the patient and then we would determine eligibility very soon thereafter," 42 and that, as a result, he "was recommending discharge on an awful lot of patients that had been admitted whenever, a day before, three days before." 43 Lattanzi testified that, during her training, she watched "a computer module on eligibility that said it's okay to admit people who are not eligible because we can watch them." 44 She claimed bills were submitted for such patients, but later admitted she "[was]n't involved in billing" and "did not know the specifics of billing" and that she believed bills were submitted for those patients because it "just makes sense." 45 Lattanzi's conclusion regarding the submission of bills is inadmissible as speculative, and not based on personal knowledge, and thus will not be considered on the pending motions. 39 Resp. at 5–6 (emphasis added). 40 Id. 41 Rel. Appx. at 1673. 42 Id. at 2109. 43 Id. at 2111. 44 Id. at 1934–40. 45 Id. at 1941–42. 10 Charlene Ross, a former VistaCare compliance officer, stated the company "would say [to] admit a patient . . . if you found the patient, based on the referral, based on the verbal certification of the physician, prognosis was six months or less," but if after additional observation employees concluded "that the patient wasn't eligible," to discharge the patient. 46 Relator claims that, because of this policy, Defendants were submitting claims for ineligible patients, pointing to a 2006 email in which one of Defendants' employees advised Ross, "[t]he sites have been instructed that when in doubt they can admit the patient and then if after two months the patient is not eligible, do a [Discharge Medically Ineligible ("DMI")]." Ross responded: We should always err on the side of a patient when admitting to hospice. VistaCare has a standard of 7 days to help as a guideline to determine on best judgment if the patient is eligible or not on admission. It is to give us time to gather the necessary supporting information for eligibility. If we feel at that time that the patient does not meet eligibility, then we discharge and do not bill Medicare. However, our assessment for eligibility should be ongoing, not to wait for 2 months and then decide. . . . In general, the supporting documentation does not have to be present prior to admission. However, you do have to obtain documentation which goes back to our standard of 7 days to finalize our determination of admission eligibility. 47 Ross explained Defendants' policy in her deposition, saying: [T]here's shades of gray related to eligibility. And our philosophy was to err on the side of the patient. If the physician believed the patient had [a] prognosis of six months or less, they would admit them because the physicians gave us our certification. And then we would gather the information to help support it. 48 In a 2004 email, VistaCare CEO Richard Slager explained VistaCare's policy to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Chamberlain: If a patient is eligible, we should take them in. If the eligibility is gray, we want to error [sic] on the side of the patient (in all sites). Morally, ethically 46 Rel. Appx. at 1305. 47 Rel. Appx. at 1479–80. 48 Rel. Appx. at 1309. and philosophically I believe that this is the right thing to do. I would rather find myself on the side of the patient th[a]n on the side of refusing a patient who is in the vast gray zone of hospice eligibility. . . . When someone is brought to our door that is in the gray zone, our question should be how is this person eligible, help me legitimately build a case for eligibility, not the reverse. . . . I would never advocate taking on an ineligible patient, but I'd hate even more denying eligibility to someone who if we just dug a little deeper, asked the right questions, physically visited with the patient or listened more attentively to the attending physician or our gut, we would find to be eligible. 49 3. Policy for Discharging Patients Relator claims that Defendants knowingly kept ineligible patients on hospice by making it difficult to discharge them. Hospice providers may discharge patients based on (1) a patient's choice to move to another hospice or to revoke the MHB, (2) because the patient is dangerous or disruptive, or (3) because the patient is not eligible for the MHB. 50 Relator points to a 2004 email, from Dr. Chamberlain to Defendants' Chief Compliance Officer, Roseanne Berry, stating, "[w]e have an excellent live discharge process in place that gives the patient two and often three or four reviews before the live discharge takes place." 51 From his review of corporate documents, Relator's expert, Dr. Steinberg, concluded that several weeks before it was time to recertify a patient for eligibility, a nurse employed by Defendants would review the patient's condition, and, if the nurse was not sure whether the patient was eligible, the nurse would discuss the patient's condition with the attending physician "to determine if there [wa]s additional support for eligibility." 52 Then, if the patient appeared ineligible, his or her records would be sent to the Medical Review Team, which could "direct [nurses] to assess the patient's eligibility under other diagnos[e]s, suggest a diagnostic or 49 Rel. Appx. at 2601. 50 42 C.F.R. § 418.26. 51 Rel. Appx. 2602. 52 Rel. Appx at 29–30 laboratory test, or recommend a visit from [a] Medical Director for further evaluation. . . . to ensure that all eligible patients receive[d] the hospice benefit they deserve[d]." 53 A patient's medical records would then be reviewed by the Defendants' Area or Regional Medical Director and, in some cases, by Area Vice Presidents and Executive Directors. 54 An email sent by a Medical Clinical Review Advisor to Ross stated that review by an Area Medical Director significantly increased percentages of patients found eligible. 55 4. Training on Charting and Prognoses Relator claims Defendants trained their staff to use charting practices to make ineligible patients appear eligible for the MHB. VistaCare's Care Process Guideline stated that "documentation should justify that the patient is terminally ill with a prognosis of 6 months or less. . . . Compile forms in the patient's medical record that will assist in supporting eligibility," and that, "on each visit, [Defendants' employees were to] document information related to the patient's terminal diagnosis." 56 The form instructed employees not to use vague or general terms, using as examples terms that would undermine eligibility—e.g., "stable," "having a great day," and "offers no complaints." 57 VistaCare's Admission Eligibility Worksheet stated that users should paint a picture of the person and factors contributing to a limited prognosis. 58 Lattanzi testified that "they teach you . . . in orientation how that note needs to be written. They tell you to 'paint a picture of eligibility.'" 59 She claimed that, when filling out patient evaluations, "[y]ou couldn't make statements like ['stable,' or 'no change' or 'doing well']." 60 53 Id. (quoting Phyllis Rust, RN, former head of the Medical Review Team). 54 Id. 55 Id. at 30. 56 Id. at 932–33. 57 Id. at 582–85, 932. 58 Id. at 38–40, 1318. 59 Id. at 1806–07. 60 Id. 1861–62. Relator also cites a presentation given by VistaCare's Chief Medical Director, Dr. John Manfredonia, at VistaCare's Western Regional Medical Directors Symposium, on January 20, 2017, which included a slide stating ">90% of prognoses are over-estimated; Greater than half the time, life expectancy is over-estimated by more than twice the observed life span; Based on this, if a clinician feels an individual's life expectancy is: 6 months, it is likely considerably shorter; 12 months, true life expectancy likely meets the HMB definition." 61 5. Employee Testimony Regarding Falsifying Medical Records As a social worker, Wall was a member of the IDG, and claims she "weighed in on admissions and a patient's eligibility." 62 She claims physicians at the Denton location knowingly "allowed ineligible patients to be admitted to hospice and maintained on hospice" 63 and says that in IDG meetings, employees "routinely" discussed withdrawing services from ineligible patients to see if they "bec[a]me eligible once they deteriorated." 64 She alleges that IDG meetings sometimes took place, and patients would be certified, with no medical director present, although she did not personally witness this conduct, and could not associate it with any claim or patient. 65 She claims an admissions coordinator forged a physician's signature on a certification for one identified patient, but did not witness this conduct, and testified that she had no knowledge of whether the certification was subsequently approved by a physician or whether a claim was submitted for the patient. 66 Regarding specific patients, Wall alleges a patient, J.M., was admitted with a primary diagnosis of breast cancer, but Defendants did not simultaneously obtain records supporting the 61 Id. at 1100. 62 Id. at 1676–77. 63 Id. at 1630, 1636–37. 64 Id. at 1695. 65 Id. at 1702–06. 66 Id. at 1710–17 14 diagnosis, and two years later received records showing J.M. did not have cancer. 67 Wall does not know who certified the patient as eligible, whether the patient had an attending physician, or where the referral came from. 68 She also claims another patient, P.G., was admitted for an unverified terminal cancer diagnosis, that patient C.B. was admitted to the MHB, but did not meet LCD criteria for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and that patient G.G. was admitted to the MHB, despite not meeting certain criteria for dementia. 69 Lattanzi and Huffstetler testified that they falsified patient records when instructed to do so by Defendants' supervisors, and that doctors relied on those false records to certify patients as eligible for the MHB. As a result, they claim ineligible patients were regularly admitted and maintained on hospice. Specifically, they allege that the Montgomery, Alabama patient care manager, executive director, and quality assurance nurse routinely placed sticky notes on patients' paperwork, instructing them to change data in patient evaluations. 70 Huffstetler testified she was "forced to change information" and changed PPS and FAST scores "all the time" to make patients "look more eligible," 71 and that she "couldn't begin to count the number[ ] of times that [her] paperwork was returned [for her to change it] both as a case manager and especially as the admissions nurse." 72 She recalled one instance where she "scored [a patient as an 80 on the PPS scale] from objective material, and [a supervisor] . . . said to change it to 50 percent. [The physician] said it will not go as a certification unless it is under 50 67 Id. at 1722–29. 68 Id. at 1726. 69 Id. at 1731–36, 40–44. 70 Rel. Appx. 1561–63; 1509–10 ("I would get my admissions paperwork back with sticky notes, 'Change this. Change that.' I had IDG meetings where the physician would say, 'the PPS has got to be lower than this.' I would score it as an 80 or a 60, and [the supervisor] would make me drop it to a 50, and the doctor told me, 'they won't admit on a 50 PPS. It's got to be lower,' so, [the supervisor] . . . told me 'Change your paperwork. Make it work.'"); Rel. Appx. 1806–07. 71 Rel. Appx. 1584, 1518. 72 Rel. Appx. 1509. percent. . . . So, [the supervisor] said, 'Change your paperwork." 73 Huffstetler claims she then reduced the PPS score, but cannot remember if she told the physician she did so. She alleged another patient was admitted even though the patient was "with it all the way around mentally, physically," and she described an instance where a patient was discussed in an IDG meeting and recertified, although the nurse responsible for that patient was not present and had not completed an assessment of the patient. 74 Lattanzi also claimed she was "told to change . . . objective data on a visit so it looks like someone's eligible" and to "make these people look really bad so we get payment." 75 She alleged "you'd say something about a patient, about them being ineligible, and [a supervisor] would kind of just say 'make it work.' And what 'make it work' meant was make that paperwork [meet LCD guidelines]." 76 As a result, she says the physicians got "bad information . . . . we fed it to [the physician] and he signed it." 77 Lattanzi also claims one of the Montgomery physicians "would sign anything." 78 6. Focus on Census Relator claims Defendants placed pressure on employees to certify patients in order to meet admissions and census goals for the number of patients admitted or on hospice during a particular time. In support, she points to evidence that, during the relevant period, Defendants had a live discharge rate that was approximately twice the national average, 79 which, according 73 Rel. Appx. 1519. 74 Rel. Appx. 1506–07. 75 Rel. Appx. 1928. 76 Id. at 1809. 77 Id. at 1788, 1802. 78 Id. at 1907, 1960, 1962–64. 79 Id. at 27–28. to an email from Defendants' regional medical director, was due to "the pressure on the sites to convert high percentages of referrals to admissions." 80 7. Employee Bonuses for Referrals Relator presents evidence that Defendants offered financial incentives to all classes of its employees to generate admissions and retain patients, by paying bonuses to employees for meeting admission and census goals. These programs most frequently rewarded salespeople, but sometimes rewarded all staff. For example, the 2004 "Growth Incentive Plan" provided cash incentives to all site employees if the site reached a "target goal" for new admissions. 81 Site executive directors received $1000 for hitting the admissions quota, and $75 for each additional admission, and admission coordinators would receive $500 for reaching the quota, and $50 for each additional admission. 82 A "March Madness" plan awarded $500 weekend getaways to the top executive directors, area vice presidents, and regional vice presidents in each region who exceeded admissions goals for the month, while a "Spring Madness" promotion awarded the same to patient care managers and admissions coordinators at sites in each area achieving the highest average compared to the plan for achieving admissions goals over three months. 83 These policies were apparently instituted, despite the expressed discomfort of Defendants' compliance personnel with paying bonuses to clinical staff. With reference to Defendants' program called "Shooting for the Stars," in which employees could receive $25 gift cards for referring eligible patients, Chief Compliance Officer Roseanne Berry stated she "was not comfortable with providing a one for one gift to . . . employees [for] bringing in an 80 Id. at 1250. 81 Id. at 2611. 82 Id. Relator claims that some hospice medical directors were employees and would have also received bonuses, but does not produce competent evidence to that effect. See Rel. Br. [Docket Entry #302-1] at 18 n. 108 (stating that "Wall testified that she had been told on more than one occasion that VistaCare medical directors received a bonus based on maintenance of average daily census"). 83 Rel. Appx. 945–52; see also Rel. Br. [Docket Entry #302-1] at 18–22 admission. A pizza party for the team, okay. Movie tickets for the team, okay. One for one, not so okay." 84 Meeting notes from a 2006 meeting of Defendants' Compliance Committee also confirm that Committee members were concerned that rewarding non-sales staff for individual referrals could be a "conflict of interest" that might "encourage inappropriate behaviors." 85 Relator claims these bonuses caused employees to falsify patient records to get ineligible patients certified. 86 However, Relator does not identify any ineligible patient who was enrolled so that an employee could get a bonus, nor does she provide testimony from an employee who falsified information to get a bonus. 87 Huffstetler and Lattanzi concluded, in testimony Relator tendered, that supervisors in the Montgomery office were rewarded with bonuses for admitting patients, but this testimony is based on hearsay and speculation from the spending habits of supervisors in the Montgomery office that they received bonuses. 88 That speculation is not admissible. 8. Gifts to Referral Sources Relator claims Defendants also rewarded their external referral sources. Wall testified she saw referral sources being given gift certificates, "swag," and lunches, 89 and corporate documents state that referral sources could be given $25 gift certificates, fresh cookies, and "golf kits." 90 In one marketing initiative, referral sources who completed a survey were entered into a raffle to win a $100 gift card. 91 Quarterly Sales Planners of Defendants budgeted for a happy hour, ladies tea, and quarterly luncheon for residents and staff at a nursing home. 92 84 Rel. Appx. 1192 – 95; Rel. Appx. 940. 85 Id. at 720–22. 86 Wall Depo. at 173, Rel. Appx. 1674. 87 See Rel. Appx. 1567. 88 Rel. Appx. 1567–69, 1884–89. 89 Rel. Appx. 1679. 90 Rel. Appx. 1167–68. 91 Rel. Appx. at 954. 92 Rel. Appx. 2452. B. EXPERT TESTIMONY 1. Dr. Kriegler Dr. Kriegler, a statistician, identified a patient population ("the Population"), defined as: (1) VistaCare patients who were discharged on or after January 1, 2004 and admitted on or before December 31, 2012; and (2) on hospice for a total of at least 365 days. Of the approximately 700,000 patients who received services from Defendants during the relevant time, approximately 12,000 met these parameters and were included in the Population. 93 Dr. Kriegler categorized patients in the Population into three strata based on their discharge dates: before Odyssey acquired Defendants ("the VistaCare period"), after the Odyssey acquisition ("the Odyssey period"), and after the Gentiva acquisition ("the Gentiva period"). Dr. Kriegler then selected a stratified sample of 291 patients for Dr. Steinberg to evaluate ("the Sample"). 94 Dr. Kriegler extrapolated from Dr. Steinberg's analysis to form an opinion as to the total number of claims submitted by Defendants for the approximately 12,000 patients in the Population that were false. 95 2. Dr. Steinberg Dr. Steinberg, a practicing geriatrician, hospice and palliative care specialist and family physician, (1) provided an overview of the hospice industry; (2) reviewed Defendants' policies and practices, including their "Open Access" policy, training on charting, and live discharge 93 Hr'g Tr. at 11. 94 In selecting a stratified sample, a statistician divides a population into subpopulations and draws a sample from each subpopulation. Here, Dr. Kriegler initially randomly selected a small sample from each period, and requested that Defendants provide files for those patients. Defendants were not able to locate and produce some of the requested files. A greater number of missing files were from the VistaCare period than from the other two periods. As Dr. Kriegler explained, when a population contains such missing units, a non-stratified sample may include "over-representation from certain sub-groups and under-representation from others" which may lead to "biased inferences about the whole population." Kriegler Rept. at 16-31, Def. Appx. 513–517. Thus, Dr. Kriegler chose to select a stratified sample. Id. 95 291 is approximately 2.4% of 12,000. Dr. Kriegler selected the sample size based on the resources available, but says it is "well beyond the minimum sample size criteria that statistics textbooks recommend." Kriegler Rept. at 5– 6, Def. Appx. 501–02. policy; (3) offered the opinion that these policies likely affected eligibility determinations, leading to the submission of false claims; and (3) reviewed files for patients in the Sample and offered an opinion on whether the patients were eligible for the MHB, concluding that more than 90% of them were not eligible for at least some days they were receiving hospice care from Defendants. Dr. Steinberg offered one opinion on eligibility, applying standards he claimed a neutral third-party reviewer, such as a reviewer from the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, would use to review claims (which he also characterized as "how a reasonably prudent hospice" would review patients). Then, he offered a second "broader" and more "lenient" view of each patient's chart, "giving VistaCare the benefit of the doubt, and making all assumptions in VistaCare's favor," which he characterized as an opinion on when no reasonable physician could determine a patient was eligible. 96 Relator alleges that all claims were false that were submitted for a patient during a time when no reasonable physician could have concluded the patient was eligible for hospice. Dr. Steinberg stated that "other than the life expectancy of six months or less," he is not aware of any clinical benchmarks that must be used to determine whether a patient is terminally ill. 97 To determine eligibility, he considered a variety of factors. He testified that, "focus[ing] on the clinical question of whether or not patients met eligibility requirements for hospice services on the basis of their medical conditions and their stated or apparent goals of care," 98 he: assessed each case objectively, keeping in mind not only the regulatory framework, standard practice and local coverage determinations for hospice 96 Steinberg Rep. at 40; Steinberg Depo. at 967 ("As a general statement . . . reasonable clinicians/physicians can disagree about things and not necessarily be wrong. . . I gave sort of what a reasonably prudent hospice would do, and then I kind of extended that to, like, you know, the absolute at which, you know, my more liberal eligibility periods were that which no reasonable clinician would—would think that person was hospice eligible."). 97 Steinberg Depo. at 972 98 Steinberg Rept. at 42. eligibility (LCDs . . . ) but also the practical, real-life issues involved in the day-to-day operations of a hospice[, and] . . . the evolution of hospice standards for eligibility and retention on service. 99 V. ANALYSIS A. MOTION TO STRIKE RELATOR'S STATISTICAL EXPERT Relator claims Dr. Kriegler's sampling and extrapolation is sufficient to show both damages and liability for the Population, because Dr. Kriegler's proposed testimony is the only evidence regarding those patients and claims. The Court is not persuaded that Dr. Kriegler's extrapolation evidence is reliable and consequently will not rely on, or allow testimony about, conclusions Dr. Kriegler reached through such extrapolation. In this context, statistical sampling of the type done by Dr. Kriegler (and assisted by Dr. Steinberg's analysis), cannot establish liability for fraud in submitting claims for ineligible patients, as the underlying determination of eligibility for hospice is inherently subjective, patient-specific, and dependent on the judgment of involved physicians. Even if extrapolation could support a False Claims Act claim for submitting MHB claims for patients with greater than six month prognoses, the facts do not justify such extrapolation here. "[T]he essence of inferential statistics is that one may confidently draw inferences about the whole from a representative sample of the whole." United States v. Pena, 532 F. App'x 517, 520 (5th Cir. 2013). As a general matter, "the applicability of the science of inferential statistics has long been recognized by the courts." Id. (citing In re Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 109 F.3d 1016, 1017 (5th Cir. 1997)). However, extrapolation is not always appropriate. The permissibility of statistical sampling turns on "the degree to which the evidence is reliable in proving or disproving the elements of the relevant cause of action." Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 136 99 Id. at 40. S. Ct. 1036, 1046 (2016); see In re Chevron U.S.A., Inc. 109 F.3d at 1017 (disapproving of a trial court's plan in a mass tort action to hold a trial on thirty selected cases and extrapolate liability to 3,000 plaintiffs, because the trial court did not "explain how the verdicts in the thirty (30) selected cases are supposed to resolve liability for the remaining 2970 plaintiffs" and did not identify "variables . . . that will impact on both the property and personal injury claims in this litigation"). Where the nature of the claim requires an individualized determination, that determination cannot be replaced by "Trial by Formula." Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 367 (2011) (rejecting plaintiffs' attempt to establish liability by selecting a random sample of class members "as to whom liability for sex discrimination . . . would be determined" and applying the "percentage of claims determined to be valid . . . to the entire remaining class"). No circuit has resolved whether statistical sampling and extrapolation can be used to establish liability in an FCA case where falsity depends on individual physicians' judgment regarding individual patients. 100 A district court, however, recently rejected such extrapolation in a case similar to this one. In U.S. ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Cmty., Inc., claims were alleged to be false because patients were not eligible for the MHB, and the court held, on a discovery motion, that statistical sampling and extrapolation could not be used to establish liability. 2015 WL 3903675, at 2 (D.S.C. June 25, 2015). 101 Because "each and every claim at 100 Extrapolation has been used to establish damages in FCA cases. See U.S. v. Fadul, 2013 WL 781614, at 14 (D. Md. Feb. 28, 2013). It has also been used in administrative decisions regarding overpayments on Medicare claims and to establish liability in cases where the defendant has consented to its use. See U.S. v. Krizek, 859 F. Supp. 5, 7 (D.D.C. 1994); United States ex. rel. Loughren v. UnumProvident Corp., 604 F.Supp.2d 259 (D. Mass. 2009). One court allowed extrapolation to prove liability at the default judgment stage. United States v. Cabrera–Diaz, 106 F. Supp. 2d 234, 234 (D.P.R. 2000). These cases are distinguishable. To show liability, unlike damages, a relator must meet each element of an FCA claim. Life Care Centers of Am., Inc., 114 F. Supp. 3d at 563. Using statistical sampling to determine overpayment amounts in administrative cases is explicitly authorized by the overpayment statute, but not by the FCA. Id. at 562–63 (citing 42 U.S.C. § 1395ddd(f)(3)). In cases where defendants consented to extrapolation, there is no basis for assuming there was a court analysis, and thus, those cases are not instructive. Extrapolation from sampling may also be appropriate where the evidence establishes that a defendant's objective approach was similar in all cases, making the sample a reasonable basis for extrapolation to the whole. That is not the case here. 101 This decision is on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. U.S. ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Cmty., Inc., 15-2145. issue" was "fact-dependent and wholly unrelated to each and every other claim," and determining eligibility for "each of the patients involved a highly fact-intensive inquiry involving medical testimony after a thorough review of the detailed medical chart of each individual patient," the court found the case was not "suited for statistical sampling." Id. at 2, 8. See also United States v. Medco Phys. Unlimited, No. 98-C-1622, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5843, at 23 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 15, 2000) (on motion for summary judgment, rejecting extrapolation of expert's findings from a sixteen-claim sample to support a conclusion that every claim defendant submitted to Medicare was fraudulent and noting lack of "case law or other authority to support such a request"). Some district courts have allowed extrapolation in similar circumstances. See United States v. Life Care Centers of Am., Inc., 114 F. Supp. 3d 549, 556 (E.D. Tenn. 2014); United States v. Robinson, 2015 WL 1479396, at 5–6 (E.D. Ky. Mar. 31, 2015); United States v. AseraCare Inc., 2015 WL 8486874 (N.D. Ala. Dec. 4, 2014). 102 Only AseraCare is a case involving hospice care. The question here is not whether Defendants provided services that were reasonable and necessary, but whether, "based on the physician's or medical director's clinical judgment regarding the normal course of the individual's illness" a patient had a life expectancy of 6 months or less. 103 Although Life Care and Robinson involved the clinical picture of individual patients, they did not require examination of the subjective clinical judgment of a number of certifying physicians applying the "uncertain," "change[able]," and "[in]exact 102 In U.S. ex rel. Ruckh v. Genoa Healthcare, LLC, a case involving upcoding at rehabilitation centers, the relator moved in limine to admit evidence of a statistical sample that had not yet been created. 11-cv-01303-SMD-TBM (M.D. Fla. Apr. 28, 2015). Citing LifeCare and Robinson, the court rejected the defendant's position that a sample could never be used to demonstrate falsity in an FCA case. The opinion does not contain a detailed significant analysis, but relies on citations to the cases described above, and simply defers ruling on the admissibility of extrapolation in that case until the evidence can be considered. 103 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7). science" involved in predicting an individual's life expectancy. 104 Robinson is further distinguishable, because the defendant was a single optometrist, so extrapolation was not used to make determinations about numerous physicians at multiple locations. To the extent these cases are not distinguishable from this case, this Court disagrees with their conclusions if they stand for the proposition that sampling and extrapolation are always reliable, regardless of the nature of the data and the nature of the claim. The Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit have made clear that sampling and extrapolation cannot always be used to prove liability, and courts are required to engage in a particularized analysis of the whether extrapolation from a particular data set can reliably prove the elements of the specific claim. See Dukes, 564 U.S. at 367; In re Chevron U.S.A., Inc. 109 F.3d at 1017. In Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), the Supreme Court acknowledged that, "[i]n many cases, a representative sample is the only practicable means to collect and present relevant data establishing a defendant's liability." Id. at 1046. But Tyson Foods concluded that the permissibility of statistical sampling turns on "the degree to which the evidence is reliable in proving or disproving the elements of the relevant cause of action." Id. Here, Relator's statistical evidence is not reliable in proving that false claims were submitted. 105 Further, statistical evidence was not the only practicable means to present data establishing Defendants' liability. Relator declined to evaluate the claims for the 12,000 patients in issue. If individual review of each chart were impractical, Relator was not required to pursue all potential false claims submitted in fourteen states over nearly a decade, of which she did not have personal 104 Program Memorandum Intermediaries/Carriers, Subject: Provider Education Article, CMS-Pub. 60AB (Mar. 28, 2003) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(a)(7)) (A1275-81) ("There is no risk to a physician about certifying an individual for hospice care that he or she believes to be terminally ill." (emphasis added)). 105 Because the Court will not allow Dr. Kriegler to testify as to the results of extrapolation for the reasons addressed above, the Court does not reach Defendants' argument that extrapolation to show liability would violate Defendants' due process rights. knowledge. These choices, made by Relator, do not reduce her burden to produce reliable evidence of liability. As did the court in Michaels, this Court finds that when a relator alleges the falsity of MHB claims because various doctors improperly found patients were terminally ill, the relator cannot extrapolate based on an expert's after-the-fact examination of the medical charts of a sample of patients. As Dr. Steinberg recognized, "in the practice of hospice medicine, you have to look at the individual patient," 106 and "certainly you can't extrapolate" from how one physician assessed a patient's eligibility to make conclusions about another physician. 107 Thus, proof regarding one claim does not meet Relator's burden of proof regarding other claims involving different patients, different medical conditions, different caregivers, different facilities, different time periods, and different physicians. Even if extrapolation were sufficient to prove the kind of FCA violations alleged here, Dr. Kriegler's analysis is deficient, because his methodology was fundamentally flawed. 108 "[I]n order to fairly and reliably draw . . . an inference" from a sample, "the sample must be randomly selected and . . . representative of the whole." Pena, 532 F. App'x 517, 520–21. Dr. Kriegler's 106 Steinberg Depo. at 956. 107 Steinberg Depo., Def. Appx. 978. 108 Federal Rule of Evidence 702 provides that a "witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise." Fed. R. Evid. 702. The expert's testimony may be admissible under Rule 702 if: (a) the expert's scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue; (b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data; (c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and (d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case. Fed. R. Evid. 702; see also Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 590 (1993) (scientific testimony or evidence must be relevant and reliable). To determine reliability of the evidence, the Court must make a threshold determination that the expert is testifying as to scientific knowledge and that such knowledge will assist the trier of fact. U.S. ex rel. Martin v. Life Care Centers of Am., Inc., 2014 WL 4816006, at 2 (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 29, 2014) (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590). The burden is on the proponent of the expert testimony to establish its admissibility by a preponderance of the evidence. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592. sample was not randomly selected from the entire Population, and he did not control for variables even Dr. Steinberg identified as important. 109 Dr. Kriegler recognized that, generally, if "a sample is not selected in a random fashion, then scientifically valid extrapolations and margin of error calculations are no longer valid" and stated that a correctly defined population and a random sample drawn from that population are "critical to one's ability to make valid statistical inferences about the population." 110 Yet he admittedly selected the sample from a Population that contained duplicates, and he randomly excluded patients from the Population. 111 He also misclassified approximately 1,100 patients when he stratified the Population, placing patients from the Odyssey period in the Gentiva period. 112 He testified he stratified the sample "so that each stratum [would be] represented in proportion with the [P]opulation," 113 but, because his stratification was erroneous, misclassified patients had a zero probability of being selected in the Odyssey period (thus increasing the probability of selection for other patients in the Odyssey period), and instead had a positive probability of being selected in the Gentiva period (thus decreasing the probability of selection for patients actually discharged in the Gentiva period). Dr. Kriegler's errors in selecting the sample are fatal to his conclusions. Although he claims to have later corrected these errors, he does not sufficiently explain how he did so, and thus there is no way for opposing counsel or the Court to check his work. See Elsholtz v. Taser 109 The Court notes that on April 13, 2016, a California state court decertified a class in a class action after "entirely reject[ing]" a report authored by Dr. Kreigler as "clearly invalid and unreliable." Williams v. Allstate Ins., No. BC382577 (Cal. App. Dep't Super. Ct. Apr. 13, 2016) ("Kriegler strains to reach results favorable to his client"). 110 Kriegler Decl. ¶10, ¶23, Def. Appx. at 799, 805. 111 Dr. Kriegler wrongly assumed a patient could only have one ID number, when in fact a patient could have multiple IDs, which led to duplicate patients in the Population, some of whom were selected in the Sample. Kriegler Depo. at 139–41, 164; Def. Appx. at 919, 921. Further, the Population excluded patients because Dr. Kriegler wrongly assumed patients with common names were duplicates, and then removed them. Id. at 215, 218. 112 Kriegler Depo. at 42–43; Rel. Appx. at 905. 113 Resp. Br. at 3 (citing to Kriegler Rep. ¶¶41-4). Intern., Inc., 2007 WL 2781664, at 2–3 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 25, 2007) (a court cannot "determine whether an expert's opinions are reliable when he fails to provide any details regarding the methodology he used to conduct the tests that give rise to those opinions."); United States v. Aegis Therapies, Inc., 2015 WL 1541491, at 3 (S.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2015) ("The expert's assurances that he has utilized generally accepted scientific methodology are insufficient"). Dr. Kriegler also failed to control for relevant variables: he did not differentiate geographically across the fourteen states where VistaCare operated, with different clinical staffs and doctors, 114 or by disease type. By ignoring these variables, Dr. Kriegler ignored the testimony of Relator's hospice expert, who testified that the predictability of life expectancy varies based on types of terminal illness (for example, cancer outcomes are more predictable than Parkinson's), 115 that different physicians and clinical staffs assess eligibility differently, 116 and that he was sure practices "vari[ed] among the different specific sites." 117 Dr. Kriegler could have controlled for these relevant variables. For example, in Life Care Centers, the relator's statistical expert performed a series of pre-sampling design tasks to determine the "frequencies and distributions of certain variables" so as to identify variables that needed to be controlled, and performed hundreds of pre-sampling simulations to mitigate variability. 2014 WL 4816006, at 5–6 (E.D. Tenn. 2014). Relator does not dispute that Dr. Kriegler could have controlled for these variables when designing the sample, but he did not. Given the nature of the underlying data, the nature of liability under the FCA, and Dr. Kriegler's failure to select a random sample or to account for relevant variables, his extrapolation 114 As a result, in the VistaCare period, five of the fourteen states VistaCare operated in are not represented in the sample; in the Odyssey period, four of the fourteen states are not represented; and in the Gentiva period, one state is not represented. 115 Def. Appx. 981. 116 Def. Appx. 978. 117 Def. Appx. 1039. is unreliable, even if it is assumed to be generally allowable. See U.S. ex rel Trim v. McKean, 31 F. Supp. 2d 1308, 1314 (W.D. Okla. 1998) ("[I]n light of the admittedly subjective nature of coding, the relatively small sample size, and the variation in years covered, . . . the audits are not a reliable or accurate representation of all EPBS claims."). Thus, the Court will not permit him to extrapolate beyond the 291 patients. 118 B. MOTION TO STRIKE RELATOR'S MEDICAL EXPERT As discussed at the hearing, the Motion to Strike Dr. Steinberg is GRANTED in part. Insofar as Dr. Steinberg summarized documents and testimony regarding Defendants' marketing and business practices and then opined on how those practices impacted Defendants' employees and the physicians who certified patients for hospice, such testimony is based on improper speculation, which the Court would not allow at trial, and thus the Court will not consider it. "Before a district court may allow a witness to testify as an expert, it must be assured that the proffered witness is qualified to testify by virtue of his 'knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.'" United States v. Cooks, 589 F.3d 173, 179 (5th Cir. 2009). Dr. Steinberg has no specialized knowledge, training, or experience that supports his conclusions about Defendants' business practices, and it would not be helpful to a jury for him to surmise how such practices may have impacted the conduct of Defendants' employees and others. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 579 ("The adjective 'scientific' implies a grounding in the methods and procedures of science. Similarly, the word 'knowledge' connotes more than subjective belief or unsupported speculation."). Thus, Dr. Steinberg would not be allowed to testify that, among other things, 118 Because the Court is granting summary judgment as to Relator's FCA claims, the Court need not reach the question of whether Dr. Kriegler could give testimony about claims submitted for the 291 patients whose files Dr. Steinberg evaluated. "pressure from corporate would have caused ineligible patients to be admitted." Steinberg Rept. at 31. Further, "characterizations of documentary evidence" are not proper subjects for expert testimony, "because the trier of fact is entirely capable of determining whether or not to draw such conclusions without any technical assistance from . . . experts." City of Tuscaloosa v. Harcros Chems., Inc., 158 F.3d 548, 562 (11th Cir. 1998). A large section of Dr. Steinberg's report summarizes and describes documents produced by Defendants in the course of this litigation. See, e.g., Steinberg Rept. at 28 ("It is clear from VistaCare's documents that they had a formal, company-wide policy to have their Medical Review Team review all potential live discharges due to medical ineligibility."); id. at 31 ("Based on the documents and witness testimony I have reviewed, VistaCare appears to have put immense pressure on its employees to maintain census."). These summaries and characterizations would not be helpful to jurors, who are able make their own determinations about what relevant documents show, and such testimony therefore would not be allowed, and will not be considered here. The Motion is also GRANTED insofar as Dr. Steinberg opines on Defendants' intent. Although Relator maintains Dr. Steinberg did not comment on Defendants' subjective intent, in fact, he testified that he could "opin[e] on the intent" of VistaCare. 119 He then did so, stating that Defendants: "intentionally" overstated PPS scores; "intentionally" misrepresented patient information to make them look eligible; "intentionally" overstated FAST scores; and had marketing materials that were "intentionally" deceptive. 120 Dr. Steinberg's opinions on intent are inadmissible. See U.S. ex rel. Ruscher v. Omnicare, Inc., 2015 WL 5178074, at 6, 11 (S.D. 119 Steinberg Depo. Def. Appx., at A 1064. 120 Steinberg Depo., Def. Appx., at A 1064–65. Tex. Sept. 3, 2015) (an expert "will not be permitted to testify about . . . intent, motive, or state of mind, as that is typically held to be within the province of the jury"). The Court also would not allow Dr. Steinberg to make statements regarding standards for hospice eligibility that are belied by the record. Thus, the Court would not permit him to say that a patient must show measurable decline in order to remain eligible for the MHB, 121 that LCDs reflect criteria that patients must meet to be eligible, as opposed to constituting guidance, 122 and that patients are ineligible if they have not adopted a "hospice philosophy" (a mental orientation toward hospice beyond electing the MHB). 123 The Court DENIES the remainder of the Motion to Strike Dr. Steinberg. C. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD Summary judgment is warranted "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. A dispute as to a material fact is genuine if the evidence is sufficient to permit a reasonable factfinder to return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Crowe v. Henry, 115 F.3d 294, 296 (5th Cir. 1997). A fact is material if its resolution could affect the outcome of the action. Weeks Marine, Inc. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 340 F.3d 233, 235 (5th Cir. 2003). The substantive law determines which facts are material. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247 (1986). A party seeking summary judgment who does not have the burden of proof at trial, like Defendants here, need only point to the absence of admissible evidence supporting the nonmovant's claim. See Duffy v. Leading Edge Prods., Inc., 44 F.3d 308, 312 (5th Cir. 1995). 121 See 79 Fed. Reg. 50452, 50471 (Aug. 22, 2014) (patients may stabilize or improve and remain hospice eligible). 122 See Resp. at 3 (referring to LCDs as "guidance" and "a key tool"); Steinberg Depo, Def. Appx., at A 973 (stating that LCDs are "guidelines," are "not requirements," and patients "definitely can" be eligible for the MHB if they do not satisfy all the criteria in an LCD). 123 42 C.F.R. § 418.24 (not requiring patients to have a particular mental state or orientation). Once the movant meets its initial burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to produce evidence or designate specific facts in the record showing the existence of a genuine issue for trial. See Fordoche, Inc. v. Texaco, Inc., 463 F.3d 388, 392 (5th Cir. 2006). D. THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT The FCA establishes liability for "[a]ny person who . . . knowingly presents or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval . . . [or] knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim." 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(1–2). When a qui tam suit is brought by a private relator and the government declines to intervene, the relator is entitled to approximately 30% of the recovery, § 3730(d)(2), as well as attorneys' fees. Not all fraudulent conduct affecting the government is actionable under the FCA. U.S. ex rel. Bennett v. Boston Sci. Corp., 2011 WL 1231577, at 1 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2011) (Rosenthal, J.). "Evidence of an actual false claim is the 'sine qua non of a False Claims Act violation.'" Id. at 2 (quoting U.S. ex rel. Clausen v. Lab. Corp. of Am., Inc., 290 F.3d 1301, 1311 (11th Cir. 2002)). Generally, in considering liability under the FCA, the Fifth Circuit focuses on "(1) whether there was a false statement or fraudulent course of conduct; (2) made or carried out with the requisite scienter; (3) that was material; and (4) that caused the government to pay out money or to forfeit moneys due (i.e., that involved a claim)." Gonzalez v. Fresenius Med. Care N. Am., 689 F.3d 470, 475 (5th Cir. 2012). Under a false certification theory, a defendant may be liable where a claimant "falsely certifies compliance with [a] statute or regulation." U.S. ex rel. Grubbs v. Kanneganti, 565 F.3d 180, 188 (5th Cir. 2009) (quoting U. S. ex rel. Thompson v. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., 125 F.3d 899, 902 (5th Cir. 1997)). To prevail on such a claim of "legal falsity," a relator must demonstrate that the defendant has improperly certified compliance with a statute or regulation (whether explicitly or impliedly), and that improper certification is material to the government's payment decision. Bennett, 2011 WL 1231577, at 13 (citing Thompson, 125 F.3d at 902); see also Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar, 579 U.S. __ (2016). 124 E. RELATOR'S CLAIM THAT DEFENDANTS VIOLATED THE FCA BY ADMITTING AND MAINTAINING INELIGIBLE PATIENTS ON HOSPICE Relator claims some of Defendants' patients were not eligible for the MHB, because they were not "terminally ill," or because documentation supporting a six-month prognosis was not filed in their medical records. Fourth Am. Compl. [Docket Entry #121] at ¶82–83. Relator claims that as a result, the necessary certifications of eligibility and the Medicare claims for these patients were false. 125 Medicare conditions reimbursement to hospice providers on certification that a patient "is terminally ill . . . based on the physician's or medical director's clinical judgment regarding the normal course of the individual's illness." 126 To show the certifications and related claims were false, Relator points to: (1) Dr. Steinberg's opinions on patient eligibility; and (2) evidence of a 124 Relator's only remaining claims rely on legal falsity. Relator originally asserted claims of factual falsity—that Defendants submitted an inaccurate description of goods or services provided or a request for reimbursement for goods or services never provided—but all such claims have been dismissed with prejudice. Opinion, Docket Entry #91, at 3 n. 15. 125 The Supreme Court recently approved an implied false certification theory, under which FCA liability may attach when a defendant submits a claim for payment that "makes specific representations about the goods or services provided, but knowingly fails to disclose the defendant's noncompliance with a statutory, regulatory, or contractual requirement," when such an "omission renders those representations misleading." Universal Health Servs., Inc., 579 U.S. __. Relator's Fourth Amended Complaint asserts that claims submitted for payment were "also false because [they] concealed the material fact that the individual for whom VistaCare was billing Medicare was not in fact eligible for hospice care or was certified for hospice care with deliberate indifference or a reckless disregard for whether that person was actually eligible for such care." Compl. ¶ 84. The implied certification theory was not directly addressed by the parties in the briefing on the Motion for Summary Judgment, but, as Relator did not show Defendants admitted patients who were not properly certified to be terminally ill, the Court finds Relator cannot prevail under the implied certification theory set forth in her Complaint. 126 42 U.S.C. § 1395f (a)(7). corporate "scheme" to admit and maintain patients, including a practice of admitting patients earlier than competitors, before determining their eligibility, requiring layers of review before discharging patients, and instructing staff to document evidence supporting eligibility, along with anecdotal evidence from a few of Defendants' employees that some information in patient charts was falsified. Because a physician must use his or her clinical judgment to determine hospice eligibility, an FCA claim about the exercise of that judgment must be predicated on the presence of an objectively verifiable fact at odds with the exercise of that judgment, not a matter of questioning subjective clinical analysis. 127 "Expressions of opinion, scientific judgments, or statements as to conclusions about which reasonable minds may differ cannot be false." U.S. ex rel. Morton v. A Plus Benefits, Inc., 139 Fed. App'x 980, 982–83 (10th Cir. 2005); U.S. ex rel. Riley v. St. Luke's Episcopal Hosp., 355 F.3d 370, 376 (5th Cir. 2004). For example, a relator could present evidence that a certifying physician was not, in fact, exercising the physician's clinical judgment when certifying a patient, because the physician never reviewed the patient's medical condition nor saw the patient, or that the physician did not actually believe that if the patient's disease ran its normal course, the patient had a prognosis of six months or less. See Geschrey, 922 F. Supp. 2d at 703; U.S. ex rel. Landis v. Hospice Care of Kansas, LLC, 2010 WL 5067614, at 4 (D. Kan. Dec. 7, 2010) (finding a relator adequately pled that claims were false by alleging "physicians could not legitimately exercise their medical judgment because defendants provided false information on which the physicians relied"). 127 Opinion [Docket Entry #52] at 10; Opinion [Docket Entry #91] at 7 ("To state an FCA claim properly, a plaintiff contending that patients were falsely certified for hospice care must rely on objectively verifiable facts inconsistent with the exercise of a physician's clinical judgment, not on a subjective clinical analysis as to which prudent doctors might disagree."). A testifying physician's disagreement with a certifying physician's prediction of life expectancy is not enough to show falsity. See United States v. AseraCare Inc., 2016 WL 1270521, at 1 (N.D. Ala. Mar. 31, 2016); see also U.S. ex rel. Fowler v. Evercare Hospice, Inc., 2015 WL 5568614, at 9 (D. Colo. Sept. 21, 2015) ("[I]f the complaint was based entirely on disagreements with . . . certifying physicians in specific cases, . . . references to these six patients would be insufficient to state a claim."). In AseraCare, the government relied on the testimony of an expert physician who reviewed patient files and opined that certain patients were ineligible for hospice. 2016 WL 1270521. Finding that the "case boil[ed] down to conflicting views of physicians about whether the medical records support . . . certifications that the patients at issue were eligible for hospice care," the court entered judgment for the defendant, concluding "the opinion of one medical expert alone cannot prove falsity without further evidence of an objective falsehood." Id. Here, Dr. Steinberg's opinions are based on his subjective clinical analysis. Although he recognized that a certification for hospice is based on a "physician's own clinical judgment," and that, as a general matter "reasonable clinicians/physicians can disagree about things and not necessarily be wrong," 128 he found patients ineligible based on his own evaluation of their life expectancies, opining that patients who were admittedly "clearly not paragons of good health" and were suffering from "serious, progressive conditions" were not sick enough to be eligible. 129 Relator characterizes this as an "objective finding about eligibility." 130 Yet the subjective nature of Dr. Steinberg's conclusions is obvious; he recognized that, in many cases, "there was not a single, clear date on which hospice services were appropriate or inappropriate," and offered two 128 Steinberg Depo. at 965, 967. 129 Rel. Appx. at 43. 130 Hr'g Tr. at 9. different opinions on eligibility for nearly every patient whose file he reviewed, yet he claimed physicians whose eligibility determinations fell outside the range he selected were objectively incorrect. 131 In fact, Medicare regulations require physicians making eligibility determinations to consider "subjective . . . medical findings," and do not provide objective standards or criteria to cabin such determinations. 132 Dr. Steinberg's subjective opinion is insufficient to prove certifying physicians erred in evaluating life expectancies, and says nothing about whether physicians certified patients without exercising their own clinical judgment or without finding patients to be terminally ill. 133 As Relator conceded, Dr. Steinberg "did not make a decision about falsity." Hr'g Tr. at 9. As the court held in AseraCare, "[a]llowing a mere difference of opinion among physicians alone to prove falsity would totally eradicate the clinical judgment required of the certifying physicians." AseraCare, Inc., 2:12-cv-00245 at 3. If all that was necessary to prove falsity was to put up a medical expert to review medical records and provide an opinion at odds with that of the certifying physician, hospice providers would be subject to potential FCA liability "any time [a relator] could find a medical expert who disagreed with the certifying physician's clinical judgment." Id. at 3–4. That situation would be directly at odds with the assurances given by CMS that doctors need not fear the exercise of their medical judgment as to the future course of a terminal patient. Dr. Steinberg's opinion that certain of Defendants' patients were ineligible for hospice is insufficient to create a fact issue as to whether physician certifications and resulting claims were false. 134 131 See Rel. Appx. at 41. 132 73 Fed. Reg. 32088 (June 5, 2008) (emphasis added). 133 Steinberg Rept., Appx. 43. 134 Further, Dr. Steinberg's methodology is rife with errors, as discussed on the record at the hearing, and would be excluded for that reason. Hr'g Tr. 23–37. For example, as he admitted in his deposition, his report contained these errors and overstatements: his opinion that "patients who might still want treatment" were ineligible for the MHB was incorrect, Def. Appx. A 1052, his opinion that patients "must agree to give up life prolonging and/or curative Relator argues that, when viewed together with evidence regarding Defendants' corporate culture, including anecdotal evidence from Wall, Lattanzi, and Huffstetler of a few false entries, a jury could infer that claims submitted for the 291 patients Dr. Steinberg reviewed were false. Hr'g Tr. at 10–12. Although Relator has produced some evidence of the Defendants' pressure on their employees to admit large numbers of hospice patients, and that a few employees falsified data on a few specified patient charts, a practice that could jeopardize the proper exercise of physician judgment, she has not tied that evidence to the patients whose charts Dr. Steinberg evaluated, nor to the submission of a single false claim. Relator concedes that she cannot do so. See Hr'g Tr. at 13, 64, 79 (conceding "there is not a nexus between Latanzzi and Huffstetler and Wall and the patients in the 291 sample"). Without any evidence about the nurses and doctors involved in treating or certifying the sampled patients for hospice, for Relator to prevail at trial, jurors would have to take an impermissible inferential leap to conclude that those patients' certifications were not based on the proper clinical judgment of physicians. AseraCare reached the same conclusion as this Court does. There, after hearing evidence at a jury trial, the Court granted judgment, limiting the government to the evidence at trial and finding it insufficient, as a matter of law, to prove falsity. At trial, in addition to the physician's testimony, the government presented evidence of objectively verifiable facts inconsistent with the exercise of physician judgment, including evidence that a doctor "wasn't participating" during IDG meetings, and instead "was doing his drawings" with crayons and colored pencils, and that nurses would present him papers with "little stickies" to sign if he was present, or would treatment" to be eligible was "stated too strongly," id. at A 962, his opinion that attending physicians "did not use any medical judgment when signing the certificate of terminal illness" was "stated too strongly" as "there's certainly some judgment involved," id. at A 970, and his opinion that "LCDs specify what specific clinical criteria patients must meet" was "bad language" and incorrect, id. at 1025–26. Further, his report claimed to apply the standard a "third-party reviewer" would apply, but he later admitted he "[didn't] know [the] specific protocols" of various third-party reviewers whose standards he claimed to be applying. Id. at A 1000–01. use a pre-signed form if he was not at the IDG meeting. 135 The government relied on this evidence to show the existence of a scheme, not tied to specific patients or claims. As the court held, had the government linked this evidence to its expert physician's testimony, that evidence may have supported the jury's verdict. The government did not do so, and the physician's opinion, considered together with the scheme evidence, without the "necessary connection" between the two, did not create a fact issue as to falsity. United States v. AseraCare Inc., 2015 WL 8486874, at 2, 8–9 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 3, 2015). Relator seemingly suggests she is only required to prove Defendants operated with reckless disregard as to falsity, and not that the certifications or claims were actually false or fraudulent. This view reflects a misunderstanding of the FCA's falsity element, confusing the FCA's scienter requirement—which requires knowledge or reckless disregard—with the necessity to show that records or claims were false. 136 The FCA's knowledge element is an independent, additional hurdle for Relator, not a shortcut around proof of falsity. 137 Without evidence linking Relator's "scheme" evidence to the 291 patients whose files Dr. Steinberg 135 United States v. AseraCare Inc., 2015 WL 8486874, at 6 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 3, 2015) ("Even assuming, arguendo, that the Government could present this testimony to prove falsity . . ., the Government failed to make the necessary connections to the 123 patients to show that the claims were objectively false. For example, the testimony of . . . AseraCare's Patient Care Coordinator at the Milwaukee agency . . . illustrates the Government's lack of connection. She testified about how the medical director of that agency, Dr. Mateo, 'was doing his drawings' and 'wasn't participating' during the interdisciplinary team meetings. She further testified that she prepared for meetings by setting up Dr. Mateo's sketch pad, crayons, and coloring pencils and would present papers to Dr. Mateo with 'little stickies' where he should sign if he was present to sign them or would use a pre-signed form if he was not at the meeting. But, here is the rub: Dr. Liao identified two patients from Milwaukee as being ineligible—patient # 46 Ingeborg D. and patient # 123 Yvonne Y. The jury did not find that AseraCare's claims for hospice service for patient # 123 Yvonne Y. were false. The jury found Ingeborg D. was ineligible; however, she was not admitted to hospice until November 4, 2010—two-and-a-half years after [the patient care coordinator] left AseraCare. Furthermore, the court has reviewed Ms. Ingeborg D.'s medical records and cannot find Dr. Mateo's name in them. Therefore, Ms. Manley's testimony does not explain why the opinions of the certifying doctors for Ms. Ingeborg D. lack reliability. Thus, the Government has presented nothing more than Dr. Liao's different opinion as to Ms. Ingeborg D.'s eligibility."). 136 See, e.g., Hr'g Tr. at 78 ("We believe . . . evidence of the scheme would allow a jury to infer that those claims submitted were submitted and paid in reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the information in the claim, even though the evidence of the scheme does not specifically relate to the claims . . . that Steinberg will testify were based on periods when the patients were not eligible for the benefit."). 137 42 U.S.C. §3729(a)(1)(A), (B). analyzed, there is no evidence that the certifying physicians for the 291 patients were not exercising their best clinical judgments nor that they did not believe the subject patients were terminally ill when they certified them as such, and thus there is no evidence of the falsity required to establish liability. No reliable evidence is presented by Relator that any patient was not terminally ill. Wall, Lattanzi, and Huffstetler claim they were involved in or observed the certification of patients who were medically ineligible, but eligibility depends on physician judgment, and thus, their allegations about patient health cannot support a conclusion that any patient for whom a claim was submitted had a medical prognosis of more than six months. 138 See Geschrey, 922 F. Supp. 2d at 703 ("[T]hat Relator Janus, a social worker, and a nurse agreed that the patient was not appropriate for hospice because she could walk, eat, and talk does not suffice to allege that the doctor's certification that A.W. was appropriate for hospice was fraudulent; it merely alleges that Relator Janus and others disagreed with the doctor's assessment. Relators have not alleged facts demonstrating that the certifying physician did not or could not have believed, based on his or her clinical judgment, that the patient was eligible for hospice care."). Relator argues that she should survive summary judgment on her scheme evidence alone, contending she is not required to point to specific false records or claims. 139 She concedes that, other than Dr. Steinberg's testimony, she has "no proof" that corporate pressure or some nurses altering a few identified patient charts "resulted in a particular claim within the relevant period," and that she has not linked any patient discussed by Wall, Lattanzi, or Huffstetler to a patient file 138 These witnesses also testified that they based their eligibility opinions in significant part on LCDs. See Rel. Appx. 1549, 1678, 1970. Relator and her hospice expert concede LCDs do not establish a standard. Resp. at 3; Steinberg Depo, Def. Appx., at A 973. Relator also produced declarations and affidavits from several VistaCare employees who said ineligible patients were admitted. However, they did not provide any factual support for these conclusory allegations, and did not show that the declarants were qualified to reach such conclusions. See e.g., Rel. Appx. Ex. 27, Ryan Aff., Ex. 28, Castro Decl. The Court will not rely on unsupported, conclusory statements. 139 Resp. at 32–39. or claim. 140 However, citing to the Fifth Circuit's decision on a motion to dismiss in Grubbs, she argues that she has done enough to raise a fact issue by presenting evidence of a scheme and proving that 93% of Defendants' patients were covered by Medicare. Although Relator's contention of a scheme and anecdotal evidence were sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss, without evidence that such practices led to false certifications or claims, Relator cannot prevail on summary judgment. In Grubbs, a case opining on sufficient pleading standards in a false claims case, the court stated, in dicta, that if "at trial a qui tam plaintiff proves the existence of a billing scheme and offers particular and reliable indicia that false bills were actually submitted as a result of the scheme—such as dates that services were fraudulently provided or recorded, by whom, and evidence of the department's standard billing procedure—a reasonable jury could infer that more likely than not the defendant presented a false bill to the government." 565 F.3d at 189–90. The court stated that, a "plaintiff does not necessarily need the exact dollar amounts, billing numbers, or dates to prove to a preponderance that fraudulent bills were actually submitted," although "the exact dollar amounts fraudulently billed . . . will in most cases be necessary to sufficiently prove actual damages." Id. Grubbs acknowledged that "[f]raudulent presentment requires proof . . . of the claim's falsity, not of its exact contents." Id. at 189. The Grubbs complaint alleged facts which, if proven, would support a finding of falsity: the defendants stated that they regularly created medical bills to bill Medicare for services that were never provided. Id. at 184–85. In Grubbs, defendant physicians explained to the relator, a new doctor, that, during weekend on-call shifts, they billed for face-to-face visits that did not occur. Id. During the relator's first weekend on 140 Hr'g Tr. at 14, 78. call, nurses attempted to help him bill for face-to-face visits of patients he did not see. Id. at 184. Bills for services not actually provided are factually false, so falsity was not at issue in Grubbs. Grubbs merely concluded that when the pleadings state that defendants "continually recorded unprovided services," intentionally creating false bills to defraud Medicare, an inference that those bills were presented is allowed. Id. at 190, 192 ("It would stretch the imagination to infer . . . that the defendant doctors go through the charade of meeting with newly hired doctors to describe their fraudulent practice and that they continually record unprovided services only for the scheme to deviate from the regular billing track at the last moment so that the recorded, but unprovided, services never get billed."). Here, Relator asks the Court to conclude, from evidence that Defendants had a corporate policy to aggressively seek to enroll and maintain eligible patients, that Defendants enrolled and maintained ineligible patients. Relator does not explain how Defendants' alleged policies to (1) admit patients earlier than competitors, before determining their eligibility, and (2) require multiple layers of review before discharging patients ultimately found ineligible, while (3) instructing staff to document evidence supporting eligibility for eligible patients, supports an inference that Defendants billed for ineligible patients. Even if Defendants' aggressive marketing and enrollment policies were ill-advised, they are not sufficient to prove falsity under Grubbs or otherwise. Even "[m]ismanagement . . . of programs that receive federal dollars is not enough to create FCA liability." U.S. ex rel. Farmer v. City of Houston, 523 F.3d 333, 339 (5th Cir. 2008); see also U.S. ex rel. Willard v. Humana Health Care Plan of Tex. Inc., 336 F.3d 375, 381 (5th Cir. 2003) (explaining that liability attaches to a false claim, not "improper internal policies."); Barys ex rel. U.S. v. Vitas Healthcare Corp., 298 F. App'x 893, 895–96 (11th Cir. 2008) (concluding that "requiring an additional layer of review before a . . . patient is discharged does not support an inference that patients are being fraudulently re-certified" and that paying "cash bonuses to administrators who maintained high patient populations" was insufficient to support an inference of fraud "without allegations of instances in which these administrators fraudulently re-certified patients"); AseraCare, 2016 WL 1270521, at 4–5 ("[P]ractices that may be improper, standing alone, are insufficient to show falsity without proof that specific claims were in fact false when submitted to Medicare."). Further, Relator did not present sufficient evidence tying the alleged scheme to particular records or claims. Relator has not produced "reliable indicia that false bills were actually submitted," as Grubbs suggests is required. 565 F.3d at 189–90. Other than through Dr. Steinberg, she has provided no "dates that services were fraudulently provided or recorded, [or] by whom," id., instead relying on the percentage of Defendants' patients who were Medicare patients. At the pleading stage, the complaint in Grubbs averred at least one overt act of false billing—including date and physician—for each defendant who allegedly submitted false claims. Id.; see United States v. Solvay, 2016 WL 1258401, at 13 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2016) ("The court agrees, to some extent, with Relators' contention that they are not required to provide the court . . . with a precise universe of claims to survive summary judgment. . . . However, since the Relators cannot provide any claims data that would be admissible at trial . . . they cannot highlight any evidence of claims submission."); Barys, 298 F. App'x at 895–96 (dismissing a complaint because substantial allegations of a corporate scheme were not tied to particular patients or false claims). What Relator is missing here is a causal link between Defendants' policies, a few instances where medical information was allegedly falsified, and actual false or fraudulent certifications and claims. Compare U.S. ex rel. Hockett v. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., 498 F. Supp. 2d 25, 66 (D.D.C. 2007) (rejecting a relator's argument that "since there is evidence of a general nature that [defendant] tried to hold patients longer than necessary, and since relator's experts opine that the average length-of-stay spiked during the . . . period in a way that is statistically significant and not random, then the Court should assume that all patients in the subject range were held too long."). Thus, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED as to the false claims allegations, and they are DISMISSED with prejudice. F. CLAIM FOR FALSE CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE ANTI-KICKBACK STATUTE Relator also contends Defendants violated the FCA by falsely certifying compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute ("AKS"). The AKS criminalizes the knowing or willful paying or offering to pay any remuneration to induce: (1) the referral of an individual for items or services that may be paid for by a federal health care program; or (2) the purchasing, leasing, ordering, or arranging for purchasing, leasing, or ordering any item or service that may be paid for by a federal health care program. 42 U.S.C. § 1320a–7b(b)(1–2); see U.S. ex rel. Nunnally v. W. Calcasieu Cameron Hosp., 519 F. App'x 890, 893 (5th Cir. 2013); Thompson, 125 F.3d at 901. To show an AKS violation, a relator must present evidence that a defendant: (1) knowingly and willfully (2) solicited or received, or offered or paid remuneration (3) in return for, or to induce, referral or program-related business. 42 U.S.C. § 1320a–7b(b)(1–2). The AKS does not create a private right of action, but a violation of it can form the basis of an FCA claim. Nunnally, 519 F. App'x at 893; Thompson, 125 F.3d at 901; Bennett, 2011 WL 1231577, at 32. Relator's AKS claim is not based on any gifts or payments to third parties. 141 Instead, she argues Defendants' program to bonus employees for "obtaining patients and retaining them 141 Id. Case 3:07-cv-00604-M Document 408 Filed 06/20/16 Page 43 of 53 PageID 29390 on census" violated the AKS, 142 contending that the program constitutes paying or offering to pay remuneration "for the purpose of inducing a referral or arranging for a service compensated by Medicare." 143 Relator contends that Defendants' offers to pay employees bonuses for hitting admissions targets and census goals is sufficient to support a verdict that claims made while such incentives were in place were based on false certifications of compliance with the AKS. 144 i. The Bona Fide Employee Exception The AKS states that there is no violation of the statute for a payment "by an employer to an employee (who has a bona fide employment relationship with such employer) for employment in the provision of covered items or services." 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b(b)(3)(B); U.S. ex rel. Parikh v. Citizens Med. Ctr., 977 F. Supp. 2d 654, 669 (S.D. Tex. 2013) (Costa, J.). The bona fide employee safe harbor is further codified in 42 C.F.R. § 1001.952(i), which provides that payments to employees "for employment in the furnishing of any item or service for which payment may be made in whole or in part under Medicare, Medicaid or other Federal health care programs" are not remuneration and therefore cannot form the basis of an Anti–Kickback Act violation. 42 C.F.R. § 1001.952(i). The bona fide employee exception is an affirmative defense on which Defendants bear the burden of proof. Relator asserts Defendants have not carried that burden, as they have not presented evidence showing the exception applies. However, Relator has stipulated that her AKS theory is based solely on the making of payments to Defendants' employees. Rel. Resp. Br. [Docket Entry #279-2] at 42 ("VistaCare violated the AKS by routinely paying kickbacks to its own employees."); Hr'g Tr. at 93 ("Our theory on the kickback claim is this: The evidence in 142 Hr'g Tr. at 93. 143 Id. 144 Id. at 93–94. the summary judgment record . . . demonstrates that for a period of years, [Defendants] had a comprehensive, pervasive program to bonus employees, all of them, at times, but certainly and regularly the sales employees, for the purpose of obtaining patients and retaining them on census."). Thus, Defendants need not present further evidence showing that they had a bona fide employment relationship with the individuals to whom they provided bonuses. Instead, this question turns on a disputed legal question—can bonuses to Defendants' own employees constitute an improper payment under the AKS, rendering a certification of compliance false? Relator claims the bona fide employee exception does not apply, because Defendants have not shown that bonuses to employees were "for employment in the provision of covered items or services." Rel. Supp. Br. [Docket Entry #404] at 3. Defendants, on the other hand, claim all of their employees were employed in the provision of covered services: hospice services eligible for reimbursement under the MHB. Def. Sup. Br. [Docket Entry #405] at 7. The text of the statute supports Defendants' position. The statutory exception applies to payments for employment in the provision of covered services, not for providing covered services. 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b(b)(3)(B); see Hericks v. Lincare, Inc., 2014 WL 1225660, at 14 (E.D. Penn. Mar. 25, 2014) (rejecting the argument that the bona fide employee safe harbor did not apply to cash bonuses for referrals paid to employees because bonuses were not "for employment in the provision of covered items or services," finding that "the [defendant's] employees [we]re employed in the provision of covered items and services" regardless of the specific task compensated by the bonuses). On its face, therefore, the exception protects payments to employees of entities in the business of providing covered services of hospice care, not only for specific direct patient care for which bills can be submitted to Medicare. Further, the structure of the statute supports this reading of it. If the exception did not apply to payments intended to induce referrals or business for the program, it would be superfluous. The court in U.S. ex rel. Baklid-Kunz v. Halifax Hospital Medical Center rejected the argument that a bonus paid to employees to induce referrals was not protected by the safe harbor: [T]he Bona Fide Employment Exception provides that the normal prohibition on payments to induce referrals does not apply where the payments are made to a (for lack of a better word) legitimate employee. The Relator would change that to read that the prohibition on payments to induce referrals does not apply where the payments are made to a legitimate employee unless they are payments to induce referrals. The exceptions set forth in the Anti-Kickback Statute and accompanying regulations "provide immunity from prosecution for behavior that might have violated the AntiKickback Statute." . . . The Relator's interpretation of the Bona Fide Employment Exception would eviscerate it. 2013 WL 6196562 (M.D. Fl. 2013) (emphasis added). The codifying regulation's history makes clear that Relator's interpretation is incorrect. In adopting the regulation, HHS stated that the exception is based on an assumption that employers, who are responsible for the acts of their employees, will appropriately supervise those employees to prevent referrals of ineligible patients. When proposing the rule codified at 42 C.F.R. § 1001.952(i), HHS did not define "covered items or services," but, in discussing the bona fide employee safe harbor, it stated: This statutory exemption permits an employer to pay an employee in whatever manner he or she chooses for having that employee assist in the solicitation of Medicare or State health care program business. The proposed exemption follows the statute in that it applies only to bona fide employee-employer relationships. . . . [M]any commenters suggested that we broaden the exemption to apply to independent contractors paid on a commission basis. We have declined to adopt this approach because we are aware of many examples of abusive practices by sales personnel who are paid as independent contractors and who are not under appropriate supervision. We believe that if individuals and entities desire to pay a salesperson on the basis of the amount of business they generate, then to be exempt from civil or criminal prosecution, they should make these salespersons employees where they can and should exert appropriate supervision for the individual's acts. 145 A contrary reading would make all payments to hospice providers' sales, marketing, and other staff for involvement in patients securing hospice services from their employer illegal for Medicare providers, leaving such providers unable to promote their businesses by rewarding employees based on success. The cases cited by Relator do not persuade the Court otherwise. Relator relied on several criminal cases, which the Court finds unpersuasive in this case. In United States v. Njoku, 737 F.3d 55 (5th Cir. 2013) and in the unpublished case of United States v. Jackson, 220 Fed. App'x. 317 (5th Cir. 2007), there is no discussion of the bona fide employee exception, and it is not at all clear that the affirmative defense was ever raised. The defendants in United States v. St. Junius, 739 F.3d 193, 199 (5th Cir. 2013) were independent contractors, not employees, and in another unpublished case, United States v. Robinson, 505 Fed. App'x. 385, 387–88 (5th Cir. 2013), the court concluded the individuals who received payments were not bona fide employees. Relator also relies on United States v. Starks, in which the Eleventh Circuit stated that defendants were not bona fide employees, but, even if they were, "they were not providing 'covered items or services,'" because they "received payment . . . only for referrals and not for any legitimate service for which the Hospital received any Medicare reimbursement." 157 F.3d 833, 839 (11th Cir. 1998). Starks engaged in no substantive analysis of the exception, and commented on the "covered items or services" clause without relying on it—the defendants in 145 Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Fraud and Abuse OIG Anti-Kickback Provisions, 54 FR 3088-01 (Jan. 23, 1989) (emphasis added). that case clearly were not bona fide employees, clandestinely receiving checks or cash for their referrals in parking lots to avoid detection. See United States v. Crinel, 2015 WL 3755896, at 5 (E.D. La. 2015) (disagreeing with Starks and stating that the Starks court engaged in no substantive analysis of the statute). Here, it is uncontested that the payments at issue were to bona fide employees. The Court also is not persuaded by United States v. Borrasi, where the Seventh Circuit held that where "at least part of the payments to [a defendant were] 'intended to induce' him to refer patients," the bona fide employee safe harbor did not apply. 639 F.3d 774, 781 (7th Cir. 2011); see also United States v. Luis, 966 F. Supp. 2d 1321, 1330 (S.D. Fl. 2013) (finding it "irrelevant whether the [defendants] were bona fide employees paid for 'covered items or services' because the payments to them were, at least in part, for their illegal patient referrals"). As Crinel concluded, this reading "focuse[s] on the wrong statutory provision," and does not give independent meaning to the safe-harbor provision, as it states that "if a particular payment violates a substantive provision of the anti-kickback statute, the safe-harbor provision does not apply. This reading allows the rule to swallow the exception." 2015 WL 3755896. Finally, Relator relies on a 1992 letter concerning hospitals acquiring physician practices, from the Associate General Counsel of the HHS Office of the Inspector General to an assistant in the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel of the IRS. The letter includes a footnote stating: "payments to employees which are for the purpose of compensating such employees for the referral of patients would likely not be covered by the employee exemption." 146 This Court finds that prediction of likelihood to be the equivalent of dictum, and that, in this Courts' view, is inaccurate. The only other case of which the Court is aware considering the letter found it 146 Letter from D. McCarty Thornton, Associate General Counsel, HHS OIG, to T.R. Sullivan, IRS, (Dec. 22, 1992), at n. 2, available at http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/docs/safeharborregulations/acquisition122292.htm. "inapposite" to cases involving "bona fide employees receiving payment from their employer while working for that employer." Hericks, 2014 WL 1225660, at 14. Relator's interpretation reads the bona fide employee exception out of the statute and is inconsistent with the text, structure, and purpose of the exception. No binding case law supports such an interpretation, and the Court rejects it. Therefore, because Relator relies on bonuses paid to Defendants' bona fide employees for employment in the provision of hospice services, Relator cannot prevail on her AKS theory. ii. Insufficient Proof That Any AKS Violation Led to an FCA Violation Even if paying bonuses to legitimate employees were a violation of the AKS, that is not enough to show a violation of the FCA. An FCA claim dependent on the AKS needs to meet all of the other elements of an FCA claim. Nunnally, 519 F. App'x at 894–95; see also U.S. ex rel. Hartwig v. Medtronic, Inc., 2014 WL 1324339, at 12 (S.D. Miss. Mar. 31, 2014). In other words, Relator must show not only that Defendants paid, or offered to pay, remuneration in exchange for referrals, but also that payments led to false certifications or claims. See Nunnally, 519 F. App'x at 894–95. Relator has not provided any evidence of false certifications for submitted claims. First, Relator "has not provided reliable indicia that [Defendants] actually falsely certified compliance" with the AKS. Bennett, 2011 WL 1231577, at 33. Courts have found claims properly stated where they cite "Medicare enrollment application Form CMS 855–As, . . . [which] expressly certif[y] compliance with the AKS." Parikh, 977 F. Supp. 2d at 665. However, at summary judgment, Relator cannot rely on mere assertions that such certifications exist, and her evidence does not include any certifications of AKS compliance. Even if she were not required to provide the certifications themselves, she has not provided reliable indicia of such certifications, as she has not identified individuals who made such certifications, or dates on which they were made. See Nunnally, 519 F. App'x at 894 (noting the complaint failed "to allege with particularity an actual certification to the Government that was a prerequisite to obtaining the government benefit"); Bennett, 2011 WL 1231577, at 33 (dismissing a complaint where the relator "fail[ed] to identify any hospitals or physicians who certified compliance with the antikickback statute"); U.S. ex rel. Kennedy v. Aventis Pharms., 610 F. Supp. 2d 938, 945 (N. D. Ill. 2009) (the relators "identified a number of hospitals to which Aventis allegedly gave kickbacks" but failed to allege "that one or more of the hospitals falsely certified, in connection with a Medicare claim, that it had complied with the anti-kickback statute; the failure to identify "any certification by a hospital," caused dismissal). Second, Relator did not sufficiently link the payment of a bonus to a referral, patient, or claim. The extent to which a relator must tie a particular claim to a particular kickback is unresolved. Parikh, 977 F. Supp. 2d at 665. However, the Fifth Circuit has indicated that an FCA violation based on an AKS violation must involve some connection between kickbacks, referrals, and claims. U.S. ex rel. Nunnally v. W. Calcasieu Cameron Hosp., 519 F. App'x 890, 894 (5th Cir. 2013). Even at the pleading stage, the Fifth Circuit has held that alleging a violation "requires pleading that [a defendant] knowingly paid remuneration to specific [referral sources] in exchange for referrals" and that a referral was "actual[ly] induce[d]." Id.; U.S. ex rel. Grenadyor v. Ukrainian Vill. Pharmacy, Inc., 772 F.3d 1102, 1107 (7th Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 49 (2015) ("To comply with Rule 9(b) [relator] would have had to allege either that the pharmacy submitted a claim to Medicare (or Medicaid) on behalf of a specific patient who had received a kickback, or at least name a [individual] who had received a kickback"). Yet Relator points to no evidence that any particular bonus led to a referral, which in turn led to a false certification of compliance with the AKS. Third, Relator did not direct the Court to evidence of any claim that was false based on an AKS violation, asking the Court to assume that all claims submitted while Defendants were paying incentive bonuses were false. In Nunnally, the court affirmed dismissal of an FCA action in part because the complaint did "not identify a single claim submitted . . . for services rendered pursuant to an illegal referral, let alone one for which [the defendant] expressly certified its compliance with federal law." 519 F. App'x at 894; Hericks, 2014 WL 1225660, at 1, 7 (dismissing a claim because, although relator pled defendants provided remuneration to specific physicians, and those physicians referred patients, the relator did "not connect these referrals to any claims made to Medicare"). Here, Relator has engaged in years of discovery, but has not presented evidence of such a claim. The Court will not assume the key element Relator is required to prove. The mere fact that 93% of Defendants' patients are Medicare patients is not sufficient to show Defendants submitted claims that falsely certified compliance with the AKS. Courts regularly reject FCA claims which rely on probability arguments like Relator's. See e.g., U.S. ex rel. Crews v. NCS Healthcare of Illinois, Inc., 460 F.3d 853, 857 (7th Cir. 2006) (affirming the district court's decision to grant summary judgment because, although the relator proved it was "statistically unlikely" that improper practices had not led to false claims, the relator had not provided evidence linking the practice to any claim); Hockett, 498 F. Supp. 2d at 66. For example, in Hericks, the court found a relator failed to state a claim when she alleged claims were false because they "were submitted when [defendant's] illegal practices were in effect, and [did] not explain how the[ ] submissions related to any specific illegal activity." 2014 WL 1225660, at 8. The court found that the relator's "claim that roughly 60% of [defendant's] revenue comes from Medicare and Medicaid is not indicative of wrongdoing and does not lead to the conclusion that most of [defendant's] revenues derive from fraudulent activity." Id. The same is true here. Because Defendants have established the bona fide employee safe harbor applies, and because Relator has failed to provide evidence linking any AKS violation to a false or fraudulent certification or claim, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment on Claim II is GRANTED, and Relator's claim based on alleged AKS violations is DISMISSED with prejudice. G. RETALIATION Relator asserts claims for retaliation under the FCA, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(h), and the Texas Medicare Fraud Prevention Act ("TMFPA"), Tex. Hum. Res. Code § 36.115(a), alleging she was discharged because she engaged in protected activity. The FCA and TMFPA both prohibit an employer from retaliating against an employee because of lawful acts, including investigating, initiating, testifying, or assisting in an action filed "in furtherance of an action" under either statute. 147 The "in furtherance" language in both provisions requires a "nexus" between the protected activity and the filing or potential filing of a qui tam suit." 148 Relator must prove (1) she engaged in protected activity; (2) her employer knew about the activity; and (3) her employer retaliated against her because of the protected activity. Robertson v. Bell Helicopter Textron, 32 F.3d 948, 951; see also McKenzie v. BellSouth Telecomms., 219 F.3d 508, 514 (6th Cir. 2000). The retaliation provisions of the FCA protect whistleblowers who voice concerns "about 147 Tex. Hum. Res. Code § 36.115(a); 31 U.S.C. § 3730(h). 148 See United States v. City of Dallas, Tex., 2011 WL 4912590 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 27, 2011) report and recommendation adopted sub nom. Moore v. City of Dallas, Tex., 3:09-CV-1452-O, 2011 WL 4907303 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 14, 2011) (evaluating TMFPA action based upon the same evidence and arguments offered with respect to FCA retaliation claim); see also United States v. Thorek Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 2007 WL 2484333 at 4 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 29, 2007) (evaluating FCA action and Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act actions together). the company defrauding the government." Robertson, 32 F.3d at 951. Without a suggestion from the employee that she is "attempting to expose illegality or fraud within the meaning of the FCA," activity is not of the "protected" variety. Id. The protected activity need not be clearly in furtherance of a qui tam action, id., but must include steps "towards the exposure of the false claims, such as investigating or complaining about the fraud." Guerrero, 2012 WL 899228, at 4; See Gonzalez v. Fresenius Med. Care N. Am., 689 F.3d 470, 479 (5th Cir. 2012). Whether Defendants retaliated against Relator turns on disputed questions of fact. Relator testified that she complained to numerous supervisors and Defendants' human resources department expressing concerns that Defendants were admitting and maintaining ineligible patients, and that employees were committing fraud in connection with Medicare. 149 The Court previously held that, because Relator "characterized her concerns as involving fraud that violated federal and state regulations," her allegations, if proven, could show that she engaged in a protected activity and that Defendants knew she engaged in a protected activity. 150 There is also sufficient evidence of a connection between Relator's protected activity and her termination. She provided uncontroverted evidence that she had never received a negative performance review before raising these concerns, and that she was demoted and fired within months of doing so. 151 The issue thus turns on Relator's and other Defendants' employees' credibility, and thus it cannot be resolved at summary judgment. 152 149 Rel. Appx. 1645–72. 150 Opinion, [Docket Entry #91] at 11. 151 Rel. Appx. 1645–72. 152 The Fifth Circuit recently made clear that an FCA retaliation claim is analyzed under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting standard. Diaz, No, 15-50655 at 4 n. 3. The relator must provide evidence of retaliation, then the defendant must show a non-retaliatory motive, and the burden shifts back to the relator to show that the defendant's explanation is pretextual. The Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment against a relator on a retaliation claim because the relator did not allege pretext. Id. at 5–6. Here, relator alleges pretext and provides evidence sufficient for a jury to find Defendants' explanation—reducing social workers due to overstaffing—pretextual: she was the only social worker with a master's degree and the most senior social worker at her location. Despite Defendants' arguments to the contrary, the FCA does not require Relator to prevail on her false claims causes of action to succeed on her retaliation claim. See U.S. ex rel Bias v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No 15-30193 (5th Cir., Mar. 9, 2016) (allowing plaintiff to proceed on his retaliation claim, although his only other FCA claim had settled and been dismissed); Diaz v. Kaplan Higher Ed., No. 15-50655 (5th Cir., Apr. 13, 2016) (allowing plaintiff to proceed on only a retaliation claim under the FCA). 153 Defendants argue that the alleged violation of the TTMFPA should be dismissed for all the reasons the FCA retaliation claim should be dismissed and because absent a predicate violation of the FCA, pendent state law claims arising under the TMFPA should be dismissed. As Relator has presented sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment on her federal retaliation claim, her claims under the TMFPA also survive summary judgment. Therefore, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment isDENIEDas to retaliation. VI. CONCLUSION Defendants' Motions to Strike the Testimony of Drs. Kriegler and Steinberg are GRANTED in part, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED as to all Relator's claims except retaliation, and Relator's Motions are DENIED as moot. SO ORDERED. June 20, 2016.
ChangeThis 199.01 A BROADER DEFINITION OF WE Laura Kriska BUILDING INTERNAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO END US VERSUS THEM THINKING Far too many organizations proudly claim inclusion through infrastructure that would make places more diverse and genuinely inclusive. slogans yet fail to do the work to achieve the stated goal. Many organizations released statements of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, which was encouraging. But I remain skeptical. Words alone do not affect change. Saying what you think your customers, employees, and the public want to hear is different than building the internal For foundational progress to occur, we need leaders to build an internal infrastructure— to accumulate real-life experience interacting with people who are different on a trusted colleague basis. Until that is achieved, no slick slogan or public relations mission statement is going to make a measurable difference. Any objective measure of minority representation in the workplace reveals that words are not enough. The data is indisputable. In her excellent book, Diversity, Inc., Pamela Newkirk closely examines real metrics. She writes, "Despite decades of handwringing costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, progress in most elite American institutions has been negligible." To be sure, there are specific pockets of progress, but overall, the evidence is clear that we have not succeeded. A solid internal infrastructure can lead to a genuinely inclusive WE culture. Without it, there is no opportunity for self-reflection when problems occur. Instead of looking inward, folks will look outward and point the finger of blame at others. It's like claiming on your website that your building is ADA compliant without building any ramps. Then, when someone using a wheelchair shows up, you blame them for expecting the fair access that you advertised. The process of building a more inclusive infrastructure needs to happen on an internal basis throughout America's institutions. Building WE cultures means interacting faceto-face with people who are different than you until you have built a trusted colleague relationship. Then you keep repeating this process with more and more people. Don't stop. Don't stop even when you realize that your intergroup anxiety is no longer triggered. Don't stop when you achieve benchmarks or are praised for your progress. Don't stop because there will always be gaps to close and your effort to keep building an internal infrastructure will make you a more interesting, successful, and empathic person. It will also make the world a better place. The process of building a more inclusive infrastructure needs to happen on an internal basis throughout America's institutions. I've watched thousands of professionals take on this challenge. It can be done. I've supported many by suggesting small gestures to begin the process. I've experienced this myself when I worked to bridge myriad gaps in both my personal and professional life. FACE OF AMERICA In a rare example of a home team leader recognizing and naming the lack of diversity as a serious economic problem in the United States, prior to the Black Lives Matter protests, former CEO of PGA of America, Pete Bevacqua, advocated for fundamental change by suggesting that golf must become more accessible and diverse in order to stay relevant in the future. "I think we would all agree, or most of us would agree, that the face of this game has to change if it's going to grow. It needs to look more like the face of America." Pete Bevacqua was born onto the American "home team" as a straight, white man. There is no fault in this: Straight white men are not the problem. The problem is any person on a home team who acts like they have no advantage and does nothing to bridge Us and Them gaps. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, is another straight white male who not only recognized his advantages but took action in response to Black Lives Matter protests. In addition to making supportive statements, Ohanian resigned from the Reddit board and asked the company to replace him with a Black candidate. He also committed to ongoing financial contributions to serve the Black community. Ohanian encouraged others to consider big change saying, "We need diversity at the highest levels of business now more than ever." When people in the majority like Pete Bevacqua and Alexis Ohanian advocate for foundational change in an institution by broadening the identity of who "belongs," they are deliberately using their home team advantage to build a WE culture. This is an action any leader can take, but it is particularly effective when these actions are performed by leaders who identify with the home team in their organizations. As our demographics continue to diversify, all businesses and corporations need to advance toward a broader definition of WE in order to look more like "the face of America." It is in every organization's economic interest because it will avoid costly problems and help them stay relevant. It is also the right thing to do. NEW PARADIGM Developing a WE culture is an ongoing process. Don't wait for a catastrophe to force you into taking action. Take action now. Fortunately, there are many ways for leaders to expand the definition of who belongs in their organizations. Here are ten actions leaders should take right now to make sure they are continuously aware. 1. Look for Us and Them gaps. The old paradigm had many of us thinking that when we talked about 'culture difference' we meant differences between countries and languages. To be sure, these differences remain, but the gaps can reside anywhere people come together and may be related to differences in age, race, ethnicity, or any factor of identity. 2. Increase awareness of marginalizing behaviors, especially if you identify with the home team. Estimates place the cost of corporate diversity efforts in the billions, yet there has been little measurable progress when it comes to the number of nonwhite people in positions of power in corporate America. One reason for this is that home team players do not fully and deeply understand the experience of being a minority. The lived experience of many home team people prevents them from seeing that marginalizing behaviors perpetuate pernicious Us and Them gaps. 3. Ask for input from marginalized voices. When you do not have the lived experience of being a minority it is important to educate yourself and increase your own understanding. But no amount of study and listening can translate into knowing what it is like to live and work as a minority. Getting honest input from trusted people who represent voices different from your own is a foundational requirement for any organization. As our demographics continue to diversify, all businesses and corporations need to advance toward a broader definition of WE in order to look more like "the face of America." 4. Make a deliberate effort to move toward trusted colleague status with individuals from historically marginalized groups. So often, well-meaning home team people establish acquaintance level or colleague level relationships and then stop doing the work to move forward to trusted colleague level status. There are many reasons for this failure, including limited time, uncertainty, and privilege, but none is sufficient justification for not taking action. Make this a priority. 5. Notice when behavior seems unusual to you. Instead of immediately reacting to experiences in which another person or group behaves in a way that seems out of the ordinary to you, be prepared to pause and consider culture difference. Ask yourself, "Is there invisible data that explain this behavior that I'm not considering?" The simple act of pausing to seek information requires awareness, patience and curiosity—all freely available resources. 6. Be sensitive and aware when a person from outside the cultural majority is present. Notice language, race, ethnicity, religion and other differences. A new paradigm for inclusion requires that we overcome an outdated 'color-blind' approach. The new model requires that attention be paid to topics like race, ethnicity, and religion. Solutions to narrowing any Us versus Them gap will only arise when dominant cultural groups reconcile their role in longstanding narratives of exclusion and this starts with seeing, not ignoring, difference. 7. Assume there is cultural data you cannot see and seek to find it. Cultural data such as beliefs, values, and assumptions circulate around us like the air we breathe, informing choices we make on conscious and unconscious levels. Rather than waiting 8. Build your own internal infrastructure. Build your knowledge and firsthand experience with a person or group with whom you have a cultural difference, whether that gap is related to differences in generations, race, sexual orientation, nationality or any factor of identity. 9. Become Culturally Fluid. Over time, accumulate insights and first-hand experiences with a group you don't identify as being a part of. Then repeat. 10. Inspire others to become WE-builders. Utilize your position of authority to provide encouragement and support to others in their own journeys toward building understanding and firsthand experience. MINDSET In April 2020, Daniel O'Day, chairman and chief executive of Gilead, an American pharmaceutical company, shared a statement that put the immediate pandemic as well as the ongoing global condition into perspective. At the time, Gilead was a leading organization working to test and manufacture more of the drug remdesivir, a possible treatment for Covid-19. Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, was initially developed as a treatment for Ebola and is made from rare substances with limited global availability. "It will be essential for countries to work together to create enough supply for people all over the world and we look forward to these collaborative efforts." It's not location that determines behavior; it is intention. A person can fly halfway around the world and still have an Us versus Them mindset. It is time for a new paradigm that rejects fear-based behaviors like building walls, limiting tourist buses, and increasing law enforcement. These protectionist behaviors are not a viable long-term solution because we are too deeply interconnected to survive without one another. The simple questions each leader must answer are these: Are you trying to limit or broaden the definition of who belongs? Are you seeking connection or perpetuating division? Are your choices highlighting shared factors or fanning flames of division? We answer these important questions with our own behavioral choices in every encounter, every meeting, and with every decision we make. It's not location that determines behavior; it is intention. A person can fly halfway around the world and still have an Us versus Them mindset. SMALL UTOPIAS During the unsettled time of the Covid-19 pandemic, I observed the creation of many "small utopias," a phrase conceived by author Sheryll Cashin in her book Loving. She describes them as "places open to all, with new norms for inclusion, where people can build trust and be culturally dexterous." Cultural dexterity is a concept she describes as "an enhanced capacity for intimate connections with people outside one's own tribe, for seeing and accepting difference rather than demanding assimilation to an unspoken norm of whiteness." The scientific community became a small utopia, working across different languages and nationalities and abandoning competitive practices like keeping laboratory findings to themselves. Instead, researchers immediately shared important laboratory findings so that other scientists around the world could access the data. THE FUTURE Whether you are a business owner or a leader in a multinational conglomerate, if you really care about succeeding in the future you will prioritize WE-building as though your organizations depend on it. The multitudes who took to the streets in Black Live Matter protests all over the country and around the world is evidence that people—many types of people—will no longer accept outdated, unjust conditions. The world is a fundamentally different place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests. We should take the positive lessons from these experiences with us as we move forward and navigate our diverse and deeply interconnected economy. A WE mindset offers access to an untapped resource right in front of us. The gaps between any Us versus Them dynamic in the workplace represent underutilized energy, innovation, and productivity. With committed leadership, this time can be an opportunity to work through many Us versus Them gaps in order to create small utopias with new norms for inclusion, where people can build trust and develop intimate connections with people outside their own tribe. Will there be meaningful and measurable change? None of us really knows how this is going to play out in the years and decades ahead. Many factors will inform the choices leaders make that will impact financial markets, social structures, and individual wellbeing. What I know for sure is that maintaining the status quo will no longer work and will leave us ill-prepared for the future ahead. The world is a fundamentally different place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests. We should take the positive lessons from these experiences with us as we move forward and navigate our diverse and deeply interconnected economy. Here's the thing: Many of us already have what we need to change the trajectory away from division and toward connection. The most important requirements to establish a new paradigm in which diversity is valued and people have the skills to build connection across any differences are free and available to anyone—the willingness to be both genuine and humble and the desire to close gaps. It is possible to move forward toward a truly integrated culture in which only inconsequential Us and Them dynamics remain. Working together, I believe in a path toward which consequential and game-changing Us versus Them gaps no longer exist, where there is only WE. I hope to meet you there. Info Ready to dig deeper into the book? Buy a copy of The Business of We. Want copies for your organization or for an event? We can help: email@example.com 800-236-7323 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Laura Kriska is a leading cross-cultural consultant with more than thirty years of experience bridging Us versus Them gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents helping thousands of professionals build trust across differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age or any factor of identity. Her WE-building framework provides practical and actionable insights for creating a more inclusive and productive world. Born in Tokyo, raised in Ohio, and now residing in NYC, Laura Kriska is considered an authority on cultural integration and regularly speaks to groups around the globe. By leveraging virtual technology, she has streamlined her methodology to have an immediate and positive impact using minimal time and resources. Contact her at laurakriska.com to learn how you can begin WE-building today. SHARE THIS Pass along a copy of this manifesto to others. SUBSCRIBE Sign up for e-news to learn when our latest manifestos are available. Curated and edited by the people of Porchlight, ChangeThis is a vehicle for big ideas to spread. Keep up with the latest book releases and ideas at porchlightbooks.com. This document was created on April 7, 2021 and is based on the best information available at that time. The copyright of this work belongs to the author, who is solely responsible for the content. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. To view a copy of this license, visit Creative Commons. Cover art from Adobe Stock.
ISSN Online: 2333-9721 Determining the Radius of the Magnetic Vortex Core of YBCO123 and Bi2212 A. Mukubwa 1 , Fred Masinde 2 1 Department of Science, Technology and Engineering, Kibabii University, Bungoma, Kenya 2 Department of Physical Sciences, South Eastern Kenya University, Kitui, Kenya How to cite this paper: Mukubwa, A. and Masinde, F. (2019) Determining the Radius of the Magnetic Vortex Core of YBCO123 and Bi2212. Open Access Library Journal, 6: e5661. Abstract https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105661 Received: August 5, 2019 Accepted: August 23, 2019 Published: August 26, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Open Access Library Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access A plasma has been defined as a quasi-neutral gas of charged particles showing collective behaviour. Plasmas can support waves depending on the local conditions, the presence of external electric and magnetic fields. A characteristic property of plasmas is their ability to transfer momentum and energy via collective motion. An example in this case, is the Langmuir waves where plasma electrons oscillate against a stationary ion background. In a superconductor, two plasma electrons arise one that is made up of normal electrons and the other that is made up of super-electrons. In this study, we consider a system of super-electrons forming a super-particle. The motion of the plasma super-particles around a magnetic vortex core has been studied in the YBCO123 and Bi2212 systems. The results reveal an assemblage of super-particles that contain the magnetic flux within the vortex core of radius Subject Areas Applied Physics, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Keywords Plasma, Magnetic Flux, Magnetic Vortex Core, Super-Particles, Diamagnetism 1. Introduction Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory gives a good account of interactions between magnetic field and electric field in a type II superconductor [1]. The theory agrees well with the BCS theory. However, the BCS theory is not sufficient to 1 explain the high energy pairing in the High-T superconductors. While the c lower and the upper critical fields of a superconductor have been determined using the GL theory, finding the radius of the magnetic vortex core theoretically has been a challenge. Therefore, there is need for a new approach in studying the motion of charged particles in an electromagnetic field, especially in high-superconductor systems. In this study, we consider assemblage of charged particles, each moving independently in prescribed electromagnetic fields which constitute a plasma [2] . The plasma of charged particles responds inertially to electric field perturbations by oscillating at the electron plasma frequency. Externally imposed electric fields will induce perturbations in the plasma that are combinations of the time dependence of the externally imposed field and the electron plasma oscillations. The response of charged particles to the electric field force is limited by the inertial force d d ma m t = v , and is inversely proportional to the mass of the charged particle. Thus, the lighter electrons will give the primary inertial response to an electric field perturbation in a plasma [2] . Consequently, the electrons give the dominant contribution to the plasma polarization. In the Langmuir waves, plasma electrons oscillate against a stationary ion background in a normal state of a material [3] . The force experienced by an i th particle in motion is given by where d d i i x t = v is the velocity of the i th particle. The equation of motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field ( B ) due to an electric field ( E ) is given by [4], where d i i x = v is the velocity of the i th particle, q is the particle charge and d t ( ) i i F q = + × E v B is the Lorentz force on the i th particle. The charge and current densities respectively are obtained by integrating the distribution function over velocity space and summing over species And where ( ) , , f f x v t = is the microscopic distribution function whose time derivative is given by here, v = v Putting Equation (2) into Equation (5) yields the Klimontovich equation given as This is the plasma kinetic energy. The term ( ) C f is known as the Coulomb collision operator on the average distribution function ( ) , , f f x v t = . The new form of Equation (6) becomes For a plasma of particles, Coulomb collision effects over short time scales are negligible. Thus, for such plasma processes, The solution to this equation is where i c is the constant of motion. The distribution is kinetically stable when the energy is the constant of motion and the equilibrium constant of distribution depends on it. Fluid moments are obtained by integrating low order powers of the product of velocity and the distribution function over velocity space in the laboratory frame, that is ∫ 3 d: 0,1,2, i v f i= ⋅ v (10) Theoretical Formulation For a material in a superconducting state, two particles arise: normal particles that consist of normal electrons and the super-particles made up of super-electrons. The motion of the plasma super-particles around a magnetic vortex core contains the magnetic flux within the vortex core. Some of the velocity moments of the distribution function f are listed below Density of states: Flow velocity: Average Kinetic energy (meV): Pressure (NM −2 ): Pressure Tensor (NM −2 ): A system of interacting super-particles consists of a number (n) of electrons each carrying a charge e. The total charge of the super-particle will be denoted by Q. Physical properties of plasma such as energy can be generated from the velocity moment of the plasma kinetic equation of the super-particles that is expressed as where, ( ) g v is the velocity function for the particles. To find the density moment, 1 g = is used while for the momentum moment, g m = v is used as a velocity function. The momentum equation for the plasma super-particles is Each part is tackled separately using the commutation property before combining the solutions: Substituting the solutions back to Equation (17) we have To determine the perpendicular guiding center (radius) drifts, the perpendicular flow responses are obtained by taking the cross product of the momentum equation with the magnetic field B. Thus, Equation (21) becomes Performing the product yields Dividing Equation (23) by 2 NqB we have Equation (24) gives the total flow velocity of the system The indicates the ordering of the various flow components while In this case, ∧ V is the cross flow velocity, V‖ is the parallel flow velocity and ⊥ V is the perpendicular flow velocity. The directions, here, are relative to the direction of the magnetic flux, which is in the z-direction. Of importance, here, is the is the cross flow velocity given as where, d V represents the diamagnetic flow velocity while E V represents the interaction between the fields. This study revolves around the diamagnetic flow velocity, d V that describes the motion of super-electrons while exerting pressure p on the magnetic flux. This pressure contains the flux along cylindrical vortices. The quantity B is the diamagnetisation of the super-particles. To work out the various components of the B ∇ tensor, a local Cartesian coordinate system with coordinates ˆ x e , ˆ y e and ˆ z e is used such that ˆ z e is aligned along ˆ b at ˆ b and ˆ x e pointing towards the centre of the vortex core and perpendicular to ˆ b . The y-axis of the local co-ordinate, ˆ ˆ ˆ y x e e = × b becomes tangential to the surface of the vortex core (interface between the flux and the plasma-super-particles' flow). Thus, the unit vectors characterizing this local coordinate system will be ˆ x e , ˆ ˆ z e = b and ˆ ˆ ˆ y x e e = × b . Equation (31) can be evaluated as follows: Note that p ∇ is one-dimensional in the ˆ x e -direction i.e. towards the centre of the cylindrical vortex. 5 Recall that p N ≅ , so that 1 p = , where is the kinetic energy of the su- per-particles, at absolute zero temperature and E is the excitation energy of the k quasi particles. Therefore, equation becomes The quantity 1 1 d d p p L p x = − is known as the pressure-gradient scale length and is proportional to the radius, r of the vortex core, i.e. The vector ˆ y e shows that plasma superfluid moves tangentially to the interface as the flux concentrates about the centre of the vortex. These interactions form a cylindrical vortex core of radius 1 p r L = at diamagnetisation B and flux H. The diamagnetisation B is proportional to the 1 2 0 0 e c H H c H H H µ − + . Therefore, where η a constant that depends on the material of the superconductor is, H is the applied external field, 1 c H is the lower critical field, 2 c H is the upper critical field, 0 µ is the permeability of free space and 2 c H b H = is the reduced magnetic field [5]. Considering all these cases, Equation (34) becomes When the external magnetic field H is increased, the resulting magnetic flux (ф) mounts more pressure on the superelectrons and weakens the diamagnetisation. This results into an increase in the radius, r, of the core. At 2 c H H = , the supe-particles are so weak that the magnetic flux permeates the whole spectrum of the super-particles causing the superconductivity of the material to breakdown and r →∞ . It is important to note that the values of are in meV. Consequently, At absolute zero temperature, the thermal velocity of the super electrons is zero and therefore, Equation (38) relies on the acoustic velocity. Hence, for a super-electron at absolute zero temperature, Hence, using Equations (39) into (38) we get From Equation (40), it should be noted that for a three-electron system, Substituting 41 into 40, we have If we make an assumption that the boundaries of the vortex core are clear when 0 B B = and 0 H H = . Therefore, the radius 0 r r = is experimentally determined at this point and at 0 B B = , Equation (42) becomes 2. Results and Discussion The average kinetic energy ( ) of super-particle consisting of three super-electrons in a YBCO123 system, by calculation, is found to be 24 meV while that of Bi2212 is 25.1 meV. Msass of the model 3 p e m m = . Equations (36) and (43) has been used to generate the graphs of diamagnetisation, B as a function of the external applied magnetic field H . Figure 1 shows a graph of diamagnetisation, B as a function of the external applied magnetic field H over varied ranges of the applied external magnetic field for both YBCO123 and Bi2212 systems. In Figure 1(a), the Continuous line represents the theoretical results while the 7 dotted line represents the experimental results. Similar shapes have been obtained through experimental procedures for Type II superconductors. In Figure 1(a), the peak for both the experimental and theoretical occur at the lower critical field. Analysis of Figure 1(b) shows some interesting feature that emanates from the assumption in Equation (43). At 0 B B = , the theoretical estimation puts the external applied field, at which the vortex core boundaries are clear, at 6T which agrees fully with the experimental procedure that gives 6T. The curve finally ends while it is very close the x-axis where the upper critical field of 120T. Table 1 shows the estimated values of the ratio Q e − from Equation (44) based on experimental values of 0 r . The results from Table 1 have shown that (a) (c) Figure 1. Graph of diamagnetisation as a function of applied external magnetic field over the range (a) 0 0.6 T ≤ < H (b) 1T 8 T < < H (c) 2 0 c H ≤ ≤ H . Table 1. Estimated values of Q e − . Equation (46) shows the dependence of the vortex core radius, 0 r , on the kinetic energy and the diamagnetisation of the super-electrons. Increase in the kinetic energy increases the centrifugal force on the super-particles and a consequent increase in the radius of the vortex core. 3. Conclusion It has been shown through the working that the radius of the magnetic vortex core, when the boundary is clear, increases with the kinetic energy ( ) of the super-particles. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper. References [1] Gor'kov, L.P. and Melik-Barkhudarov, T.K. (1963) Microscopic Derivation of the Ginzburg-Landau Equations for an Anisotropic Superconductor. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, 45, 1493-1498. [2] Goldstone, R.J. and Rutherford, P.H. (1995) Introduction to Plasma Physics. Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd., Bristol and Philadelphia. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781439822074 [3] Gobbon, P. (2017) Introduction to Plasma Physics. arXiv:1705.10529v1 https://www.scribd.com/document/85976601/fundamentals-of-plasma-physics-200 [4] Callen, D.J. (2006) Fundamentals of Plasma Physics. 6 [5] Sonier, J.E. (1999) Investigations of the Core Structure of Magnetic Vortices in Type-II Superconductors by μSR. arXiv.org/pdf/cond-matt/0404115 [6] Mourachine (2004) Determination of the Coherence Length and the Cooper-Pair Size in Unconventional Superconductors by Tunnelling Spectroscopy. arXiv.org/abs/cond-matt/0405602v1 [7] Sonier, J.E., Brewer, J.H. and Kiefl, R.F. (2000) μSR Studies of the Vortex State in Type-II Superconductors. Reviews of Modern Physics, 72, 769. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.72.769
Pose 1 000 Poses For Photographers And Models Eng [PDF] Critsey Rowe Photographing Families Michele Celentano.2013-01-30 Create family portraits to cherish for a lifetime Family photographs are a staple of both amateur and professionalphotography. While always in demand, they also pose a unique set ofchallenges. In this book, Canon Explorer of Light Michele Celentanoguides beginning- to intermediate-level photographers around thecommon pitfalls and helps them learn how to get top-quality shotsevery time. From getting families organized and directing theposing to managing large groups and impatient kids, this bookreveals the secrets and helps you capture the shot without relyingon post-production to achieve perfection. Whether you're a professional seeking to advance your knowledgeor the family's designated picture-taker, you'll benefit from theseprofessional tips. You'll learn camera techniques that can takepounds and years off your subjects and create images that stand thetest of time. Family pictures are a photographic staple with their own set ofchallenges; this book offers tried-and-true advice for bothhobbyists and professionals Veteran photographer and Canon Explorer of Light MicheleCelentano guides you through getting families prepared for a photosession, directing the poses, handling challenging personalities,and creating memorable settings Helps you capture the perfect shot in the camera withoutrelying on post-production to make it right Reveals secrets that can help your subjects shed pounds andyears Packed with advice to help you keep your photos from showing upon awkwardfamilyphotos.com Photographing Families: Tips for Capturing TimelessImages is loaded with insider tips to help you make familyportraits the treasure they should be. Photographing Men Jeff Rojas.2016-03-08 More and more men are seeking out great portrait, commercial, or fashion photography. For working photographers, photographing men may be one of today's greatest new opportunities. But, while there are dozens of books, guides, and workshops on photographing women, there's been practically nothing comparable for men… until now! Jeff Rojas's Photographing Men is today's definitive full-color guide to every aspect of modern male photography. Rojas builds on his unique in-person course, which has made him Google's #1 go-to search result for knowledge on photographing males. Rojas covers posing, styling, posing, lighting, post-production, and more, showing how to achieve outstanding results and maximum creative expression. You'll discover how to: Make male clients look natural, masculine, and confident Skillfully document your male clients' best attributes, physical and emotional Define every man's face shapes, body shapes, and other features Compensate for flaws and perceived flaws, including acne, baldness, double chins, gray hair, wrinkles, and large features Overcome the challenges of styling male subjects, including big, skinny, and short men Understand how a suit should really fit your subject - and what to do if suits are out of the question Properly light all shapes and sizes of men for portraits, fashion, and commercial images (with complete lighting diagrams, behind-thescenes images, and gear lists) Get detailed examples and tips for portraits, 3/4 poses, and full-length poses Photograph entrepreneurs, managers, prosperous men, innovators, classic and handsome men, athletes, muscle men, underwear models, and even movie stars Complement every man's features in post-production techniques And much more 1,000 Poses in Fashion Chidy Wayne.2010-07-01 Ambiguous, sensual, coquette, and suggestive: the one thousand fashion drawing poses in this book are a deep journey into the wealth of possibilities for illustrating male and female bodies, and designers’ capacity to transmit sensations with an ever so slight flick of the wrist. 1,000 Poses in Fashion compiles all the usual fashion poses and illustrated features, represented in full color, supplemented by the many variations of each pose, in black and white. The poses show the effects of the way in which the clothes sit on the models, guiding the reader in aspects such as how to give proportion or volume to a garment. 1,000 Poses in Fashion is an essential reference for photographers, fashion designers, illustrators, models, and art directors who are interested in corporal expression in relation to fashion. Photographing Women Eliot Siegel.2012 The complete resource for any photographer seeking the best choice of po ses! Features over 1,000 images especially selected to inspire you and help expand your creativity. Photographs and poses are placed in context, explaining why they do (or sometimes don't) work. A selection of poses features an accompanying lighting diagram, giving a clear understanding of how the photo was made. Includes a variety of models shot using different lighting rigs, props, and settings-in the studio and on location-making this book suitable for commercial and editorial applications. Discover the secrets of success behind professional photographers' work, and learn how to get the best out of your models on a shoot. PLUS a technical how-to section gives master classes in angles, lighting, styling, and more. In this beautiful, yet extremely practical source book, fashion photographer Eliot Siegel embarks on an ambitious project to pull together 1,000 poses for photographing models. Designed to inspire photographers and models alike, the book's poses are organized by type including standing, sitting, reclining, crouching, kneeling, and dynamic poses, as well as head and shoulder shots and expressions. For selected images, Siegel includes a lighting diagram as well as a detailed explanation of how the image was made, but in every case he explains why a pose works, or why it doesn't. This image-packed reference also features iconic photography from prominent fashion photographers and includes a how-to chapter at the beginning of the book that provides a crash course on lighting, styling, props, and backgrounds--everything you need to know to make a woman look great, regardless of which of the 1,000 poses you wind up using. Foundations of Posing .2015-09-21 Photographers must have a clear understanding of how the human body, from head to toe, should be posed and adjusted in order to look good—and natural—to the camera. Learning effective strategies to flatter the face, arms and legs, torso, and hands and feet will allow us not only to flatter our subjects but also effectively tell the subject's story. Regardless of your photographic style, the tips and techniques outlined in this book will allow you to better control what the camera sees and the mood or message you want to convey. Whether you are a portrait or lifestyle photographer, photojournalist, fashion or commercial photographer, this book is designed to help you learn skills that you can apply to your specific style and method of shooting. Stephenson maintains that you should first identify the intent of your portrait before you begin to analyze the way in which you will pose your subject or subjects. How will the client use the image? Does he or she need a business portrait, which will require an air of authority and confidence, with a traditional vibe? Is the couple who booked the session deeply in love, and would a pose that speaks to their emotional closeness be appropriate? The author then moves into a discussion on body language. The way that an individual holds himself says much about his mind-set, mood, and motivations. Image viewers subconsciously read the cues that the subject's body conveys. It is important to ensure that the body language that is summoned through posing suits the mood/theme /intent of the portrait. There are traditions of posing that have been in play in the visual arts for eons. Many photographers fall into using the same pose for every subject. When this happens, all of the images that leave the studio begin to look the same. This can have dire consequences when it comes to the public perception of the photographer's work—and can squelch the joy photographers feel when creating. Stephenson offers simple approaches to flattering every body part when photographing individual clients and also teaches readers how to create artful images of couples and groups, as in multi-subject portraits, each individual must look great and relate logically and aesthetically to other subjects in the frame. With tips for posing the young and old, males and females, singles, couples, and groups in both indoor and locations—and in reclining, seated, and standing poses, from full-length to close-up, this book will walk you through all aspects of posing and balance with examples and easy to follow instructions. It's time to stop guessing and learn the art and science of posing. The Posing Playbook for Photographing Kids Tamara Lackey.2020-02-13 Anyone who has photographed children knows: kids don't really do posing. But, as the photographer, it's your job and your responsibility to deliver lasting, impactful images in which kids look great. More importantly, the goal is to create photographs of kids that are authentic, engage their spirit, and convey their unique personalities. So how do you get beyond the "cheese" smile? How do you harness the wild energy of a kid who won't stop moving? How do you create energy and dynamism with a kid who just seems…bored and not into it? How do you do all that and achieve a compelling composition with flattering light and the proper exposure? Tamara Lackey has been photographing children and families for years, and in The Posing Playbook for Photographing Kids, she teaches you her strategies and techniques for successfully posing and photographing children. The book begins with a discussion of "organic posing," an approach to directing the subject that focuses on making small adjustments that build up to a successful shot. Tamara moves on to the psychology of photographing children, covering how to read your subjects, work with different personality types, and elicit genuine engagement. She also discusses gear, accessories, composition, lighting, and camera settings. Then, in five chapters that are the real core of the book, Tamara tackles typical shooting scenarios and works through each kind of shoot, explaining what worked, what didn't, and how each shoot progresses from start to finish. Covering the realworld challenges you'll face when photographing children, Tamara discusses photographing children in the studio, in urban settings, on commercial and fashion shoots, in outdoor natural settings, and in groups. At the end of each of these chapters, she provides a handy reference guide of poses to fuel and inspire your shoots. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1: Organic Posing Chapter 2: The Psychology Behind Photographing Children Chapter 3: Gear and Accessories Chapter 4: Framing, Lighting, and Settings Chapter 5: What to Keep in Mind When Finalizing a Shot Chapter 6: In Studio Chapter 7: Urban Settings Chapter 8: Commercial and Fashion Shoots Chapter 9: Outdoor Natural Settings Chapter 10: Posing Children Together Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers J D Wacker.2001-08-01 Photographers are guided through every aspect of posing—beginning with the consultation and continuing with specific tips for posing children, high school seniors, wedding parties, families, events, teams, groups, and pets—in this comprehensive manual. Maintaining that good posing is 80 percent mental and only 20 percent technical, this guide stresses the importance of communication between photographer and subject to creating a portrait that not only captures the subject's personality but also makes the subject comfortable, fostering repeat business. Picture Perfect Posing Roberto Valenzuela.2014-02-26 Photographer, author, and educator Roberto Valenzuela has a proven track record for teaching and explaining difficult concepts to photographers of all skill levels. His remarkable ability to break down complicated ideas into understandable, approachable elements that photographers can truly grasp–and then use their newfound knowledge to improve their photography–made his first book, Picture Perfect Practice, a breakout success. In Picture Perfect Posing, Roberto takes on the art of posing. For many photographers, after learning to compose an image and even light it properly, a portrait can still easily be a failure if the pose is not natural, elegant, and serving the needs of both the subject and the photographer. Instead of just showing page after page of poses–like most posing books on the market–Roberto actually breaks down the concept of posing by examining the anatomy, starting with the core foundation: the spinal chord and neck. Building from there, Roberto discusses every component of what makes poses work, as well as fail. How should the model hold her hands? Bend her elbows? Position her fingers? Should the model look toward or away from the camera, and why? It all depends on what the photographer wants for the shot, and Roberto discusses the entire process, from the intent of the photographer through the execution of the pose. For those who have been discouraged by an inability to pose their subjects, or who have simply not known where to start in order to figure it out, Picture Perfect Posing is the essential resource they need to learn how posing truly works, and how they can learn to direct the exact pose they need for the shot they want. Posing for the Camera Harriett Shepard,Lenore Meyer.2010-10-28 This book is not a compilation of 'Do's and Dont's.' It seeks to organize thought on the part of photographers, directors and models as to where posing begins and how it is accomplished. Step by step, we will take the major and minor components of the posing figure and show how they function in relation to the camera - their possibilities and their limitations. Once you know how the figure functions, and the results thereby obtained, it is up to you to decide whether the pose is desirable or undesirable for the job at hand. For instance, a certain hand position may be generally recognized as awkward or conspicuous. This position would be undesirable if you wanted your picture to express grace and loveliness. On the other hand, it could very well serve to characterize a gangling teenager or call attention to an object or important copy in an advertisement. This book is not meant to impose our personal opinions upon you. Its intent is to increase your awareness of how symmetry of figure in pictures follows a consistent pattern. That pattern, when analyzed, establishes basic truths that beat like a motif throughout prize-winning and time-tested pictures. These truths are the fundamentals of which we speak. The Design Aglow Posing Guide for Wedding Photography Lena Hyde.2013 .100 ideas for posing engaged couples, brides, brides and grooms, and wedding parties will help you approach each session brimming with confidence and creative ideas--Back cover. 1,000 Fashion Poses Simon Walden.2012-07-01 A reference guide for photographers, artists, fashion designers and models.An extensive guide to over 1,000 poses suitable for all types of clothing from casual to smart, swimwear to coats.Each section shows a range of poses which will show off clothes to their best effect and styles of posing that meet the styles of clothes.You will learn which poses work for sitting, lying and standing.A full guide at the start of the box gives you all the details you need to know to make a good pose great. The Portrait Photographer's Guide to Posing Bill Hurter.2011-11 In the early years of photographic portraiture, posing was an absolute necessity. With extremely slow films, equally slow lenses and a lack of artificial light sources, time dictated long exposures. Due to vastly improved technology, photographers are now able to work freely and naturally, recording spontaneity in their portraits, yet not forgetting the posing rules that existed. As Bill Hurter shows in The Portrait Photographer's Guide To Posing, there is room in the market for both approaches. Tony Northrup's DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital Photography Tony Northrup.2014-11-26 The top-rated and top-selling photography ebook since 2012 and the first ever Gold Honoree of the Benjamin Franklin Digital Award, gives you five innovations no other book offers: Free video training. 9+ HOURS of video training integrated into the book's content (requires Internet access). Travel around the world with Tony and Chelsea as they teach you hands-on. Appendix A lists the videos so you can use the book like an inexpensive video course.Classroom-style teacher and peer help. After buying the book, you get access to the private forums on this site, as well as the private Stunning Digital Photography Readers group on Facebook where you can ask the questions and post pictures for feedback from Tony, Chelsea, and other readers. It's like being able to raise your hand in class and ask a question! Instructions are in the introduction.Lifetime updates. This book is regularly updated with new content (including additional videos) that existing owners receive for free. Updates are added based on reader feedback and questions, as well as changing photography trends and new camera equipment. This is the last photography book you'll ever need.Hands-on practices. Complete the practices at the end of every chapter to get the real world experience you need.500+ high resolution, original pictures. Detailed example pictures taken by the author in fifteen countries demonstrate both good and bad technique. Many pictures include links to the full-size image so you can zoom in to see every pixel. Most photography books use stock photography, which means the author didn't even take them. If an author can't take his own pictures, how can he teach you? In this book, Tony Northrup (award-winning author of more than 30 howto books and a professional portrait, wildlife, and landscape photographer) teaches the art and science of creating stunning pictures. First, beginner photographers will master: CompositionExposureShutter speedApertureDepth-of-field (blurring the background)ISONatural lightFlashTroubleshooting blurry, dark, and bad picturesPet photographyWildlife photography (mammals, birds, insects, fish, and more)Sunrises and sunsetsLandscapesCityscapesFlowersForests, waterfalls, and riversNight photographyFireworksRaw filesHDRMacro/close-up photography Advanced photographers can skip forward to learn the pro's secrets for: Posing men and women. including corrective posing (checklists provided)Portraits (candid, casual, formal, and underwater)Remotely triggering flashesUsing bounce flash and flash modifiersUsing studio lighting on any budgetBuilding a temporary or permanent studio at homeShooting your first weddingHigh speed photographyLocation scouting/finding the best spots and timesPlanning shoots around the sun and moonStar trails (via long exposure and image stacking)Light paintingEliminating noiseFocus stacking for infinite depth-of-fieldUnderwater photographyGetting close to wildlifeUsing electronic shutter triggersPhotographing moving carsPhotographing architecture and real estate The Dramatic Portrait Chris Knight.2017-07-13 Without light, there is no photograph. As almost every photographer knows, the word "photograph" has its roots in two Greek words that, together, mean "drawing with light." But what is less commonly acknowledged and understood is the role that shadow plays in creating striking, expressive imagery, especially in portraiture. It is through deft, nuanced use of both light and shadow that you can move beyond shooting simply ordinary, competent headshots into the realm of creating dramatic portraiture that can so powerfully convey a subject's inner essence, communicate a personal narrative, and express your photographic vision. In The Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Crafting Light and Shadow, Chris Knight addresses portraiture with a unique approach to both light and shadow that allows you to improve and elevate your own portraiture. He begins with the history of portraiture, from the early work of Egyptians and Greeks to the sublime treatment of light and subject by artists such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. Chris then dives into a deep, hands-on exploration of light, shadow, and portraiture, offering numerous lessons and takeaways. He covers: * The qualities of light: hard, soft, and the spectrum in between * The relationships between light, subject, and background, and how to control them * Lighting patterns such as Paramount, Rembrandt, loop, and split * Lighting ratios and how they affect contrast in your image * Equipment: from big and small modifiers to grids, snoots, barn doors, flags, and gels * Multiple setups for portrait shoots, including those that utilize one, two, and three lights * How color contributes to drama and mood, eliciting an emotional response from the viewer * How to approach styling your portrait, from wardrobe to background * The post-processing workflow, including developing the RAW file, maximizing contrast, color grading, retouching, and dodging and burning for heightened drama and effect p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Verdana} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Verdana; min-height: 13.0px} * How all of these elements culminate to help you define your personal style and create your own narrative Posing Techniques for Photographers and Models Cheyenne.1983 Photographing Models - 1,000 Poses Eliot Siegel.2012 The complete, comprehensive resource for any photographer seeking the best poses, this book features one thousand images, specially selected to help photographers position models in an array of different poses. Photographs and poses are placed in context within the text, with reasons why they do (or sometimes don't) work. A handful of poses are also accompanied by lighting diagrams, to give an understanding of how the photo was created. The content is organised into sub-sections, including standing and seated poses, bodywork, movement, exaggerated poses, and expressions, for easy navigation when preparing shots.Photographing Models features both models and non-models of different ages, shot using different lighting rigs and settings, making this book suitable for a vast range of commercial and editorial applications. Master Posing Guide J. D. Wacker.2001-08 Photographers are guided through every aspect of posing--beginning with the consultation and continuing with specific tips for posing children, high school seniors, wedding parties, families, events, teams, groups, and pets--in this comprehensive manual. Maintaining that good posing is 80 percent mental and only 20 percent technical, this guide stresses the importance of communication between photographer and subject to creating a portrait that not only captures the subject's personality but also makes the subject comfortable, fostering repeat business. The Art of Drawing Poses for Beginners Ken Goldman,Stephanie Goldman.2022-10-04 The Art of Drawing Poses for Beginners combines step-by-step pencil lessons and additional graphite portrait examples to demonstrate how to accurately render the human form in a variety of realistic poses. Dynamic Posing Guide Craig Stidham,Jeanne Harris.2013-08-29 Tips, techniques, and inspiration for creating perfect poses Effectively posing the human body is a challenge for nearlyevery photographer, from amateur to professional. Understanding howa model's pose, body language, and posture affect a photograph iscrucial to success. Author and professional fashion photographerCraig Stidham shows you how to guide a subject's personalitythrough body language, with hundreds of examples andsuggestions. Answers critical questions such as: how can a photographeravoid having the subject look awkward? How does one direct bothexperienced and inexperienced models? Shares helpful posing tips and techniques for posing models innew modern and fashion-forward ways Suggests ways to make strategic edits in post-production to fixcommon posing mistakes Offers hundreds of examples of strong and stunning posing Dynamic Posing Guide teaches you the skills you need toidentify strong modern posing techniques as you strengthen yourphotographic skills. Flow Posing .2016-12-19 Creating flattering poses for portrait and wedding clients is key to success as a professional photographer, but it can be difficult to quickly move through a series of poses that results in flattering images and a wide variety of portrait looks. In this book, posing guru Doug Gordon (of Long Island, NY) distills his popular flow posing techniques to show readers how to establish a basic standing portrait pose that is perfectly suited to traditional/classic portrait looks, then fluidly progress through a series of minor posing adjustments, framing changes, and camera angles to build a cache of over fifty client-pleasing poses suitable for a wide range of clients and locations. Readers will learn how to slim clients, lengthen the body, elegantly pose hands, mask perceived imperfections, and make every client look and feel their best in front of the camera to deliver profit-building portraits in minimal time. Posing Ideas for Glamour, Fine Art and Facial Expressions Kristy Jessica.2019-04-12 Designed as an educational resource for photographers and models, everyone from hobbyists to professionals can learn something new from this posing guide. Divided into three sections, professional freelance model Kristy Jessica provides over 500 different visual references for creating dynamic images. Study of Pose Coco Rocha,Steven Sebring.2016-09-15 A groundbreaking, in-depth exploration of the movement and flexibility of the human body, featuring 1,000 stunning black-and-white photographs that showcase the unique collaboration between international supermodel Coco Rocha, "The Queen of Pose," and world-renowned photographer Steven Sebring. Supermodel Coco Rocha's uncanny ability to strike distinctive, camera-ready poses at an astounding speed has earned her international fame throughout the fashion industry—and made her the muse of celebrated photographer Steven Sebring. In Study of Pose, Sebring and Rocha have documented 1,000 unique poses—theatrical, vibrant, elegant, dramatic, and unlike anything the fashion or art worlds have seen before. Study of Pose features Rocha in a simple white leotard—bending, jumping, sitting, standing, and everything in between. The result is a gorgeous and arresting look at the potential of the human form. Packaged in a beautiful black case with two black satin bookmarks and a four-color bellyband with French folds, Study of Pose is sure to become an essential reference for Rocha's millions of fans around the world, as well as all models, artists, photographers, and lovers of art and fashion. Pro 101 Modelling Poses Mihai Crisan.2014-06-01 Pro 101 Modelling Poses is a posing guide created specially for photographers and models to help and inspire. It features three categories of a beautiful and experienced model posing. Digital Photography Complete Course DK.2021-01-19 Grab your camera and learn everything you need to know to improve your photography in just 20 weeks. Introducing Digital Photography Compete Course - the perfect beginner's learning program for any aspiring photographer, this photography book aims to teach you everything you need to know about photography in just 20 weeks, through easy-to-understand tutorials. It's time to start using your camera to its full potential, and this photography book for beginners can help you do just that. Combining tutorials, step-by-step photo shoots, practical assignments, and fun Q&As, this brilliant book on photography can help you untangle photographic jargon such as aperture, exposure, shutter speed, and depth-of-field; teach you top tips and tricks surrounding the range of modes on bridge and system cameras, and help you to master composition for that perfect photo! Become a photography expert in no time, as you explore: - Review, practice and experiment sections to put photography knowledge to the test - Technical concepts are broken down and explained in simple, accessible language - Easy-to-read diagrams and illustrations to highlight key theories - The latest technological and creative developments in digital photography and image manipulation DK's Digital Photography Complete Course is a must-have book for photography lovers of all ages, whether you're a photography or art student seeking to learn more about the subject, or a photography beginner looking to improve your own digital photography techniques. Doubling up as the perfect photography gift book for beginners, Digital Photography Compete Course will help you use your camera to its full potential so that you don't just take good pictures – you take great ones! How to Pose the Model William Mortensen,George Dunham.2012-08-01 Natural Newborn Baby Photography Robin Long.2013 To work with and pose a 5- to 10-day-old infant demands special skills, keeping the child safe and the new parents comfortable, while capturing the subject's raw and natural beauty. 500 Poses for Photographing Women Michelle Perkins.2009-03-01 Next to lighting, posing is the most challenging aspect of photography—with so many body parts to capture, the possibilities are endless, and it's all too easy to make a wrong turn. This illustrated reference provides both amateur shutterbugs and seasoned pros with the perfect place to turn when in need of quick posing strategies and fresh ideas. Containing 500 contemporary images by leading photographers, this indispensable manual explains posing fundamentals as well as how to create a flattering, feature-specific photograph—one that focuses on the head, shoulders, arms, torso, or feet—in different levels of close-ups, from head-shots to full-lengths. Master Posing Guide for Wedding Photographers Bill Hurter.2009-04-01 Outlining a theory that combines the refinement of traditional posing techniques with the more organic, spontaneous techniques of photojournalism, this creative and informative resource offers poses that rely on personality and interaction. These instructions from a veteran wedding photographer provide the skills needed to recognize what makes a great pose and how to subtly direct your clients to achieve the needed balance between looking great and looking comfortable. Ultimately, this grouping of modern and traditional shots offers answers to the complications faced when attempting to pose wedding parties quickly while keeping the natural look that all wedding couples desire. 500 Poses for Photographing Group Portraits Michelle Perkins.2013 A sample book of classic, casual, and editorial poses for family, bridal, team and other group photos. Boudoir Photography Critsey Rowe.2011-06-20 Boudoir has emerged from being a trend to being firmly established in the photographic mainstream. Its roots lie with many modern brides? desire to give a special, intimate album to their intended, but has snowballed with more and more women commissioning photographers (or photography enthusiast partners) to create personal portrait shots. Unlike glamour photography, boudoir is driven by the model?s own concept and vision, and this book provides anyone who wants to explore their creative side with a complete guide to every aspect of the craft, from calming your model?s stage fright to post-producing for that magazine look. This is a complete reference guide, with poses to suit all body types, arming photographers of any experience level with all they need to get visually arresting, and very flattering, results every time. 500 Poses for Photographing Couples Michelle Perkins.2011-07-01 Designed to address the challenges of posing two subjects together, this visual sourcebook offers creative, evocative poses for a variety of two-subject groupings, including romantic couples, business partners, friends, and siblings. Through the inclusion of contemporary images from some of the world's most accomplished photographers, shutterbugs will learn how to finesse poses to show the relationship between the subjects in the portrait. Grouped according to how much of the subject is included in the frame—from head-and-shoulder shots to full-length portraits—this manual is organized to teach compositional skills and how to direct the eye to points of focus within an image. An indispensible handbook for beginning, intermediate, or professional photographers, this book provides inspiration along with a plethora of images for igniting a creative spark. Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios Billy Pegram.2008-01-01 With detailed discussions and eyecatching, dynamic images, this guidebook shows professional photographers how to masterfully create beautiful images of a model to achieve any creative objective. Instructions illustrate basic poses as well as a host of subtle variations to provide photographers with an endless array of looks for editorial fashion shots, athletics, glamour or nude photography, and shots designed to show curves, reveal personality, or showcase the hands, hair, or legs. This comprehensive resource also provides expert advice on conducting a successful session, how to work with the model, how to work with a support staff of image stylists, and tips for designing a high-quality portfolio. Additional lessons provide a start-to-finish analysis of four different shooting sessions, each with a different model and a different objective. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics,Policy and Global Affairs,Committee on Science, Technology, and Law,Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community.2009-07-29 Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators. Doug Box's Guide to Posing for Portrait Photographers Douglas Allen Box.2009-03-01 Often overshadowed by complicated lighting techniques or advanced postproduction tips, this resource seeks to remind the professional photographer of the fundamental importance of a subject's pose. Conveniently designed in two-page spreads—a striking portrait on one side, a comprehensive how-to of the strategies used on the other—this reference includes countless techniques for studio sessions as well as outdoor and location shoots, with individuals or groups, male or female clients, and in sitting, standing, or lying poses. With advice from a well-known and respected professional, it covers all the basics, showing how to emphasize a client's assets and downplay perceived flaws, how to create a cohesive, engaging group photo, how to use natural elements on location to enhance an image, and how to ensure that the result flatters the subject and adds the essential professional polish to an image. Photographing Models - 1,000 Poses Eliot Siegel.2012 The complete, comprehensive resource for any photographer seeking the best poses, this book features one thousand images, specially selected to help photographers position models in an array of different poses. Photographs and poses are placed in context within the text, with reasons why they do (or sometimes don't) work. A handful of poses are also accompanied by lighting diagrams, to give an understanding of how the photo was created. The content is organised into sub-sections, including standing and seated poses, bodywork, movement, exaggerated poses, and expressions, for easy navigation when preparing shots.Photographing Models features both models and non-models of different ages, shot using different lighting rigs and settings, making this book suitable for a vast range of commercial and editorial applications. Fine Art Nude Photography Lindsay Adler.2021-02-02 Learn to light, pose, and photograph the human form--and create beautiful, expressive fine art photographs. Capturing the nude human form has been a part of photography almost since the medium's inception, and it remains one of the most empowering and liberating challenges that the medium offers. Though the subject is, by definition, straightforward--the human form is the ultimate blank canvas--the photographic options are limitless as you strive to create a beautiful, elegant, and expressive photograph. At the same time, with such simple subject matter, there is nowhere to hide. Poor lighting and ineffective posing will show. If you have no concept to explore or story to tell, it will show. Whether you're curious about conducting your first fine art nude shoot or you're a seasoned photographer who wants to vastly improve your lighting and posing skills, photographer and author Lindsay Adler will teach you how to infuse artistry and technique into your visual capture of the nude form. In Fine Art Nude Photography, Lindsay teaches you all about: - Shoot concepts: Find inspiration and develop a story for your shoot, and learn to avoid the cringe factor that can result when working without focus or intention - Models: Find models to work with, understand proper etiquette, and navigate model releases - Posing: Learn the posing fundamentals for the nude form, plus five essential poses you need to know - Lighting: Master the art of sculpting and defining the human form with light and shadow Throughout the book, you'll also hear directly from professional fine art nude models so that you can understand their needs, how to conduct yourself, and how to better collaborate to ensure a successful shoot. Finally, Lindsay includes ten complete shoots where, from start to finish, she shares her thought process behind each shoot, including concept, lighting, posing, retouching, and final selections. The Photographer's Guide to Posing Lindsay Adler.2017-05-03 When photographing people, you can have a great composition, perfect light, and the right camera settings, but if your subject doesn't look right—if the pose is off—the shot will not be a keeper. Posing is truly a crucial skill that photographers need to have in order to create great photographs. If you're looking to improve your ability to pose your subjects—whether they're men, women, couples, or groups—best-selling author and photographer Lindsay Adler's The Photographer's Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone is the perfect resource for you. In the first half of The Photographer's Guide to Posing, Lindsay discusses how the camera sees, and thus how camera angle, lens choice, and perspective all affect the appearance of your subject. Lindsay then covers things that ruin a pose—such as placement of the hands, and your subject's expression and posture. Next, Lindsay dives into "posing essentials," outlining her approach to start with a "base pose," then build on that to create endless posing opportunities. She also discusses posing the face—with specific sections dedicated to the chin, jaw, eyes, and forehead—as well as posing hands. In the second half of the book, Lindsay dedicates entire chapters to posing specific subject matter: women, men, couples, curvy women, families and small groups, and large groups. In each chapter, Lindsay addresses that subject matter's specific challenges, provides "go-to poses" you can always use, and covers how to train the eye to determine the best pose for your subject(s). Lindsay also teaches you how to analyze a pose so that you can create endless posing opportunities and continuously improve your work. Art Models Photoshoot Adhira 1b Session . POSE! Mehmet Eygi.2018-08-22 Whether you're the photographer behind the camera or the model in front of the lens, chances are you could use some help with posing, which is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to portrait photography. POSE! provides the knowledge and the inspiration you need to make your next photo shoot a success. With over 1,000 different looks for you to recreate and experiment with, the book covers a wide range of poses and subject matter in an easily accessible and visually dynamic layout. Photographer and author Mehmet Eygi demonstrates exactly how to get the right pose—from hand and leg placement, to a subtle tilt of the chin, to engaging with props and the environment around you. Each pose covered consists of a main pose followed by three variations on that pose. Organized by subject matter, POSE! covers: - WOMEN: Portrait, Beauty, Fashion, Lingerie, Implied Nude, Curvy, Curvy Boudoir, Sports, Business, Wall - MEN: Portrait, Fashion, Implied Nude, Sports, Business, Wall - COUPLES: Portrait, Fashion, Implied Nude, Sports - MATERNITY: Mother, Couple - FAMILY: Parents and Baby, New Family, Children Whether you use POSE! as an educational tool to explore the art of posing, or you simply use it as a look-book to find photographic inspiration or to help you direct a model, you'll quickly improve your portrait photography starting with your very next shoot. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Verdana} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Verdana; min-height: 13.0px} Camera Lucida Roland Barthes.1981 Examining the themes of presence and absence, the relationship between photography and theatre, history and death, these 'reflections on photography' begin as an investigation into the nature of photographs. Then, as Barthes contemplates a photograph of his mother as a child, the book becomes an exposition of his own mind.--Alibris. Eventually, you will completely discover a supplementary experience and completion by spending more cash. still when? do you agree to that you require to get those all needs in imitation of having significantly cash? Why dont you attempt to acquire something basic in the beginning? Thats something that will lead you to understand even more in relation to the globe, experience, some places, following history, amusement, and a lot more? It is your definitely own time to put on an act reviewing habit. along with guides you could enjoy now is Pose 1 000 Poses For Photographers And Models Eng below. Table of Contents Pose 1 000 Poses For Photographers And Models Eng Choosing the Right eBook 3. 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Senate File 526 - Introduced SENATE FILE 526 BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES (SUCCESSOR TO SSB 1234) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the emergency detention of a person 1 experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis and 2 access centers. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 Section 1. Section 125.34, subsections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, 1 Code 2021, are amended to read as follows: 2 1. A person with a substance-related disorder due to 3 intoxication or substance-induced incapacitation may come 4 voluntarily to a facility for emergency treatment. A person 5 who appears to be intoxicated or incapacitated by a substance 6 in a public place and in need of help may be taken to a facility 7 or an access center by a peace officer under section 125.91. 8 If the person refuses the proffered help, the person may be 9 arrested and charged with intoxication under section 123.46, 10 if applicable. 11 2. If no facility or access center is readily available 12 the person may be taken to an emergency medical service 13 customarily used for incapacitated persons. The peace officer 14 in detaining the person and in taking the person to a facility 15 or an access center shall make every reasonable effort to 16 protect the person's health and safety. In detaining the 17 person the detaining officer may take reasonable steps for 18 self-protection. Detaining a person under section 125.91 is 19 not an arrest and no entry or other record shall be made to 20 indicate that the person who is detained has been arrested or 21 charged with a crime. 22 3. A person who arrives at a facility or an access center 23 and voluntarily submits to examination shall be examined by a 24 licensed physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician and 25 surgeon or mental health professional as soon as possible after 26 the person arrives at the facility or access center. The 27 person may then be admitted as a patient or referred to another 28 health facility. The referring facility or access center shall 29 arrange for transportation. 30 4. If a person is voluntarily admitted to a facility or 31 an access center, the person's family or next of kin shall be 32 notified as promptly as possible. If an adult patient who is 33 not incapacitated requests that there be no notification, the 34 request shall be respected. 35 -1- 6. If the physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician 1 and surgeon in charge of the facility or access center 2 determines it is for the patient's benefit, the patient shall 3 be encouraged to agree to further diagnosis and appropriate 4 voluntary treatment. 5 7. A licensed physician and surgeon or osteopathic 6 physician and surgeon, mental health professional, facility 7 administrator, access center administrator, or an employee or a 8 person acting as or on behalf of an access center administrator 9 or an employee or a person acting as or on behalf of the 10 facility administrator, is not criminally or civilly liable 11 for acts in conformity with this chapter, unless the acts 12 constitute willful malice or abuse. 13 Sec. 2. Section 125.34, Code 2021, is amended by adding the 14 following new subsection: 15 NEW SUBSECTION. 8. For the purposes of this section, 16 "access center" means the same as defined in section 331.388. 17 Sec. 3. Section 125.91, subsections 2, 3, and 4, Code 2021, 18 are amended to read as follows: 19 2. a. A peace officer who has reasonable grounds to 20 believe that the circumstances described in subsection 1 are 21 applicable may, without a warrant, take or cause that person 22 to be taken to the nearest available facility referred to in 23 section 125.81, subsection 2, paragraph "b" or "c", or an access 24 center. Such a person with a substance-related disorder due 25 to intoxication or substance-induced incapacitation who also 26 demonstrates a significant degree of distress or dysfunction 27 may also be delivered to a facility or an access center by 28 someone other than a peace officer upon a showing of reasonable 29 grounds. Upon delivery of the person to a facility or an 30 access center under this section, the attending physician 31 and surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon may order 32 treatment of the person, but only to the extent necessary 33 to preserve the person's life or to appropriately control 34 the person's behavior if the behavior is likely to result 35 -2- dg/rh in physical injury to the person or others if allowed to 1 continue. The peace officer or other person who delivered the 2 person to the facility or access center shall describe the 3 circumstances of the matter to the attending physician and 4 surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon. If the person 5 is a peace officer, the peace officer may do so either in 6 person or by written report. If the attending physician and 7 surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon has reasonable 8 grounds to believe that the circumstances in subsection 9 1 are applicable, the attending physician shall at once 10 communicate with the nearest available magistrate as defined 11 in section 801.4, subsection 10. The magistrate shall, based 12 upon the circumstances described by the attending physician 13 and surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon, give the 14 attending physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician and 15 surgeon oral instructions either directing that the person be 16 released forthwith, or authorizing the person's detention in an 17 appropriate facility or access center. The magistrate may also 18 give oral instructions and order that the detained person be 19 transported to an appropriate facility or access center. 20 b. If the magistrate orders that the person be detained, the 21 magistrate shall, by the close of business on the next working 22 day, file a written order with the clerk in the county where it 23 is anticipated that an application may be filed under section 24 125.75. The order may be filed by facsimile if necessary. The 25 order shall state the circumstances under which the person 26 was taken into custody or otherwise brought to a facility or 27 an access center and the grounds supporting the finding of 28 probable cause to believe that the person is a person with 29 a substance-related disorder likely to result in physical 30 injury to the person or others if not detained. The order 31 shall confirm the oral order authorizing the person's detention 32 including any order given to transport the person to an 33 appropriate facility or access center. The clerk shall provide 34 a copy of that order to the attending physician and surgeon or 35 -3- dg/rh osteopathic physician and surgeon at the facility or access 1 center to which the person was originally taken, any subsequent 2 facility or access center to which the person was transported, 3 and to any law enforcement department or ambulance service that 4 transported the person pursuant to the magistrate's order. 5 3. The attending physician and surgeon or osteopathic 6 physician and surgeon shall examine and may detain the person 7 pursuant to the magistrate's order for a period not to exceed 8 forty-eight hours from the time the order is dated, excluding 9 Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, unless the order is dismissed 10 by a magistrate. The facility or access center may provide 11 treatment which is necessary to preserve the person's life or 12 to appropriately control the person's behavior if the behavior 13 is likely to result in physical injury to the person or 14 others if allowed to continue or is otherwise deemed medically 15 necessary by the attending physician and surgeon or osteopathic 16 physician and surgeon or mental health professional, but shall 17 not otherwise provide treatment to the person without the 18 person's consent. The person shall be discharged from the 19 facility or access center and released from detention no later 20 than the expiration of the forty-eight-hour period, unless 21 an application for involuntary commitment is filed with the 22 clerk pursuant to section 125.75. The detention of a person 23 by the procedure in this section, and not in excess of the 24 period of time prescribed by this section, shall not render the 25 peace officer, attending physician and surgeon or osteopathic 26 physician and surgeon, or facility, or access center detaining 27 the person liable in a criminal or civil action for false 28 arrest or false imprisonment if the peace officer, attending 29 physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon, 30 mental health professional, or facility, or access center had 31 reasonable grounds to believe that the circumstances described 32 in subsection 1 were applicable. 33 4. The cost of detention in a facility or an access center 34 under the procedure prescribed in this section shall be paid 35 -4- in the same way as if the person had been committed to the 1 facility or access center pursuant to an application filed 2 under section 125.75. 3 Sec. 4. Section 125.91, Code 2021, is amended by adding the 4 following new subsection: 5 NEW SUBSECTION. 5. For the purposes of this section, 6 "access center" means the same as defined in section 331.388. 7 Sec. 5. Section 229.22, subsections 2, 3, 5, and 6, Code 8 2021, are amended to read as follows: 9 2. a. (1) In the circumstances described in subsection 10 1, any peace officer who has reasonable grounds to believe 11 that a person is mentally ill, and because of that illness is 12 likely to physically injure the person's self or others if 13 not immediately detained, may without a warrant take or cause 14 that person to be taken to the nearest available facility or 15 hospital as defined referred to in section 229.11, subsection 16 1, paragraphs "b" and "c", or an access center. A person 17 believed mentally ill, and likely to injure the person's self 18 or others if not immediately detained, may be delivered to a 19 facility or hospital or an access center by someone other than 20 a peace officer. 21 (2) Upon delivery of the person believed mentally ill to 22 the facility, or hospital, or access center, the examining 23 physician, examining physician assistant, examining mental 24 health professional, or examining psychiatric advanced 25 registered nurse practitioner may order treatment of that 26 person, including chemotherapy, but only to the extent 27 necessary to preserve the person's life or to appropriately 28 control behavior by the person which is likely to result 29 in physical injury to that person or others if allowed to 30 continue. 31 (3) The peace officer who took the person into custody, 32 or other party who brought the person to the facility, or 33 hospital, or access center, shall describe the circumstances 34 of the matter to the examining physician, examining physician 35 -5- ``` assistant, examining mental health professional, or examining 1 psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner. If the 2 person is a peace officer, the peace officer may do so either 3 in person or by written report. 4 (4) If the examining physician, examining physician 5 assistant, examining mental health professional, or examining 6 psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner finds 7 that there is reason to believe that the person is seriously 8 mentally impaired, and because of that impairment is likely 9 to physically injure the person's self or others if not 10 immediately detained, the examining physician, examining 11 physician assistant, examining mental health professional, or 12 examining psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner 13 shall at once communicate with the nearest available magistrate 14 as defined in section 801.4, subsection 10. 15 (5) The magistrate shall, based upon the circumstances 16 described by the examining physician, examining physician 17 assistant, examining mental health professional, or examining 18 psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner, give the 19 examining physician, examining physician assistant, examining 20 mental health professional, or examining psychiatric advanced 21 registered nurse practitioner oral instructions either 22 directing that the person be released forthwith or authorizing 23 the person's detention in an appropriate facility or access 24 center. A peace officer from the law enforcement agency 25 that took the person into custody, if available, during the 26 communication with the magistrate, may inform the magistrate 27 that an arrest warrant has been issued for or charges are 28 pending against the person and request that any oral or written 29 order issued under this subsection require the facility, or 30 hospital, or access center to notify the law enforcement agency 31 about the discharge of the person prior to discharge. The 32 magistrate may also give oral instructions and order that the 33 detained person be transported to an appropriate facility. 34 ``` b. If the magistrate orders that the person be detained, 35 -6- the magistrate shall, by the close of business on the next 1 working day, file a written order with the clerk in the county 2 where it is anticipated that an application may be filed 3 under section 229.6. The order may be filed by facsimile if 4 necessary. A peace officer from the law enforcement agency 5 that took the person into custody, if no request was made 6 under paragraph "a", may inform the magistrate that an arrest 7 warrant has been issued for or charges are pending against 8 the person and request that any written order issued under 9 this paragraph require the facility, or hospital, or access 10 center to notify the law enforcement agency about the discharge 11 of the person prior to discharge. The order shall state the 12 circumstances under which the person was taken into custody 13 or otherwise brought to a facility or hospital or an access 14 center, and the grounds supporting the finding of probable 15 cause to believe that the person is seriously mentally impaired 16 and likely to injure the person's self or others if not 17 immediately detained. The order shall also include any law 18 enforcement agency notification requirements if applicable. 19 The order shall confirm the oral order authorizing the person's 20 detention including any order given to transport the person 21 to an appropriate facility, or hospital, or access center. A 22 peace officer from the law enforcement agency that took the 23 person into custody may also request an order, separate from 24 the written order, requiring the facility, or hospital, or 25 access center to notify the law enforcement agency about the 26 discharge of the person prior to discharge. The clerk shall 27 provide a copy of the written order or any separate order to 28 the chief medical officer of the facility, or hospital, or 29 access center to which the person was originally taken, to 30 any subsequent facility to which the person was transported, 31 and to any law enforcement department, ambulance service, or 32 transportation service under contract with a mental health 33 and disability services region that transported the person 34 pursuant to the magistrate's order. A transportation service 35 -7- that contracts with a mental health and disability services 1 region for purposes of this paragraph shall provide a secure 2 transportation vehicle and shall employ staff that has received 3 or is receiving mental health training. 4 c. If an arrest warrant has been issued for or charges are 5 pending against the person, but no court order exists requiring 6 notification to a law enforcement agency under paragraph "a" 7 or "b", and if the peace officer delivers the person to a 8 facility or hospital or an access center and the peace officer 9 notifies the facility, or hospital, or access center in writing 10 on a form prescribed by the department of public safety that 11 the facility, or hospital, or access center notify the law 12 enforcement agency about the discharge of the person prior to 13 discharge, the facility, or hospital, or access center shall 14 do all of the following: 15 (1) Notify the dispatch of the law enforcement agency that 16 employs the peace officer by telephone prior to the discharge 17 of the person from the facility, or hospital, or access center. 18 (2) Notify the law enforcement agency that employs the peace 19 officer by electronic mail prior to the discharge of the person 20 from the facility, or hospital, or access center. 21 3. The chief medical officer of the facility, or hospital, 22 or access center shall examine and may detain and care for the 23 person taken into custody under the magistrate's order for a 24 period not to exceed forty-eight hours from the time such order 25 is dated, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, unless 26 the order is sooner dismissed by a magistrate. The facility, 27 or hospital, or access center may provide treatment which is 28 necessary to preserve the person's life, or to appropriately 29 control behavior by the person which is likely to result in 30 physical injury to the person's self or others if allowed to 31 continue, but may not otherwise provide treatment to the person 32 without the person's consent. The person shall be discharged 33 from the facility, or hospital, or access center and released 34 from custody not later than the expiration of that period, 35 -8- unless an application is sooner filed with the clerk pursuant 1 to section 229.6. Prior to such discharge, the facility, or 2 hospital, or access center shall, if required by this section, 3 notify the law enforcement agency requesting such notification 4 about the discharge of the person. The law enforcement 5 agency shall retrieve the person no later than six hours after 6 notification from the facility, or hospital, or access center 7 but in no circumstances shall the detention of the person 8 exceed the period of time prescribed for detention by this 9 subsection. The detention of any person by the procedure 10 and not in excess of the period of time prescribed by this 11 section shall not render the peace officer, physician, mental 12 health professional, facility, or hospital, or access center 13 so detaining that person liable in a criminal or civil action 14 for false arrest or false imprisonment if the peace officer, 15 physician, mental health professional, facility, or hospital, 16 or access center had reasonable grounds to believe the person 17 so detained was mentally ill and likely to physically injure 18 the person's self or others if not immediately detained, or 19 if the facility, or hospital, or access center was required 20 to notify a law enforcement agency by this section, and 21 the law enforcement agency requesting notification prior to 22 discharge retrieved the person no later than six hours after 23 the notification, and the detention prior to the retrieval of 24 the person did not exceed the period of time prescribed for 25 detention by this subsection. 26 5. The department of public safety shall prescribe the form 27 to be used when a law enforcement agency desires notification 28 under this section from a facility or hospital or an access 29 center prior to discharge of a person admitted to the facility, 30 or hospital, or access center and for whom an arrest warrant 31 has been issued or against whom charges are pending. The 32 form shall be consistent with all laws, regulations, and 33 rules relating to the confidentiality or privacy of personal 34 information or medical records, including but not limited to 35 -9- the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1 ``` of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191, and regulations promulgated in 2 accordance with that Act and published in 45 C.F.R. pts. 160 3 – 164. 4 6. A facility or hospital or an access center, which has 5 been notified by a peace officer or a law enforcement agency by 6 delivery of a form as prescribed by the department of public 7 safety indicating that an arrest warrant has been issued 8 for or charges are pending against a person admitted to the 9 facility, or hospital, or access center that does not notify 10 the law enforcement agency about the discharge of the person 11 as required by subsection 2, paragraph "c", shall pay a civil 12 penalty as provided in section 805.8C, subsection 9. 13 Sec. 6. Section 229.22, Code 2021, is amended by adding the 14 following new subsection: 15 NEW SUBSECTION. 7. For the purposes of this section, 16 "access center" means the same as defined in section 331.388. 17 Sec. 7. Section 331.388, Code 2021, is amended by adding the 18 following new subsection: 19 NEW SUBSECTION. 01. "Access center" means the coordinated 20 provision of intake assessment, screening for co-occurring 21 conditions, care coordination, crisis stabilization residential 22 services, subacute mental health services, and substance abuse 23 treatment for persons experiencing a mental health or substance 24 use crisis who do not need inpatient psychiatric hospital 25 treatment, but who do need significant amounts of supports 26 and services not available in other home and community-based 27 settings. 28 Sec. 8. Section 331.397, subsection 5, paragraph a, 29 subparagraph (1), Code 2021, is amended to read as follows: 30 (1) Access centers that are located in crisis residential 31 and subacute residential settings with sixteen beds or fewer 32 that provide immediate, short-term assessments for persons with 33 serious mental illness or substance use disorders who do not 34 need inpatient psychiatric hospital treatment, but who do need 35 ``` -10- 10/11 significant amounts of supports and services not available in 1 the persons' homes or communities. 2 3 EXPLANATION The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 4 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly. 5 This bill relates to the emergency detention of a person 6 7 experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis and access 8 centers. The bill amends Code sections 124.34 (treatment and 9 services for persons with substance-related disorders due to 10 intoxication and substance-induced incapacitation), 125.91 11 (emergency detention for persons with substance-related 12 disorders), and 229.22 (emergency hospitalization for persons 13 with a serious mental impairment) to allow emergency detention 14 and treatment services in an access center for persons 15 experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. 16 The bill defines an "access center" as the coordinated 17 provision of intake assessment, screening for co-occurring 18 conditions, care coordination, crisis stabilization residential 19 services, subacute mental health services, and substance abuse 20 treatment for persons experiencing a mental health or substance 21 use crisis who do not need inpatient psychiatric hospital 22 treatment, but who do need significant amounts of supports 23 and services not available in other home and community-based 24 settings. 25 The bill makes a conforming change to Code section 331.397 26 relating to intensive mental health services provided in mental 27 health and disability services regions. 28 -11- 11/11
PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ORDER OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL 448 Order in Council No. Lieutenant Governor , Approved and Ordered July 30, 2020 Lieutenant Governor Lieutenant Governor Executive Council Chambers, Victoria On the recommendation of the undersigned, the Lieutenant Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, orders that (a) Parts 1, 3, except sections 17 and 18, and 4 to 7 of the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, S.B.C. 2019, c. 29, are brought into force, (b) the Zero-Emission Vehicles Regulation set out in the attached Schedule 1 is made, and (c) effective November 1, 2020, (i) sections 17 and 18 of the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act are brought into force, and (ii) the Zero-Emission Vehicles Regulation is amended as set out in the attached Schedule 2. Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Presiding Member of the Executive Council (This part is for administrative purposes only and is not part of the Order.) Authority under which Order is made: Act and section: Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, S.B.C. 2019, c. 29, ss. 42, 43 (a) to (c), 44, 45 and 48 Other: Presiding Member of the Executive Council R30378824 page 1 of 14 SCHEDULE 1 ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLES REGULATION Contents PART 1 – DEFINITIONS AND PRESCRIBED CLASSES 1 Definitions 2 Compliance date 3 Definition of model year 4 Definition of motor vehicle 5 Prescribed vehicle classes 6 Prescribed classes of zero-emission vehicles 7 Definition of light-duty motor vehicle 8 Classes of suppliers 9 Prescribed class of suppliers PART 2 – SUPPLY OF ZEVS AND ZEV UNITS 10 Balance of ZEV units 11 Compliance ratio – light-duty motor vehicles 12 Compliance ratio – ZEV Class A vehicles 13 Application for credits for consumer sales 14 Issuance of credits for consumer sales 15 Issuance of credits under initiative agreement 16 Issuance of credits under purchase agreement PART 3 – ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES 17 Automatic administrative penalty rate 18 Discretionary administrative penalties 19 Notice of intent to impose administrative penalty 20 Opportunity to be heard 21 Defence of due diligence 22 Assessment of administrative penalty 23 Notice of administrative penalty 24 Enforcement of administrative penalty 25 Publication of names PART 1 – DEFINITIONS AND PRESCRIBED CLASSES Definitions 1 In this regulation: "Act" means the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act; "battery electric vehicle" or "BEV" means a zero-emission vehicle that (a) is propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered solely by a battery that is charged solely by an external electricity source, and (b) has a minimum EPA range of 80.47 km; "battery electric vehicle – short range" or "BEV – short" means a zero-emission vehicle that (a) is propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered solely by a battery that is charged solely by an external electricity source, and (b) has an EPA range of less than 80.47 km; "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency; "extended range electric vehicle" or "EREV" means a zero-emission vehicle (a) that has a battery that can be charged by an external electricity source, (b) whose drive wheels are propelled solely by an electric motor, (c) whose on-board internal combustion engine is used solely as a generator to charge the battery, and (d) that has a minimum EPA range of 121 km; "extended range electric vehicle – medium range" or "EREV – medium" means a zero-emission vehicle (a) that has a battery that can be charged by an external electricity source, (b) whose drive wheels are propelled solely by an electric motor, (c) whose on-board internal combustion engine is used solely as a generator to charge the battery, and (d) that has a minimum EPA range of 16 km and a maximum EPA range of 121 km; "extended range electric vehicle – short range" or "EREV – short" means a zero-emission vehicle (a) that has a battery that has can charged by an external electricity source, (b) whose drive wheels are propelled solely by an electric motor, (c) whose on-board internal combustion engine is used solely as a generator to charge the battery, and (d) that has an EPA range of less than 16 km; "fuel cell electric vehicle" or "FCEV" means a zero-emission vehicle that (a) is propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered solely by a hydrogen fuel cell, and (b) has a minimum EPA range of 80.47 km; "fuel cell electric vehicle – short range" or "FCEV – short" is a zero-emission vehicle that (a) is propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered solely by a hydrogen fuel cell, and (b) has an EPA range of less than 80.47 km; "gross vehicle weight rating" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations; "light-duty motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 3 856 kg or less; "plug-in hybrid electric vehicle" or "PHEV" means a zero-emission vehicle that (a) has a battery that is capable of being charged by an external electricity source, (b) can be propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered by a battery, (c) has a minimum EPA range of 16 km, and (d) is not a BEV or a BEV-short; "plug-in hybrid electric vehicle – short range" or"PHEV – short" means a motor vehicle that (a) has a battery that is capable of being charged by an external electricity source, (b) can be propelled solely by an electric motor that is powered by a battery, (c) has an EPA range of less than 16 km, and (d) is not a BEV-short; "EPA range" means the all-electric driving range, in kilometres, of a zero-emission vehicle, (a) determined in accordance with the 5-cycle test procedure set out by the EPA in the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Chapter I, Subchapter Q, Part 600, Subparts B and C, as amended from time to time, or (b) the derived 5-cycle value determined in accordance with the method set out by the EPA in the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Chapter I, Subchapter Q, Part 600, Subpart C, section 600.311-12, paragraph (j); "US06 range" means the all-electric driving range, in kilometres, of a zero-emission vehicle, determined in accordance with the method described in section G.7.3 of the document entitled "California Exhaust Emission Standards and Test Procedures for 2018 and Subsequent Model Zero-Emission Vehicles and Hybrid Electric Vehicles, in the Passenger Car, Light-Duty Truck and Medium-Duty Vehicle Classes", incorporated by reference in the California Code of Regulations, Title 13, Division 3, Chapter 1, Article 2, section 1962.2. Compliance date 2 For the purposes of the definition of "compliance date" in section 1 [definitions] of the Act, the prescribed date is September 30. Definition of model year 3 For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of "model year" in section 1 [definitions] of the Act, a model year, in relation to a motor vehicle, has the same meaning as in the On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations (Canada). Definition of motor vehicle 4 (1) In this section: "all-terrain vehicle" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Off-Road Vehicle Regulation; "golf cart" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act; "implement of husbandry" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act; "industrial utility vehicle" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act; "motorcycle" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act; "neighbourhood zero-emission vehicle" has the same meaning as "neighbourhood zero emission vehicle" in section 1 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations; has the same meaning as in section 1 of the "off-road side-by-side vehicle" Off-Road Vehicle Regulation; "snowmobile" has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Off-Road Vehicle Regulation. (2) For the purposes of the definition of "motor vehicle" in section 1 [definitions] of the Act, the following classes of vehicles are prescribed: (a) all-terrain vehicles; (b) golf carts; (c) implements of husbandry; (d) industrial utility vehicles; (e) motorcycles; (f) neighbourhood zero-emission vehicles; (g) off-road side-by-side vehicles; (h) snowmobiles. Prescribed vehicle classes 5 For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of "vehicle class" in section 1 of the Act [definitions] and section 10 (2) (b) of the Act [supply of ZEVs – zero or more ZEV units], the light-duty motor vehicle class is a prescribed vehicle class. Prescribed classes of zero-emission vehicles 6 (1) The following classes of zero-emission vehicles are established: (a) ZEV Class A, which consists of the following types of zero-emission vehicles: (i) BEV; (ii) EREV; (iii) FCEV; (b) ZEV Class B, which consists of the following types of zero-emission vehicles: (i) EREV – medium; (ii) PHEV; (c) ZEV Class C, which consists of the following types of zero-emission vehicles: (i) BEV – short; (ii) EREV – short; (iii) FCEV – short; (iv) PHEV – short. (2) The classes of zero-emission vehicles established in subsection (1) are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of "ZEV class" in section 1 [definitions] of the Act. Definition of light-duty motor vehicle 7 For the purposes of Part 2 of the Act, "light-duty motor vehicle" has the same meaning as in section 1 of this regulation. Classes of suppliers 8 (1) In this section: "total sales volume" means, in relation to a reported model year, (a) for a supplier who has supplied for consumer sale light-duty motor vehicles of the 3 model years immediately preceding the reported model year, the average annual number of consumer sales of light-duty motor vehicles of those 3 model years, and (b) for a supplier to whom paragraph (a) does not apply, the number of consumer sales of light-duty motor vehicles of the reported model year. (2) The following classes of suppliers are established for the purposes of the Act: (a) small volume supplier; (b) medium volume supplier; (c) large volume supplier. (3) A supplier is a supplier in the (a) small volume supplier class if the supplier has a total sales volume of less than 1 000 light-duty motor vehicles, (b) medium volume supplier class if the supplier has a total sales volume of 1 000 light-duty motor vehicles or more but less than 5 000 light-duty motor vehicles, and (c) large volume supplier class if the supplier has a total sales volume of 5 000 light-duty motor vehicles or more. Prescribed class of suppliers 9 The small volume supplier class is a prescribed class of suppliers for the purposes of section 5 (1) [application – prescribed class of suppliers] of the Act. PART 2 – SUPPLY OF ZEVS AND ZEV UNITS Balance of ZEV units 10 For the purposes of section 10 (2) (b) [supply of ZEVs – less than zero ZEV units] of the Act, a large volume supplier must have a balance of zero or more ZEV Class A units for the light-duty motor vehicle class. Compliance ratio – light-duty motor vehicles 11 For the purposes of section 11 (1) [compliance ratio reduction – ratio does not specify ZEV class] of the Act, the following compliance ratios are prescribed for each model year for the light-duty motor vehicle class: \| Item \| Model year \| Compliance ratio \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| 2019 \| 0% \| \| 2 \| 2020 \| 9.5% \| \| 3 \| 2021 \| 12% \| \| 4 \| 2022 \| 14.5% \| \| 5 \| 2023 \| 17% \| \| 6 \| 2024 \| 19.5% \| \| 7 \| 2025 \| 22% \| \| 8 \| 2026 \| 32% \| \| 9 \| 2027 \| 41.5% \| \| 10 \| 2028 \| 51.5% \| \| 11 \| 2029 \| 61% \| \| 12 \| 2030 \| 71% \| \| 13 \| 2031 \| 90% \| \| 14 \| 2032 \| 108.5% \| \| 15 \| 2033 \| 127.5% \| \| 16 \| 2034 \| 146% \| \| 17 \| 2035 \| 165% \| \| 18 \| 2036 \| 184% \| \| 19 \| 2037 \| 203% \| \| 20 \| 2038 \| 221.5% \| \| 21 \| 2039 \| 240.5% \| \| 22 \| 2040 \| 259% \| Compliance ratio – ZEV Class A vehicles 12 For the purposes of section 11 (2) [compliance ratio reduction – ratio specifies ZEV class] of the Act, the following compliance ratios are prescribed for each model year for ZEV Class A vehicles in the light-duty motor vehicle class. \| 1 \| 2019 \| \|---\|---\| \| 2 \| 2020 \| \| 3 \| 2021 \| \| 4 \| 2022 \| \| 5 \| 2023 \| \| 6 \| 2024 \| \| 7 \| 2025 \| \| 8 \| 2026 \| \| 9 \| 2027 \| \| Item \| Model year \| Compliance ratio \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 10 \| 2028 \| 36% \| \| 11 \| 2029 \| 43% \| \| 12 \| 2030 \| 50% \| \| 13 \| 2031 \| 63% \| \| 14 \| 2032 \| 77% \| \| 15 \| 2033 \| 90% \| \| 16 \| 2034 \| 104% \| \| 17 \| 2035 \| 117% \| \| 18 \| 2036 \| 130% \| \| 19 \| 2037 \| 144% \| \| 20 \| 2038 \| 157% \| \| 21 \| 2039 \| 171% \| \| 22 \| 2040 \| 181% \| Application for credits for consumer sales 13 (1) For the purposes of section 13 (2) [issuance of credits – consumer sales] of the Act, an application for the issuance of credits must be submitted in the form and manner required by the director and include the following: (a) the legal name of the supplier; (b) the vehicle makes for which the supplier is the supplier; (c) the address for service of the supplier; (d) the address where the supplier keeps records required to be kept and maintained under the Act; (e) the following information about consumer sales of zero-emission vehicles, for each vehicle make referred to in paragraph (b), each vehicle class, and each ZEV class: (i) the number of consumer sales; (ii) the vehicle model, vehicle identification number, model year, type of zero-emission vehicle and EPA range of each zero-emission vehicle sold or leased; (iii) the US06 range of each EREV-medium or PHEV sold or leased, if any; (iv) the number, by ZEV class, of credits claimed by the supplier. (2) For the purposes of section 13 (2) [issuance of credits – consumer sales] of the Act, the prescribed period of time begins on January 2, 2018 and ends on the date the application is submitted. Issuance of credits for consumer sales 14 (1) The number of credits in relation to each consumer sale of a zero-emission vehicle that the director may issue to a supplier under section 13 (1) of the Act is determined in accordance with this section. (2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), (a) the number of credits to be issued for each consumer sale of a BEV, EREV or FCEV is determined using the following formula: ``` where R = the EPA range of the zero-emission vehicle number of credits R 0.006214 0.50 + = ``` , and (b) the number of credits to be issued for each consumer sale of an EREV – medium or a PHEV is determined using the following formula: R = the EPA range of the zero-emission vehicle. (3) Despite subsection (2) (a), the number of credits to be issued for each consumer sale of a BEV, EREV or FCEV must not exceed 4.0. (4) An additional 0.20 credit must be issued for each consumer sale of a zero-emission vehicle that (a) is an EREV – medium or a PHEV, and (b) has a minimum US06 range of 16 km. (5) Despite subsection (2) (b), the number of credits to be issued for each consumer sale of an EREV – medium or a PHEV must not exceed (a) 1.10 if subsection (4) does not apply, and (b) 1.30 if subsection (4) applies. (6) The numbers of credits determined in accordance with this section must be rounded to the second decimal place. (7) For certainty, (a) the director must not issue credits for consumer sales of ZEV Class C vehicles, and (b) the director must not issue credits for consumer sales of zero-emission vehicles of a model year that precedes the model year 2019. ``` where number of credits R 0.006214 0.30 + = ``` Issuance of credits under initiative agreement 15 (1) In this section, "used ZEV" means a zero-emission vehicle that (a) has been the subject of a previous retail sale or lease in any jurisdiction outside British Columbia, and (b) has not been the subject of a previous retail sale or lease in British Columbia. (2) In deciding whether to enter into an agreement with a supplier under section 14 (2) [issuance of credits – initiative agreements] of the Act, the director must consider any evidence provided by the supplier that, having acted diligently to meet the requirements of section 10 (2) [supply of ZEVs] of the Act, the supplier is not able to do so without an agreement. (3) The director may only enter into an agreement under section 14 (2) of the Act in respect of the following actions: (a) the retail sale or retail lease in British Columbia of used ZEVs of the following types: (i) BEV; (ii) EREV; (iii) EREV – medium; (iv) FCEV; (v) PHEV; (b) the retail sale or retail lease in British Columbia of zero-emission vehicles that are not light-duty motor vehicles. (4) The director must not issue to a supplier, pursuant to an agreement under section 14 (2) of the Act, (a) for the model year 2020, a number of credits that exceeds 5% of the total of the numbers of ZEV units determined for that supplier in accordance with section 11 (1) and (2) of the Act, for that model year, and (b) for all other model years, a number of credits that exceeds 5% of the total of the numbers of ZEV units determined for that supplier in accordance with section 11 (1) and (2) of the Act, for the previous model year. Issuance of credits under purchase agreement 16 (1) The director must not enter into an agreement with a supplier under section 15 (2) [issuance of credits – purchase agreements] of the Act unless the director is satisfied that the supplier, having acted diligently to meet the requirements of section 10 (2) of the Act [supply of ZEVs], is not able to do so without an agreement. (2) For the purposes of section 15 (2) of the Act, the prescribed price is the penalty rate prescribed in section 17 of this regulation plus $500 per credit. PART 3 – ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES Automatic administrative penalty rate 17 For the purposes of section 26 [automatic administrative penalties] of the Act, the prescribed penalty rate is $5 000 for all model years, vehicle classes and ZEV classes. Discretionary administrative penalties 18 (1) A person who has contravened the following provisions of the Act is liable to an administrative penalty under section 27 [discretionary administrative penalties] of the Act not exceeding $100 000: (a) section 22 [information requests]; (b) section 23 (2) [audits]; (c) section 25 (3) [inspections]. (2) A person who has failed to provide information that is complete and accurate in response to a request under section 22 of the Act is liable to an administrative penalty under section 27 of the Act not exceeding $100 000. (3) A person who has not complied with section 24 of the Act [record-keeping requirements] is liable to an administrative penalty under section 27 of the Act not exceeding $10 000. Notice of intent to impose administrative penalty 19 (1) Before sending a notice of administrative penalty to a person under section 23 [notice of administrative penalty], the director must serve the person with a notice of intent to impose an administrative penalty. (2) A notice of intent to impose an administrative penalty must set out the following: (a) the legal name of the person served with the notice; (b) a summary description of the alleged contravention, including the provision of the Act the person is alleged to have contravened; (c) the person's right to be provided with an opportunity to be heard under section 20 [opportunity to be heard]; (d) a preliminary assessment of the amount of administrative penalty that may be imposed. (3) A notice of intent to impose an administrative penalty must not be served more than 3 years after the later of (a) the date the alleged non-compliance to which the notice relates occurred, and (b) the date evidence of the alleged non-compliance first came to the knowledge of the director. Opportunity to be heard 20 (1) If a person who is served with a notice under section 19 [notice of intent to impose administrative penalty] requests, in writing, within 30 days after the date of service of the notice, an opportunity to be heard, the director must provide the person with an opportunity to be heard. (2) If a person requests an opportunity to be heard in accordance with subsection (1), the director (a) must conduct a written, electronic or oral hearing, or any combination of them, as the director considers appropriate, and (b) may (i) determine the circumstances and place in which, and the process by which, the hearing is to be conducted, and (ii) specify the form and content of materials to be provided for the hearing and when the materials must be provided. (3) If a person who requests an opportunity to be heard fails to appear or provide materials to the director in accordance with subsection (2), the director may proceed without further notice to serve the person with a notice of administrative penalty under section 23 [notice of administrative penalty]. (4) If, after providing a person an opportunity to be heard, the director decides not to impose an administrative penalty, the director must give the person written notice of that decision. Defence of due diligence 21 The director may not serve a notice of administrative penalty on a person if the director is satisfied that the person exercised due diligence to prevent the non-compliance in respect of which an administrative penalty may be imposed. Assessment of administrative penalty 22 (1) In determining the amount of an administrative penalty under section 27 [discretionary administrative penalties] of the Act, the director must consider the following matters, if applicable: (a) the nature of the non-compliance; (b) any previous non-compliance by, or administrative penalties imposed on (i) the person who is the subject of the assessment, (ii) if the person is an individual, a corporation for which the individual is or was a director, officer or agent, or (iii) if the person is a corporation, an individual who is or was a director, officer or agent of the corporation; (c) whether the non-compliance was continuous; (d) whether the non-compliance was deliberate; (e) the person's efforts to correct the non-compliance; (f) the person's efforts to prevent recurrence of the non-compliance; (g) any other matter the director considers relevant. (2) If a non-compliance continues for more than one day, separate administrative penalties, each not exceeding the applicable maximum administrative penalty, may be imposed for each day the non-compliance continues. Notice of administrative penalty 23 A notice of administrative penalty must set out the following: (a) the legal name of the person served with the notice; (b) the amount of the administrative penalty; (c) the reasons for the decision; (d) the date by which the administrative penalty must be paid; (e) acceptable methods of payment; (f) the address to which payment must be sent, if applicable; (g) the person's option to admit, in writing, the non-compliance and its extent under section 28 (1) (a) [requirement to pay administrative penalties] of the Act; (h) the person's right to an appeal under section 36 (2) [appeals to the Environmental Appeal Board] of the Act and the time limit for commencing an appeal. Enforcement of administrative penalty 24 If all or a portion of an administrative penalty is not paid when it is due, the director may impose an additional penalty of up to 10% of the outstanding balance for each 14-day period that the outstanding balance remains unpaid. Publication of names 25 (1) The director may publish, including by electronic means, all of the following information in respect of a supplier on whom an administrative penalty has been imposed under section 27 [discretionary administrative penalties] of the Act: (a) the legal name of the supplier; (b) the amount of the administrative penalty; (c) the nature of the non-compliance, including the provision of the Act the supplier contravened. (2) Publication under subsection (1) may not occur until the supplier is subject to the administrative penalty under section 28 [requirement to pay administrative penalties] of the Act. SCHEDULE 2 1 The Zero-Emission Vehicles Regulation is amended by adding the following Part: PART 2.1 – REPORTING Model year report 16.1 (1) For the purposes of section 17 (2) [model year report] of the Act, the prescribed number of days after the compliance date within which a supplier must submit a model year report to the director is 20. (2) For the purposes of section 17 (4) (c) [model year report] of the Act, a model year report must include the following additional information about consumer sales of light-duty motor vehicles: (a) the number of consumer sales of light-duty motor vehicles of the 3 model years immediately preceding the reported model year; (b) the model year, type of zero-emission vehicle and range for each zero-emission vehicle sold or leased. Supplementary report 16.2 For the purposes of section 18 (2) [supplementary report] of the Act, a supplier who submits a supplementary report must submit it in the same form and manner as that required by the director for the purposes of section 17 (2) [model year report] of the Act. 2 Section 18 is amended in subsection (1) by repealing paragraphs (a) to (c) and substituting the following: (a) section 17 (2) [model year report]; (b) section 18 (1) [supplementary report] ; (c) section 22 [information requests] ; (d) section 23 (2) [audits]; (e) section 25 (3) [inspections]. 3 Section 18 (2) is amended by adding "in a model year report, in a supplementary report or" before "in response to a request under section 22".
Edited by: Korbinian Moeller, Knowledge Media Research Center, Germany Reviewed by: Erin A. Harper, Miami University, USA Silke Melanie Goebel, University of York, UK Correspondence: Silvia Benavides-Varela firstname.lastname@example.org Specialty section: This article was submitted to Developmental Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 10 April 2015 Accepted: 18 January 2016 Published: 11 February 2016 Citation: Benavides-Varela S, Butterworth B, Burgio F, Arcara G, Lucangeli D and Semenza C (2016) Numerical Activities and Information Learned at Home Link to the Exact Numeracy Skills in 5–6 Years-Old Children. Front. Psychol. 7:94. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00094 Numerical Activities and Information Learned at Home Link to the Exact Numeracy Skills in 5–6 Years-Old Children Silvia Benavides-Varela 1 , Brian Butterworth 2 , Francesca Burgio 3, 4 , Giorgio Arcara 4 , Daniela Lucangeli 1 and Carlo Semenza 3, 4 1 Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova, Italy, 2 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Department, University College London, London, UK, 3 Neuropsychology Unit, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientiﬁco San Camillo Hospital Foundation, Lido-Venice, Italy, 4 Neuroscience Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy It is currently accepted that certain activities within the family environment contribute to develop early numerical skills before schooling. However, it is unknown whether this early experience inﬂuences both the exact and the approximate representation of numbers, and if so, which is more important for numerical tasks. In the present study the mathematical performance of 110 children (mean age 5 years 11 months) was evaluated using a battery that included tests of approximate and exact numerical abilities, as well as everyday numerical problems. Moreover, children were assessed on their knowledge of number information learned at home. The parents of the participants provided information regarding daily activities of the children and socio-demographic characteristics of the family. The results showed that the amount of numerical information learned at home was a signiﬁcant predictor of participants' performance on everyday numerical problems and exact number representations, even after taking account of age, memory span and socio-economic and educational status of the family. We also found that particular activities, such as board games, correlate with the children's counting skills, which are foundational for arithmetic. Crucially, tests relying on approximate representations were not predicted by the numerical knowledge acquired at home. The present research supports claims about the importance and nature of home experiences in the child's acquisition of mathematics. Keywords: early numeracy, activities within the family environment, numerical information learned at home, exact representations, approximate representations, board games INTRODUCTION At the time children enter school education they already show great individual diﬀerences in their numerical performance (e.g., Aunola et al., 2004). There are three reasons why this may be so. First, general cognitive factors, such as intelligence, working memory capacity, and so on, could diﬀerentiate individual learners (e.g., Espy et al., 2004; Gathercole et al., 2004; Bull et al., 2008; Passolunghi et al., 2008; Kroesbergen et al., 2009; Geary, 2011; Passolunghi and Lanfranchi, 2012). Second, cognitive factors speciﬁc to the domain of numbers could be critical (e.g., Aunola et al., 2004; Siegler and Booth, 2004; Booth and Siegler, 2006; Halberda et al., 2008; Butterworth, 2010; Reeve et al., 2012). Third, contextual factors, such as social, economic, parental inﬂuences, could play the key role. Of course, all these factors interact and it is diﬃcult to determine their inﬂuence separately or indeed together (Butterworth, 2005). Here we focus on one contextual factor, numerical activities and knowledge acquired in the learner's home. In particular, we seek to assess the eﬀects of numerical activities and the information learned within the family environment on two potential types of domain-speciﬁc capacities that we inherit: the Approximate Number System (e.g., Carey, 2004, 2009; Feigenson et al., 2004) and the Exact Number System (e.g., Gelman and Gallistel, 1986; Butterworth, 2010). Parents usually report using literacy activities (e.g., sharing book reading) more frequently than numeracy activities with their children at home (Blevins-Knabe et al., 2000; Cannon and Ginsburg, 2008; LeFevre et al., 2009). The implementation of reading-related practices in family settings has been reinforced in the last decades by strong recommendations conveyed through the media and schools, which in turn rely on the ﬁndings of numerous studies on home literacy and the acquisition of reading skills (see Fletcher and Reese, 2005, for a review). Similar contributions for promoting numerical practices at home are just being explored (Berkowitz et al., 2015), which call for further studies aiming at understanding how mathematical knowledge can be acquired outside of school. Contextual Factors Inﬂuencing Arithmetical Attainment Parents' expectations about numeracy play a signiﬁcant role in the basic calculation skills of their children. One longitudinal study showed that children's attitudes toward mathematics were inﬂuenced more by their parents' beliefs about their child's abilities than by the child's own results in previous mathematical assessments (Parsons et al., 1982). Sheldon and Epstein (2005) showed that parents who implemented speciﬁc practices to support math learning at home (e.g., discussing the student's homework, lending library activities, or playing games by indication of the experimenters) contributed to increasing the children's scores on math achievement tests. Kleemans et al. (2012) found similar results: the higher the parents' numeracy expectations, the better the child's early numeracy skills. The socioeconomic background of the family also inﬂuences arithmetical development (Melhuish et al., 2008). A series of studies by Jordan a collaborators show that children from impoverished backgrounds display poorer numerical capacities than peers from advantaged backgrounds in tasks such as counting, adding, subtracting, and comparing magnitudes (Jordan et al., 1994, 2006). Similar conclusions were reached in a cross-cultural study derived from the Program for International Student Assessment–PISA—(Ming Chiu and Xihua, 2008). In the study, the authors evaluated the mathematical performance of more than one hundred thousand children from 41 countries and explored whether their scores related to characteristics of the family of origin. Consistent with previous evidence, it was reported that children who scored highest in the tests came from families that had more cultural possessions and higher socio-economical status. The Inﬂuence of Home Numeracy Learning Experiences One potential causal factor in the above studies is that socially more advantaged parents with higher numeracy expectations engaged in more numeracy-related practices, which in turn is associated with children's higher mathematics achievements (LeFevre et al., 2010). The pioneer study of Blevins-Knabe and Musun-Miller (1996) investigated the frequency of speciﬁc child and parent-child activities at home that directly involved the use of numbers. The results showed a positive correlation between activities that reﬂect direct number instruction (i.e., does the child say the words "one," "two," "three," or does the child mention number facts such as 1 + 1 = 2) and children's total scores on the standardized test of Early Mathematics AbilitySecond Edition (TEMA-2 of Ginsburg and Baroody, 1990). Similarly, Huntsinger et al. (2000) found a positive correlation between the parents' deliberate eﬀorts to teach their children simple sums and the children's later achievement in basic calculation skills. Moreover, LeFevre and colleagues found that the frequency of parent–child number teaching activities (i.e., counting, simple addition) was directly related to the counting abilities of their children (LeFevre et al., 2002). Analogous results were found for Chinese-speaking children: the frequency of parent–child numeracy activities was signiﬁcantly related to later performance on counting and addition (Pan et al., 2006). The above studies consistently show a relation between direct numerical instruction at home and children's math performance. With respect to the relations between numeracy knowledge and other daily activities that indirectly facilitate acquisition, the literature is much less developed. LeFevre et al. (2009) ﬁrst proposed the distinction between direct and indirect numerical activities within the family environment. Direct activities are those typically used by parents for the explicit purpose of developing quantitative skills (e.g., counting objects, practicing number names, printing numbers). In contrast, indirect activities are real-world tasks (e.g., playing card or board games) for which the acquisition of numeracy is likely to be incidental. The crucial distinction is that, although instruction in numeracy occurs in both types of activities, teachings are embedded in everyday tasks only in indirect numerical activities. In adults, recent studies have shown that formal mathematical performance and the use of numerical information in everyday activities might dissociate both at the behavioral (Semenza et al., 2014) and the neural level (Benavides-Varela et al., 2015). In children, to the best of our knowledge, only one study has been conducted so far showing how indirect experiences at home relate to children's quantitative skills. In particular, LeFevre et al. (2009) evaluated the relation between the frequency of home numeracy activities and children's performance on three subtests of the KeyMath test: addition, subtraction and numeration. The authors found a positive correlation between children's performance on the KeyMath and their frequency of participation in board games. Interestingly, the accuracy and latency of the children's responses also correlated with the frequency with which the parents reported using the calendars and dates, and talking about money within the family environment. Unfortunately this study, like previous ones, based its conclusions on single scores of performance tests (e.g., KABC battery in Anders et al., 2012; TEMA-2 in Blevins-Knabe and Musun-Miller, 1996) thus leaving unresolved the question of whether the activities within the family environment diﬀerentially aﬀect speciﬁc mathematical skills and critically whether those skills rely on either the exact number system, or the approximate numerical system, or both. In agreement with the study of LeFevre and colleagues, Ramani and Siegler (2008) showed that playing linear number board games at home inﬂuences numerical knowledge in early childhood. However, instead of interviewing parents, the authors asked the children about the frequency and number of board games, card games, and videogames they played outside the school. The authors found a positive correlation between the amount of board game experience and the performance on four numerical tasks: numerical magnitude comparison, number line estimation, counting, and numeral identiﬁcation. This study suggests that playing linear board games enhances the performance on tasks relying on both exact and approximate representations. However, this result was found only in a portion of the population under study whereas for the remaining kids, namely those from high socio-economical status, the association between performance on the tests and the frequency of playing board games was not found. Moreover, this study focused only on a single activity. It is thus unclear whether other activities within the family environment inﬂuence numerical understanding and to what extent they diﬀerentially impact exact and approximate systems. The Present Study Whilst the ability to roughly approximate the numerosities of sets is present in humans even from birth (Izard et al., 2009), the exact representation of numbers appears to develop later in life either by "bootstrapping" approximate into exact representations (Carey, 2004, 2009) or independently by mapping onto number words in the process of learning to count (Gelman and Gallistel, 1986; Leslie et al., 2008). It has been observed that formal education enhances the acuity of the exact, as well as the approximate representations (Piazza et al., 2013); and crucially that young children's skills on both approximate (e.g., Booth and Siegler, 2008; De Smedt et al., 2009; Mazzocco et al., 2011; Desoete et al., 2012) and exact representations (e.g., Geary et al., 1992; Aunola et al., 2004; Passolunghi et al., 2007; Reeve et al., 2012) are excellent long term predictors of later school mathematical performance. However, it is currently unknown to what extent the exact and approximate skills are also inﬂuenced by the activities and the numerical knowledge acquired in the household environment. Because home experiences often directly or indirectly imply sequencing and naming numbers (LeFevre et al., 2009), they are likely to inﬂuence tasks that rely on exact number knowledge. However, it is also possible that numerical activities within the family environment and knowledge acquire at home impact tasks relying on approximate representations, either by directly triggering changes in those representations (Ramani and Siegler, 2008) or through a 3 connection between the exact and approximate systems. The last possibility gets support by work showing that children who know more number words and Arabic numbers also perform better in tasks relying on approximate representations (Mussolin et al., 2012). In the present work, we thus aimed at studying the eﬀects of indirect numerical exposure further, focusing on how activities within the family environment and the numerical information learned at home relate to each of the representational systems underlying mathematical performance. This information should contribute to understand the permeability of the exact and the approximate systems in early childhood and should consequently be useful to elaborate reﬁned educational programs adapted to the needs of the learners who begin the transition from the family to the pre-school/school learning environments. The tasks implemented in the current study are well known in the ﬁeld. They were adopted from established groups that have evaluated approximate representations in magnitude comparison (Halberda et al., 2008) and the number line tasks (Siegler and Booth, 2004); and exact representations such as counting (Geary et al., 1992) and one-to-one correspondence (Van Luit et al., 1994). The current work is diﬀerent from the previous studies in several respects. First and foremost: the abilities under investigation. The most inﬂuential study that has so far focused on the eﬀects of indirect exposure to numbers in the family environment measured arithmetical performance (LeFevre et al., 2009). Our study additionally incorporates tests of approximate representations and crucially also of numerical problems in everyday situations. We reasoned that evaluating abstract arithmetic abilities (e.g., 1 + 3 = ?) in young children might provide an incomplete measure of their early mathematical intuitions because children are generally unfamiliar with the formal terms "plus," "minus," or "equals" before entering school. Measuring the same abilities applied to everyday situations (e.g., if you have one banana and I give you three more, then how many bananas do you have now?) should provide a clearer view of the children arithmetic intuitions and the way they interact with the numerical exposure received at home. Moreover, the present study incorporates a direct measure of the child knowledge of number facts that are learned through parental or familiar instruction (e.g., birthdates, phone numbers, etc.). Previous studies based their conclusions on parents' reports of family activities and not on the actual knowledge of the child. The current measure, which we call "numerical information learned at home" directly inquires children numerical facts that are acquired within the family. It should therefore provide a closer approximation to the actual opportunities children have to learn this information. Finally, our study diﬀers from previous ones in the sources of information regarding the speciﬁc activities and the frequency of those activities within the family environment. Speciﬁcally, while previous studies focused either on parental report (Parsons et al., 1982; Sheldon and Epstein, 2005; LeFevre et al., 2009), or an interview for children (Ramani and Siegler, 2008), the present study integrates these two approaches. Children accounts have the advantage of capturing information that parents may overrate or miss (Tudge and Doucet, 2004). Parental accounts, on the other hand, are more stable and less inﬂuenced by preferences or recent memories. Therefore, combining the information provided by parents and children and evaluating the consistency between them should oﬀer a more reliable account than the one provided by each of these informants separately. METHODS Participants A hundred and ten pre-school children (59 females; 100 righthanders; mean age: 5.95 years-old; age range: 5.46–6.43 yearsold) participated in the study. Participants were enrolled in the last year of kindergarten in ﬁve diﬀerent urban and extraurban schools of the province of Padua, Italy. The schools and teachers involved in the research were contacted in a meeting of Educational Psychology organized by the University. All children had normal or corrected-to-normal eyesight and their parents reported no history of health problems during pregnancy, infancy, or childhood that would compromise their perceptual or intellectual abilities. Direct measures of intellectual abilities were not obtained because the Italian policies allow them only for clinical purposes. The range of socio-economic status (SES) of the families was very wide as indexed by parental education and occupation. Parental education was coded on a six-point scale based on the level of education completed by each parent; zero = no schooling; one = primary school; two = middle-school; three = high-school or professional school; four = university degree; ﬁve = post-graduate studies. Occupation was coded on a scale of zero to two; zero = no occupation or not paid job; one = manual work; two = service sector or intellectual work. The level of education and occupation of the mother and the father were added into a single index of SES that ranged from 0 to 14. Families distributed according to the SES index in the following way: 1% were of high SES, 97.2% of middle SES, 1.8% of low SES. All parents provided informed consent for the tests and interviews. The data of all participants were collected in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration II and the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Psychology Department at Padova University. General Procedure Children completed a battery of numerical tasks, including tasks relying on approximate representations: magnitude comparison (Halberda et al., 2008) and number line task (Siegler and Booth, 2004); tasks relying on exact representations: counting (Geary et al., 1992), one-to-one correspondence (Van Luit et al., 1994); and a task assessing children's ability to solve math problems in everyday situations. Moreover an assessment of verbal shortterm memory (digit span) was used as a covariate. All the tests were administered individually in a quiet classroom during school hours. A brief description of each of these tasks is presented in the following section. Additionally, we obtained data about family activities from two questionnaires -one for the child and one for the parents. The child's questionnaire (see Supplementary Material) was designed to directly assess the children's knowledge of numerical facts acquired in the family environment such as birthdates, number of siblings, phone numbers. Each correct response scored one point. The total scoring of the children's questionnaire corresponds hereafter to "numerical information learned at home." In order to assess congruency between parents' and children's accounts of the information children knew, we also interviewed the parents about number-related information, asking whether they thought their children knew this information. Each aﬃrmative response scored one point. We also asked parents about the family constitution and background. Moreover, parents indicated the frequency on a weekly basis of number-related and non-related activities of the child (e.g., playing board games, videogames, etc.) and those involving the family (e.g., shopping, reading, tv watching, etc.). A ﬁve-point incremental scale was used for scoring frequency: does not carry out this activity, does it for about 1, 2, 3, 4 h, or more per week. The criteria for including speciﬁc daily activities in the questionnaire derives from studies indicating that such activities facilitate academic performance and cognitive control more generally (i.e., reading –LeFevre et al., 2009-; practicing sports Trudeau and Shephard, 2008; playing videogames –Dye and Bavelier, 2004), or directly enhance numerical performance (e.g., music –Spelke, 2008; playing board games –Ramani and Siegler, 2008; Siegler and Ramani, 2008; frequency of shopping and talking about money with children –LeFevre et al., 2009). The activities chosen also corresponded to the most frequent activities typically occurring in Italian families (not necessarily beneﬁting scholastic performance, such TV watching –Christakis, 2009), and activities mentioned in similar research (Anderson, 1998; Blevins-Knabe et al., 2000; LeFevre et al., 2009). Cronbach's alphas for the questionnaire applied to children and parents were 61 and 68, respectively. These values are fully comparable with measures of internal consistency found in previous research on numbers in everyday activities (Semenza et al., 2014). Agreement between parents' answers and children's actual knowledge was on average 75.11%, SD = 15.68. Numerical Tasks The tests were administered individually in a silent room. No feedback was given, only general praise and encouragement. A brief description of each test follows. * Counting tests assessed the child's mastery of the number word. The children were requested to count forwards (from 1 to 10; from 4 to 10) and backwards (from 6 to 1; from 10 to 1). Children were instructed to count as fast as possible. One point was given for each correct sequence. * One-to-one correspondence task was adapted from the Early Numeracy Test (ENT-part A, Van Luit et al., 1994). The task was composed of 5 tests designed to assess the children's ability to understand one-one relations between objects and numbers. For example, the child has 15 blocks and the experimenter shows a drawing representing two dice with 5 and 6. Then the experimenter asks: Can you put as many blocks on the table as are shown on the dice here? Each correct response scored one point. * Magnitude comparison: children were presented (maximum 2 s) with two panels –one on the left and one on the rightthat contained randomly arranged sets of squares of varying sizes. In each trial participants were asked to point as fast as possible to the panel that contained more squares, and were prevented for counting. There were six test trials randomized across participants (6:9, 5:6, 6:8, 6:9, 2:5, 8:9). One additional trial (1:2) was used for practicing before starting the test. Each correct response scored one point. This task was based on previous studies assessing approximate skills in children (Halberda et al., 2008). * Number line task: On each trial a 20 cm long line was presented in the center of a white A4 sheet. Children were asked to point to the numbers 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 14 in the intervals 0–10 and 0–20. The ends of the lines were thus labeled on the left by 0 and on the right by either 10 or 20. The order of presentation of the two intervals and the order of items were randomized across participants. Each trial was performed in a separate line. Before asking the participant to estimate the position of a number on the line (i.e., marking the line with a pencil), the experimenter ensured that the child was well aware of the interval size by pointing to the endpoints of the line and stating: "This line goes from 0 to 10 [20]. If here is 0 and here is 10 [20], where would you position X?" The number to be positioned in the line was orally presented. Experimenters were allowed to repeat the number as many times as needed. The accuracy of children's estimates on the number line was calculated using the percent absolute error. This measure is frequently used to measure non-numerical estimation in children (Siegler and Booth, 2004; Booth and Siegler, 2006; Berteletti et al., 2010; Sella et al., 2015). Lower absolute error indicates more accurate estimates. * Everyday numerical problems consisted of seven tests meant to assess the children's ability to use numbers in situations of the daily living. The problems involved the application of basic arithmetic operations (e.g., could you show me two types of fruits or vegetables that together will make 7 pieces?), magnitude comparison (e.g., are there fewer lemons or fewer strawberries?), or money usage [e.g., "each one of these vegetables costs 1 euro. Could you bring me the box that contains the number of vegetables that will make you spend all this money (5 euros)?]. Each correct response scored one point. Data Analysis We ﬁrst performed Pearson's correlation tests to determine the association between the number-related tasks and the child and family informal activities. To make sure that the relationships between those tasks were not mediated by a general cognitive or demographic factor, we computed partial correlations between the number-related tasks and the child and family activities, in which the impact of children's age, short-term verbal memory, and the SES of the family were controlled for. Additionally, we used a stepwise regression procedure to determine which of the environmental variables predicted variation on each of the math cognition tasks. We included the numerical tests as the dependent variables and the knowledge of number information learned at home, short-term verbal memory, age, and SES of parents as potential predictors. Before running the regression analysis we checked for collinearity among predictors. Because there was a high collinearity ( K = 72) we also performed a Principal component analysis to obtain a new set of uncorrelated predictors to feed the regression. Because the results of the regressions using PCA yielded virtually the same results of the regression that used the original predictors, only the latter are reported. RESULTS Descriptive Statistics The mean percentage of errors was 14% (range 0–75%) in the counting task, 22% (range 0–80%) in the one-to-one correspondence task, 13% (range 0–67%) in the magnitude comparison task, and 25% (range 0–75%) in everyday numerical problems. For the number line task mean percent absolute error was 21 (range 11–37%). It is worth noting that the accuracy of estimation in the number line task is similar to the one reported in comparable age groups (interval 1–10, studied by Berteletti et al., 2010, Experiment 2 = 20%; interval 1–20 = 15%). Correlational Results The results of the Pearson's correlation analysis showed that certain early numerical abilities were intercorrelated (see Table 1). The strongest correlation was observed between the children's counting abilities and their capacity to solve everyday numerical problems (r = 0.45; p < 0.001). Counting was also correlated with one-to-one correspondence tasks (r = 0.32; p < 0.001), and negatively correlated with the percent of absolute error measured in the number line task (r = −0.31, p < 0.005). The children's ability to solve everyday numerical problems was also correlated with the one-to-one correspondence task (r = 0.29; p < 0.005) and the magnitude comparison test. The latter correlation however disappeared after controlling for the children's age and verbal short-term memory, and the SES of the family. The children's responses to the questionnaire inquiring into the knowledge of number related information, and the responses of the parents to the same questions were positively correlated (r = 0.33; p < 0.001). Moreover, the numerical information learned at home signiﬁcantly correlated with the children's performance on everyday numerical problems (r = 0.34; p < 0.001), counting (r = 0.28; p < 0.005), and the one-to-one correspondence task (r = 0.28; p < 0.005). Considering speciﬁc activities within the family environment, we found a positive correlation between counting and the frequency with which children played board games at home (r = 0.31, p < 0.005). The frequency of playing board games also correlated with the numerical information learned at home as reported both by the parents r = 0.40, p < 0.001 and the children r = 0.29, p < 0.005. The frequency of playing sports in family negatively correlated with the percent of absolute error measured in the number line task (r = −0.26, p < 0.005). Other activities did not correlate signiﬁcantly with the numerical tasks. Modeling Numerical Abilities The stepwise regression with the counting ability as the dependent variable settled on a ﬁnal model that included only numerical information learned at home as the actual predictor [β = 0.397; p < 0.0001; Model R 2 = 0.157, F(1, 109) = 20.154; p < 0.0001; all other Betas p's > 0.05; Figure 1A]. To avoid confounding between the predicted variable and the predictors, we excluded the counting task from the questionnaire of numerical information learned at home. We obtained virtually the same results as above. Numerical information learned at home was the only signiﬁcant predictor in the ﬁnal model [β = 0.352; p < 0.001; Model R 2 = 0.091, F(1, 109) = 11.885; p < 0.001; all other Betas p's > 0.05]. Similarly, numerical information learned at home predicted children's performance on one-to-one correspondence tasks [β = 0.287, p < 0.002; Model R 2 = 0.083, F(1, 109) = 9.728, p < 0.002; all other Betas p's > 0.05; Figure 1B] and on the everyday numerical problems (β = 0.385; p < 0.0001), a smaller but still signiﬁcant contribution to this model was obtained with the variable age [β = 0.193; p < 0.029; Model R 2 = 0.188, F(1, 109) = 12.364, p < 0.0001]. No other variables predicted children's performance on the everyday numerical problems (Betas p's > 0.05; Figure 1C). Furthermore, in the stepwise regression with children's performance on the magnitude comparison task as the dependent variable, a trend emerged for age as predicting factor [β = 0.181; p = 0.058; Model R 2 = 0.033, F(1, 109) = 3.676; p < 0.058; all other Betas p's > 0.05; Figure 1D]. Nearly the same results were found after excluding the pair that could be solved with subitizing strategies (i.e., 2:5): (β = 0.103; p = 0.057; all other Betas p's > 0.05). Moreover, when considering only the items that could be at the critical ratio for 5–6 year-olds (i.e., 5:6, 8:9), the factor age became a signiﬁcant predictor in the magnitude comparison task [β = 0.304; p = 0.006; Model R 2 = 0.064, F(1, 109) = 7.690; p = 0.006; all other Betas p's > 0.05] [see Halberda and Feigenson (2008) for critical rations at these ages]. Finally, none of the other variables predicted children's performance on the number line task [Model R 2 = 0.009, F(1, 109) = 0.938; p = 0.335; Figure 1E]. DISCUSSION In the current study, we explored whether activities within the family environment and numerical information learned at home relate to preschoolers' performance on diﬀerent numerical tasks. The main question was whether numerical instruction embedded in real-life settings inﬂuences tasks that depend on approximate representations, on exact representations, or both. The ﬁndings indicate that the early acquisition of numerical information within the family environment signiﬁcantly predicts the children's ability to solve numerical problems in everyday situations, counting abilities, and the skills for identifying one-to-one correspondences between sets. Crucially, not every numerical skill was related to the acquisition of numerical information at home. Children's performance on number line or magnitude comparison tasks, that essentially tap the approximate system, were not predicted by the amount of numerical information learned in the family environment. These ﬁndings are in agreement with previous studies showing a relation between numerical instruction at home and children's math performance (e.g., LeFevre et al., 2009; Anders et al., 2012 ). These data also extend previous research in several ways. First, the results show that the children's performance in numerical tests relates to the acquisition of numerical knowledge of everyday facts (e.g., ages, birthdates, phone numbers, etc.), not just to direct mathematical instruction by parents, such as teaching how to count ( Blevins-Knabe and Musun-Miller, 1996; Pan et al., 2006 ), or add ( Huntsinger et al., 2000; LeFevre et al., 2002 ). Second, our study shows that numerical information learned at home also predicts the children's ability to solve simple word problems containing arithmentic operations that they have not formally learned at this age. Third, our ﬁndings suggest that numerical information learned at home aﬀects tasks involving exact representations of number. By contrast, this knowledge does not aﬀect tasks that depend on approximate representations, such as magnitude comparison and number line estimation. For magnitude comparison, Piazza et al. (2013) found that formal education is correlated with better performance in the Munduruku, an Amazonian tribe without words for exact counting. Park and Brannon (2013) found that training improved both comparison performance and maths ability. However, both of these studies used adult subjects. Another study of adults by Cappelletti et al. (2013) , found that training improved magnitude comparison but the improvement did not transfer to arithmetic performance. Thus, it would seem that while the magnitude comparison is trainable, it does not get trained by numerical activities in the home in young children. The eﬀect on exact number tasks are therefore not mediated by the approximate number system in our study. The numerical information learned at home had a large eﬀect on the counting ability of the children, and this appears fundamental to arithmetic learning. For example, Geary and colleagues showed that individual diﬀerences in ﬁrst graders' counting abilities correlated positively with diﬀerences in their arithmetic proﬁciency (Geary et al., 1992). A similar pattern of results was found by Aunola et al. (2004) in a longitudinal study. The authors identiﬁed the counting ability at preschool age as a reliable predictor of mathematical achievement in ﬁrst grade. Moreover Passolunghi et al. (2007) also identiﬁed counting skills at the beginning of primary school as a direct precursor of mathematical learning 6 months later. Furthermore, in Reeve et al. (2012), the ability to exactly enumerate sets in kindergarten predicted age-appropriate arithmetical attainment at every year until age 11, when their longitudinal study ended. The fact that parents' answers regarding children's knowledge of information did not correlate well with their children's performance on the test is not at all surprising. It supports previous views suggesting that children's accounts might be more informative than parental ones. It has been argued that, particularly in the mathematical domain, parents may miss a lot of activities, those when they are busy with other things, or when the child is at some distance from the parent (Tudge and Doucet, 2004). Reliance on parental accounts, rather than direct observations of, or conversations with, children also has the disadvantage that children's own experiences are devalued (Hogan et al., 1999). It has been shown that parents are generally more concerned with speciﬁc aspects of their children's cognitive development than others. Their teaching in some domains might be genuinely incidental whereas for other domains they make deliberate eﬀorts to teach their own children. Those activities on which the parents focus more are therefore reported more reliably. LeFevre et al. (2009) showed, for example that the frequency with which parents reported storybook reading is considerably higher than the frequency of playing board or card games. This focus could be due to the parents' personal preferences, their priorities, or both. In any case they seem to aﬀect the parents' ratings about activities of the children in other domains. The present data also show a positive correlation between the frequency with which children performed speciﬁc activities within the family environment and their numerical abilities. In particular the results showed a correlation between the frequency with which children practiced sports and their performance in the number line task, which might be due to the common involvement of spatial abilities in both activities. Moreover, there was a correlation between the frequency with which children played board games at home, their knowledge of number related information and their counting abilities. These results add to the body of literature on early numerical cognition, providing evidence that playing board games correlates with the development of numerical skills in children ( Ramani and Siegler, 2008; LeFevre et al., 2009 ). Board games require children to remember numbers and to exercise the counting procedure, therefore contributing to the enhancement of this numerical ability. These results are partially consistent with a previous study of Ramani and Siegler (2008) addressing the eﬀects of playing board games over numerical development. This study showed that a 2 weeks board game program improved children's counting abilities and also the children's performance in numerical magnitude comparison and number line estimation. Consistent with their results, we found a correlation between the frequency of board game playing and the children's counting abilities. However, our results showed no correlation between the frequency of playing board games at home and either magnitude comparison or number line estimation. This discrepancy might be due to the diﬀerences in the intensity and type of the exposure. Whereas Ramani and Siegler exposed children to an intensive training with a single game, our study focused on playing board games in the family environment (not solely games designed to improve number line estimation). Additionally, while Ramani and Siegler found these environmental eﬀects on children from low-SES, our study grouped children coming from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Thus, another possibility is that the SES of the families modulates the eﬀects of board games over numerical representations, in the same way the SES modulates interventions over early language skills (Hurtado et al., 2008) and cognitive development (Turkheimer et al., 2003). The current results showing diﬀerential correlations between numerical knowledge acquired at home and each of the two numerical systems, questions the possibility that the exact and the approximate representations are interconnected, at least in this particular group. If the exact representations linked to the approximate system, one would expect parallel eﬀects on both approximate representations and exact representations. Instead, we found that children who knew more numberrelated information only showed better exact representations; the same association was not apparent or transferred to the approximate system. Results from previous studies are in agreement with these ﬁndings. Using highly controlled training programs for children on either exact or approximate skills, Obersteiner and colleagues showed that participants improved only the skill trained with no crossover eﬀects (Obersteiner et al., 2013). Additionally, Mussolin et al. (2012) found an association between tasks depending on approximate number system and the symbolic abilities in 3- to 4-year-old children, but such association was absent in the group of 5- to 6-year-olds that was comparable to the age of children in our sample. It is thus possible that the interactions between the two representational systems may change across development. However, it is also possible that the links between the two representational systems are present at diﬀerent ages but become evident only longitudinally. This is an open question that requires further exploration. The question arises at to the limits of the information learned at home and activities within the family environment as potential modulators of the children's numerical skills. Are younger children, who generally spend more time at home, more susceptible to the numerical activities within the family environment than older children? Is there a critical period after which these activities do not impact signiﬁcantly the children's representations of numbers? While the current study focused on 5- to 6-year-old children's numerical abilities, future studies with children at diﬀerent ages should be able to establish whether, for instance, earlier numerical experiences can provide cascading advantages to the young math learner. A comprehensive exploration of the developmental trajectories of diﬀerent numerical abilities (e.g., counting, estimation, magnitude comparison) and their interaction with everyday exposure to numbers should contribute to further clarify these issues. Such information will be also crucial for identifying temporal windows in which interventions for children at risk might be more eﬀective. To summarize, the present study sheds light on the way numerical information acquired at home links to numerical representations in 5–6 years-old children. It is pointed out that the development of certain basic numerical concepts is associated with the amount of numerical facts acquired at home and the frequency with which children carry out speciﬁc activities within the family environment. In particular, the data suggests that early mathematical concepts associated with exact—but not approximate—representations can be enhanced when learning numerical information takes place in real–life activities at home. Limitations At this point of our research it is not possible to identify the directionality of the correlations between numerical information learned at home and children's performance on certain numerical tests. One possibility is that children with higher intrinsic mathematical abilities demand more numerical information from the family environment. However, these results could also suggest that the frequent use of numbers in familiar interactions enhances children's numerical knowledge. Although it seems likely that a regular exposure to numerical information boosts basic numerical understanding in young children, more research is needed to determine the directionality of the inﬂuences that occur between intrinsic numerical abilities and family factors. Another limitation of the work regards the extent to which the numerical information learned at home interacts with the information acquired in other institutions. Although current pre-school programs in Italy are not concerned with teaching birthdates, age, phone numbers of the family members, number of brothers, etc. we do not exclude the possibility that other number related everyday knowledge might be consolidated in this environment. Finally, we obtained information about the speciﬁc board games the children played at home. All Italian parents who reported their children playing board games mentioned numerical games such as "tombola," "uno," "carte," but also non-numerical games such as memory or puzzles. The time invested in each of these types of games was not assessed, however this information might be important to determine the nature of the games that signiﬁcantly inﬂuence numerical understanding. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS SB, BB, CS conceived and designed the work. SB, FB, and GA acquired the data and performed the analysis. SB, BB, CS, and DL interpreted the ﬁnal results. All the authors contributed writing and revising the manuscript. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to thank the teachers and the principals who collaborated with us during the present research, as well as the parents and children who participated in the study. 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Doetinchem: Graviant. Conﬂict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or ﬁnancial relationships that could be construed as a potential conﬂict of interest. Copyright © 2016 Benavides-Varela, Butterworth, Burgio, Arcara, Lucangeli and Semenza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
To cite: Miwa Y, Ueda A, Komeda M, et al. Reducing radiation exposure during atrial fibrillation ablation using lectures to promote awareness. Open Heart 2019;6:e000982. doi:10.1136/ openhrt-2018-000982 Received 2 December 2018 Revised 9 February 2019 Accepted 18 March 2019 © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. 1Cardiology, Kyorin University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan 2Cardiac Morphology Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK 3Division of Cardiology, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 4Division of Advanced Arrhythmia Management, Department of Cardiology, Kyorin University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan 5Division of Engineering, Kyorin University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence to Dr Kyoko Soejima; skyoko@ks. kyorin-u.ac.jp Reducing radiation exposure during atrial fibrillation ablation using lectures to promote awareness Yosuke Miwa, ‍ ‍ 1 Akiko Ueda, 2 Michitsugu Komeda, 1 Shinsuke Takeuchi, 1 Mika Nagaoka, 1 Yuichi Momose, 3 Noriko Nonoguchi, 1 Kyoko Hoshida, 1 Mutsumi Enomoto, 1 Ikuko Togashi, 1 Akiko Maeda, 4 Yo Hagiwara, 5 Toshiaki Sato, 1 Kyoko Soejima 1 Abstract Key questions What is already known about this subject? - Atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation has become an established therapy to control recurrent AF which could require longer procedure times and may require multiple procedures. Although some special tools or techniques have been introduced to reduce the radiation exposure, the ability of simple lecture to promote the awareness to reduce the radiation exposure in AF ablation is unclear. What does this study add? - There have been limited information regarding effects of simple lecture to promote the awareness in catheter ablation even though it has been reported in coronary angiography and right heart catheterisation. Objective Recently, concern has increased regarding the hazards of radiation exposure in patients and laboratory staff. Since the numbers of complex catheter ablations (CA) performed, duration of procedure times, and need for multiple sessions have increased, radiation exposure during each session needs to be minimised. Our study aimed to assess the impact of awareness on radiation exposure during CA for atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods Mini-course lectures was delivered to the physicians and staff in the electrophysiology division. Its effect on the fluoroscopic time and radiation dose during AF ablation before (Group I, n=70), shortly after (Group II: n=70) and remotely after the mini-lecture (Group III, n=70) were evaluated. Patient demographics, preoperative testing and procedural parameters were collected. Results The fluoroscopic time significantly reduced after the lecture (Group I and II: 25.1±10.0 and 15.1±7.3 min, respectively (p<0.0001)), and remained so in Group III (13.0±5.4 min), despite the increase in the number of persistent AFs. The radiation dose also significantly reduced (Groups I, II, III: 295.0±263.0, 109.6±103.5 and 110.1±89.6 mGy, respectively (p<0.0001)). Conclusion Awareness on radiation exposure led to a significant reduction in fluoroscopic time and radiation dose during CA for AF, the effect of which persisted even to remote periods following the procedure. Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, and catheter ablation (CA) has become an established therapy to control recurrent AF. 1 CA, especially for complex arrhythmias, such as AF requires longer procedure times and may require multiple procedures. As there are risks associated with exposure to medical radiation during these procedures, it is essential to keep the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle. Radiation exposure is associated with the risk of brain tumours in the operators, 2 and Miwa Y, et al. Open Heart2019; 6 How might this impact on clinical practice? - Promoting awareness on radiation exposure reduced the radiation exposure during AF ablation, and the effects of the educational intervention persisted even at remote periods following the procedure. lens and skin injury in both the patients and the staff. 3 Since the radiation dose from a single procedure is low, the risk to the medical staff is often underestimated. However, cumulative doses could contribute to significant risks, especially among physicians who perform many complex cases. Although three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping systems (3D-EAM) have contributed to a reduction in radiation exposure, 4 5 further reduction is necessary. 6 Previous studies show that radiation exposure could be significantly reduced during percutaneous coronary intervention and cardiac catheterisation by promoting awareness. 7–9 The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term and long-term impact of promoting awareness of radiation exposure during CA for AF. :e000982. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000982 1 Method Patients We evaluated the radiation dose used in CA for AF using a fluoroscopic system (INFX-8000V, Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan). Pulse fluoroscopy rates were preprogrammed at 3.75 frames per second, and the frame rate was set at six frames per second. X-ray beam collimation was encouraged to minimise the field of view. A mini-course lecture was delivered to the catheter laboratory staff, including the electrophysiology fellows, physicians, medical engineers and nurses in the first week of July 2015. Seventy consecutive patients for each group were selected to compare the effects of awareness on radiation exposure prior to the lecture (Group I: from August 2014 to June 2015), shortly (immediately following) after the course (Group II: from August 2015 to November 2016) and remotely (one and a half years) after the lecture (Group III: from January 2017 to August 2017). Their baseline characteristics and procedural data were compared. The acute complications and complications at the 1-month visit were evaluated. Mini-course lecture The mini-course lecture on radiation exposure was administered to the electrophysiology team. It consisted of two 1-hour lectures, and included basic concepts on radiation, ionising effects and practical methods to reduce radiation exposure during CA such as minimisation of cine acquisition, maximal effort to avoid the left anterior oblique view, higher position of the patient table, optimisation of collimation and so on. Catheter ablation The patients were sedated with dexmedetomidine and fentanyl, and their arterial blood pressures were monitored through a femoral artery. An oesophageal temperature probe (Esophastar, Japan Lifeline) was inserted. The radio frequency application was stopped immediately if the temperature reached 40℃ to prevent the oesophageal injury. A 20-pole electrode catheter (BeeAT, Japan Lifeline) was placed in the coronary sinus for internal cardioversion, and a quadripolar catheter was placed at the right ventricular apex. In addition, an intracardiac echocardiographic catheter, a 20-pole ring catheter, and an ablation catheter were placed. As an ablation catheter, a contact force sensing catheter (ThermoCool SmartTouch or ThermoCool SmartTouch SF, Biosense Webster; or TactiCath Quartz, St Jude Medical) was used in all cases with either a CARTO or an Ensite system. Voltage and activation maps were obtained using a circular mapping catheter. Following the pulmonary vein antrum isolation (PVAI), the presence of a bidirectional block was confirmed by pacing with and without a bolus injection of adenosine. Following the PVAI, a voltage map of the left atrium was obtained. Further ablation and modification of the substrate were performed only if a low voltage area (<0.5 mV) was present. From September 2016 onwards, the ablation strategy for 2 persistent AF had changed from low voltage modification to left atrial posterior wall isolation (LAPI). Cavo-tricuspid isthmus (CTI) and mitral isthmus linear ablations were performed if CTI-dependent or perimitral atrial flutters, respectively, were documented or induced. Frequent atrial extrasystoles or induced macroreentrant atrial tachycardias were targeted. In all patients, Warfarin was maintained at an international normalised ratio of 2–2.5 and was continued on the day of the procedure. For patients on direct oral anticoagulants, the morning doses were skipped and reinitiated after the ablation. Heparin was given prior to the transseptal puncture, and the activated clotting time was maintained between 250 and 350 s throughout the procedure. After the procedure, Protamine was administered, and haemostasis was achieved. Follow-up Patients were followed-up according to our regular practice at visits to the clinic at 2 weeks, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months following the procedure. On the day of the visit, a 12-lead ECG and 24 hours Holter monitoring were performed to check for recurrence. If an atrial tachyarrhythmia lasting longer than 30 s was recorded, a recurrence was diagnosed. Statistics Categorical data were described as numbers and percentages. Numerical data were described as means and SD. Comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney test for skewed data and the Student's t-test for non-skewed data between the groups. To compare categorical data, the Fisher's exact and χ 2 tests was used. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted considering the possibility that clinical factors including left atrial dimension, body mass index (BMI) and type of AF (paroxysmal or persistent) influenced the results of fluoroscopic time and radiation dose. Results Patient characteristics A total of 210 patients were enrolled. There were no significant differences in the height, weight, or BMI of patients, which could affect the radiation dose, between the three groups (table 1). However, Group III included more persistent AF (p<0.0001), as the majority of paroxysmal AF patients underwent cryoballoon ablation from May 2016 onwards. Additionally, the approach to persistent AFs had changed from September 2016 onwards, when we added LAPI, in addition to PVAI, for patients with persistent AF. Procedure parameters The procedure parameters are shown in table 2. PVAI was performed in all patients. There was no significant difference between the groups in the need for additional ablation, such as CTI linear ablation, low-voltage zone modification, superior vena cava (SVC) isolation, and Miwa Y, et al. Open Heart2019; 6:e000982. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000982 p<0.0001. BMI, body mass index. mitral isthmus linear ablation. However, more patients in Group III had LAPI due to the change in treatment strategy for persistent AF. Contact force monitoring was used for a majority of the patients. However, since the number of Ensite cases increased from December 2016 and TactiCath became available from May 2017, fewer patients in Group II were treated with contact force monitoring as shown in table 2. The fluoroscopic times in patients treated after the mini-lecture were significantly shorter than those treated before (15.1±7.3 and 25.1±10.0 min, respectively (p<0.0001)), and it remained short in the remote period after the procedure (13.0±5.4 min (p<0.0001)). The radiation doses in patients treated after the lecture were also significantly lower than those in patients treated before the lecture (109.6±103.5 and 295.0±263.0 mGy, respectively (p<0.0001)), and remained low in remote period following the procedure (110.1±89.6 mGy (p<0.0001)). MANOVA test also revealed that the results have validity (p<0.0001 for all). The fluoroscopic time and radiation dose for each patient is shown chronologically in figures 1 and 2, and it is clear that both have reduced following the mini-lecture and the trend remained so even at remote periods after the lecture. The reduction in radiation doses was larger when compared with the reduction in fluoroscopic times. Procedure outcome In all patients, PVAI was achieved. SVC, LAPI, CTI and mitral isthmus linear ablation were completed, and the presence of bidirectional blocks was confirmed in all patients in whom the target lesions were present. There was no significant difference in the long-term outcomes (12 months) between the three groups (79%, 86% and 83% were free from AF recurrence, respectively). There were two complications in Group I (haematoma and pericardial effusion), and none in Groups II and III. p<0.0001. †p=0.002. ‡p=0.0003. 3D-EMS, three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping systems. Miwa Y, et al. Open Heart2019; 6:e000982. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000982 3 Discussion Mapping technologies for radiation reduction Our study showed that promoting awareness on radiation exposure facilitated significant reductions in fluoroscopic time and radiation dose during CA for AF, and that the effects of the educational intervention persisted for a long period, even in more complex cases. Over the past years, awareness of the risks associated with ionising radiation has increased. The estimated lifetime risk of cancer ranges between 1/2000 and 1/1000 per single cardiovascular procedure, 2 and increases in younger patients and with repeated procedures. As the risk is not negligible for the medical staff, the ALARA principle should always be followed. Recent advance in 3D-EAM has reduced the radiation exposure during CA significantly, 4 5 and a European survey showed that non-fluoroscopic mapping systems are available in more than 65% of centres that perform CA. 10 However, these techniques, including 3D-EAM, require a change in work flow, certain experiences in CA, and a learning curve to reduce the ionising radiation exposure. There have been reports of CA with zero fluoroscopy using intracardiac echocardiography. 11 Contact force technology has also been reported to reduce the fluoroscopic time effectively. 12 13 In our study, all the patients underwent CA for AF using 3D-EAM, and contact force monitoring catheters were used in a majority of cases. Figure 2 Chronological radiation dose for each patient. Blue bar: patients prior to the mini-lecture; green bar: patients immediately after the mini lecture; red bar. patients remotely after the mini-lecture. 4 Miwa Y, et al. Open Heart2019; 6:e000982. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000982 Promoting awareness on radiation reduction Promoting awareness on radiation exposure using mini-lecture is simple, yet very effective, in achieving a reduction in radiation exposure. Precautions such as avoiding the cine acquisition, ensuring appropriate patient position and table height, minimising the left anterior oblique (LAO) view and using appropriately adjusted collimation were included in the mini-course lecture. Study limitations The limitations to our study are as follows: (1) it was a single centre study, and a relatively small number of patients were included; (2) the available tools, mapping systems and ablation strategies varied over the study period. Conclusion Promoting awareness on radiation exposure significantly reduced the fluoroscopic times and radiation doses during CA for AF, and the effects of the educational intervention persisted even at remote periods following the procedure. Contributors Each author has contributed significantly to the submitted work. YM was the first investigator of this study. KS organised this study. AU, MK, ST, MN, YM, NN, KH, ME, IT, AM, YH and TS collected data. Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Competing interests None declared. Patient consent for publication Obtained. Ethics approval This study was approved by the institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from all patients and laboratory staff. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. Data availability statement No additional data are available. Open access This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is Miwa Y, et al. Open Heart2019; 6:e000982. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000982 properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. References 2. Roguin A, Goldstein J, Bar O, et al. Brain and neck tumors among physicians performing interventional procedures. Am J Cardiol 2013;111:1368–72. 1. Calkins H, Hindricks G, Cappato R, et al. HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/ SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: Executive summary. J Arrhythmia 2017;2017:369–409. 3. Ciraj-Bjelac O, Rehani MM, Sim KH, et al. Risk for radiation-induced cataract for staff in interventional cardiology: is there reason for concern? Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2010;76:826–34. 5. Thibault B, Mondésert B, Macle L, et al. Reducing radiation exposure during crt implant procedures: single-center experience with lowdose fluoroscopy settings and a Sensor-Based navigation system (MediGuide). J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2016;27:1337–43. 4. Christoph M, Wunderlich C, Moebius S, et al. Fluoroscopy integrated 3D mapping significantly reduces radiation exposure during ablation for a wide spectrum of cardiac arrhythmias. Europace 2015;17:928–37. 6. Caponi D, Corleto A, Scaglione M, et al. Ablation of atrial fibrillation: does the addition of three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging of the left atrium to electroanatomic mapping improve the clinical outcome? Europace 2010;12:1098–104. 8. Kuon E, Weitmann K, Hoffmann W, et al. Multicenter long-term validation of a minicourse in radiation-reducing techniques in the catheterization laboratory. Am J Cardiol 2015;115:367–73. 7. Georges J-L, Livarek B, Gibault-Genty G, et al. Reduction of radiation delivered to patients undergoing invasive coronary procedures. Effect of a programme for dose reduction based on radiation-protection training. Arch Cardiovasc Dis 2009;102:821–7. 9. Sheyn DD, Racadio JM, Ying J, et al. Efficacy of a radiation safety education initiative in reducing radiation exposure in the pediatric IR suite. Pediatr Radiol 2008;38:669–74. 11. Luani B, Zrenner B, Basho M, Genz C, et al. Zero-fluoroscopy cryothermal ablation of atrioventricular nodal re-entry tachycardia guided by endovascular and endocardial catheter visualization using intracardiac echocardiography (Ice&ICE Trial). J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2018;29:160–6. 10. Pison L, Proclemer A, Bongiorni MG, et al. Imaging techniques in electrophysiology and implantable device procedures: results of the European heart rhythm association survey. Europace 2013;15:1333–6. 12. Lee G, Hunter RJ, Lovell MJ, et al. Use of a contact force-sensing ablation catheter with advanced catheter location significantly reduces fluoroscopy time and radiation dose in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. Europace 2016;18:211–8. 13. Zhang JQ, Yu RH, Liang JB, et al. 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http://www.rsp.fsp.usp.br/ Correspondence: Soledad Burgos de la Vega Independencia, 939 Santiago, Chile E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Received: Sep 30, 2021 Approved: Apr 25, 2022 How to cite: Olave-Müller P, López-Contreras N, Álvarez P, Jirón P, Bass C, Burgos S. Considerations for an urban health perspective in Chile from the "Quiero Mi Barrio" program. Rev Saude Publica. 2023;57:13. https://doi.org/10.11606/s15188787.2023057004264 Copyright: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are credited. Considerations for an urban health perspective in Chile from the "Quiero Mi Barrio" program Paola Olave-Müller I , Natalia López-Contreras II,III , Patricio Alvarez Kocher IV Paola Jirón V , Camilo Bass del Campo VI , Soledad Burgos de la Vega VI, I Universidad de La Frontera. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Salud Pública. Temuco, Chile II Universidad de La Frontera. Unidad de Vicerrectoría Investigación y Postgrado. Temuco, Chile III Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PhD Programme in Biomedicine. Barcelona, Spain IV Universidad Austral de Chile. Facultad de filosofía y humanidades. Escuela de postgrados. Valdivia, Chile V Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Santiago, Chile VI Universidad de Chile. Escuela de Salud Pública. Santiago, Chile ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceptions of residents regarding their health and well-being in areas of personal and collective life, in relation to the experience of urban transformation originated by the Program for the Recovery of Neighborhoods in Chile "Quiero mi Barrio" (PQMB). METHODS: Qualitative study conducted in eight neighborhoods, which were subject to interventions between 2012–2015, located in seven communes of Chile: Arica, Renca, Padre Las Casas, Villarrica, Castro, Ancud. Eighteen focus groups and 27 interviews were conducted between 2018 and 2019. A content analysis was carried out following the social determinants of health approach. RESULTS: Material conditions of neighborhood infrastructure and psychosocial determinants were the main emerging and predominant categories in the residents' narratives. The new or improved infrastructure enhances sports and playing practices, as well as contributes to the feeling of safety and to the improvement of walkable spaces, support networks, socialization and dynamization of social organization. However, neglected aspects were visualized. The program had limitations of structural character that operate locally, such as aging, individual lifestyles that limit participation, and contexts of insecurity, especially in neighborhoods victims of drug trafficking. CONCLUSIONS: The urban changes originated by the PQMB included improvements in neighborhood infrastructure and in the psychosocial environment, which are perceived by residents as beneficial aspects and promoters of collective wellbeing. However, global phenomena, and those related to the program, limit its scope and have repercussions on the perception of overall wellbeing of the residents in the neighborhoods. To go deeper into how this or other state neighborhood programs may or may not favor equitable access of different social groups, or which works may be better used by the groups, is an aspect that enhances the integral action with other sectors and local actors in the territories. DESCRIPTORS: Social Determinants of Health. Urban Renewal. Community Participation. Neighborhood Characteristics. Qualitative Research. Chile. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 INTRODUCTION In several Latin American and European cities, residential segregation and socioeconomic inequality have affected residents' quality of life 1,2 . Among Latin American countries, Chile has reached urbanization levels as high as 87.8%, according to data from its 2017 Census, and felt the same global phenomena of residential segregation and socioeconomic inequality which brought territorial implications 3 and deteriorated urban-rural living conditions. In 2000, 2006, and 2016, the National Quality of Life Survey, conducted by the Chilean Ministry of Health 4 , found that its communities lacked infrastructure and public security and showed a weak connection between citizens and social organizations, key entities to construct healthy spaces for good living. In 2018 and 2020, governmental bodies and organizations linked to urban planning created microscale indicators to evaluate national areas, many of which showed instable environmental accessibility and infrastructure, crucial dimensions to guarantee their populations a sense of equity, justice, and well-being 5 . Along with the increase in chronic non-communicable diseases 6 , healthcare in Chile has promoted the social determinants of health (SDH) approach since 2005, seeking well-being and health equity 7 and producing guidelines to find the structural dimensions of health inequality, including the conditions "in which life takes place" 8 . Health initiatives, undertaken in 2009 9 , addressed several urbanization problems, privileging a territorial approach aimed at integrating SDH into health agendas and avoiding achieving continuity or projecting health policies articulated with other sectors. On the other hand, residential segregation and its social effects have also occupied a central space in the design of strategies 10 within the recent framework for public policies on housing and urban planning in Chile. The Chilean Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning created the neighborhood recovery program "Quiero Mi Barrio" (PQMB) (I Love My Neighborhood Program in Spanish) in 2006. By 2017, it had promoted interventions in 520 neighborhoods across 15 regions, conducting 3,691 works and benefitting 1,132,714 residents. It currently aims to "improve quality of life in neighborhoods dealing with social segregation and/or vulnerability or varying degrees of urban deterioration, including them in a participatory, comprehensive, and viable process of local urban regeneration" 11 . Although the core principles of the Program do not make explicit their interest in influencing "health" of population, its design directly affects what the health sector consider intermediate SDH, including participation in social groups and improving local urban resources and services. To favor integrative processes of public policy initiatives, this study aimed to explore residents' perceptions of their health and well-being in personal and collective life areas in relation to urban transformation experiences stemming from the Chilean program to recover neighborhoods "Quiero mi Barrio" (PQMB). This study provides an organizing and reflexive framework to highlight the benefits and limitations resulting from the neighborhood recovery process to broaden its understanding and recognize the scope of these actions to produce urban spaces. METHODS This qualitative study was conducted between 2018 and 2019 and adopts the SDH approach to assess areas of results 12 , deeming them as large domains of constraints on the circumstances or situations in which "people are born, grow up, live, work, and grow old" 13 and in which dominant political, economic, and social actions have strong repercussions to produce and reproduce social health inequality. Our sample consisted of eight neighborhoods which received interventions beginning between 2011 and 2012 and ending three to four years later. To select neighborhoods for analysis, four administrative https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 regions were classified according to their geography, climate and population density to incorporate heterogeneous elements into our sample, such as being in an area with high migratory exchange, strong dissatisfaction with physical and social environments, social isolation, conflictivity and fragility political-territorial. In this study, neighborhoods were chosen based on the beginning of interventions (all same year) and feasibility of access (contacts, referents). The available documentation was analyzed to assess each neighborhood and synthesize the conducted interventions (Chart 1). Chart 1. Characteristics of the chosen neighborhoods and performed interventions. \| Neighborhoods (city and region) and year of implementation of the PQMB \| History of the neighborhood \| Project management \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Norte Grande/Ignacio Serrano (Arica, Region of Arica and Parinacota) \| Its origin is based on the gradual urbanization of the division corresponding to “Población Chile” in the mid-1960s. Neighborhoods joined territorially \| Construction of a park. \| \| (2012–2014) \| Population Norte Grande: 1.802 inhabitants. \| \| \| \| Population Ignacio Serrano: 1.758 inhabitants. \| \| \| Lo Velásquez Norte/Sur (Renca, Metropolitan Region) \| Its origin stems from the construction of social housing in the 1980s (1984–1986) as part of the urban expansion of Santiago. Context of social and criminal unrest. \| Construction of a multipurpose field, community center, improvement of public lighting and squares. Urban improvement. \| \| (2012–2015) \| Population Lo Vásquez Norte: 2.327 inhabitants \| \| \| \| Population Lo Vásquez Sur: 2.163 inhabitants. \| \| \| Diego Portales (Villarica, Region of La Araucanía) \| It began as a private land occupation in the 1970s, regulated in the 1980s. Showed a context of social uprooting between sectors in the neighborhood. \| Construction of bus stops, recovery of a multipurpose field, green areas, and squares. Construction of a community center. \| \| (2012–2015) \| Population: 2.700 inhabitants. \| \| \| Pulmahue (Padre Las Casas, Region of La Araucanía) \| Its origin is based on the construction of basic housing awarded by SERVIU subsidies at the start of the 2000s. Showed a perception that insecurity decreased as activities brought neighbors together. \| Recreational and physical conditioning stations. \| \| (2012–2015) \| Population: 2.144 inhabitants. \| \| \| Bellavista (Ancud, Región of Los Lagos) \| Its origin stems from the construction of social housing in the 1990s due to an increase in the fishing industry. Showed a context of inadequate public services and lack of employment and opportunities. \| Construction of viewing platforms, parks, and an open-air multipurpose field; improvement to another multipurpose field. Construction of a community center and pedestrian walkway. \| \| (2012–2015) \| Population: 1.675 inhabitants. \| \| \| La Isla (Castro, Region of Los Lagos) \| Its origin is based on the construction of social housing between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. Context of neighborhood spaces and green areas with neither appropriation nor care. \| Construction of two squares, a viewing platform, community civic center; improvement of covered multipurpose playing field. Construction of pedestrian walkway. \| \| (2012–2015) \| Population: 1.543 inhabitants. \| \| (A) training and reinforcement of functional organizations in the neighborhood; interregional community encounters between neighborhood leaders (B) activities tending to strengthen identity and belonging to the neighborhood; organization of practices and cultural manifestations in community spaces in the neighborhood; promotion of waste management; promotion of the efficient use of basic resources (C) implementation of mechanisms to mediate the community in conflict resolution at the leadership and neighborhood level; reconversion of residual public, inaccessible, and unsafe spaces for community use. Source: Prepared by the author based on reports from the Chilean Ministry of Housing and community reports https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 To obtain data, 18 focus groups (FG) were structured and 27 semi-structured interviews (I), by a team of anthropologists. A cumulative theoretical sampling was used with a saturation criterion 14 . The following criteria were established to structure FG and conduct I: older adults with and without a social role in their community (aged ≥60 years), young people (aged 15-20 years), and women with preschool-aged children and emerging profiles. During the interviews, aspects of structuring processes, changes perceived in neighborhoods, and assessments of these changes in health and collective well-being were addressed. FG and I were recorded, transcribed, and manually analyzed via open categories to reduce, organize, and structure data by analogy around opinions and substantial ideas which were common to groups or showed divergences with a greater descriptive than interpretative focus, according to SDH macrocategories 15 . Results were triangulated by the different researchers collaborating in this study. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of the Universidad de La Frontera (Temuco, Chile) for studies on human beings. All interviewees agreed to participate. RESULTS We organized our results into two highly interrelated neighborhood constraints predominating in residents' accounts: a) material and b) psychosocial categories. We describe both the perceived beneficial aspects of interventions and their overlooked or limiting aspects for communities' well-being. a) Material constraints in neighborhoods (Charts 2 and 3) Participants perceive PQMB as playing a relevant role in improving the infrastructure of their neighborhoods, promoting new practices, uses of public space, and a positive perception of the area. They find that the construction of playgrounds and parks constitutes spaces which promote physical activity and play among young people and children and social meetings among neighbors. Removing illegal dump sites emerges as a direct PQMB action as well as an indirect one due to other interventions, such as lighting Chart 2. Contributions by the Quiero mi Barrio Program (PQMB) to residential well-being. \| Residential surroundings \| Use of the infrastructure created for sports and recreation \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Recycling of illegal dump sites and improvement of community practices \| \| \| Fitting out of paved spaces \| \| Housing conditions and related resources \| Support for external projects \| \| \| Perception of added values to houses \| https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 Chart 3. Aspects of the residential surroundings negatively associated or pending with the "Quiero mi Barrio" program. \| Residential surroundings \| To address the historical deterioration of streets and sidewalks \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Deterioration or destruction of works created by the PQMB \| \| \| Undesired use of remodeled spaces \| \| \| Displacement of commerce and interruption of labor practices (Norte Grande) \| \| Housing conditions \| Individual maintenance costs (PQMB ignores home improvements) \| and reconverting spaces for community use. Interviewees also indicate that the spaces PQMB reconverted into public circulation areas, with lit and decorated sidewalks, provide residents with greater security. The PQMB paved some streets in two neighborhoods, which participants found improved mobility and reduced falls. These PQMB improvements indirectly created an expectation of added value to local houses. Regarding the aspects participants deemed the PQMB had overlooked, improving deteriorated sidewalks or streets emerged often in persons' accounts, an aspect it barely included in its actions. In some neighborhoods, groups consuming alcohol or committing vandalism use such remodeled spaces (parks and multipurpose fields) constitute an outcome the program failed to foresee. On the other hand, we found few indications of coordination with other actors such as health, education,or aid agencies. Further, the construction of a park displaced the installation of a traveling vegetable market which supplied a neighborhood in Arica and generated informal sources of work. Finally, excluding houses as an object for improvement or, if impossible, directly coordinating with public entities which address this need constitutes another element straining the comprehensive nature of PMBQ interventions, ignoring that such improvements are contingent to residents' individual resources. b) Psychosocial constraints (Charts 4 and 5) Interviewees claimed feeling satisfied with the aesthetic of the neighborhood after the promoted changes and with achieving a positive outcome after the end of a process which took years of effort to improve their neighborhoods. At the time PQMB interventions begin, most neighborhoods face great housing insecurity and locals feel abandoned. Residents note that its arrival helped "to promote the self-esteem of the community" after they had experience scant support toward neighborhood improvements. Some locals value the direct PQMB actions which reinforced neighborhood memory and identity. All neighborhoods showed a drive to participate in common activities, although limited to https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 Chart 4. Contributions of the "Quiero mi Barrio" program to individual and collective psychosocial well-being. \| Perception of the neighborhood or community \| Feeling of achieving community projects or solving problems diagnosed by the community \| \|---\|---\| \| Participation \| Temporary neighborhood participation \| \| \| Activation/maintenance leadership roles \| \| Support networds \| Creation of conditions to support families \| \| \| Spaces in which neighborhood groups and families can socialize and undertake activities \| \| \| Use of community centers by other institutions \| \| Security \| Feeling of security \| the scope of the program. Interviewees also point to the mobilization of local leaders, who gave rise, in certain cases, to a type of organization which followed the PQMB and felt motivated to take care of the interventions and create new projects. The most common element across neighborhoods relates to the use of parks and squares — which promoted mother-children and grandmother-grandchildren coexistence in open spaces — and the benefit multipurpose fields brought to young people, men, and those who do sports. The improvement of community centers contributed to socializing, above all, older adults, housewives, and caregivers, who referred to these spaces as affecting positive their mental health. Moreover, after neighborhoods were improved and cultural centers, built, community centers began to be used for private family events (e.g., marriages, birthdays, etc.). Participants valued the aforementioned lighting of streets and public spaces as it fosters a feeling of security in neighborhoods suffering from crime, and drug trafficking. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 Chart 5. Psychosocial factors negatively associated or pending with the Quiero mi Barrio program. \| Perception of the neighborhood or community \| Individual ways of life and neighborhood social life in decline \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Low participation motivated only by individual (rather than collective) interests \| \| \| Leadership fatigue, migration, and generational change \| \| \| Feeling of insecurity due to crime \| \| \| Potential reinforcement of historical unrest in neighborhoods \| \| Participation \| Abrupt end to the program \| \| \| Social groups which feel excluded or invisible \| The overlooked or limiting aspects related to program interventions include the permanent tension between the aims of the PQMB and pre-existing neighborhood dynamics. This dimension cuts across all our studied cases. We found historical conflicts between locals or leaders, socioeconomic differences, dangerous sectors within neighborhoods (e.g., drug abuse or trafficking), and a style of social leadership which sectorized actions. PQMB interventions were unable to alleviate these issues which seriously affected participation, space and constructed work use, security, and trust among locals. Neighborhoods perceived as highly vulnerable socially seem to receive no different management or treatment from those free of this connotation. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 On the other hand, social life within neighborhoods (established decades earlier) is contrasted with current practices and lifestyles which exclude or reduce community life. This phenomenon is based on elements such as interests for individual benefit, more intense working lifestyles, residents' aging, leaders' fatigue, inhabitants' migration, and young people's demotivation. In a more direct relation with PQMB management, locals from all neighborhoods recount the abrupt end of interventions, leaving a feeling of dissatisfaction among their leaders. We should point out that the program operates by creating a previously absent local organizational structure (the Neighborhood Development Board), which, although incorporating local leaders, involves coordination efforts among leaders who may be in conflict or unprepared. Some residents note that the arrival of the PQMB shifts previous dynamics of neighborhood empowerment to the improvement of spaces. In some cases, the nature of the works has also caused a feeling of exclusion or self-exclusion in some groups (such as in older adults and young women) during the selection process for works or the type of work to be undertaken. Neighborhood insecurity (associated with crime and drug trafficking) often represents a determining element in residents' decision to live their lives inside their homes, avoiding public spaces in the neighborhood and, therefore, their neighbors. DISCUSSION PQMB is a program that focuses on improving local urban infrastructures by recovering or socially reinforcing, in a very short timeframe, the trajectory of neighborhoods and locals' interpersonal and cultural experiences. Thus, we must interpret these experiences, adjusting them to social realities and the history of these neighborhoods, most of which emerged from past social housing programs and, in some cases, under processes of settlement and relocation. Note that, despite differences in geography, climate, and social fabric, the works performed in the neighborhoods are similar, with only a few distinctive features due to their co-designing strategies. Nevertheless, participants generally have a positive perception of these interventions: a new or improved infrastructure represents neighborhood encounters in several places in which state aid has been absent for decades 16 . This infrastructure brings tremendous potential to reinforce and expand access to sport and recreational spaces so neighbors and relatives can coexist and socialize, infusing social organization with a certain dynamism. The aspects we mentioned function as elements which contribute to promote individual and collective health – and in some cases – restore people's dignity. Although no previous studies in health in Chile have addressed this frame of action, population studies 17,18 emphasize the importance of neighborhood contexts, finding them as relevant to their inhabitants' psychosocial experiences. International studies on processes of "urban regeneration" in Europe show beneficial results in individuals' mental health and perceived well-being. Interventions facilitate "healthy" spaces favoring walkability, social integration, and a perception of security, promoting residents' social and physical functionality and overall well-being, including the aesthetic function of neighborhoods 19,20 . Based on these international experiences, interventions structure leaders, promote social participation for some groups, and build larger support networks, beneficial results which enable research to understand the logic of interventions and involved social groups. However, we find it difficult to compare experiences from approaches us used in Europe and North America to those which interest since the former usually emerge from large projects to produce public-private urban spaces. According to Paquette 2020, what defines the most typical experiences in Latin American are processes of comprehensive, multipurpose, and heavily territorialized urban improvement 21 which https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 are directly related to solving informal settlement problems and — in the case of Chile — to remedy the consequences of cities growing under spontaneous, informal urbanization to their outskirts and creating emergency social or subsidized housing projects which lacked a comprehensive view of individual and collective living, in which organized neighborhood communities and municipal mediation have driven a large part of the implemented improvements. Our results show that the PMBQ has tried to strengthen neighborhood identity, driving direct actions toward it or following strategies to co-design interventions with community actors. However, it can also force actions which strengthen neighborhood individualization, fragmentation, or sectorization. This observation follows a previous evaluation of the PMBQ in twelve neighborhoods five years after its implementation 22 which found a risk of fragmenting neighborhoods even further, as those urban projects were independently tackled and lacked public space networks (e.g., health, education, recycling, nutrition, among others). In all studied cases, violence, crime, and vandalism emerge as latent elements causing fear, insecurity, and unrest at different levels according to each territorial context, an issue which studies in urban segregation in Chile 23 had already underscored. It also finds itself in largescale urban regeneration projects in Catalonia 24 Colombia 21 , Brazil 25 , and Mexico 26 , among others. Thus, the effects of a program that works from such a noticeable focus (which in principle may be necessary) can obscure the fact that other public policies are in motion or absent, giving rise to processes of care-desattention and neglect. Thus, spaces which more proactive aims regenerated begin to reflect the uncertainties and concerns of life (e.g., homeless groups, drug trafficking, etc.). Perceived insecurity and fear configure phenomena which are closely linked to anxiety and behaviors of avoidance or confinement, negatively affecting social interaction and physical activity 27 to the point that an urban regeneration program, even if it focuses on micro-communities, requires the action of other sectorial actors for comprehensive improvements. In health, this should foster an intersectional concept for such programs, a key issue to recognize the contributions and absences on all planes of the community life in neighborhoods 28 . In Chile, current health promotion programs incentivize the use of community spaces in neighborhoods 29 , which is why coordination with other actors (such as those in primary care) is urgent and necessary. This study found actions promoting the spaces PQMB regenerated and the management it developed. Neighborhoods and house ownership assume a symbolic meaning of belonging (in addition to other factors conventional epidemiology has highlighted), associated with improvements on thermal comfort, noise reduction, and general satisfaction with home improvements, providing benefits for individuals' overall, physical and mental health 30 , an aspect which can acquire important nuances depending on the ecologies of national territories. Youth's lack of participation in social activities and older adults feature among program actions and the attention they paid to other global phenomena. National studies in health show that more active older adults adequately channels their free time and contributes to a better quality of life, especially in contact with peer groups 31 . We must consider that care tasks hinder their participation, an increasingly frequent phenomenon derived from parental difficulties within their working-class role in society, which demands balancing family life and work 32 . This study found recurring references to older adults using spaces as they took care of their grandchildren in contrast to the lack of spaces for themselves, raising the need for working perspectives which include the individual and collective interests and developments in this predominant group within the projects regeneration of neighborhoods. We found that the creation of sport spaces promotes younger groups' practice and relaxation, positively affecting their physical and mental health 33 . This study evinces that these interventions influence the emergence of these conditions. However, the studied https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 Urban health perspectives in Chile neighborhoods show no new sport groups, rather, recurrent user groups deemed that the conditions for their activities had improved. On the other hand, the strong PQMB direction to enable spaces for children's sports and recreation ignores other, woman youth or teen mothers' interests for whom these spaces, although valued, are yet to be deemed as spaces which might attract users. This represents an opportunity for the program to consider different needs and experiences within neighborhoods. Among our limitations, we failed to find groups who had organized themselves around an experience continuum, only attesting to actors who already were participants and familiar with certain neighborhood changes. Thus, key informants predominate in this study. We were also unable to further develop research with more focus groups in some neighborhoods since researchers felt endangered by doing so, requiring a greater number of individual interviews. The strengths of this study include assessing collective health and well-being to address urban regeneration as a local scenario requiring public health perspectives. Our sample also highlights the participation of various geographic areas and relatively recent experiences. Given the evidence this study has provided and considering the guidelines of the SDH approach, primary care and local community team actions represent an opportunity to both design and implement the PQMB. CONCLUSIONS Locals perceived that the urban changes arising from the PQMB improved the infrastructure and psychosocial surroundings of several neighborhoods. Participants deemed these beneficial changes as promoting collective well-being, listing its socialization and walkability spaces, support networks, lighting, cleanliness, and public security the main contributions of the program. Nevertheless, they perceive global phenomena as associated with insecurity, inequity, aging, and new lifestyles, in addition to the aspects the program overlooked, which limit its reach and affect locals' perception of well-being. Within the SDH approach we adopted, i.e., spheres of direct effect, the structural aspect represents a public policy, operationalized via the PQMB, which has the possibilities and opportunities of receiving praise for its benefits, coverage, and methods of implementation. 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Investigación cualitativa: retos e interrogantes. Tomo II: Técnicas de análisis de datos. Madrid (ES): La Muralla; 2002. 16. Rodríguez A, Sugranyes A. Los con techo: un desafio para la política de vivienda social. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones SUR; 2005. 17. Araya R, Montgomery A, Rojas G, Fritsch R, Solis J, Signorelli A, et al. Common mental disorders and the built environment in Santiago, Chile. Br J Psychiatry. 2007;190:394-401. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.024596 18. Kim H, Grogan-Kaylor A, Han Y, Maurizi L, Delva J. The association of neighborhood characteristics and domestic violence in Santiago, Chile. J Urban Health. 2013;90(1):41-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9706-6 19. Jalaludin B, Maxwell M, Saddik B, Lobb E, Byun R, Gutierrez R, et al. A pre-and-post study of an urban renewal program in a socially disadvantaged neighbourhood in Sydney, Australia. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:521. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-521 20. Mehdipanah R, Malmusi D, Muntaner C, Borrell C. An evaluation of an urban renewal program and its effects on neighborhood resident's overall wellbeing using concept mapping. Health Place. 2013;23:9-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2013.04.009 21. Paquette Vassalli C. Regeneración urbana: un panorama latinoamericano. Rev INVI. 2020;35(100):38-61. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-83582020000300038 22. Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable (CL); Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo (CL). Sustentabilidad a escala de barrio: re-visitando el Programa Quiero mi Barrio. Santiago de Chile: CEDEUS; 2019. 23. Brain I, Sabatini F. La segregación, los guetos y la integración social urbana: mitos y claves. Eure (Santiago). 2008;34(103):5-26. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0250-71612008000300001 24. Nel-lo O. The challenges of urban renewal. Ten lessons from the Catalan experience. Anal Soc. 2010;45(197):685-715. https://doi.org/10.2307/41012830 25. Idrovo Alvarado MD, Garcia-Almiral MP. Convivencia y seguridad: estrategias de intervención urbana en el espacio público de barrios segregados y en conflicto. Caso de estudio: Barrio la Mina. Archit City Environ. 2013;8(22):123-50. https://doi.org/10.5821/ace.vi22.2592 26. Ordóñez-Barba G, Alegría-Olazábal T, McIntosh C, Zenteno-Quintero R. Alcances e impactos del Programa Hábitat en comunidades pobres urbanas de México. Papeles Poblac. 2013;19(77):231-67. 27. Lorenc T, Clayton S, Neary D, Whitehead M, Petticrew M, Thomson H, et al. Crime, fear of crime, environment, and mental health and wellbeing: mapping review of theories and causal pathways. Health Place. 2012;18(4):757-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.04.001 28. Cunill-Grau N. La intersectorialidad en las nuevas políticas sociales: un acercamiento analíticoconceptual. Gest Polit Publica. 2014;23(1):5-46. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 11 29. Ministerio de Salud (CL). Orientaciones técnicas municipios, comunas y comunidades saludables. Santiago de Chile; 2015. 30. Thomson H, Thomas S, Sellstrom E, Petticrew M. Housing improvements for health and associated socioeconomic outcomes. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(2):CD008657. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008657.pub2 31. Zapata Farías H. Adulto mayor: participación e identidad. Rev Psicol. 2001;10(1):189-98. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2001.18562 32. Kelley SJ, Whitley DM, Escarra SR, Zheng R, Horne EM, Warren GL. The mental health well-being of grandparents raising grandchildren: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Marriage Fam Rev. 2021;57(4):329-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2020.1861163 33. Organización Mundial de la Salud. Recomendaciones mundiales sobre actividad física para la salud. Ginebra: OMS; 2010. Funding: National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/CONICYT-FONIS SA16I0291. Authors' Contribution: Study design and planning: PO-M, PAK, PJ, SBV. Data collection: PO-M, PAK, Data analysis and interpretation: PO-M, NL-C, PAK, PJ, CBC, SBV. Preparation and writing of the manuscript: NL-C, SBV. Critical review of the manuscript: all authors. Final approval: all authors. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004264 12
Yeshua is the Light Holiday Greetings in The Light of the World! "Let there be Light!" We hear the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob pronouncing these words by His Spirit this month as He did in the beginning as recorded in Genesis 1:3-4. "Then God said, 'Let there be light; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness." Light, God and good are intricately bound together in the Word of God. In fact, God is even called "Light" in I John 1:5. Yeshua, having come from God, and being one with God, must also therefore be Light. He affirmed this by declaring Himself to be "The Light of the world" in John 8:12. If God is Light, and Yeshua is the Light of the world, then we, the children of God, must also be "lights." We sense the desire of our Father's heart to be best expressed in Philippians 2:15: "That ye may become blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding fast the word of life..." We thank God for the privilege of holding forth the word of life to millions of people during 2001 via the powerful vehicle of television. We are awed that our Father has allowed us to penetrate apartment and condominium walls, prison walls, orphanages, businesses, and thousands of private homes throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia with the Great News of Messiah Yeshua. He has used us as His candlestick to bring the knowledge of Himself and the reality of His love to hungry hearts. Thank you for making this possible. It is a privilege to co-labor with you in being a "light" to the Jew first, and also to the non-Jews (Romans 1:16). The Temple Candlestick (Menorah) We read in the Book of Exodus that God instructed Moses to build a golden lampstand as part of the sanctuary that the Lord requested so that He might "live among them." (Ex. 25:8) This candlestick or lampstand was called a menorah in Hebrew. "And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower; so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick... And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they shall light the lamps thereof..." (Ex. 25: 31-33;37) This menorah was made from a 66 pound piece of pure gold. (Pure gold was refined seven times. Purity is a prerequisite for God's light to shine.) The middle shaft of the candlestick had a name, the Ner Elohim (Lamp of God). It was also called the Shamash or servant lamp. Each morning a priest serviced the lamps and relit any that were extinguished. It has been told by ancient rabbis that the Shamash burned for as much as a day longer on the same amount of oil. They called this "the miracle of the Menorah." According to Yoma 43:3 in the Jerusalem Talmud, this miracle ceased about 40 years before the Romans burned the Temple. The Servant Lamp refused to burn. In Messianic Jewish thinking, the servant branch represents the Messiah Yeshua, whose Light is central to all other light. This appears to have been God's intended design. If Yeshua was the fulfillment of the "Servant Lamp" in the Temple Menorah, then His coming as a "light to lighten the Gentiles" and the glory of God's people Israel would replace the temporary servant light. (See The Mystery of the Menorah by J.R. Church and Gary Stearman for a connection with "Simeon the Righteous".) One of the new insights that we gleaned this year about the Temple Menorah is that the Hebrew word for almond (luz) became a root for the word "light" in other languages. Almonds were the major decoration on the menorah as commanded by God. The true light, even in our vocabularies, is always connected with the true God! Some Menorah Jewels In Living Emblems, Ancient Symbols of Faith, Dr. John D. Garr presents some fascinating facts about the 7 branched menorah. Among them are the following: 1. The menorah is the only emblem in Jewish or Christian worship designed by God Himself. 2. The menorah is the only sacred symbol that has not been polluted by use for pagan purposes. 3. The menorah is "God's lamp" (1Samuel 3:1-3) just as the "Feasts of the Lord" are "God's feasts." Therefore, it belongs to all of God's people, both Jews and Christians. 4. The menorah symbolizes the salvation of God (Isaiah 62:1). 5. The vision the apostle John saw of Yeshua in His resurrected glory included Yeshua in the midst of seven golden lampstands. This may have been 1 menorah with 7 lamps. (Rev.1:12-13) 6. The menorah is a portrait of Messiah. The seven lamps of fire of Daniel 10:6 represent the eyes of the Messiah. 7. The shamash lamp of the menorah that burned continously became the source of the ner tamid or "eternal light" that shines in synagogues around the world today. The Hanukkah Menorah We are often asked why some menorahs have seven branches and others have nine. As we have just explained, the menorah that God instructed Moses to build had seven branches. Today it is used as the symbol for the State of Israel. The official seal or "Coat of Arms" of Israel includes a seven-branched menorah surrounded by two olive branches based on the vision of Zechariah in Chapter 4: "...What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?..." The Hanukkah menorah has nine branches, four on each side and a central shaft or shamash just like the seven branch menorah. This menorah however, was not commanded by God in the Scriptures. It evolved out of an event in Israel's history. A miracle is entwined with this menorah as well as with the seven branch menorah. In short: A Syrian-Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, was determined to destroy the Jews in 165 B.C. With a huge army at his command, and a determination to eradicate the Jewish religion, Antiochus outlawed Torah study, infant circumcision, Temple worship and every aspect of Jewish life. A righteous remnant full of faith and courage rose up against this tyrant. Led by the "Maccabees," with the supernatural intervention of God, this tiny band of Jewish men defeated the entire Syrian army. They recaptured and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem and finding only enough consecrated oil for one day, lit the menorah in faith. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days until new oil could be obtained. That's why the Hanukkah menorah has 9 branches, 8 for the 8 days and one servant candle which lights the other eight. To us as Messianic Jews, Yeshua, the Divine Servant, is represented by the "shamash." In Him, we have a new beginning (8 is the Biblical number of new beginnings). Hanukkah begins on the eve of December 9 this year. Let this be a new beginning for you! The Lord lights our candles David said in Psalm 18 verse 28: "For thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness." Our candles are lit when the Light of the world comes and lives in our hearts. Our spirit comes alive. Our understanding is enlightened. This is God's desire for His Jewish people, and all people. He wants to use each one of us to call souls out of darkness into His marvelous light. God will judge the wicked. Vengeance is His. The Bible clearly states that the candle of the wicked will be snuffed out (Job 18:5, Job 21:17; Prov. 24:20). We need to be concerned with keeping our own flames burning brightly for God's glory. Candles and Bushels Did you know that the imagery of a lamp being placed on a lampstand rather than hidden under a bushel is found four times in the New Covenant Scriptures? Each time it is in a slightly different context. (See Matthew 5:14-17, Mark 4:21-22, Luke 8:16-17, Luke 11:33.) The context of the Matthew verse is very important from a Messianic Jewish point of view: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." The meaning of this passage is clear. Our light is not shining if our faith is not accompanied by good works. While salvation is not through "works," the life of a believer after salvation must be characterized by deeds of righteousness...deeds of love. And love, according to Romans 13:10 is the fulfilling of the Law. Light is meant to be shared, not hidden under a bushel or under a bed (Mark 4:21). Some Bible scholars have said that the bushel represents the affairs of this world, one's job or business affairs that so consume a person that his or her light is eclipsed. The bed represents man's laziness, and love of ease and pleasure which have the same negative effect on a believer's light. The bed, we believe, might also represent one's home. Sometimes the hardest place to walk our talk, to let our light shine, is in our relationships with those with whom we live day in and day out. Women believers, in particular, are exhorted to be lights at all times like the virtuous woman of Prov. 31:18 "whose candles goeth not out by night." May all our candles burn brightly on the home front in 2002, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zech. 4:6) Candles in danger As we approach the end of the year 2001, the sobering thought comes to us that we have not done all we might do to be the lights that God has called us to be. Consider Revelation 2:5: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." The "first works" referred to in this verse was the "first love" of the believers at Ephesus. Passion for the Lord, leading to Spirit-led activity in His Name was lacking. Is it lacking in us? A group of ministers in Scotland in 1651 sensing that Revelation 2:5 might apply to them, compiled a list of their shortcomings and confessed them publicly in honesty and humility. The list, taken from Words to Winners of Souls by Horatius Bonar, is as appropriate for God's candlestick (His Body) today as it was then. 1. We have been unfaithful...to our own souls. To our families, to our brothers and sisters in the Lord, in discipling, in visiting the sick, in healing the brokenhearted, in our daily walk and conversation... . 2. We have been carnal and unspiritual...compromising with the world on many occasions, lowering our standards, lacking godly fear. 3. We have been selfish...seeking to please ourselves instead of obeying Romans 15:2, not bearing one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2), not presenting ourselves to God as "living sacrifices." (Romans 12:1) We have lost sight of the self-sacrificing principle on which we as believers are to base our lives. 4. We have been slothful...not enduring hardness as good soldiers of Yeshua HaMashiach. We have wasted precious hours and days in unprofitable, idle, self-indulgent ways. We have grown "weary in well-doing." 5. We have been cold...wanting in deep love, love strong as death, love like that which made Jeremiah weep in secret places for the pride of Israel. 6. We have been timid...fearing man, rather than God. 7. We have not duly studied and honored the Word of God...We have held more communion with man than with God. 8. We have not been men and women of prayer... even though in order to grow in grace, we must be much alone (with God!). 9. We have not honored the Spirit of God...grieving Him by our inconsistent walk and lack of personal holiness. 10. We have had little of the mind of Messiah...showing little of the grace, the compassion, the meekness, the love of the Son of God...not "seeking the lost" as He showed us to do...nor following Him in His days of fasting and nights of watchfulness and prayer... counting our lives dear unto us rather than losing them that we might finish the work which our Lord has given us to do. "Father, please forgive us for falling short of Your glory in 2001. We repent of our sin and ask for Your divine strength and help to keep our candles burning brightly as we approach the midnight hour of history. Ignite the flame of love in our hearts for our Messiah Yeshua. Let us not be lukewarm, but passionately in love with the Lover of our soul. Conform us to the image of the Divine Shamash (Servant) so that as we serve, others will see Your light." A Candlestick in Your Home We don't have any pure gold candlesticks, but we do have a lovely seven branch solid brass one (see top of front page) that you could purchase and display in your home as a reminder of Yeshua, the Messiah, the Light of the world. We'd like to close with a big, heartfelt Thank You! To all of you who prayed and gave to help us out of our recent financial shortfall. The Lord moved miraculously and all but $7,000 of the debt has been paid. If you could help us move into 2002 with NO debt, we would be very blessed. Your best "Year End" gift would be greatly appreciated!! With much love this holiday season, Neil and Jamie
AFFAIRS AT THE FOX CATERING SERVICES OUR FOOD STORY In 2015, the Fox Theatre and AFFAIRS to REMEMBER embarked on a journey—AFFAIRS at the FOX—one that created a new, distinctive narrative. Thousands have shared stories about their own Fox encounters, and now future millions will experience a unique and memorable Fox Food Story. AFFAIRS to REMEMBER has created a menu of Fox-exclusive foods, available for AFFAIRS to REMEMBER clients hosting their event at the Fox Theatre. Building on elements that Fox fans have found fascinating for more than 80 years, the menus are inspired by three defining features of the Fox: its architecture, its geography, and the signature performances mounted in its grand theater. This exciting Fox Food Story will be the subject of countless epic tales. The Fox Food Story will evolve over time as exciting new menus are designed, inspired by client favorites and the ever-evolving culinary world. At AFFAIRS to REMEMBER everything is cooked from scratch with the freshest ingredients and contemporary preparation methods. It's time to make new memories at the iconic Fox Theatre, to experience and reveal your own personalized Fox Food Story by hosting an AFFAIRS at the FOX special event with AFFAIRS to REMEMBER. LEGACY GREEN PROGRAM AFFAIRS to REMEMBER, Atlanta's "greenest" caterer, has more than 40 years of success that can be attributed to our innovative menus, impeccable service, attention to detail and reliability. We offer nationally recognized award winning catering, as well as full event production including décor,entertainment, tent rental, lighting, linens, furniture, floral and photography. As Atlanta's first Zero Waste Zones caterer AFFAIRS to REMEMBER strives to raise the bar for corporate citizenship. Our LEGACY GREEN program encompasses eliminating all polystyrene products, recycling, composting, training, sourcing from local and organic farms, providing food to the Atlanta Community Food Bank and donating newspapers to PAWS Atlanta animal rescue shelter. Since the inception of our LEGACY GREEN program in 2014, AFFAIRS to REMEMBER has diverted over 1.4 million pounds of recoverable material away from landfills. That puts us at an average of more than 4,000 pounds per week, more than 100 tons per year! Today, we continue to invest in closing the loop…between what we use and how we re-use. Light In The City $50.00, PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE A casual, culinary experience featuring a light array of savory hors d'oeuvres. Presented* Za'tar Crusted Tuna over cannellini bean salad with artichokes soppressata, feta and sumac vinaigrette presented in a square white bowl Crafted* Mint and Pistachio Pesto with Orzo, Feta and Tomatoes, tossed with fresh tomatoes, crumbled feta, mint and pistachio pesto and served in a champagne flat Crostini Duo Tuscan Chicken Crostini Julienned Tuscan seared chicken garnished with scallion cream and broccoli and sundried tomato salsa on an olive oil baguette crisp Mushroom Feta Crostini Rustic mushroom duxelle served atop garlic feta spread on an olive oil baguette crisp presented on a small plate Above menus and pricing are based on a minimum of 150 adult guests. Includes service, production and culinary teams based on 50% guest seating and 3 hours of event time. Includes designer buffet décor & linen, flatware, china and paper cocktail napkins. Inclusive of taxes & fees Heavy Hors d'oeuvre $52.50, PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE A bountiful heavy hors d'oeuvre reception facilitating movement, mingling, dancing, and cocktailing. Roasted Salmon Side, boneless side of salmon roasted with fresh herbs and garlic topped with artichoke salsa, served ambient temperature Mint Lime Chicken with Sumac and Garlic skin on Chef's cut breast of chicken, marinated in fresh mint, lime, and sumac, grilled, sliced and served ambient temperature Orzo Pasta Salad with Garden Veggies and Feta tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette Mediterranean Couscous Israeli couscous with Kalamata and green olives, capers, roasted red peppers and parsley tossed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and a dash of crushed red pepper flakes Watermelon, Feta and Arugula summer sweet watermelon layered with feta cheese and organic baby arugula garnished with paper thin slices of Serrano pepper and shallot vinaigrette Summer Crudités fresh green beans, cucumbers, sweet peppers and tomatoes lightly blanched when appropriate offered with house made dried shallot dip Persian Flowered our Chef's Mom's secret…SHHHH!! garnished with edible flowers, grapes and strawberries. Served with pita chips and crackers Above menus and pricing are based on a minimum of 150 adult guests. Includes service, production and culinary teams based on 50% guest seating and 3 hours of event time. Includes designer buffet décor & linen, flatware, china and paper cocktail napkins. Inclusive of taxes & fees Taste of the South Stations $69.00, PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Prepared Served over local stoneground grits with stewed tomatoes and okra and a drizzle of hot sauce vinaigrette Southern fried Verlasso Salmon Plated A petite patty of seasoned brisket enhanced with American cheese and Benton's bacon topped with pickled okra, bourbon tarragon mustard, tomato jam and iceberg lettuce served on butter grilled bread with a pick. Offered alongside citrus herb sweet potato White Oak Pastures Beef Brisket Slider* Presented Pickled okra, awesome pickles (sweet and spicy), southern cheese ball, cured country ham, BBQ pickled beets, pickled eggs, red pepper jam, Ritz and Saltines presented on a large wooden cutting board with display jars of the pickled items Southern Mezze Board* Fried Okra and Field Peas Fried okra and braised field peas tossed with sliced scallions and diced tomatoes with red wine vinaigrette Chicken Fried Chicken w. Wild Mushroom Gravy* A Southern classic! Breaded and pan fried chicken breasts are sliced and served over Chef's choice mashed potatoes and smothered with savory wild mushroom gravy Global Stations $78.00, PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Chicken Shawarma + Crunchy Saffron Basmati Rice* Boneless, skinless chicken thighs seasoned with traditional Moroccan spices are sliced and served over crunchy saffron infused basmati rice guests may add minted yoghurt sauce Also included at this station: * Carrots and Chickpea Salad* Matchstick carrots with raisins, chickpeas, cashews and cilantro in a tangy vinaigrette * Spiced Cauliflower* With tomatoes and onions in warm West African spices* Marrakech Market Munchies Exotic saffron infused Israeli couscous with fresh peas served in a martini glass topped with: * Moist chicken braised with spices like cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, cardamom and cumin and finished with sultanas harissa and brown * Sugar braised beef * with West African spices medley of curried vegetables Crab & Dal Sauté* Jumbo Lump Crab and Dal, Jumbo lump crab sautéed with fresh lime, butter, saffron and cilantro served over sumac and turmeric braised green lentils presented with a pita point in a champagne flat Plant Based Beet Wellington roasted beets and a local mushroom duxelle wrapped in delicate puff pastry and served with fresh spinach sauté, potato mash then finished with cauliflower bearnaise sauce Above menus and pricing are based on a minimum of 150 adult guests. Includes service, production and culinary teams based on 50% guest seating and 4 hours of event time. Includes designer buffet décor & linen, flatware, china and paper cocktail napkins. inclusive of taxes & fees Dinner Buffet $79.00, PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Attended Saffron lime marinated Springer Mountain Farms Airline Breast of chicken with a Persian Bruschetta and dill roasted seasonal summer squash At the Buffet Port Wine Glazed Beef Tenderloin thinly sliced garnished with julienned radish slaw and micro greens alongside assorted toasted breads and horseradish cream Black Pepper Creamed Potatoes, with ground black pepper and cream Organic baby arugula, local heirloom tomato halves, local radish quarters, spiced pecans,fresh dill, local heirloom carrot coins and Scuppernong Vinaigrette Asparagus and Tomato composed platter topped with herb marinated goat feta Dinner Rolls with creamy butter Above menus and pricing are based on a minimum of 150 adult guests. Includes service, production and culinary teams based on 50% guest seating and 4 hours of event time. Includes designer buffet décor & linen, flatware, china and paper cocktail napkins. Inclusive of taxes & fees SERVED DINNERS Salad Course - your choice of one of the following: Shaved Cucumber Salad Tossed with Champagne vinaigrette, toasted almonds, shaved red onion and mixed greens presented in a Bibb cup Iceberg Wedge with crumbled bacon, SGD Asher blue cheese, grape tomato halves, blue cheese parsley vinaigrette and sliced scallions Pine Nut, Parmesan, Arugula Salad with Tart Grapefruit, presented on limestone lettuce served with toasted oregano vinaigrette All salads include freshly baked bread and butter Entreé Course Chicken Entree $75.00 PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Chef's Cut Herb Roasted Chicken Breast + Sweet Pepper Relish And Fresh Citrus over potato mash with smoky jalapenos in adobo, sautéed squash and portabella mushroom Beef Tenderloin & Chicken Dual Entree $82.50 PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Beef Tenderloin & Salmon Dual Entree $87.50 PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Herb Marinated Beef Tenderloin, Char Grilled Salmon + Sautéed Fennel And Tear Drop Tomatoes over olive oil roasted sweet potatoes, green beans amandine Beef Tenderloin & Crab Dual Entree $92.50 PER ADULT GUEST, INCLUSIVE Herb And Garlic Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Affairs' Signature Jumbo Lump Crab Cake + Shaved Asparagus Salad over parsnip puree, Champagne sautéed spinach Dessert Course - your choice of one of the following: 'Southern Comfort' Pecan Tart Belgian chocolate ganache, whipped cream, berries Madagascar Vanilla Bean Pudding w. fresh berries, kiwi mint + toasted coconut Bittersweet Chocolate Cake Wedge, Grand Marnier cream, candied orange peel Includes regular & decaf coffee offered tableside for served Cumin Roasted Beef Tenderloin + Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Pecan Crusted Fried Chicken Breast Roulade over sweet carrot puree, sautéed greens The above menus and pricing are based on a minimum of 150 adult guests. Includes service, production and culinary teams based on 10 guests per table and 4 hours of event time. Includes guest china, charger, cloth napkins and seating linens from our designer collection. Includes all taxes & fees Appetizers Passed ADD $2.75 PER SELECTION, PER GUEST, PLUS TAX * Falafel fritter + radish raita and micro greens presented in a ceramic spoon* * Herbed drop biscuit + honey chevre butter* * Cheddar biscuit + pecan* * Lamb pepperoni and balsamic marinated mozzarella skewers with basil* * Pickled okra bacon pimento cheese poppers* * BBQ lamb rib w. Moroccan apple bbq sauce* * Pimento grilled cheese + bourbon bacon jam* * Moroccan braised chicken tostada w. Feta and shirazi salad* * Chicken croquette + tomato buttermilk gravy* * Beef kabob w. Labneh* * Toro poke taco * Chilled Thai coconut soup * Crab hushpuppy + spicy remoulade * Bacon wrapped blue cheese stuffed jalapeno * Scallop tartar on lotus chip * Spicy peanut glazed tofu + pickled ginger * BBQ pork taco + red cabbage * Tail off butterflied shrimp, sherry, clam gremolata * Watermelon gazpacho * Crushed pistachio chicken salad, wonton crisp * Roasted tenderloin, artichoke puree on a caraway crostini * Beef bulgogi potato chip taco + spicy kimchee slaw Presented ADD $5.00 PER SELECTION, PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Local Cheesemonger Tasting, the perfect combination of gourmet cheeses for your gathering from Georgia's own CalyRoad Dairy, featuring handmade cheeses of exceptional quality. The day's assortment may include: Cow Cheeses: Goat Cheeses: Big Bloomy Cranberry Pecan Bit O Blue Heritage Cheddar Waypoint Dill Fennel Poppy Hilderbrand Tomme From The Sea Displays Our chef has designed three spectacular combinations of fresh crab, shrimp, lobster and tuna. Classic: Poached shrimp, sweet and spicy glazed shrimp and crab clusters ADD $15.00 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Contemporary: Grilled herbed shrimp, creamy crab salad and stone crab claws ADD $21.00 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Deluxe: Seared Ahi tuna, lobster salad and king crab legs ADD $27.00 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Grilled Shrimp & Rustic Gazpacho: Grilled shrimp over rustic gazpacho salsa of tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, crushed red pepper, lime juice, evoo and red onions ADD $10.00 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Optional Stations ADD $10.50 PER GUEST, PER STATION, PLUS TAX AND ATTENDANT(S) Dosa Fermented urad (split lentil) batter, made into a thin pancake to order, then filled and rolled with traditional otato masala. Topped with coconut cilantro chutney and fresh cilantro Braised Lamb and Mushroom Risotto* Our chef attendant folds tender lamb braised with exotic Middle Eastern spices into creamy Arborio rice and wild mushroom ragu and topped with grated parmesan cheese presented in a square white bowl or oversized martini glass Southern Nacho Bar Start with crispy potato chips then top your nachos with your choice ofhousemade pimento queso, pickled okra slices, green tomato pico de gallo , ranch crema, crisp collard slaw, southern deviled guacamole & pulled pork BBQ Za'tar Crusted Tuna* Za'tar crusted tuna over cannellini bean salad with artichokes soppressata , feta and sumac vinaigrette presented in a square white bowl Dessert Options Presented ADD $7.00 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX Includes an assortment of the following bite sized pick up sweets: Blueberry Basil White Chocolate Fudge infused with lemon zest and fragrant basil Dark Chocolate Quinoa Bark composed of a crunchy nut and seed brittle Oreo Truffles Lemon Bars Prepared ADD $8.50 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX AND ATTENDANT(S) Our attendant fills a pre made warm crepe with Nutella mascarpone mousse and tops it with warm strawberry compote. Guests to add whipped cream Seasonal Crepes Composed ADD $8.50 PER GUEST, PLUS TAX AND ATTENDANT(S) Deconstructed Pear Pomegranate Pie topped with sweet cream and a cardamom crisp AFFAIRS to REMEMBER has planned events in the finest special event venues, popular attractions, as well as in private homes, offices, and even in the middle of fields and on farms. Our planning experience spans tens of thousands of events. One of our goals in planning your event is creating the opportunity for you be a guest at your own event. FOOD AND BEVERAGE DÉCOR MESSAGE INTEGRATION ENTERTAINMENT AUDIOVISUAL SOLUTIONS TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION FUNDRAISING MAXIMIZATION Let's Start Planning
THE SEASONED TRAVELLER AUGUST 2020 Expect nothing less than modern French-Vietnamese cuisine designed for sharing THE FUN OF SHARING 02 LAST CHANCE FOR CHAMPAGNE SECRET 03 04 MOONCAKE COLLECTION 2020 EVENING COCKTAIL BY THE POOL 02 LUXU RY S U M M E R A DV E N T U R E B Y T H E PA R K Exciting summer awaits as Park Hyatt Saigon's first signature tours are here! SUMMER ESCAPE ON CRUISE SUMMER ESCAPE – VUNG TAU Immerse in the classic Saigon on cruise like in the old days. Enjoy a relaxing trip on water and pass through all different scenes of Saigon, from the most affluent places to completely undeveloped natural areas, while taking in the breathtaking view of the city. SUMMER ESCAPE – CAN GIO Enjoy a refreshing day at the local favourite beach, Vung Tau and discover some hidden gems of this beautiful coastal city. Visit the Giant Jesus statue and the Light House and relish a scrumptious seafood lunch. Mangrove Forest, also known as "the green lung of Ho Chi Minh City", is home to a diverse ecosystem. The forest is an ideal destination to explore nature and immerse fresh air. Indulge in moments of modern-day comforts at Park Hyatt Saigon with exclusive benefits including 2 nights for 2 guests in a single King-Bed room; daily breakfast at Opera restaurant for 2 persons; a private day tour; and one-way luxury transfer, with an additional VND 500,000. Indulge in moments of modern-day comforts at Park Hyatt Saigon with exclusive benefits including 3 nights for 2 guests in a single KingBed room; daily breakfast at Opera restaurant for 2 persons; a private day tour; and one-way luxury transfer, with an additional VND 500,000. Indulge in moments of modern-day comforts at Park Hyatt Saigon with exclusive benefits including 3 nights for 2 guests in a single KingBed room; daily breakfast at Opera restaurant for 2 persons; a private day tour; and one-way luxury transfer, with an additional VND 500,000. This rate is applicable for Local Residences of Vietnam (ID card or residence card requested upon making reservation) Prices are subject to 5% service charge and then 10% VAT email@example.com Club on the Park is a complete lifestyle experience for those who are looking for total well-being. Be part of this exclusive retreat which transports you away from the hectic city of Saigon into an oasis of peace. Your club has restaurants, lounges and bars in which you receive exclusive benefits, the pool and garden are yours to roam freely if you are feeling tired and enter Xuan Spa to have your tensions massaged away. For consultation, please kindly contact +84 28 3520 2356 firstname.lastname@example.org THE SEASONED TRAVELLER UNTIL THE SPELLS LAST Champagne Secret, the first limited-seating luxury magic show in Vietnam, has almost sold out for the month of August! Featuring the acclaimed French illusionist Stefan Leyshon, this sensational show is full of twists and treats you aren't about to forget. Becoming a performer at the age of 11 and taking part in more than 300 television performances since then, Stefan is an incredible performer with a unique approach to the world of magic. Champagne Secret is a tailor-made event hosted by Park Hyatt Saigon that includes a selection of the finest champagnes, including Moët et Chandon Grand Vintage 2012, Veuve Clicquot Rosé and Dom Pérignon 2008, paired with exclusive culinary treats—from Hokkaido scallops and foie gras to caviar. Seating is limited to 30 guests per night, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. There are 3 shows left on Friday nights, 7th / 14th / 21st of August. The show is priced at VND 3,200,000 / guest and subject to a 5% service charge and then 10% VAT. +84 28 3824 1234 email@example.com Nestled on the mezzanine floor of our mansion, Square One, one of the most established French-Vietnamese restaurants in town, boasts more than just a culinary offering but the culinary art of sharing while staying true to its name's inspiration, "Back to Square One". Starting this August, join us on a journey between the culinary capital of the world, France, and the district flavours from Vietnam, where the highest-quality ingredients are sourced from responsible local farmers who support a sustainable future. The new creations include Hokkaido scallops in sticky rice bowl, fish sauce "nuoc mam nhi" from the traditional island of Phu Quoc, highly nutritious oysters from Nha Trang, and fresh black grouper and river prawns from Vietnam's capital of coconut – Ben Tre. Expect nothing less than modern French-Vietnamese cuisine designed for sharing. The new menu will be available from August 3, at Square One for lunch and dinner! +84 28 3520 2359 firstname.lastname@example.org The most beloved festival, the purest celebration of childhood and family reunion comes alive on the 2020 mooncake selection at Park Hyatt Saigon. Honouring the mid-autumn muse of all time – the moon along with its companion – the celebration depicts the festival spirit in its purest and merriest form. Apart from the luck and fortune the lion bears, this collection ushers in child-like anticipation with a brightly lit signature lantern and mouth-watering mooncakes – the hallmark of the feast. As a time to reflect, the meaningful gathering and childhood reminiscence are the true aspirations of The Park. Our mooncakes come with four traditional flavours: lotus seeds, red apple longan, coconut and mixed nuts and dried fruit. With orders from 50 boxes, enjoy discount scheme starting at 15% and also receive complimentary delivery service within Ho Chi Minh City. There will be two versions from which to choose: - Traditional box with four cakes, available at VND 1,500,000 nett per box - Deluxe box with four cakes and two boxes of special oolong and lotus tea, available at VND 2,750,000 nett per box With orders of 50 boxes or more, enjoy a discount scheme starting at 15% and also receive complimentary delivery service within Ho Chi Minh City. +84 28 3824 1234 email@example.com THE SEASONED TRAVELLER03 04 Dining Promotions DINE AND EARN TRIPLE POINTS World of Hyatt membership: World of Hyatt members can treat themselves when dining close to home by earning triple points on eligible spend when not staying the night, for dine-in, takeout or delivery at participating outlets at Hyatt hotels and resorts, from July 8 to October 8, 2020. LUXURIOUS STAYCATION AT THE PARK Unwind from the hassles of the city with your beloved ones by a Staycation at the Park — one of the Best Hotels and Resorts in Vietnam by DestinAsian Readers. The package includes: One room night for two guests in a single King-Bed Room * Daily breakfast at Opera Restaurant for two persons * VND 1,000,000 F&B credit per person * Complimentary non-alcoholic items from the minibar * 50% off Spa Experiences at Xuan Spa * A premium bottle of Prosecco upon arrival * Early check-in at 11:00 AM and late check-out at 5:00 PM * One-way complimentary luxury transfer for locations within six kilometres of the hotel, with additional VND 500,000 (including D7) for the return Prices start at VND 6,000,000 for 2 guests, and are subject to 5% service charge and then 10% VAT. The offer is valid until 1 November 2020 for all residents of Vietnam, and there is free cancellation within 24 hours before arrival date. THE SEASONED TRAVELLER SUMMER CORPORATE MEETING OFFER Discover the unsurpassed choice for Ho Chi Minh meeting facilities at Park Hyatt Saigon – voted Best Business Hotel in Ho Chi Minh by Business Traveller Asia Pacific. Set the standard for your corporate meetings and events, with The Park's five-star facility, complemented with world-class personal service, luxury amenities and sleek meeting venues. This summer, enjoy our attractive meeting packages starting from only VND 680,000 per person. Your benefits also include: * Waived room rental * 01 complimentary for every 25 paying delegates * Double World of Hyatt bonus points * Prices are subject to 5% service charge and then 10% VAT * Terms and conditions apply * Valid till September 30 2020 +84 28 3824 firstname.lastname@example.org RACLETTE RENDEZVOUS - THE QUINTESSENTIAL CHEESE FOR SHARING up to the mountains, this dish become popular among people living in the Alps valleys, and over time it ascended to a national delicacy. Raclette cheese is made from high-quality cow milk and then pressed into a wheel shape before getting soaked in a salt brine. The cheese is aged from three to six months, and depending on the cheesemaking region, it will have a slightly different aroma and flavour. Regular accompaniments are potatoes, pickled vegetables (like cornichons or olives) and cured meats. Raclette originates from beautiful Switzerland, and this name is derived from the word "racler" in French, which means "to scrape." It has a rich history rooted in the beautiful Alpine region of Switzerland. Mentions of raclette cheese date as far back as the 12th century when shepherds and farmers at that time would place the cheese next to a campfire to melt it and then spread it on other foods for a filling meal. As it was easy to transport Park Hyatt Saigon is excited to introduce this traditional treat at our Opera restaurant, with a creative twist for a more exciting dining experience. The crowd-pleasing dish will be served with top produce from Italy and curated wine pairings. Enjoy the creamy and gooey melting cheese slowly scraped right in front of your eyes and onto your plates. * Prices start at VND 550,000 per guest, subject to 5% service charge and then 10% VAT. Exclusively at Opera bar, from 4:00 PM daily. +84 28 3520 2327opera. email@example.com EVENING COCKTAIL BY THE POOL Valid until the end of November 2020 For the first time ever, enjoy The Park's brand-new concept — evening cocktail reception by the pool. Our experienced in-house teams will cater to all your needs while impressing your guests with every detail and ensuring that your cocktail reception is more than just a typical business meeting. Enjoy our attractive "Evening Cocktail by the Pool" package starting from only VND 700,000 per person, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Your benefits will include: * Free flow of 5 different canapés * Free flow of beverages including house wine, house beer and soft drinks * Double World of Hyatt bonus points * Back-up venue included * Prices are subject to 5% service charge and then 10% VAT * Terms and conditions apply sales. firstname.lastname@example.org
Number 28 Special IssueJanuary-June 2006 FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY Challenges of rural immunisation waste management The immunisation programme in India goes back to the year 1978 when the Government of India (GOI) started the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI). The programme is largely confined to the urban centres and has very limited reach in the rural areas. Based on the learning from EPI, GOI launched a comprehensive universal immunisation programme in 1985. The programme focussed on control of mortality and morbidity from the six main diseases. This also emphasised on enhancement of indigenous vaccine production. For the first time, a cold chain was established to prevent the loss of potency – vaccines' ability to give protection against disease – over time, due to the exposure of vaccines to varied A further impetus came in 1992 with the setting up of a Technology Mission for Immunisation. This programme was brought into the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)'s 20-point programme and the coverage of infants of the age of 0-12 years was specifically monitored to reduce child mortality in the country. At present, the programme is covered under Reproductive and Child Heath (RCH) II, which was made part of the National Rural Health Mission in the year 2005. India has in total 593 districts that act as main administrative units for the programme. The Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) located in these districts, which total 23,109, act as last vaccine storage points. The services are provided through 142,655 Sub-Centres (SCs) to the popu- IN THIS ISSUE 1 LEADER L Challenges of rural immunisation waste management 2 EDITORIAL 3 FEATURES L Wastewater irrigation and heavy metal contamination L Hazardous waste management in India L Freedom of free software 6 INTERVIEW L Vikram Soni on preserving the Ridge 8 UPDATES L Toxics Link initiates solid waste management in Bawana L Spirit of Earth Day 2006 L Stockholm Convention Conference adopts decisions on DDT and financial issues L Reaching the end of IPEP L Training for IGNOU's certificate course on healthcare waste management 11 NEWS 13 EVENTS 15 L Profile: Environment Centre, AP L Resources Environment is more than a 'cost' IT IS TIME TO REALISEthe ecological connect we are part of. Though much has been written on this issue, we do increasingly live like we are isolated from our larger environmental questions. For example, why is the food we eat getting more and more contaminated? Fresh evidence emerging from a three-year research project, which Toxics Link is a part of, is showing high levels of heavy metals transferred from irrigation water to vegetables. The water is treated effluent from the small-scale dyeing industry. Essentially, the coloured clothes we wear is leading to our eating contaminated food! There are no mechanisms to deal with such an issue. In the new paradigm of economic development, everything needs to be 'costed'. How does one cost for a situation like this? Currently, we would at best install an effluent treatment plant to take care of certain pollutants in the water and minimise their levels to that prescribed by a standard. However, many of the pollutants like heavy metals accumulate in soil to levels beyond any standard and are then taken up by the crop. That is the food that we will ultimately eat. On the other end, we could at most test the levels of heavy metals in the vegetables to find out if these exceed a certain limit. However, there is nothing more we can do, for there is no intervention being made to change the quality of the water used for irrigation, and both ends of the problem are treated as separate. A real-life situation like this one is quite a challenge when we look at environmental actions today, which are more piece-meal than comprehensive. Many similar connections abound all around us. Toxic chemicals in plastics are released when these are disposed of or burnt. Mercury vapourises when we throw a broken thermometer in an incinerator. Button batteries leach when these are dumped into a landfill. The mercury and metals become air-borne or water-borne, deposit on the grass, are eaten by cows and become the glass of milk on our table. The cycle lands the toxins back into our bodies. Yet the environment is treated as separate from our lives and evaluated merely as a 'cost' in the process of development, when there is not enough clarity even about what is to be costed. We must go beyond only planting trees and learn to deepen our knowledge about the environment and our ecological connections. That is the first step to real change. Ravi Agarwal lation living in 635,588 villages in the country (source: Census of India, 2001) . Dealing with the immunisation waste The primary concern is to reach out to the nation's large cohort of 25 million births every year. Also, a significant percentage of injections used in the rural areas for immunisation are unsafe, and very low priority is placed on the disposal of immunisation waste, such as used syringes and needles. Lack of a support system for proper waste disposal at the lowest unit of healthcare services puts the burden on the Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), who have the responsibility of collecting vaccines from PHCs, carrying it to the sites, mobilising children/mothers at the village level, sterilising the glass syringes and bringing back used syringes to the PHC. From August 2005, GOI has introduced the use of auto disable (AD) syringes in all its healthcare practices. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has finalised guidelines for the disposal of syringes and as per the information received from government agencies, the guidelines have been communicated to all concerned authorities. Waste disposal practices of rural healthcare centres According to the Infection Management and Environment Plan (IMEP) that provides guidelines for management of healthcare waste in rural areas, all basic infrastructure such as high-grade mechanical needle cutters should be provided in the PHCs and Community Health Centres (CHCs). It also states that the cut needle with hubs should be collected separately, disinfected and buried in specific needle pits at the respective PHCs/CHCs. In the rural facilities of India, in general, it has been observed that the waste generated through immunisation is mixed with other bio-medical waste and is dumped in the backyards of the CHCs. Case study – CHC in Haryana A case study has been conducted at a CHC located about 100 km from Delhi in the district of Rewari of Haryana. The routine immunisation in this CHC takes place on Wednesday and Thursday every week. The centre uses AD syringes; on an average, 80 syringes are used on a typical immunisation day. It was also found that a mechanical needle cutter is in use as per the guidelines and that a syringe disposable box has been provided in this facility. But the centre lacks infrastructure support for the final disposal of the bio-medical waste. The current practice shows that the immunisation waste is collected in the backyard of the CHC and is subsequently burned. This burnt waste is collected for 15 to 20 days and is then disposed of, along with normal market and household waste, into the landfill sites located in the block. The cleaning staff stated that the syringe waste, which previously used to be sold to the local plastic recyclers, is now disposed of in the shallow pits behind the CHC. The staff and ANM expressed ignorance about the proper management of the waste. They stated, "We started segregating the waste but the tractor of the ward committee does not collect it regularly. We asked the nurses what to do… they said burn it." In the rural facilities of India, in general, the waste generated through immunisation is mixed with other bio-medical waste and dumped in the backyards of the CHCs Suggested recommendations There is a strong need for training on injection safety to be provided to ANMs at PHC and CHC level. The staff should also be provided with simple and illustrative Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for increased awareness on the dangers of waste mismanagement and proper waste disposal methods. The CHCs are normally located at the Block level. At a deeper level, it is important to involve Ward Committees for transportation of waste from PHCs/SCs to CHCs/FRUs (First Referral Units) and further to the district level from where it should be taken to the centralised treatment facilities (CTFs) for proper disposal. The IMEP-RCH-II guidelines suggest that one CTF should cover all healthcare facilities within a 150-km radius. The regulatory mechanism for the disposal of immunisation waste needs to be strengthened and there is a need for intensive monitoring at the CHC/PHC and SC levels in rural areas. By Prashant Pastore Wastewater irrigation and heavy metal contamination One of the threats to food quality and safety in the peri-urban areas of India are heavy metals in effluents from industries and sewage treatment plants. Industries often cluster in these areas, where agricultural land use is dominant and farmers have little option other than to use this untreated or inadequately treated water for irrigation of food crops. In either case, heavy metal contamination of wastewater is extensive. To understand the effects of heavy metal contamination in irrigation water, a study is being conducted of which Toxics Link is a part. This project is being funded by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID) with Dr Fiona Marshall of University of Sussex as the Project Leader, and Ravi Agarwal, Toxics Link, Dr Madhoolika Agarwal, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and Dr D.S. Bhupal, Delhi University (DU), as project partners. Study sites The city of Varanasi was chosen as the project site as it is an advanced agricultural as well as industrial centre. The main industries are engaged in manufacturing of metal products, chemicals, electrical apparatus, textiles, dyeing and printing. The initial selection of case studies focussed on three areas of Varanasi: L Dinapur: in the vicinity of the city's major sewage treatment plant. L Shivpur: to the north-west of the city, close to Shivpur industrial area. L Lohta: to the west of the city, close to industrial areas. The crops tested are wheat, brinjal, tomato, spinach, amaranthus, okra, cauliflower, cabbage and radish. The heavy metals analysed are cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Objectives of the study The main objectives of the study are as follows: L To understand the seasonal industrial sources and extent of heavy metal contamination in irrigation water. L To improve understanding of the relationships among heavy metals in irrigation water, accumulation of damaging levels in the edible portion of crops and implications for cropping methods and farming systems. L To improve understanding of sourcepollutant-impact relationships amongst stakeholders. L To enhance awareness of appropriate technical methods for monitoring. L To enhance health awareness amongst health professionals and the public at risk. L To augment the social, economic, institutional and policy environment for effective implementation of appropriate measures for monitoring and control. Wastewater drain passing by the agricultural land at Lohta, Varanasi. Key outputs so far On analysis, cadmium, chromium, manganese and nickel have been found to exceed Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) standards for irrigation water quality. Cadmium, zinc, chromium and copper were found to exceed the European Union (EU) standards for soil and cadmium, lead and zinc were found to be more than the EU and United Kingdom (UK) standards for food quality. Another example of a wastewater drain irrigating agricultural land at Shivpur, Varanasi (above); Effluent from nearby diesel locomotive workshop irrigating the farmlands at Lohta, Varanasi. It was observed that heavy metal contamination of crops was significantly higher at sites where farmers have been using wastewater for irrigation, as compared to those that are using 'clean' water. Controlled experimental studies confirmed the link between contaminated wastewater and contamination in crops. A range of agricultural measures for ameliorating the impact of contaminated wastewater is being investigated. The project is also working with stakeholders to investigate the possibility of introducing appropriate low-cost monitoring techniques in the study areas. The project is exploring ways in which medical professionals, public health officers, farmers and the general public can be informed about the risks associated with wastewater irrigation and will assess means of supporting policy development in this area. The findings of the study highlight the need for greater cross-sectoral and disciplinary coordination to understand the links between environmental pollution and food safety and to address the issues that arise in the context of the livelihoods of the poor. By Abhay Kumar Hazardous waste management in India Hazardous wastes, generally, are discarded materials (liquids, solids or aerosols), which may cause harm to human beings, animals, plants or the environment unless treated and handled properly. Because of their dangerous characteristics (for example, toxicity, flammability, corrosiveness, etc), hazardous wastes demand special treatment so as not to peril our land, air and water. The major quantities of hazardous waste are generated by industries such as petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, paints and dyes, fertilisers, textiles, etc. Quantification of hazardous waste in India An array of agencies, organisations and trade promotion councils have been concerned in quantifying the generation rates of hazardous waste at the states as well as national level. All their efforts have been at best crude and sketchy, because no reliable data have been forthcoming from the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), or from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). According to the MoEF, India generates 7.2 million tonnes of hazardous waste, of which 1.4 million tonnes is recyclable, 0.1 million tonnes is incinerable and 5.2 million tonnes is for disposal on land (MoEF, 2000). As per their information, there are 323 hazardous waste recycling units in the country, of which 303 units use indigenous raw material while 20 depend on imported recyclable waste. Under the umbrella of the Supreme Court of India, a High Powered Committee was set up on May 5, 1997, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the import of hazardous and toxic waste into the country. The data published by the High Powered Committee reports generation of 4.43 million tonnes of hazardous waste in India every year, of which 1.72 million tonnes is recyclable and 2.53 tonnes is for land disposal. As per January 2006 data from CPCB, there are 26,569 hazwaste generating units in India and the quantity of hazardous waste generated is 4.46 million tonnes. Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules The Government of India enacted the Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules in 1989 and amended them in 2000 and 2003 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The objective of the Hazardous Waste Rules is to put in place an effective mechanism to regulate the generation, collection, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes, both indigenously generated and imported. Current disposal facilities In India, the threat from hazardous waste is inexorable due to the lack of proper disposal facilities and of a management policy. As a consequence, hazardous waste generated continues to be disposed of indiscriminately in the following ways: M Along roadsides M In low-lying areas M Along with municipal refuse M On river/canal beds M In empty spaces within industrial estates According to the CPCB, there are 10 Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) existing in India at present for the treatment of hazardous wastes – one in Andhra Pradesh (at Dindigul), seven in Gujarat and two in Mahrashtra (at Taloja and Trans Thane Creek, Navi Mumbai). More facilities are proposed to be set up in the states of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Punjab. Possible constraints in hazardous waste management The following constraints have been identified for lack of effective hazardous waste management (HWM) in India: M Lack of inventories, data and land use regulations; M Laws and regulations are often not focussed on HWM but on end-of-pipe treatment processes; M Absence of public recognition of best practices; M Lack of awareness at all levels; M Absence of agency for making suitable technologies available to industries, especially small-scale industries; M Inadequate funds to develop and implement HWM strategies; M Lack of infrastructure facilities for analysis of hazardous wastes. It can be concluded that current facilities indicate lack of information in the generation, storage, transport and disposal of hazardous waste and lack of cooperation between the communities and the SPCBs for its management. A common TSDF for management of industrial wastes generated is a useful option under such conditions. Waste minimisation at source is another possible way out. SPCB officials need to be trained to prepare waste inventories. More than anything else, a comprehensive environmental and social assessment of hazardous waste management operations is needed to curtail the impact of waste on human health and the ecosystem. By Amrita Bhattacharya References 1. CPCB (2001), Criteria for Hazardous Waste Landfills, Hazardous Waste Management Series: HAZWAMS/17/2000-01. 2. CPCB (2001), Environmental Risk Analysis due to Storage and Handling of Hazardous Chemicals, Hazardous Waste Management Series: HAZWAMS/16/2000-01. 3. CPCB (2004), National Policy on Hazardous Waste Management. 4. Hazardous Waste Management Policy and Implementation: The Indian Experience, Prof Shyam R. Asolekar 5. Presentation on 'Waste Management in the 21st Century: Indian and EU Approaches' by Hazardous Substance Management Division, MoEF. 6. http://www.neeri.nic.in/HWM.html 7. http://www.envfor.nic.in/ Freedom of free software FREE SOFTWARE is the software that respects the freedom of the users. There are four essential freedoms. Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the programme, freedom 1 is the freedom to study the source code of the programme and change it to do what one wishes. This is the freedom to help oneself. Freedom 2 is the freedom to make copies of the programme and distribute it to others. This is called freedom to help one's neighbour. Freedom 3 is the freedom to publish a modified version of the programme for the use of everyone else. That is the freedom to help the community. GNU-Linux is the name of the free software operating system. When software is not free, it is called as proprietary. This means that the users have to depend on the developer of the software for the programmes. Free software develops under the control of users. Even nonprogrammer users participate in this control by deciding which versions to use. Some programmer somewhere will change that, because he is free to do so and he will publish his modified version. The specific most important measure is to switch to free software in schools at all levels, including universities. When schools decide between free software and proprietary software, they are deciding the future of the country, the future of the society. They are deciding to send millions of students either into freedom and self-reliance and capability, or into the domination and dependence of proprietary software. Government should insist on using free software. This will help to create a market for support services for free software which will make easier for everyone else to switch. ByAbhay Kumar Based on an interview of Richard Stallman by Abhay Kumar in 2005. "The Ridge is a vital recharge area and no construction should be allowed here" – Vikram Soni IN RESPONSE TO A PIL filed by Citizens for the Preservation of Queries and Lake Wilderness (CPQLW) and the Ridge Bachao Andolan in January 2004, Supreme Court has put stay order on construction of Vasant Kunj mall complex located in the ecofragile Delhi Ridge area till it receives an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). In this interview, Vikram Soni of CPQLW shares his experience of long fight to save the 'green lungs' of the capital. L Please share with our readers your journey from the beginning of CPQLW to the landmark judgment of Supreme Court. Mr Soni: I used to go to the Ridge area next to Vasant Vihar often for walking. One day we found that some people from Delhi Development Authority (DDA) with bulldozers were building a road from Vasant Kunj to Vasant Vihar and they were not aware of any permission for construction in the protected area. We sent a letter and photographs to the Conservator of Forests and filed these documents in Delhi High Court in 1995 and the Court immediately stopped the construction. After that nothing happened for a year. Then in 1996, DDA announced tender for hotel and mall complex in the Ridge area of Vasant Kunj with much fanfare. We formed our organisation CPQLW as there are lots of quarries and lakes in this part of the Ridge and filed a PIL against the tender. In response to it, Justice Kuldip Singh ruled setting up of Environment Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA), which would look into all the environmental aspects of this case and subsequent cases in National Capital Region (NCR). It was the first urban environmental regime in the country with members from Central Ground Water Board, Pollution Control Board, etc. This authority asked Geological Survey of India (GSI) to demarcated the Ridge area. It was observed from GSI's study that the entire area of DDA where they were building the malls and some area under Army fall under Ridge. Ridge area attracts mandatory protection from Master Plan 1961 and all the subsequent Master Plans have followed it. But even today the Ministry of Urban Development have not designated the area as protected. Central Ground Water Board designated the area as water recharging zone. All these things came together and the EIAA stopped all type of non-forest activities in the Ridge area. But in 1997, the Court under Justice Kirpal and Verma permitted construction in 92 hectares of land on subject to environmental laws being respected and environmental clearance is taken. The worst part is that they dismantled the EIAA. Then in 1998, Army started building housing complexes. They were informed that the area falls under Ridge and were given GSI map to verify it. But the construction did not stop and the issue was raised in Parliament. Meanwhile, DDA went ahead with their mall plan in spite of the fact that case was in Court. The construction started after October 2004 and in just two years about 30 per cent of that part of Ridge has been damaged. Now on May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court stayed construction of the mall. L Who have been your partners in this case as well as on the issue of the Ridge? Mr Soni: From the beginning, Deshdeep Sahadev has been my partner. Then we have Kuldip Nayyar, the noted journalist and Justice Kuldip Singh helping us in the PIL. Many people have also assisted us in the EIA that Deshdeep and I conducted. Subhash Chandra and Anupam Tiwari from IIT helped us with graphics and various aspects. Many people from NGO Forum like Ravi Agarwal of Toxics Link, Dunu Roy of Hazards Centre, members of Kalpavriksh have supported the cause and helped me in the issue. Slightly moving forward, Diwan Singh, Banjyoti Sharma, JNU student Ritu Pant have been helping me with the PIL. Then Brinda Karat is also taking the issue to the Ministry and the Parliament. We are also working with RWAs and their members have been helpful. L How are the new construction activities like that of mall, hotels, etc affecting the ecology of Delhi Ridge? Mr Soni: The Ridge is a vital recharge area and no construction should be allowed here. The EIAA have designated the area as forest. The construction has been continued in the area literally filling up the water bodies. There are 14-15 water bodies in the area where migratory birds visit every year. Next to the buildings, there are thick jungles like that of Sariska which are being cut down. There are flora and fauna of Schedule-1 category in the Ridge area which should be protected with utmost care. L How will it affect the people of the area? Mr Soni: The malls are not only taking up the water just by construction but they are also destroying a huge catchment area. The Ridge area recharges most of the water withdrawn by the people residing in Vasant Kunj and adjoining areas. These areas are highly dependant on groundwater. The area where the mall is coming up is the main recharge area and these sources are being destroyed. Also, a rich source of oxygen has now been affected. The Community now is going to ask for some justice on it. L In what ways have you involved the people of the Vasant Kunj and Mahipalpur area in your movement? Mr Soni: It's not my movement. It is people's movement. People have joined the movement by themselves. The Gram Sabhas of area like Mahipalpur were concerned as the area used to be dense forest. People are usually more concerned over water than on general environmental issues. We have not planned our movement as such. This Supreme Court judgment has come as almost astrological – anything can happen any time. If the Ministry of Urban Development and Supreme Court realise the problem and take steps to replenish the damage done in the area and correct the Master Plan then all such construction activities have to be stopped. My hope lies in the fact that the Supreme Court has finally stopped the construction activities. I am hoping that some sense and sensibility will finally win the game. But there is no guarantee to it. How will the Supreme Court order affect the construction boom that Delhi and its neighbouring areas are experiencing? Mr Soni: We want the revival of the EIAA – an independent authority not set up by any Ministry. It would be like Environment Rights Commission. Public hearings should be done under an independent body. Each "Public hearings should be done under an independent body [like an Environment Rights Commission]. Each project should be honestly and impersonally be looked upon by them. They should look after the fact that growth and development does not affect environmental conservation. All of Delhi's natural heritage should be protected." 7 project should be honestly and impersonally be looked upon by them. They should look after the fact that growth and development does not affect environmental conservation. All of Delhi's natural heritage should be protected. L In one hand we have the pressure of huge population and in the other hand there is the issue of conservation. How can these two counteractive issues be handled at the same time? Mr Soni: Population is definitely an issue. In Delhi, in addition to Yamuna water, about 30-40 per cent of water is imported from Beas and Ganga. Also, the amount of groundwater taken out is much more than the recharged amount. I don't think we can consider getting any more additional water. We have calculated in an article published in 2003 that Delhi's carrying capacity even with one-third imported water is about 8 million people. We are already 16 million people. So somewhere the population has to be stopped and move out. Actually more than the population pressure is the market pressure. All the people are busy grabbing the land even if they are high priced. The developers should take care of the fact that we have 55 percent jhuggies in place of 5 per cent as told in the Master Plan. This is the situation and most people don't know about it. The sad part is that people don't have even time to think about it. L What role, according to you, the Government bodies should play for the protection of the Ridge? Mr Soni: All the authorities like Central Ground Water Board, Geological Survey of India, Bhure Lal Committee, EIAA, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Supreme Court - all has ordered to stop construction in the Ridge area. The Ministry of Environment and Forests at the Centre and the Department of Environment of Delhi has been asked to ensure that no construction take place. But the construction has not stopped. Ministry of Urban Development has been repeatedly told that the Ridge is a part of the Master Plan and it should be treated like protected area. The Government bodies like DDA who are responsible for the conservation of the area are doing the damage. Army has also continued their construction activities in the Ridge area. L How are you planning to carry out your movement in the future? Mr Soni: We are hoping that more people will join us. We along with other organisations then can demand complete stoppage in construction activities in this protected area. We need support for that. The construction of Army has to be stopped and the water bodies to be preserved. At the present stage, construction of mall has been stopped for two months and a half. Now we are campaigning to make sure it does not start again. We have been trying to do this for the last 20 years and our campaign will continue. By Sejuti Sarkar De COMMUNITIES AND WASTE Toxics Link initiates solid waste management in urban resettlement block of Bawana Poverty in India has been the focus of many policies and programmes since India attained independence. The strategies undergone various shifts and changes in the last forty years but nothing could really halt From top: A typical house structure in Bawana; the current waste disposal mechanism; open dumping is a hazard for communities, especially children. the growth of poverty in the country. It is generally seen that poor localities could not make pace with the adjoining better off localities in terms of service delivery and standard of living. In this regard and also to achieve one of the most important Millennium Development Goals (MDG1), Government of India and UNDP has developed strategies for urban poor which have been implemented in six localities of urban Delhi. These localities are resettlement colonies located in different parts of Delhi. The project addresses measures to ensure a better quality of life for individuals that permit them to realise their human potential in terms of accessing services and raise their standard of living. The project is covering the themes of health, women empowerment, livelihood, solid waste management, etc through different agencies to come up with strategy for the urban poor. In Bawana, Toxics Link has taken the task of implementation under the theme of solid waste management,. The resettlement colony of Bawana is located in North-West Delhi around 32 Km. from the main city. The colony was set up in April 2004. The communities are resettled mainly from slums of Yamuna Pushta, R. K. Puram and Vasant Kunj. The total number of households is 6500 with an average household size of 5-7 persons. The waste management in the locality is currently absent and community perceived it as low priority as they are engaged in struggle to meet their basic needs of livelihood and housing. Toxics Link has adopted the strategy of information, mobilisation and empowerment of communities with rights based approach in its waste management pro- gramme. The strategy is also to develop a service delivery model, which is owned and managed by the community in partnership with Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and local bodies. The learning from the project will form part of the larger planning process and will help in devising the strategy for the urban poor in the country. By Prashant Pastore Spirit of Earth Day 2006 Just how many of us know how Earth Day came about? April 22, 2006 marks the 36th anniversary of the Earth Day celebration. Co-founder of the Earth Day, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson said this day started based on the model of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called 'teach-ins' which were very common in college campuses during 1970s. College campuses were used to educate youth on anti-war news and messages. With the world becoming polluted and difficult to live in, a day was devoted for the environment where every citizen on earth takes one's time out to share concerns about the harm human activities are causing to the environment. Since then, educational places have been actively involved in observing the Earth Day. Under Clean Campus Programme for schools, Toxics Link celebrated Earth Day at Sister Nivedita School in Defence Colony where painting competition was organized for students of Standard VI to VIII. A film on e-waste was also screened aiming at generating awareness on overall issue of waste in the school. A total of 50 students participated in the competition while students of Standard VI to XI were present for the film. School students participate in the Earth Day painting competition. Teachers play a crucial role in disseminating awareness amongst the students. In order to build knowledge and skills on current environmental issues, Manav Sthali School located at Rajinder Nagar, organised a workshop for teachers on the Earth Day where Toxics Link was also invited as resource speaker. While it is a fact that innumerable efforts are going on to save this planet from destruction, observing such a day actually helps in keeping the spirit and hope shine. By N. Linthoi CHEMICALS AND HEALTH Stockholm Convention Conference adopts decisions on DDT and financial issues The second Conference of the Parties (COP-2) to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has adopted a number of key decisions on issues such as DDT and the financial mechanism. The meeting, which was held from May 1-5, 2006, in Geneva, Switzerland, drew over 450 participants. COP-2 considered several reports on activities within the Convention's mandate and adopted 18 decisions on, inter alia, DDT, exemptions, financial resources and mechanisms, implementation plans, technical assistance, synergies and effectiveness evaluation. In particular, key issues at COP-2 included the first review of the effectiveness of the financial mechanism of the Convention and a process to enable evaluation of the effectiveness of the Convention at COP4 in 2009. With the adoption of these decisions, COP-2 was widely perceived to have moved the process closer to the goal of eliminating or reducing the release of POPs into the environment. Side events focus on synergies How the Stockholm Convention's National Implementation Plans (NIPs) might be used to simultaneously support the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions was the focus of a side event held during the COP-2. The UN Environment Programme's Division on Environmental Con- ventions and the Geneva Environment Network organised a side event on May 4, 2006. The event was chaired by Franz Perrez of Switzerland, who explained that the three chemicals conventions on Prior Informed Consent (PIC), POPs and hazardous wastes face many similar challenges and obstacles as they pursue their individual, but related, mandates. Panelist Jérôme Karimumuryango of Burundi described his country's efforts to integrate the three conventions at the national level. He emphasised that limited human and financial resources made the exploitation of synergies at the national level a virtual necessity. A second speaker, Tarek Eid Mohamed of Egypt presented the country's integrated database for the national data on the three Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA's). He described the institutional challenges of ensuring collaboration and information flow amongst the three convention teams and stated that synergy is not a one-time event but an ongoing process. Craig Boljkovac of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), discussed the approach that the organisation has pursued in supporting a wide range of countries in their efforts to develop NIPs. He also offered some lessons learned about the institutional challenges of building collaborative processes and teams and suggested how these challenges could be met. Food for thought Environmental health and indigenous rights groups from around the world served chocolate and soft drinks to Stockholm Convention delegates to symbolise wide- spread contamination of common foods to highlight the urgency of immediate action under an international toxics treaty. Chocolate, soft drinks, butter, milk and eggs, in studies from around the world, have been found to contain POPs. In an open letter to delegates, the participating NGOs urged officials to move rapidly to phase out POPs and hazardous chemicals. By Upasana Choudhry Reaching the end of IPEP Increased awareness, enhanced capacities and expanded interests among the civil society groups on issues concerning Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – these points best summarise the impact of the International POPs Elimination Project (IPEP) in the South Asia region. Based on the premise that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have an important role to play in helping civil society better understand POPs; provide governments with important policy and information inputs contributing to implementing the Stockholm Convention and help build public support and secure commitments to ensure that appropriate measures to reduce and eliminate POPs, the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) in May 2004 launched a two-year project titled 'Fostering Effective Civil Society Participation in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants', which is generally referred to as the International POPs Elimination Project or IPEP. Panel discussion at the Capacity Building Workshop on POPs in Delhi. The project was implemented in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with core funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It was coordinated through eight NGObased 'regional hubs'. Toxics Link was designated as the regional hub for South Asia. Over the two year period, 35 activities focussing on POPs were implemented in five countries across the South Asia region: four in Bangladesh, 13 in India, nine in Nepal, four in Pakistan and four in Sri Lanka. The global tally stands at an impressive 282 activities in 61 countries. The book in English are some of the examples. Most importantly, the project resulted in capacity building of NGOs on the issue of POPs. Capacity building workshops were organised at various levels aimed at creating awareness about POPs among the civil so- Clockwise from top left: Study on contanimation of eggs by POPs; awareness poster on POPs in Nepali; participants at a National Awareness Workshop on POPs in Sri Lanka; information booklet on POPs published by DISHA, India; and logo of 'Hello ZindagiAlvida POPs' Campaign in India. outcome has far exceeded expectations. These activities ranged from preparation and dissemination of information and policy documents on POPs, public awareness activities and campaigns, workshops, trainings and other capacity building activities for civil society organisations. Besides, NGOs also contributed to the National Implementation Plan (NIP) development activities in their respective countries. The direct outcome of the project are the information documents including the Country Situation Reports highlighting the status of POPs in the country and the reports documenting the various POPs hotspots. These reports serve as useful reference documents on the issue. Awareness raising activities too had a significant role given the fact that there was a very low level of awareness on the issue. These activities targeted a wide spectrum of population including the government officials, students, teachers, journalists, farmers, civil society groups, women, workers, hospital staff and community at large. Awareness materials in several local languages and focusing on specific issue of POPs have been produced. An information sheet and a booklet in Nepali, posters in both English and Nepali, a short video on hotspots in Nepali, a booklet and posters on POPs in Sinhalese, a booklet on POPs in Bangla, and a campaigner's hand- TOXICS FREE HEALTHCARE Training for IGNOU's certificate course on healthcare waste management To address the problems posed by the negligent disposal of bio-medical waste in the South Asian countries, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in collaboration with World Health Organisation's South East Asian Regional Office (SEARO) has developed a six month certificate programme in healthcare waste management. The diploma course is an innovative programme based on self-learning instructional materials with multimedia and faceto-face counseling support. The beneficiaries of the programme are the doctors, nurses, paramedics, health managers and other professional workers. ciety groups and building their capacities as effective stakeholders in implementation of the Stockholm Convention. Efforts have also led to the emergence of civil society networks on the issue at both national and regional levels in addition to an expanded network at the global level. The project may have come to an end, but the momentum built over the last two years would continue for a long time contributing to the reduction and elimination of POPs not only from the region but globally as well. By Upasana Choudhry The first batch of students attended a week's training in April 2006 at St. Stephen's hospital, Tis Hazari, Delhi. A half-day training session was conducted by Toxics Link, invited as guest trainers, on alternative treatment technologies for medical waste management and rural waste disposal options with focus on immunisation waste disposal. The batch comprises of seventeen healthcare staffs from various disciplines ranging from medicine, dentistry, microbiology, laboratory medicine, etc from various hospitals of Delhi. Various queries on incinerators and standards for treatment in autoclaves were raised in the session. The session also included a discussion on mercury hazards and spill management. This programme will not only sensitise the learners about healthcare waste management but will also equip them with skills to manage the waste safely and effectively. . By Yamini Sharma NATIONAL NEWS Environment policy draft under wraps Leading environmentalists in the country and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) are at loggerheads over the revised and final draft of the National Environment Policy (NEP), which is not being made available for public scrutiny. The MoEF has marked the revised and final draft of the NEP as a 'secret' document, which is in the process of being put up before the Prime Minister and the Union Cabinet for approval. Meanwhile, environmentalist and member of the Campaign for Environment Justice-India (CEJ-I), Ashish Kothari of the Kalpavriksh group pointed out that environmentalists in the country have no way of making sure that the MoEF, as promised, has incorporated views of the environmentalists in the draft policy. In the interest of transparent governance, CEJ-I has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make the revised draft public, to allocate sufficient resources for its dissemination and encourage widespread public debate on its contents before it is finalised. Source: The Times of India RWAs against malls in Ridge forest areas THE GROWING 'MALL CULTURE' is destroying the already depleting Ridge forest cover in Delhi. The Delhi Development Authority might have given clearance for construction of malls in the Vasant Kunj areas but residents and gram sabhas of the areas are up in arms against the construction. The Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) of Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Munirka and the gram sabhas of Mahipalpur, Basant Gaon and Munirka village have submitted a memorandum with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests seeking to halt any sort of construction in the Ridge area as it falls in the Aravalli hill area and enjoys protection under the Forest Conservation Act. It is mandatory that public opinion be sought on such major issues but till date there has been no public hearing. Source: The Asian Age Construction continues on the Delhi Ridge in violation of the Forest Act. 11 New plan to clean the Yamuna A NEW PLAN TO CLEAN the Yamuna river was unveiled on April 11, 2006. The new plan is called 'Mission Mode'. It has a 'Mission Statement' and talks of the need to hire a 'Mission Director'. Setting December 2015 as the deadline for its completion, the 'Mission Statement' ensures time-bound completion of the project. Sources in the Government said the Delhi Cabinet was likely to give its nod to the proposal. It would also be placed before the Supreme Court for approval in a case in which Delhi Government has been directed to file its reply. Notably, the State Government has already spent around Rs 1,500 crore in the last 15 years for cleaning the river. Source: Hindustan Times E-waste? Dump them safe An IT solutions company WeP Peripherals in collaboration with Saahas, an NGO has initiated recycling programme in Bangalore to dispose used batteries, floppies and CDs. Bangalore generates about 4 lakhs dry cell batteries and several thousand CDs and floppies every month and they contain toxic materials that reach the soil and contaminate the groundwater when dumped in landfills. This gets into the food chain and affects the consumer's health. The recycling is done by E-Parisara, an author- ised recycling centre, which follows a systematic method of crushing, shredding and powdering the used electronic material. WeP Peripherals have also adopted a unique 'Green' approach, which re-manufactures products such as used toner cartridges. Source: Deccan Herald INTERNATIONAL NEWS Swiss proposal to merge Secretariats rejected dividual to take charge of the three Secretariats dealing with chemicals, pesticides and hazardous waste. These administer the Rotterdam, Stockholm and Basel Conventions, respectively. ASwiss proposal to improve coordination in the fight against dangerous chemicals has failed to win enough support at the international Conference of Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Geneva. The Swiss were hoping to convince other countries to appoint a single in- Switzerland became the second industrialised nation to submit a national implementation plan in accordance with the Stockholm Convention. Switzerland has already complied with its obligations under the Convention and has banned the sale and use of ten POPs. The remaining two POPs on the list – dioxins and furans – could not be prohibited. Source: www.swissinfo.org Hong Kong to test for pesticides in imported veggies HONG KONG HAS SAID that it would tighten its quality control on imported vegetables after an investigation by Greenpeace found alarming levels of pesticides and toxins in vegetables sold in two major supermarkets of ParknShop and Wellcome. The environmental group found excessive levels of banned chemicals, including DDT, in about 17 of the 55 vegetables, including tomatoes, watercress and some Chinese veggies, picked for testing. Carrie Yau, the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Department of the Hong Kong Government, said that the government would collect samples of the vegetables at all levels, including import, wholesale and retail and test them for chemicals and pesticides. Warning has been issued to all vegetable suppliers reconfirming and reminding them of the importance of stringent adherence to the current Hong Kong standard and sourcing only from approved farms and supply sources. Source: www.earthtimes.org Derry hospital gets rid of mercury Derry-Parkland Medical Centre in USA has been honoured for making the facility mercury free. The hospital received the 'Making Medicine Mercury Free Award' from the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association and Health Care Without Harm. Source: www.unionleader.com EU agrees battery recycling law The European Union has agreed the text of a law that will make recycling of batteries obligatory from 2008. The directive will ban batteries with more than a trace of the toxic chemicals cadmium or mercury. It says that a quarter of all used batteries must be collected by 2012 and by 2016 at least half of them must be recycled. It also says all batteries must be clearly labelled to show how long they will last, from 2009 onwards. The directive calls for collection points to be established where consumers can hand in used batteries – including those from toys, computers or mobile phones and obliges shops to collect them from consumers at no extra cost. "The EU gives high priority to make sure that batteries no longer cause health and environmental problems due to the heavy metals they contain," said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. Source: news.bbc.co.uk European Union set to ban new mercury thermometers THE EUROPEAN UNION has tabled a plan to ban new mercury thermometers in an effort to minimise the serious health risks that the highly toxic heavy metal poses to human, wildlife and ecosystems. The directive will stop marketing and use of mercury in all thermometers and in other measuring devices such as barometers and manometers. As a result of the ban, the European Commission expects only a slow decline in environmental releases since there is more mercury in existing equipments than the amount added each year through new sales. But it has promised to study possible separate measures dealing with the stock. Regional workshop in Bhopal To initiate a public discourse on the challenges presented by bio-medical and municipal waste management, Toxics Link in collaboration with Academy of Management and Administration, Bhopal organised a workshop on February 24-25, 2006 in Bhopal. The workshop witnessed a participation of 86 individuals representing government, NGOs, professionals and practitioners on waste management of the participating states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Orissa. Day 1: Bio-medical waste management The first day of the workshop was dedicated to bio-medical waste management. The day started with a welcome address by Professor H.M. Mishra of the Academy. He was followed by Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link, who pointed out the direct relation between the human health and the environment. The Chief Guest of the day was Dr. Ashok Sharma, Additional Director, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, GoMP. Satish Sinha, Chief Programme Coordinator of Toxics Link, pro- vided the vote of thanks. The inaugural session was followed by technical session chaired by Dr K.V Pandya, Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital, Bhopal. The first presentation by Ravi Agarwal encompassed the Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules and provided a global perspective. Dr. D.K Soni from the Zonal Office of CPCB, Bhopal presented the responsibilities of the Municipal body, SPCB and CPCB regarding the management of biomedical waste. The major recommendations that emerged from the first day's discussion were that the location of clinics and small healthcare establishments in residential areas should be done with due care, scrutiny and safeguards so that the health of the larger community is not affected and identification of few hospitals for pilot projects to develop model waste management facilities. Day 2: Municipal solid waste management Second day of the workshop was dedicated to the issue of municipal solid waste and its management. To begin with, Prof. H.M. Mishra of the Academy gave a comprehensive background of the aggravating problem of solid waste specifically focusing A SMILE can change the world SMILE (STUDENTS INITIATIVE FOR LEARNING THROUGH EXPOSURE) facilitated by Pravah, a NGO based in Delhi, aims at building leadership among youth for social change. Through the programme 'Suno Dilli – A call for change', SMILE volunteers are highlighting the issues around urban living. They are reaching out to their peers and to the public at large. The culmination event held on February 27, 2006, at the Arts Faculty, North Campus of Delhi University brought together a gamut of musical and theatrical performances, a photo exhibition, experience sharing, poetry and a creative outbursts of tile and T-shirt painting to bring forth the joy of understanding and sharing of citizenship responsibility. SMILE volunteers, under this campaign, have organised film screenings, musical and theatrical performances both on- and off-stage to showcase their learning and highlight the issues that concern them. The infectious quality of their spirit should reach the millions of urban youth of India to translate the campaign into a movement. on the situation in Bhopal. The first technical session started with presentation on Municipal Solid Wastes (Handling and Management) Rules, 2000 by Satish Sinha. Then Dr S.N.Patro, Orissa Environmental Society presented a case study of municipal solid waste management in Puri. He discussed discussed about a MSW treatment plant project set up by Orissa Environment Programme (Indo-Norwegian Cooperation), which receives only 20 MT of waste as compared to the actual capacity of 100 MT of the plant due to the lack of seriousness of the municipality and public awareness. The second technical session was chaired by Sunil Sood, Mayor Bhopal. He appreciated the efforts of the organising groups for flagging off the important issue of waste management and raising the level of awareness of the participants. The recommendations emerging from second day discussions were that the efficacy of decentralised municipal waste management should be stressed and community should be mobilised to get involved in the programme. Emphasis should also be given on enhancing awareness of public and the municipality employees and creating market linkages for the organic compost prepared from municipal solid waste. By Pragya Majumder Young citizens sign up for the 'Suno Dilli' Campaign. Regional workshop in Mumbai Toxics Link and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) organised a regional workshop 'Safe Management of Bio-medical and Municipal Solid Wastes: From Policy to Practice' on May 23-24, 2006 at the Conference Room of TISS, Mumbai. The objective of the workshop was to bring together a range of governmental and non-governmental actors on a common platform to address the challenge of operationalising the national policies on biomedical and solid wastes. This workshop focused on the Western Region, namely the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. Approximately, 75 participants from relevant government departments, State Pollution Control Boards, local governance bodies, medical establishments, environmental groups, citizens' forums and research institutions participated in the two-day workshop. Dr. S Parasuraman, Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, welcomed the gathering. Ravi Agarwal, Director of Toxics Link, justified the need of the workshop and flagged the issue of unregulated waste management in India. The keynote address was delivered by Subrat Ratho, Additional Mu- Release of book on air pollution in cities One of the biggest challenges confronting cities today is the problem of air pollution from automobiles. People's dependence on automobiles has continued to grow, adversely affecting the urban environment and the health of the people. Delhi would have been reeling under a pollution load of 38 per cent more particulates if CNG had not been introduced in the city ten years back. Delhi's air is cleaner today but the situation is not so bright in the small, non-metro Indian cities across the country. The small towns across India is facing rise in air pollution caused by an explosion in the number of vehicles. As many as 57 per cent of the cities monitored in the country have critical particulate matters levels in their air. These research findings were published in the form of a book 'The Leapfrog Fac- nicipal Commissioner (City), Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation. He informed the gathering on the efforts of the municipality and government and the future plans to manage waste. It was followed by Open Forum where queries were mostly on training on bio-medical waste management and segragation of wastes. In Session 2 there were presentations from Tata Memorial Hospital, on people's participation in bio-medical waste management and centralised facility of Surat. The Session 3 concentrated on mercury. It was followed by Group Discussions on mercury, centralised bio-medical waste facilities and on ensuring compliance with safe bio-medical waste management practices. Day 2 started with an Open Session on municipal solid waste management. An important observation that came up in the Session is that figures with respect to cost per tonne for solid waste management are misleading as resources are often concentrated in areas where there is citizen/political pressure for effective municipal services. This session was followed by a stint of group work on ensuring compliance and effective monitoring, primary segregation and privatisation. The workshop concluded with discussion on collective action on environmental issues. tor: Clearing the air in Asian cities' by New Delhi based NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The book was released by Chief Minister of Delhi, Shiela Dikshit on April 19 at WWF Auditorium in New Delhi. Speaking at the occasion, Anumita Roychowdhury, Associate Director, CSE stressed on the fact that public transport, bicycles and pedestrian facilities used by the vast urban majority, especially the urban poor have remain neglected. The personal transport like cars and two-wheelers take up nearly 90 per cent of the road space but carry less number of people and also pollute excessively. So a major solution to the problem of vehicular pollution in cities is to develop the public transport so that people can manage their mobility by restraining cars. This message was passed on to the Chief Minister who promised to give a new look to transport structure of Delhi before the Commonwealth Games of 2010. Release of report on mercury Toxics Link conducted four studies across the country along with partners to gather information on various issues connected with the usage and hazards of mercury. The report of the study was released in a workshop 'Creating Networks and Information for Mercury Policy in India and Europe' held on June 22 at India International Centre, New Delhi. The discussion was initiated by Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link, who touched upon some international conversations currently ongoing in various fora. He added that India is the second largest consumer of mercury next to China. India has no specific regulation on mercury trade and it can be imported through open general licence. The European Union has banned the use of mercury thermometers but is still the largest exporter of mercury to India. Sasanka Dev of DISHA gave presentation on the study on mercury usage and the risk involved in the laboratories of schools and colleges of Kolkata. Another partner organisation Chintan presented the study on trade of mercury in informal sector carried out in the waste markets of Delhi. Toxics Link conducted studies on the trade of mercury in India focusing on the import situation and also on the traditional use of mercury with a case study on the 'Parad Shivling' at Siddha Ashram in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The lab tests on samples of Parad revealed that it is an amalgam of tin and mercury rather than that of silver as claimed and also showed signs of mercury leaching in milk. The workshop was successful in attracting the attention of the people towards the hazards of this little known lethal metal. By Sejuti Sarkar De Environment Centre, Andhra Pradesh Founded in 1992, Environment Centre has been shaped into an interpretation centre engaged with public policy on environment and development on the one hand and practical intervention in its outreach programmes and activism on the other. Some of their works centre on issues like indigenous medicine, study of folk and tribal culture, relief and rehabilitation work, environment education in schools, conservation of coastal eco-systems and traditional fishermen, conservation of bird habitat and others. Environment Centre plays an activist role where environmental and developmental issues are involved. It has filed Public Interest Litigations (PIL) to save Kolleru lake, one of the Asia's biggest fresh water lakes and migratory bird habitats. It also fought a legal battle against the State Government of Andhra Pradesh to prevent it from setting up hydrocarbon terminal on Hope Island, a part of the rich mangrove sanctuary. It also organises summer classes on ecology for school students. EEJP awardees for 2006-07 Environmental Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP) successfully concluded another round of grants. Over 400 applications from across the country were received for the two programmes – Environmental Small Grants (ESG) and Environmental Fellowship (EF). Twenty of the proposals have been finalised for support during 2006-07, including grants to nine NGOs under ESG and fellowships to 11 individuals under the EF programme. Details of the recipients are available on the EEJP website at www.eejp.org. Applications for the next round of grants – for 2007-08 – will be invited after August 2006. Information can be obtained from the website or by writing to the EEJP Coordinator at firstname.lastname@example.org The work proposed under Environmental Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP) by Environment Centre is to initiate a Campaign against proposed ship-breaking units (SBUs) at Kakinada coast, Andhra Pradesh. Kakinada is a shallow water beach. The six-month project seeks to create an intense awareness about the hazards of ship-breaking units among the fishing communities and mobilise them to protest against the proposed units at Kakinada coast. This activity becomes significant in light of the intent expressed by the State Government to permit SBUs in the area. PUBLICATIONS THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF WATER Author: Lyla Mehta Publisher: Orient Longman Publishing date: 2005 The book focuses on the sociology and political ecology of water scarcity in Kutch, western India and exposes the social and power relations underlying water crises. It charts the various axes of difference in the village such as caste, gender and wealth and analyses local water management strategies and their links with local knowledge, institutions and relations. The author examines the strategies and practices Under the said project, Environment Centre has been working towards creating awareness among fishing communities in 20 villages located between Tuni and Kakinada. Some of the specific activities proposed in the project include: L Meetings in all fishing villages near the site; L Formation of pressure groups among the fishing communities; L Publication of booklet and pamphlets in Telugu for dissemination of information on the existing units at Alang; L Mobilising other stakeholders; L Media campaign; L Lobbying with officials at the district and state levels. For more information, please contact: Dr T. Patanjali Sastry President, Environment Centre 86-4-16/1, Vadrevu Nagar, Manthena Gardens, Tilak Road, Rajahmundry 533103, Andhra Pradesh E-mail: email@example.com employed by farmers and herders to deal with scarcity and drought-intrinsic features of life in Kutch and scan the relationship among migration, declining rainfall and overgrazing with water scarcity. The book traces the role of the State in water resource management and analyses the consequences of State directed interventions such as drought relief programmes and irrigation scheme in water scarce area like Kutch. WATER PERSPECTIVES, ISSUES, CONCERNS Author: Ramaswamy R. Iyer Publisher: Sage Publications Publishing date: 2003 The book summarises the provisions relating to water in the Indian Constitution, the need for amendments for resolving inter-state river water disputes and recommended solutions. It discusses in detail the Water Policy adopted in 2002. The book gives an overview on the framework of laws, policies, institutions and procedures within which large dam projects should be undertaken in India, with a critique on the Supreme Court's judgement on the Narmada Bachao Andolan's writ petition on the Sardar Sarovar Project. It illustrates the Treaties between India and its neighbours – the Indus Treaty with Pakistan, the Mahakali Treaty with Nepal and the Ganges Treaty with Bangladesh. It diagnoses past weaknesses and failures in relation to water resource management and prescribes objectives for future. FILMS LANDSCAPE FOR RAINWATER Duration: 26 minutes Language: English Produced by: Anouchka Kine of Architecture & Development The film shows the rainwater harvesting system in the late 15 th and early 16 th century's archaeological site in Hampi, Karnataka. It shows ruins of tanks, water channels and aqueduct and explicitly shows how Indian people succeeded in using a passive and complex system so that rainwater was sufficient for their water needs. Dr. Halkatti, Superintendent Archeologist in Bangalore narrates how in Hampi series of inter-connected water tanks have been used for collecting the runoff from mountains and storing it in several tanks and banks. Experts view that there is a huge opportunity to learn from the traditional systems used in Hampi for groundwater recharging, water management and storage. CITY FARMING Duration: 17 minutes Language: English/Marathi with English sub-titles Produced by: Centre for Education and Documentation Synopsis: The film captures the process of growing foods and vegetables in balcony from the solid waste generated from our dayto-day household. Dr. R.T. Doshi, retired agricultural economist, explains the methods of city farming and the cost involved with it. The farming methodology is fast spreading in and around Pune. Garbage and kitchen waste, flowers from temples is the input and the output is getting organic food for the entire family. Garbage and waste are natural resources and it generates awareness among the young generation by creating source segregation in houses. For more information on any resource mentioned here, contact firstname.lastname@example.org Resources compiled by Shoba Quotes from the Earth is a compilation of films on the themes of Hunger, Water and Survival. Films can be borrowed for screening against a nominal security deposit. Entries are invited for the forthcoming film festival on November 3-5, 2006. View the details at www.toxicslink.org/filmfestival/. etoxicsgroup Toxics Link coordinates an electronic discussion group for sharing and disseminating information on toxic wastes and its management. If you would like to join the group, please e-mail us at email@example.com If you have suggestions or require information, please contact: Toxics Link – Delhi H2 (Ground Floor) Jungpura Extension New Delhi 110 014 +91-(0)11-24328006, 24320711 T: E: firstname.lastname@example.org Toxics Link – Mumbai Garage No 2, Plot No 4, Baba Nanak Sahib Cooperative Housing Society Ltd, Laxmi Colony, RC Marg, Chembur, Mumbai 400 074 E: email@example.com Toxics Link – Chennai 9/5, Second Street Padmanabha Nagar Adyar Chennai 600 020 T: +91-(0)44-42607642, 24460387 E: firstname.lastname@example.org I: www.toxicslink.org Toxics Link is an initiative of the Just Environment Charitable Trust
Role of Village-Owned Enterprises in Farming Community Empowerment Muhammad Rais Rahmat Razak 1 and Sofyan B 2,3 1 Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidenreng Rappang Government Science & Candidates in Public Administration Doctoral Program Makassar State University. 2 Department of Public Administration, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidenreng Rappang 3 Doctoral Program in Public Administration, Hasanuddin University, Makassar. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Abstract The empowered community is a strong capital in developing the national economy; the government, as the manager of the State, should maximize the village-owned enterprises (called Bumdes), especially the farming community in the villages. This paper aims to find out the role of the Bumdes in empowering the farming community. The results showed that the role of Bumdes was not good enough and had a direct influence on the weakness of community empowerment activities in the village. Keywords: Bumdes, empowerment, farming community, role 1. Introduction Building the national economy of the village, as stated in the administration of President Jokowi, needs to be maximized by empowering economic institutions formed by the community, especially farmers, together with the village government. Increasing the budget allocation for the state expenditure in the village fund program to 1 billion per village in 2020 will be a golden opportunity for Bumdes to create innovative and productive activities. Establishment of Bumdes in villages is one form of implementation of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2014 concerning villages that are followed up with Government Regulation Number 43 of 2014. The potential number of residents who are mostly farmers and the availability of natural resources in the village, if managed properly, will provide welfare for the community. But it is realized or not during this development at the village level still has many weaknesses. As is the case with the quality of human resources and organizational management. Various efforts have been made by the government by launching development activities and village development programs, one of which is through the Village-Owned Enterprises (Bumdes). According to Minister of Home Affairs Regulation No. 39/2010, Bumdes is a village business formed and established by the village government in which capital ownership and management are carried out by the village government and the community. The existence of Bumdes was also strengthened in Article 87-90 of Law 6/2014, stating that the establishment of Bumdes was agreed upon through village meetings and managed with a family and mutual cooperation spirit. So it can be said Bumdes has a social function that is contributing as a social service provider and a commercial function that is, Bumdes aims to make a profit through offering local resources (goods and services) to the market [1]. For this reason, the government needs to know the role and performance of Bumdes in the village so that a general understanding is obtained to improve the management of Bumdes, who are mostly farmers in each village. Previous research stated that in 2006 in Bojonegoro District 419, Bumdes had been established. The results of the mapping carried out by the Community Empowerment Agency and the Village Government in 2013 stated that the number of active Bumdes was only 21. In his research, it was found that Bumdes were considered successful; in fact, they had not been able to contribute to village cash income or original village income [2]. Another study in Landungsari Village, Dau Subdistrict, Malang Regency, concluded that only a portion of the community in Landungsari Village felt helped by the existence of Bumdes, namely through the leasing market stalls and borrowing capital. However, as a whole has not been able to meet the needs of the community and contribute to increasing village income [3], this study aims to determine the extent of the role of Bumdes in Sipodeceng village and how the conditions of community empowerment and, finally, to find out how the role of Bumdes in empowering the farming community. 2. Method The research method used is a quantitative method by describing the variables and problem formulation that will be used. As an initial step in designing research that is a plan or strategy used to answer research problems and controlling variables or research focus, it can also be understood as a plan and structure of inquiry that is used to obtain empirical evidence in answering research questions [4]. This research takes loci Bumdes Padaidi in Sipodeceng Village. This research is included in institutional research, which will get information and can be useful in developing institutional-level explanations, which according to David Kline, is intended to explain the position of the variables studied and the relationship between the two or between one variable with another variable. [5] The formulation of the problem in this study consisted of two descriptive or independent formulations, namely the role of the Bumdes Padaidi Sipodeceng and community empowerment in Sipodeceng Village. As well as being supplemented by the formulation of associative issues, namely How is the role of Bumdes Padaidi in Farming community empowerment activities in Sipodeceng Village. As an initial hypothesis, the role of Bumdes Padaidi is influential in increasing farming community empowerment in Sipodeceng Village. The population used is all individuals/units that are the target of the study, while the sample is part of the population selected following certain procedures so that it can represent the population. The total population used is 1200 households. Then the determination of the sample using the formula Slovin, namely N / (Ne2 + 1) and obtained a total sample of 93 people. [6]. To maintain data quality, a validity test is performed to ascertain whether the data from the field is valid data, and nothing is missing. With the testing approach "Product Moment Pearson Correlation" and the help of SPSS version 20.00 each item questionnaire questions will be tested for validity by comparing the r count with the r table. If r count is greater than r table, then the data is considered valid. Furthermore, valid data are tested for reliability by comparing alpha Cronbach with r table. If Cronbach's alpha is greater than r table, then valid data is considered reliable. Data is processed into a frequency table with a Likert scale to provide a score on the results of the study. The results of the frequency table management will give a description of the condition of two descriptive problem formulations, namely the role of Bumdes Padaidi and community empowerment. Meanwhile, to find out the associative problem formulation or whether there is a relationship between the variables "X" and "Y", it can be used Simple Linear Regression Analysis using SPSS version 20.00. So the results of the analysis of this data are expected to be able to answer the three problem statements that lie ahead. 3. The Role of Bumdes and Community Empowerment 3.1. The Role of Bumdes In a large Indonesian dictionary, a role is an action carried out by a person or group of people in an event or part that someone plays in an event. The role is a dynamic aspect, and if a person carries out his rights and obligations according to his position, then he plays a role. The difference between position and role is in the interest of science. The two cannot be separated because one depends on the other, and vice versa. While other experts such as Gros, quoted in the book "Points of Mind in Sociology" by David Berry, explain the role is a set of expectations imposed on individuals or groups who occupy certain social positions. The importance of the role is because it regulates the behavior of a person or people's economic institutions such as the Bumdes [7][8]. So the role shows how a person or institution benefits others. 3.2. Bumdes Management Bumdes is a village business formed and established by the village government with capital ownership and its management carried out by the village government and the community. The four main objectives of establishing the Bumdes are: Improving the economy, increasing the village's original income, increasing the processing of the village's potential according to community needs, becoming the backbone of growth and equitable distribution of the village economy [9]. These four objectives will be used as indicators in observing the role of the Bumdes in the community. Institutions formed by the community are expected to contribute to efforts to improve the economy. Bumdes, as an organization or economic institution in its operations, can practice the basic principles of management so that it can be managed professionally [10]. 3.3. Community empowerment Conceptually, empowerment, or empowerment comes from the word power (power or empowerment). The main idea of empowerment is in contact with the ability to make others do what we want and to be free of their desires and interests. Empowerment focuses on power and is substantially a process of breaking down the relationship between subject and object. This process prioritizes the subject's recognition of the ability or power possessed by the object. Broadly speaking, this process sees the importance of flowing power from the subject to the object. The final result of empowerment is the shifting of individual functions from the original object to a new subject so that social relations will only be characterized by social relations between subjects and other subjects [11]. Community empowerment is the power, strength, or ability of the community to identify potentials and problems and can determine alternative solutions independently. Community empowerment is measured through three aspects, namely: ability in decision making, independence, and ability to take advantage of business for the future [12]. Indicators of empowerment refer to the process of development, psychological conditions that are characterized by self-confidence, liberation resulting from a social movement [13]. In this paper, five indicators are used namely; first the ability to prepare and use existing resources in the community, the second can run "bottom-up planning", then the ability and economic activity, the ability to prepare the family's future and finally the ability to express opinions and aspirations without pressure [14]. Therefore, empowered communities will be able and strong to participate in the development, able to oversee the course of development, and also enjoy the results of development [15]. 4. Data Analysis 4.1. Characteristics of Respondents 4.1.1. Gender and age: Of the 93 respondents surveyed consisted of 46 male or 49.5% male and 47 female or 50.5% female, and characteristics based on age. Table 1. Base on Age \| No \| Age \| Frequency \| Percentage \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| 17-26 years \| 17 \| 18.3% \| \| 2 \| 27-36 years \| 17 \| 18.3% \| \| 3 \| 37-46 years \| 30 \| 32.3% \| \| 4 \| 47-56 years \| 25 \| 26.9% \| \| 5 \| 57-66 years \| 4 \| 4.3% \| \| \| Total \| 93 \| 100% \| 4.1.2. Occupation: Based on work dominated by household affairs, 35 people 38% then self-employed 27 people, 29% and farmers 19 people or 20%. 4.1.3. Last education 4.2. Frequency table analysis. The formula used to analyze data using frequency tabulation techniques, namely: ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST Information: P = Percentage Results F = Number of Frequency of Respondents n = Number of Samples To describe the percentage classification of the calculation results has been processed, which is processed as in the table below: Table 2. Research Results Categories \| Category type \| Range (%) \| \|---\|---\| \| Very good \| 81 – 100 \| \| Good \| 61 – 80 \| \| Poor \| 41 – 60 \| \| Bad \| 21 – 40 \| \| is not very good \| 0 - 20 \| 4.3. Data Quality test 4.3.1. Validity: Validity analysis is carried out on variables, Role of Bumdes (X) and Community Empowerment (Y), by using, "product moment Pearson correlation" that is, comparing correlation values (r) with (r) tables on degrees of freedom (df), 91 with a significance of 0.05), the value obtained, (r) table is 0.1716. Recapitulation of the calculated value (r) on the variables X and Y obtained correlation values (r) more than (r) tables. Then the validity test results show that nine items in the "X" variable and ten items in the "Y" variable are valid. 4.3.2. Reliability Test: Reliability testing is carried out using the "product moment Pearson correlation" approach. The test results show that the question items used in the role of Bumdes and Community Empowerment can be declared reliable because they have a Cronbach alpha value on the variables x and Y greater than r table 0.1716. This shows that the data used in this study are valid and reliable. 5. Results and Discussion 5.1. The Role of Sipodeceng Village Bumdes (variable "X") To analyze the X variable, which is the role of Bumdes, is done by analyzing the frequency table by scoring data using a Likert scale. Then the data recapitulation of each indicator is obtained as follows. Table 3. Recapitulation of Bumdes (X) role variables \| No. \| Indicator \| \|---\|---\| \| 1 \| increasing the village economy \| \| 2 \| increasing original village income \| \| 3 \| increase management of village potential according to community needs \| \| 4 \| backs growth and economic equality \| Bumdes role variable has an average classification category of 54.19 percent or is in the unfavorable category [12]. This happened according to Gimran who also served as Chair of the Bumdes at the time of the interview on 1 August 2019 due to; "The existing Bumdes is not yet active, and there is no fund for Bumdes management from the village government, so the village business entity has not given many roles to the community". In line with the results of previous research, it is stated that the role of Bumdes in businesses that have not yet received funding has not yet played a role, in fact, there are some businesses such as rubber that have received financial assistance and have not yet played a role in the economy [4]. This also happens to Bumdes that have been researched by other studies and states that the role of Bumdes in improving the village economy should begin with improvements to the proper legality so that the BUMDes really prove its role as an effort in increasing the Village's Original Income (abbreviated with PAD ) and grow the whole and complete village economy [15]. 5.2. Community empowerment (variable "Y") The results of data analysis on variable Y, namely community empowerment using frequency tables and Likert scale. then the recapitulation of the values of each indicator is obtained as follows Table 4. Recapitulation of community empowerment (Y) \| 1 \| Ability to prepare and use community resources \| \|---\|---\| \| 2 \| Bottom-up planning \| \| 3 \| Economic capabilities and activities \| \| 4 \| Ability to prepare a family future \| \| 5 \| The ability to express opinions \| \| Average Percentage (%) \| \| Recapitulation of community empowerment variables has an average value of the category classification of 49.32 percent or is in the unfavorable category. This happened according to Gimran due to; "Most people are still dependent on government programs, and they are still difficult to take the initiative, also probably because most of them are farmers". 5.3. Simple Linear Regression Analysis To answer the formulation of associative problems, namely how the correlation or relationship between the role of Bumdes Desa Sipodeceng in community empowerment, can use simple linear regression analysis with the following general equations:: Where: Y, is a variable of community empowerment bo, constant ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC b, is the regression coefficient X, is the role variable of the Sipodeceng Village Bumdes. The "b" coefficient is called the regression direction coefficient and represents the average change in the "Y" variable for each change in the "X" variable by one unit. This change is an increase if the value of "b" is positive and is a decrease if the value becomes "b" negative. By using spss data processing version 20.00, in simple linear regression analysis, the output data written in the coefficient table is obtained as follows, Constanta is 7.446 and the regression coefficient (b) 0.791 then by entering these numbers in the simple regression equation is obtained as follows: Y = 7.446 + 0.791 X This shows that, if the role of Bumdes (X) is non-existent or zero, then the value of community empowerment will remain at 7.446. The regression coefficient X of 0.791 states that for each addition of one unit of Bumdes (X) role value, the value of community empowerment will also increase by 0.791. To test the hypothesis, the values obtained from the coefficient table are t count 4.244, and the significance value is 0.00. They are so based on the criteria if t count > t table and significance < 0.05, then the Hypothesis (H0) is rejected, and the working hypothesis (Ha) is accepted. The results of data analysis showed that the value of t count (4.244) > t table (1.986) with a significance of 0.000 < 0.05. This shows that Ho was rejected and Ha was accepted, so it can be concluded that the role of Bumdes (X) influences the community empowerment variable (Y). To find out how much influence the role of the Bumdes (X) variable on the community empowerment variable (Y), it can be seen how much value (r2) or r square in the model summary table. R-square value of 0.528 indicates that the role variable of Bumdes (X) has a 52.8% influence on community empowerment, while 47.2% is influenced by other factors not examined. The findings in this study indicate that the role of the Bumdes in community empowerment exists and requires special attention or policy from the village government. If Bumdes is well managed and its role will be enhanced, it will directly affect community empowerment. The results of the interview with Mr. Gimran (Head of Sipodeceng BumDes) on Thursday, August 1, 2019, stated that: "Actually, Bumdes has never been active for several reasons, one of them is because there is no funds to manage the Bumdes, besides that the Bumdes management also never holds meetings during the formation of the Bumdes, although for the time being the Bumdes has not been active but from the village, side has proposed a budget for bumdes, so we have planned the future bumdes will continue ". In line with the results of previous studies in the Cokrokembang village, Bumdes in the village can still run in one business sector, namely savings and loans. And actually, there is some potential that can be developed by looking at the diversity of existing businesses, but the problem is that business people still don't understand the benefits of being a Bumdes member, so they choose to market their business independently. In addition, inadequate human resources and lack of management awareness to maintain and develop Bumdes [16]. The conditions are almost the same in Sipodeceng Village. Researchers can conclude that Bumdes Padaidi is similar to conditions in Cokrokembang Village. Where the presence of Bumdes has not been put to good use, it has been proven that in 2018 the establishment of the S24 Sipodeceng mart was initiated by students of the Field Work Plus Lecture (called KKLP) from the Department of Social Sciences Muhammadiyah Rappang, but until now business has been ignored, and it is unclear how it will proceed. ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 6. Conclusion The role of Bumdes includes; improving the village economy, original village income, managing village potential in accordance with community needs, economic growth, and equity has an average value of 54.19 percent included in the category of less role. This shows that the Bumdes need to empower the farming community in order to improve the economy of Sipodeceng Village. The conditions of community empowerment, which are mostly farmers in Sipodeceng village, include; the ability to use resources in the community, bottom-up planning, the ability of economic activities, the ability to prepare for the future and the ability to express opinions have an average value of 49.32 percent included in the category of powerlessness. This shows that the Sipodeceng village community in this study was still not empowered. The role of Bumdes "Padaidi" in empowering the community of Desa Sipodeceng has an influence based on the results of the summary table 52.8, including tends to strengthen and if the role of Bumdes increases, the community will be more empowered. References [1] A. S. 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Mustanir, "The Effect of Siri ' s Marriage on Government Administration International Journal of Sciences : The Effect of Siri ' s Marriage on Government Administration," Int. J. Sci. Basic Appl. Res., vol. 42, no. 3, (2009), pp. 171–184. [16] D. Rahmadanik, "Peran Bumdes Dalam Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Desa Cokrokembang Kecamatan Ngadirojo Kabupaten Pacitan," JPAP J. Penelit. Adm. Publik, vol. 4, no. 1, (2018), pp. 909–913.
Worshipping God Together : Apart Sunday 6 th February 2022 at 10.30am Church; Physically Distanced but Spiritually United Worship Prepared by Rev. Janine Atkinson A Call to Worship God The good news has been proclaimed to me, I have received it, and through it I am being saved. So, I thank and worship you Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit Hymn – R&S 29: MP 139: Terry Coelho. (1952- ) Father, we adore you, lay our lives before you, how we love You. Jesus, we adore you, lay our lives before you, how we love You. Spirit, we adore you, lay our lives before you, how we love you. Approaching God in Prayer I come to meet you, living Lord. I hold you in my heart and behold you in my mind's eye, thankful for the testimony of those who witnessed the reality of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Come, Lord Jesus, help my unbelief, so that I may behold the truth. I offer my thanks for those who evoke the sense of wonder in me. I offer my thanks for those who witness to wonder in the world. I meet you as the day declares new hope as the night nurses us in healing. as the sky surprises us with rainbows. as the earth empties itself for us in food. as the neighbour nestles us into love. as the stranger speaks to us of strange tales. as the cross confronts us with innocent pain. as the tomb testifies to us your sacrifice. So let our days and nights fill the sky and earth with love for neighbour and stranger, And by the cross and tomb may our sins be forgiven, our brokenness healed, and our lives be restored. Meet me, Lord God, as I come to you in prayer with the words Jesus taught Our Father, who art in heaven… Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 6: 1 – 8 Isaiah's commission 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.' 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.' 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!' Gospel Reading – Luke 5: 1 – 11 Jesus calls his first disciples 5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding round him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.' 5 Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.' 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, 'Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!' 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. 3 Then Jesus said to Simon, 'Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.' 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. The Shallow End The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie once said, "The Church is like a swimming pool: All the noise is at the shallow end". When I am safe in the shallow end with my feet firmly on the floor, when I am surrounded by the familiar and content with what I think I know, may I hear afresh your gracious invitation to wade out into deeper waters, to make new discoveries and be open to new possibilities. When I am in deep waters and feel out of my depth, when I am beyond my comfort zone and see and understand myself all too clearly, when I look with longing for the safety of the shallow end again may I hear your voice saying 'Don't be afraid.' (Adapted from the URC Prayer Handbook 2019 p.13 Wayne Hawkins) A Prayer of Confession Lord, I confess that, in common with others, I fear getting in too deep with you. When we feel you drawing us to you, calling us to leave the safe confines of life as we know it and plunge into the depths of life with you, we are afraid. What will you ask of us, Lord? For we are ordinary people; we have no tongues to talk in clever parables, we have no miracles to perform. And, the fact is, we're quite content as we are; we're happy to serve you from the wings, we don’t want the spotlight. Yet you have drawn us into your story, and you call us to be all that we can be. We confess that we are afraid of our potential; afraid to unleash your power within us. Forgive us, and grant us the courage to overcome our fears and follow you. Amen. Setting the Scene. What would you do if someone from a different trade or profession told you how to do your job? I don't suppose you'd be too impressed. What a cheek for a carpenter to tell fishermen how to do their job. But the fishermen, Simon, James and John (asked first of all if Jesus can borrow their boat) not only allow him to use their boat as a platform for his message, they go on to take instructions in the practice of their own trade. All their experience and skill had not produced a catch at the right time for fishing, yet these seasoned fishermen go along with a carpenter's contrary directions. That really says something about Jesus' presence, his charisma. But Jesus doesn't stop at telling the fishermen how to do their job. When the results of Jesus' intervention say something about his extraordinary power, he invites them to learn a new trade. But Jesus' invitation is not an invitation to learn some new tricks of the fishing trade, rathe, it's a new purpose in life. Jesus will take them onto his team and change them, transform their lives, completely and utterly. Hymn – R&S 371: MP 624: Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-79) Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of thy love; take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King; take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from thee. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; take my intellect, and use every power as thou shalt choose. Take my will, and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine; take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure-store; take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee. Reflections Both our readings today have to do with 'call'. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "When Christ calls a person, he tells them to come and die". Bonhoeffer of course did exactly that, he was hanged by the Nazis for resistance to Hitler. But when Simon Peter first met Jesus, he didn't realise this. If he could have gazed into a crystal ball and seen what would happen to him in the next couple of years, he might have persisted in asking Jesus to leave him in peace! But that's not how Jesus worked, and it's not how God works. Peter clearly had a sense that life was never going to be the same again, that he was going to face new demands and challenges, but he couldn't help being swept off his feet by what had happened – that miraculous catch of fish seems to have got him. It had started with a bit of resourcefulness on Jesus' part, he'd begun to teach a group of people by the shore, but the crowd got bigger and bigger and there simply wasn't room – so he improvised! Along the shore of Lake Galilee – or Gennesaret as it's sometimes called, as it is here – close to Capernaum, there's a sequence of steep inlets, a zig-zagging shoreline with each inlet forming a natural amphitheatre. Apparently, even now, if you get in a boat and push out a little from the shore, you can talk in quite a natural voice and anyone on the slopes of the inlet can hear you clearly, more clearly than if you were right there with them on the shore. So, Jesus was exploiting the geography of the area and the timely availability of a boat. Having commandeered the boat and with the fishermen listening to his every word, he puts them on the spot. It's daytime, and fish are more likely to be caught after dark in this lake, and on this occasion the men had worked all night for nothing. The last thing they would normally do would be to start again in daylight. But Jesus told them to – so they did! Jesus made that sort of impression on people, even hard-working, nononsense fishermen. In Luke's account of the calling of the fishermen, Simon, James and John have already witnessed Jesus' power, Simon's mother-in-law has already been healed, starting a sequence of healings (chapter 4: 38-41) so they are already aware that Jesus has presence and power. There's a huge catch of fish! Messages are sent for another boat to come and help with the catch and there's a struggle to get the boats and the fish back to land before they all go under with the weight! And then there's the moment of truth. Simon finds himself right out of his league as Jesus promises that the same sort of thing will happen again, only now it will be people, not fish that will be gathered in. And the fishermen become followers, the first to fall for Jesus, hook, line and sinker. They go off with Jesus into a new life with only the sketchiest of ideas about where it will take them. This is the kind of story it helps to get inside of. Become Simon for a few moments – pause and ponder what you normally do, day after day and then imagine Jesus suddenly appearing, asking for your help with his own work and then telling you to do something in your own line of work which seems like a pointless waste of time and energy. You do it, grumbling (perhaps under your breath) and suddenly everything clicks into place, everything succeeds on a scale you'd never dreamed of. What's going on? How did it happen? Feel the sense of awe, perhaps even terror, as you come to terms with the power of this man Jesus. Then feel that sense of terror increase, as he turns to you, with what looks like a question in his eyes, though it proves to be a command "You and I are going to be working together from now on" he says. And you realise that you have no choice. If this man isn't worth following, then nobody is. And that's God's call. Or maybe you're not at that stage yet. Maybe you're somewhere back in the crowd by the shore. You've heard something of what Jesus has been saying. You know those fishermen, everybody knows them, they're hardworking men. You see them coming back from a night's work just when you're getting up. They are big, strong men with hands like shovels. From the shore you watch as Jesus talks to them. You see them shrug their shoulders, put the boat out into the deeper water and let down their nets. You hear the shouting, you see the flurry of activity. Then you see Simon, a strapping man, kneeling down in front of Jesus. And then they all go off together. What goes through your mind? You've not quite grasped all of what's been going on, but you know something's going on. Many people are in that position in relation to God's kingdom today. They've heard enough to know that something's going on. Perhaps they see other people suddenly changed, their lives turned around. Maybe they're a bit jealous, but also a bit relieved that the spotlight hasn't been turned on them! But the spotlight shines in order to show the way to life. Even though it shows things up we'd rather keep hidden – remember, Simon's instant reaction was to see himself in the light of God's holiness and to draw the necessary conclusions that he was a sinful man. Jesus doesn't want to leave anybody out. His call to Simon and the others, that they should now help him in catching people, was precisely in order that the Good News would go out wider and wider, reaching as many as possible. Ultimately, there are no bystanders in the kingdom of God, Jesus has called us all to be witnesses to his power, his presence and to kingdom ways. The reason we can read Luke's Gospel today is because, despite Simon Peter's initial reluctance and subsequent failures, he and the other disciples spread the Good News. When Jesus calls, he certainly does demand everything. But only because he has already given everything himself and has plans in store for us and for the world. Plans we would never have dreamed of. When we respond to God's call as Isaiah and Simon Peter did, a whole world of adventure opens up. For the church, fishing becomes a metaphor for its mission and ministry and 'leaving everything and following Jesus' in faith – because Jesus says to do so, even if it seems foolish – becomes our model of obedient discipleship. (With thanks to Tom Wright's book - Luke for Everyone (altd)) Hymn – R&S 367: MP 302: C Simmonds, 1964* Copyright © C. Simmonds I want to walk with Jesus Christ all the days I live of this life on earth, to give to him complete control of body and of soul: Follow him, follow him, yield, your life to him, he has conquered death, he is King of kings. Accept the joy which he gives to those who yield their lives to him. I want to learn to speak to him, to pray to him, confess my sin, to open my life and let him in, for joy will then be mine: I want to learn to read his word, for this is how I know the way, to live my life as pleases him, in holiness and joy: I want to learn to speak of him; my life must show that he lives in me, my deeds, my thoughts, my words must speak of all his love for me: O holy Spirit of the Lord, enter now into this heart of mine, take full control of my selfish will and make me wholly thine: Holding the World in Prayer Father God, I pray for all who are going through difficulties that make belief hard: for those who are suffering physical and mental illness, that they may feel the comfort of your healing touch; for the bereaved, that they may know your presence as they walk the valley of the shadow; for those who have been hurt, abused or betrayed by people they loved and trusted, that they will come to believe in the One who rose above all human fallibility and did not sin. Ease open all hurting eyes and hearts, Lord – including my own. Push aside all barriers to belief. Shine your light in our darkness, so that faith may flourish even in the midst of sorrow. Amen. Hymn – R&S 34: MP 237: Reginald Heber. (1783-1826) Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to thee; Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee, who wast, and art, and ever more shalt be. Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee, though the sinful human eye thy glory may not see, only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea; Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! Closing Words and Blessing The prophets pointed the way to God. Who will do it now? Here I am, Lord. Send me. Jesus called Simon to point the way to God. Who will do it now? Here I am, Lord. Send me. Christians down the ages have pointed the way to God. Who will do it now? Here I am, Lord. Send me. Help me to point the way to you, Lord God. Amen May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen Hymn words reproduced under the CCLI Licence numbers of the SPACE Group of Churches: 178113 – Heckmondwike URC: 177949 - Longcauseway Church: 1236906 - Norristhorpe URC: 783508 - Ravensthorpe with Hopton URC
DEPURATION OF PCBS AND DDTS IN MULLET UNDER CAPTIVITY CONDITIONS Paulo Antunes 1 , Odete Gil 1 , Marta Ferreira 2 , Carlos Vale 1 , Maria Armanda ReisHenriques 3 1 Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e das Pescas/IPIMAR - Lisboa 3 CIIMAR-Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental - Porto 2 ICBAS-Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar - Porto Introduction Fish captured in the coastal zone and estuaries often contains enhanced residues of organochlorine compounds in their tissues, in response to environmental contamination. Residues in fish tissues may be eliminated by different pathways, but most of what is known comes from laboratory studies with species that are exposed to contaminants 1 . In recent years, the importance of ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD), one of the hepatic cytochrome P-450 dependent monooxidase, has become widely known, and it is increasingly accepted as an indicator of exposure to common organic pollutants. The mullet (Mugil cephalus) from the Douro estuary may present relatively high content of PCBs and DDTs. The objective of this study was to examine the levels of PCBs and DDTs in muscle and liver when individuals are exposed to clean sea water and uncontaminated food, and to evaluate whether this is a feasible option for depuration. Methods and Materials Sampling Twenty two mullets were captured in Douro estuary in May 2001. Five individuals were sacrificed within 24 hours after capture, body liver and gonads were dissected, weighted and the hepatosomatic (HSI), and gonado-somatic indices (GSI) calculated. The remaining liver and small pieces of muscle were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80ºC until they were assayed for EROD activity and the concentration of PCB congeners and DDT compounds. The remaining fish were allowed to depurate in a 3000 L tank at the salinity of 20 within a flow rate of 5 L/minute. Water was continuously filtered through an extensive biological filter, and a charcoal filter before being recycled. Aeration was provided in the tanks to maintain 100% oxygen saturation in the water. Fish were maintained in natural photoperiod and temperature, and fed with uncontaminated hake fillet. Five individuals were sampled after 21, 120 and 270 days following the same procedure. Analytical procedure Samples for analysis of PCBs and DDTs were prepared individually or composite of three individuals for the small liver samples. The method has been described previously 2 and is summarized below. Freeze dried tissues were extracted with hexane using Soxhlet apparatus. Fat content was determined gravimetrically from aliquots of the extracts and the remaining extracts were cleaned with Florisil before the analysis by gas chromatography using a DB-5 column with electron capture detection. PCBs and DDTs were quantified using a standard solution containing 18 PCB congeners, p,p'-DDE and metabolites. Procedural blanks were analyzed each 10 to 16 samples to monitor possible laboratory contamination. Recovery of the Florisil column was evaluated with a standard solution and more than 85% of each compound was obtained. The ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity was evaluated by the fluorimetric method described by Pacheco and Santos 3 . One way analysis of variance was used to compare concentrations. A 5% significance level was used for the statistical tests. Results and Discussion Levels of PCBs and DDTs in muscle and liver of mullet from Douro estuary Sea mullet (Mugil cephalus) from Douro estuary contain relatively high concentrations of PCBs and DDTs both in muscle and liver. At capture day, the mean concentrations of tPCB (calculated as the sum of individual CB levels) in muscle and liver of mullet were 311 and 686 ng g -1 and of tDDT (calculated as the sum of concentrations of p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDE) 65 and 115 ng g -1 , respectively. These values are one order of magnitude higher than the maximum values observed by Antunes et al. 4 in golden mullet from Ria de Aveiro (80 ng g -1 for tPCB and 22 ng g -1 for tDDT), a large coastal lagoon in the NW Portugal with a permanent connection to the sea. The highest muscle concentrations, on a wet weight basis (PCBs: 201 ng g -1 ww ; DDTs: 60 ng g -1 ww) were also much higher than PCBs (sum of 7 congeners IUPAC Nos 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153 and 180) and DDTs reported by Pastor et al. 5 in sea mullet from the Ebro Delta, a zone influenced by agro-industrial activities, respectively, 2.5 and 7.2 ng g -1 ww. The concentrations of PCBs in muscle of wild mullet (311 ng g -1 ) were lower than the corresponding levels in liver (686 ng g -1 ), however, the contribution of each component to tPCB was very similar in both tissues (Fig. 1) and characterized by the predominance of the CB 180 (hepta-) and CBs 153, 138 (hexachlorobiphenys). These dominant congeners contain chlorines on the para positions on both biphenyl rings and are the prevailing congeners usually reported to be present in biological samples 6 . CBs 138, 153 are also reported as dominant components in Platichthys flesus from the same environment 7 , in some fish species from Ria de Aveiro 4 and in sea bass from Seine estuary 8 . From the DDT compounds, DDE was present in the highest concentration in the analyzed tissues, representing more than 69% of tDDT. Elimination experiment The elimination experiment was carried out in captivity under clean experimental conditions during 270 days. In Table 1 are given some individual physiological data. Table 1: Physiological conditions of mullet (Mugil cephalus) during the experiment. Mean values are given ± SE. Different letters denotes significant differences between sampling days. HIS, hepato-somatic index; GSI, gonado-somatic index. HSI decreased after 120 d. Liver and muscle lipid content also tend to decrease after 120 days although differences were not always significant. Gonad weight was, however, almost constant indicating that fish did not attained sexual maturation. The concentrations of tPCB and tDDT in mullet tissues along the experiment including those of wild fish are given in Table 2. The results indicate that, in general, there was absence of elimination after 21 days. This was also observed by the same authors (unpublished data) in other two 21 days experiments carried out in different seasons. Elimination only occurred in muscle after 120 days. Mean initial concentrations were 311 ng g -1 for tPCB and 65 ng g -1 for tDDT and at the end of the 270-d study were, respectively, 49 and 13 ng g -1 . The concentrations in liver varied, in general, less than in muscle, ranged mean tPCB from 686 to 503 ng g -1 and tDDT from 115 to 153 ng g -1 . Table 2: Concentrations of organochlorines (ng g -1 dw) in muscle and liver of mullet over the 270-d study. Each value represents the mean ± SE of five fishes. Statistical differences from day 21 (p<0.05) are identified by an asterisk. Lipid content in muscle showed a similar trend as the contaminants during the study, resulting in small variations in lipid base concentrations. This is confirmed by the significant (p<0.001) relationships (r 2 ranged from 0.61 to 0.94 for PCB congeners and from 0.81 to 0.93 for DDT compounds) indicating that lipid content is a major factor in elimination kinetics of PCBs and DDTs in muscle of mullet. In liver, the evolution of lipids and contaminants with time is quite different and no relationships were obtained. Levels of EROD in liver of mullet Several authors have been used EROD induction as a biomarker for assessment PCB and PAH pollution 9 . Mullet livers of the animals collected in Douro estuary, presented high induction of EROD (328 ± 53 n mol/min. mg protein) which reflect the exposure to pollution. This is in accordance with the relatively high concentrations of PCBs and DDTs which are found in muscle and liver of the wild fish. After 21 days of depuration, levels showed a substantial decrease of EROD activity and the mean value during the experiment was 38 ± 1.4 n mol/min. mg protein. However, this decrease did not correspond to a decrease on concentrations of PCBs and DDTs in liver (Table 2). This lack of correspondence was observed along all the experiment. This indicates that the high values of EROD activity of mullet from Douro estuary cannot be attributed solely to the accumulation of these organochlorine compounds but to a mixture of non-persistent contaminants present in the estuary eventually eliminated after 21 days under captivity conditions. Dependence on component The decreasing time of elimination was not related to decreasing chlorine content of PCB congeners. This is illustrated in Figure 2. Concentrations of most compounds increased in the first sample interval in muscle then decreased thereafter, so the variation of each individual congener concentration will be discussed on the basis of concentrations at day 21. Tri- and tetrachlorobiphenyls were eliminated in muscle 33-60% after 120 d, while the other congeners decreased more than 64%. At day 270, the concentrations of all the analyzed congeners were lower than 29% of the concentrations at day 21. In liver significant differences were observed only after 120 days for CB 101 (penta-) and for the hexa- and hepta- CBs. After 270 d concentrations of most congeners increased which may be attributed to a mobilization to the liver. In a bioconcentration/elimination laboratory experiment Goerke and Weber 1 observed that the lower level of chlorination and free m,p position of CBs favoured elimination in Platichthys flesus. In our study the reductions in muscle were lower for tri- and tetra- CBs. All the other congeners were eliminated fastest and there were no substantial dependence on the component. Most compounds showed, however, after 120 d mean concentrations in muscle below 50 % than those at day 21. So, a differentiation in congener half-lives may be probably observed in shorter experiment times. The lower reduction of tri- and tetra CBs may be related to its low levels in mullet tissues. In mullet muscle DDD and DDT were eliminated faster than DDE. At day 120, DDD and DDT were eliminated more than 60% of the initial values and more than 91% at day 270, while concentrations of DDE decreased only 48% and 80%, respectively. As it is known that the conversion of p,p'-DDT to p,p'-DDE occurs in fish, the slower decrease of DDE in muscle may be a result of metabolism. In liver an erratic variability of these compounds was recorded. In conclusion, in clean sea water the levels of organochlorines decreased due to the decrease of lipids in muscle. The PCB pattern changed mainly due to the lower reduction of tri- and tetrachlorinated CBs, probably related to the low levels recorded in muscle. BIOTIC COMPARTMENTS: LEVELS, TRENDS, EFFECTS References 2 Antunes P. and Gil O. (2002) Organohalogen Compounds 58, 33. 1 Goerke H. and Weber K. (2001) Mar. Environ. Res. 51, 131. 3 Pacheco M. and Santos M. A. (1998) Ecotox. Environ. Saf. 40, 71. 5 Pastor D., Boix J., Fernández V. and Albaigés J. (1996) Mar. Pollut. Bull. 32, 257. 4 Antunes P., Gil O., Sobral P. and Charrão J. (2001) Proc. 5º Encontro de Química de Alimentos Universidade Católica do Porto, 189. 6 Bayarri S., Baldassarri L.T., Iacovella N., Ferrara F. and di Domenico A. (2001) Chemosphere 43, 601. 8 Loizeau V., Abarnou A. and Ménesguen A. (2001) Estuaries 24, 1074. 7 Ferreira M., Antunes P., Gil O., Vale C. and Reis-Henriques M. A. Aquat. Toxicol. (submitted). 9 Livingstone D.R., Förlin L. and Georges S.G. (1997) In: Water quality and stress indicators in marine and freswater ecosystems ed. Stutcliffe D.W., 154.
LILY FLAGG CLUB, INC. HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA BYLAWS November 2019 Article I Name The name of the Corporation shall be Lily Flagg Club, Incorporated. Article II Purpose Section 1: The purpose for which this nonprofit Corporation is formed is to promote the health and general welfare of its members, and to provide for social and other recreational activities of its members, and in pursuance thereof, to acquire and hold real property, to erect buildings, own and operate a swimming pool and any other recreational facility and to engage in any other activities necessary or incidental to the furtherance of these objectives. Article III Government Section 1: The Corporation shall be managed by a Board of Directors, elected from the membership, eighteen (18) in number. Nine (9) directors shall be elected each year for a two-year term. The officers - President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Deputy Treasurer and Membership - shall be selected for a oneyear term by the Board from among the Board of Directors at the first board meeting. Section 2: The directors shall be elected at the November annual meeting of active members. In voting for directors, each active membership may cast one vote in person or by written proxy for each seat to be filled, without cumulation. Section 3: If a director fails to attend regular meetings of the Board of Directors for three consecutive meetings or otherwise fails to perform any of the duties evolving upon him as a Director, his office may be declared vacant by the Board of Directors and the vacancy filled as herein provided. Section 4: When a vacancy occurs on the Board of Directors, such vacancy may be filled by the remaining Directors. The Directors thus selected shall fill the unexpired term. Article IV Officers Section 1: See Article III, Section 1. Section 2: The President shall preside over all meetings of the Directors and members. He shall perform such other duties as customarily pertain to the office of President, or as he may be directed to perform by resolution of the Board of Directors. Section 3: The Vice President shall have and exercise all the powers, authority, and duties of the President during the absence of the latter, or in his inability to act. He shall head the hiring committee, which shall solicit employment applications, review applications and hire employees for positions including pool managers and lifeguards. The above employees shall report to the Vice President and he shall express their concerns to the pool board when necessary. In addition, he shall perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the Board of Directors. Section 4: The Treasurer shall have custody of all funds, securities, fiscal papers, and other tangible assets of the Corporation. He shall deposit the revenues of the Corporation and pay its bills as authorized by the Board of Directors. He shall provide and maintain full and complete records of all the assets and liabilities of the Corporation. He will prepare and submit at each regular meeting of the Board of Directors a financial statement of the condition of the Corporation as of the last day of the preceding month. He shall prepare such tax reports as local, State and Federal agencies may require. Section 4a: There will be a Deputy Treasurer to serve in absence of Treasurer. Section 5: The Secretary shall maintain accurate lists of members, Directors, and Officers. The Secretary shall also keep minutes of member's and Director's meetings and shall give the required notice of all meetings. The Secretary shall have custody of all books, records, and papers except those in the possession of the Treasurer. Copies of all correspondence in the name of the Club shall be filed with the Secretary. Section 6: Membership shall have responsibility of maintaining a waiting list of potential membership buyers and/or sellers. He shall coordinate potential buyers with potential membership sellers. He shall collect all necessary membership transfer information and fees and deliver this information to the treasurer and secretary as required. He shall have the above responsibilities for term members as well. He shall bring all membership transfers and sales to the board for final approval. Section 7: Officers and Directors shall be reimbursed, as approved by the Board of Directors, for out-of-pocket expenditures made on behalf of the Club, but shall not otherwise be compensated, except that annual dues for President, VicePresident, Secretary, Treasurer, and Membership shall be waived, and the guest fees for all Directors shall also be waived. Section 8: Vacancies among the Officers shall be filled by the Board of Directors. Article V Committees Section 1: The Board of Directors shall appoint such standing and special committees as may be deemed necessary. In addition, the President shall have the authority to appoint special committees as may be necessary. Section 2: All committees shall be under the supervision of the President subject to the authority delegated by the Board of Directors. Article VI Members Section 1: The eligibility for membership in this club is defined as those families residing in single family residences. Section 2: The total number of members in this organization shall be limited to 300 permanent memberships. Such permanent memberships shall be in the name of the head of the family and shall cover those members of the family residing within the household. Section 3: Membership in this organization shall consist of the following types as defined below: A. Permanent Membership - Those eligible under Article VI, Section 1, who have purchased a permanent membership and have been approved by the Board of Directors. B. Term Membership - Membership for a term of 1year duration may be issued to applicants under conditions prescribed by the Board of Directors. The number of Term Memberships in any given year shall be limited to a total of twenty-five (25). C. Employees - Employees of the pool, during their time of employment, will have pool use, extending to immediate family who reside with them. All guests must pay pool fees. Section 4: Each applicant for any membership shall meet the requirement of Article VI, Section 1. Application for any membership must be made in writing on a form obtainable from the membership chairman. The applicant's reference will be contacted by the membership chairman prior to any recommendation to the Board of Directors. Section 5: An applicant shall not be admitted to membership except by the affirmative vote of a majority of the Directors present at the meeting at which application is acted upon. The Board of Directors may approve an applicant's request for membership via email with the affirmative vote of a majority and then brought to the next monthly meeting to be recorded in the minutes. Section 6: Membership shall be transferable; provided the dues and assessments on such memberships are current and that the proposed transferee meets all requirements of membership set forth herein above and is acceptable to the Board of Directors. A transfer fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) is required with each and every application for transfer of any membership. In the event the transfer of permanent membership is not approved by the Board of Directors, the entire transfer fee of twenty-five ($25) shall be returned to the payer. Section 7: The privileges of membership except voting rights may be temporarily transferred by a member leaving the area to his tenant residing in the home of such member for a period of at least 60 days; provided that dues and assessments are current and such transferee meets all the requirements for membership and is acceptable to the Board of Directors; and provided further, that such member may not exercise his privilege of membership, except voting, during the period such transfer is in effect. Certificates of Membership Section 8: Certification of membership shall be in a form adopted by the Board of Directors. Certification of membership shall entitle the holders of such membership, consisting of all the members of one family residing in the same address, to the use of the swimming pool and all other facilities until membership is suspended, terminated, or transferred as provided herein. Voting Power and Property Rights Section 9: The voting power and property rights shall be vested in those members holding permanent memberships only. Each permanent membership shall be entitled to one vote on any and all questions and all permanent memberships shall be tenants in common of all the assets of the Corporation. Expulsion of Members Section 10: Any member may be expelled as a member of this organization for acts and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the organization and Directors thereof. Any member may be removed from membership by a majority vote of those present at any annual meeting, or at any special meeting of the Directors called for that purpose, for conduct deemed prejudicial to this Club; provided that such members have first been served with written notice of the accusations against them and shall have been given an opportunity to product their witnesses, if any, and to be heard at the meeting at which vote is taken. When so removed from membership, the former member shall forfeit any and all rights and interest in this organization and its property. The member so removed may appeal the expulsion action to the membership at the next annual meeting. Article VII Dues and Assessments Section 1: A. The Board of Directors, prior to the annual meeting, shall establish dues for the ensuing season that shall be sufficient to provide for the Operating Expense Fund and the Depreciable Assets Fund. The Operating Expense Fund shall provide for operation, maintenance, and improvement of its property. A minimum annual deposit of $10,000 shall be made to the Depreciable Assets Fund. A detailed budget, showing planned expenditures from the Operating Expense Fund and the Depreciable Assets Fund, shall be submitted to the membership at the annual meeting. B. An assessment may be levied against the membership by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members voting in person or by written proxy at a meeting specially called for that purpose. Default of assessments shall be treated as default of dues. (Section 3, Article VII). C. No dues or part thereof shall be refunded in the event that pool operations are required to be suspended for any purpose. D. All dues for the forthcoming season shall be paid by March 1 st . Late dues shall be charged $25.00 if paid after 1 March. Late payment of dues is subject to action in Section 3, Article VII. Dues Years Section 2: It shall be understood that the dues year is from March 1 to March of the following year, and that requests for refund of dues received after due date of March 1 for any dues period shall not constitute grounds for refund of dues which may be due or paid for said period. Default of Dues - Suspension - Membership Forfeitures Section 3: Any member failing to pay dues by 1 April shall set in motion the following procedure of written notifications and prescribed action by the Board of Directors. A. If dues and late fees are not satisfied by 1 April, a first written notice of non-payment of dues shall be sent via certified mail and an additional (second) late fee of $50.00 will be charged. B. If dues and all late fees are not satisfied by 1 May, a second and final written notice of non-payment of dues, automatic suspension, notification of forfeiture of membership, and an additional (third) late fee of $50.00 will be charged, shall be sent via registered mail; the member will be automatically suspended from all privileges of membership. C. If either of the dates noted above fall on Sunday, the deadline will be extended one day. D. If the dues and all late fees are not satisfied by the regularly scheduled June Meeting of the Board of Directors, the Board shall declare forfeiture of delinquent membership. The membership shall revert to the Corporation and may be sold by the Board of Directors at a price set by the Board of Directors. Inactive Status Section 4: Members may become eligible for an inactive status (non-dues paying) if and when all the following conditions have been met. A. The subject members' place of residence becomes located outside an area included within the radius of 75 miles from the limits of the City of Huntsville, Alabama. B. The anticipated period of residency outside said area is more than 12 months. C. Subject member submits to the Board of Directors, in writing each year on or before April 1, a request that he be placed in an inactive non-dues paying, non-voting status. D. That such request is approved by action of the Board of Directors, and the members notified. Special Compensation Section 5: Term memberships can not be issued for compensation. Permanent membership annual dues may be waived for one year at a time for individuals in lieu of compensation for special services recognized by the Board. In addition, (1) permanent club membership (dues free) has been given for use by the pastor of Latham Methodist Church and yearly dues have been waived for (1) person tasked with the job of pool maintenance/ repair. Section 6: The use of club facilities will be afforded to Club employees during the term of their employment. Article VIII Membership Meetings Section 1: There shall be an annual meeting of the members in November at such time and place as the Board of Directors shall designate. Section 2: A special meeting of the members may be called by the President and shall be called by him on the written request of not fewer than fifteen members or by an affirmative majority of the Board of Directors. Section 3: At least ten days before the date of any annual or special meeting of the members, the Secretary shall cause written notice thereof to be delivered or mailed to each member at the address appearing for such member on the records of the Corporation. The notice shall, in the case of a special meeting, specify the business to be transacted. Section 4: At any annual or special meeting, twenty members shall constitute a quorum. Section 5: Five days prior to any annual or special meeting, the membership list of the Corporation shall be closed and the list of members eligible to vote shall be made up. A member may vote in person or by written proxy. Section 6: So for as it applies, the following order of business shall be observed at all annual and special meetings of members: Roll call of Officers and Directors Reading, correction and approval of minutes of previous meeting Reports of Officers Reports of Committees Election of Directors Old Business New Business Unless otherwise provided, Robert's Rules of Order shall be followed Article IX Meetings and Duties of Directors Section 1: Regular meetings will be held as determined necessary by the Board; special meetings may be called by the President or any two Directors by giving two days notice to each Director. Ten (10) of the eighteen (18) Directors shall constitute a quorum. Section 2: A special meeting shall also be called upon written request of not fewer than fifteen (15) members, at which meeting several representatives of said members may attend to present any problem and propose solutions for consideration by the Board. Section 3: Meetings shall be held at reasonable times and places. Section 4: The duties of the Directors shall be able to control and manage the business of the Club. Their authority shall extend to, but not be limited to, such actions as: A. Publishing and enforcing reasonable house rules for the use of the Club facilities. B. Establishing annual dues. C. Adopting reasonable rules concerning the admission of guests and the charges, if any, to be levied upon members who invite such guests. D. Accepting or rejecting proposed members. E. Determining the opening and closing dates of the Club swimming season. F. Hiring and terminating the services of any person employed by the Club. G. Preparing and submitting to the members a financial report not later than seven days prior to the annual meeting. H. Authorizing the incurring of obligations. I. Naming an Audit Committee or otherwise providing for competent audit of the Club's books and records at least annually. J. Determining reasonable rates of depreciation and adopting a reasonable plan for replacement of depreciable assets. Section 5: Board members who have family members who are employees or are being considered for employment shall not vote on motions which concern employees. Article X Property and Finances Section 1: A. Except as provided herein, the Corporation is authorized to contract for any obligation in furtherance of its stated objectives which in the judgment of the Board of Directors can reasonably be expected to be paid out of membership fees and dues received. B. Effective May 1, 1967, a fund separate from other funds of the Corporation shall be established for the purpose of replacing depreciable assets, such as pumps, motors, flowmeter, filters, chlorinator, diving boards, diving stands, pools, fence, club house, and tennis court pavement. This fund shall be used only for its stated purpose and only after approval of a majority of the members present or represented by written proxy at a regular meeting specially called for that purpose. A copy of the proposed motion for the fund expenditure shall be delivered to all members at least 10 days prior to the meeting date at which such action takes place. However, the Board is authorized to spend up to five thousand ($5,000) each year if necessary out of this fund for emergency replacement of depreciable assets without obtaining prior approval of the membership. A full accounting of such expenditure shall be given at the annual meeting. Section 2: Tangible property of the Corporation may be transferred or pledged as security only after ten (10) of the Directors shall have approved such transfer, and in the case of real property, after two-thirds of the members present or represented by written proxy at a meeting specially called for said purpose have also approved such transfer or pledge. Section 3: At a regular or special meeting a majority of the quorum of Directors may approve investments in U.S. Treasury obligations or interest bearing securities rated AA or higher by the Standard and Poors Corp. Section 4: All funds of the Corporation shall be deposited in such qualified depository or depositories as the Board of Directors, may from time to time, by written resolution, designate, and shall be so deposited within a reasonable time after their receipt. Section 5: All disbursements of funds of the Corporation shall be made by checks signed by the Treasurer. The Board of Directors may, be resolution, provide for the establishment and replenishment of a petty cash fund not exceeding $100.00 for postage and for defraying other expense items of the Corporation in amounts of $10.00 or less. Section 6: The Board of Directors will secure the faithful performance of the Treasurer by means of adequate fidelity bonds. Section 7: Other than as directed in Section 3 of Article X, the funds of the Corporation may be invested only in obligation of the United States Government. They may not be loaned to or invested with an Officer, Director, or member of the Corporation, or with any other person, agency, or Government instrumentality. Section 8: The accounts of the Corporation shall be audited annually by a method to be specified by the Board of Directors. The auditor shall not be either an Officer of the Corporation or a member of the Board of Directors. Article XI Amendments Section 1: Amendments to these Bylaws may be adopted at any annual or special meeting only after the proposed amendments have previously been delivered or mailed to each member at the address appearing for the member on the records of the Corporation. The proposed amendments shall be delivered or mailed to each member at least ten days before the date of the annual or special meeting at which the proposed amendments are to be considered. Section 2: A proposed amendment may be brought before the membership for consideration at any annual or special meeting by: A. Resolution of the Board of Directors to submit the proposed amendment to the membership and prior notice in accordance with Section 1 of this Article. The adoption of such resolution shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Directors present at a duly held meeting of the Board of Directors. Each member of the Board shall be notified of the purpose of the amendment at least two days prior to the Board meeting at which the resolution is to be considered; or B. Endorsement of the proposed amendment by at least fifteen members of the Corporation. The proposed amendment with endorsements shall be submitted to the Secretary at least thirty days prior to the annual or special meeting at which the proposed amendment is to be considered. The Secretary shall be responsible for notifying the members in accordance with Section 1 of this Article. Section 3: Amendments to these Bylaws may be adopted by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the votes cast by members voting in person or by written proxy at any annual or special meeting, provided that such amendments were submitted to the membership for consideration in accordance with Section 2 of this Article. Article XII Prohibitions Section 1: This Club shall not engage in the business of selling, keeping for sale, division, distribution or other dispositions, to its members or guests, at or near premises owned of controlled by the Club, for consumption by its members or guests, any liquors, liquids or beverages that are prohibited by the Laws of the State of Alabama to be manufactured, sold or otherwise distributed in the State. Section 2: Nor shall the Club permit any game to be played for wager, or any gambling, or the keeping of any gambling device on or about said premises. The failure of the Club to observe the requirements of this Article will result in forfeiture of the charter of incorporation and all rights incidental thereto. Section 3: No alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs shall be consumed at any time on the property of the Lily Flagg Club, nor shall they be brought onto the premises of the Lily Flagg Club. Section 4: The Club properties or any facility may not be used for the making of profit for the Club or any member, permanent or term. Section 5: Group activities of any kind shall be approved by the Board of Directors. Group tennis, swimming lessons, or any other kind of group lessons shall be sponsored by the Club with instructors acting as employees of the Club. Any individual(s) requiring additional lessons shall request approval by the Board of Directors or the designated committee/committee chairperson with all payments for services received by the Club and disbursed to instructors by the Club. Article XIII General Section 1: All powers, authority, duties and functions of the members, Directors, Officers, and employees of the Corporation shall be exercised in strict conformity with applicable provisions of the laws and regulations of the Charter and Bylaws of the Corporation. Section 2: Any Director or Officer of the Corporation may be removed from office by the affirmative vote of the majority of the members present in person or represented by written proxy at a special called meeting for that purpose, but only after an opportunity has been given for him to be heard. Section 3: When an Officer is absent or otherwise unable to perform the duties of his office, the Board of Directors, may, by resolution, designate another member of the Board of Directors to act temporarily in his place. Section 4: Returns of elections and proceedings of meetings of the Board of Directors and members shall be recorded in the minute book. The minutes of all meetings shall be signed by the Secretary or acting Secretary. ______________________________________________________ __________________ Revisions to club bylaws 1- General Membership Meeting, November, 1996 (A) Article III, Government, Section 1: added "Membership" (B) Article IV, Officers 1. Section 3: added: job responsibility to Vice President position. 2. Section 6: added: section for Membership and associated responsibility. 3. Section 7: added: "Vice President and Membership as dues waivered positions. (C ) Article VI, Members, Section 3.B. Term Membership: increased total from 20 to 25. (D) Article IX, Meetings and Duties of Directors, Section 5, added: to exempt board members, with a family member employed by the club, from voting on personnel issues. 2- General Membership Meeting, November, 1997 (A) No bylaw changes. 3- General Membership Meeting, November, 1998 (A) Article VII, Dues and Assessments, section 1.A. Change: "A minimum annual deposit of $3,000 shall be made to the Depreciable Assets Fund". To read: … $10,000. (B) Article X, Property and Finances, section 1.B. Change: "However, the Board is authorized to spend up to two thousand ($2,000) each year if necessary out of this fund for emergency replacement of depreciable assets without obtaining prior approval of the membership." To read: "… $5,000." (C ) Article VIII, Membership Meetings, Section 1: This section has not been revised; However, general membership authorized the board to hold the member meeting in August, rather than November to stimulate greater attendance. 4- General Membership Meeting, November, 1999 (A) Article VII, Dues and Assessments, Section 1, Subsection D: Increase the amount of late charges from $15 to $25, for fees paid after March 1. (B) Article VII, Dues and Assessments, Section 3, Subsection A: Increase the additional (second) late fee from $10 to $25, for fees paid after April 10. (C ) Section VIII, Membership Meetings, Section I: Membership rescinded amendment for August date, approved at the November 1998 General meeting. The General Meeting will continue to be scheduled in November. 5- General Membership Meeting, November, 2001 (A) Article VII, Dues and Assessments, Section 3, Subsection A: Increase the additional (second) late fee from $25 to $50 and move late payment assessment date from "after April 10" to "after April 1". (B) Article VII, Dues and Assessments, Section 3, Subsection B: Add an additional (third) late fee of $50 for fees paid after May 1. 6- General Membership Meeting, November, 2011 (A) Article IV, Officers, Section 5. Remove the following: The secretary shall counter-sign all certificates of membership. (B) Article VI, Members, Section 3. Add the following: Employees of the pool, during their time of employment, have pool privileges extending to immediate family who reside with them. Guests must pay pool fees. (C ) Article VI, Members, Section 4. Change to read: Each applicant for any membership shall meet the requirement of Article VI, Section 1. Application for any membership must be made in writing on a form obtainable from the membership chairman. The applicant's reference will be contacted by the membership chairman prior to any recommendation to the Board of Directors. (D) Article VI, Members, Section 5. Change to read: Any applicant shall not be admitted to membership except by the affirmative vote of a majority of the Directors present at the meeting at which application is acted upon. The Board of Directors may approve an applicant's request for membership by email with the affirmative vote of a majority and then brought to the next monthly meeting to be recorded in the minutes. 7-General Membership Meeting, November 14, 2016 1. Article VI, Members, Section 3. Change to read: Employees of the pool, during their time of employment, have pool privileges extending to immediate family and guests. 8-General Membership Meeting, November 12, 2018 (A) Article VI, Members, Section 6. Membership shall be transferable; provided the dues and assessments on such memberships are current and that the proposed transferee meets all requirements of membership set forth herein above and is acceptable to the Board of Directors. 9- General Membership Meeting November 11, 2019 1. Article VII, Section 1, D. Change to read: All dues for the forthcoming season shall be paid by April 1 st . Late dues shall be charged $50.00 if paid after April 1st. Late payment of dues is subject to action in Section 3, Article VII. 2. Article VII, Section 2. Change to read: It shall be understood that the dues year is from April 1 to March 31st of the following year, and that requests for refund of dues received after the due date of April 1 for any dues period shall not constitute grounds for refund of dues which may be due or paid for said period. 3. Article VII, Section 3. Change to read: Any member failing to pay dues by 1 April shall set in motion the following procedure of written notifications and prescribed action by the Board of Directors. A. If dues and late fees are not satisfied by 1 April, a first written notice of non-payment of dues shall be sent via certified mail and an additional late fee of $50.00 will be charged. B. If dues and all late fees are not satisfied by 1 May, a second and final written notice of non-payment of dues, automatic suspension, notification of forfeiture of membership, and an additional late fee of $50.00 will be charged, shall be sent via registered mail; the member will be automatically suspended from all privileges of membership. C. If either of the dates noted above fall on Sunday, the deadline will be extended one day. D. If the dues and all late fees are not satisfied by the regularly scheduled June Meeting of the Board of Directors, the Board shall declare forfeiture of delinquent membership. The membership shall revert to the Corporation and may be sold by the Board of Directors at a price set by the Board of Directors.
Human papillomavirus genotypes in 108 patients with anogenital warts in a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Tehran Tahereh Soori, MD, MPH 1,2 Nafiseh Esmaeili, MD 1 Najmeh Rajabi, MD 1 Amir Houshang Ehsani, MD 1 1. Autoimmune Bullous Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Background and Objective: Genital warts, the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD), are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Few studies have been performed on Iranian women with genital warts or cervix cancer but there is no documented data about genital warts and HPV genotyping in Iranian men. In this study, we determined HPV genotypes in 108 male and females with anogenital warts in an STD clinic in Tehran. 2. Department of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author: Tahereh Soori, MD, MPH Razi Hospital, Vahdat-e-Islami Square, Tehran, Iran, Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Conflict of Interest: None to declare Received: 25 February 2015 Accepted: 8 May 2015 Methods: In this cross sectional study, HPV genotypes were determined by the PCR method in 108 males and females with anogenital warts who were visited at an STD clinic in Tehran within January–June 2012. Age, sex, number of sexual partners, education level, and marital status were recorded in the questionnaires. Results: We determined HPV genotypes in 108 patients including 36 men and 72 women. The mean age of the patients was 31.5±12.3 years. The most common type was type 6 (62%). Other common genotypes were 11 (28.7%), 18 (15.7%), 16 (14.8%), 31 (4.6%), 33 (0.9%), 51 (0.9%), 56 (0.9%), and 66 (0.09%). We found that genotypes 16 (P=0.003) and 31 (P=0.013) were more prevalent in the patients with a higher number of sexual partners. In addition, there was a statistically significant association between the number of sexual partners and multi type HPV infection (P=0.045). Genotypes 16 (P=0.036) and 11 (P=0.039) were significantly associated with the female gender. Conclusion: Our results showed that HPV 6 was the most prevalent HPV type followed by HPV 11, 18, and 16. Keywords: wart, human papiloma virus, genotype, condyloma acuminate, cervical cancer Iran J Dermatol 2015; 18: 56-60 INTRODUCTION Genital warts are among the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections all over the world 1 . About 40 genotypes of Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause anogenital warts 2-3 . The association of some HPV genotypes with cancers such as anogenital, cervix, breast, head and neck, and lung cancer has been evaluated in numerous investigations 4-13 . Studies show that more than 90% of genital warts are due to low risk 11 and 6 genotypes whereas high risk genotypes such as genotypes 16 and 18 contribute to about 70% of cervical cancers 2,14 . Various studies have evaluated the distribution of HPV genotypes in different regions worldwide. These studies have shown that genotype distribution may be somewhat different in various countries 11,15-19 . HPV genotype distribution and high risk populations may help us to plan for preventive policies such as education and vaccination. Although few studies have been performed on Iranian women with genital warts or cervix cancers 20-23 , there is no documented data about genital warts and HPV genotyping in Iranian men. Therefore, in this study, we determined HPV genotypes in 108 patients with anogenital warts in an STD in Tehran. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS In this cross sectional study, we evaluated 108 patients who were visited at a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic in Razi Hospital, Tehran with a diagnosis of genital warts within January –June 2012. The diagnosis of warts was first made clinically by an infectious diseases specialist and a dermatologist in Razi Hospital; then, biopsy and PCR were performed for confirming the diagnosis. Data such as sex, age, number of sexual partners, education level, marital status, and age at the first intercourse was recorded in questionnaires. All patients signed informed consent forms before participating in this study. All of the questionnaires were collected and handled confidentially. No additional expenses were paid by the patients. HPV genotypes were identified based on the multiplex real-time PCR assay utilizing specific sets of amplification primers and probes with fluorescent signals to obtain detection results. HPV detection and genotyping was performed using the ABI StepOnePlus thermocycler (Applied Biosystems, USA). HPV genotypes were classified as 13 high risk HPV types (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 68) and 5 low risk HPV types (6, 11, 42, 43, and 44) from a wart sample. Moreover, reaction of each sample contained a cellular Internal control (IC) which could fully monitor the whole testing process starting from DNA extraction to signal detection. Data was analyzed using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) software version 16. Continuous quantitative variables were reported as mean ± standard deviation and nominal variable were reported as frequency and percentage. Chi-2 was used for the comparison of rates and ANOVA was used for comparing the means. P -values less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS In this study, 108 patients with genital warts were enrolled. The mean age of the patients was 31.5±12.3 years (range: 4.5-75 years). Approximately one third of the patients were male. General information such as marital status, educational level, number of sexual partners, and various types of HPV and the number of genotypes in each patient is summarized in Table 1. HPV genotypes are compared between male and female participants in Table 2. According to the data, genotypes 16 and 11 were significantly more prevalent in female patients. Less frequent genotypes including 51, 56, and 66 are not presented in Table 2. Our study showed that more than one Table 1. Demographic, number of partners, and HPV genotyping reults in 108 patients with anogenital warts. Table 2. Distribution of HPV genotypes in males and females. HPV genotype was detected in the 22 females (30.6%) and 1 male (2.8%). This difference was statistically significant (P=0.001, odds ratio=11; CI 95%: 1.5-78.5). According to our results, the distribution of HPV genotypes was not significantly different between high educated and low educated patients as well as married, single, and divorced men and women. In addition, there was no significant association between multi type infection with marital status and educational level. that is the age of sexual activity. Since the genital wart is a sexually transmitted disease, this age predominance was expectable. The frequency of single and married patients was rather similar in our study. In addition, patients were in a wide spectrum regarding to the educational level; more than two-thirds of them had high school and university education. Therefore, all adults, even educated ones, are at risk for genital warts. In the current study, we compared the mean age of the patients with different HPV genotypes and found no significant association between age and infection with a specific HPV genotype (P=0.424). The mean age of the patients in the first intercourse was relatively similar in each HPV genotype (P=0.671). Our study showed that type 16 was more frequent in divorced patients in comparison with single and married patients (P=0.013). We evaluated the association between the number of sexual partners and various types of HPV and found that genotypes 16 (P =0.003) and 31 (P =0.013) were more prevalent in the patients with a higher number of sexual partners. In addition, there was statistically significant association between the number of sexual partners and multi type HPV infection (P =0.045); more than one HPV genotype was detected in 7 patients (82.1%) with more than 3 partners and 14 (18.9%) patients with 1-2 sexual partners. DISCUSSION According to our research, most of our patients were females and also the majority of our participants were in the age group 20-45 years HPV genotyping has been done in various countries worldwide. Although most of these studies have reported relatively similar results, the prevalence of HPV genotypes may have some differences in different regions. For example, in a study in Arizona, type 6 and 16 were the most prevalent HPV types whereas in another study in Seattle on college students, type 16 was the most frequent HPV type. In our study, genotypes 6 and 11 were the most prevalent types 24-25 . Chan and colleagues reported that types 6 and 11 were the most common types of genital samples. In a study in the southwest of Iran 22 , types 6 and 18 were the most prevalent genotypes. In our study, genotypes 16 and 11 were significantly more prevalent in female patients. Our study showed that more than one HPV genotype was detected in 22 females (30.6%) and 1 male (2.8%). This difference is statistically significant (P =0.001, odds ratio=11; CI 95%: 1.5-78.5). Although several studies have been performed on the distribution of HPV genotypes in Iranian women, we could not find a study on HPV genotyping in Iranian men. According to our results, the most common HPV genotype in men with genital warts was type 6. In addition, the frequency of types 18 and 11 was equal and less than type 6. In a multinational cohort study on 2487 men with genital warts, HPV 6 (43.8%) was the most common followed by HPV 11 (10.7%) and HPV 16 (9.8%) 26 . In another multi-centric survey in France 15, among 256 women and 260 men with external acuminate condylomata with a median age of 30 years (range: 18-72 years), the most prevalent genotypes were 6 (69%) and 11 (16%) followed by 16 (9%), 51 (8%), 52 (7%), 66 (6%), 53 (5%), 31 (3%), and 18 (3%). We evaluated the association between the number of sexual partners and various types of HPV. We found that genotypes 16 (P =0.003) and 31 (P =0.013) were more prevalent in the patient with a higher number of sexual partners. In addition, there was a statistically significant association between the number of sexual partners and multi type HPV infection (P =0.045); more than one HPV genotype was detected in 7 patients (82.1%) with more than 3 partners and 14 (18.9%) patients with 1 or 2 sexual partners. In a study on men with multiple type HPV infection, the number of female sexual partners, condom use, and smoking were reported as modifiable factors associated with multiple HPV infection 27 . In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, this study for the first time determined HPV genotypes in an Iranian population including men and women. Our results showed that the most prevalent HPV type was HPV 6 followed by HPV 11, 18, and 16. Further multi-centric studies with more participants are needed to obtain more accurate results on the distribution of HPV genotypes. REFERENCES 1. Bosch FX, Burchell AN, Schiffman M, et al. 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Rational evaluation of antimicrobial properties of lactobacilli isolates against some pathogenic microorganisms: a new method comparing the susceptibility of indicatormicroorganisms Maleki, H. 1,4 , Misaghi, A. 1* , Amini, M. 2 , Saidi, A. 3 , Akbari Noghabi, K. 4** 1 Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of New Technologies and Energy Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University- GC, Tehran, Iran 4 Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran Key words: Abstract: Aspergillus parasiticus, Candida parapsilosis, data organization method, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes Correspondence Misaghi, A. Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Tel: +98(21) 61117040 Fax: +98(21) 66933222 Email: email@example.com Co-Correspondence Akbari Noghabi, K. Tel: +98(21) 44580352 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Received: 14 August 2013 Accepted: 30 September 2013 BACKGROUND: Lactobacilli are known as a valuable source of antimicrobial compounds and have a high potential of use in food biopreservation against food related microorganisms. OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial potency of 63 dairy lactobacilli isolates against four highly important food-related microorganisms were evaluated. In addition, a new way in data organization was introduced, which led to a more informative and rational comparison of indicator microorganisms' susceptibilities to a set of compounds. Correlation of pH and antimicrobial properties was investigated. METHODS: Microbroth dilution assay was used to evaluate indicator microorganisms' susceptibility to lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant). Results were organized by both the conventional way - demonstrating the minimum inhibitory and lethal concentrations of CFCS - and a new suggested method, representing comparative effectiveness of each CFCS specimen against indicator microorganisms of comparison interest. RESULTS: Susceptibilities of tested strains were in the following order: Escherichia coli O157:H7 > Listeria monocytogenes > Aspergillus parasiticus > Candida parapsilosis. Despite the high susceptibility of L. monocytogenes, it showed the highest resistance to death among the tested microorganisms. Eefficiency of Lactobacilli CFCS in killing the tested strains showed the following susceptibility order: E. coli O157:H7 > A. parasiticus > C. parapsilosis > L. monocytogenes. Antimicrobial property was in correlation with the pH value of CFCS. PH had a pronounced impact on susceptibilities of C. parapsilosis and E. coli in pH values of concentrated CFCS lower than 4 and 4.5, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Potency of lactobacilli isolates in growth inhibition of the indicator microorganisms was found promising, and the suggested data organization method provided additional information, leading to more precise comparison of indicator microorganisms. Introduction Employing more effective and less adverse strategies in producing safe foodstuffs is an evergrowing demand. Public claim insists on reducing the additives, chemical preservatives, and physical interventions in food production (Guerrieri et al., 2009; Schnürer and Magnusson, 2005). Biocontroling can be preferably used as a suitable alternative to chemical preservation. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), including lactobacilli, have a high potential of use in preservation of foods, regarding their long history of usage in foods, possessing GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, having health promoting effects, and known antagonistic effects against food borne pathogens (Schnürer and Magnusson, 2005; Servin, 2004; Stiles, 1996). LAB also inhibit food spoilage fungi and can even interact with mycotoxins (Dalié et al., 2010). Microorganisms' specifications may change in adaptation to their environments. Geoecological diversity of Iran as well as pronounced diversity of traditional dairy products among diverse human population with different cultural background raised curiosity of the researchers to evaluate antimicrobial properties of lactobacilli isolates obtained from milk and traditional dairy products throughout the country. The present research aimed at investigating antagonistic potential of the lactobacilli isolates against important food-related bacteria and fungi: E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, A. parasiticus, and C. parapsilosis. Materials and Methods 63 Lactobacilli strains were isolated from milk and traditionally produced dairy products across the country to evaluate their antimicrobial properties. Isolation procedure: Maximum recovery diluent was used for dilution of dairy samples to isolate consisting microorganisms from a proper dilution. Cheese samples were homogenized using a bag mixer before preparing the dilutions. 100 microliters of the prepared consecutive dilutions of each dairy sample were surface plated on de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) agar plates and incubated at 37 o C under microaerophilic condition for three days. All morphologically diverse colonies were picked and cultivated in MRS broth medium after being ensured of colony purity by sub culturing the selected colonies. 25% glycerol stocks of isolates were prepared from 24-hour cultivated microbial suspension. Incubation of slow growing isolates on MRS agar plates was continued for five days, and glycerol stocks were prepared from 72-hour cultured broth. Preliminary identification of isolates: Probable Lactobacilli isolates were selected among the isolates with regard to gram staining, morphological examination, catalase, and motility tests. Gram positive rods with the growth ability on MRS medium and negative responses in both catalase and motility tests were assumed as lactobacilli. Preparing the antimicrobial substances source: 100 mL MRS broth was inoculated by second subculture of isolated lactobacilli. Cell free supernatant was collected after 48 h incubation at 35°C by 10 min centrifugation at 10000 ×g at 4°C. Culture supernatants were lyophilized after addition of three mg/mL sucrose as lyoprotectant and filter sterilization through polyethersulfone membrane filters with 0.45 μ pore size. Lyophilized CFCS were resuspended in sterile distilled water to prepare CFCS specimens at 16 fold the initial concentration. PH metery: Electrode pH meter was used to determine the pH values of 16 fold concentrated CFCS. PH was recorded after getting stable. Indicator microorganisms: An O157:H7 serotype of E. coli (ATCC 700728), L. monocytogenes (ATCC 19115), C. parapsilosis (ATCC 22019), and A. parasiticus (ATCC 15517) were selected among Gram negative and Gram-positive bacteria, yeasts, and molds to be used as indicator microorganisms. They were selected with respect to their superior hygienic importance and their employment history as the standard strains in antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Antimicrobial test procedure: Antimicrobial properties of isolated lactobacilli were evaluated using microbroth dilution assay according to M27A3, M38-A2, and M07-A8 standards of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) with the following minor modifications. RPMI-1640 and Cation-Adjusted Mueller- Hinton broth (CAMHB) media were prepared in double strength to provide the required concentration of media components after introducing to the equal amount of the diluted CFCS within the wells. No buffer was added to the culture media; however, pH was adjusted to 7 and 7.2 for fungi and bacteria culture media, respectively. Double strength culture media were inoculated by indicator microorganisms to provide final inoculum sizes of 2 \|* 10 5 to 8 * 10 5 , 0.5 * 10 3 to 2.5 * 10 3 and 0.4 * 10 4 to 5 * 10 4 in the wells related to bacteria, yeast, and mold, respectively, according to CLSI standards of M07-A8, M27-A3, and M38-A2 (CLSI, 2008a; CLSI, 2008b; CLSI, 2009). All plates were incubated at 35 o C without agitation, and the growth was examined after 48 hours except for E. coli whose growth was checked at hour 24 of incubation. Round bottom 96 wells microplate was used to perform the assay. MIC and MLC determination: MIC was defined as the lowest concentration to prevent any distinguishable growth. For MLC determination, specimens were taken from wells with complete growth inhibition, after 48 hours of incubation. The sampling was done from the latest growth positive well as the last tolerated concentration and growth control well as controls. The specimens of E. coli related tests were taken 24 hours after the incubation. 10, 20, and 100 microliters samples were taken from the wells of bacteria, mold, and yeast assays, respectively. Specimens of L. monocytogenes, E. coli, and both fungi tests were cultured on Triptic Soy Agar-Yeast Extract (TSAYE), nutrient agar, and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) plates, respectively. All inoculated plates were incubated at 35 o C until growth was seen in growth control related plates. The minimum CFCS concentration leading to a maximum two colonies formation on bacteria and mold related plates and one colony on yeast related plates were considered as MLC against the related indicator microorganism. The defined MLC represents killing potency of 97.5% to 99.8% against mold, 98% to 99.6% against yeast, and 99.9 to 99.95% against bacteria. New method in comparing indicator microorganisms' susceptibility: MIC of each CFCS specimen against C. parapsilosis and L. monocytogenes was apportioned to the MIC against A. parasiticus and E. coli, respectively, to find out that the MIC against one fungus or bacterium strain how many times the other one is. Because the performed microbroth dilution assay had a twofold dilution order, the possible MIC ratios would have the same order. All probable MIC ratios and frequency of each observed ratio were tabulated. The CFCS specimens were clustered to different pH ranges to find out the pH impact on alteration of indicator microorganisms' susceptibility. Geometric averages of the MIC ratios for each pH range and for all tested lactobacilli CFCS were calculated to compare indicator micro-organisms' total susceptibilities and in each pH range. The method was also employed to compare indicator microorganisms' susceptibility from MLC aspect. Results Table 1 represents consensus overview on potency of lactobacilli isolates CFCS in inhibiting the four nominated indicator microorganisms, gives a rough preliminary estimate of their susceptibility to the lactobacilli metabolites and also provides a comparison among them. Higher susceptibilities of A. parasiticus and L. monocytogenes than C. parapsilosis and E. coli, respectively, were presumable regarding to more lactobacilli CFCS capable in inhibiting them even with lower concentrations. The bacteria were more susceptible than the fungi according to independent samples T-test (p<0.01). Table 1 also indicates average pH of CFCS specimens with similar MIC against each indicator microorganism. MIC values were in agreement with pH values as is seen in table 1, and the correlation was significant in 99% level for all the indicator microorganisms. The figures 1 and 2 show the effectiveness of isolates CFCS, belonging to each pH, ranges in growth inhibition of tested microorganisms. A. parasiticus was generally more susceptible than C. parapsilosis with significant difference at 95% level in pH ranges below 5 (Figure 1a & 1b), while slightly more susceptibility of E. coli than L. monocytogenes was not found to be significant, according to independent samples T-test results (Figure 2a & 2b). There was no growth inhibition by CFCS specimens belonging to pH ranges higher than 5.5, 6, and 6.5 on the yeast, mold, and bacteria respectively. Indicator microorganisms' susceptibilities to lactobacilli CFCS were also compared in a new way to obtain more detailed information by comparing the effectiveness of each individual CFCS separately against either both bacteria or both fungi strains. 70 % of isolates CFCS showed a higher inhibitory effect on A. parasiticus than C. parapsilosis, while C. parapsilosis was more susceptible in 2.5 percent of CFCS specimens. Geometric mean of the MIC ratios indicated that 1.866 times the minimum required concentration to inhibit the mold growth was necessary for inhibiting the yeast strain, averagely (table 2). As shown in table 3, about 33.3% and 19.3% of CFCS specimens were more effective on E. coli and L. monocytogenes, respectively. Averagely, 1.157 times the minimum required concentration to inhibit the E. coli growth was necessary for inhibiting the L. monocytogenes (table 3). A. parasiticus and E. coli were significantly more susceptible than C. parapsilosis and L. monocytogenes in 99% and 95% levels, respectively, according to one sample T-test statistical analysis. According to the introduced new data organization method, the killing potencies of each CFCS specimen against the bacteria were individually compared, and the results were stated in table 5 as MLC ratios. The same comparison was done between the killing potencies of each CFCS specimen against the fungi, and the obtained MLC ratios were stated in table 6. About 48.1% and 7.4% of the evaluated CFCS specimens had more killing potency on A. parasiticus and C. parapsilosis, respectively, than on the other indicator fungi. Averagely, about 1.508 times MLC against A. parasiticus was required to kill C. parapsilosis (table 5). About 84.4% of the evaluated CFCS were more potent in killing the E. coli than killing the L. monocytogenes. Only in 3.1% of CFCS specimens, higher concentrations of CFCS were needed to kill E. coli. Averagely, about 2.378 times MLC against E. coli was required to kill L. monocytogenes (Table 6). Higher susceptibilities of A. parasiticus and E. coli against killing concentrations of CFCS specimens than C. parapsilosis and L. monocytogenes, respectively, were found significant at 99% level using one sample T-test statistical analysis. Discussion Lactobacilli are known as a valuable source of antimicrobial compounds and have a high potential of use in biocontrolling the microorganisms of concern, in food industry and public health aspects. A. parasiticus and C. parapsilosis were selected among fungi to be used as indicator microorganisms to evaluate antimicrobial properties of isolated lactobacilli. They were chosen because of their significant role in food spoilage and their importance as the life threatening fungi. A. parasiticus and A. flavus are the only aflatoxigenic fungi in food. Although A. parasiticus is less widespread than A. flavus, almost all its isolates are aflatoxigenic and capable of producing all naturally occurring aflatoxins; B1, B2, G1, and G2. Candida parapsilosis is an emerging and high ranked prevalent nosocomial pathogen, which is considered as an important etiology to invasive mycoses, especially in immune compromised patients and cases with implantation history (Hocking and Blackburn, 2006; Loureiro and Querol, 1999; Trofa et al., 2008). E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes were the next indicator microorganisms, which were nominated among bacteria, because of their high importance as food-borne pathogens with emerging outbreaks and high fatality rate. Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) and L. monocytogenes were respectively the causes of 308 and 25 outbreaks in US since 1998 till 2008. While they caused about 4 and almost zero percents of the food-borne outbreaks, they were respectively recognized as the causes of 11 and 25 percents of deaths occurred by food-borne pathogens in the same period of time (Gould et al., 2013b). Among the 23 deaths of food-borne outbreaks in US in 2009 and 2010, 9 were attributed to L. monocytogenes and 4 to STEC O157 (Gould et al., 2013a). Antifungal property: Lactobacilli have been reported to be effective against A. parasiticus and C. parapsilosis. Lactobacilli from a commercial silage inoculum inhibited growth and aflatoxin production of A. parasiticus (Gourama and Bullerman, 1995). Lactobacillus rhamnosus RC007 and Lactobacillus plantarum RC009 reduced the A. parasiticus growth rate especially at 0.99 aw (Dogi et al., 2013). Amixed culture of lactobacilli and propionibacteria yield a total inhibition of C. parapsilosis (Schwenninger and Meile, 2004). 25% and less than 10% of lactobacilli isolated from vaginal tract of healthy women and women with bacterial vaginitis, respectively, showed antagonism against C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019 (Branco et al., 2010). There are also several reports comparing susceptibilities of C. parapsilosis and A. parasiticus; however, their results are not comparable to our results because of undefined test conditions or several deviations in used culture media, incubation condition, inoculum size, and the tested strain. Candida parapsilosis ATCC 22019 was found to be more susceptible to hydroxychavicol than A. parasiticus MTCC 2796 (Ali et al., 2010). AnteisoC17 mycosubtilin was more effective against C. parapsilosis than A. Parasiticus (Fickers et al., 2009). Susceptibilities of C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019 and A. parasiticusKCTC 6598 were compared in another study, and the results showed equal susceptibility to melittin and higher susceptibility of C. parapsilosis to papiliocin (Lee et al., 2010). Our performed antifungal susceptibility test, meeting the CLSI recommendations, showed higher susceptibility of A. parasiticus ATCC 15517 than C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019 to the tested lactobacilli CFCS, especially by employing the new data organization method (Tables 1, 2, 4 & 5). Antibacterial property: There are several reports of E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes inhibition by lactobacilli. Ogawa et al. (2001) reported growth inhibition and killing activity of two probiotic lactobacilli against E. coli O157:H7 and suggested a correlation between lactic acid production level, pH, and antimicrobial effects (Ogawa et al., 2001). Lactobacilli strains showed reduction in E. coli O157:H7 population in both exposing in broth and vacuum-packaged fresh ground beef during storage at 5°C (Smith et al., 2005). In another study, all five indigenous Lactobacillus sakei strains inhibited growth of both L. monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 (Bredholt et al., 1999). In another study, four of the five lactobacilli strains isolated from retail meat cuts had inhibitory activity against all four tested L. monocytogenes strains (Lewus et al., 1991). A strain of Lactobacillus sakei inhibited growth of 10 3 cfu/g of a cocktail of three rifampicin resistant mutant L. monocytogenes strains both at 8°C and 4°C (Bredholt et al., 2001). The isolates Lactobacillus casei AP8 and Lactobacillus plantarum H5 isolated from the intestinal flora of Sturgeon fish showed activity against L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115 (Ghanbari et al., 2013). monocytogenes Scott Aand E. coli O157:H7, higher susceptibility of E. coli O157:H7 was revealed in various conditions, including different culture media with various pH and various incubation and storage temperatures (Cava-Roda et al., 2012). Escherichia coli O157:H7 showed also higher susceptibility to \|γ\|irradiation than L. monocytogenes and 3 kGy dose could effectively eliminate these bacteria by more than 4 log and 3 log units, respectively (Badr, 2005). Our results represented in tables 3 and 6, indicating higher sensitivity of E. coli O157:H7 than L. monocytogenes, are in accordance with several reports. Santos et al. in evaluation of antimicrobial activity of 58 lactobacilli isolated from Kefir found that 75% of isolates were effective against E. coli CECT4076, while only 50 % could inhibit L. monocytogenes CECT4032 (Santos et al., 2003). In determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of vanillin and mixtures with clove and cinnamon against L. There were lactobacilli CFCS with higher effectiveness against either of the tested indicator bacteria. Although Gram negative bacteria are usually more resistant to antimicrobial substances because of their rigid outer membrane, Escherichia coli ATCC 700728 was found to be more sensitive to isolated lactobacilli CFCS than L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115 in average, according to tables 3 and 6. Antimicrobial effect - pH correlation: The observed MIC-pH relation in table 1 was further investigated by clustering the isolates CFCS specimens to different pH ranges and comparing the Table 1. Consensus overview on growth inhibitory and pH characteristics of CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) of tested lactobacilli isolates. () X-times concentrated CFCS; Mold (Aspergillus parasiticus, ATCC 15517); Yeast (Candida parapsilosis, ATCC 22019); GNB (Escherichia coli O157:H7, ATCC 700728); GPB (Listeria monocytogenes, ATCC 19115). \| \| Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (CFCS concentrations)() \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| “ \| \| 8 X \| 4 X \| 2 X \| 1 X \| X/2 \| X/4 \| X/8 \| X/16 \| £ \| X/32 \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with related MIC \| 23 \| 8 \| 9 \| 14 \| 9 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| \| \| \| Avg. pH±SD \| 5.81± 0.4 \| 4.81± 0.6 \| 4.40± 0.5 \| 4.16± 0.4 \| 3.87± 0.1 \| - \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with related MIC \| 29 \| 15 \| 8 \| 7 \| 4 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| \| \| \| Avg. pH±SD \| 5.67± 0.4 \| 4.33± 0.4 \| 4.18± 0.3 \| 3.82± 0.1 \| 3.84± 0.1 \| - \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with common MIC \| 23 \| 3 \| 2 \| 3 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| \| \| \| Avg. pH ±SD \| 5.81± 0.4 \| 4.30± 0.7 \| 4.30± 0.5 \| 3.85± 0.1 \| 3.92± 0. \| - \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with related MIC \| 6 \| 11 \| 6 \| 8 \| 6 \| 6 \| 5 \| 8 \| 7 \| \| \| \| \| Avg. pH ±SD \| 5.94± 0.8 \| 5.80± 0.3 \| 5.61± 0.2 \| 5.12± 0.2 \| 4.66± 0.1 \| 4.32± 0.3 \| 3.85± 0.1 \| 3.82± 0.1 \| 3.86± 0.1 \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with related MIC \| 12 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 9 \| 5 \| 5 \| 10 \| 4 \| \| \| \| \| Avg. pH±SD \| 5.81± 0.6 \| 5.86± 0.1 \| 5.28± 0.7 \| 5.34± 0.2 \| 4.72± 0.2 \| 4.27± 0.4 \| 3.85± 0.1 \| 3.83± 0.1 \| 3.87± 0.1 \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of isolates CFCS with common MIC \| 6 \| 4 \| 1 \| 3 \| 5 \| 2 \| 2 \| 6 \| 4 \| \| \| \| Table 2. Frequency of lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) representing the related MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) ratio against the indicator fungi in each pH range. () CFCS specimens with no inhibition on both fungi were not included in the table; () sign " was used wherever some CFCS didn't show inhibition on yeast and MIC value of \|"\| 8 was considered for them; µg (geometric mean); Mold (Aspergillus parasiticus, ATCC 15517); Yeast (Candida parapsilosis, ATCC 22019). \| \| \| 8 \| 4 \| 2 \| 1 \| 1/2 \| 1/4 \| 1/8 \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 3.51 - 4 \| 22 \| 1 \| 2 \| 9 \| 9 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1.604 \| “ \| \| 1.866 \| \| 4.01 - 4.5 \| 3 \| 0 \| 1 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2.519 \| \| \| \| \| 4.51 - 5 \| 10 \| 0 \| 3 \| 6 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| “ \| 2.297() \| \| \| 5.01 - 5.5 \| 4 \| 0 \| 1 \| 2 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| “ \| \| 2 \| \| \| 5.51 - 6 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| “ \| \| 2 \| \| \| 6.01 - 6.5 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| - \| \| \| \| \| 6.51 - 7 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| - \| \| \| \| antimicrobial effectiveness of the specimens belonging to each cluster. Frequencies of various observed MIC values of specimens belonging to each cluster against the indicator microorganism were demonstrated in figures 1 & 2. Susceptibilities of the indicator strains in association to pH value are also comparable in these figures. The lower the pH, the higher the susceptibility of all tested strains, according to Kruskal-Wallis statistical analysis (p<0.01). In comparison of tested fungi, A. parasiticus was generally more susceptible than C. parapsilosis, and there was an increasing difference in susceptibility by decreasing the pH till 4 (Figure 1a & 1b). Areduction in fungi susceptibility difference to the CFCS specimens belonging to the lowest pH range was seen (Figure 1a & 1b), which was confirmed by comparison of indicator fungi susceptibility, using the new data organization method (Table 2). Down shifting the increasing susceptibility differences of fungi strains at the lowest pH range may be due to reduction of the yeast cells' resistance to acidic condition. Meeting the critical point of acid tolerance could be the reason of the yeast growth suppression in lower pH values. Candida parapsilosis was shown to be able to grow at pH 2.5 at 22°C in the culture medium (Betts Table 3. Frequency of lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) representing the related MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) ratio against the indicator bacteria in each pH range. () CFCS specimens with no inhibition on both bacteria were not included in the table; (*) sign " was used wherever some CFCS didn't show inhibition on GPB and MIC value of \|"\| 8 was considered for them; µg (geometric mean); GNB (Escherichia coli O157:H7, ATCC 700728); GPB (Listeria monocytogenes, ATCC 19115). \| PH ranges of CFCS \| Frequency in each pH range() \| MIC against GPB / MIC against GNB \| \| \| \| \| \| \| µ in each g pH range \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| 8 \| 4 \| 2 \| 1 \| 1/2 \| 1/4 \| 1/8 \| \| \| 3.51 - 4 \| 22 \| 1 \| 0 \| 7 \| 12 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1.287 \| \| 4.01 - 4.5 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1.260 \| \| 4.51 - 5 \| 9 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2 \| 5 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1 \| \| 5.01 - 5.5 \| 7 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 3 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| “ 1(*) \| \| 5.51 - 6 \| 14 \| 0 \| 0 \| 6 \| 5 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| “ 1.160 \| \| 6.01 - 6.5 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1 \| 0 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| “ 1 \| \| 6.51 - 7 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| - \| Table 4. Frequency of MLC (minimum lethal concentration) values of lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) with inhibitory effect against indicator microorganisms. () The number of times concentrated CFCS; (*) Signs \|"\| and \|£\| were used wherever some CFCS didn't eliminate indicator microorganisms at the concentration 8X and eliminate them at the concentration X/32, respectively;. Mold (Aspergillus parasiticus, ATCC 15517); Yeast (Candida parapsilosis, ATCC 22019); GNB (Escherichia coli O157:H7, ATCC 700728); GPB (Listeria monocytogenes, ATCC 19115). \| \| Minimum Lethal Concentration (CFCS concentrations)() \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| “ \| \| 8 X \| 4 X \| 2 X \| 1 X \| X/2 \| X/4 \| X/8 \| X/16 \| £ \| X/32 \| \| Frequency of observed MLC values (out of 40 effective isolates CFCS against Mold) \| 10 \| 11 \| 4 \| 11 \| 4 \| - \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of observed MLC values (out of 34 effective isolates CFCS against Yeast) \| 5 \| 16 \| 8 \| 2 \| 3 \| - \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of observed MLC values (out of 57 effective isolates CFCS against GNB) \| 17 \| 9 \| 3 \| 2 \| 5 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 3 \| \| \| \| \| Frequency of observed MLC values (out of 51 effective isolates CFCS against GPB) \| 19 \| 6 \| 3 \| 2 \| 6 \| 7 \| 6 \| 2 \| 0 \| \| \| \| Table 5. Frequency of lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) representing the related MLC (minimum lethal concentration) ratio against the indicator fungi in each pH range. () CFCS specimens with no defined MLC against either of fungi were not included in the table; µg (geometric mean); Mold (Aspergillus parasiticus, ATCC 15517); Yeast (Candida parapsilosis, ATCC 22019). \| PH ranges of CFCS \| Frequency in each pH range() \| MLC against Yeast / MLC against Mold \| \| \| \| \| \| \| µ in each g pH range \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| 8 \| 4 \| 2 \| 1 \| 1/2 \| 1/4 \| 1/8 \| \| \| 3.51 - 4 \| 21 \| 0 \| 2 \| 7 \| 10 \| 2 \| 0 \| 0 \| 1.346 \| \| 4.01 - 4.5 \| 3 \| 0 \| 2 \| 0 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2.520 \| Table 6. Frequency of lactobacilli CFCS (cell free culture supernatant) representing the related MLC (minimum lethal concentration) ratio against the indicator bacteria in each pH range. (*) CFCS specimens with no defined MLC against either of bacteria were not included in the table; µg (geometric mean); GNB (Escherichia coli O157:H7, ATCC 700728); GPB (Listeria monocytogenes, ATCC 19115). \| PH ranges of CFCS \| Frequency in each pH ranges \| MLC against GPB / MLC against GNB \| \| \| \| \| \| \| µ in each pH g range \| Total µ g \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| 8 \| 4 \| 2 \| 1 \| 1/2 \| 1/4 \| 1/8 \| \| \| \| 3.51 - 4 \| 22 \| 1 \| 8 \| 9 \| 4 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2.416 \| \| \| 4.01 - 4.5 \| 2 \| 0 \| 1 \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2.828 \| \| \| 4.51 - 5 \| 7 \| 1 \| 2 \| 4 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 2.972 \| \| \| 5.01 - 5.5 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| 0 \| - \| \| et al., 1999). Aspergillus strains were reported to be able to grow over the pH range 2 to 11 (Wheeler et al., 1991). Although the susceptibility difference of the tested bacteria was not significant according to table 1, E. coli seemed to be slightly more susceptible than L. monocytogenes, especially in pH values lower than 4.5 (Figure 2a & 2b). This was confirmed and was found significant (p<0.05) by the results gathered from comparison of antibacterial effectiveness of each individual CFCS specimen against the tested bacterial strains, according to the new data organization method (Table 3). It may be due to higher susceptibility of E. coli to acidic condition than L. monocytogenes . Although both bacterial species tolerate high acidic conditions, it has been reported that L. monocytogenes has higher tolerance to acidic condition. Minimum pH values for the growth of E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes are 4.5 and 4.1 respectively (Jay et al., 2005). The suggested new method to data organization: Both the conventional and new suggested data organization methods were useful in assessing the results of antimicrobial tests and helped to have a more precise interpretation. While the conventional way of data organization provides useful information like MIC and MLC values, indicating the tested antimicrobial substances potency, the suggested data organization method is more beneficial in comparing the indicator microorganisms' susceptibility to various sets of antimicrobial substances. Whereas tables 1 and 4 represented the test results using conventional data organization method, tables 2, 3, 5, and 6 were consequences of the new suggested way in data organization. The new method provided some additional information such as the extent of the indicator strains' susceptibility difference to antimicrobial substances. In addition, it indicated the frequency of antimicrobial substances causing each degree of susceptibility differences between indicator microorganisms of comparison interest. In the new method, instead of averaging the observed MIC values, MIC ratios of antimicrobial substances against two indicator microorganisms were geometrically averaged, and the obtained value gave an immediate comparison of the strains' susceptibility. This method is also applicable in analyzing the results of hurdle technology in evaluation of the effect of different variables such as pH and culture conditions, including culture media, incubation temperature, and presence of additives, on susceptibility changes of the indicator microorganisms. This method makes it easier to track susceptibility changes of the indicator microorganism in response to introduced variables. Akcnowledgments A very Special thank is offered to Fourough Ranaei for valuable assistance during the project. 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(1995) Inhibition of growth and aflatoxin production of Aspergillus flavus by Lactobacillus species. J Food Prot. 58: 12491256. 17. Guerrieri, E., de Niederhäusern, S., Messi, P., Sabia, C., Iseppi, R., Anacarso, I., Bondi, M. (2009) Use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) biofilms for the control of Listeria monocytogenes in a small-scale model. Food control. 20: 861-865. 18. Hocking, A. (2006) Aspergillus and related teleomorphs. In: Food Spoilage Microorganisms. Blackburn, C.d.W. (ed.). (1 st ed.) Woodhead Publishing Ltd. Cambridge. UK. p. 451-487. 19. Jay, J.M., Loessner, M.J., Golden, D.A. (2005) Modern Food Microbiology. (7 th ed.) Springer. NewYork, USA. 20. Lee, J., Hwang, J.S., Hwang, B., Kim, J.K., Kim, 21. S.R., Kim, Y., Lee, D.G. (2010) Influence of the papiliocin peptide derived from Papilio xuthus on the perturbation of fungal cell membranes. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 311: 70-75. Lewus, C.B., Kaiser, A., Montville, T.J. 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(2004) A mixed culture of Propionibacterium jensenii and Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei inhibits food spoilage yeasts. Syst Appl Microbiol. 27: 229-237. 27. Servin, A.L. (2004) Antagonistic activities of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria against microbial pathogens. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 28: 405-440. 28. Smith, L., Mann, J., Harris, K., Miller, M., Brashears, M. (2005) Reduction of Escherichia coli O157: H7 and Salmonella in ground beef using lactic acid bacteria and the impact on sensory properties. J Food Protect. 68: 1587-1592. 29. Stiles, M.E. (1996) Biopreservation by lactic acid bacteria. AVan Leeuw J Microb. 70: 331-345. 30. Trofa, D., Gácser, A., Nosanchuk, J.D. (2008) Candida parapsilosis, an emerging fungal pathogen. Clin Microbiol Rev. 21: 606-625. 31. Wheeler, K.A., Hurdman, B.F., Pitt, J. (1991) Influence of pH on the growth of some toxigenic species of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium. Int J Food Microbiol. 12: 141-149. 32.
2 THE AUTHORS Nicolas Pavlovitch Partner Contact: email@example.com Giulio Soana Senior Consultant Contact: firstname.lastname@example.org Grégoire Bellefroid Consultant Contact: email@example.com AVANTAGE REPLY Avantage Reply, part of the Reply Group, specialises in Financial Services consulting with a focus on Governance, Risk and Finance Transformation, Treasury and Capital, Quantitative Modelling, Compliance and Regulatory Advisory. Since its establishment in 2004, Avantage Reply has been committed to industry specialisation (financial services) offering insights and in-depth experience. Avantage Reply works with board members, CROs, CCOs, COOs and CFOs, senior and mid-management finance and risk executives of leading financial services institutions. With offices across Europe and the United Kingdom, we count some of the world's most significant financial groups among our clients, including in Investment, Retail and Commercial Banking, Custodian Banking, Insurance and Investment Management. Introduction The first comprehensive European regulation pertaining to the crypto-market was approved in May 2023 and is known as the Market in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCaR). With the Fifth AML Directive, the Union had already regulated crypto-assets in the AML space, albeit under a different name: virtual currency. To harmonise the sectorial laws, MiCaR, however, greatly broadens the Directive's purview. Until now, Member States have been in charge of enforcing the discipline surrounding the issuance of crypto-assets and CASP registration. As a result, the Union became fragmented, with different requirements. MiCaR, a directly applicable regulation, seeks to address this by establishing standardised, union-wide standards for CASP registration and crypto-asset offerings. In order to ensure consistency and promote the smooth operation of the shared market, MiCaR incorporates both a mutual recognition system, also known as passporting, and common regulations. According to passporting, a CASP or an offeror must be acknowledged throughout the Union after receiving authorisation from one Member State (the Home MS). 3 4 Definitions MiCaR significantly changes the previous definition of virtu al currency provided by the Fifth AML Directive. Following the regulation, a crypto-asset is any digital token that has three characteristics: 1) is a representation of value or rights, 2) can be transferred electronically, 3) uses a Decentralised Ledger Technology (DLT) or similar technology. Conversely, a DLT is any technology based on a shared, synchronised information repository that is updated by a consensus mechanism among various nodes. It is important to empha sise that both permissionless and permissioned DLTs are included in the definition of crypto-assets, which does not mention the network's governance structure. Below this overarching definition, the MiCaR introduces three sub-definitions: asset-referenced (ART), e-money (EMT), and utility tokens. The first two tokens can be classi fied as stable coins – crypto-assets that aim to maintain a stable value by pegging it to another currency, commodity, or a basket thereof. The third group includes tokens de signed to grant users access to a good or service that their issuer provides. There is one somewhat distinct discipline offered for each of these categories. The general, overar ching regulation still applies to any token that does not fit into one of the three previously mentioned categories, with such tokens being qualified as OCA. Two last observations on this definition. Firstly, the term "crypto-assets" is defined in an explicitly residual manner. Therefore, MiCaR does not apply to any crypto-asset that is already covered by another European regulation, such as MIFID II. Secondly, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), such as collectible and artistic ones, are expressly excluded from MiCaR. In terms of covered entities, the regulation further broadens the regulatory purview. Custodian wallet providers and ex changers are the two types of VASPs (now CASP) that were introduced by the Fifth AML Directive. MiCaR adds three macro-categories to this list: offerors, issuers, and CASPs (the CASP's categories moving from the previous two to the ten). A CASP is now defined as any service provider that is ac tive in the following fields 1) custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, 2) operation of a trading platform for crypto-assets, 3) exchange of crypto-assets for funds, 4) exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets, 5) execution of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients, 6) placing of crypto-assets, 7) reception and transmission of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients, 8) advice on crypto-assets, 9) portfolio management on crypto-assets, 10) transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients. It is important to emphasise that even in cases where ser vices are offered in a fully decentralised manner and fall within one of the regulated categories, MiCaR does not cover them. Therefore, DAOs and DeFi should typically be regarded as exempt. One final general observation regarding the definitions: the aforementioned goal of MiCaR is to establish the norm for the regulation of crypto-assets throughout the European Union; therefore, its definitions will extend beyond its scope. For example, the definitions of crypto-asset and CASP in MiCaR are mentioned in both the recently approved Travel Rule Regulation and the upcoming AML Package. The duties provided by the regulation: the authorisation and registration regime Now that its scope has been established, let's move on to the responsibilities the regulation lays out. tation was left to national legislation. MiCaR now introduces a unified registration regime. Such a registration is a pre requisite for offering CASP services in the Union. As mentioned, the core of MiCaR is 1) an authorisation re gime for crypto-assets' offerings, partially different depend ing on the type of crypto-asset offered, 2) a registration re gime for CASPs. Concerning the authorisation regime, the basic discipline is provided for the issuance of OCA. For such an issuance three requirements are provided, the offeror should 1) be a legal person, 2) draft a white paper, publish it, and notify the supervisor, 3) comply with the organizational and prudential requirements (act honestly, treat token holders fairly and equally, etc.). These basic requirements are augmented with regards to ARTs and EMTs due to the perceived higher risk posed by stable coins. Such additional requirements are, for instance, an approval process (instead of the general notification one) for ART's offerings. The discipline of white papers is essential to the offering's regulation. Crypto-offerings, or initial coin offerings, have long been described in white papers as a way for develop ers to showcase their projects and draw in investors. The regulation now imposes strict guidelines on what must be included in white papers. The goal is to make sure inves tors are fully informed about the project's contents and that the offering of crypto-assets is only pursued after a set of minimal conditions are met. The second limb of MiCaR is the registration process for CASPs. Such a registration was already provided by the AML regulation, albeit its concrete definition and implemen Any CASP offering services within the Union has to register in one Member State. To apply, the CASP has to be a legal person or any other undertaking – a simplified procedure is envisioned for regulated FI as credit institutions. To be authorised, crypto-asset service providers shall 1) have a registered office in a Member State where they carry out at least part of their crypto-asset services, 2) shall have their place of effective management in the Union, 3) at least one of the directors shall be a resident in the Union. The authorisation request should be presented to the competent authority of the Home Member State containing a list of information provided by the regulation (complemented by guidelines to be adopted by the Commission as proposed by EBA and ESMA). After receiving the application, the competent authority has 40 working days to make a fully justified decision about whether to approve or deny the request for authorisation. Besides the authorisation regime, CASPs are under a se ries of organizational and prudential requirements similar to the one provided for offerors – i.e., obligation to act fair ly and honestly, provide truthful information to their clients, minimum permanent capital requirements, etc. Detailed requirements are provided for specific types of services - e.g., custodial wallet providers. Non-compliance with such requirements can result in the withdrawal of the authorisation by the competent authority. 5 6 6 \| ities \| Characteristics \| White paper \| Authorisation \| Supervision \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| T ers \| - Ruled under e-money directive \| YES : - Must be complete \| YES : - As credit institutions or e-money institutions \| By NCA and ECB for significant EMTs issuers \| \| T ers \| - Legal Person or not or any other undertaking established in the EU \| YES: - Must be approved by NCA - Must be clear, fair and complete \| YES: - Application for authorisation with NCA \| By EBA for significant ARTs issuers (see criteria) \| \| A ers \| - Legal person \| YES: - To notify NCA - Some exemptions exist \| NO: - Offerors of OCA’s are not subject to prior authorisation \| \| \| SP’s \| - Legal person with registered office in a MS - At least 1 director must be an EU citizen - Management body must be qualified \| N.A. \| YES: - NCA’s should acknowledge receipt - Notification procedure for already authorised credit institutions \| \| Contacts Avantage Reply (Milan) Via Castellanza, 11 - 20151 Milan - Italy tel +39 02 535761 - fax +39 02 53576444 firstname.lastname@example.org Avantage Reply (Turin) Via Cardinal Massaia, 83 - 10147 Turin - Italy tel +39 011 29100 - fax +39 011 2911009 email@example.com Avantage Reply (Rome) Via del Giorgione, 59 - 00147 Rome - Italy tel +39 06 844341 - fax +39 06 84434599 firstname.lastname@example.org Avantage Reply (Paris) 5th Floor, 3 rue du Faubourg Saint Honore 75008 Paris - France tel +33 (0) 1 70 23 08 74 email@example.com Avantage Reply (Luxembourg) 21-25 allée Scheffer, L-2520 Luxembourg, Luxembourg Tel: +352 286 843 1 firstname.lastname@example.org Avantage Reply (Bruxelles) Congresstraat / rue du Congrès, 5 B-1000 Brussels / Bruxelles - Belgium tel +32 (0) 2 88 00 32 0 email@example.com Avantage Reply (München) Luise-Ullrich-Straße 14 - 80636 München - Deutschland tel +49 89 411142-200 - fax +49 89 411142-299 firstname.lastname@example.org Avantage Reply (Frankfurt) Uhlandstr.2, 60314 Frankfurt am Main, Germany tel +49 (0) 69 9999937-0 email@example.com Avantage Reply (Amsterdam) The Atrium Strawinskylaan 3051 1077 ZX Amsterdam - Netherlands tel +31 (0) 20 301 2123 - fax +31 (0) 20 301 2202 firstname.lastname@example.org Avantage Reply (London) 38 Grosvenor Gardens - London SW1W 0EB United Kingdom tel +44 (0) 207 730 6000 - fax +44 (0) 207 259 8600 email@example.com 7 8 8
Press embargo ends: 13 May 2015, beginning of Mr. Francioni´s speech Annual General Meeting Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft 13 May 2015 Reto Francioni Chief Executive Officer Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft, Frankfurt/Main Ladies and gentlemen, A warm welcome to our shareholders and the representatives of the media to this year's Annual General Meeting of Deutsche Börse AG. Our company is in very good shape. In line with our strategic planning, we have benefited from the market recovery in recent months, not least because we laid the groundwork early enough. The growth initiatives we have pursued in recent years are paying off. We have expanded our presence in the key global markets. Technologically, we are ahead of the competition. Our market capitalisation has risen dramatically to its current level of around €15 billion and we have achieved strong growth in our company's value. Our future prospects are bright. Last but not least, our key performance indicators are clearly positive. I will say more about this later. I would like to begin with a few explanations about the agenda. After that, I will present the financial key figures for 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. 1. Agenda Aside from the regular re-election of the shareholder representatives, which Supervisory Board Chairman Mr Faber has just outlined, we would like to propose various capitalisation measures to you for resolution. These deal with renewing the expiring authorised capital tranches and renewing the authorisation to acquire treasury shares, which is also due to expire. Let me start with the authorised capital and items six and seven on today's agenda. Check against delivery. Authorised capital II amounts to a maximum of €27.8 million and will expire on 26 May. Under agenda item six, the company proposes to renew the authorised capital by up to €19.3 million. This means that the amount of the new authorised capital tranche will be lower than the authorised capital II due to expire. As with the expiring authorised capital II, the proposed new authorised capital II will provide for the option of excluding subscription rights, in particular for cash capital increases, if the issue price of the new shares does not fall substantially short of the stock exchange price. A report on the exclusion of subscription rights can be found in the published agenda and elsewhere. There are currently no specific plans to use the authorised capital. The Executive Board will of course carefully review whether using authorised capital II is in the interests of the company and therefore of our shareholders. Like authorised capital II, authorised capital III will also expire on 26 May. We aim to replace the existing authorised capital III of up to €19.5 million with new authorised capital III of up to €38.6 million. As with the expiring authorised capital III, shareholders will be granted subscription rights for the proposed authorised capital III. It will only provide for the option of excluding subscription rights for fractional amounts. The exclusion of subscription rights for fractional amounts is aimed at making it easier for the company to implement the technical details of any potential capital increase. Even if subscription rights are only excluded for fractional amounts, the Executive Board is still required by law to issue a report on the exclusion of subscription rights. This report can also be found in the published agenda and elsewhere. There are currently no specific plans to use authorised capital III. Under agenda item eight, we are asking you to renew the authorisation to acquire treasury shares and, under agenda item nine, we also propose acquiring treasury shares through the use of derivatives. You, our shareholders, already issued the company with the corresponding authorisations at the Annual General Meeting in 2013. Both authorisations were valid for two years and as a result are up for renewal today. The renewed authorisations will also be valid for two years. 2. Financial year 2014 and the 2014 financial statements (Slide 1) FY/2014 – development of Deutsche Börse Group's financials (Group level) So much for the formalities of the agenda. Let me now move on to the Group's results. Our net revenue was up 7 per cent to €2,043 million. After adjusting operating costs for special factors amounting to €1,069 million, our earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, increased by 3 per cent to €982.8 million. This results in adjusted earnings per share of €3.63, up 5 per cent year-on-year. We were able to achieve these positive results despite the extremely difficult environment. For example, the record low European Central Bank interest rates put pressure on our interest income. In addition, uncertainty about the future shape of capital market regulation have unsettled market participants: there are still plans for a financial transaction tax. And there has been a further delay in the political implementation of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, or EMIR, for which we developed a derivatives clearing offering in good time. On the other hand, trading activity on the markets has picked up in recent months. When market volatility increases, as it has done since September, the exchange proves to be a safe, reliable and well-regulated marketplace. In addition, this has a direct positive effect on our results of operations thanks to the scalability of our business model. (Slide 2) FY/2014 – development of Deutsche Börse Group's financials (segment level) Ladies and Gentlemen, I certainly have good news to report about the individual segments. The Eurex derivatives market, including EEX, recorded an 8 per cent rise. This was due in particular to growth in index derivatives and in innovative products such as derivatives on volatility indices or on Italian and French government bonds, in addition to the revenue generated by EEX. The Xetra cash market and Clearstream's post-trade activities each recorded growth of 7 per cent, matching the strong growth in Group revenue. This is a remarkable performance in each case. While the cash market had previously suffered from depressed equities trading, the growth figures are now back in positive territory. And Clearstream was hit by a 9 per cent decrease in its net interest income in 2014 due to the continuing low interest rates. By contrast, Clearstream's custody volume was up by 5 per cent on average in 2014 to reach a new record of €12.2 trillion. Since then, we have exceeded the €13 trillion mark. Market Data + Services, which combines our IT and market data activities, recorded growth of 6 per cent, adjusted for consolidation effects. Growth was particularly strong at index provider STOXX. Check against delivery. (Slide 3) Stable dividend of €2.10 per share proposed for 2014 Given this positive performance, we are again proposing a dividend of €2.10 per share. By doing so, we are distributing 58 per cent of our consolidated net income to you. This is at the upper end of our announced dividend payout range of between 40 and 60 per cent. I would like to take this opportunity to note that defining an ambitious dividend payout range has always been important to me. It enables us to ensure that you, our shareholders, can adequately participate in the success of your company. 3. Q1/2015 (Slide 4) Q1/2015 – development of Deutsche Börse Group's financials (Group level) Ladies and Gentlemen, we can look back on a very good first quarter. Our net revenue rose by 16 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to €600 million. And, at €319 million, our adjusted EBIT was also up 16 per cent. Operating costs grew by 16 per cent due to factors including higher investments. (Slide 5) Q1/2015 – development of Deutsche Börse Group's financials (segment level) The Eurex segment saw an 18 per cent increase in net revenue. This is due in particular to the growth in index derivatives, which have benefited from the increasing demand for hedging among market participants. In addition, the power and gas business at our subsidiary EEX recorded outstanding growth. The revival in equity trading had a positive effect on the Xetra segment. Net revenue was up 13 per cent there. The Clearstream segment recorded net revenue growth of 12 per cent. The settlement business benefited from the recovery in equity trading. We also generated a record €13.2 trillion in custody revenue on the back of a further 9 per cent increase in the custody volume. Market Data + Services saw net revenue grow by 19 per cent. Adjusted for a special factor in the Information business area, growth amounted to 10 per cent. This is due to the healthy development in the index business, among other things. Ladies and Gentlemen, this solid performance makes us confident about the year as a whole. Allow me to explain several details about our company's strategy. 4. Major successes of financial year 2014 (Slide 6) Management firmly focused on growing the business, effective cost management and attractive capital management In recent years we have established three priorities for the company's strategic development: firstly, sustainable capital management; secondly, effective cost management; and thirdly, the growth and development of our company as a global player that is more resilient to fluctuations in local or regional markets. I have already mentioned our capital management in connection with this year's dividend proposal. In addition, it should be mentioned that we are one of only two companies among the 30 listed on the DAX to have a prime "double A" credit rating. As a result, we have of course long since taken advantage of the low interest rate environment to refinance our debt at very favourable conditions. As planned, we proceeded with the efficiency measures last year as part of our cost management. We expect savings of €70 million a year starting in 2016. The aim is to maintain our financial flexibility to invest in growth. Our investments in growth also focus on three key areas: [x] Firstly: expansion of the product and service offering [x] Secondly: extension of our leadership in data and technology [x] And thirdly: geographic expansion and the acquisition of new markets and customer groups We again made progress and achieved success in each of these areas in 2014, in some cases significantly. I would like to mention our Asian business as an example. Since 2007, we have more than doubled the revenue share of this business to over €100 million today. Progress is being made in our strategic partnership with Bank of China, the country's most important bank, which we entered into at the end of 2013: in November, Bank of China was licensed as our trading and clearing participant. In addition, the Monetary Authority of Singapore gave its "in principle" approval at the beginning of 2015 for our planned clearing house in Singapore. Based on our successful cooperation with the Korea Exchange (KRX), we extended the model last year to TAIFEX, the Taiwanese derivatives exchange. And we gained the Shanghai Stock Exchange as the exclusive distributor and licensor of Deutsche Börse market data in mainland China. We also agreed a strategic partnership with China Construction Bank (CCB) at the end of March. We can now justifiably claim to be more than just the most active non-Asian exchange organisation in Asia – we are also the most successful. In this respect we have outpaced our global competitors, who are themselves by no means unambitious. Our strategic priorities include acquiring new customer groups in addition to expanding the business on a regional basis. The energy business at the Leipzigbased European Energy Exchange (EEX) is a particular growth driver. The EEX is emerging as Europe's leading energy exchange thanks to the acquisition of a majority interest in France's Powernext at the beginning of this year. In addition, we are integrating APX Group, an operator of energy markets in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, with an EEX subsidiary. This will then allow us to cover Europe's key markets. This move extends our value chain to include the ever expanding commodities business. (Slide 7) Financial guidance – net revenue on track to achieve mid-term growth target Our revenue and cost forecasts were again accurate in 2014. At €2.04 billion, net revenue was in the upper half of our forecast range of between €1.9 billion and €2.1 billion. The adjusted operating costs of around €1.07 billion were also in line with our projections. I would like to add that this means we have our costs under control, which has always been important to us and remains so. We are increasing our net revenue forecast for 2015 to a range of between €2.2 billion and €2.4 billion. We expect growth to be driven both by structural changes and by favourable cyclical developments. Our solid performance in the first quarter reinforces our assessment. On top of this is the effect on our energy market that we are expecting from the integration of APX, which I mentioned earlier. We estimate adjusted operating costs at around €1,230 million. The primary factor here will be the effects of consolidating investments, in particular the acquisitions in the energy sector I have already mentioned. The US dollar's further appreciation against the euro will also increase costs. As a result, our EBIT should again increase correspondingly to between €975 million and €1,175 million. From a national exchange organisation to a global infrastructure provider for integrated risk, collateral and liquidity management Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to finish by summing up the most important milestones of the last few years. From my viewpoint, our company and our employees have achieved three key successes: [x] Firstly: our company has evolved from a predominantly European into a truly global service provider. We are now present in 24 locations worldwide – 14 in Europe, 4 in North America and 6 in Asia. Cork and Milan were added in 2014 alone, following our expansion to include Prague, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong in recent years. At the same time, Deutsche Börse's trading technology has found increasingly widespread international use: in total, more than 30 markets around the world are now operated using Deutsche Börse Group technology. [x] Secondly: we have implemented a targeted expansion of Deutsche Börse Group's products and services, and above all we have enhanced our innovative strength. Our innovative products and services have high growth rates. [x] Thirdly: we also played a key role in stabilising the financial markets during the depths of the crisis. And we made use of the opportunity offered by the crisis, namely to prove our reliability at the most difficult time and to develop future advantages. I would like to add this: none of these successes would have been possible without the commitment and expertise of Deutsche Börse Group's employees. I would like to thank our employees expressly for this, both on behalf of the Executive Board but also on a personal level. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to conclude with a personal remark: as you know, after this Annual General Meeting and after roughly a decade at the helm of Deutsche Börse, I will be handing over to my successor, Carsten Kengeter. He has already been a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG since April and is also here on the podium today. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you, dear Carsten Kengeter, every success and good fortune in the continued development of this company! I would also like to offer my special and sincere thanks to you, our shareholders, for your confidence. Each year you have supported us with the highest approval ratings, and though your contribution to the company has not always been uncritical, it has always been knowledgeable and constructive. This is not something to be taken for granted these days, and I have always highly valued your confidence. My request to you: please stay with this company, and continue to look upon it with goodwill. It has been an honour! Thank you and "uf wiederluege" [Swiss German for "goodbye and see you again"].
Help to Buy Buyers' Guide Homes and Communities Agency http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/helptobuy February 2016 Key information Buyers using this scheme must provide security in the form of a second legal charge over the home purchased with the Help to Buy equity loan. Help to Buy is equity loan assistance to home buyers from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Help to Buy makes new build homes available to all home buyers (not just first time buyers) who wish to buy a new home, but may be constrained in doing so – for example as a result of deposit requirements – but who could otherwise be expected to sustain a mortgage. Up to a maximum of 20% in England and up to 40% in London 1 , of the purchase price is available to the buyer through an equity loan funded by the Government through the HCA. Help to Buy is available in England from house builders registered to offer the scheme. Help to Buy has been available since 2013. In November 2015, Government announced an extension of the initiative up to 2021 (it may close earlier if all of the funding is taken up before 2021). This guide provides an overview of the product. If you'd like to know more, or if you want to apply, please contact your Local Help to Buy Agent www.helptobuy.org.uk . Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it. Check that these mortgages will meet your needs if you want to move or sell your home or you want your family to inherit it. If you are in any doubt, seek independent advice. APR 5.2% typical (see page 21 for more information). 1 As part of the Government's Autumn Statement (November 2015) it was announced that London Help to Buy will increase the equity loan available to a maximum of 40% of the purchase price from early 2016. This guide provides information and examples for both the London Help to Buy equity loan of 40% and the 20% equity loan that is available across the rest of England. Help to Buy overview With Help to Buy, the buyer ('you') buys a new home on a new build development with assistance from the Homes and Communities Agency ('the Agency') in the form of an equity loan. For Help to Buy in England, not London, you must take out a first mortgage (with a qualifying lending institution e.g. a bank or building society) for at least 25% of the value of the property you wish to purchase. This mortgage, together with any cash contribution from you, must be a minimum of 80% of the full purchase price. The maximum full purchase price is £600,000. For London Help to Buy 40% equity loan assistance, your first mortgage must be at least 25% of the value of the property you wish to purchase. The mortgage, together with the cash contribution from you, must be a minimum of 60% of the purchase price. The maximum full purchase price is £600,000. Your cash deposit contribution must always be a minimum of 5% of the full purchase price. The Agency will provide an equity loan to fund the balance needed to make up the full purchase price of your home, a minimum of 10% and up to a maximum of 20% (40% maximum for London Help to Buy) of the full purchase price The equity loan must be repaid after 25 years, or earlier if you sell your home. You must repay the same percentage of the proceeds of the sale to the Agency as the initial equity loan (i.e. if you received an equity loan for 20% of the purchase price of your home, you must repay 20% of the proceeds of the future sale). An initial monthly management fee of £1 is payable by direct debit from the start of the Agency loan until it is repaid. After the first five years you will pay an additional fee as interest of 1.75%, rising annually by the increase (if any) in the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 1%. Local Help to Buy Agents will assess and approve your purchase for Help to Buy, and you need their approval before you proceed with the buying process. Further details on all these points and the buying process are set out within this guide. How does it work? Help to Buy enables buyers to purchase a new property, funded by a mortgage and with help from the Agency. This enables you to take out a mortgage on which you make repayments in the normal way. Your mortgage lender will require that you contribute a deposit (minimum 5% of the full purchase price). Your mortgage and deposit must cover a combined minimum of 80% of the total purchase price (or 60% of total purchase price in London). The rest of the purchase price will be paid for with an equity loan from the Agency. As a result of providing this assistance, the Agency has an entitlement to a share of the future sale proceeds equal to the percentage contribution required to assist your purchase. Examples of this are shown below. For the first five years of Help to Buy home ownership you will pay an initial monthly management fee of £1. This continues until the loan is repaid. After five years, the equity loan will be subject to an additional interest fee (collected from you on behalf of the Agency by the Agency's Mortgage Administrator) of 1.75% per annum on the outstanding amount of the equity loan. From the fifth anniversary of the loan this fee will increase each year by the increase (if any) in RPI plus 1%. This is illustrated on page 18. The management fee and interest fees are not capital repayments to your Agency equity loan – they do not reduce the amount owing. When you sell your Help to Buy home (unless you have chosen to repay your equity loan earlier), you must repay the Help to Buy assistance from a share of the sale proceeds. So, if the Agency assisted your purchase with a 20% contribution, your repayment will be 20% of the total market value when it is sold. Turn to page 15 to see what happens if values have fallen. Following the purchase you can choose at any time to make voluntary part repayments ('staircasing' or a full repayment) of the Help to Buy assistance at the prevailing market value. The minimum voluntary repayment is 10% of the market value at the time of repayment. The Agency's entitlement to a share of the future sale proceeds is secured through a second charge on your home. This is done in the same way that your main mortgage lender will secure its lending through a first charge on your home. Although, if you buy through Help to Buy, you will have a mortgage for less than the full purchase price of the property, you will be the legal owner with 100% title to your home. The tables below show how it works. In this example below, the Help to Buy buyer has purchased a £200,000 home with a deposit of £10,000 and a mortgage of £150,000. The Agency has contributed an equity loan totalling £40,000 or 20% of the total purchase price. In this example, when the home is sold, the Agency will be entitled to 20% of the total sale price. \| \| Example of Help to Buy home ownership in England, not \| £ \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| London \| \| \| Open market price of new home \| \| £200,000 \| \| Help to Buy buyer mortgage @ 75% \| \| £150,000 \| \| Help to Buy buyer pays minimum 5% deposit \| \| £10,000 \| \| Help to Buy buyer total contribution \| \| £160,000 \| \| Agency Help to Buy assistance 20% equity loan \| \| £40,000 \| Help to Buy always requires that the buyer has a main mortgage of at least 25% of the full purchase price. In this example below, the London Help to Buy buyer has purchased a £400,000 home with a deposit of £20,000 and a mortgage of £220,000. The Agency has contributed an equity loan totalling £160,000 or 40% of the total purchase price. In this example, when the home is sold, the Agency will be entitled to 40% of the total sale price. \| \| Example of London Help to Buy home ownership \| \| £ \| % \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Open market price of new home \| \| £400,000 \| \| \| \| Help to Buy buyer mortgage @ 55% \| \| £220,000 \| \| \| \| Help to Buy buyer pays minimum 5% deposit \| \| £20,000 \| \| \| \| Help to Buy buyer total contribution \| \| £240,000 \| \| \| Help to Buy always requires that the buyer has a main mortgage of at least 25% of the full purchase price. Because Help to Buy assistance is through an equity loan, the amount required to increase your equity share will be dependent on the total value of the property at the time you want to redeem part of your equity loan (sometimes known as 'staircasing') or repay in full. The amount you need to do this will increase if your home increases in value and decrease if its value falls (see examples later in this guide). Who can take part in the scheme? It is open to all buyers seeking a new build home. Help to Buy buyers outside London must be able to fund up to 80% of their selected property through a conventional mortgage and deposit. London Help to Buy buyers must be able to fund 60% of the property through a conventional mortgage and deposit. Buyers must always provide a 5% cash deposit contribution (5% of the full purchase price). Buyers must take out a first charge mortgage with a qualifying lender. The maximum purchase price is £600,000. The Local Help to Buy Agent (see below) will carry out an assessment of an application by a potential Help to Buy buyer to ensure that they are in a position to afford a conventional mortgage for their proposed purchase. This protects tax payers' investment in the Help to Buy home. Buyers cannot use the scheme if they require a main mortgage more than 4.5 times their household income. You must have access to a minimum 5% deposit of the full purchase price. The property purchased must be your only residence. Help to Buy is not available to assist buy-to-let investors or those who will own any property other than their Help to Buy property after completing their purchase. You cannot rent out your existing home and buy a second home through Help to Buy. Applicants who make fraudulent claims for Help to Buy assistance will be liable to criminal prosecution. Fraudulent claims will always require immediate repayment of the Help to Buy equity loan assistance. What does the Help to Buy Agent do? The Local Help to Buy Agents act on behalf of the Agency to signpost potential buyers towards Help to Buy schemes in their area and will carry out an affordability check on applicants. They will also guide you through the process of buying your Help to Buy home and issue the approvals to your solicitor and the house builder to purchase the home through the Help to Buy scheme. The role of the Local Help to Buy Agent is to: - hold information about Help to Buy schemes for prospective buyers, - give approval to a Help to Buy buyer's solicitor/conveyancer to proceed with a purchase. - assess affordability and eligibility, and Following the Help to Buy sale, your details will be transferred to the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. The role of the Agency's Mortgage Administrator is to provide a single point of contact to: - administer payment of fees and interest by buyers on their Help to Buy equity loans, - recover the equity loans repayments as owners sell and move on or staircase, and - provide advice and approval for exceptional cases relating to subletting, remortgaging and requests for additional borrowing. Where are Help to Buy homes available? Help to Buy homes are available from house builders registered to offer Help to Buy homes in England. Registered builders will make it clear in their advertising if Help to Buy homes are available on their development sites. How to buy a Help to Buy home The four-stage Help to Buy buying process Stage 1: Application - Contact house builders, visit schemes of registered house builders and identify your potential Help to Buy property. - You must see an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) to gain confirmation of your financial status. The Local Help to Buy Agent and house builders will be able to suggest some IFAs for you to try. - You must ensure you have funds to pay: o a reservation fee if required (maximum £500) o a deposit on exchange of contracts of at least 5% of the full purchase price (some main mortgage lenders may require higher deposits) o other fees on completion (e.g. stamp duty, legal fees, main mortgage fees). - You complete a Help to Buy "Property Information Form" (available from the house builder). You must complete this with details of your proposed purchase, your proposed main mortgage, deposit and including your household income. The Property Information Form also confirms your agreement to the funds due under the Help to Buy mortgage being paid directly to the house builder. - You must also reserve the home. You will usually be expected to pay a reservation fee to the house builder. - The signed Property Information Form and a copy of the builder's signed reservation form must be sent to the Local Help to Buy Agent. Stage 2: Authority to Proceed - Your Local Help to Buy Agent checks you can afford your main mortgage and ensures you have signed the declaration that the Help to Buy home will be your only residence. This is to protect tax payers' investment in the Help to Buy equity loan. - If affordable, you will receive an "Authority to Proceed" from your Local Help to Buy Agent within four working days of the house builder submitting your fully completed Property Information Form and reservation form to the Local Help to Buy Agent. This process may be delayed if you do not fully complete your Property Information Form. - You instruct a solicitor to act for you and tell your IFA so that a full mortgage application can be submitted. - The 'Authority to Proceed' will be accompanied by instructions to you and your solicitor/conveyancer. This pack will include legal documents that will be explained to you by your solicitor/conveyancer. - You should only submit your main mortgage application once you have the "Authority to Proceed" from the Local Help to Buy Agent. Stage 3: Mortgage offer and exchange of contracts - Your solicitor/conveyancer will advise you and ensure you sign the sale contract and the Help to Buy equity loan. - Your solicitor/ conveyance will explain the legal implications of the equity loan, that the Help to Buy home must be your only residence and the consequences of a fraudulent application (see below). - Your solicitor/conveyancer checks that your mortgage offer, property price and available funds are consistent with the Authority to Proceed, and requests permission to exchange contracts from the local Help to Buy Agent. - Your Local Help to Buy Agent issues approval to your solicitor/conveyancer and contracts are exchanged. - You will have paid a deposit if required and are now legally contracted to complete the purchase by an agreed date. Stage 4: Completing the purchase - At completion, your lender provides its funds and the Agency will make its funds available to you via the house builder. Once completion has taken place you own the property and can move in. - Your solicitor returns confirmation of the sale to your Local Help to Buy Agent who then registers your details with the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. - A second charge is registered on your home by your solicitor in favour of the Agency, entitling it to a share of the future sale proceeds. The charge will be equivalent to the percentage contribution made towards the purchase price. You must repay the percentage contribution when you sell your home or after 25 years (whichever is earlier). The property purchased must be your only residence. Help to Buy is not available to assist buy-to-let investors or those who will own any property other than their Help to Buy property after completing their purchase. You cannot rent out your existing home and buy a second home through Help to Buy. Applicants who make fraudulent claims for Help to Buy assistance will be liable to criminal prosecution. Fraudulent claims will always require immediate repayment of the equity loan assistance. How long does the process take? Once you find a property you want to buy, you need to reserve it and submit a duly completed 'Property Information Form' to your Local Help to Buy Agent. Your Local Help to Buy Agent will seek to assess your affordability (from a fully completed Property Information Form) within four working days and will issue an Authority to Proceed. Your Local Help to Buy Agent's 'Authority to Proceed' is valid for three months – the time limit for exchange of contracts. Typically, most house builders will be seeking buyers to exchange contracts within one month of making a reservation. You must legally complete on your purchase within six months of exchanging contracts. You are responsible for securing your mortgage and appointing your solicitor/conveyancer, although your Local Help to Buy Agent and house builders will be able to suggest some options. Further information Help to Buy homes are only available from Help to Buy registered house builders who are in contract with the Agency to offer homes for sale through the Help to Buy programme. Registered builders will make it clear in their advertising whether Help to Buy homes are available on their development sites. Your Local Help to Buy Agent can also help you find out more about availability of Help to Buy homes in your area. Your mortgage What is the minimum and maximum contribution I must make to my Help to Buy home purchase? Outside of London your minimum contribution must be 80% of the full purchase price which can be made up from your mortgage and your cash deposit contribution and any other savings. The maximum percentage you can contribute to through Help to Buy equity loan is 90%. Buyers must have a first charge mortgage for a minimum of 25% of the full market value and always provide a minimum 5% cash deposit contribution (5% of the full purchase price). London Help to Buy requires a minimum contribution of 60% of the full purchase price. This can be made up from your mortgage and cash deposit contribution. The maximum percentage you can contribute through London Help to Buy equity loan is 90%. Buyers accessing the London Help to Buy equity loan must have a first charge mortgage for a minimum of 25% of the full market value and always provide a minimum 5% cash deposit contribution (5% of the full purchase price). The long term sustainability of your mortgage contribution will be assessed by the Local Help to Buy Agent. Your mortgage will be based on a multiple up to a maximum 4.5 times your household income. Higher multiples cannot be approved by the Local Help to Buy Agent under any circumstances. Your Local Help to Buy Agent will also work to a guideline to ensure that your monthly costs (mortgage, service charges and fees) are no more than 45% of your net disposable income. Higher percentages cannot be approved by the Local Help to Buy Agent under any circumstances. With limited resources available, Government is seeking to assist as many buyers as possible to buy with a Help to Buy equity loan. Therefore, if it looks like you can already secure a c90% main mortgage you should think carefully whether a Help to Buy equity loan is right for you. There may be better options for you to consider and you should seek independent financial advice about this. What is the legal mechanism that ensures the Agency receives their correct share when the equity loan is repaid? The Agency's equity loan will be secured through a second charge registered on your property title at Land Registry; this process will be undertaken by your solicitor. This means your property cannot be sold in the future unless the Agency's equity loan percentage is repaid. You must agree to the legal charge being secured on your home before your purchase can be completed. Your Help to Buy equity loan also includes other obligations such as the requirement for you to insure your property. Your solicitor/conveyancer will advise you on the legal implications of your obligations and these documents before they are signed. What happens when I sell my Help to Buy home? When you sell your Help to Buy home, (unless you have already chosen to repay your Help to Buy equity loan) you will repay the Agency's equity loan simultaneously. So if you initially purchased with a 75% mortgage and a 5% cash deposit and have made no other staircasing repayments (see Illustration 1 below), you will repay the Agency 20% of the value at the time you sell. The Mortgage Administrator will collect the Agency's repayment. You can sell your home at any time and an independent valuer must decide what it is worth. Your property should be sold on the open market at the prevailing market valuation. If you do sell your property for more than the prevailing market value then the amount due to the Agency under the equity loan will be their percentage value of the actual sale price. The Agency will not agree to release its charge over the property for sales at less than market value. If there are any fees or interest outstanding, for example, interest arrears at the time of selling, these must be paid before the sale is completed. The Help to Buy equity loan must be repaid when you sell your home. You will pay the costs of selling. The illustrations below give examples of how the equity loan repayment is calculated assuming a Help to Buy home starting value of £200,000 and a buyer taking on a mortgage for 75% and paying a 5% deposit. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide more illustrations when they advise you on your purchase. Illustration 1a \| Start of year \| Estimated annual change in property price % \| Total property Value \| \| Help to Buy \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| \| home owner \| \| \| \| \| \| your \| \| \| \| \| \| entitlement to \| \| \| \| \| \| 80% of \| \| \| \| \| \| property value \| \| 1 \| +2 \| £200,000 \| £160,000 \| \| \| 2 \| +2 \| £204,000 \| £163,200 \| \| \| 3 \| +2 \| £208,080 \| £166,464 \| \| \| 4 \| +2 \| £212,242 \| £169,794 \| \| \| 5 \| +2 \| £216,846 \| £173,477 \| \| \| 6 \| +2 \| £220,816 \| £176,653 \| \| In the example in 1a, if the buyer chose to sell their Help to Buy home at the start of year six (after owning the property for five years) and assuming property values increased by 2% every year, the buyer would receive an estimated £220,816 from the sale. The buyer would then use this to settle any outstanding balance on their main mortgage and to repay the £44,163 Help to Buy equity loan. London Help to Buy example The illustrations below give examples of how the equity loan repayment is calculated assuming a London Help to Buy home starting value of £400,000 and a buyer taking on a mortgage for 55% and paying a 5% deposit. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide more illustrations when they advise you on your purchase. Illustration 1b \| Start of year \| Estimated annual change in property price % \| Total property Value \| \| London Help to \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| \| Buy home \| \| \| \| \| \| owner your \| \| \| \| \| \| entitlement to \| \| \| \| \| \| 60% of \| \| \| \| \| \| property value \| \| 1 \| +2 \| £400,000 \| £240,000 \| \| \| 2 \| +2 \| £408,000 \| £244,800 \| \| \| 3 \| +2 \| £416,160 \| £249,696 \| \| \| 4 \| +2 \| £424,483 \| £254,690 \| \| \| 5 \| +2 \| £432,973 \| £259,784 \| \| In the example above, if the buyer chose to sell their London Help to Buy home at the start of year six (after owning the property for five years) and assuming property values increased by 2% every year, the buyer would receive an estimated £441,632 from the sale. The buyer would then use this to settle any outstanding balance on their main mortgage and to repay the £176,653 Help to Buy equity loan. What happens if property values fall? Will I have to repay the full amount of Help to Buy assistance or just a percentage of the total sale proceeds? When you sell your home, (unless you have repaid the Help to Buy equity loan document previously) the Help to Buy equity loan document commits you to repay a percentage of the market value equal to the percentage contribution of assistance received. This means if the market value of your property falls below the level at which it was first purchased, you will repay less than the original amount the Agency contributed to the original purchase. You must always show that the proposed sale value is at the prevailing market value before going ahead. The Agency's Mortgage Administrator must approve the sale before allowing the second charge to be released. As long as you have complied with all your obligations in the Help to Buy mortgage deed, you will not be required to provide for any shortfall in the equity loan repayment if you sell when values have fallen. If you do not comply with the terms of the Help to Buy mortgage deed, the Agency will seek to recover all the money they are owed. Your solicitor will explain the Help to Buy mortgage deed to you before the property is purchased. Illustration 2a \| Start of year \| Estimated annual change in property price % \| Total property Value \| Help to Buy home owner your entitlement to 80% of property value \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| -5 \| £200,000 \| £160,000 \| \| 2 \| -5 \| £190,000 \| £152,000 \| \| 3 \| -5 \| £180,500 \| £144,400 \| \| 4 \| +5 \| £171,475 \| £137,180 \| \| 5 \| +5 \| £180,049 \| £144,039 \| \| 6 \| +5 \| £189,051 \| £151,241 \| In the above example, if no capital repayment has been made on the main mortgage, repayment of the £150,000 mortgage from sales proceeds would leave £39,051 to contribute to the repayment of the £37,810 equity loan. London Help to Buy example Illustration 2b \| Start of year \| Estimated annual change in property price % \| Total property Value \| London Help to Buy home owner your entitlement to 60% of property value \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| -5 \| £400,000 \| £240,000 \| \| 2 \| -5 \| £380,000 \| £228,000 \| \| 3 \| -5 \| £361,000 \| £216,600 \| \| 4 \| +5 \| £342,950 \| £205,770 \| \| 5 \| +5 \| £360,098 \| £216,059 \| In the above London Help to Buy example, if no capital repayment has been made on the main mortgage, repayment of the £220,000 mortgage from sales proceeds would leave £158,102 to contribute to the repayment of the £151,241 equity loan. Can I redeem my equity loan in part, sometimes known as "staircasing"? The Help to Buy scheme allows you to repay all or part of your equity loan. A partial repayment is often called "staircasing'. Staircasing payments can be made at any time and must be a minimum of 10% of your home's prevailing market value – whether that value is more or less than when originally purchased. You may wish to check any additional criteria with your current lender. An independent valuer must provide a valuation of your property and you will also be responsible for the associated administrative cost. Enquiries about administrative costs should be made to the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. If you decide to staircase after five years of ownership, the fees (see below) you pay on your Help to Buy equity loan will reduce to reflect your smaller outstanding loan percentage. If you extend your mortgage to fund your partial repayment of the Agency equity loan, your mortgage repayments will probably increase to reflect the fact that you have repaid some of the equity loan. The Agency's Mortgage Administrator will need to approve any increase in your first charge mortgage. In the example below, the buyer chooses to staircase by 10% to reduce the Agency equity loan to 10% at the start of year six (after owning the property for five years). Assuming property values increased by 5% every year, the buyer would have to repay £25,526 to reduce the Agency equity loan to 10% based on the future property value. If the buyer has any outstanding equity loan fees at the time of staircasing, these arrears must also be paid at the same time as the staircasing payment is made. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide more illustrations when they advise you on your purchase. Illustration 3 \| Start of year \| Estimated annual change in property price % \| Total property Value \| \| Help to Buy \| \| Cost to Help \| After staircasing \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| \| home owner \| \| to Buy \| Help to Buy home \| \| \| \| \| \| your entitlement \| \| Home owner \| your entitlement \| \| \| \| \| \| to 80% of \| \| staircasing \| to 90% of \| \| \| \| \| \| property value \| \| by 10% \| property value \| \| 1 \| +5 \| £200,000 \| £160,000 \| \| Not applicable \| \| \| \| 2 \| +5 \| £210,000 \| £168,000 \| \| £21,000 \| \| \| \| 3 \| +5 \| £220,500 \| £176,400 \| \| £22,050 \| \| \| \| 4 \| +5 \| £231,525 \| £185,220 \| \| £23,153 \| \| \| \| 5 \| +5 \| £243,101 \| £194,480 \| \| £24,310 \| \| \| \| 6 \| +5 \| £255,256 \| £204,204 \| \| £25,526 \| \| \| Are there any restrictions on the mortgage provider? Your first charge mortgage must be from a qualifying lending institution. These include lenders who are authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and who have permission to enter into regulated mortgage contracts. This is likely to include most banks and building societies. The Financial Conduct Authority keeps a register of authorised persons on its website. The register can be found at http://www.fca.org.uk/register/ Your solicitor/conveyancer will check that the lender is compliant before a sale can proceed. Fees and costs What are the monthly costs of Help to Buy? Typically every month, you will need to make payments in addition to your normal monthly outgoings, including: - mortgage repayments to lenders - Initial monthly management fee of £1 per month to be paid by direct debit from the start of ownership until the loan is repaid - after five years, interest fees on the Help to Buy equity loan (see below) - service charges, if you buy a house or flat with shared areas that require maintenance - council tax - buildings insurance - Life insurance - utility bills and other costs of occupying the property. How the interest fees are calculated on the Help to Buy equity loan? If you have not repaid in full your Help to Buy equity loan after five years, you will be required to pay an interest fee of 1.75% of the amount of your equity loan at the time you purchased your property, rising annually from the fifth anniversary of your equity loan by the increase (if any) in the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 1%. This fee is payable to the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. The example below shows how interest fees are calculated. A monthly management fee of £1 is paid from when you first purchase. The interest fee payment is not made for the first five years. After this date a monthly fee will be payable and the table below illustrates how this would work on Help to Buy equity loan totalling £40,000. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide more illustrations when they advise you on your purchase. Illustration 4a \| Start of year \| Help to Buy equity loan assistance \| Estimated RPI %+1 \| Interest Fee percentage \| \| Annual interest \| Estimated monthly \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| \| \| fee and \| payment (interest \| \| \| \| \| \| \| management \| fee and \| \| \| \| \| \| \| fee due \| management fee) \| \| 1 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 2 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 3 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 4 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 5 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 6 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 1.75% \| £712 \| \| \| \| 7 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 1.86% \| £756 \| \| \| \| 8 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 1.97% \| £800 \| \| \| \| 9 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 2.08% \| £844 \| \| \| \| 10 \| £40,000 \| 6% \| 2.21% \| £896 \| \| \| Page 18 of 27 At the start of year six, after five years of ownership, the Help to Buy owner in this example above has to pay a total monthly interest and management fee of £59. At the start of year seven, after six years of ownership, the monthly interest and management fee will have risen to £63. London Help to Buy example The example below shows how interest fees are calculated. A monthly management fee of £1 is paid from when you first purchase. The interest fee payment is not made for the first five years. After this date a monthly fee will be payable and the table below illustrates how this would work on Help to Buy equity loan totalling£160,000. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide more illustrations when they advise you on your purchase. Illustration 4b \| Start of year \| \| London \| Estimated RPI %+1 \| Interest Fee percentage \| \| Annual interest \| Estimated monthly \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| Help to Buy \| \| \| \| fee and \| payment (interest \| \| \| \| equity loan \| \| \| \| management \| fee and \| \| \| \| assistance \| \| \| \| fee due \| management fee) \| \| 1 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 2 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 3 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 4 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 5 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 0% \| £12 \| \| \| \| 6 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 1.75% \| £2,812 \| \| \| \| 7 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 1.86% \| £2,988 \| \| \| \| 8 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 1.97% \| £3,164 \| \| \| \| 9 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 2.08% \| £3,340 \| \| \| \| 10 \| £160,000 \| \| 6% \| 2.21% \| £3,548 \| \| \| At the start of year six, after five years of ownership, the London Help to Buy owner in this example has to pay a monthly fee of £234. At the start of year seven, after six years of ownership, the monthly fee will have risen to £249. The interest fee structure is intended to encourage you to staircase and move to full ownership. The introduction of interest fees after five years also takes into account that you benefit from living in your own home, made possible by the Agency contributing part of the purchase price until your property is sold. The interest fee is not introduced until the start of year six, which means that you have a five year period of low management fees (£1 per month) at a time when many buyers are usually the most financially stretched. The future rate of inflation cannot be predicted but you should assume your interest fees will always rise. The examples shown above in illustrations 4a and 4b assume annual inflation as measured by the RPI is 5% making the annual fee increase by 6%, from 1.75% to 1.86%, in year seven. In illustration 4a by the start of year ten, if the same rate of inflation is maintained, the interest fee would be 2.21% equating to £75 per month based on the original equity loan totalling £40,000. The London Help to Buy example in illustration 4b shows at the start of year ten the interest fee would equate to £296 per month based on the original equity loan of £160,000. Your annual interest fee will always increase by a minimum of 1% (from the fifth anniversary of your Agency equity loan) even if there is no increase or there is a decrease in RPI. Your payment of management and interest fees does not contribute towards repaying your Help to Buy equity loan. If you staircase or want to make full repayment of the equity loan, any interest fee arrears must be repaid at the same time. Annual Percentage Rates (APR) for Help to Buy owners Because you have to pay fees on your Help to Buy equity loan during your ownership, and you may have to pay more than the original contribution back to the Agency, the effect will be similar to a loan under which a buyer pays credit charges at a rate dependent on the growth in house prices combined with the percentage rates of fees payable. The previous illustrations demonstrated separately the effects of house price changes and fees on the costs a buyer would have to pay for 2 examples: A Help to Buy purchase of a £200,000 market value home and mortgage and contribution of 80%, and a London Help to Buy purchase of a £400,000 market value home and a mortgage and contribution of 60%. The combined effect of fees and repayments affects the APR which is the buyer's cost of credit. Using the previous illustrations of standard Help to Buy, after six years of ownership, if the buyer decides to sell and house prices have grown for example by 5% every year, the buyer will have to repay £53,604 on their original equity loan of £40,000. The owner will have also paid £700 in interest fees on the Help to Buy equity loan. This means the total amount payable after five years on the Help to Buy original assistance of £40,000 is £54,304. Under the illustration of London Help to Buy, after six years of ownership, if the buyer decides to sell and house prices have grown for example by 5% every year, the buyer will have to repay £214,415 on their equity loan of £160,000. The owner will have also paid £2,800 in fees on the Help to Buy equity loan. This means the total amount payable after five years on the Help to Buy original assistance of £160,000 is £217,215. For this example, this is equal to an APR 5.2% typical. The total amount repaid is £54,304 or £217,215 under London Help to Buy. You should remember this is an illustration. House price inflation, the Retail Price Index and the fees and costs an owner pays could all vary substantially over time. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to provide a further illustration of APR when they advise you on your purchase. As house values increase it may be in the Buyers interest to repay the Agency as their financial position improves and makes this possible. Prospective buyers should always seek independent financial advice before proceeding with their Help to Buy purchase. Additional Help to Buy equity loan administration charges In line with other main mortgage lenders, the Agency's Mortgage Administrator will charge Help to Buy owners for loan redemption and other loan transactions. These charges are set out below. There is no application or other administration charges when buyers first make their Help to Buy equity loan purchase. Similarly, there is no early redemption penalties payable by Help to Buy owners. \| Transaction \| Administration charge \| \|---\|---\| \| \| payable by borrower \| \| \| (includes VAT) \| \| Full or partial repayment of the Help to Buy equity loan (including staircasing) \| \| \| Remortgaging of the main mortgage \| \| \| Additional main mortgage borrowing \| \| \| Changes of names \| \| \| Subletting or home improvements \| \| \| Arrears debt recovery charge \| \| \| Referral of unrecovered arrears to debt recovery agency \| \| Questions and answers Q Can I buy a home off plan? Yes, you are able to reserve a new home off plan at any time. However, you cannot exchange contracts before six months to legal completion of the sale. You also need to ensure that your mortgage offer is valid through to legal completion. Q Will I have to pay Stamp Duty? The Government's standard rules and procedures for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) apply to all Help to Buy purchases. SDLT is payable at the time of purchase, on the full purchase price of the home. That is, the amount paid by you (the first mortgage and any cash contribution) plus the value of the Help to Buy assistance. There is no further SDLT to pay on any 'staircasing' repayments or repayment when the home is sold. You should budget for SDLT on the full open market price of the property when you purchase a Help to Buy home. Q Who pays for repairs and on-going maintenance to my home? It is your responsibility to repair and maintain your home. New homes often come with a guarantee that will cover certain defects for up to 10 years after it was built. This guarantee usually only covers defects in the house builder's workmanship. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to advise in more detail on this. Q Who provides the contribution for Help to Buy? The equity loan is provided by the Homes and Communities Agency and administrated by your local Help to Buy agent. The contribution is secured by a second charge on your property title registered at Land Registry. Q How long will it take before I can move in? Because Help to Buy homes are generally on new developments (and may still be under construction), in common with most new home sales, you will normally be expected to arrange a mortgage and exchange contracts within one month of paying your reservation fee. Your moving in date may depend on the time required to complete construction work, which will vary from scheme to scheme. Some Help to Buy applicants may need to wait for a longer period of time for a home that matches very specific needs whereas others may buy from a development that allows earlier occupation. Q What happens if the completion of my home is delayed? Once you have committed to buy a home (at exchange of contracts) the house builder will have agreed to build the home and keep you informed of progress. If you are unhappy about any delays in construction you must speak to the house builder. Your solicitor/conveyancer will be able to advise on the house builder's contractual responsibilities before you agree to the sale. You should check with your house builder that the funding will be available on the date you expect to complete your purchase. Q Are there any restrictions on the properties that I can purchase? All Help to Buy homes are on new build developments where the Agency has a registration agreement with the house builder. You can only purchase from these house builders. The maximum purchase price is £600,000. Q Can I sublet my Help to Buy home? No. Help to Buy is designed to assist you to move on to or up the housing ladder. If you wish to sublet, you will first have to repay the Help to Buy equity loan assistance. In exceptional circumstances (e.g. a serving member of the Armed Forces staff whose tour of duty requires them to serve away from the area in which they live for a fixed period, then sub-letting is allowed. In these circumstances you would also require approval from your mortgage lender and the Agency's Mortgage Administrator). Q Can I own other homes and buy a Help to Buy home? No. Help to Buy is designed to assist you to move up the housing ladder and must be your only residence. This means you will be expected to sell your current home if moving up the ladder. The disposal of your current home will be verified by your solicitor/conveyancer before you can proceed to exchange contracts on the Help to Buy Home. In addition you cannot be linked to another property financially. For the avoidance of doubt, married couples own assets jointly and therefore if one owns a property the other is directly linked to the asset and treated as a home owner also. Q Can I own a Help to Buy home and buy a second home? No. Help to Buy is designed to assist you to move up the housing ladder. If you can afford to purchase another home you will have to repay the Help to Buy equity loan. Married couples also standardly by law own each other's assets, therefore all assets in a single name are treated as jointly owned in this scenario. Q What are the key differences between the Help to Buy equity loan offered across England and the one offered in London. The Autumn Statement in November 2015 announced an increase in the London Help to Buy equity loan from 20% to 40%. The eligibility and requirements for the programme otherwise have remained the same. The table below details the extent of the changes. \| Maximum equity loan available \| 20% of purchase price \| \|---\|---\| \| Buyers cash deposit \| 5% of purchase price \| \| Minimum mortgage required \| 25% of purchase price \| \| Maximum purchase price \| £600,000 \| The property purchased must be your only residence. Help to Buy is not available to assist buy-to-let investors or those who will own any property other than their Help to Buy property after completing their purchase. You cannot rent out your existing home and buy a second home through Help to Buy. Applicants who make fraudulent claims for Help to Buy assistance will be liable to criminal prosecution. Fraudulent claims will always require immediate repayment of the equity loan assistance. Q Can I use cash from my council, Housing Association or other public sector body to buy with the addition of help through Help to Buy? Provided that your local council is satisfied that this represents value-for-money and the other funding is compatible with Help to Buy. Funding provided which must be secured against your home would not be compatible with the Help to Buy scheme. Assistance from Local Authority Clearance Payments are not permitted through Help to Buy. Q After purchasing my home, can I increase my mortgage or take out another loan? Not without permission from the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. Further advances must be approved by the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. Advances to be used for staircasing or repaying the equity loans will usually be welcomed and approved. Advances for other purposes will be considered by the Agency's Mortgage Administrator on a case by case basis (see question below regarding extending or altering the property). You can transfer your mortgage to another qualifying lending institution (see page 17), following prior permission from the Agency's Mortgage Administrator. However, you must ensure your new lender is informed that your home is a Help to Buy property with a second charge entitling the Agency to a share of the future sale proceeds. The Agency's Mortgage Administrator may decline permission for further advances or transfer to another lender if after assessment they consider you may be putting yourself in an unsustainable financial position. Q Can I extend or alter the property? Not without permission. Because Help to Buy is designed to help people move up the housing ladder, you should consider repaying part or all of the Agency's contribution before making plans for improvements or alterations. This is because the Agency is seeking to help future aspiring buyers and may use the proceeds of these repayments to make more assistance available. Therefore, consent will not usually be granted for significant home improvements. The Agency's Mortgage Administrator will act reasonably in considering any application and will review cases of hardship if, for example, property modifications are required for a disability. When your property is sold in the future, if improvements have been made with the approval of the Agency's Mortgage Administrator, these will be ignored when your property is valued to work out how much should be repaid to the Agency. Q After five years of ownership how is the fee collected? Fees can be paid in a single yearly payment or in monthly instalments. The monthly management fee (£1) is always paid monthly by direct debit. The Agency's Mortgage Administrator will collect your fees and interest by direct debit. They will contact you at least a month before your fees are due, to set up (if not already done so) your repayment arrangement. You will also receive a statement each year confirming when your fees are payable. The annual statement will also show any payments you have made once you start paying the fee. Q What if I die after purchasing a Help to Buy home? This depends on whether you bought your home alone or with others. If you bought the house/flat on your own and you die, the home will be passed on in the normal way under the terms of your will and the payments explained in this guide will be made by your estate in accordance with the scheme. If you have not made a will it will pass under the laws of intestacy. It is recommended that a sole buyer seeks independent legal advice about this. If you bought your home with others and one of them dies, their interest in the property will either be transferred to the surviving co-owner (s) or will pass under the terms of their will, or (if there is no will) the laws of intestacy. It is recommended where there are two or more owners, that they seek independent legal advice about this. Q Can owner names be added or changed on the Help to Buy property? Only with permission from the Agency's Mortgage Administrator and you will be required to cover their administration costs. This will require a deed of accession and/or a deed of release to be completed by you. This is a legal document that permits name changes on the property. Q Can I get help with benefits to pay the Help to Buy fees and interest if, for example, I lose my job? Because Help to Buy fees and interest are not classified as rent, they do not qualify for Housing Benefit. You should make sure you have made arrangements to ensure you can continue to make you Help to Buy payments if your income falls. You should seek independent financial advice about this before purchasing a Help to Buy home. Q What happens if my partner moves out and no longer wants to be party to the equity loan agreement? The Agency's Mortgage Administrator will be able to arrange for a 'Deed of Release' which will release your partner from the obligation of having to repay the equity loan. Assuming that your first charge mortgage lender is content for this to take place and that you are able to provide evidence that you can meet your housing costs and still have a reasonable standard of living, permission should be a formality. Find your Local Help to Buy Agent To find out the nearest location of Help to Buy homes in your area, you should contact your Local Help to Buy Agent. Go to http://www.helptobuy.org.uk/equity-loan/find-helptobuy-agent to locate them on the map. All contact details can be found on the website.
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Chung Matthew Robert Thomas Clark Jennifer Elizabeth Cournoyer Darien Diaz Peter S. Easter Adam R. Eaton Joshua Reider Fansler Benjamin Edward Fischl Robert Charles Greene Bradley Jackson Gregory Kenisha Renee Heath Fawn Helms Jessica Raye Hull Marcus Hsueminh Lai Jonathan Metcalf Cory Thomas Moore Rachel Elisabeth Morgans James Alan Nicholson Erin Lindsay Palmer Edward Ryan Roach Gregory Rueth Travis Charles Russell Kimberly C. Salazar Kristen Lane Shay Sarah Ann Sledd Bryan Spear Alex Daniel Tatone Robert Craig Turner Brandon D. Willis Amanda Louise Wolfe Peter Yusckat Master of Health Administration Antione Barnett Steven Brian Beddingfield Mylinh Bruhn Pablo A. Cercenia, Jr. Benjamin Clayton Coker Christopher Drake Donna Goodson Claire-Marie Elisabeth Gould Jarrod Scott Hall Golden Hand Christine Ann Kanakis Anya Leigh Kuylen Wendy Leann Price Dwayne C. Shepherd Matthew Hale Woods Master of Science Biology Craig Heflick Chemistry Lee Mains Leif Erickson Laperriere Collin Thomas Zahler Communication Sciences and Disorders Kylie Allman Mary Christy Armstrong Loren Nissi Crawford Katie Michelle Glomb Tara Renée Hawkins Claire Elise Lazo-Kim Meagan Nicole Lyle Jessica Grace Rogers Sloane Paige Sanders Jennifer Sifers Laura Elizabeth Smith Caroline Wade Computer Science Matthew Griffin Jian Cao Joseph Huang Antonin Smid Mikhail Shmurygin Chengen Wang Ruolin Wang Environmental Science Grace Elizabeth Sutherland Exercise Physiology Dylan Wilburn Raejoné Chantel Lucas Geology Erin Preslee Noonan Tyler Nathan Leggett Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts Communication Brady Austin Haag Abbey Anne Allen Master of Arts American Studies Robert Joseph Rogers Curriculum and Instruction Melissa Paige Donham Educational Psychology Robert Noah Padgett English Kelly Morgan Sauskojus Stewart Riley History Mikah James Sauskojus Anna Melby Thorson Physics Ankush Reddy Kanuganti The Graduate School Presented by J. Larry Lyon, Dean Doctor of Science in Occupational Therapy Brandon RaShon Stanley M.S.O.T., Winston-Salem State University, 2010; B.S., East Carolina University, 2007; Residency, Occupational Therapy Fort Sam Houston, Texas Brooke Army Medical Center Chelsea Marie Truax M.S., Alvernia University, 2014; B.S., Alvernia University, 2014; Residency, Occupational Therapy Fort Sam Houston, Texas Brooke Army Medical Center Doctor of Science in Physical Therapy Lauren Brown D.P.T., Medical University of South Carolina, 2010; B.S., Presbyterian College, 2007; Residency, Physical Therapy West Point, New York Keller Army Community Hospital Keith M. Collinsworth D.P.T., Baylor University, 2009; B.S., New Mexico State University, 2002; Residency, Physical Therapy West Point, New York Keller Army Community Hospital Kyle East D.P.T., Southwest Baptist University, 2013; B.A., Carroll College, 2004; Residency, Physical Therapy West Point, New York Keller Army Community Hospital Political Science Mary Craig Sociology Kimberly Anne Trevino Spanish Alexandra Kendall Fraley Theatre Arts Casey Michael Papas Doctor of Physical Therapy Michael Beggs Sean Michael Batzer Benjamin Stanford Campbell Alexa Danielle Clifton Jessica Carrignan Matthew Coddington Eric T. Fagan Gabriel Cross Scott Michael Hallak Joseph Allen Hathcock Justin M. Harding Michael Lawrence Heiner Lauren Hierholzer Brette Whitney Dollins Caroline Caffery Gilly LeighAnna Hutchinson Meagan Adriana Sledge Mooney Erica Plimpton Amanda Ramos-Rubalcava Sydney Sutton Nathan E. Henry D.P.T., Baylor University, 2010; B.S., Brigham Young University, 2000; Residency, Physical Therapy West Point, New York Keller Army Community Hospital Julie Kujawa D.P.T., Baylor University, 2012; B.S., The University of Tulsa, 2001; Residency, Physical Therapy West Point, New York Keller Army Community Hospital Doctor of Musical Arts Samuel James Eatherton B.S.Ed., Concordia University, 1996; M.C.M., Concordia University, 2003; Performance Document, Church Music/Organ Performance: "Latin Hymns and Their German Counterparts: Three Examples from the Lutheran Reformation" Mentors: Dr. Isabelle Demers and Dr. David W. Music Doctor of Education Shametria Routt Banks M.Ed., University of Texas, 2005; B.S.Ed., Baylor University, 2002; Dissertation, Curriculum and Instruction: Strengthening through a Three-Part Professional Development Series: Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Division of Fractions A Multiple Case Study Mentor: Dr. Sandi Cooper William Jerry Holcomb Erin Marie Kocher Aimee Nicole Jacobs Melissa Angela Metivier Sarah Elizabeth Paul Marlisa Cardoso Overton Ellie Prinster Jessica Tan Richard Simmet Bethany Hope Timmerman Tiffany Nicole Wolfe Lindsay C. Wise Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Practitioner 6 Kathy Mustacato Wigtil B.A., State University of New York at Geneseo, 1977; M.A., Tennessee Technological University, 1980; Dissertation, Curriculum and Instruction: The Influence of Student Homelessness on Educational Outcomes: A Multiple Case Study of Four Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Mentor: Dr. Brooke Blevins Doctor of Psychology Channing Cochran B.A., Vanderbilt University, 2011; M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2016; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: Test Anxiety and the Attention Training Technique (ATT): A Feasibility Study Mentor: Dr. Thomas A. Fergus Kaitlyn Nicole Egan M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2016; B.A., University of Notre Dame, 2014; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: The Effect of Prior Infertility Mentor: Dr. Christine A. Limbers on Parenting Self-Efficacy and Child Outcomes Jacqueline Hapenny M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2016; B.A., Stonehill College, 2011; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: The Relationship between Underlying Suicidality in a Juvenile Offender Sample Psychological Inflexibility and the Interpersonal Needs Mentor: Dr. Thomas A. Fergus Priscilla Grace Layman Mentor: Dr. Keith P. Sanford B.A., The University of New Mexico, 2013; M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2015; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: The Feasibility of Measuring Medical-Specific Relationship Schemas in Partnered Individuals with a Medical Condition Hyeji Na M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2015; B.A., Emory University, 2010; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: Hypnotic Relaxation Therapy A Pilot Study to Enhance Subjective Well-Being Among College Students: Mentor: Dr. Gary R. Elkins Halle Elizabeth Ross-Young M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2015; B.A., Baylor University, 2013; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: Testing the Acceptability Intervention on Self-Forgiveness, Intellectual Humility, and Utility of a Web-Based Self-Forgiveness Letter Gratitude, and Well-Being Mentor: Dr. Wade C. Rowatt Ashley Elizabeth Teasdale M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2016; B.A., Baylor University, 2013; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: Problem-Solving Skills with Parent and Child Outcomes and Feasibility of Online Among Fathers of Children with Type 1 Diabetes: Associations Problem-Solving Skills Training Mentor: Dr. Christine A. Limbers Ming Hwei Yek B.Sc., McGill University, 2012; M.S.C.P., Baylor University, 2016; Dissertation, Clinical Psychology: Examining the Feasibility of the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) as a Therapeutic Measure Mentor: Dr. Gary R. Elkins Doctor of Philosophy Stephen Charles Cook Dissertation, Biology: Nutrient Enrichment Modulates The B.S., Baylor University, 2010; Structure and Temporal Assembly of Riverine Benthic Algal Mentor: Dr. Ryan S. King and Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Jinyan Chan M.S., Baylor University, 2018; B.S., Shandong University, 2012; Dissertation, Biomedical Studies: Statistical Methods for Research and Drug Discovery High-Throughput Data Integration: Methodologies in Disease Mentor: Dr. Jinghua Gu Matthew Ryan Brantley Dissertation, Chemistry: Design and Implementation of a B.S., University of Texas at Tyler, 2014; Custom Imaging Mass Spectrometer Mentor: Dr. Touradj Solouki Josh Cox Dissertation, Chemistry: Total Synthesis of (–)-Herquline B B.S., Texas A&M University, 2014; and (+)-C, Total Synthesis of (±)-Phyllantidine, and Synthetic Mentor: Dr. John L. Wood Studies toward Longeracemine Sam Yruegas Dissertation, Chemistry: Generating Conjugated Boron B.A., Texas A&M University, 2014; Heterocycles From Boroles Mentor: Dr. Caleb D. Martin Qingqing Chen M.A., Northwestern Polytechnical University, 2007; B.A., Northwestern Polytechnical University, 2003; Dissertation, Curriculum and Teaching: Investigation of Self-Efficacy and their Understanding of Culturally Responsive International Teaching Assistants' Perceptions of their Teaching Teaching Pedagogy: A Case Study Mentor: Dr. Gretchen Schwarz Tyler Bradley Ellis M.S.Ed., Baylor University, 2013; B.A., Ouachita Baptist University, 2008; Dissertation, Curriculum and Teaching: The Influence of Political and Ideological Clarity: A Qualitative Case Study Context-Specific Teacher Preparation on Program Faculty's Mentor: Dr. Tony L. Talbert Regan M. Weston M.A., Baylor University, 2015; B.S., University of North Texas, 2014; Dissertation, Educational Psychology: Review of Assessment Mentor: Dr. Tonya Davis and Training Strategies for Preservice Behavior Analysts Nicole Marie Bouchard B.S., Northwest Nazarene University, 2012; Dissertation, English: Navigating Genre: Writing Disability, Illness, and Female Agency in the Victorian Novel Mentor: Dr. Kristen A. Pond Sarah Elizabeth Clark B.A., Toccoa Falls College, 2009; M.A., Baylor University, 2012; Dissertation, English: Beauty as Transcendent in Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, and Rumer Godden Mentor: Dr. Kevin J. Gardner James M. Cochran Dissertation, English: Clean and Dirty Reading: Constructing and Rejecting the Hygienic Imagination in Fiction from Salinger to Egan Mentor: Dr. Ron Thomas B.A., Le Moyne College, 2014; Lindsay Patricia Martin Dissertation, English: Paradigms of Knowledge and Narratives B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 2008; of Human Flourishing in Victorian Realism Mentor: Dr. Joshua King Alicia A. McCartney B.A., Patrick Henry College, 2014; Dissertation, English: Prayers from the Wreck: Shipwreck Narratives and Imagined Spiritual Communities in Nineteenth-Century Britain Mentor: Dr. Joshua King Jing Liu Master's, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Bachelor's, China University of Mining and Technology, 2011; Sciences, 2014; Copper Oxide Nanoparticles and Arsenic on Rice (O. sativa Dissertation, Environmental Science: Interactive Effects of japonica ‘Koshihikari’) Plant Growth and Development Mentor: Dr. George P. Cobb Jessica Ann Robinson B.A., Whitworth University, 2008; M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary, 2012; M.S.Ed., Baylor University, 2014; Dissertation, Higher Education Studies and Leadership: Community College Success Coaching: A Phenomenological Exploration of an Emerging Profession Mentor: Dr. Perry L. Glanzer Paul James Gutacker B.A., Bryan College, 2008; M.C.S., Regent College, 2013; Th.M., Regent College, 2014; Dissertation, History: Remembering the Old Faith in the New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past, 1780-1865 Mentor: Dr. Thomas S. Kidd Adina Tonetta Kelley B.A., University of Northwestern-Saint Paul, 2009; M.A., Baylor University, 2013; Dissertation, History: The Evangelical Mystique: Conservative Protestant Femininity in the United States from 1940-1970 Mentor: Dr. Barry G. Hankins Matthew Millsap B.A., University of Central Arkansas, 2009; M.A., University of Central Arkansas, 2015; Dissertation, History: Nature's Creed: Natural Religion, Protestants, and Enlightened Belief in Early America Mentor: Dr. Thomas S. Kidd Jordana J. George B.A., University of California at Davis, 1983; M.F.A., University of California at Davis, 1985; M.B.A., Pennsylvania State University, 1988; Dissertation, Information Systems: Transforming Viscous Data into Liquid Data: How Does Intermediating through Digital Platforms Impact Data? Mentor: Dr. Dorothy Leidner Paul Sungsoo Hwang B.S., Wheaton College, 2012; M.S., Baylor University, 2015; Dissertation, Kinesiology, Exercise Nutrition, and Health Promotion: Effects of Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ) Supplementation on Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Mitochondrial Function and Aerobic Exercise Performance in Untrained Men Mentor: Dr. Darryn S. Willoughby Megan Elizabeth McClendon B.S., Stephen F. Austin State University, 2013; M.S., Stephen F. Austin State University, 2015; Dissertation, Kinesiology, Exercise Nutrition, and Health Promotion: Paternal Perceptions of Responsibilities and Child Physical Activity Mentor: Dr. M. Renee Umstattd Meyer Oliver Tate Kernell M.S., Baylor University, 2017; B.S., University of Notre Dame, 2013; Dissertation, Mathematics: Preconditioning Mixed Finite Mentor: Dr. Robert C. Kirby Elements for Tide Models Isaac Benjamin Michael M.S., Baylor University, 2015; B.S., Tarleton State University; 2013; Dissertation, Mathematics: Mentor: Dr. Fritz Gesztesy On Birman-Hardy-Rellich-type Inequalities Chong Sun M.S., Baylor University, 2015; B.A., University of International Relations, 2012; Dissertation, Mathematics: Stable Up-Downwind Volatility Equations Finite Difference Methods for Solving Heston Stochastic Mentor: Dr. Qin Sheng Erica Kathleen Swindle M.S., Baylor University, 2018; Dissertation, Mathematics: Spectral Properties of Quantum Graphs with Symmetry Mentor: Dr. Jonathan M. Harrison B.S., Lee University, 2013; 8 Madhurima Bhattacharjee B.Sc., University of Calcutta, 2010; M.Sc., Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2012; M.A., Baylor University, 2017; Dissertation, Physics: Gravitational Radiation and Black Hole Formation from Gravitational Collapse in Theories of Gravity with Broken Lorentz Symmetry Mentor: Dr. Anzhong Wang Kenneth Remington Call B.S., Weber State University, 2011; M.A., Baylor University, 2014; Dissertation, Physics: Search for Supersymmetric Partners of the Top Quark with the CMS Detector and Novel Top Quark Tagging Algorithms Mentor: Dr. Kenichi Hatakeyama Jacob Oost M.A., Baylor University, 2017; Dissertation, Physics: Observational Constraints, Exact Plane Wave Solutions, and Exact Spherical Solutions in Einstein-Aether Theory Mentor: Dr. Anzhong Wang B.S.E.P., The Ohio State University, 2014; Joseph Kenneth Griffith II M.A., Baylor University, 2016; Dissertation, Political Science: "No Mere Creature of the State": American Jurisprudence on the Right of Parents to Direct Their Children's Education Mentor: Dr. David K. Nichols B.A., Ashland University, 2014; Courtney Ann Kurinec M.A., Baylor University, 2016; B.A., University of North Carolina, 2010; Dissertation, Psychology: Weakening the "Illusion of Memory Knowledge": A Potential Method for Improving Jurors' Evaluation of Eyewitness Evidence Mentor: Dr. Charles A. Weaver III Joseph Christian Leman M.S., Illinois State University, 2008; B.S., Illinois State University, 2005; Dissertation, Psychology: Are Intellectually Humble People Metaperception and Meta-accuracy of Intellectual Humility Aware of their Reputation? An Empirical Investigation of the Mentor: Dr. Wade C. Rowatt Suzanne Olivia Nolan-Strle B.S.L.A.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014; M.A., Baylor University, 2016; Dissertation, Psychology: Oiling the Brain: Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation in a Mouse Model of Autism Mentor: Dr. Joaquin N. Lugo Meredith Hoyland Palm B.A., Luther College, 2013; M.A., Baylor University, 2016; Dissertation, Psychology: Heterogeneity in Etiological Factors for Substance Use Among Low-Income African American Adolescents Mentor: Dr. Shawn J. Latendresse Mathew A. Crawford Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Tran B.S., Amridge University, 2003; M.A., John Carroll University, 2009; Th.M., Duke University, 2011; Dissertation, Religion: Acknowledging the Suffering and Dying: Theological Anthropology, Ordinary Language Philosophy, and Isolation John Murray Duncan M.A., Lee University, 2012; B.A., University of South Carolina, 2000; Dissertation, Religion: Adaptation and Alienation: Persuasive Handbooks, Polybius, Josephus, and the Acts of the Apostles Strategies and Audience Responses in the Rhetorical Mentor: Dr. Mikeal C. Parsons Nathan Hays B.A., Baylor University, 2010; M.Div., Duke University, 2013; Dissertation, Religion: The Interlocutors in the Book of Malachi Mentor: Dr. James D. Nogalski Thomas Joseph Millay Mentor: Dr. Paul H. Martens B.A., Baylor University, 2008; M.Div., Duke University, 2011; Dissertation, Religion: Suffering and the Christian Life: The Asceticism of Søren Kierkegaard Justin James Nelson M.Ed., University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 2009; B.S.Ed., University of North Dakota, 2003; M.A., Baylor University, 2016; A Sociological Analysis of Technological Device Addiction and Dissertation, Sociology: Understanding iAddiction: Attachment in the Digital Age Mentor: Dr. Jeremy E. Uecker Grant Lee Innerst M.S., Baylor University, 2017; B.S., Shippensburg University, 2015; Dissertation, Statistics: Contributions to Computational Mentor: Dr. David J. Kahle Algebraic Statistics Rebecca Bell Scott M.S.W., University of Washington, 1997; B.S., Abilene Christian University, 1996; Dissertation, Social Work: Children with Externalized Primary Care and Congregations Behavior Disorders: Opportunities for the Support Systems of Mentor: Dr. Dennis R. Myers Student Recognitions Graduates of the Honors Program § Honors Scholars with Distinction Paul Joseph Paternoster § Brett Neely Peterson § Beta Gamma Sigma (honor society of business administration) John Edward Bauer Sara Kathleen Deaton Jeremy Ryan Fields Michael F. George Samuel Thomas Gurley Jack Christopher Hefner Eta Sigma Gamma (honor society of health education) Sarah Shamsherali Bhimani Kappa Delta Pi (honor society of education) Shametria Routt Banks Erin Elizabeth Coleman Melissa Paige Donham Tyler Bradley Ellis Erica Ann Fleming Ashley Michelle Heffernan Anastasia Nicole Walton Kathy Mustacato Wigtil Kappa Omicron Nu (honor society of family and consumer sciences) Ashley Marie Roper Lambda Pi Eta (honor society of communication) Abbey Anne Allen Cole Grayson Irwin Psi Chi (honor society of psychology) Samuel Nicholas Salazar Sigma Theta Tau (honor society of nursing) Brette Whitney Dollins Caroline Caffery Gilly LeighAnna Hutchinson Meagan Adriana Sledge Mooney Erica Plimpton Amanda Ramos-Rubalcava Upsilon Pi Epsilon (honor society of computer science) Matthew Griffin Antonin Smid Jennie Ann Steel Christopher Neal Scantlin Bradley Dean Sullivan Haley Marie Johanna Westbrook Sydney Sutton 10 Commencement Traditions A History of Baylor Commencement Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845 and Baylor trustees voted to grant certificates and diplomas in 1854, following a similar policy of Brown University, a Baptist school in Providence, Rhode Island. That same year Baylor celebrated its first official commencement at Independence, Texas, with the granting of an A.B. degree to Stephen Decatur Rowe. The following year the University granted a degree to the first woman graduate, Mary Kavanaugh Gentry. By 1856, the number of graduates increased to six men and two women. In 1930, commencement ceremonies were moved to Waco Hall, the newly constructed Baylor facility funded by the City of Waco. In 1943, the spring ceremony reflected the effects of World War II, when 43 of the 282 degrees conferred were given "in absentia" due to students serving in the armed forces. The University moved from Independence to Waco in 1885 and commencement ceremonies were likely held each spring in the chapel of Old Main. Starting in 1903, commencement ceremonies were held in the chapel of Carroll Library. After the 1922 Carroll Library fire, the third floor chapel was not rebuilt and a new chapel-gymnasium structure served as the venue. By the early 1950s, commencement was held at either Municipal Stadium or Baylor Stadium (later known as Floyd Casey Stadium). Spring commencements moved to the Heart of Texas Coliseum from 1956 to 1988. With the completion of Ferrell Center in fall 1988, Baylor commencement ceremonies returned to campus. In 2009, spring graduation was expanded to three ceremonies over two days and more than 1,800 students participated. In 1889, the University began holding summer ceremonies, which were held at a local Baptist church, then Waco Hall and now Ferrell Center. From 400 to more than 800 students graduate in summer and fall ceremonies. In 1984, the tradition of December ceremonies was begun. The December 2011 commencement marked the first time that two winter ceremonies were held. Separate ceremonies are held for George W. Truett Theological Seminary and Baylor Law School. The Mace The mace, used in formal processions at Baylor, was adopted as the official Baylor mace by the Board of Trustees in March 1974 as a symbol of the authority of the University. A second element of the mace is a gold-headed walking cane that was presented to Baylor President Rufus C. Burleson by his students in 1860. The gold-hilted sword that comprises the principal element of the mace was presented to Cyrus Alexander Baylor, brother of University namesake Judge R.E.B. Baylor, by President Andrew Jackson as an award for bravery in battle. Immediately beneath the three elements, a three-dimensional seal of Baylor University is mounted on the staff, which was milled from a timber taken from a roof beam in Old Main, the first building constructed on the Waco campus. The third element of the mace is a gold-headed walking cane, bearing the date of 1836, that belonged to General Sam Houston. A distinguished emeritus professor, symbolizing Baylor's debt to the immediate past, carries the mace in formal processions. Academic Regalia Academic dress traces its beginnings to the Middle Ages. When English universities were forming in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, scholars were also clerics and they adopted robes similar to those of their monastic orders. Caps were a necessity in drafty buildings and capes with hoods attached were needed for warmth. In 1895, the Intercollegiate Commission specified a code that was adopted by American institutions of higher learning to standardize the regalia worn by faculty and graduates. It has stood virtually unchanged to present time. The hood is the most distinctive feature of American regalia. At Baylor, hoods are worn for the master's degree, the education specialist degree, and all doctoral degrees. The doctoral hood is longer and marked by a wider velvet binding. The color of the velvet edging of the hood indicates the degree; the color of the lining represents the university that confers the degree. The bachelor's gown has pointed sleeves, while the gown for the master's degree has an oblong sleeve, open at the wrist. The doctoral gown, which may be worn open or closed, is trimmed down the front with velvet and has three velvet bars on the bell-shaped sleeves. These facings and crossbars may be black or may be the color distinctive to the discipline to which the degree pertains. Colors for the various disciplines include white for the Master of Arts; gold for Master of Science; Fine Arts, brown; all music degrees, pink; social work, citron; business administration, drab; divinity and theology degrees, red; law, purple; education, light blue; nursing, apricot; engineering and computer science, orange; public health, salmon; Doctor of Psychology, dark blue; Doctor of Science, golden yellow; and Doctor of Philosophy, royal blue. All master's degree candidates wear black tassels with the appropriate hood. The University introduced unique doctoral regalia in 1995, its sesquicentennial year. The gown is forest green with dark green velvet crossbars on the sleeves, outlined in gold braid. The velvet on the matching doctoral hood reflects the degree. A velvet, eight-sided tam with gold bullion tassel completes the regalia. The Diploma The design of the diploma was introduced in 2000 and features an original pen-and-ink drawing of Pat Neff Hall by Baylor art professor Berry Klingman. The diploma is 14 inches x 11 inches horizontal. Signatures of the chair of the Board of Regents, the president, the provost, and the appropriate dean, along with a gold embossed seal, are on the diploma. Most students graduating today receive their diploma. Those who graduate with Latin honors – summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude – may receive their diplomas today or in about six weeks, after new diplomas are ordered reflecting the appropriate honor. Graduating with Latin Honors Undergraduate students are eligible for graduation with Latin honors by meeting the following GPA requirements: Only Baylor University residence credit is considered in calculating these averages. Students graduating with a 4.0 GPA receive Alpha Chi medallions when they are presented their diplomas. Baylor Interdisciplinary Core The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC), one of the four programs housed in the Honors College, provides students with an alternative core curriculum for their general studies requirements. The Official Baylor Ring The Official Baylor University Ring is a longstanding tradition among alumni, visually celebrating the academic achievement of Baylor graduates. Seniors wear the ring with the Baylor seal facing them. Graduates turn the ring on graduation day so the seal is read by those who look at the ring. This change signifies their preparedness to face the world with an education in hand. Official Baylor Rings are presented in spring and winter ceremonies where they hear the Baylor story beautifully portrayed in the details incorporated into the ring's design. Baylor Senior Class Gift Each year, Baylor seniors join together to raise support for our University. This tradition is a way of showing our thanks to Baylor, demonstrating a sense of community and connection, and leaving a lasting impact that reflects the spirit of our class. To leave your mark at Baylor, go to baylor.edu/seniorclassgift and make a gift today! To commemorate our time at Baylor, the senior class has been raising funds to contribute to the Student Care and Wellness fund that is designed to support our fellow students during times of emergency financial need. Imagine if a student's apartment burned down and they lost all their clothes – the Student Care and Wellness fund can provide funds to that student so they can purchase some new clothing. It really is Baylor students helping fellow Baylor students. "To you seniors of the past, of the present, of the future, I entrust the care of Baylor University. To you I hand the torch." Samuel Palmer Brooks Baylor President, 1902-1931 11 12 Ushers for Commencement Marshals for Commencement Margaret E. Baier, Bearer of the Mace Alton Hassell, Chief Marshal Denyse Rodgers, Chief Marshal Dick Campbell, Assistant Chief Marshal Jeff Olafsen, Assistant Chief Marshal David Henry, Assistant Chief Marshal Carol Schuetz, Assistant Chief Marshal Kathy Hillman, Stage Party Derek Dodson, Faculty Paul Larson, Stage Party Randy Wood,Faculty Brooke Blevins Kathy Boozer Rochelle Brunson Christina Chan-Park Sandi Cooper Karen Cotter Ken Hatakeyama Julie Hoggarth Karen Holub Emily Hunter Kathy Hurtt Renee Jones Nan Ketcham Bradley Lail Lorin Matthews Tim McKinney Mandy McMichael Yuko Prefume Deborah Rainer Marlene Reed Michael Richards Meagan Soltwisch Tanya Sudia Elon Terrell Renee Umstattd Meyer Benna Vaughan Robin Wakefield Janelle Walter David White Trena Wilkerson Brass Ensemble J. Eric Wilson, Conductor Trumpet Abby Barto Tyler Moore Matt Ruwe Dalton Snow Joey Tkach Horn Craig Adams Paullina Aguirre Seth Rodriquez Greta Williams French Horn Hannah Morrison Trombone Jonathan Passmore Dawson Ward Connor Wooley Tuba Ethan Gordon Ben Kauffman Percussion Gabriella Reyna Public Exercises Committee Carol Nowlin, Chair April Clanton Alton Hassell Jonathan Helm Henry Howard Kathy Hutchison Byron Johnson Nan Ketcham Dawn Khoury Alexis McNeilly Brittany Robertson Denyse Rodgers Kevin Tankersley Andy Trimble David White Brad Wigtil Walter Wilcox Office of the Registrar Ashleigh Bailey Kay Berry April Clanton Elizabeth De La Garza Jonathan Helm Dawn Khoury Braxton Ray Athletic Facilities and Operations Henry Howard, Associate Athletics Director for Capital Projects and Championships Drew Pittman, Associate Athletics Director for Event Management and Facilities Jonathan D. Berry Davis De Loach Chris Humphreys Steve "Hoot" Johnigan Will Lattimore Terry Tucker General Information Guests are asked to help maintain the dignity of this ceremony. We understand and encourage your show of appreciation for graduates, but guests must refrain from loud, disruptive cheering and use of any noise-making devices. SEATING: Seating on the concourse level is open to all guests on a first-come, first-serve basis. Seats may be saved, but it may be required that seats be relinquished 15 minutes prior to the start of each ceremony. ASL INTERPRETATION: Sign interpretation will be provided for guests in the lower rows of section 112 for all commencement ceremonies. PHOTOGRAPHY: Personal cameras and video recorders are allowed in the Ferrell Center for commencement, but guests are not allowed on the floor where graduates are seated. Visit baylor.edu/commencement for information about professional photography and video recording of today's ceremony. The professional photographer will send proofs from today's ceremony to each graduate's Baylor email address. Recordings of each ceremony will be posted to the commencement website shortly after commencement weekend. NO SELFIES ON STAGE: As a show of respect to all graduates and in consideration of the length of the ceremonies, no selfies by graduates while on stage will be allowed. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE: An EMS station is located on the Ferrell Center concourse at section 102 in the event of an emergency. Ushers are available to assist guests to the EMS station. USHERS: Faculty ushers, assisted by Ferrell Center staff, are available throughout the building. They are present to direct traffic of attendants and graduates and to assist guests during the ceremony. PHONES: All mobile phones and pagers should be turned off or changed to a silent or vibrate mode for the duration of the ceremony. PUBLIC WIRELESS ACCESS: Baylor provides public Wi-Fi inside the Ferrell Center. Choose the wireless or Wi-Fi option in your Settings app, select the "Ferrell-Wifi" network and click "Complete Registration" to accept the terms and conditions. NOTE: This program is not an official University document. The exclusion of the names of students is not to be taken as indicative of their official status as non-graduates, nor is the inclusion of the names of students to be taken as certification of their official status as graduates. The National Anthem O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that Star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Francis Scott Key, 1814 13 That Good Old Baylor Line That Good Old Baylor Line! We'll march forever down the years As long as stars shall shine. We'll fling our Green and Gold afar To light the ways of time, And guide us as we onward go: That Good Old Baylor Line!
\| President’s Message \| 1 \| \|---\|---\| \| Conference Regis- tration Form \| 2 \| \| Donate Life WI \| 3 \| \| Dr. Elizabeth Doug- las– Brown County \| 4-5 \| \| October Conference Highlights \| 6 \| \| Barry Tomaras Richard Schliefer \| 7 7 \| \| Interesting Deaths \| 8-9 \| \| Training Opportuni- ties \| 10 \| Wisconsin Coroners and Medical Examiners Association The Examiner http://www.wcmea.com PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Dear Colleagues, We have lived the curse of extraordinary times for several years now. The most intense stress of the COVID pandemic is in our past, but the repercussions are still felt today as we struggle to regain order and function. Although we laid foundational structure for the WCMEA at last year's October conference, the upheaval of a one-conference year off season has resulted in problems with our usual 12 month election process. We recognize that plans were made to hold overlapping elections for select offices in odd and even years to maintain continuity of knowledge within the Board of Directors. But, we must also recognize that we did not have sufficient time between the annual conferences to meet the requirements of the formal election process. We simply ended up BEHIND the process almost as soon as we started. As such, we have not met the time restrictions outlined by the WCMEA bylaws for elections this year. On odd years, the 1 st Vice President, the Secretary and the Sergeant at Arms are up for re-election, serving for two years. The individuals currently serving in this capacity have served less than 9 months. We acknowledge that these individuals have not had the time to acclimate or contribute in a way that you elected them to, and propose to suspend the 2023 election to allow them two years of service (in addition to the time already served) until the next routine election. We understand and recognize that this is not the usual order of things. But we must face the fact that many pieces are still being put together, and that the usual order of things must be fluid if it is to serve us in the spirit in which it was intended. With continued stability, we hope to start anew in 2024 – using the time to reenforce the routine, return to regular two year elections, and continue to focus on providing multiple educational opportunities each year. We thank you for your support, and your feedback, in these trying times and we look forward to seeing you at the conference in June! Dr. Agnieszka Rogalska WCMEA President Spring 2010 http://www.wcmea.com Summer 2023 Wisconsin Coroners and Medical Examiners Association Registration Form Summer 2023 Conference in Wisconsin Dells, WI Conference Dates June 26, 27 & 28 Name & Title: !!! PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT CLEARLY!!! Organization: Address: City: State: ZIP: Phone: FAX: Email: FEES: Full Conference: _____ $250.00 Member $275.00 Non-Member Single Day: Indicate The Individual Day You Wish to Attend: Monday: _ $125.00 Member $150.00 Non-Member Tuesday: _ $125.00 Member $150.00 Non-Member Wednesday: ______$50.00 Member ______$75.00 Non-Member I WILL ATTEND THE BOD MEETING SUNDAY EVENING: _________ The conference is being held at: Chula Vista Resort & Water Park PO Box 30, Hwy 13 North Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965 The WCMEA has a block of rooms reserved for the conference. Please call (844) 837-3828 to reserve a room from the block at a Government rate. Use booking code j20868, Reservations need to be made NO LATER THAN June 19, 2023. After that date, the block of rooms will be released and there is no guarantee that a room will be available. C/o Rory Groessl, Treasurer 50 Villa Heights Court, Algoma, WI 54201 Make checks payable to: WCMEA No refunds for cancellations after June 19, 2023. For additional questions, please contact: Jennifer Schroeter a t email@example.com (262) 653-3867 Donate Life Wisconsin Update: Hunt…Fish…become an Organ, Tissue & Eye Donor in Wisconsin Did you know that in Wisconsin when you purchase your fishing license you can register to become an Organ, Tissue & Eye donor? Under 2021 Wisconsin Act 220, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was directed to include a question on hunting, fishing, and trapping license applications about whether the customer wishes to include their name as a donor of an anatomical gift on a donor registry. Wisconsin residents (15 years of age or older) may choose to include their name on the Wisconsin Donor Registry as an anatomical gift donor when they apply or purchase licenses on gowild.wi.gov. The goal is to provide an opportunity to regis- ter as a donor on a yearly basis. Currently you are asked if you would like to register as a donor when renewing your driver's license every 8 years. As of March 2023, if you register as a donor through the DNR Gowild.wi.gov website, the DNR will transmit to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation your new anatomical gift registration. The orange donor dot will not show up on your driver's license by registering at the DNR website, however, DNR license documents will include a space for the customer to indicate their wish to be a donor. If you purchase a Wisconsin conservation card, a space for you to indicate your decision to be a donor is included. The Gowild.wi.gov website has a Donate Life Pocket/wallet donor card that can be printed when you register to be a donor. We are excited that this option will start a conversation about donation and reach a new demographic on a more frequent basis. Over 57.5% of 5 million Wisconsin residents that have a driver's license or ID are registered organ, tissue, and eye donors. Donation Specialists for Recovery Organizations are happy to access the donor registry to check registration status. If you have any questions, please go to www.donatelifewisconsin.org Submitted by: Joyce Kratz, American Tissue Services Foundation and Al Klimek, Versiti Organ & Tissue Remembering Paul Mattlin Paul Mattlin was a long time member of the WCMEA and of the Portage County Coroner's Office. He died on April 22, 2023 surrounded by family. Paul was 51 years old at the time of his death. Paul, a firefighter/paramedic, started at the Stevens Point Fire Department. He served for over 20 years, ultimately earning the rank of Captain. He began his journey with the Portage County Coroner's Office in 2004, and eventually held the position of Chief Deputy Coroner. He attended many of the WCMEA training conferences, and became a welcomed, familiar face to many. He had an amazing sense of humor, and a smile that lit up the room. In 2021, Paul was diagnosed with colon cancer. He ended up retiring in August 2022. He ultimately lost his battle with cancer this April. He leaves behind a wife and two sons. On behalf of the WCMEA, our deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues who loved and cherished Paul Mattlin. Welcome Dr. Elizabeth Douglas to Brown County, Dr. Douglas started as the Chief Medical Examiner in Brown County In August of 2022 so we would like to properly introduce and welcome her. Following is a bio regarding her time prior to joining us: Elizabeth Douglas is a medical doctor with board certifications in anatomic and forensic pathology and is licensed to practice medicine in the states of Wisconsin and Michigan. She has completed over three thousand postmortem examinations and testified as an expert witness in forensic pathology more than sixty times between thirteen counties in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. She completed her undergraduate education in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Western Michi- gan University where she double majored in Spanish and biomedical sciences with a minor in chemistry, graduating magna cum laude in 2001 through Lee Honors College. She received her medical education from Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan graduating in 2006. This was followed by a four-year residency program in anatomic and clinical Pathology through Cleveland Clinic and an additional year of subspecialty training in forensic pathology with the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office in Cleveland, Ohio. Following completion of her formal education, she went on to serve as a deputy coroner in Franklin County Ohio, where she also oversaw visiting medical learners in elective rotations with the office. Additionally, she participated in numerous review teams with community partners, such as Trauma Morbidity and Mortality conferences and Child Death Review. Before leaving Franklin County to return to Kalamazoo, she rose to the rank of Deputy Chief Coroner. The bulk of Dr. Douglas' professional career was spent with the Department of Pathology in Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) where she served numerous roles as an Assistant Professor in Pathology in addition to providing Medical Examiner services to thirteen surrounding counties in West Michigan and contract forensic autopsy services to thirteen counties in mid-Michigan and two counties in Northern Indiana. These roles included creating and delivering didactic lectures and direct laboratory training to first- and second-year medical students, creating curricular goals and objectives for visiting learners, and supervising all visiting learners during their rotations. When an unexpected departure of a faculty member left the newly created forensic pathology fellowship without a program director, she stepped in to fill the role, successfully guiding the team through their first program inspection from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Douglas also participated in scholarly activities during her time with WMed, including several publications in partnership with other colleagues and medical students on topics such as fracture healing in pediatric patient populations and emerging trends in drug-related fatalities. She delivered educational talks as an invited speaker to community partners including law enforcement, medical training programs, and emergency medical services teams. I also asked her a couple of follow up questions: What is something she finds challenging about her work: "The things that challenged me as a forensic pathology trainee continue to challenge me as a seasoned attending. That said, through years of experience I have come to realize that processing and releasing the accumulated indirect trauma of bearing witness to the worst of what people are capable of doing to themselves and to each other is the greatest challenge of the profession. Doing that while remaining present with the bereaved requires constant, vigilant attention to your own well-being, so you can continue to hold space for the families without being overcome by the weight of the tragedy and their grief." If she could only eat one meal for the rest of her life what would it be? "I would happily eat nothing but breakfast cereal for the rest of my life." Another interesting article regarding Dr. Douglas for further reading: https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/choosing_pathology_gives_two_d.html Shown in photos: Dr. Douglas testifying at the trial of a fatal shooting in September of 2016. https://wmualumni.org/stories/alumni-news/alumna-wmed Sources for trial photos: https://www.sturgisjournal.com/story/news/courts/2016/09/03/ murder-trial-day-5-autopsy/25525996007/ October 2022 Conference Highlights After the long COVID hiatus, the 2022 WCMEA Conference was held in Wisconsin Dells at the Chula Vista Resort October 17th through October 19th. There were approximately 70 registered attendees who enjoyed presentations on topics ranging from child fatality investigations and the use of doll re-enactments, to double homicide and cold case investigations. This conference was the first in person training opportunity for the WCMEA since the start of COVID. It was wonderful to see such great at- tendance and the amazing networking. There were several case presentations from coroners/medical examiners and their investigating law enforcement agencies around the state including Dane, Barron, and Racine. There were a total of 17.5 ABMDI credits available! The WCMEA elections and annual meeting were held on Tuesday, October 18th. Congratulations to all of the officers! The newly elected Board of Directors is as follows: President: Dr. Rogalska (Dane County) 1 st VP: Crystal Schaub (Oneida County) 2 nd VP: Brooke Kaat (Dodge County) Treasurer: Rory Groessl (Kewaunee County) Secretary: Jen Schroeter (Kenosha County) Sergeant @ Arms: Joe Morovits (Crawford County) 3-year Trustee: PJ Schoebel (Dodge County) The WCMEA would like to thank Dr. Cristina Figueroa Soto, Dane County Medical Examiner's Office, for all of her hard work and commitment in putting together an amazing seminar. Additional thanks to the staff at the Chula Vista Resort, as well as the many presenters and exhibitors for their time, knowledge, and generosity. The association would also like to acknowledge our generous sponsors: American Tissue Services Foundation, UW Organ and Tissue Donation, and Versiti Organ and Tissue. Without their continued support, the WCMEA would not be able to continue providing training opportunities for its members. Looking ahead, the next conference is set for June 26th through the 28th at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. Starting in 2024, the WCMEA will be returning to the two conference format with the first conference in winter, and second conference and annual meeting in the summer. Dates and venues for 2024 to be determined. Stay tuned for more information! LEAP INTO ACTION WCMEA! The Examiner is in search of interesting case investigations, as well as WCMEA members to highlight in future publications. Please submit your case reports or personal entries to any of the newsletter committee members below: Lynn Johnson: firstname.lastname@example.org Kathryn Luedtke: email@example.com Jennifer Schroeter: firstname.lastname@example.org Barry Tomaras Retires After 25 years of dedicated service as the Waupaca County Coroner/Medical Examiner, Barry Tomaras, retired in 2020. In 1994 then Governor, Tommy Thompson, appointed Barry as Waupaca County Coroner when the elected Coroner Dr. Lloyd Maasch gave his resignation midterm. Barry served on the Wisconsin Coroner's and Medical Examiner's Association over the years. While on the WCMEA Board he served as the Treasurer, then as the Vice President and as President. The most noticeable change made to Waupaca County was the change from Coroner, being an elected position, to Medical Examiner. Now the Medical Examiner is appointed by the County Board. He was always there to help answer questions and give his professional insight to the most difficult of cases. Barry has a wealth of knowledge of death investigating from his years of service. I am so fortunate to have learned so much from Barry. Thank you - Barry. Please enjoy your Retirement – Golfing - Warm Days in Arizona – Golfing - Relaxing Days with Mary Jo, Mesa and Reno – Golfing – Visiting the Frozen Tundra – Golfing – Motorcycle Riding - oh yeah, did I mention Golfing?? Well, enjoy and THANK YOU!!! Submitted by Cathi Wegener, Chief Medical Examiner for Waupaca County Richard Schleifer Retires After 22 years as elected Coroner, and 21 years as Deputy Coroner, Richard Schleifer retired from Clark County In January 2023. Prior to taking office in 1998, Schleifer worked as an EMT and had been the director of the ambulance service in Neillsville for more than 20 years. During his tenure as Coroner, Schleiifer was involved with the WCMEA and had served on the board of directors for four years. He began as Member-at-Large in 2009, and was then elected Sergeant-at-Arms from 2010-2012. Please see the message from Richard below: "I have enjoyed my work and enjoyed being involved with the association the past 22 years. I learned a lot by attending these conferences. I also enjoyed my four years on the Board of Directors and meeting a lot of nice people around the state. Serving on the Board and getting my D-ABMDI were heart warming and missing all the people I have come to meet. On a happier note, my Daughter Clarissa Rochester did write in and won by over 800 votes. She has worked as a Deputy for eight plus years so does know the ropes and had great support from Law Enforcement and EMS." Congratulations Richard on your well-deserved retirement! You will be missed. Interesting Deaths in Wisconsin…….. * In Sauk County- A middle school student died after being hit by a pickup truck while trying to board a school bus. The full-size pickup sideswiped the bus before going over a driveway and striking the student. The truck driver suffered minor injuries. * In Portage County- A 40-year old employee of the Mativ Inc. Paper Mill in Whiting became stuck in a paper machine at the mill. Sherriff's deputies and EMS personnel provided life saving measures with no success and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. * In Milwaukee County- A 1-year old girl was shot inside a car during an argument between adults outside of the Atkinson library in Milwaukee. The victim was taken to Station 36 and then to Children's Wisconsin Hospital where she died. * In Milwaukee County- There have been 4 deaths in the Milwaukee County Jail in 9 months. A 21-year old and 20-year old both died from alleged suicides in June and December. A 49-year old died of unknown causes in January and a 37-year old was found unresponsive in March. All deaths have sparked activists to picket outside the jail in hopes of determining a reason for the deaths. * In Wood County- Wood County Dispatch received a report of a person in the Wisconsin River in the Township of Saratoga. The caller had brought the 58-year old female to shore and she was pronounced dead on arrival. No suspicious circumstances exist. Reports remind everyone to wear a life jacket and always swim with a buddy. * In Barron County- A severe crash left two people dead and 12 others injured. A van carrying 10 people was struck head on by a car with 4 occupants. All victims were taken by four medical helicopters and nine ambulances to nearby hospitals. A 54-year old man and a 13-year old boy died in the crash. * In Oneida County- Two teens, 17-years old and 16-years old, who had gone missing from Lincoln County were recently found and identified in Oneida County Forest. Authorities believe that the two had gone to the area in search for a lost phone from a party and became lost in the woods. A search party was sent out to assist in the search for the two teens. Authorities believe that the weekend's cold weather played a role in the deaths. * In Sheboygan County- A 4-year old girl was out for a walk on the sidewalk with her family when a pickup truck crashed into a van which in turn pushed the van into the family. Three others were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The driver of the truck had prior issues with driving including a license suspension, inattentive driving, and fines. He now faces a maximum of 6 years in prison and a 6-month suspension from driving. * In Barron County- 2 police officers were gunned down in broad daylight on a highway outside of Cameron. The two officers stopped the vehicle because of "concerning behavior". A shootout ensued leaving the officers dead at the scene. Most people in the towns knew the officers personally and have shown an outpouring of support. Meanwhile, these two well-known officers are the second and third killed in the line of duty this year. Interesting Deaths Continued . . . . * In Richland County- Authorities are investigating the death of a man who was found unresponsive at a campground. The investigation determined that there were suspicious circumstances involving the death, so the Sherriff's Office requested help from the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, The Wisconsin State Crime Lab, The Wisconsin State Patrol, and Richland Center Police Department. Recently, a suspect has been charged with the shooting, but claims he "doesn't remember shooting the victim". * In Milwaukee County- Five people died after a crash near 60 th street and Fond du Lac Avenue. Four victims died at the scene and the fifth died later at the hospital. The 20- year old driver of a Kia was going 80 mph, 30 mph over the speed limit, without a license when she ran a red light and slammed into a Dodge. The driver of the Dodge was a 32-year old woman who was arrested on suspicion of OWI. The victims were passengers of the Kia; a 32-year old man, a 17-year old boy, two 15- year old girls, and a 1-year old, and a 17year old girl who survived with injuries and was taken to the hospital as well. * In St. Croix County- A St. Croix County Sheriff's Deputy was shot and killed while responding to a driver in a ditch. The deputy had ordered the driver to participate in field sobriety tests before returning to his vehicle. The driver was evasive and eventually drew a handgun and shot her. The deputy pulled her weapon and shot 3 times, but she missed, and the driver fled to nearby wooded area. Occupants of another vehicle began lifesaving measures on the deputy to no avail. The driver ended up shooting himself after officers found him in the woods. * In Milwaukee County- A 17-year old was found dead in the backseat of a vehicle at the Milwaukee tow lot days after a crash. The SUV was stolen and a teen boy at the scene was injured and taken to the hospital. The deceased boy's mother tried to file a missing person's report shortly after the crash but was told her son wasn't gone long enough, his body was found 4 days after. The family knew he had been with the other boy at the time of the crash. * In Fond Du Lac County- A resident doing yard work discovers a dead body. Officers are investigating due to suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. The body was determined to be a 41- year old male found in a wooded area behind the resident's home. Cause and manner of death are still pending autopsy results. * In Sauk County- A 19-year old woman was killed due to smoke inhalation sustained in a house fire. The victim was trapped on the second floor of the house but could not get through the smoke to safety and firefighters smashed through a window to reach her. She was supposed to get married that day. Three other people were home at the time of the fire but managed to escape before firefighters arrived at the scene around 4 am. * In Dodge County- A 73-year old pilot and his 8-year old grandson were killed in a plane crash near Brandt Quirk Park. The plane had just taken off from the Municipal Airport about 3 miles from the accident site. * In Grant County- A Southwest Wisconsin man died in a boating accident. The boat was seen without a driver in the backwaters of the Mississippi River and a canoer saw the driver swimming after it without a personal floatation device. He was brought to shore by the canoer and given CPR then taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. * In Jefferson County- A 61- year old man was found dead in Rome pond after deputies were called to do a welfare check. Preliminary findings are pointing towards a medical event occurring before the decedent entered the water. Wisconsin Coroners and Medical Examiners Association Jennifer Schroeter Kenosha County Medical Examiner's Office 1000 55th Street Kenosha, WI 53140 Training Opportunities Summer WCMEA Conference Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells June 26-28, 2023 http://wcmea.com/ Death Investigation Academy Online Training Death Investigation Academy (ditacademyonline.org) ** University of North Dakota Online Death Investigation Training https://und.edu/academics/ development/ investigation-training/ 2023 IACME Training Symposium July 16-20, 2023 Las Vegas, NV https://cdn.ymaws.com/theiacme.com/resource/res mgr/ Advanced Medicolegal Forensic Series October 2-6, 2023 Cleveland, OH https://www.cuyahogacounty.us/medicalexaminer/resources/medicolegal-deathinvestigation-basic-training-course ** Medicolegal Death Investigators Training St. Louis, Missouri August 21-24, 2023 https://www.slu.edu/medicine/pathology/me dicolegal-death-investigatorstraining/index.php death-
Dartmoor National Park Authority 14 April 2023 Agri-environment agreement rollovers on Dartmoor Report of the Chief Executive (National Park Officer) and Head of Conservation and Land Management Recommendation: That Members note the current position regarding agri- environment agreement rollovers on Dartmoor and offer any comments. 1 Agri-environment Schemes 1.1 Agri-environment schemes (AES) are Government programmes set up to help farmers manage their land in an environmentally friendly way. They provide funding by paying for income foregone and costs incurred to maintain and improve largely biodiversity assets but also other public goods to a lesser degree. These schemes alongside the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) which rewards farmers for keeping land in good agricultural condition are considered vital in the uplands to help retain viable farm businesses. BPS is currently being withdrawn over a seven-year period and will not be replaced, whilst current AES are due to be replaced by a new Environmental Land Management programme in 2024. 1.2 Existing AES are either Environment Stewardship (ES) or Countryside Stewardship (CS) and each agreement lasts between five and ten years. AES is funded by Defra and administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) with technical and advisory support from Natural England (NE), who are also responsible for ensuring that Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are achieving favourable condition. 1.3 As noted above, the current AES are to be phased out and replaced with Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) from 2024. To facilitate the transition from the existing schemes to the new ELMS, the RPA are currently offering those with expiring agreements the chance to either extend their ES scheme or transition to CS. 1.4 The National Park Authority has no formal role in the administration of current agrienvironment schemes. Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL), which is administered by the National Park Authority, is a funding programme that offers grants and agreements for projects. FiPL does not offer five or ten year agreements. The focus of FiPL is broader than traditional AES – it can offer grant NPA/23/012 funding that combines environment and economy under one or more of four themes: People, Place, Nature and Climate. 2 SSSI Condition 2.1 The condition of many Dartmoor SSSIs has remained poor or static for many years. The reasons for this are complex and not restricted to Dartmoor, many National Parks are in a similar state. The Authority has no formal role in the notification, monitoring or management of SSSIs (except for where it owns land that has been notified as a SSSI). Significant cuts to NE budgets in the last decade have made it challenging for them to retain a strong consistent advisory presence in many areas or allow for a regular monitoring protocol for designated sites. NE have however renewed their focus on SSSI condition in the last 2-3 years as the RPA have adopted responsibility for other elements of AESs that traditionally fell to NE. 2.2 With the advent of rollovers, NE have attempted to improve SSSI condition by recommending winter grazing reductions at a scale that many farmers considered excessive and too swift. Questions were asked about the evidence supporting reductions that might lead to SSSI favourable condition status and local MPs were contacted citing concerns around future farm business viability. Sir Geoffrey Cox MP chaired a debate on the 'Condition of Dartmoor' in May 2022. The Chief Executive of Natural England spoke at this event as did the Chief Executive (National Park Officer). Subsequent to this meeting the Authority convened a working group to identify a way forward. The group included representatives from: Dartmoor Commoners' Council, Dartmoor Commons Owners' Association, Duchy of Cornwall, Natural England and National Farmers Union. The group proposed the appointment of an independent facilitator to identify the issues and develop an action plan that was based on engagement and consensus. 3 Agri-environment agreement rollovers 3.1 Defra introduced a 'rollover' process for all expiring HLS schemes as a means to extend agreements until ELMS is introduced. This guarantees ongoing delivery of objectives and income to farmers without entering a new agreement for protracted periods, allowing for seamless transition to the new schemes when launched. Extensions have historically been for one year with the expectation of continuation if objectives were met. After two years of annual extensions, Defra and the RPA are now offering a five-year extension to agreements that are due to expire over the next year. On Dartmoor this equates to 23 agreements mostly associated with commons. NE recommend that any required changes can be phased over the five year period providing time for agreement holders to adapt their business. 3.2 Letters were sent in February/March to relevant agreement holders by the RPA outlining the offer and requesting a response within 15 working days. NE have contacted all commons associations with expiring agreements outlining principles which would underpin their (NE's) approach to supporting an agreement extension. The principles included: * A focus on summer grazing. * Overall stocking rates in agreements to align with established (evidence-based) rates for restoration or maintenance of key habitats present and on SSSIs the achievement of favourable condition. * Winter grazing (except by ponies) will need to be justified by clear and specific environmental outcomes that require winter stocking. If there is a case for winter grazing then this will only be supported where it has been established that there will not be detrimental impacts on key habitats (such as heath, blanket bog, mire) or species. * Agreements extensions will be set up with clear milestones for any stocking adjustments that are required. * Ensure management actions are sympathetic to and compatible with reinstating full hydrological function of the peatland (if applicable) where this is currently not present. 3.3 The communication indicated that NE would offer annual review meetings with agreement holders to discuss progress of each agreement towards the agreed outcomes and that NE staff would be in touch to discuss with agreement holders the specifics of the agreement. To secure an extension a management plan must be produced detailing any required changes to stocking rates. 3.4 Following this initial communication more detailed information on stocking rates was sent to two commons. This was requested by the commoners as they wanted more detail on what they needed to do to secure an extension to their agri-environment agreement. This correspondence indicated (for one of the commons) a potential 80% reduction in stock numbers across the year compared to current rates. NE have subsequently indicated to the agreement holders that these were initial figures and will be revised particularly with respect to summer grazing to address the over dominance of Molinia. 3.5 The Authority was not consulted in advance of the communication from Natural England. The communication from NE coupled with indicative grazing figures (both generic and specific to one common) have resulted in considerable alarm, worry and stress amongst the farming community. It has led to commoners across all commons speculating that they are facing up to 80% stock reductions if they wish to remain in an agri-environment agreement. This level of stock reduction could have a significant impact on farm businesses (especially tenants) and could have an impact on the type of stock that grazes the common. Agri-environment payments are now more important given the reductions in BPS. 4 Role of the National Park Authority 4.1 As noted above, the Authority has no formal role in the administration of agrienvironment agreements. Nevertheless, these agreements are an important tool to help deliver National Park purposes, sustain farm businesses and contribute to the local economy. It is estimated that the current value of agri-environment agreements on Dartmoor is £4-5m per annum. 4.2 The Authority's position is as outlined in the Dartmoor Partnership Plan. This statutory document was produced following a process of consultation and engagement. The vision for Dartmoor is clear about farming (and forestry) businesses playing a key role in delivering a high-quality environment and local enhancement and the climate crisis. and manage Dartmoor's special qualities and contributing positively to nature Plan is to ensure future farming practice is economically viable, helping to protect products, alongside a range of other public benefits. The challenge identified in the 4.3 relationships and inter-dependencies. levels; we know that this is just one factor in a complicated picture of intercommunicated. We are concerned that there is a very narrow focus on stocking understanding that there may be greater flexibility than is being currently regard to rollovers and stocking levels. From discussions with NE officials, it is our We have been working to try and bring clarity to the position outlined by NE with 4.4 viability of farm businesses). integrated approach that considers nature, culture, access etc. alongside the monitored and assessed to determine any need for further changes; and, an of 'adaptive management' (a process of true engagement; phased changes that are provide time for the preparation of management plans which should be on the basis with the potential for four-year extensions at the end of the 12 months. This would ended or are due to end in the next few months should be extended by 12 months We have suggested to NE that all agri-environment agreements that have already 4.5 23 March 2023 outlining our position (see appendix 1). associated action plan. We wrote to the Chair of Dartmoor Commoners' Council on independent review to look at all of the issues and identify a way forward with an held in May 2022 and chaired by Sir Geoffrey Cox, we have also suggested an Building on the discussions of the working group established following the meeting 4.6 2023 calling for an independent inquiry (see appendix 2). Sir Gary Streeter and Anthony Mangnall issued a joint press release on 24 March way forward. He has been liaising with the other Dartmoor MPs. Sir Geoffrey Cox, We have briefed Sir Geffrey Cox MP on our position and made suggestions for a 4.7 trajectory towards SSSI favourable condition stocking levels and an adaptive management approach for years 2-4 which delivera review of the current impact of stock management on SSSI condition and determine best achieved through a 5-year extension with year 1 to allow for an independent deterioration to SSSI condition alongside a 1+4 approach which in their view would meeting, the view of NE and RPA is that there is a need to urgently halt further this fits with SSSI consent and Habitat Regulations Assessment. Subsequentto the 4 year extension in 2024 can not currently be guaranteed and questions aroundhow look at the '1 plus 4 model' but there are issues associated with this, including that a the potential for a further 4 years. NE and the Rural Payments Agency agreed to environment agreements. This suggests a need for an extension of 12 months with review to be completed before any significant changes are made to current agrithe need for an independent review. To facilitate this there needs to be time for the Project and Farm Community Network). There was agreement from all present on Rural Payments Agency, Natural England, Historic England, Dartmoor Hill Farm Commoners' Council, Dartmoor Common Owners' Association, Duchy of Cornwall, The Authority hosted and chaired a meeting of key stakeholders (Dartmoor 4.8 There was also agreement at this meeting that NE would provide further information on a common by common basis of what they think needs to happen to agreements – a potential traffic light system. 5 Conclusion 5.1 practical way forward. worked with key stakeholders in the last few weeks (and before) to try and identify a The Authority has no statutory role in current agri-environment agreements but has 5.2 well as food and fibre production, using their local knowledge and skills. empowers and involves farmers to deliver public goods (e.g. enhanced nature) as Landscapes provide useful evidence for the way ahead: an approach that Environmental Land Management Test and Trials and Farming in Protected to and lessons need to be learnt. Projects like Dartmoor Farming Futures, the economy. It is clear that the current system is not working as effectively as it needs purposes, support viable farm businesses and contribute to the wider rural Agri-environment agreements are an important tool to deliver National Park 5.3 stakeholders to try and facilitate this. agreements will provide time for an independent review. We will work with We hope that our suggestions for an extension to current and recently expired KEVIN BISHOP AND CHRIS GILES Attachments: Appendix 1 – Copy of letter from the Chief Executive (National Park Officer) to Chair, Dartmoor Commoners' Council, dated 23 March 2023 Appendix 2 - Copy of press release issued by Sir Geoffrey Cox MP, Sir Gary Streeter MP and Anthony Mangnall MP dated 24 March 2023 SEND VIA EMAIL : email@example.com Mr P French Corringdon Farm Please Quote: KB/PB Direct Line: 01626 831059 23 March 2023 Dear Philip I understand that there is some confusion about the Authority's role and position regarding the situation concerning potential extensions to Higher Level Stewardship agreements. For this reason I thought it would be helpful if I set out the National Park Authority's position. The National Park Authority has no formal role in the administration of Higher Level Stewardship or Countryside Stewardship. The schemes are administered by the Rural Payments Agency with Natural England as statutory advisers. We had no advance warning or insight into the email communications from Natural England to commons associations concerning rollovers. The Authority's position is as outlined in the Dartmoor Partnership Plan. This document was produced following a process of consultation and engagement. The vision for Dartmoor is clear about farming (and forestry) businesses playing a key role in delivering a high-quality environment and local products, alongside a range of other public benefits. The challenge identified in the Plan is to ensure future farming and forestry practice is economically viable, helping to protect and manage Dartmoor's special qualities and contributing positively to nature enhancement and the climate crisis. We have been working to try and bring clarity to the position outlined by Natural England with regard to rollovers and stocking levels. We have organised and will host the meeting on 4 April 2022 involving you as Chair of the Commoners' Council, the Commons Owners' Association, National Farmers' Union and Natural England. There appears to be considerable uncertainty over what Natural England may be requiring, over what time-line, on which commons and with what impact. There is a narrow focus on stocking levels but we know that this is just one factor in a complicated picture of inter-relationships and inter-dependencies. From discussions with Natural England officials, it is our understanding that there may be greater flexibility than is currently being communicated. We have suggested to Natural England that all existing HLS agreements should be extended by 12 months with the potential for four-year extensions at the end of the 12 months. This would provide time for the preparation of management plans which should be on the basis of 'adaptive management' (a process of true engagement; changes monitored and assessed to …. Cont'd 15 www.dartmoor.gov.uk @dartmoornpa enjoy dartmoor determine any need for further changes, and an integrated approach that considers nature, culture, access etc., alongside the viability of farm businesses). I understand that Natural England had originally favoured this option but were told by the Rural Payments Agency that 12 month extensions would only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. We have discussed the option of a 12 month extension with Sir Geoffrey Cox. We have also suggested an independent review to look at all of the issues and identify a way forward with an associated action plan. This would build on the ideas that we discussed following the meeting chaired by Sir Geoffrey Cox at Two Bridges Hotel last May which we thought had universal support from all of the key players. I understand that Natural England would support this approach. As I said at the Two Bridges event last May, we recognise that the future for farming businesses on Dartmoor is uncertain; you face the immediacy of reducing income from the Basic Payment Scheme but little clarity on the new Environmental Land Management schemes or future trading arrangements. The official report that led to the designation of Dartmoor as a National Park spoke about the importance of "treading hoof and browsing tooth". They remain important, if not essential for the future, but the challenge is the right hoofs and teeth in the right places and numbers at the right times and to achieve that you also need the right farmers in the right places at the right times. The Authority has worked in partnership to secure and champion initiatives like Farming Futures, Farming in Protected Landscapes and the Environmental Land Management Test and Trials. The lessons from these projects provide useful evidence for the way ahead: an approach that empowers and involves farmers to deliver public goods (e.g. enhanced nature) as well as food and fibre production. In summary, we are: * calling for a 12 month extension to current Higher Level Stewardship agreements; * proposing an independent review of the situation regarding agri-environment agreements, future of farming, food and fibre production and delivery of public benefits to inform an agreed action plan * convening a meeting on 4 April 2023 of all key stakeholders to seek clarity on the current situation; and, * will work with local MPs to seek their support for the actions above. We will present a report on these issues to the Authority meeting scheduled for 14 April 2023. This is a public meeting and people can register to speak. Details of how to do this can be found on our website: www.dartmoor.gov.uk/about-us/meetings-and-committees/speaking-atmeetings. Yours sincerely Dr Kevin Bishop Chief Executive (National Park Officer) AN INDEPENDENT INQUIRY FOR DARTMOOR Dartmoor MPs call for independent inquiry into management of the Moor. Dartmoor MPs, The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Cox KC MP for Torridge and West Devon, Sir Gary Streeter MP for South West Devon and Anthony Mangnall MP for Totnes have joined in writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs calling on her to set up an independent process to inquire into the means of achieving a proper balance between the various competing public interests and goods in Dartmoor's complex environment. They have also held preliminary discussions with the farming minister and with DNPA. The MPs' joint statement said: 1. "We strongly believe the only way to achieve the complex balancing of the public interests on Dartmoor, and to gain the consensus necessary, is for an independent inquiry into the way forward to take place. 2. After the Dartmoor Farming Forum organised by Sir Geoffrey Cox KC MP last summer, which the Chief Executive of Natural England attended, a working group consisting of all relevant parties was set up and commenced meetings to achieve some consensus on a practical approach, reflecting the fact that Dartmoor is a complex environment in which competing public interests and goods must be balanced in a manner that promotes them all. 3. This working group developed a proposal to * appoint an independent facilitator paid for jointly by all partners into which all would "buy in". * they would then prepare an action plan to address the issues and a 'road map' on the way ahead. * that person would work to identify and document all of the issues by talking to all of the stakeholders (the issues include but are not limited to: how SSSIs are notified and monitored; the link between the common and home farms; the continued viability of farm businesses, how to manage stock on the commons given the pressure from visitors, dogs and, on some, the impact of military training; environmental pressures etc.) 4. Agreement from all stakeholders was achieved to this process in December 2022 and a brief was drafted by Natural England but not yet circulated to all parties for comment and agreement. 5. It seems that valuable and constructive work has now been abandoned by Natural England which has issued apparently peremptory limits on grazing, which would have a significant adverse impact on farm businesses (especially tenants), rendering some, if not many, no longer viable. It would also destroy the ancient traditional hefted flocks, which instinctively know the boundaries of their own common and are themselves a prized part of the unique life and culture of Dartmoor. 6. No consultation with any relevant authority or association charged with responsibility for the complex environment on Dartmoor, such as the Dartmoor National Park Authority, or the Dartmoor Commoners Council or the Dartmoor Owners' Association was undertaken. The communications came out of the blue. Sadly, some would say that is not uncommon of the conduct of Natural England on Dartmoor. 7. In our view, that process must be revived and include an independent examination of the ecological requirements of sensitive sites on Dartmoor and the relevance of traditional grazing to them. It is essential the process should command widespread public confidence including from all those who are responsible for the management of Dartmoor. Sadly, after recent developments, there has been a very serious deterioration of trust between the regulator and those it regulates, and we no longer believe Natural England's policy and approach to Dartmoor, left to itself, can command that confidence. 8. We have a clear proposal: 1. A 12-month extension of all current agri-environment agreements 2. The appointment of an independent facilitator paid for jointly by all partners and into which all "buy in". 4. Then prepare an action plan to address the issues and a 'road map' on the way ahead." 3. That person would work to identify and document all relevant issues and would
TC01897 Appeal number: MAN/2007/1040 VAT – MTIC – appellant knew transactions connected with fraud – appeal dismissed. FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL TAX VANTAGE LINK CORPORATION LIMITED - and - THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY'S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS Appellant Respondents TRIBUNAL: Judge Richard Barlow Susan Stott FCA Sitting in public in Manchester on 18 to 21 April, 26 to 28 April, 3, 4 and 27 May 2011. Michael Soole QC and William Hansen for the Appellant Vinesh Mandalia and James Puzey for the Respondents © CROWN COPYRIGHT 2012 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 DECISION 1. This is the appeal of Vantage Link Corporation Limited against decisions of the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) conveyed by letters dated 30 July 2007 and 13 August 2007 by which HMRC denied the appellant's claims for input tax for the three monthly periods April, May and June 2006 in a total of £10,388,531.13. The grounds for the refusal contended for by HMRC are that the transactions giving rise to the claimed input tax were connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT and that the appellant either knew or should have known of that fact. 2. By way of introduction only, we mention that the appeal is what is called, in the jargon that has become well known through other appeals, an MTIC case and the appellant's transactions are what are known as dirty chain broker transactions in which recovery of input tax is denied on the basis that those transactions are connected with fraudulent transactions as part of chains of transactions leading back to traders who had defaulted dishonestly in failing to account for VAT output tax or by "blocking" that is to say by concealing the identity of the fraudulent traders and the appellant either knew or should have known of that connection. In using the terms dirty chains and broker, blocker or defaulter we do so only for convenience and, as has been pointed out before by the Tribunal (see the Decision in Totel Distribution Ltd), use of those terms, although now well understood, cannot be allowed to prejudge or influence the Tribunal's decision one way or the other as to the correct legal and factual position. The transactions. 3. The input tax in dispute arose from 38 transactions in all of which the appellant acted as a broker which means that it dispatched goods to an EU country which it had purchased from another UK trader. These 38 transactions represent most of the appellant's trade in the three tax periods in question. 4. We will refer to the dispatches as exports for convenience. In each case the appellant paid its UK supplier a tax inclusive price which is tax the appellant would normally be entitled to deduct as input tax but the export would be a zero rated supply with the consequence that HMRC would normally be required to credit the input tax without a corresponding positive output tax liability arising. If the value of the export transactions exceeded the value of any transactions giving rise to output tax liabilities arising in the same period then HMRC would normally have to make a payment of the amount by which the input tax exceeded the output tax, if any, to the appellant. Whether such a credit and payment should be made is the principal issue in this case. 5. In each of the 38 transactions the trader that supplied the appellant had itself bought the goods from another UK trader and a chain of transactions led back through other traders. In 34 of the transactions the chains lead back to a Cypriot company called Macdelta Ltd. In the remaining four cases the chains lead back to a company called JD Telecom UK Ltd, whose supplier is not known, though as the goods in those chains are mobile phones not manufactured in the UK, there must have been a 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 foreign supplier at the start of those chains as well. In fact, HMRC allege that the evidence allows an inference to be drawn that the original supplier would have been Macdelta in those chains as well. 6. The goods in all the deals were high technology goods, mainly mobile phones, of various models with varying prices. Five different UK based suppliers supplied the appellant and it sold the goods to four different customers. Thirty-one transactions were with two French companies, six were with a German company and one with a Dutch company. 7. In all 20 transactions in April 2006 the appellant achieved a mark up of 2% allowing for rounding (we will deal with this in more detail hereafter). The value of the individual deals varied between £5,517,500 and £84,125. The value of units of goods sold in those deals varied between £693.50 and £158.25 and the quantities involved in individual deals varied between 10,000 units and 500 units. Those deals involved five different suppliers and four different customers. Those deals included the biggest and smallest of the 38. 8. The mark up achieved by the appellant in the May and June deals was 1%, 1.5%, 2% or 2.5% allowing for rounding. 9. Other traders involved in the transactions achieved lower mark ups, typically between 25p and £1.00 per unit, mostly but not all expressed in figures that were round to a multiple of 25p. 10. The appellant would not or will not have made a profit on any of the deals unless its claim for input tax is successful in this appeal. The tax inclusive price the appellant paid to its supplier always exceeded the tax exclusive price charged to its customer. 11. In every one of the 38 chains of transactions there is a trader who has not accounted for output tax and the Commissioners allege that those traders dishonestly failed to account for it. They had not just failed to account because of some misfortune having struck their businesses. It follows, if that is correct, that if the Commissioners are obliged to refund the input tax in dispute, they will have lost money, ie they will not just have failed to collect tax that was due. The commissioners will have funded the defaults of the defaulting traders by paying input tax to the appellant enabling it to pay its suppliers the tax inclusive price and which suppliers have then paid the money up the chain of transactions to the defaulting trader (or as it turned out to other parties altogether – as to which see under FCIB evidence below). Equally, of course, if the appellant is unsuccessful in this appeal it will have funded the defaulting trader's fraud in the same way. 12. The Commissioners cannot disallow the input tax simply by showing that there has been a dishonest default in the chains of transactions. The appellant is still entitled to reclaim its input tax in principle even if there has been such a default. However, where they can prove that the appellant knew or should have known that its transactions were connected with fraud that right is lost or has not been acquired. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 13. We will set out the applicable legal principles and then deal with the evidence before making our findings. The legal issues. 14. In Kittel –v- Belgium [2008] STC 1537 the ECJ held that on the one hand, at [60], where a recipient of a supply buys goods and "did not and could not know that the transaction concerned was connected with fraud" then the Member State in which the recipient is registered for VAT cannot provide, by its domestic law, that such a transaction is void because of that connection and cannot provide that input tax is not claimable on the transaction. On the other hand, at [61], the ECJ held that "where it is ascertained, having regard to objective factors, that the supply is to a taxable person who knew or should have known that, by his purchase, he was participating in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT, it is for the national court to refuse that person entitlement to the right to deduct". 15. At [51] the ECJ had also held that a trader who has taken every precaution to ensure that his transaction is not connected with fraud, must be allowed to claim input tax. At [52] the Court held that a person who "did not and could not" know that his transaction was connected with fraud would be entitled to claim input tax despite a connection between his transaction and a VAT fraud. In this case the appellant has placed considerable emphasis on advice it took from professional people and claims that having acted on that advice it has taken every precaution in the relevant sense. We note that the ECJ did acknowledge that a person can only rely upon having taken every precaution where he did not know that his transactions were connected with fraud. Actual knowledge will always supersede precautions however elaborate. 16. The Court did not explain specifically what it meant by "should have known" but [51] and [52] of the judgment suggest that a trader should take, at least, reasonable precautions to avoid being involved in a transaction connected with fraud. Taken literally "every precaution" and "could not know" might suggest that the test is a very strict one. But bearing in mind [56] to [58] of the judgment we do not read it in that way. The Court used the word "should" for the first time in paragraph [56] and explained the rationale of the rule it then set out at [61]. It said that the rationale was that a person who either knew or should have known of the connection with fraud is to be "regarded as a participant" and that he "aids the perpetrators"; which appears to suggest a degree of blame that would not have attached to a person simply for overlooking a precaution that he might have taken or who could have known of a connection but only in some obscure way. 17. The Court also explained the underlying rationale of the rule in terms of its being for the better prevention of fraud. 18. We also note that at [60] the Court referred to the fact that the national law of Belgium, which was in issue, caused the taxpayer to lose the right to deduct input tax and then at [61] it used the neutral phrase that the national court should 'refuse entitlement' to deduct without further elaboration. Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer had also referred to the loss of a right to deduct at [62] of his opinion. It seems unlikely to make any difference whether the right to deduct is lost or never arose where the taxpayer knew of the fraud or should have known of it but the loss of the right to deduct appears to be what the European Court considered was the correct analysis. 19. It is well established that the right to deduct input tax is exercisable immediately 5 when a transaction occurs and the ECJ emphasised this in Kittel. One consequence of that is that the applicable circumstances known to the appellant at the time of a transaction and the actions taken by the appellant at or before the time the transaction occurred are the relevant facts and that information acquired by the appellant subsequently will be irrelevant. Actions taken by the appellant after a transaction will 10 also be irrelevant as such but, of course, they may shed light on what the appellant knew at the time if, for example, they appear to amount to attempts to cover up the true circumstances applying at the time of the transaction. 20. The Court of Appeal judgment in Mobilx and others –v- Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2010] STC 1436 considered in detail the issues raised in cases of this 15 sort and Moses LJ elaborated on the meaning of the "should have known" concept. He held that it is not enough for HMRC to prove that the circumstances were such that it was more likely than not that a transaction in question was connected with fraud and that what they must prove is that the transaction was connected with fraud. 21. Moses LJ specifically held that it matters not if the input transaction in question 20 precedes the transaction which gives effect to the fraud. He held that if the taxable person is proved to have entered into a transaction that he knew or should have know, at the time of entering into it, was at that time connected with fraudulent evasion or would be so connected later; that is sufficient to deny recovery of input tax. 22. Moses LJ also held that, where an issue arises about what a person should have 25 know, it is relevant to consider whether the only reasonable explanation for the circumstances surrounding the transaction is that it is connected with fraud. He also stressed the relevance of circumstantial evidence generally. 30 23. Mr Soole argued that, as the Commissioners have alleged that the appellant knew the transactions were connected with fraud, they are not entitled to rely on the alternative allegation that the appellant should have known that they were connected. 35 40 24. Citing Revenue and Customs Commissioners –v- Livewire [2009] EWHC 15 (Ch) Mr Soole pointed out that where a taxpayer has taken all reasonable precautions to avoid being involved in transactions that are connected with fraud he has an impenetrable shield against being made liable for the consequences of a fraud by others. The appellant's case is that it did take all such precautions and so the respondents must prove that it actually knew its transactions were connected with fraud. It is an issue in this case as to whether the appellant did take all reasonable precautions. 25. We do not agree that the fact that the respondents have alleged actual knowledge of the connection with fraud precludes them from relying alternatively on 10 15 20 25 an allegation that the appellant should have known of the connection. The issue whether the appellant had an "impenetrable shield" will then arise. Indeed even if the appellant is found not to have taken all reasonable precautions we do not think it necessarily follows that it should have known of the connection with fraud. A taxpayer who has taken some precautions but not all reasonable precautions may or may not then be said to be a person who should have known of the connection. That seems to us to be still an issue that needs to be addressed because Lewison J only referred in Livewire to the constructive knowledge test as analogous to the should have known concept and in Mobilx Moses LJ cautioned against over reliance on the degree of due diligence as proof of what a person should have known. 26. The European Court clearly put forward the concepts of actual knowledge and what a taxpayer should have known as alternatives to each other and we cannot discern any such principle as that contended for by Mr Soole by which HMRC should be precluded from alleging both in the alternative in any of the authorities that were cited to us nor that any principle of the law of England and Wales would require us to act on that basis. 27. The Tribunal was urged by Moses LJ not to over elaborate the tests set out in Kittel and if we have here done so it is only to make it clear that we have addressed Mr Soole's detailed submissions. The factual issues. 28. The appellant took a neutral stance as to whether the defaulting traders had been dishonest. Its case is that it had no dealings with those traders and so is not in a position to judge whether they had acted dishonestly. The commissioners served their evidence and the appellant could have taken a view about it but cannot be compelled to do so and so we will address that issue though bearing in mind that the evidence is not challenged, we will do so fairly briefly. 29. The appellant accepts that the persons concerned in the chains of transactions, the goods traded and the prices charged are as stated in the deal sheets produced by the respondents which summarise those facts. 30 30. The other issues relating to the appeal are then whether the appellant took all steps reasonably open to it so as to have the impenetrable shield referred to in the authorities, subject only to a question of actual knowledge, and alternatively whether the evidence shows that the appellant had that actual knowledge or should have known the transactions were connected with fraud. The evidence about the defaulting traders. 35 31. There are eight alleged dishonest defaulting traders in the relevant chains of transactions. 32. The Flooring Centre Limited was involved in four chains relevant to this appeal. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 33. Originally the company had been involved in supplying and fitting flooring and it had a modest turnover. On 8 March 2006 new directors, Shofik Miah and Akber Osman were appointed and between 30 March 2006 and 5 April 2006 the company's turnover was £148,000,000 having traded 390,000 units of which 7,876 were mobile phones which feature in this case. The company had only started to trade in mobile phones on 31 March 2006. Customs officers visited the company on 6 April 2006 and issued a notice requiring it to make a return on 7 April 2006 which it failed to do and trading ceased. The company has failed to account for VAT assessments totalling £36,867,552.77. Mr Miah gave an undertaking not to act as a director of any company for twelve years from 24 November 2008 by reason of his having caused or allowed the company to undertake a method of trading which gave rise to the risk of losses due to the Revenue and Customs by MTIC fraud. 34. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £1,815,146, were dishonest. 35. Apollo Communications Centre Limited was involved in thirteen chains relevant to this appeal. 36. Customs officers visited the company on 21 April 2006 and took up files relating to its trading between 7 April and 19 April 2006 and directed the company to make a return for the period ending 23 April and issued a notice of de-registration. They also issued an assessment for VAT in the sum of £50,907,724 based on the documents collected on 21 April. The company then made a return declaring output tax of £4,038.89 claiming that it had cancelled the deals giving rise to the assessment. The company has not appealed against the assessment and its director, Ali Rahman, has undertaken not to act as a director for 13 years beginning on 31 March 2008 on the ground that his conduct of the company had given rise to the risk of fraudulent losses by HMRC. 37. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £19,778,781.75, were dishonest. 38. Colston Associates Limited was involved in three chains relevant to this appeal. 39. The company's VAT return for the period ending 28 February 2006 was returned to HMRC marked "gone away". On 25 April 2006 HMRC received a phone call from a caller who only gave his name as Richard to give a change of address for the company. Evidence from freight forwarders suggested to HMRC that the company was still trading and an officer telephoned the company and spoke to someone purporting to be Richard Marsh, a director, who was only prepared to say that the company was located "somewhere in Kent" and who then admitted he was not Richard Marsh but rather was Mohammed Latif. Later the same day one Azim Khan telephoned saying he was calling on behalf of the director and later still Richard Marsh telephoned to say the company was now operating from his home in 10 15 20 25 30 35 Peterborough but then put the phone down without having given a full account of himself or the company. 40. An assessment for £30,768,172 was raised which has not been paid or appealed. That assessment includes sums due in respect of the three chains in which the appellant was involved. 41. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £6,441,500, were dishonest. 42. I-Sales London Ltd was involved in two chains relevant to this appeal. 43. The company was visited on 22 May 2006 as a result of information obtained at freight forwarders' premises. When the company had registered for VAT in February 2006 it had said it did not intend to buy or sell goods from or to EU countries but between 17 May 2006 (when it began trading) and 22 May 2006 (when the company was de-registered by HMRC) it had bought goods worth £61 million from Macdelta, the Cypriot company that was the source of the goods in at least 34 of the deals which feature in this case. Most of the payments from I-Sales' customers for those goods were not made to I-Sales but were made to Macdelta or another company called Multimode Limited. 44. The company has failed to pay or to contest a VAT assessment for £11,589,040 and its director, Vital Anthony Gately-Biebuyck, gave an undertaking not to act as a director for thirteen years beginning on 15 May 2008 as a result of its trading between 17 and 19 May 2006. 45. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £5,063,950, were dishonest. 46. Linkline Electrical Limited was involved in eight chains relevant to this appeal. 47. The company registered for VAT as an electrical installation business with effect from its date of incorporation which was 7 February 2006 and it was operated from the lounge of a residential property by its director, Janette Robinson. Between 22 and 24 May 2006 the company carried out 30 transactions with a total value of £56 million all of which were purchases from Macdelta. Payments for all of the transactions were made by the company's customers and at its request in two tranches, the larger part by far of each payment being made direct to Macdelta and the small remainder being to the company. 48. HMRC served a notice on Mrs Robinson in person requiring a return to be made on 24 May but she claimed to be too busy to complete it. Two assessments totalling £9,744,789.69 have not been paid nor have they been disputed. 49. Whilst it might, just, be argued that taken individually the phenomenal increase in business, the third party payments and the fact that the business was not of the type 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 described in the application to register do not prove dishonesty; we find that the cumulative effect of the evidence is that the transactions are proven to have been conducted dishonestly. There is a possibility that Mrs Robinson was used by someone else but, even if we assume she was naïve rather than dishonest, the company should be judged by the standards of a properly run company and no properly run company could seek to rely on naïveté to that extent. On that evidence we find that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £17,451,287.50, were dishonest. 50. Udeil Solutions Ltd was involved in two chains relevant to this appeal. 51. The company's trade between 26 September 2005 (its date of VAT registration) and 30 April 2006 amounted to a turnover of £14,731. In the two weeks from 25 May 2006 to 8 June 2006 its turnover was £51,516,188 according to documents obtained by HMRC on 12 June and an assessment was issued for £6,642,463 for that period. Further sums came to light later and the total assessed was increased to £7,672,682.25 which has neither been paid nor disputed. Payments for goods supplied by the company were made in two tranches being small amounts paid to it and large third party payments to Macdelta. The company's director Leonardo Udeh undertook not to act as a director for 12 years from 31 May 2007 as a result of his conduct between 25 May and 8 June. 52. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £1,037,000, were dishonest. 53. Universal Appliances Ltd or a taxable person purporting to be that company was involved in two chains relevant to this appeal. 54. The company was registered for VAT on 22 May 2006 and customs officers attempted to visit it on 14 June because its VAT registration number had been checked by a company called Novaphone (UK) Ltd and that company had documents suggesting that Universal Appliances Ltd should have accounted for VAT of £1,007,351.07 in June 2006 but it made no return for that period. No contact was made with anyone from the company but a notice of de-registration was left at its premises. 55. Asdullah Riaz, the director of Universal Appliances Ltd, wrote to HMRC on 24 August stating that the company was not trading and on 11 January 2007 he telephoned HMRC and claimed that his company's VAT number had been used by someone else. 56. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £953,250, were dishonest. That is because either Mr Riaz's denials that the company made the supplies was a dishonest statement which can only have been made as a result of the transactions being dishonestly undertaken or, if he was telling the truth, the company's identity had been used by an unknown party which would have been a dishonest act. 57. A person purporting to be JD Telecom UK Ltd was involved in four chains relevant to this appeal. 58. HMRC accepted JD Telecom's assertion that the transactions were conducted by 5 a hijacker which is clearly a dishonest course of conduct. 59. On that evidence we have no hesitation in finding that the defaults, which included defaults in respect of goods which the appellant ultimately sold for £4,023,975, were dishonest. 10 15 20 25 30 35 60. We note that in each case, except possibly the person purporting to be JD Telecom, the defaulting trader is also the importer of the goods and therefore the person dealing directly with Macdelta. 61. Thereafter the goods passed through various parties' hands until reaching the appellant, which exported them. A number of the other parties appear in chains which started with different importers but there is no set pattern that is discernable. 62. We note that, although Macdelta are the known source of all the goods, except possibly those dealt with by the person purporting to be JD Telecom, each of the defaulting traders has acted in sequence. Each has engaged in transactions relating to this appeal only for a short period of time and has then ceased to be involved in any further transactions in any chain leading to the appellant. It appears therefore that Macdelta, or some other unknown party, had a hand in controlling the ultimate destination of the goods in the UK. Otherwise it might have been expected that the sales by the defaulting traders would have come to the appellant at different times and not in a sequential pattern related to the original and defaulting party. 63. We do not assume that proves that the appellant knew anything about the chains of transactions leading to it. These facts are however further evidence that there were deliberate defaults in all the chains leading to the appellant and that those defaults were dishonest. The FCIB evidence. 64. The appellant banked with the First Curacao International Bank as did most, if not all, of the persons involved in the transaction chains in question in this appeal. The commissioners rely on evidence relating to the bank and the accounts held by persons concerned in the chains of transactions as evidence that the transactions were contrived and orchestrated is such a way as to prove that those transactions were part of a fraudulent scheme. Although this evidence is part of the commissioners' case it is convenient to deal with it separately here as it relates specifically to the question of the dishonesty and fraud of the defaulting traders. 65. In its application to open its account the appellant stated that Mr Khaliq was the director and beneficial owner of the company but Saboor Ashraf was the signatory to the account. As the account was operated online no physical signature would be required and so Mr Khaliq could presumably access it without difficulty. In addition the secret question and answer (which we take to be security measures) were the same for the appellant's account and that of a company owned by Mr Ashraf. 66. The commissioners suggested it was odd, indeed suspicious, that Mr Khaliq was 5 prepared to allow this to happen especially as the appellant company and Mr Ashraf's company were in competition for the same type of business. They allege that it was evidence of collaboration between the companies. Mr Khaliq said that the reason for these facts was that Mr Ashraf, who was a friend from schooldays, had helped him to set up the account as he was more familiar with the operation of online services. We 10 do not attach a great deal of significance to these facts and find the explanation given by Mr Khaliq about the signatory and secret question and answer is credible. 15 20 67. The commissioners produced evidence from FCIB records that the money circulated in 13 out of 14 chains of transactions selected for examination from the 38 in issue in the appeal. We should say that in some cases the sums that circulated were not precisely the same amounts going round in the circular movement of funds from one party to the next but we are satisfied that the payments into accounts and onward payments to others are related in the manner alleged by the commissioners. In particular, the banking information provided corroboration of the respondents' initial conclusions that the payments were related, when additional information became available in which account holders had labelled the transactions with notes which were added to the account statement details. 25 30 35 40 68. The circulation of funds means that no genuine underlying economically justified reason for the transactions appears to exist with the consequence that the extraction of money from the UK Treasury appears to have been the real reason for the transactions, as described in paragraph 11 above. 69. Although the payments of funds relating to the appellant's transactions circulated in the way described, the acquirers at the start of the UK transactions who, as we have already held were dishonest defaulting parties, were not the recipients of any of the funds. The circulating transactions bypassed or omitted to pass through those parties' accounts. It appears therefore that not only did those parties not account for the output tax due on their transactions but also that they were unlikely to have ever been in a position to do so. That is of course yet further evidence of contrivance and dishonesty on their part. 70. Another feature of the banking evidence is that all the payments were made within a very short period which was far too short to have been achieved without some overall co-ordination by a controlling mind. As the respondents pointed out in their closing submissions, the evidence unequivocally shows that the appellant received payment for the goods it sold at varying lengths of time after its transactions had been concluded and therefore paid its suppliers at unpredictable lengths of time after the transactions had been concluded. It appears that the other parties in the chains of transactions and in the circulation of funds were awaiting the receipt of 10 15 20 25 30 35 those funds in the hands of the appellant's suppliers before any of them could make their payments but then did so virtually immediately. 71. The commissioners contend that the fact that the payments, including those to and from the appellant, are part of the sequence occurring in that short time proves that the appellant must have been knowingly involved in the fraudulent scheme because it would have to have known when to make the payments so that the other parties involved could act as quickly as they did. 72. We do not find that argument convincing. There is no direct evidence that the appellant triggered the actions of the other parties or was told when to make its payments. It is possible at least, that the appellant was unwittingly the trigger for the sequence of payments rather than their knowing instigator and in the absence of evidence we are not prepared to hold that the appellant was knowingly involved in arranging or setting in train those payments. 73. The banking evidence does however prove that there was an overall scheme to defraud that must have been controlled by someone. The commissioners' evidence. 74. The commissioners' evidence was mostly not disputed. As already explained, the evidence relating to the defaulting traders was not disputed, rather the appellant did not feel able to accept the conclusions that they had been dishonest and left it to the tribunal to consider whether the undisputed evidence proved that to be the case. Witness statements dealing with that were read but no witnesses were called. 75. The FCIB evidence was not disputed and Mr David Young, customs officer, gave evidence explaining that evidence but was not challenged as to the correctness of it. 76. Much of the rest of the commissioners' evidence was concerned with the production of documents and the history of the appellant’s dealings with HMRC. 77. The only other witness called by HMRC was Ms Farzana Malik. She was the customs officer who had dealt with the decision that led to this appeal. Much of her evidence was not disputed but Mr Soole cross examined her about some comments or opinions she had given in her witness statement. We ignore the opinions of witnesses about the appeal and the facts relating to it and so we need not deal with those points in detail. 78. Mr Soole was able to satisfy us from cross examination of Ms Malik that any criticism HMRC had made against the appellant about some goods that they claimed had been exported twice by the appellant (a so-called carousel), was entirely unjustified. The goods had been returned to the UK and then re-exported but there is no evidence to suggest that that was other than part of a single exportation. The goods had been returned for entirely innocent reasons. Those goods were in any event not relevant to this appeal. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 79. Mr Soole also established that the appellant had ceased to supply IMEI numbers to HMRC only after it had become apparent to the appellant that they were not examining the numbers. In that context it also appeared that the documents relating to the IMEI numbers had been removed from the folders in which the deal documents were kept lending support to the appellant's contention that there may have been more documents sent to HMRC than those produced at the hearing. The appellant's evidence. 80. The appellant called three witnesses: Mr Tazarat Khaliq who was the director and shareholder of the appellant at the relevant times, Mr Paul Taylor a VAT consultant who was employed by the VATease consultancy at part of the relevant periods and Ms Michelle Hurst, the proprietor of VATease. 81. We propose to deal with the appellant's evidence in the following order. First, the history of the appellant company and Mr Khaliq's involvement in business and his knowledge of the existence of MTIC fraud. Secondly, the due diligence enquiries made by the appellant under which heading we will also deal with the evidence of Mr Taylor and Ms Hurst. Thirdly, the appellant's method of trading. Fourthly, the evidence about the FCIB bank. Finally, we will refer to the 38 deals. 82. Mr Khaliq studied ophthalmology and obtained a degree in that subject before qualifying as an optometrist. He practised as such and developed a business consisting of several opticians practices. He diversified by starting a business which consisted of the wholesale purchase and the sale by retail and by wholesale of equipment for opticians' practices. 83. Mr Khaliq attended a technology trade fair and it occurred to him that there might be a business opportunity for him to buy second hand mobile phones and to sell them in Pakistan where he and his family already had useful contacts. However, he later realised that it would be difficult to source sufficient second hand phones to make a worthwhile enterprise. 84. Mr Khaliq said that his researches did reveal that there was what he described as a vibrant wholesale market in new phones and he saw a business opportunity in buying phones in the UK and selling them to Dubai simply by trading without adding any value to them. 85. Mr Khaliq described how he had become aware of the existence of trading portals which were internet sites which would enable him to contact potential counterparties. 86. A company called Optics 20/20 (UK) Ltd owned and operated by Mr Khaliq was his vehicle for buying and selling phones and it quickly became very successful having a turnover of £72.8 million in the period ending March 2003 (we will refer to tax periods as, for example, 03/03). That was the first period in which that company traded in mobile phones, it having been dormant for some time before that as is shown by the fact that it declared no output tax in its VAT returns for the preceding periods. However, Optics 20/20 ceased to trade in May 2003 after a bad debt arose when a 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 customer failed to pay for goods for which the company had already paid its supplier and the company was liquidated. 87. The appellant was incorporated in 1994 and traded as an estate agency under an earlier name which it changed on 19 January 2004 to Vantage Link Corporation Limited shortly after Mr Khaliq had became a director on 2 December 2003. Under his directorship the appellant has not traded as an estate agency. The appellant was already registered for VAT and notified the commissioners of its change of name on 27 January 2004 at which time it also changed its address and notified the commissioners that its trading activities would be general wholesale including "computer monitors, keyboards, white kitchen goods etc". Mr Khaliq admitted in evidence that he had acquired the estate agency company in order to avoid a delay that might have occurred in obtaining a VAT registration for a newly formed company. 88. In the year ending December 2004, the appellant's first year of trading under Mr Khaliq's management and in its new market, the turnover was £88,680,396 with a profit of £800,539 in draft accounts and Mr Khaliq said that the turnover in the final accounts was about £92,000,000 and the profit was £650,000. Mr Khaliq said in evidence that in 2005 the turnover was £112,900,000 and the company made a loss of about £100,000 but that was after he had been paid a bonus of between £1,400,000 and £1,600,000. 89. Mr Khaliq said in evidence that most of the transactions the appellant conducted in the three months with which this appeal is concerned were of the type for which input tax has been denied and, as we have already noted, the details of the transaction chains are not disputed. 90. Mr Khaliq also agreed in evidence that he was aware of the existence of MTIC fraud saying in his witness statement that he had been made aware of it. He stated specifically that it was accepted that the appellant "was on notice of missing trader fraud in the mobile phone industry" and went on to say that it had "acted reasonably and proportionately on advice given by HMRC and its VAT consultants to guard against the risk". In his oral evidence Mr Khaliq specifically agreed with a suggestion put to him by Mr Mandalia that there was fraud in that sector of the economy. 91. Despite that evidence Mr Khaliq had denied being aware of the MTIC problem when he was visited by an officer of the respondents on 13 May 2004. That officer explained the risks to him and advised the need for caution. Mr Khaliq agreed that a number of other letters or visits had further emphasised the need for him to be aware of fraud and the need to avoid becoming involved in it. 92. Mr Khaliq had been warned against making third party payments and, although he was cross examined about one such payment he had made while running Optics 20/20 after being so warned, we do not regard that as relevant. It did not relate to any transaction relevant to this appeal and we accept that Mr Khaliq may have misunderstood what was meant by third party payments. He claimed to have thought that third party payments were where he had made a payment to someone other than his supplier whereas what happened was that his customer made a payment to someone other than his company. However, the warning about third party payments was given in the context of warnings about fraud in general and was yet further evidence of knowledge of the prevalence of such fraud. 93. As already noted, the appellant claims that its consultation of VATease was as a 5 result of a desire to avoid being caught up in fraud. In this context the 'due diligence' enquiries made by the appellant need to be considered. It is a major part of the appellant's case that having carried out what it claims was adequate, indeed very good due diligence, it has the defence of the so called impenetrable shield already referred to. 10 15 94. Mr Khaliq said that due diligence was conducted in order to ascertain the status of a company with which his company was intending to trade and to establish its bona fides in order to protect his own company to ensure it received payment and to avoid any involvement with fraud. He said that he had consulted VATease for assistance in his dealings with HMRC and for advice about what they expected of him. 20 25 30 35 40 95. When Mr Taylor gave evidence he said that he had given advice to the appellant about what requirements HMRC were placing on the company and about what checks it should carry out but, so far as due diligence was concerned, he did not review individual enquiries made by the appellant but rather he gave general advice about what the nature of its enquiries should be. He said that he did not recall examining the appellant's written terms of business or that he had checked that transactions were carried out in accordance with any such terms. He said that it was his opinion that the appellant was a genuine business in a genuine market and that it was not contrived. He also said that VATease had acted as the point of contact between the appellant and HMRC. 96. We find that Mr Taylor's evidence was truthful and that his actions were as he stated them to be so far as due diligence was concerned namely that he had advised in general terms but had not supervised or reviewed the actual due diligence carried out by the appellant. We find that he had not checked the appellant's terms of business or whether its transactions accorded with any such terms. His opinion about the genuineness of the business and the market in which it traded is in no sense binding on us. Assuming that that opinion was conveyed to the appellant expressly or by implication that might have some bearing on the appellant's state of mind at the time. 97. Mr Khaliq's evidence about the nature of due diligence checks undertaken was as follows. The checks were intended to make sure the suppliers were trading and were registered for VAT. The registration for VAT was confirmed through the Commissioners' Redhill Office which provided a service of checking that traders were registered. Credit checks through such organisations as Dun and Bradstreet and Creditsafe further confirmed the VAT registration and the address of suppliers and customers. 98. In the case of suppliers Mr Khaliq claimed to have carried out site visits to their premises and to have taken up trade references. The UK Freight Forwarders, who 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 were storing the goods on behalf of the suppliers and who would ship them for the appellant, were important elements in the due diligence according to Mr Khaliq because they or their sub-contractors were required to inspect goods and certify to the appellant that they were in accordance with what was required by the appellant and its customers before a transaction was completed. They also provided the appellant with IMEI numbers which are numbers given to mobile phones which the appellant passed on to HMRC until it formed the opinion that they were doing nothing with them after which it first reduced the extent of the examination of the numbers it required and then ceased to supply them. Mr Khaliq also claimed to have relied upon the freight forwarders, in part at least, in considering whether the suppliers were genuinely the owners of the goods they were selling. He also relied upon them to deal with the purchasers' freight forwarders and to ensure that they knew that the goods were not to be released to the customers until they had paid the appellant for them. 99. We find that the credit references taken up by the appellant were capable of confirming that the companies in question existed and were trading though in many cases they were such as to raise serious questions about how those companies were likely to be capable of supplying goods on credit to the values they were offering or to be able to supply them at all in the case of suppliers and about how they would be able to afford to pay for the goods in the case of the customers. 100.The appellant bought goods worth over £11 million from a company called Technology Plus Limited (Trading as Microtec). The first relevant deal was on 5 April 2006 and was for a tax inclusive price of £407,041.25. By 5 April the appellant had obtained documents that confirmed that company's address, its VAT registration number and a Dun and Bradstreet report which said so far as credit was concerned "maximum credit: seek suitable assurances or guarantees before extending credit" and as far as capital was concerned "risk indicator 4 represents significant level of risk". A later Creditsafe report referred to a credit limit of £9,000 for Technology Plus. 101.Mr Khaliq pointed out that his company was not giving Technology Plus Limited credit but he had to accept that it appeared that whoever supplied Technology Plus Limited must have given it credit. In view of the limited capital referred to in the report and the fact that the appellant was not going to pay for the goods until it was paid by its customer we find that there was evidence known to Mr Khaliq that should have raised some doubt in his mind about how that company could afford to deal in the goods it was selling. He said that the appellant had a history of dealing with that company and that, as Technology Plus were successfully transferring title to the goods to the appellant (at least that was his understanding) before the goods were shipped, there was no risk to the appellant despite the negative advice in the report. We find that the fact that Technology Plus did transfer the goods to the appellant does not answer the question about how it afforded to deal in them. 102.Mr Khaliq showed himself to be interested in his own company's position as a purchaser, as is to be expected, but to be unconcerned about the wider issue of how Technology Plus could have been involved in the transactions. That question is one that ought to have been of some concern to him in light of the evidence that he accepts he knew there was a good deal of fraud in the economic sector in which his company was dealing and his contention that he wanted to avoid becoming involved in it. 103.As far as other due diligence was concerned Mr Khaliq relied on a site visit he had made to Technology Plus on 24 November 2004. Elsewhere in his evidence he claimed he tried to visit suppliers every six months but he admitted that the November visit had been the last one to that company before the April 2006 deal. 10 104.On its invoices Technology Plus states that its standard terms of business apply and when Mr Khaliq was asked about those terms he said he had dealt with that company on the basis that the appellant's standard terms would apply and that Technology Plus would have signed a set of the appellant's terms to acknowledge that fact. When it was pointed out that those documents were not in the deal packs produced for the Tribunal Mr Khaliq at first said that they must have gone astray and then that they had been in the packs when they were submitted to HMRC but were not there when the packs were returned. 105.The appellant contends that a number of documents had been omitted when the 15 deal packs were returned. HMRC do not have sufficiently detailed records of what was received and what was returned to be able to determine what, if any, documents were received but not returned. We can make no finding on that issue and will have to proceed on the basis that the appellant did have those documents though, as will become apparent later in this decision, the deals were not conducted in accordance 20 with any written terms so the presence or absence of those particular documents is not really relevant. 25 30 106. The appellant's dealings with Futuristic Electronics as a supplier of goods in April 2006 involved the appellant buying goods worth £6.1 million from that company which had been trading for less than two years and about which a Creditsafe report obtained by the appellant said it could give "no credit limit". Again Mr Khaliq said that he dealt with that company despite that report because the goods they were selling actually existed, as certified by a freight forwarder, and that his company was therefore taking no risk in buying the goods. He again emphasised that he was satisfied that there was no risk to his company in dealing with Futuristic Electronics because the goods existed and his company was not going to pay for them until they had been delivered and paid for. 35 40 107.Mr Khaliq described a site visit he had made to Futuristic Electronics but he admitted that did little more than confirm that its address was correct and did little to explain how it could have traded in the volume it did. 108.As far as trade references are concerned he claimed to have taken these up on the telephone but when asked where the records of the references were he said that he did not record each and every call made as "to do so would leave us no time to carry out our business". We find that answer to be wholly untrue. It is entirely possible to make at least a rudimentary note of a telephone call while making the call and as the appellant transacted only a handful of deals every month and had staff working for it as well as Mr Khaliq himself we are satisfied that at least some sort of note of the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 calls could have been made. It is a feature of this case that other trade references were alleged to have been taken up by telephone calls but are unrecorded. In deed it is also the case that many other instructions and queries are supposed to have been dealt with by unrecorded telephone calls and, where that is the case, the explanation given was repeatedly the same one about pressure of work and the same points about the implausibility of that explanation apply in the other cases as well. 109.In respect of the appellant's dealings with the Export Company Mr Khaliq elaborated a little on the question of trade references. He said that often he wrote to referees put forward by the proposed counterparties but the referees would not reply in writing and he would telephone them. He admitted he could not produce any copies of letters or faxes he had sent seeking such references. 110.The Creditsafe report on the Export Company was that it had good creditworthiness but the limit of credit suggested was £40,000 which the appellant's deals, amounting to £15 million, exceeded by a wide margin. In respect of the record of a visit Mr Khaliq made concerning a site visit to the Export Company it was pointed out that some of the documents Mr Khaliq claimed to have received were not produced by HMRC in the documents they said he had submitted to them. Again he said they had been submitted but HMRC must have lost them. It was then pointed out by Mr Mandalia when he was cross examining Mr Khaliq that the record of the visit did not contain ticks in boxes relating to such documents and it was suggested that they had never been produced. Mr Khaliq said he had not ticked the boxes to indicate what documents he had because of time constraints and that he made two or three site visits in a day. We find that answer to be wholly untrue. Ticking a box at the time a document is produced is obviously an action that can be carried out as the document is produced and no time constraint is involved. 111.In respect of Excel Solutions with which the appellant traded to the extent of nearly £26 million in April and May 2006 Creditsafe suggested no credit limit (possibly because it was a fairly newly formed company) and Mr Khaliq said he was unconcerned by that for the same reasons as with other companies. He also said he was unconcerned about the fact that the nature of the business was given as sale and maintenance of motorcycles because companies can change the nature of their business, which is of course true, though for a former motorcycle sale and repair business to achieve a turnover of £26 million in two months in mobile phones relatively shortly after its creation is a fact that should have raised some concern for Mr Khaliq. 112.A site visit report purporting to relate to a site visit carried out on 4 December 2005 by Mr Khaliq was signed by a director of Excel Solutions but the signature appears to be dated 18 July 2006 which was after the deals in question had been completed. Mr Khaliq claimed he had added the date but he was unable to explain why the date was incorrect. 113.Owl Limited supplied goods worth £9.2 million to the appellant in April 2006. A Dun and Bradstreet report suggested a credit limit of £2,495 and gave an opinion that the risk of business failure was high. Mr Khaliq said that he relied upon their 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 supplier's declaration as proof that they owned the goods the appellant was offering to buy. 114.The appellant sold £6.2 million worth of goods to URTB. The appellant's business model, as described by Mr Khaliq, was that it sold goods to a trader on terms that the ownership of the goods would not pass to the purchaser until it had paid for the goods and that in the meantime although the goods were shipped to the customer's freight forwarder the shipment was "on hold" and the goods were to be held by the freight forwarder until it received instructions to release them, which would be given only after the goods had been paid for. 115.Mr Khaliq was well aware of the risks of allowing a customer to have goods delivered to them without his company having been paid for them as that was the cause of the insolvency of his previous company (Optics 20/20). It is also clear that there is always a commercial risk in despatching goods to a customer before it has paid for goods as, at the very least, there will be costs involved in recovering the goods if the deal falls through. Also, as Mr Khaliq claimed the market in which he was dealing was a fast moving market with rapid fluctuations in price, there was always a risk that even if recovered after a failed sale the goods would have reduced in value. 116.A Dun and Bradstreet report on URTB had stated there was insufficient information to offer a credit opinion and that there was a significant level of risk. That level of risk was based on URTB trading as a restaurant which was a fact Mr Khaliq admitted he knew. Mr Khaliq responded when those facts were put to him in the same way as he had responded so far as his suppliers were concerned, namely that he was not giving credit to URTB. 117.Mr Khaliq claimed that as well as sending the goods on ship on hold terms he also asked the UK freight forwarder whether they had previously sent goods to URTB. He admitted that that enquiry was made verbally in an unrecorded telephone call. In answer to a question why he had not recorded that conversation Mr Khaliq described the enquiry as one of the minute details amongst several phone calls he would make within a day. We do not believe Mr Khaliq when he says he considered the creditworthiness of his customer to be a minute detail. His experience in Optics 20/20 makes that statement incapable of being believed. 118.The appellant sold goods worth over £32 million to GTC. A Creditsafe report gave its credit rating as high risk and Dun and Bradstreet referred to a significant level of risk. 119.The appellant sold goods worth £19.4 million to Opal 53 which had a Dun and Bradstreet credit rating of €2,576 though it had a low risk which presumably means a low risk of default but within that credit limit. 120.The appellant sold goods worth £2 million to Sigma 60 which had a tangible worth of €17,497 and for which Dun and Bradstreet advised no credit should be given. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 121.Mr Khaliq's evidence about the other customers was similar to that about URTB. 122.We will next deal with the evidence about the appellant's method of trading. 123.Mr Khaliq said he decided he wanted to avoid a repeat of the sort of problems he had had with Optics 20/20 and so he instructed a firm of solicitors to draft terms of business which he claimed he got customers to sign, once, before trading began. However it became clear that the appellant did not trade in accordance with those terms of business which Mr Khaliq described as legal speak and which he admitted he did not understand. For example the terms of business required a 10% deposit to be paid by customers before goods would be allocated but Mr Khaliq admitted that that term was never applied. 124.Although the terms included a term that title to the goods would not pass until payment, there was also a term which allowed a customer to use the goods in the ordinary course of its business provided that it sold them at full market value "on the account of [the appellant]". Mr Khaliq said that the goods would not be released to the seller until payment which would preclude that term from applying. He said: "The goods are released by way of verbal instruction, fax instruction. Only at that point do they have title to the goods and it is at that point that they can do what they want with them". Mr Mandalia pointed out to him that on at least one occasion Opal sold goods to another company before they had paid for them which appears to have been a surprise to Mr Khaliq but which he then explained by saying the goods would still have been at the buyer's freight forwarder and would have been under the control of the appellant until the point of release. 125.The supplier's declaration and the purchase order from the customer and invoice issued to the customer were the documents Mr Khaliq claimed established the terms of the deals and a document to the freight forwarder which asked it to allocate the goods was claimed to be the shipping instruction although Mr Khaliq admitted it did not specify that the goods were to be shipped as opposed to being allocated to the buyer. Many of the documents produced appear to have been issued by the respective parties before other documents on which they depended had been issued. Mr Khaliq asserted that such inconsistencies in the documentation were explained by the fact that verbal instructions or agreements had been given but he admitted that such instructions or agreements had not been noted. 126.One particular aspect of the terms of business as described by Mr Khaliq is that the appellant relied entirely on the supplier declaration and some sort of assurance from the supplier's freight forwarder for proof that the supplier was entitled to supply the goods and held title to them. He also claimed that the supplier declaration passed title to the goods from the seller to the appellant but the terms of the supplier declaration were that title "will pass" apparently at some later time. Equally, the appellant relied on the purchaser's freight forwarder not to release the goods to the purchaser until payment had been made. 127.As the actual terms of business were either not spelled out in the documents or were different from those envisaged in the documents, Mr Khaliq was pressed for an 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 answer as to how he was able to be satisfied that the various parties knew what the actual terms were. He said that it had always been understood that the deals would be done in the way he described. He failed to make it clear to our satisfaction how those vital understandings arose. He said that when he started to trade in this business a freight forwarder had described to him that an allocation note would amount to shipping instructions. On the other hand he also claimed to have made site visits to the UK freight forwarders where unrecorded verbal agreements were reached with each one to that effect. He made no site visits to the overseas customers' freight forwarders and claimed that the UK freight forwarders were responsible for ensuring that the customers' freight forwarders knew how the trade operated. 128.The descriptions of the phones in the deal paperwork are in every case limited. Mr Khaliq claimed that the customers relied on their inspections of the phones to satisfy themselves that they were what had been ordered. He said that the customers had an opportunity to inspect the phones while they were still in the UK and, although that may be correct, there is no evidence that any of them actually did so and the time scale involved between the agreements to buy and the shipping of the goods appear to be too short to allow that to have happened in practice. As those inspections therefore appear, if any were carried out, to have been carried out after the phones arrived in the overseas countries where the buyers were based it seems that if any details were agreed beyond the limited details on the paperwork that they must have been agreed by yet further unrecorded verbal agreements. At an earlier stage in his evidence Mr Khaliq had said that he faxed copies of his inspection reports to the buyers who may have ordered their own inspections but if the inspections carried out in the UK were faxed to the buyers they would not have given more than limited detailed descriptions of the phones. 129.For the transaction known as deal 11 in this appeal which involved 1,690 phones worth £913,445 the purchase documents held by the appellant refer to the purchase of Nokia 8810 phones as did the sales invoice but the inspection report given to the appellant refers to Nokia 8800 phones, which is a different model. Mr Khaliq referred to this as a typographical error in the inspection report but it was then pointed out that the appellant's customer had also requested 8800 model phones in its purchase order. Mr Khaliq claimed this was also a typographical error. Whilst we accept that typographical errors can occur it is surprising, at least, to see no correspondence correcting the error in a deal worth nearly £1million. 130.Similar discrepancies arose in respect of deal 13 which was worth £426,250 except that in that case the inspection company had referred to the wrong model and then the freight forwarder had referred in the CMR to the wrong model in respect of some only of the phones. Again, Mr Khaliq simply said these were typographical errors. 131.Mr Khaliq's evidence about the negotiations leading to the deals was that the discussion with the counterparties would include discussions about the languages in which the phones would operate, the specification of the phones and the types of charger plugs being supplied. No records were kept relating to these details of the negotiations. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 132.Mr Khaliq also specifically referred to the negotiations of price and he was questioned in detail about that aspect of the business. He described how prices were negotiated with both the potential buyer and the seller and he specifically agreed that he wanted to agree a price that was as high as possible and to maximise the profit. He also specifically said that he negotiated each deal individually. 133.It was put to Mr Khaliq that every one of the 20 April deals had achieved a 2% mark up allowing for rounding to the nearest 5 pence. The Tribunal pointed out that the 2% was achieved by rounding to the nearest multiple of 25 pence. In fact in two of the April deals the rounding was to the next nearest multiple of 25 pence. Mr Khaliq denied that this was evidence of contrivance but we find that he had no satisfactory explanation of how that result came about if he was negotiating with both counterparties as he claimed. At first he said it was just a coincidence but then he said that he had worked towards a threshold or target that must have been 2% at that time. It is clear from his evidence that Mr Khaliq was not saying that he had been presented with a fait accompli about the prices he bought and sold at but his evidence about how the end result for the April deals was consistently 2%, allowing for rounding is, we find, wholly unconvincing having been inconsistent as his evidence progressed. He changed back and forwards between asserting that there had been full negotiations and that there had been a target dictated by current market conditions. On any view, given that he claimed always to have wanted to maximise his profit, it is inconsistent with that aim that every deal was done in a multiple of 25 pence. 134.The deals in May and June, with two exceptions, all also led to prices in multiples of 25 pence and round percentages allowing for rounding albeit that the percentages themselves varied. 135.We find that Mr Khaliq did not tell the truth about the negotiations concerning prices and that there must have been some contrivance about the prices at which the deals were done. Two possibilities appear to us to exist. One is that Mr Khaliq was simply told what to charge or what percentage he would be allowed as his company's mark up and the other is that he was manipulated into agreeing prices with mark ups which were worked out by a formula rather than by normal negotiations. Our findings 136.We reject the appellant's contention that it took all precautions reasonably open to it and therefore we reject its contention that it has the defence referred to as the impenetrable shield. 137.The enquiries the appellant made about the counterparties in its transactions were perfunctory. The enquiries simply established that those parties were in existence, were trading and were registered for VAT. The appellant undoubtedly ignored facts which should have alerted it to the serious possibility that those parties could not have afforded to be involved in the transactions in question. No further enquiries were made to satisfy itself of what explanation there was for their being able to afford to deal in goods worth large sums despite their very limited credit ratings. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 138.In so far as the appellant visited the counterparties it is clear from Mr Khaliq's attitude to the keeping of records about those visits that they were regarded by him as formalities. Trade references taken over the telephone in unrecorded conversations are indicative of the appellant's attitude to its enquiries. 139.We find that the appellant should have known that its transactions were connected with fraud. 140.The facts known to the appellant about its counterparties should have raised doubts about the ability of those counterparties to trade on the scale on which they were trading. Mr Khaliq's repeated assertion in evidence that the limited credit ratings given to the counterparties were because they were recently established companies that had insufficient trading history to be given a better rating simply raises a different question. It must have been obvious that a question arose as to how new entrants to the market could legitimately build up such huge amounts of business so quickly. 141.The appellant dealt with the counterparties on terms entirely different from its terms of business and in many cases different from their terms. 142.The appellant claimed to have dealt with those parties on terms that were understood by all concerned but Mr Kaliq was unable to explain to our satisfaction how those understandings had come about. He said that a freight forwarder had explained to him about ship on hold terms. But he had no explanation of how his supplier knew and agreed that it would only be paid after the appellant had been paid or that his customer knew and agreed it would be expected to pay the appellant as soon as possible. When pressed for an explanation Mr Khaliq claimed these terms were explained and agreed in telephone calls of which no record was kept. We find it to be most unlikely that such important details of the deals would be dealt with by telephone calls without confirmatory correspondence and we find it to be totally incredible that the appellant would not even make a note of the calls for its own records. We reject Mr Khaliq's explanation. The only other likely explanation of the absence of properly recorded agreed terms is that everyone involved did indeed know how the transactions were intended to be completed and that they bore little relationship to normal business practices. 143.The appellant was well aware of the existence of MTIC fraud and claims to have been alert to the need to avoid becoming involved in it but it must have been obvious to Mr Khaliq and therefore to the appellant that a business in which all parties knew how the transactions were to be conducted and that they could be conducted in ways contrary to the parties terms of business were just the type of transactions that were ones connected with fraud. That such significant departures from normal trading practices occurred in deals worth millions of pounds was a very clear indication that the transactions were connected with fraud. 144.We find that the evidence shows that Mr Khaliq should have known that the transactions were connected with fraud and that therefore the appellant should have known. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 145.We find that Mr Khaliq knew that the transactions were connected with fraud for the reasons stated in the following paragraphs. 146.In this context the criticisms we have already made about the appellant's trading methods and the fact that danger signs were ignored are relevant but not sufficient to justify a finding that he actually knew the transactions were connected with fraud. 147.We have already found some parts of his evidence to be untruthful and clearly it is very relevant to our finding that he did know of the connection with fraud that we have found him to be an unreliable and untruthful witness. We observed Mr Khaliq giving evidence for over four days and we observed that when challenged his evidence frequently changed so that an explanation would be given about something but when he was further questioned about it he would give a different and inconsistent explanation. 148.We also regard it as particularly relevant that the appellant was able to enter into the transactions themselves remarkably easily. Suppliers and purchasers were found from the same trading websites. The appellant was allowed to transport goods for which it had not yet paid to foreign destinations on the understanding that its suppliers would be paid as and when the appellant was paid. That was despite the fact that the transactions were arranged, as the appellant admitted, within a day or two in what was described as a volatile market. Both the appellant and its supplier were apparently prepared to take the risk that the foreign purchaser would not be able to complete the deal and the goods would have to be returned involving expense and potentially losses to both the supplier and the appellant. This was particularly significant as Mr Khaliq had had a previous catastrophe caused by just such a failure to pay by a customer in his previous company. All parties were prepared to deal with goods worth very large sums on the vaguest of descriptions. These and other similar facts must have been obvious to Mr Khaliq who gave extensive evidence and whom we consider to have shown himself to be an intelligent man who not only should have realised the significance of these facts but we are sure did realise them. 149.We also consider it is particularly relevant that the mark ups achieved by the appellant appear to be based on a formula including rounding and discernible, albeit varying, percentages. Those facts are completely inconsistent with Mr Khaliq's assertion that he negotiated the prices with his supplier and customer with a view to making the best profit he could. It is so unlikely that all the April deals would have achieved the 2% mark up after rounding in the way we have described that we can reject any argument that that consistency can be a coincidence. Similarly, the deals in May and June appear to follow a similar pattern in that they are capable of being calculated as having been rounded to a similar degree but with mark ups of different percentages having played a part in the calculations. 150.The simplest explanation for the consistency of mark ups referred to above is that the parties to the deals knew there was to be a formula and knew how to work it. The only other explanation that comes to mind is that Mr Khaliq was somehow manipulated into reaching agreements with the appellant's counterparties which had the effect of achieving that mark up. We note that it would appear necessary for both 10 15 20 25 counterparties to have acted in concert to achieve that manipulation. The first explanation is obvious evidence that all concerned knew of the fraud. Although the second explanation would not necessarily prove knowledge of fraud on the appellant's part it is entirely inconsistent with the appellant's evidence about how the deals were negotiated. 151.As we have found that the appellant knew that its transactions were connected with fraud and that, even if we were wrong so to find, in the alternative that the appellant should have known that they were connected with fraud; the appeal is dismissed. 152.This document contains full findings of fact and reasons for the decision. Any party dissatisfied with this decision has a right to apply for permission to appeal against it pursuant to Rule 39 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009. The application must be received by this Tribunal not later than 56 days after this decision is sent to that party. The parties are referred to "Guidance to accompany a Decision from the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)" which accompanies and forms part of this decision notice. RICHARD BARLOW TRIBUNAL JUDGE RELEASE DATE: 28 February 2012
INSPECTION REPORT ST MARY'S, PRITTLEWELL, C of E (VA) PRIMARY SCHOOL Southend on Sea, Essex LEA area: Southend on Sea Unique reference number: 115145 Headteacher: Mrs Frances Neil Reporting inspector: Jan Allcorn 1068 Dates of inspection: 1 - 2 July 2002 Inspection number: 194772 © Crown copyright 2002 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL Type of school: Primary School category: Voluntary Aided Age range of pupils: 4 - 11 years Gender of pupils: Mixed School address: Boston Avenue Southend on Sea Essex SS2 6JH Postcode: Telephone number: 01702 354012 Fax number: 01702 354016 Appropriate authority: The Governing Body Name of chair of governors: Rev. Canon R. Mason Date of previous inspection: June 1997 INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM \| 1068 \| Jan Allcorn \| \|---\|---\| \| 9588 \| Tony West \| \| 21038 \| Geoff Timms \| \| 20243 \| David Benstock \| The inspection contractor was: PkR Educational Consultants Ltd 6 Sherman Road Bromley Kent BR1 3JH Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to: The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division The Office for Standards in Education Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE REPORT CONTENTS PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL St Mary's Prittlewell is a Voluntary Aided Church of England School with 412 pupils on roll. In spring 1999 it moved to a new site. The school is now much larger than at the time of the last inspection and bigger than most primary schools nationally. Pupils come from a range of social backgrounds with the proportion eligible for free school meals broadly in line with that nationally. The attainment of pupils on entry to the school is below average overall although it covers the full ability range. It depends on their pre-school experiences, which range from none to playgroups and full-time nursery. Fourteen per cent of pupils are from minority ethnic groups. Sixteen pupils do not have English as their first language, and although relatively a small number represents a larger proportion than found in most schools nationally. Only one pupil is at the early stages of learning English. The number of pupils with special educational needs and those with a statement of need is below that nationally. However, the change in catchment area has resulted in more pupils in the younger year groups with specific learning needs. HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS St Mary's Prittlewell is an effective, successful, and popular school. It provides a secure, orderly and happy learning environment, in which the pupils make good progress. This is due to the very good leadership of the headteacher and the high commitment of all staff. Governors are interested and involved in the work of the school and support it well. Teaching is particularly good for older junior pupils and significantly contributes to the good results eleven-year-olds gain in national tests. Relationships between teachers and pupils are good and most pupils behave and respond well in lessons. The value for money provided by the school is good. What the school does well * Given their attainment on entry to the school, pupils achieve well by the time they leave at the age of eleven years. * The leadership of the headteacher is very good and both she and the deputy headteacher manage well the work of the school. This creates an orderly and caring learning environment in which pupils flourish. * Provision for pupils with special educational needs is very good and they make good progress. * Teaching and learning are particularly good for the junior pupils. * By the time they leave the school pupils have very positive attitudes towards learning and a welldeveloped sense of responsibility towards others. What could be improved * Provision for children in the reception classes does not support fully the best possible progress. * Strategies to support the small minority of pupils who find it difficult to settle in lessons and to concentrate on their work are not yet consistent and effective enough across the school. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors' action plan. HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION The school has changed significantly since the last inspection in June 1997 and this has led to many improvements in its work. Results in National Curriculum tests for eleven-year-olds have shown a steady upward trend. In summer 2000 and 2001 the school gained the DfEE Achievement Award because of these results. For seven-year-olds results in National Curriculum tests have been more variable, although never below national averages. The additional special needs of pupils attending the school, following the move, affected the school's test results earlier for this age group. At the time of the last inspection the quality of teaching was identified as an area for development. This issue has been tackled well and inspectors judge teaching and learning now to be good overall. Mixed age classes no longer exist; curriculum time for 7-11 year olds has improved and high quality information and communication technology facilities are in place. Given the enthusiasm and commitment of the headteacher and staff and its improved facilities and resources the school is well placed to continue to develop its work and to raise standards further. STANDARDS The table shows the standards achieved by 11 year olds based on average point scores in National Curriculum tests. \| Performance in: \| Compared with \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| all schools \| \| \| Similar schools \| \| \| 1999 \| 2000 \| 2001 \| 2001 \| \| English \| C \| B \| A \| A \| \| Mathematics \| C \| B \| A \| A \| \| Science \| D \| B \| A \| A \| Similar schools are those schools with an equivalent number of pupils eligible for free school meals. In summer 2001 results in National Curriculum tests for eleven-year-olds were well above national averages and those for similar schools. Progress since the age of seven years was good and the trend of improvement was above that nationally. Standards achieved by current eleven-year-olds are overall not as high but still represent good progress for these pupils. Because of the increase in the size of the school this year group has pupils with a wider range of learning needs than in previous years. A quarter of the pupils joined the school in their junior years, some following interrupted schooling, some with gaps in their learning. Standards are at least in line with those expected nationally in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science with the most able pupils achieving above average standards. Provisional results in National Curriculum tests this summer support these judgements and compare favourably with national averages from last year. The school reached its targets. Although results in national tests for seven-year-olds in summer 2001 were in line with national averages, pupils did not achieve as well as expected. Provisional test results for current seven-year-olds show improved performance and good progress since joining the school. This is because the school has monitored closely the quality of teaching and tracked carefully the pupils' progress in the last year. All pupils achieved the nationally expected level in mathematics, but in all three subjects too few pupils gained the higher levels. Standards of work seen by inspectors were overall in line with those expected nationally in reading and mathematics – but just below in writing. The most able reception children have reached nationally expected levels this summer. However the progress made by children in the reception classes is not as good overall as elsewhere in the school and has not been for the last few years. This is due to a number of factors: a small number of children who find it difficult to settle to work; lack of appropriate accommodation for this age group; and planning that does not always meet the needs of the children. Throughout the school pupils make better progress in developing their reading, and speaking and listening skills than their writing skills. However the most able pupils in Year 6 produce mature structured writing and make good choices of vocabulary. By the time they are eleven years old pupils have sound numeracy skills and higher attaining pupils confidently work with fractions, decimals and percentages at a level above that expected for their age. Pupils gain good information and communication technology skills. From Reception to Year 6 the quality of artwork seen, especially the pottery, was of a high standard. PUPILS' ATTITUDES AND VALUES TEACHING AND LEARNING Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. 'Satisfactory' means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses. Teaching is good overall, although better for junior pupils than for children in the Foundation Stage (Reception) and pupils in Years 1-2. Nevertheless examples of very good and excellent teaching were seen with these pupils. Planning is good and teachers use good questioning to encourage pupils to explain their views or results. This consolidates and deepens the pupils' knowledge and understanding. The best lessons are lively and interest pupils and, as a result, the pupils listen carefully and respond and behave well. This leads to good progress. Where teachers do not have the strategies to manage the behaviour of a small minority of pupils the learning, although satisfactory, slows. This is more noticeable with younger pupils, who enter the school with a wide range of learning needs. Some find it difficult to settle and concentrate. Where the teachers have high expectations of work and behaviour these pupils settle and work well. Teaching assistants are attached to each class and provide valuable support. Although the school spends a greater proportion of its budget on teaching assistants than most schools nationally, this represents very good value for money. Class teachers plan well with their teaching assistants and deploy them effectively. This particularly supports pupils with learning difficulties to make good progress. Teachers follow and adapt well the national programmes for literacy and numeracy to meet the learning needs of pupils. Setting and additional small groups in Years 4-6 help all pupils to work at an appropriate level and make good progress in these subjects. Opportunities for pupils to use computers are well planned and provide good support for the pupils' learning in a range of subjects. Teachers' records and files have good information on pupils' progress and what they achieve. The teachers use this information to plan appropriate work for pupils. This is particularly good for older junior pupils where the information recorded is very detailed and helpful. OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL \| Aspect \| Comment \| \|---\|---\| \| The quality and range of the curriculum \| Good. Rigorous planning based on the National Curriculum programmes of study ensures pupils get a well-balanced and appropriate range of learning experiences. The national literacy and numeracy strategies have been well implemented. For reception children facilities and planning do not support fully the best possible progress. \| \| Provision for pupils with special educational needs \| Very good. It is managed well and the close working relationship between class teachers and the teaching assistants effectively supports these pupils’ learning. \| \| Provision for pupils with English as an additional language \| Satisfactory. The school has good strategies in place to support the very few pupils it has at the early stages of English. They make good progress. \| \| Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development \| Very good. The school has a clear Christian ethos and high expectations of work and behaviour. Teachers and other adults are good role models for pupils. Opportunities to participate in art, music and drama activities are good and the school is developing its work in helping pupils to understand the multi-faith and multi-ethnic society in which they will live. Opportunities for pupils to take responsibility are particularly good and charities and local events are well supported. \| \| How well the school cares for its pupils \| Very well. Health and safety and child protection procedures are very good. Teachers know pupils well, both academically and personally. \| HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED PARENTS' AND CARERS' VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL Nine parents attended the meeting for parents and 71 questionnaires were returned. The inspection team supports the positive views held by parents. With regard to concerns, inspectors found the information parents receive on how well their children do and the number of meetings for parents to be equivalent to those found in most schools. However in reports seen information on pupils' progress in subjects other than the core was insufficient and comments not always in clear everyday language. A few parents would like to know the topics to be studied each term so they could help their children better. The school informs parents of each class's homework timetable at the beginning of the school year. Parents of older pupils expressed no concerns, but parents of younger pupils had a range of views from 'too much', 'not hard enough' and 'too little'. In the short time inspectors were in school it was difficult to make an overall assessment of the quality and quantity set for these pupils because of staff changes and absence. A small number of reception parents are concerned about the regrouping of pupils as they move from Reception to Year 1. Whilst understanding their concerns, inspectors judge the school's reasons to be educationally sound. A few parents expressed doubts about job shares, but inspectors found no evidence to support these concerns. The school is working hard to develop closer links with parents and the newly formed parent-teacher association supports this aim. PART B: COMMENTARY WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL Given their attainment on entry to the school, pupils achieve well by the time they leave at eleven years. 1. For all three core subjects of English, mathematics and science performance in National Curriculum tests for eleven-year-olds in summer 2001 was well above that nationally and that for similar schools. Pupils had made good progress since the age of seven years overall, although it was better in English and science than in mathematics. Results in English had considerably improved on those in summer 2000. Pupils did particularly well at the higher levels in all three subjects. The trend of improvement for the period 1999–2001 was above that nationally. These results represent a considerable improvement since the last inspection. 2. The standards achieved by current eleven-year-olds in the three core subjects are not as high as those for pupils in summer 2001, but nevertheless represent good progress for this group of pupils. Current Year 6 pupils have a wider range of learning needs than pupils in previous years. This is because of the increase in size of the school following the move to new accommodation in 1999. Year groups took in extra pupils, who had found difficulties in getting placements in other schools that resulted in gaps in previous learning. 3. Standards are at least in line with those expected nationally in English and mathematics, with higher attaining pupils demonstrating above average attainment. Preliminary National Curriculum test results for these two subjects compare very favourably with national results last year and the school's targets have been achieved. In science, the work seen indicated above average knowledge and understanding particularly in practical work. However this standard is not reflected fully in the preliminary national test results for science, where the test consists of a written paper only. From evidence of previous attainment, the scrutiny of pupils' work and classroom observation inspectors judged pupils throughout Years 3-6 to be making good progress overall in the three core subjects. Progress is best in Years 5 and 6 where teaching is particularly strong, and pupils' attitudes towards learning are more mature and they settle quickly to work in lessons. 4. Over the last three years results in National Curriculum tests for seven-year-olds have been variable. They have ranged from well above average in writing and above average in reading and mathematics in summer 2000 to average in reading, writing and mathematics in summer 2001. The drop in summer 2001 is partly explained by more pupils in the school with learning difficulties and inconsistent teaching due to staff changes in Years 1 and 2. Issues arising have been tackled well in the current school year. This is the result of the clear oversight of planning, good tracking of pupils' progress and monitoring of teaching by the headteacher and other experienced staff, both within the school and from the local education authority. Consequently results in National Curriculum tests for summer 2002 have improved and compare favourably with national averages for the previous year. All pupils achieved the nationally expected level or above in mathematics. Overall results are better than predicted from testing at five years of age. 5. Standards for pupils currently in Year 2 are judged to be in line with those expected nationally in the three core subjects. Progress is at least satisfactory since Reception and for most pupils good. However few pupils achieve above the level expected for their age. This is because in science and mathematics the teaching does not always provide enough harder work for the most able to ensure the highest standards are reached. Attainment in writing is not as good as that for reading and mathematics. 6. Results in national tests indicate girls do better than boys by a slightly bigger gap than found nationally, particularly in English. However inspectors found no significant evidence during the short inspection to account for this. Boys were observed to respond well in lessons. On those occasions where pupils were seen to have difficulties in settling quickly and quietly to their work both boys and girls were involved. Nevertheless the co-ordinator for English is aware of the possibility of an issue and intends to look at this aspect of work in English more closely. Pupils from different ethnic groups were observed to respond and work as well as other pupils. The one pupil at the early stages of learning English is making good progress because of the learning experiences and support she is receiving in Reception. One Year 6 pupil, who joined the school in the junior years with English as an additional language, has achieved above the level expected in the recent National Curriculum tests. 7. The school is developing a good database on the standards reached by pupils. It uses this to monitor pupils' progress and to identify pupils who are underachieving. This informs the targets the school sets itself and where additional support is required. Class teachers also use it to set and update targets for each pupil. Targets are demanding and appropriate. The database is not used as rigorously as it could be to monitor the performance of different groups of pupils, such as those from different ethnic groups and girls and boys. 8. Throughout Years 1-6 the successful implementation of the national strategies for literacy and numeracy has had a positive impact on the standards pupils achieve in English and mathematics. This is particularly so for older pupils. The most able Year 6 pupils show a very good understanding of the relationships between fractions, decimals and percentages. Their writing is mature and interesting, with examples of lengthy creative writing that uses paragraphs appropriately and includes well-chosen vocabulary. Average and lower attaining pupils also show good progress in developing the vocabulary they use and in their maturity of expression, although the weakest do not reach fully the expected level for their age. 9. Pupils use computers competently and confidently in a wide range of contexts. This includes importing text and pictures into a school newspaper; using a spreadsheet to analyse data and print bar charts and pie charts; controlling machines in design and technology; and making PowerPoint presentations on the Greeks in history. The considerable investment of the school in a computer room with 16 machines as well as classroom based computers and a technician to support staff has considerably improved the pupils' opportunities to gain good information and communication technology skills. 10. The quality of work in art around the school is particularly good with some excellent work in pottery. Year 6 pupils speak enthusiastically of the range of work they do using different media such as paints, crayons and charcoal. They talk confidently about using perspective, landscape work and art appreciation sessions where they study the work of artists such as Andy Warhol. The school takes very good advantage of a teaching assistant who is also 'a potter' and this significantly contributes to the very high level of skill shown in this area. 11. Improvement since the last inspection has been good for the junior pupils, with progress now good rather than satisfactory. This is due to better curriculum planning and better teaching. Progress for infant pupils in Years 1 and 2 remains good overall, although it varies from satisfactory to very good and reflects the quality of teaching pupils receive. The rigorous monitoring of pupil attainment and progress, developing target setting procedures and clear oversight of classroom practice mean the school is well placed to improve standards further. The school works hard to ensure it has good experienced teachers in spite of recruitment difficulties in the local area. The leadership of the headteacher is very good and both she and the deputy headteacher manage the work of the school well. This creates an orderly and caring learning environment in which pupils flourish. 12. The leadership of the headteacher is very good. She has high expectations of the standards of work pupils should achieve, pupils' behaviour and the quality of teaching and learning provided by staff in the classroom. She is supported well by the deputy headteacher and together they manage very effectively the work of the school. Pupils and staff are respected and valued. Staff are committed to provide the best for the pupils in their care. These features and its Christian ethos provide a firm foundation for all the school's work. They ensure an orderly and caring learning environment in which pupils are happy and make good progress. As a consequence the school is oversubscribed. Parents who answered the questionnaire agreed that the school is well led, has high expectations, good teaching and helps their children to become mature and responsible. 13. Both the headteacher and deputy headteacher have been appointed in the last two years and they have achieved a great deal within that time. The consolidation of the move from the old school has been a major task. This has included the induction of new pupils with a range of previous experiences into each year group, the provision of sufficient resources to meet the needs of a larger number of pupils and oversight of the continuing building work on the other half of the site. The headteacher and deputy headteacher have managed this well. The day to day running of the school has continued smoothly and pupils' overall progress has not been adversely affected. Performance management has been successfully introduced, there is better curriculum planning, and teachers are more informed about the progress their pupils make. 14. The management structure and the roles of subject co-ordinators have been strengthened. The senior management team now has two assistant headteachers and these individuals are beginning to develop their roles. Already this has had a good impact on work in Years 1 and 2 and the development of assessment procedures. The absence of one of the assistant headteachers has hindered the school's target to improve provision for the early years pupils in reception. Subject co-ordinators in English, mathematics and science have clear expectations concerning the monitoring of work in their subject areas. In English and mathematics the monitoring of the implementation of the national strategies for literacy and numeracy has had a good impact on the quality of teaching and learning pupils receive. The special educational needs co-ordinator has reviewed and improved provision for pupils with special educational needs, and supports and manages well the work of the teaching assistants. However, although subject co-ordinators monitor teachers' planning and books on a regular basis, opportunities to observe work in the classroom are more limited. 15. The headteacher and her senior team know well the school's strengths and where improvement is still needed. The school development plan reflects clearly those areas requiring further work as well as national priorities. It is a good working document that informs the school's work and monitors progress towards targets. Pupils' performance and progress are recorded regularly and this information is beginning to be used effectively by the headteacher and staff to set targets for pupils and to identify and support those pupils who are not performing as well as they should. 16. The headteacher and staff are supported well by the governing body, which has a strong commitment to the work of the school. The chair of governors is very knowledgeable about current educational developments, regularly visits the school and leads a weekly act of worship. Governors take an active interest in the work of subject areas. For example a governor has joined the working party that is currently developing the PSHE (personal, social and health education) curriculum. Financial spending is monitored carefully and governors have useful expertise that has been particularly helpful to the school during the period of the move and subsequent site difficulties. 17. Improvement since the last inspection has been good. The new headteacher has built very well on the good work of the previous headteacher and with the staff continues to seek for improvement in the work of the school for the benefit of the pupils. Provision for pupils with special educational needs is very good and they make good progress. 18. The school has a high commitment to meet the learning needs of pupils with special educational needs. This is shown in its staffing and timetable arrangements. The special educational needs co-ordinator does not have a whole class responsibility. This gives her a very effective amount of time to support and improve provision for pupils on the school's special educational needs register and to liaise with outside specialist advisers. Good staffing levels provide additional literacy and numeracy groups in Years 4-6 and each class has a teaching assistant. These arrangements have a positive impact on the learning of all pupils not just those with learning difficulties. Therefore whilst they incur a higher than average cost they represent very good value for money. 19. The special educational need co-ordinator provides very clear leadership for the work of class teachers and the teaching assistants. The individual education plans for pupils on the special educational needs register contain appropriate targets, what the pupil should be able to do to achieve these, strategies to enable them to be achieved and possible resources and techniques. Records seen for pupils with a statement of need are informative and helpful for future planning. Samples of work in files are appropriate and well annotated. Good notes are kept of observations and meetings with outside visitors such as the educational psychologist. Targets are set for pupils and parents. Teaching assistants, working specifically with statemented children, are involved with the writing of individual educational plans and where appropriate their review by the school's special educational needs co-ordinator. 20. Planning for pupils with special educational needs is good. Lesson observations during the inspection confirmed the effectiveness of the planning process. Teachers use information on pupils' performance and their individual education plans to ensure work and learning situations meet pupils' individual needs. A regular time is set aside each week for each class teacher to plan with his/her teaching assistant(s) the support to be provided in lessons. This results in the effective use of the teaching assistants in lessons. One such planning discussion observed involved very good practice. It covered the words that needed to be reinforced during a literacy session, the work on the computer for a particular child and the need to target three children, especially one boy who was not producing enough work. In another class the planning included specific observations of one child by the teaching assistant that were to be recorded and used to inform future support. 21. In the junior part of the school additional teacher time is used effectively to support smaller groups in English and mathematics. These groups, alongside setting arrangements, enable the school to target those pupils who have particular learning difficulties. During the inspection, a Year 4 target group in English made very good progress in their understanding of the structure of a story through well planned teaching that met their particular learning needs. Work in small target groups such as this has significantly contributed to the school's good results in National Curriculum tests for eleven-year-olds. 22. The special educational needs co-ordinator manages the work and deployment of the teaching assistants well, both for those with a specific role in supporting pupils on the special educational needs register and those with a general role. She meets with them on a weekly basis to pass on relevant information, to plan any timetable changes and to share good practice. She has organised training on the National Literacy Strategy, the use of the epi-pen, and information and communication technology. Teaching assistants have also been trained to support the developing work in PSHE. The school's commitment to provide training for teaching assistants supports their effective classroom practice. For example in sessions in the computer room they provide much needed support when pupils are working in pairs or individually on tasks. 23. The teaching assistants are particularly effective in supporting pupils who have learning difficulties. For example, in one Year 2 literacy lesson the teaching assistant was observed working very well with a group of lower attaining pupils to improve their handwriting. She modelled the writing well, kept the pupils on task whilst maintaining a good relationship with them, and praised them for their efforts. 24. New since September 2001 the special educational needs co-ordinator has clear priorities for implementing the revised Code of Practice and improving individual educational plans for those pupils who need them. Currently targets in individual educational plans mainly focus on literacy and personal and social needs. There is the scope to broaden these to include other aspects of the curriculum and to support whole school strategies for managing the behaviour of the small number of pupils who occasionally disturb the learning of others. Teaching and learning are particularly good for the junior pupils. 25. Teaching is good overall. Pupils have good access to the National Curriculum; teachers plan well and good records are kept of the progress pupils make, particularly in the core subjects. The national strategies for literacy and numeracy have been well implemented. All this has a positive impact on the progress the pupils make. The scrutiny of work, teachers' planning and lesson observations during the inspection identified teaching as more consistently good for junior pupils. For younger pupils it is more variable and overall satisfactory rather than good, although some excellent and very good practice was seen. 26. The best teaching is well planned to meet the individual needs of all pupils in the class, even when pupils are set for English and mathematics. For example, in a Year 6 top set in mathematics working on mixed fractions and decimals, different tasks were set for each group of pupils after the whole class introductory session. This enabled the highest attaining group to work at a more demanding level and to achieve the highest possible standards. The effectiveness of this approach is shown by the good percentage of pupils attaining above the level expected in the National Curriculum tests. Another feature of the best teaching is the way teachers question pupils about what they are doing. They encourage pupils to think and reflect, to explain their answers, and to come to their own judgements. In a Year 5 English lesson, pupils were studying how to write a letter for a real purpose. Good questioning by the teacher helped them to form opinions on the aims, approach and clarity of a sample letter. The pupils then made suggestions as to how the letter could be improved and this subsequently helped them to write their own letters. 27. In the very best lessons, teachers make topics interesting. They deliver the lesson in a lively manner that holds the pupils' attention. Pupils respond and behave well and accomplish a lot of work. Where teaching is sometimes less successful, although still satisfactory, not all pupils listen and settle as well as they should. As a result progress is not as good. In some classes in Years 1 and 2, work is not always demanding enough for the most able. It is not matched closely enough to the needs of these pupils to ensure they reach the higher levels in National Curriculum tests. 28. Teachers' good planning is well supported by information on each pupil's attainment through regular testing. This information is used to monitor pupil progress, and is particularly effective in the junior part of the school in identifying underachievers. Work throughout the school is marked regularly. In the upper juniors, it is annotated well with helpful comments. Elsewhere in the school this practice is less consistent. Comments are 'well done' or 'you can do better' rather than suggestions as to how work can be improved. For younger pupils teachers do not note often enough the context in which work was completed: for example with or without help. 29. At the time of the last inspection, teaching had a significant number of weaknesses in the junior department of the school. Developments since the last inspection have resulted in good improvement. Teaching for younger pupils, whilst satisfactory overall, has had to meet the learning needs of pupils with a wider range of ability since the school's move in spring 1999. Strategies to meet additional needs, particularly behavioural needs, are not yet firmly in place and this hinders the best possible progress. By the time they leave the school pupils have positive attitudes towards learning and a well-developed sense of responsibility towards others. 30. The school provides very good opportunities for pupils' personal development. It is noticeable that as pupils progress through the school their behaviour and attitudes towards learning and towards others develop and grow as a result of the school's emphasis on this aspect of its work. Parents indicate that the good atmosphere and relationships in the school are one of the main reasons why they selected the school for their children. 31. Pupils who enter the school, whether in Reception or in older years, learn what is expected of them and work hard to meet the school's high expectations. They form good relationships with teachers and other adults in the school and with other pupils. They play well together in the playground. Older pupils understand the reasons for and respect the space allocated to younger pupils. Pupils from different ethnic groups are well integrated. Pupils are pleasant and friendly to visitors. Year 6 pupils state "the teachers are great". Behaviour in lessons is good overall but improves as pupils get older, because they develop their speaking and listening skills, become interested and involved in their work and more aware of the impact of their actions on others. In some of the younger classes a small minority of pupils occasionally disturb others as they find it difficult to settle and to become involved in their work. Inspectors did not find bullying to be an issue in the school. One or two parents expressed concerns, but other parents commented that any incidents were dealt with well. 32. The school achieves its good atmosphere through a wide range of well-planned activities. The PSHE (personal, social and health education) programme, including citizenship, is currently being developed through a working group. Sessions such as 'circle time' (opportunities for pupils to talk about what is happening in school and to themselves) are timetabled and supported by specialist training for staff. Literacy sessions for older pupils explore the effects and influence of drugs. Assemblies, whether whole school or class, explore attitudes and feelings and provide opportunities for reflection. They encourage the pupils' participation and are set in contexts to which the pupils can relate. For example, the story of David and Goliath was acted out by the headteacher with two pupils. The rest of the school was encouraged to act as a pantomime audience to 'baa' and 'oh no' at appropriate points. This was much enjoyed by pupils. Nevertheless the main message of the story was clearly communicated and understood. The daily act of worship is an important feature of the school's work and is managed well. 33. Displays around the school consistently reinforce good values. A display on the World Cup contains a Fair Play Code. Pupils' posters address the prevention of crime. In one classroom a pupil written display had the slogan 'The harder I try the better I get' with three class targets written underneath. A memorial to a child who died tragically last year is sensitive and well respected. The developing playground area, with training for lunchtime supervisors, encourages pupils to play well together and makes break and lunchtimes positive experiences. 34. The school has a good range of visits, residential opportunities, and extra-curricular activities. These all help to develop pupils not only academically but also socially and culturally. Dance and theatre companies frequently visit the school as do the local police and fire services and charity workers. Residential experiences for pupils in Years 5 and 6 to the Bradwell Outdoor Education Centre and to Flatford Mill are well planned and vetted by the school. They are much enjoyed by pupils. Older pupils have opportunities to go to lunchtime concerts at the civic centre. There is a good range of school clubs, such as chess or cross-country running. Pupils take part in school performances at Christmas and in the summer and sing in local festivals. 35. Throughout the school pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for aspects of the school's daily work. At 'snack time' reception children help to give out fruit and apple juice, to collect cups and clean the tables. Teachers encourage the children to say 'please' and 'thank you', and praise them when they do, although some do need a lot of reminding. Year 6 pupils have purposeful roles such as monitoring how well classes go to assembly and are responsible for awarding the weekly certificate to the best class. This is clearly well sought after. Other Year 6 pupils help the computer technician to check the computers are turned off at the end of the school day and that printers and other hardware are working properly. The recently formed school council is providing a good forum for pupils to express their views on the work of the school. Currently it is looking to set up a fruit table at break to raise money for charity. 36. The school regularly collects for charities. These include the Jeans for Genes day for Great Ormond Street Hospital, and harvest festival boxes for children in deprived countries. The annual school fun run along the seafront is a high point of the school year. Pupils through work in religious education gain an understanding of other faiths and cultures. In summer 2001 the school held a 'One World Week', which included speakers from different faiths, opportunities to sample different ethnic foods, and the exploration of non-European art. This is a developing area of the school's work and the school continues to work on opportunities to promote pupils' understanding of other faiths and cultures across the curriculum. 37. Throughout the school staff provide good role models for pupils. This is seen in classrooms, the dining hall and in the playground. Great care is taken to ensure all pupils are safe and secure. Value and respect for each other have a high priority and as such help pupils to understand how to behave towards and support each other. WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED Provision for children in the reception classes does not support fully the best possible progress. 38. Information on children's achievements in the reception classes for the last few years indicates that they do not make sufficient progress from the time they enter the school to entering Year 1. Whilst there are strengths in the early years work of the school there are also some important weaknesses. The scrutiny of children's work and teachers' planning, and the observation of lessons during the inspection confirmed that children in the reception classes do not make the same good progress overall as other pupils in the school. 39. Strengths are the good day-to-day planning and the use of the teaching assistants. Home visits and meetings for parents help children to settle well into the school. Art and craftwork are good. However, in the lessons observed, listening skills and the ability to concentrate ranged from satisfactory to unsatisfactory for a significant number of children. Whilst teachers manage the children's behaviour satisfactorily overall, this can take time and slow the learning in some lessons. When the teacher's expectations are high and lessons are lively and interesting, all children show that they can respond and work well. 40. Whilst teachers' plan carefully, insufficient emphasis is placed on the development of children's listening and concentration skills, and personal and social skills. Children enter the school from a wider range of backgrounds than before the move to the new site. Pre-school experiences for some are limited. Many do not have the opportunity to attend a nursery. This gives the overall attainment on entry to the school below average. The new government guidance on the curriculum for this age range is not followed closely enough to ensure children achieve the required skills. Clearer links are needed between the planning and assessment process to ensure more children achieve the national early learning goals before they enter Year 1. 41. The school recognises that work for reception children requires further development. It has formulated an action plan with the early years co-ordinator, but staff absence has somewhat affected progress in this area. The accommodation for reception children has not been appropriate, as there is no purpose built outside play area or classroom toilets. However re-siting and refurbishment work is to take place in summer 2002. This with improved teaching and learning strategies, including the management of some children's behaviour, and matching work more closely to the national Early Years Curriculum will support better progress for the under fives. Strategies to support the small minority of pupils who find it difficult to settle in lessons and to concentrate on their work are not yet consistent and effective enough across the school. 42. Pupils' behaviour is good overall. Most want to learn and take an active interest in their lessons. However, in some lessons where the teaching was satisfactory the poor behaviour of a few pupils affected the learning of others. This predominately occurred in Years 1,2 and 3 and in the reception classes. The pupils concerned tend to call out answers or for help, do not give their work their full attention, and occasionally behave in a silly fashion. Whilst not disrupting the lesson overall these behaviours do slow the pace of activities and the progress all pupils make. Generally, teachers manage this behaviour well, but it can result in the most effective teaching strategies not being used. In one younger class the pupils' behaviour was managed by the strategy of seating them at their tables for the introductory activity instead of on the mat with the teacher, the usual practice for this age group. Whilst successful in keeping pupils quiet and attentive and stopping any silly behaviour, it was not the most effective learning situation. Discussion was more inhibited and not all pupils could clearly see the board being used. 43. The school has high expectations of work and behaviour for all its pupils. These are reinforced by the developing PSHE programme, the well-structured teaching and learning policy, and the caring and positive work ethos of the school. The school also recognises that not all children enter the school with the personal and social skills needed to take full advantage of the experiences provided. Individual teachers use good strategies to support pupils who find it difficult at times to concentrate and listen. Other teachers are less successful in managing these pupils' behaviour. The school has still to complete the revision of its behaviour policy into a document that integrates all the good strategies used by staff and provides a consistent approach to managing pupils' behaviour across the school. WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? 44. In order to meet the wider range of learning needs of pupils entering the school and to maintain and improve on the current good progress pupils make, the school now needs to: (1) improve the provision in reception classes by: * improving teachers' management of the behaviour of children who find it difficult to settle and concentrate * putting more emphasis on children's personal, social and emotional development and their speaking and listening skills; * linking the medium and short term planning more closely to the early goals for learning; * completing the planned improvements to reception accommodation. (Paragraphs: 14, 28, 29, 31, 38-41) (2) meet the learning and behaviour needs of the small minority of pupils who find it difficult to settle and listen quietly in lessons by: * sharing the good practice that exists within many classrooms; * completing the review of the behaviour management policy; * having consistent strategies to support these pupils throughout the school; * ensuring work is matched to the wider range of learning needs now to be found in classes. * providing appropriate training for staff; (Paragraphs: 14, 27-29, 31, 42-43) PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection Number of lessons observed Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 22 21 Summary of teaching observed during the inspection \| \| Excellent \| Very good \| Good \| Satisfactory \| Unsatisfactor y \| Poor \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Number \| 1 \| 7 \| 7 \| 6 \| 1 \| 0 \| The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. Care should be taken when interpreting the percentages as each lesson represents more than four percentage points. Information about the school's pupils \| Pupils on the school’s roll \| YR – Y6 \| \|---\|---\| \| Number of pupils on the school’s roll \| 412 \| Attendance Authorised absence School data Unauthorised absence \| \| % \| \|---\|---\| \| School data \| 0.1 \| % 7.3 Years R - 6 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year.(200001) Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) \| National Curriculum Test/Task Results \| \| English \| Mathematics \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above \| Boys \| 27 \| 30 \| \| \| Girls \| 25 \| 25 \| \| \| Total \| 52 \| 55 \| \| Percentage of pupils at NC level 4 or above \| School \| 87 (95) \| 92 (93) \| \| \| National \| 84 (83) \| 86 (84) \| \| Teachers’ Assessments \| \| English \| Mathematics \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above \| Boys \| 29 \| 30 \| \| \| Girls \| 25 \| 25 \| \| \| Total \| 54 \| 56 \| \| Percentage of pupils at NC level 4 or above \| School \| 90 (78) \| 89 (83) \| \| \| National \| 72 (70) \| 74 (72) \| * National comparative data for 2002 results is not yet available. Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year \| \| No of pupils \| \|---\|---\| \| Black – Caribbean heritage \| 0 \| \| Black – African heritage \| 2 \| \| Black – other \| 0 \| \| Indian \| 5 \| \| Pakistani \| 0 \| \| Bangladeshi \| 0 \| \| Chinese \| 3 \| \| White \| 244 \| \| Any other minority ethnic group \| 13 \| \| \| Fixed period \| Permanent \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Black – Caribbean heritage \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Black – African heritage \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Black – other \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Indian \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Pakistani \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Bangladeshi \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Chinese \| 0 \| 0 \| \| White \| 0 \| 0 \| \| Other minority ethnic groups \| 0 \| 0 \| This table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded. Teachers and classes Qualified teachers and classes: YR – Y6 \| Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) \| 17.8 \| \|---\|---\| \| Number of pupils per qualified teacher \| 23.3 \| Education support staff: YR – Y6 FTE means full-time equivalent. Financial information Recruitment of teachers \| Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) \| 1 \| \|---\|---\| \| Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) \| 1 \| \| Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) \| 0 \| FTE means full-time equivalent. Results of the survey of parents and carers Questionnaire return rate Percentage of responses in each category My child likes school. My child is making good progress in school. Behaviour in the school is good. My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. The teaching is good. I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. The school works closely with parents. The school is well led and managed. The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. \| Strongly agree \| Tend to agree \| Tend to disagree \| Strongly disagree \| Don’t know \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 61 \| 28 \| 8 \| 3 \| 0 \| \| 44 \| 50 \| 6 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| 44 \| 53 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| 26 \| 56 \| 15 \| 3 \| 0 \| \| 49 \| 48 \| 3 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| 35 \| 40 \| 24 \| 1 \| 0 \| \| 48 \| 37 \| 10 \| 5 \| 0 \| \| 49 \| 47 \| 4 \| 0 \| 0 \| \| 36 \| 41 \| 17 \| 4 \| 2 \| \| 44 \| 46 \| 6 \| 4 \| 0 \| \| 39 \| 54 \| 6 \| 1 \| 0 \| \| 44 \| 38 \| 10 \| 5 \| 3 \| Most of the negative comments about homework being either too much, too little or not hard enough came from the parents of younger children. These parents also had the highest rate of disagreement about the school providing an interesting range of activities outside lessons. Other issues raised by parents A small number of parents expressed concerns about job shares and the proposed regrouping of the pupils in the two reception classes for Year 1. A few parents commented that they felt the bullying of their child had not been taken seriously enough.
A MANIFESTO CHARTIST's LONG TERM POLICY OBJECTIVES 2015 This is a revision of the Manifesto published by Chartist's Editorial Board in 2007. It should be considered as a working document not as a final statement. PREAMBLE Britain is on the verge of the most important general election in a generation. The Tory/LibDem coalition has presided over the longest recession in 100 years. A severe austerity programme has been the neo-liberal economic medicine served up to the British people with huge cuts in public spending and welfare, further privatisation, sustained unemployment and reductions in living standards for those in and out of work. Meanwhile the 1% have been getting richer at the expense of the many. Inequality has reached new heights while food banks, homelessness, insecurity and ill health mount correspondingly. The 2014 referendum on Scottish independence showed the strength of opinion for an independent Scotland. We recognise this has major implications for the nature of the United Kingdom including the idea of independence for the Six Counties and a United Ireland and for greater devolution to Wales and English regions. We welcome the proposal for a constitutional or citizens convention to discuss the governance of the UK. This process should also be informed by local assemblies reviewing proposals for the modernisation and democratisation of the British state. Power and wealth have been concentrated in private hands for too long. The Tories promise another five years of austerity which means tax cuts for the rich few while the many continue to pay the price for the profits system. The election is a chance to call time on the Tory lie that we are all in it together. The only party capable of providing an alternative government to the Tories is Labour. We have campaigned long and hard for democratic socialist policies for Labour. We will continue to do so. As part of this process we are publishing our updated manifesto, a summary of key policies and perspectives to light a new course out of austerity based on socialist values of human solidarity, equality, liberty and democracy. We are aware it is not fully comprehensive. The manifesto is published to generate debate. The EB welcomes comments from supporting subscribers and from other readers. Socialism for the Twenty-First Century 1. Capitalism is still the dominant global economic system. Laissez faire capitalism only exists in text books. The biggest capitalist economies, the United States and Japan, practice high levels of state intervention and protection for native corporations. The European Union is caught between an open market philosophy and trade barriers. The long boom and growth for most western economies during the 1990s and 2000s predictably resulted in the 2008 crash and the longest recession since the 1930s. Credit bubbles will always burst eventually. The 'bust' was the result of a cyclical crisis of capitalism hastened by the deregulated, debt-fuelled economic policies pursued on both sides of the Atlantic. 2. Austerity has become the dominant feature of neo-liberal capitalism in Europe with its attendant privatisations, huge public spending cuts, unemployment and suppression of living standards. Greece has been the laboratory for testing the most ruthless aspects of the policy. The election of the anti-austerity Syriza government marks an historic shift against the dominant neo-liberal political narrative of the past 40 years. A new political wave is moving across Europe, particularly in Greece, Spain and Ireland, which could see the emergence of a progressive redistributionist economic policy combined with a democratised social Europe. Thanks to the expansion of globalisation, war, poverty and revolutions remain prominent features of the world landscape. Global warming and environmental degradation walk hand in hand with unregulated profiteering. 3. At any one time at least 20 military conflicts rage across the world with war in the Middle East being the paramount international flash point. While Chartist supports the right of national groups to a degree of political autonomy, the right to self determination, including for Palestine, Israel, the Kurds, Sunnis and Shias in Iraq, is conditional on respect for the rights of other national groups, especially where there is no clear territorial separation. We campaign for an international socialism, and for structures for world governance and dispute arbitration as a goal for a humane, egalitarian and democratic world. 4. Chartist wants a proportional electoral system where every vote counts. We believe active, democratic political parties are a crucial vehicle for social and economic change but recognise they must be inextricably linked to extra-parliamentary movements to effect a fundamental redistribution of wealth and power. Economic and social justice is a prerequisite of a truly democratic society. 5. Chartist is an independent socialist journal. It is not affiliated to any political party. While some members of the editorial board are members of the Labour Party, others are not. This has enabled Chartist to be part of a broader political dialogue across the left. While we cannot ignore debates within the Labour Party and within government, Chartist has sought to have a wider focus. Chartist has therefore published articles on a range of issues from a range of political perspectives. Chartist has however been a persistent critic of new Labour and its continuing legacy, without being tied in any way to any specific faction within the Labour movement. Whilst Chartist welcomed the change of Labour Party leadership the party's adherence to an 'austerity lite' approach is damaging its prospects and support. One of Chartist's strengths has been its recognition of a range of socialist traditions. Chartist has often sought to remind its readers of the importance of socialist history and principles – an important role given we have a Labour Party which has been both unprincipled and ahistorical. 6. The basic position of Chartist is that it supports a socialist governance based on economic and political equality. In opposing authoritarian centralism both within government and political party structures, it supports economic and political power being operated at the most appropriate level. It therefore supports democratically elected and accountable forms of governance at international, national, regional and local level. Chartist recognises that the main role of government is to provide the social and economic infrastructure which cannot be organised by individuals or groups of individuals and to provide a framework for the operation of 'civil society'. Chartist accepts that a central role of government is redistributive – to use the wealth of individuals and corporate bodies for the benefit of the population as a whole. Chartist recognises the diversity of both politics and culture and that governance is necessary in both protecting diversity and individual rights, while ensuring that rights cannot be exercised in away that denies the rights of others. Private Wealth and Public Services 7. Chartist therefore supports the limitation of personal wealth and the operation of a progressive taxation system. The Government therefore should introduce higher rates of taxation for households on higher incomes and limit the accrual of personal and household wealth through both inheritance and the appreciation of land and property assets. The Government should focus on policies of wealth and income redistribution rather than incentivizing personal and household asset appreciation. The Government's focus on increasing the number of households who are homeowners through use of tax resources as incentives represents an unacceptable bias towards middle income households at the expense of the households on lowest incomes. It also makes the economic fortunes of even more households dependent on market forces outside their control. The Government has a short memory. One product of market cycles is negative equity and mortgage defaultrepossessions. 8. Chartist supports the provision of essential services and social infrastructure on a publicly accountable and publicly managed basis. Local government needs to be re-empowered and made more democratic. People will only re-engage in politics if local government, as well as regional government, is seen as both having a positive role in relation to them and is seen as open to influence through appropriate democratic channels. Local councils should regain control of education and housing services. They should also have a degree of control over health, police and local transport services, which serve more than a single authority area. Regional bodies required to support cross regional services should also be directly elected. To ensure the required degree of democratic accountability and stability of governance, a system of annual but partial elections is advocated, with representatives serving three-year terms, with a third being elected each year. All forms of government should be operated on a committee structure, without Mayoral or executive structures, with all representatives being paid an equal salary and having equal rights within the organisational body. 9. All utilities, transport, water, gas and electricity should be provided through bodies under public control. Any services provided by private sector organisations should be on a contractual basis to the public body as client. Use of the private sector to provide public services should be limited to specific circumstances determined by the public sector body where the public sector does not itself have the specialist capacity. The profit motive is not a relevant matter in the provision of public services. Cost-efficiency can be assured by public control, audit and regulation. Chartist would therefore support the reintegration of private education, health services, postal services and railways within a framework of public control, accountability and equal access. QUANGOs should be replaced by accountable public bodies. Use of consultants and agencies should not be a way of avoiding pay and conditions applicable to directly employed staff, nor a mechanism for exaggerated salaries for managers. 10. The principles of accountability and individual rights also need to be central to the judicial and policing systems. The principles of trial by jury and strict limits to pre-trial detention should be operated without exemptions. There is no basis for using the justification of terrorist threats to weaken these essential safeguards. Accountable and democratic governance, which is accepted by the vast majority of the population, continues to be the best defence against terrorism. Authoritarianism and secrecy are the terrorists' greatest recruiter. 11. It is recognised that economic power and wealth has to be shared between public and private sectors. It has also to be acknowledged that with the development of international corporate bodies, there are severe limitations on the ways in which a single government can regulate and control the operation of multinational capitalism. Maintaining a balance between supporting employment growth and limiting the growth in economic inequality requires a range of regulatory and taxation interventions at international as well as at local, regional and national level. The current position of strong economic growth leading to greater inequities in income and wealth is not however sustainable and has created a culture of envy and social marginalisation where the lottery and reality TV shows have replaced education as the main route a 'working class' person can achieve economic and social advancement. A Socialist International Policy 12. In international policy, Chartist supports the central role of international governance, through the United Nations, its associated bodies and continental bodies such as the African Union and the European Union. While as a major economic power, the UK has international responsibilities, it is no longer a colonial power and any interventions in civil disputes or wars both between and within other sovereign states, should be as a contributor to a UN force and under UN authority. While the UN should be reformed to remove the veto powers of the Security Council and to ensure continental representation on its governing body, the UN remains the pre-eminent international body and its decisions should not be disregarded by any government, including the UK government. 13. The Government should terminate its 'special relationship' with the US Government, should not seek to categorise other countries as allies or enemies and should consider its relationship with other countries in terms of the merits of the individual case in question and within the frameworks established by the UN. The UK should cease the export of arms to any body other than to a UN controlled force. The UK defence forces should only operate in other countries where they are acting as part of a UN controlled military intervention. We would support a major programme of arms industry conversion and retraining. We support the full transfer of any residual governance responsibilities in Iraq and Afghanistan to local political control. The UK should focus on supporting international development through its aid programme rather than on military interventions. Where development cannot be achieved without political control and security, such interventions should be through the UN. Any intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, for example in the case of threat of civil war or genocide should be through the United Nations rather than through unilateral action by individual states. This requires the UN to have a significant intervention force on standby available for immediate deployment. 14. An accountable, transparent, democratic European Union on a social democratic model, would provide the basis from which to develop these international goals with preferential trading relations being provided for developing nations and a foreign policy independent of the USA. Significant reforms are required to governance of the EU to increase its internal democracy and its accountability to the electorate of its member states. Powers should not be transferred from democratic nation states to undemocratic pan-national bodies. We stand for the free movement of all labour within the EU and a humane, nonracist immigration policy, with protection of employment rights of nonnationals as well as nationals. We should never close our doors to asylum seekers and refugees and recognise that immigration plays a positive economic, social and cultural role in the development of British society. 15. Chartist stands for the extension of rights and freedoms to the disadvantaged, exploited and oppressed. We support the UN Declaration of Human Rights and its incorporation into British law. We stand for the extension of active democracy in all spheres of society and politics including the workplace and in the social relations of the family We support the abolition of the monarchy and replacement by a republican head of state. We support the replacement of the House of Lords with a predominantly elected second chamber. We have consistently campaigned for equality for women in economy and society to include equal pay for work of equal value, the right of women to control their own bodies, fertility, decisions about marriage and for equal representation in the corridors of power. Specifically we support women's campaigns against domestic violence, rape, FGM and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation. A Tolerant and Diverse Democracy 16. Chartist supports the practical extension of equal rights to all those experiencing disadvantage and discrimination because of their gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability. The emancipation of women worldwide stands in parallel with the freedom of workers from exploitation and is integral to the creation of democratic socialism. We support freedom of religious belief. However we oppose any religion or religions in general being given any favoured position within the state. We therefore support separation of state and church. No religious group should be empowered by the state to impose its faith on others. The state must be neutral between faiths and therefore secular. 17. In promoting collectivism, we oppose selfish individualism, not human individuality. No individual should be disbarred from full participation in civil society and the political structure of the country, except where removed from society through imprisonment for conviction for crimes of violence against other persons which demonstrate that they are a significant threat to civil society. All individuals should be encouraged to actively participate in civil society. Effective citizenship involves responsibilities as well as rights. 18. A vibrant civil society, with a free press, broadcasting and internet media, the right to demonstrate and to free speech, except fascists who would deny these rights to others, is essential to a democratic polity. 19. Independent trade unions and the right to strike and picket is a fundamental feature of a society respecting civil rights. We recognise that trade unions were a major force in the formation of the Labour Party and should continue to have a strong voice in policy formation and elections. In the last 30 years Britain has seen a sharp decline in both trade union membership and collective bargaining coverage. In this same period economic inequality has exploded. We know that these two developments are inextricably linked. To tackle Britain's addiction to inequality, long hours, low pay, zero-hour contracts and insecure work the restoration of collective wage bargaining and a resurgence in trade union membership is vital. The phrase 'labour market reform' uttered by neo-liberals in both the Conservative and Labour parties needs to be turned on its head and replaced with a real labour market reform agenda with collective bargaining placed at its heart. Chartist supports the Manifesto for Collective Bargaining published by the Institute for Employment Rights (IER) and the think tank Class. These proposals for the creation of industrial level collective bargaining, a prerequisite legal framework and an activist Ministry of Labour will provide not just the institutional means to remedy the UK's inequality disease but also the basis to recreate genuine economic democracy in the British workplace. Labour have made some attempt, courtesy of its policy on zero hour contracts, to speak to the economic realities and problems of workers, but on this issue of collective bargaining it has been resolutely silent for over 30 years. Chartist works for a Labour commitment to repealing anti-union legislation, an independent trade union movement and a renewed collective bargaining structure. We stand for worker's democracy, be it in the factory, office, school, supermarket or farm. Producers and providers should have a powerful voice in the decision-making process mediated by the needs of service consumers and stakeholders. A Freedom of Information Act should apply both to government, society and corporations which should no longer be able to hide behind the mask of company law to deny information to their employees. 20. Chartist also promotes the development of other forms of production and distribution particularly cooperatives. The 'third sector' of mutuals, coops and social enterprises has a vital role to play in providing alternative models to capitalist joint-stock companies and state enterprises while empowering members and fulfilling economic needs. We also support a reinvigorated Cooperative movement as a vital third component of the labour movement. 21. Chartist recognises the fundamental threat to all life posed by climate change and environmental degradation. We support the principle of the polluter pays, the extension of green taxes, investment in renewable energy sources, recycling and reuse of materials. 22. The 21 st century should be an age when technology is harnessed to enhance the life of all people and enrich that which makes us human: art, science, culture, politics, and the pursuit of happiness. We need to establish a new enlightened work-life balance. No one should have to work more than 35 hours or a five day week. We welcome flexible working arrangements, the extension of maternity and paternity leave, job sharing, sabbaticals, the extension of the minimum wage and the introduction of a maximum wage. We support the EU maximum 48 hour working time directive and call for all member states, including the UK, to implement this legislation. Towards Socialism 23. The objectives and policies set out in this manifesto are neither extreme nor utopian. They would have been viewed as cautious, even reformist, by many socialists over the last hundred years. They are idealist but nevertheless still practical. They are based on the reassertion of the fundamental principles of socialism, while recognising the changed context in which they should be applied. While Chartist may have a relatively limited role within the UK left, never mind within the international socialist movement, we have an important role as an independent advocate of socialist ideas and can help to set the framework for the debate on a more socialist future, at least within our readership and networks. This restatement of Chartist's long term policy objectives could assist to broaden our influence, and to avoid misinterpretations or misattributions. We need to be a beacon of light in a context which is increasingly darkened by a failure of collective memory as well as abandonment of the collectivist principle. Our objective should be not just ending austerity but towards Socialism.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW Defining Deference Down: Independent Agencies and Chevron Deference Randolph J. May Reprinted from Administrative Law Review Volume 58, Number 2, Spring 2006 Cite as 58 ADMIN. L. REV. 429 (2006). The Administrative Law Review is a joint publication of the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice and the Washington College of Law, American University. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. DEFINING DEFERENCE DOWN: INDEPENDENT AGENCIES AND CHEVRON DEFERENCE RANDOLPH J. MAY * TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Supreme Court's decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services, 1 handed down at the very end of the 2004 term, is a communications law decision of major import. It is also a major administrative law decision with significant separation of powers implications because it impacts relationships among the three branches. In Brand X, the Court relied on the now two-decade old Chevron deference doctrine 2 and affirmed a Federal Communications Commission * Randolph J. May is the President of the Free State Foundation and Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies at The Progress and Freedom Foundation, Washington, DC. The views expressed are my own. I gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Marie Ryan. 2. The landmark decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 467 U.S. 837 (1984) held that, if a statutory provision is ambiguous and if the implementing agency's construction is reasonable, a federal court is required to accept the agency's statutory interpretation, even if the agency's construction differs from one the court deems better. Often, the doctrine announced in Chevron is expressed as a familiar two-step test. 1. 125 S. Ct. 2688 (2005). [58:2 (FCC or the Commission) ruling, 3 which held that a cable operator's broadband Internet service offering is properly classified under the Communications Act as an "information service" 4 and not a "telecommunications service." 5 The practical effect of the Court's decision is to sanction the agency's policy preference that, at least for now, broadband services should remain free from the common carrier-type rate and nondiscrimination regulation that attaches to services classified as telecommunications. Indeed, although Brand X itself involved only the broadband Internet services of cable operators, the FCC subsequently employed its rationale to reclassify telephone companies' broadband Internet services as information services. 6 In short, the Brand X decision removed the immediate threat that common carrier regulations would be extended to the more competitive broadband world. Although Brand X did not resolve all issues concerning the FCC's regulation of broadband services, it solved a critical issue: It allowed the FCC to determine the meaning of information services. Thus, the Commission retained the discretion to implement its policy determination that broadband services should exist in a "minimal regulatory environment" that promotes investment and innovation. 7 So, from a communications policy perspective, Brand X is a very consequential decision. See Note, "How Clear Is Clear" in Chevron's Step One?, 118 HARV. L. REV. 1687, 1687 (2005) ("At Step One, the court must determine whether the statutory language is clear. If it is, then the court must reject an alternative agency interpretation. If, however, the statute is ambiguous, Step Two requires the court to accept any reasonable agency interpretation."). 4. An information service is defined as "the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing." Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 153(20) (2000). 3. See Inquiry Concerning High-Speed Access to the Internet Over Cable and Other Facilities, Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rule Making, 17 F.C.C.R. 4798, 4802 (2002) [hereinafter FCC Ruling] ("[C]able modem service, as it is currently offered, is an interstate information service."), vacated in part and remanded sub nom. Brand X Internet Servs. v. FCC, 345 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 2003), rev'd and remanded, Nat'l Cable & Telecomm. Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. 2688 (2005). 5. Telecommunications is defined as "the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received." Id. § 153(43). Telecommunications service means "the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public . . . regardless of the facilities used." Id. § 153(46). 7. See FCC Ruling, supra note 3, at 4802 ("[B]roadband services should exist in a minimal regulatory environment that promotes investment and innovation in a competitive market.") (citations omitted). 6. See Appropriate Framework for Broadband Access to Internet Over Wireline Facilities, 70 Fed. Reg. 60,222, 60,223-24 (Oct. 17, 2005) (codified at 47 C.F.R. pts. 51, 63, 64) (concluding that, since wireline broadband provides a similar service to that provided by cable, it should receive the same legal classification). Brand X is also a very significant administrative law decision. It clarifies that, when in conflict, the doctrine of Chevron deference trumps the doctrine of stare decisis. 8 This determination, like the Chevron doctrine itself, has major separation of powers implications regarding interbranch governmental relationships. Before Brand X, it was unclear whether an agency remained free to reach a different interpretation once a court has construed a concededly ambiguous statutory provision. 9 In fact, in the appellate decision in Brand X, the Ninth Circuit held that, once a court has construed a statute, the provision's meaning becomes fixed, even if the provision might be susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation, leaving the agency no further interpretative discretion. 10 Given the prominent role the Chevron doctrine plays in affecting the distribution of decisionmaking authority in the administrative state, there is no doubt as to Brand X's standing as a major administrative law case. Justice Scalia's dissent characterized the majority holding as "another breathtaking novelty: judicial decisions subject to reversal by Executive officers." 11 For good measure, he called the decision "bizarre," mocking the "wonderful new world that the Court creates, one full of promise for administrative law professors in need of tenure articles and of course, litigators." 12 To be sure, long before the agency ruling contested in Brand X was a gleam in any FCC Commissioner's eye, Chevron already had generated many more than its fair share of would-be tenure articles. This is not surprising. Six years after it was decided, Cass Sunstein dubbed Chevron "one of the very few defining cases in the last twenty years of American public law." 13 In the domain of the administrative lawyer, it is often said, 8. Stare decisis, "to stand by things decided," refers to the principle that precedent decisions are to be followed by the courts. See BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1414 (7th ed. 1999). 10. See Brand X Internet Servs. v. FCC, 345 F.3d 1120, 1130-32 (9th Cir. 2003) (finding that the Ninth Circuit's decision in Mesa Verde Construction Co. v. N. Cal. Dist. Council of Laborers, 861 F.2d 1124 (9th Cir. 1988) (en banc), and the Supreme Court's holding in Neal v. United States, 516 U.S. 284 (1996), required adherence to statutory construction rather than the agency's interpretation); see also discussion infra Part III. 9. After explaining that the Court of Appeals held that stare decisis trumped Chevron deference, Justice Thomas, writing for the Brand X majority, stated, "We granted certiorari to settle important questions of federal law." 125 S. Ct. at 2699. See Kenneth A. Bamberger, Provisional Precedent: Protecting Flexibility in Administrative Policymaking, 77 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1272, 1273-74 (2002) (noting the dichotomy between the Court's stated goal of allowing agencies to interpret ambiguous statutes and the reality wherein courts generally hear cases regarding statutory ambiguity before the agency actually has a chance to interpret ambiguous statutes). 11. Nat'l Cable & Telecomm. Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. 2688, 2719 (2005) (Scalia, J., dissenting). 13. Cass R. Sunstein, Law and Administration After Chevron, 90 COLUM. L. REV. 2071, 2075 (1990). 12. Id. at 2720-721. in words more or less to this effect, "[t]here is no more familiar doctrine . . . than the two-step standard of review announced in Chevron." 14 So Justice Scalia is surely correct that Brand X promises a fresh supply of tenure articles for administrative law professors. The Court's holding that Chevron deference trumps stare decisis certainly, and quite properly, will prove a rich vein to mine. I will use the high-profile Brand X case as, in effect, a jumping off point to begin examining a doctrinal question implicated, but not addressed, by Chevron: Should the statutory interpretations of independent regulatory agencies, such as the FCC's determination at issue in Brand X, be accorded a lesser degree of judicial deference than those accorded to executive branch agencies? Surprisingly, although the rationale articulated in Chevron supporting the deference doctrine might suggest that independent agencies should receive less deference, the question has not been examined in the courts and has received very little attention in the academic literature. 15 I propose at least to begin that examination here, hoping to spur further commentary. In Part I below, this Article recounts Chevron and its rationale grounding the deference doctrine primarily (but not exclusively) in notions of political accountability inherent in constitutional separation of powers principles. Part II of this Article briefly examines the Brand X case to show how in that particular factual situation, involving a ruling of the FCC, a so-called independent agency, Chevron deference trumped stare decisis. In effect, this allowed the agency to alter the interpretation of a statutory provision that previously had been construed differently by an appellate court. Part III sketches the skimpy scholarly literature that hints, in light of Chevron's political accountability rationale, that the decisions of independent regulatory agencies should receive less deference than those of executive branch agencies. Part IV argues that there is considerable law and logic to support these heretofore under-explored, sparse, suggestive comments. Since independent agencies such as the FCC are, as a matter of our current understanding of the law and of historical practice, mostly free from executive branch political control, Chevron's political accountability rationale should imply that statutory interpretations of independent agencies receive less judicial deference. In light of the peculiar constitutional status of the independent agencies, which often are referred 14. Note, supra note 2, at 1687. 15. See David M. Gossett, Chevron, Take Two: Deference to Revised Agency Interpretations of Statutes, 64 U. CHI. L. REV. 681, 689 n.40 (1997) (noting that Chevron's separation of powers rationale based on political accountability "would imply that that independent agencies might not deserve Chevron deference, though no commentary seems to have explored this idea"). Number 2 • Volume 58 • Spring 2006 • American Bar Association • Administrative Law Review "Defining Deference Down: Independent Agencies and Chevron Deference" by Randolph J. May, published in the Administrative Law Review, Volume 58, No. 2, Spring 2006. © 2006 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. to as the "headless fourth branch," this Article concludes with an explanation as to why a reconception of the Chevron doctrine that would accord less judicial deference towards the decisions of these agencies is more consistent with our constitutional tradition than is the current conception. I. CHEVRON'S DOMAIN: A RATIONALE GROUNDED IN POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY The basic facts of Chevron 16 are familiar. In 1981, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed its earlier interpretation of the meaning of the term "stationary source" found in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977. 17 Under the statute, the EPA could require states to establish a permit program to regulate new or modified stationary sources of air pollution. 18 The EPA interpreted the statutory term "stationary source" to refer to each individual pollution-emitting device within a plant. 19 But in a rulemaking proceeding conducted after Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President, the agency revised its interpretation of "stationary source" to refer to the entire plant. 20 The effect was to allow a plant to increase emissions from one device without triggering EPA intervention if, due to a corresponding decrease in emissions from other devices in the facility, there was no net increase in emissions for the plant as a whole. The D.C. Circuit found there was no clear-cut meaning of "stationary source" in either the text of the statute or its legislative history. 21 While acknowledging the EPA's views, the appeals court engaged in its own independent evaluation to determine that the new statutory interpretation was inconsistent with the Clean Air Act's objectives. 22 In reversing the D.C. Circuit, the Supreme Court in Chevron established a new regime that significantly altered the existing understanding of the judiciary's role in reviewing agency statutory interpretations. The Court held that: 16. 467 U.S. 837 (1984). 18. See id. 17. See 42 U.S.C. § 7502(c)(5) (2000). 19. See id. 21. See Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Gorsuch, 685 F.2d 718, 720 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (noting that congressional debates regarding the Clean Air Act did not directly address the meaning of the word "source," but focused on the purpose of the Act to enhance air quality). The court further observed that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) changed interpretation of the word "source" was intended to "cut back substantially the coverage of nonattainment area new source review" and thus, was impermissible in the face of Congress's intent that the Act serve "specifically to promote the cleanup of nonattainment areas." Id. 20. 467 U.S. at 857-59. 22. See id. When a court reviews an agency's construction of the statute which it administers, it is confronted with two questions. First, always, is the question whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If the intent of the Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress. If, however, the court determines Congress has not directly addressed the precise question at issue, the court does not simply impose its own construction on the statute, as would be necessary in the absence of an administrative interpretation. Rather, if the statue is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute. 23 The Court said that, when Congress has left a gap in the statute for the agency to fill, the agency's interpretation embodied in regulations is to be given "controlling weight." 24 The idea that the judiciary should provide authoritative interpretations of statutory texts is longstanding and deeply embedded in our legal culture. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton said, "The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts." 25 Of course, in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice Marshall, famously proclaimed, "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." 26 Additionally, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), called the "constitution" 27 or the "bill of rights" 28 of the modern regulatory state, provides that a reviewing court "shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret . . . statutory provisions, and determine the meaning and applicability of the terms of agency action." 29 The APA also provides that 23. Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43. Relevant to the discussion of the Brand X case, the Court added in a footnote: "The court need not conclude that the agency construction was the only one it permissibly could have adopted . . . or even the reading the court would have reached if the question initially had arisen in a judicial proceeding." Id. at 843 n.11. See discussion infra Part II. 25. THE FEDERALIST NO. 78, at 93-94 (Alexander Hamilton) (Hackett Pub. Co., 2005). 24. 467 U.S. at 844. 26. 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803). 28. See George B. Shepherd, Fierce Compromise: The Administrative Procedure Act Emerges From New Deal Politics, 90 NW. U. L. REV. 1557, 1558 (1996) (calling the APA "the bill of rights for the new regulatory state" because it "established the fundamental relationship between regulatory agencies and those whom they regulate—between government, on the one hand, and private citizens, business, and the economy, on the other hand"). 27. See, e.g., Steven P. Croley, The Administrative Procedure Act and Regulatory Reform: A Reconciliation, 10 ADMIN. L.J. AM. U. 35 (1996) ("Like a constitution, the APA establishes a set of fundamental ground rules . . . according to which many particularized governmental decisions are made. In addition, the APA is comparable to some constitutions with respect both to its longevity and to the specific form that changes to the Act have taken."); Alan B. Morrison, The Administrative Procedure Act: A Living and Responsive Law, 72 VA. L. REV. 253 (1986) ("My thesis is a simple one: the APA [Administrative Procedure Act] is more like a constitution than a statute."). 29. APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706 (2000). the reviewing court shall hold unlawful agency action found to be "in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right." 30 Given the judiciary's traditionally acknowledged lawinterpreting function, along with the text of the APA that seemingly leaves questions of statutory interpretation to the reviewing court, what was the doctrinal basis for a decision giving administrative agencies, rather than the courts, the primary authority to interpret ambiguous statutory provisions? Chevron, contrary to jurisprudential tradition and the literal language of the APA, held that ambiguity in a statute, in effect, constitutes a delegation of authority by Congress to the agency to fill in the gap in meaning created by the ambiguity. 31 Absent ascertainment of unambiguous congressional intent at Chevron Step One, the rationale for judicial deference to reasonable agency interpretations at Step Two is grounded principally in the separation of powers principles at the core of our Constitution. While the Court at least implicitly acknowledged agency expertise as a supporting rationale, 32 the justification for the deference requirement was mostly based on the idea that, in our tripartite constitutional system, the political branches, not the judiciary, should make policy. The Court explained that: Judges are not experts in the field, and are not part of either political branch of the Government . . . . [A]n agency to which Congress has delegated policymaking responsibilities may, within the limits of that delegation, properly rely upon the incumbent administration's views of wise policy to inform its judgments. While agencies are not directly accountable to the people, the Chief Executive is, and it is entirely 30. Id. § 706(2)(C). Taking these two provisions of § 706 at face value, it would be rather easy to conclude that the APA's framers intended for the courts to have the responsibility for determining the lawfulness of an agency interpretation of a statute, even an ambiguous one. 31. See Chevron, 467 U.S. 837, 844 (1984) (holding that the court's role was to determine whether the agency's interpretation was reasonable, not whether the interpretation was appropriate). As the Court later put this point very directly in FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120 (2000), Chevron deference "is premised on the theory that a statute's ambiguity constitutes an implicit delegation from Congress to the agency to fill in the statutory gaps." Id. at 159. A year later, in United States v. Mead, 533 U.S. 218 (2001), the Court elaborated somewhat more fully on the implicit delegation point: Id. 32. The Court asserted that the regulatory scheme was "technical and complex" and suggested Congress may have consciously wanted the EPA Administrator, rather than itself, to strike the balance among the competing interests, "thinking that those with great expertise and charged with responsibility for administering the provision would be in a better position to do so." 467 U.S. at 865. Congress, that is, may not have expressly delegated authority or responsibility to implement a particular provision or fill a particular gap. Yet it can still be apparent from the agency's generally conferred authority and other statutory circumstances that Congress would expect the agency to be able to speak with the force of law when it addresses ambiguity in the statute or fills a space in the enacted law, even one about which 'Congress did not actually have an intent' as to a particular result. at 229. appropriate for this political branch of the Government to make such policy choices—resolving the competing interests which Congress itself either inadvertently did not resolve, or intentionally left to be resolved by the agency charged with the administration of the statute in light of everyday realities. 33 The Court put an unmistakable point on the matter, emphasizing that "federal judges—who have no constituency—have a duty to respect the legitimate policy choices made by those who do." 34 In one of the early leading articles on the case, Cynthia Farina notes that, "recognizing that the choice of interpretative model is part of the large problem of reconciling agencies and regulatory power with the constitutional scheme, Chevron invoked the principles of separation of powers and legitimacy." 35 In effect, the Chevron doctrine provides a foundational construct for "the separation of powers explanation for the administrative state" 36 because the legitimacy of the administrative state would be called into question if the congressional delegation of policymaking authority, necessary to achieve gap-filling of ambiguous statutes, ended up in the hands of politically unaccountable judges rather than a politically accountable branch of government. II. BRAND X'S DOMAIN: POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY TRUMPS STABILITY OF THE LAW Brand X is only the most recent case in which the Supreme Court has invoked the Chevron doctrine in reviewing an FCC statutory interpretation that implements a significant communications policy direction. 37 In this respect then, it is not especially remarkable. But, in that particular instance, before the agency could enjoy the deference that ultimately sanctioned an important new deregulatory policy, Chevron had to overcome the doctrine of stare decisis. Before turning to the next Part to explore the basis for suggesting whether a less deferential review standard should apply to independent regulatory agencies such as the FCC, it is 33. Id. at 865-66. 35. Cynthia R. Farina, Statutory Interpretation and the Balance of Power in the Administrative State, 89 COLUM. L. REV. 452, 456 (1989). 34. Id. at 866. 36. Kenneth A. Bamberger, Provisional Precedent: Protecting Flexibility in Administrative Policymaking, 77 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1272, 1284 (2002). Capturing the essence of its separation of powers foundation, now-Professor Bamberger stated: "Specifically, Chevron premised deference by the judiciary, (established by Article III of the Constitution) to decisions by agencies (which are not mentioned explicitly anywhere in the Constitution) on the intent of Congress (established by Article I of the Constitution)." Id. at 1283. See also LAURENCE H. TRIBE, AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 994 (3d ed. 2000) (stating that, though the Chevron doctrine "is not a rule of constitutional law per se, . . . it is nonetheless premised on important separation of powers principles"). 37. See Nat'l Cable & Telecomm. Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. 2688 (2005). useful to recount briefly the Brand X decision, if only to fully appreciate Chevron's sway. Two years before the FCC reached its own determination in a noticeand-comment rulemaking as to the proper classification of cable broadband service, 38 the Ninth Circuit had already ruled in an earlier unrelated case, AT&T Corp. v. Portland, 39 that such service constituted "telecommunications" under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Notably, the Portland court was not reviewing an FCC proceeding and the FCC was not a party to the litigation between AT&T and the city of Portland, Oregon. 40 When the Brand X company's appeal from the FCC's classification rulemaking arrived in the Ninth Circuit 41 one year after Portland, the appeals court refused to give any deference to the agency's ruling, declaring that it was bound by stare decisis to adhere to its earlier Portland precedent. 42 Reviewing the Ninth Circuit decision, the Supreme Court in Brand X held that the appeals court had misunderstood the reach of Chevron. Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas stated, "A court's prior judicial construction of a statute trumps an agency construction otherwise entitled to Chevron deference only if the prior court decision holds that its construction follows from the unambiguous terms of the statute and thus leaves no room for agency discretion." 43 The Court explained that this principle necessarily results from Chevron's premise that "it is for agencies, not courts, to fill statutory gaps." 44 Therefore, "[o]nly a judicial precedent holding that the statute unambiguously forecloses the agency's interpretation, and therefore contains no gap for the agency to fill, displaces a conflicting agency construction." 45 The Court determined that the Portland decision did not unambiguously foreclose the FCC's subsequent interpretation, 46 so the Ninth Circuit erred in refusing to accord Chevron 38. See FCC Ruling, supra note 3 (detailing the FCC's determination of the proper category for cable broadband service). 40. Foreshadowing the legal issue in the subsequent Brand X decision, the Ninth Circuit pointedly observed that "the FCC has declined, both in its regulatory capacity and as amicus curiae, to address the issue before us. Thus, we are not presented with a case involving potential deference to an administrative agency's statutory construction pursuant to the Chevron doctrine." Id. at 876. 39. 216 F.3d 871, 878-79 (9th Cir. 2000). 41. See Brand X Internet Servs. v. FCC, 345 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 2003), rev'd, Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. 2688. 43. 125 S. Ct. at 2700. 42. See id. at 1130-31 (observing that under the Ninth Circuit's holding in Mesa Verde Construction Co. v. N. Cal. District Council of Laborers, 861 F.2d 1124 (9th Cir. 1988) (en banc), "precedent can be disregarded in favor of a subsequent agency interpretation only 'where the precedent constituted deferential review of [agency] decisionmaking'"). 44. Id. 46. See id. at 2701-02 (noting that, in reaching its judgment, the Ninth Circuit also failed to invoke the rule of lenity or any other rule of construction that would have required 45. Id. deference to the agency's statutory construction. 47 Additionally, because the Court concluded that the definitions of "telecommunications" and "information services" contained in the Communications Act were, in fact, ambiguous, Chevron carried the day for the agency. 48 In dissent, Justice Scalia argued that the FCC was attempting to establish "a whole new regime of non-regulation" through an "implausible" reading of the statutory terms. 49 He unequivocally believed that the agency had exceeded its statutory authority. But Scalia was even more riled with what he called the "breathtaking novelty" of an understanding of Chevron that allows "judicial decisions [to be] subject to reversal by Executive officers." 50 Justice Scalia posited a hypothetical case in which an agency is a party to a case in which the Supreme Court construes a statute, and "the agency will be able to disregard that construction and seek Chevron deference for its contrary construction the next time around." 51 Justice Scalia called this result "probably unconstitutional" because "Article III courts do not sit to render decisions that can be reversed or ignored by Executive officers." 52 The purpose of this Article is not to address the merits of Brand X's treatment of the relationship between Chevron and stare decisis on the particular facts of that case. Rather, the goal is to use the Brand X majority's powerful reaffirmation of the Chevron doctrine and Justice Scalia's dissent, each with its constitutional separation of powers underpinnings, to examine a question lurking in Chevron's shadow: it to determine that the statute was unambiguous). 48. It is not necessary here to address the Court's own examination of the meaning of the two statutory terms. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that the Court's discussion amply demonstrates the metaphysical nature of the distinction between the two services in today's digital broadband environment in which, as the saying goes, "a bit is a bit is a bit." I first called the distinction between "telecommunications" and "information services" metaphysical in a piece published in January 2004. See Randolph J. May, The Metaphysics of VoIP, CNET NEWS.COM, Jan. 5, 2004, http://news.com.com/The+metaphysics+of+VoIP/ 2010-7352_3-5134896.html. In addressing whether the statutory terms were ambiguous, the Brand X majority and dissent jousted over whether these services are more or less analogous to pizzas with or without delivery service or puppy dogs with or without leashes. See Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. at 2704-06, 2714-15. Suffice it to say, this discussion went a long way to proving the metaphysical nature of the statutory distinctions and, ipso facto, their ambiguity, at least as the word "ambiguous" is commonly understood. For an argument that the current communications law needs to be replaced with a new one that does not tie regulatory consequences to outdated service definitions based on metaphysical techno-functional distinctions, see Randolph J. May, Why Stovepipe Regulation No Longer Works: An Essay on the Need for a New Market-Oriented Communications Policy, 58 FED. COMM. L.J. 103 (2006). 47. See id. (overruling the Ninth Circuit opinion). 49. See Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. at 2713. 51. Id. at 2720. The majority opinion responded that, when the court's construction of the statute in the first case was the best but not the only permissible interpretation, then the court's earlier interpretation is not to be deemed authoritative. See id. at 2701-02. 50. Id. at 2719. 52. Id. at 2720. whether, consistent with separation of powers principles, an independent agency like the FCC should be accorded less deference than an executive branch agency. Certainly the Supreme Court in Brand X 53 and in other decisions involving the FCC 54 seems, thus far, to have assumed no difference in the degree of deference due. III. INDEPENDENT AGENCIES AND DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER CHEVRON A good place to begin examining whether Chevron should apply with less force to decisions of the independent regulatory agencies is with Dean Elena Kagan's informative and insightful article, Presidential Administration. 55 In her study, Kagan claims that, beginning with President Reagan, but most especially under President Clinton, the relationship between the President and the administrative state has undergone a dramatic transformation, "making the regulatory activities of the executive branch agencies more and more an extension of the President's own policy and political agenda." 56 In large part, President Clinton accomplished this expansion of presidential control over policymaking through the issuance of "formal directives to the heads of executive agencies to set the terms of administrative action and prevent deviation from his proposed course." 57 By the close of his second term, "President Clinton's articulation and use of directive authority over regulatory agencies, as well as his assertion of personal ownership over regulatory product, pervaded crucial areas of administration." 58 With her 53. Id. at 2699 ("The Chevron framework governs our review of the Commission's construction."). 55. Elena Kagan, Presidential Administration, 114 HARV. L. REV. 2245 (2001). Kagan, now the Dean of Harvard Law School, served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council during the Clinton Administration. Id. at 2246 n.. 54. See AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 397 (1999) (reinstating the FCC's "pick and choose" rule governing the terms of agreements between local exchange carriers and competing carriers, noting that the "matter [is] eminently within the expertise of the Commission and eminently beyond our ken"); Nat'l Cable & Telecomm. Ass'n v. Gulf Power Co., 534 U.S. 327, 333-39 (2002) (finding that the FCC's interpretation of the Pole Attachments Act as applying to providers of commingled cable television and Internet service was reasonable, and so must be accepted); Verizon Comm. Inc. v. FCC, 535 U.S. 467, 501-02 (2002) (determining that the FCC was authorized to regulate the method for setting the lease rates charged by incumbent carriers to entrant carriers for local-exchange networks elements in order to foster competition). In addition, the Court noted that interpreting what constituted "just and reasonable" rates, for which the agency is responsible under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, was within the agency's discretionary power. See id. 56. Id. at 2248. 58. Id. at 2250. 57. Id. at 2249. [58:2 firsthand experience as a key member of the Clinton White House, 59 Kagan's article provides a rich history documenting how President Clinton's presidential directives ordained the outcome of regulatory actions, including regulations issued in notice-and-comment rulemaking proceedings. 60 Kagan is not especially troubled by the increase in presidential control over agency actions that she chronicles, even directives purporting to dictate the outcome of rulemaking proceedings. Rather, she says, if this strong form of presidential administration "represents a salutary development in administrative process, then courts should attempt, through their articulation of administrative law, to recognize and promote this kind of control over agency policymaking." 61 Given the typically broad delegations of authority to agencies, courts should "encourage this mechanism of control as mitigating the potential threat that administrative discretion poses." 62 This, quite naturally, brings Kagan to consider Chevron's role. She proposes to "link deference in some way to presidential involvement." 63 Under this "more refined version" of Chevron, deference might be accorded an agency's interpretation only when "presidential involvement rises to a certain level of substantiality, as manifested by executive orders and directives, rulemaking records, and other objective indicia of decisionmaking processes." 64 In other words, Dean Kagan proposes that the degree of deference should vary depending on evidence concerning the extent of presidential involvement: More involvement means more deference; less involvement means less deference. She states that this focus on presidential involvement "would reverse in many cases the courts' current suspicion of change in regulatory policy." 65 And, it follows that, "if courts should give increased deference to agency actions linked to the President, then new administrative interpretations following new presidential elections should provide a reason to think deference appropriate rather than the opposite." 66 59. See id. at 2246 n. (discussing the author's service during the Clinton Administration). 61. Id. at 2363. 60. See Kagan, supra note 55, at 2281-303 (observing that President Clinton played an active role in supervising and overseeing administrative actions during his presidency, despite a popular expectation that the change to a Democratic presidency would result in a reduction in presidential oversight of administrative agencies). 62. Id. at 2369. 64. Id. at 2377. 63. Id. at 2376. 65. See Kagan, supra note 55, at 2378. 66. Id. A change in statutory interpretation following a presidential election was precisely the situation in Chevron, of course. Thus, in Brand X, Justice Thomas pointed out that, "in Chevron itself, this Court deferred to an agency interpretation that was a recent reversal of agency policy." Nat'l Cable & Telecomm. Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Servs., 125 S. Ct. 2688, 2700 (2005). Now recall Chevron's separation of powers rationale in which the Court referred to both an agency's reliance on "the incumbent administration's views" to inform its policy judgments and the President's accountability to the people as justification for judicial deference to "this political branch of Government." 67 Kagan explicitly suggests that the proposed variable Chevron doctrine "would begin by distinguishing between actions taken by executive branch agencies and those taken by independent commissions." 68 Accordingly, after delineating factors that give independent agencies greater freedom from presidential control than executive branch agencies, 69 she concludes, without elaboration, that the Chevron doctrine "attuned to the role of the President would respond to this disparity by giving greater deference to executive than to independent agencies." 70 Also with little elaboration, other commentators have suggested that the decisions of independent agencies should perhaps receive less deference than those of executive branch agencies in light of Chevron's political accountability rationale. For example, Barry Friedman has stated: Deference under the Chevron principle is justified in part by courts based upon the greater accountability of administrative agencies. Especially with regard to independent agencies, under control of officials appointed much like Supreme Court Justices, this claim is more than a little difficult to support, yet has received insufficient attention in the literature. 71 Similarly, John Duffy has declared that "[i]f the courts really followed the common-law logic of Chevron, they should have balked at extending Chevron to [independent] agencies, which have less democratic accountability than agencies like the EPA, whose heads serve at the 67. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 865 (1984). 69. Kagan targets the lack of presidential removal power with respect to the independent agencies as "the core legal difference between these entities." Id. at 2376. For the landmark decision upholding congressional limitations on the power of the President to remove, without cause, an FTC Commissioner, see Humphrey's Ex'r v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935). Kagan notes other attributes that are commonly cited, along with insulation from presidential removal power, to distinguish independent agencies from executive branch agencies: "an organizational structure featuring multiple agency heads of diverse parties serving staggered terms" and "longstanding (even if psychological) norms of independence, widely held within both the bureaucracy and Congress." Kagan, supra note 55, at 2376. 68. Kagan, supra note 55, at 2376. 70. Kagan, supra note 55, at 2377 (footnote omitted). This conclusion concerning the applicability of Chevron is consistent with Kagan's view that "most statutes granting discretion to the executive branch but not independent agency officials should be read as leaving ultimate decisionmaking authority in the hands of the President." Id. (emphasis added). A recent commentator correctly observed that Dean Kagan's proposal "is best read as applying Chevron deference only to executive agencies and some lower level of deference to independent ones." Note, supra note 2, at 1701 (footnote omitted). 71. Barry Friedman, The Birth of an Academic Obsession: The History of the Countermajoritarian Difficulty, Part Five, 112 YALE L.J. 153, 164 n.31 (2002) (citation omitted). 442 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW pleasure of the President." 72 Referring to Chevron's political accountability rationale, David Gossett has written that this "would imply that independent agencies might not deserve Chevron deference, though no commentary seems to have explored this idea." 73 Similarly, invoking Chevron's accountability rationale, Christopher Sprigman has concluded, "Admittedly, the separation of powers element of this analysis does not fit well with independent agencies." 74 Thus, two things are clear from this survey. First, whether independent agencies, by virtue of their independent status, should ordinarily receive a lesser degree of deference than executive branch agencies is an underexplored question. Second, to the extent that commentators have considered, however fleetingly, the question, they have recognized that Chevron's political accountability rationale suggests that perhaps a less deferential standard should be adopted for independent agencies. IV. INDEPENDENT AGENCIES SHOULD RECEIVE LESS JUDICIAL DEFERENCE THAN EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCIES Just as it did in Brand X, the Supreme Court has previously applied the Chevron doctrine to independent agencies without any suggestion that they are due any less deference than executive agencies. This is true whether the Court invoked Chevron in affirming an agency interpretation 75 or, instead, acknowledged Chevron but nevertheless found that the agency clearly erred in interpreting the statute. 76 So, despite Chevron's language 72. John Duffy, Administrative Common Law in Judicial Review, 77 TEX. L. REV. 113, 203 n.456 (1998). 74. Christopher Sprigman, Standing on Firmer Ground: Separation of Powers and Deference to Congressional Findings in Standing Analysis, 59 U. CHI. L. REV. 1645, 1668 n.145 (1992). A recent student Note also addressed this question, stating: "Dean Kagan proposes that courts should afford a higher level of deference to agencies within the executive branch, which are under the direct control of the President, and a lower level of deference to 'independent' agencies." Note, supra note 2, at 1701. 73. Gossett, supra note 15, at 689 n.40. 75. See AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 397 (1999) (affirming most of the FCC's interpretations implementing the local competition provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996). The Court stated, "Congress is well aware that the ambiguities it chooses to produce in a statute will be resolved by the implementing agency." Id. (citing Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43 (1984)). 76. See MCI Telecomm. Corp. v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 512 U.S. 218, 226 (1994) (invalidating the FCC's interpretation of its authority to implement permissive detariffing under the Communications Act of 1934, citing Chevron, but rejecting the contention that a difference in the dictionary definition of the word "modify . . . establishes sufficient ambiguity to entitle the Commission to deference in its acceptance of the broader meaning") (citation omitted). Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, emphasized that interpreting the Commission's statutory authority to "modify" the requirements of the tariff filing regime to encompass permissive elimination of the tariff filing requirement worked "fundamental changes" of "enormous importance" into the regulatory regime. Id. at 228, 231. Thus, despite the different dictionary definitions of the disputed statutory term, this perception that the FCC's action would fundamentally alter the regulatory regime appeared to play a referring to political accountability of "the incumbent administration" and "the Chief Executive" and "this political branch" 77 and scholarly suggestions for differential treatment of independent and executive agencies, neither the Supreme Court nor any lower federal court has explicitly considered whether independent agencies, such as the FCC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), should receive less Chevron deference than executive branch agencies. For some, perhaps the Court's continued application of Chevron to independent agencies, including in Brand X when the Court so directly confronted the doctrine's application, is enough in and of itself to end the matter. But in the remainder of this Article, I want to begin to explore whether such a differential standard should be adopted by the courts. 78 I agree with Kagan's basic principle that the disparity in presidential control should lead to "giving greater deference to executive than to independent agencies." 79 Ever since the Supreme Court held in Humphrey's Executor v. United States that at least certain "good cause" statutory limitations on the President's power to remove a member of the FTC were constitutional, agencies such as the FTC and the FCC have been considered in at least some good measure, as a matter of law and established practice, "free from executive control." 80 In distinguishing the FTC from executive branch agencies, 81 the Court first referred to the FTC's performance of predominantly quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial duties under the Federal Trade Act. The Court then looked to the fact that, pursuant to the statute, its members served fixed, staggered terms, subject to removal only for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in significant role in the Court's conclusion, regarding its own interpretation that the Court had "not the slightest doubt that is the meaning the statute intended." Id. at 228. The Supreme Court's decision in FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120, 160 (2000), bears a strong resemblance to the MCI decision in that the Court refused to grant Chevron deference on the basis that "Congress could not have intended to delegate a decision of such economic and political significance to an agency in so a cryptic a fashion." The Court stated that in "extraordinary cases" courts should "hesitate before concluding that Congress has intended such an implicit delegation." Id. at 159; see Note, supra note 2, at 1703-05. 78. Like the question of whether Chevron deference trumps stare decisis, there ought to be several good tenure articles ready to be harvested in a more complete exploration of this subject. My hope is to spur such further commentary. 77. See supra note 25 and accompanying text. 79. See Kagan, supra note 55, at 2377 ("A more refined version of this doctrine might take into account as well actual evidence of presidential involvement in a given administrative decision."). 81. The Court especially had to distinguish its earlier decision in Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926), in which it had held that the President had the power to remove a postmaster without the advice and consent of the Senate, as provided by statute. In Humphrey's Executor, the Court stated that "[t]he office of a postmaster is so essentially unlike the office now involved that the decision in the Myers case cannot be accepted as controlling our decision here. A postmaster is an executive officer restricted to the performance of executive functions." 295 U.S. at 627. 80. See Humphrey's Ex'r v. United States, 295 U.S. 602, 628 (1935). [58:2 office." 82 And, finally, the Court considered the requirement that no more than three of the agency's five commissioners may be from the same political party. 83 According to the Court, as a predominantly quasilegislative and quasi-judicial body, the FTC "is charged with the enforcement of no policy except the policy of the law," 84 and "[i]ts duties are neither political nor executive." 85 As such, the agency "cannot in any proper sense be characterized as an arm or an eye of the executive." 86 Rather, Congress intended "to create a body of experts who shall gain experience by length of service—a body which shall be independent of executive authority, except in its selection, and free to exercise its judgment without the leave or hindrance of any other official or any department of the government." 87 82. 295 U.S. at 623. 84. Humphrey's Ex'r, 295 U.S. at 624. In Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), the Supreme Court cast doubt on Humphrey's Executor's reliance on the characterization of the quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial nature of the FTC as a basis for supporting the agency's freedom from executive control, in upholding the constitutionality of the independent counsel provisions of the Ethics in Government Act. Nevertheless, the Court's decision did not weaken the notion that, consistent with the Constitution, Congress can create officials performing executive duties who are subject to limitations or removal by the executive branch. Id. at 688-90 83. Id. at 623-24. The FCC, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodities Future Trading Commission, and the now-defunct Interstate Commerce Commission and Civil Aeronautics Board, share very similar organizational and structural indicia upon which the Humphrey's Executor Court relied in determining that such agencies are "independent" and free from executive control. This is not the place to explore in any detail the rich literature concerning the usual hallmarks of independent agencies and all of the variations in the form and functions of agencies that are generally characterized as falling within the independent universe. For an excellent scholarly study containing such information, including basic descriptions of almost all such agencies, see Marshall J. Breger & Gary J. Edles, Established by Practice: The Theory and Operation of Independent Federal Agencies, 52 ADMIN. L. REV. 1111 (2000). Regarding the FCC as an independent regulatory agency, see Randolph J. May, The FCC's Tumultuous Year 2003: An Essay on an Opportunity for Institutional Agency Reform, 56 ADMIN. L. REV. 1307, 1310-12 (2004) and John F. Duffy, Symposium Overview: Part III: A New Role for the FCC and State Agencies in a Competitive Environment?, 71 U. COLO. L. REV. 1071 (2000). It is interesting to note that with respect to some of the agencies universally classified as independent agencies, such as the FCC and SEC, their respective statutes do not contain express provisions limiting the President's authority to remove a commissioner. They do, however, contain the fixed, staggered terms and political balance requirements that are hallmarks of independence. See 47 U.S.C § 154(b)(5) (2000); 15 U.S.C § 78d(a) (2000). As far as I am aware, since Humphrey's Executor, there are no cases involving attempts by the President to remove an FCC or SEC commissioner during a fixed term. See SEC v. Blinder, Robinson & Co., 855 F.2d 677, 681 (10th Cir. 1988) (accepting the "common" understanding that an SEC commissioner may only be removed for good cause, even though the statute does not contain an explicit limitation on removal); see also Wiener v. United States, 357 U.S. 349 (1958) (holding that President Eisenhower lacked power to remove a member of the War Claims Commission, an agency charged with adjudicating war claims, even though the statute did not contain a "for cause" limitation). 85. Humphrey's Ex'r, 295 U.S. at 624. 87. Id. at 625-26 (emphasis in original). 86. Id. at 628. The Court's opinion in Humphrey's Executor reminds us just how much, as a matter of Progressive Era theory, Congress purportedly expected agencies like the FTC, the FCC, and the former Civil Aeronautics Board and Interstate Commerce Commission, to be insulated from politics. 88 The dominant idea was that the expertise of the commissioners would primarily guide these essentially nonpolitical agencies. The Humphrey's Executor opinion amply documents this aspiration, quoting at length the legislative history of the act creating the FTC. For example, the FTC was not to be "subject to anybody in the government but . . . only to the people of the United States," free from "political domination or control," and "separate and apart from any existing department of the government—not subject to orders of the President." 89 When the FCC was created, Congress characterized it in a similar vein. The Senate Report from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce accompanying the legislation stated that radio regulation "is fraught with such great possibilities that it should not be entrusted to any one man or to any administrative department of the Government." 90 Instead, the committee proclaimed that regulatory authority should reside in "an entirely independent body." 91 A leading scholar in the early 1930s disclaimed that the Interstate Commerce Commission could no more be characterized as "a part of the national administration—in the sense of being an instrument for furthering the particular political ends of the party in power—than is the Supreme Court, and executive influence is as manifestly out of place in the one case as it would be in the other." 92 From these statements, the ideal of independence and freedom from political control of the President certainly comes through loud and clear. It is questionable whether the Progressive Era theoretical ideal ever came close to matching the reality of governance in the rising administrative state. 93 More importantly, there is certainly a sharp divergence between the 88. See Randolph J. May, Solving the Mystery of 'Who Is the Plaintiff?' and the Nature of Independent Regulatory Agencies, 32 ADMIN. L. REV. 749, 755 (1980) ("The court recognized that in our scheme of government based on the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, the independence of the regulatory commissions from Executive control must be maintained."). 90. S. REP. NO. 69-772, at 2 (1926). 89. Humphrey's Ex'r, 295 U.S. at 625 (internal quotations omitted). 91. Id. 92. 2 I. L. SHARFMAN, THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION: A STUDY IN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND PROCEDURE 454 (1931). 93. Regarding my own views as to the gap between the Progressive Era nonpolitical "body of experts" ideal and the governance reality, see May, supra note 83, at 1322 ("[T]he unusual tumult and decisional delay surrounding 2003's two most prominent FCC proceedings undercuts the idea of an independent agency simply applying its expertise, largely insulated from political forces."). See, e.g., Lawrence Lessig & Cass R. Sunstein, The President and the Administration, 94 COLUM. L. REV. 1, 99-103 (1994) (containing a good discussion concerning the extent to which the Progressive Era nonpolitical expertise 446 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW [58:2 Progressive Era vision of the independent regulatory agencies, such as the FTC and FCC, 94 as bodies of experts free from politics, and Chevron's vision of political accountability grounded in the President's supervision of the EPA's activities. In light of this stark gap in vision, it is somewhat surprising that the Court in Chevron did not then, nor has it since, said anything explicit about Chevron's applicability to independent agencies. In Chevron, the Court also declared that the Clean Air Act's regulatory scheme was "technical and complex." 95 The Court conjectured that perhaps Congress had intended the EPA resolve the conflicting policy choices that inhere in the statute, "thinking that those with great expertise and charged with responsibility for administering the provision would be in a better position" than Congress to do so. 96 Certainly, an agency's expertise, however acquired, provides a logical basis for courts to afford some degree of judicial deference to agency decisions. Agency expertise is the rationale underpinning the Skidmore doctrine. In Skidmore, a case involving an interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime payment provisions, the Court declared: We consider that the rulings, interpretations and opinions of the Administrator under this Act, while not controlling upon the courts by reason of their authority, do constitute a body of experience and informed judgment to which courts and litigants may properly resort for guidance. The weight of such a judgment in a particular case will depend upon the thoroughness evident in its consideration, the validity of its reasoning, its consistency with earlier and later pronouncements, and all those factors which give it power to persuade, if lacking power to control. 97 Thus, the agency's "body of experience" and "informed judgment"—in other words, key aspects of an agency's expertise—entitled it to some vision does not match the present day reality of government administration, in the context of addressing the extent to which, as a constitutional matter and otherwise, the President may control the actions of agencies). The authors conclude: Id. 94. As explained earlier, the FCC is modeled along the same lines as the FTC, with members, no more of whom a majority may be from the same political party, serving fixed and staggered terms. See supra note 83; 47 U.S.C. § 154 (2000). It is not as obvious today as it seemed in the 1930s that there can be such things as genuinely 'independent' regulatory agencies, bodies of impartial experts whose independence from the President does not entail correspondingly greater dependence upon the committees of Congress to which they are then immediately accountable; or indeed, that the decisions of such agencies so clearly involve scientific judgment rather than political choice that it is even theoretically desirable to insulate them from the democratic process. at 100. 95. See 467 U.S. 837, 865 (1984) ("[T]he agency considered the matter in a detailed and reasoned fashion."). 97. Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 140 (1944) (holding that the deference due to an agency's decision by a reviewing court depends on a variety of factors). 96. Id. INDEPENDENTAGENCIES ANDCHEVRON DEFERENCE measure of deference, though not the controlling deference characterized by Chevron. 98 Thus, forty years after Skidmore, it is not surprising that the Court in Chevron justified the new deference rationale in part by referencing agency expertise. 99 Nevertheless, the agency expertise justification plays second fiddle to the primary political accountability rationale in Chevron. A proponent of applying Chevron deference to independent agencies and executive agencies alike might argue that, notwithstanding Humphrey's Executor, independent agencies are more politically accountable than the courts, and therefore, it still makes sense to extend Chevron deference to their actions. This is undoubtedly true, despite the rhetorical flourishes of the New Deal acolytes, such as those that equate the independence of the Interstate Commerce Committee (ICC) with the Supreme Court's independence. 100 The President and Congress certainly subject independent agencies to some measures of political influence. Arguing for application of Chevron deference on this basis is not without reason. It might be what Justice Stevens had in mind when he penned Chevron or what Justice Thomas had in mind as he wrote the majority opinion in Brand X. But the ability of the President and Congress to influence the independent agencies in their own ways does not rise to the level of control that justifies ascribing political accountability in the sense that Chevron envisions. As for the President, despite whatever modicum of influence he may exert through the appointment (and reappointment) process, budget submission process, or control over litigating authority, 101 the fact remains that the President cannot remove independent agency members without good cause. This ensures a large measure of freedom from executive branch control. Bernard Schwartz concluded that "[t]he resulting lack of accountability to the White House enables the ICC-type commissions to make their own decisions, which may be subject to judicial review, but are not subject to legal control by the President." 102 Likewise, a leading administrative law treatise stated that: "The characteristic that most 98. See 467 U.S. at 844 (referring to Chevron's "controlling weight" deference). 100. See SHARFMAN, supra note 92, at 454 (stating that executive control over independent agencies is as "manifestly out of place" as it would be over the Supreme Court). 99. For another leading case decided the same year as Skidmore that also grants deference to an agency's decision based on the agency expertise, see NLRB v. Hearst Publ'ns, Inc., 322 U.S. 111, 130-31 (1944) (holding that an agency's determination should be accepted if it has "warrant in the record and a reasonable basis in law"). 101. I refer the reader to the excellent study of Professors Breger and Edles, which comprehensively discusses the ways in which these factors are applicable to the various independent agencies. See Breger & Edles, supra note 83, at 1236-94 (Appendix) (listing federal agencies that are considered "independent"). 102. BERNARD SCHWARTZ, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW § 1.10 (3d ed. 1991). sharply distinguishes independent agencies is the existence of a statutory limit on the President's power to remove the head (or members) of an agency." 103 Admittedly, Humphrey's Executor did not definitively resolve the constitutional limitations on the President's authority to remove commissioners from the FTC and similar multi-member agencies. 104 Justice Scalia was, for the most part, correct in 1985 when he stated that the Supreme Court's decision "continues to induce the Executive to leave the policy control of the independent agencies to congressional committees, and fastidiously to avoid any appearances of influence in those entities." 105 In any event, the absence of any more Humphrey's Executor-like attempted removal cases since the original in 1935, other than Wiener v. United States, 106 demonstrates its continuing impact. Although commissioners at the FTC, FCC, and similar agencies do not enjoy life tenure like federal judges, they do enjoy job security. They know that it would be difficult for the President to remove them from office. This knowledge gives these commissioners the independence that accompanies job security and the tenure protection that executive branch agency heads lack. Thus, for independent agencies, the political accountability link to the President emphasized in Chevron is absent. As Justice Scalia suggested, 107 many generally assume that Congress, by virtue of various means at hand, exerts more policy control over the independent agencies than the President. The vehicles for congressional influence include control over appropriations, appropriation riders directing or restricting specific agency actions, oversight hearings and investigations, mechanisms for congressional review of regulations, enactment of legislation overturning or modifying agency actions—or just the threat to employ any of these devices. 108 Through these means, Congress, or just the committees responsible for agency oversight, influences the policy direction of the independent agencies. Indeed, it is reported that Sam Rayburn, then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, advised FCC Chairman Newton Minow: "Your agency is an arm of the Congress and you belong to us." 109 103. 1 KENNETH CULP DAVIS & RICHARD PIERCE, JR., ADMINISTRATIVE LAW TREATISE § 2.5 (3d ed. 1994). 105. See Antonin Scalia, Historical Anomalies in Administrative Law, SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY YEARBOOK 110 (1985). 104. See Kagan, supra note 55, at 2324 n.311. 106. See 357 U.S. 349 (1958) (interpreting a statute creating the War Claim Commission so as to deny President Eisenhower power to remove a member of the Commission, despite the fact that the statute did not contain a "for cause" limitation). 108. See Kagan, supra note 55, at 2255-60 (discussing congressional control mechanisms). 107. See Scalia, supra note 105. 109. Neil Devins, Congress, the FCC, and the Search for the Public Trustee, 56 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 145, 148-49 (1993) (quoting Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives As Professor Bruff reminded us, "Congress is quite jealous of its hegemony over the independent agencies, and can be expected to react strongly to any executive poaching." 110 This message concerning Congress's view of its prerogatives is usually not completely lost on agency commissioners. Thus, it is not surprising that when Deborah Tate recently appeared before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for her confirmation hearing as an FCC Commissioner and pledged "to work closely with Congress." 111 She said nothing about working closely with the President. Like the President, Congress is politically accountable to the people. The question that arises is why independent agencies are not afforded Chevron deference on the basis that they are at least somewhat accountable to Congress for their decisions, perhaps even more so than to the President. First, while Congress, like the President, has means to exercise influence over the actions of the independent agencies, Congress cannot (except through the extreme remedy of impeachment for "high crimes and misdemeanors") 112 remove the commissioners of independent agencies. Therefore, in this most important respect relating to the preservation of independence—the security of tenure protection—the independent agencies are insulated from congressional control in the very same way they are insulated from executive control. In rejecting the notion that Congress exercises tight control over the independents, Kagan quite rightly refers to "the constitutional limits on Congress's ability to establish a hierarchical relationship with the independent agencies (most notably, by retaining the removal power over their heads)." 113 Thus, there is a fundamental sense in which Congress's ability to influence agency interpretations, whatever its extent, does not square with Chevron's political accountability rationale. That rationale is premised on the assumption that Congress, itself politically accountable, intends to delegate authority to another politically accountable entity to make policy by having that delegate fill in the statutory gaps. The independent agencies simply do not fit the bill. In Chevron, the Court spoke of "this political branch of the Government" 114 in reference to the President as the delegate Sam Rayburn) (citation omitted). 111. See Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Commerce, Sci., & Transp., 109th Cong. 3 (2005) (statement of Deborah Tate, Nominee, FCC), http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/ tate/dtt121305.pdf (thanking Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for his remarks before thanking President Bush for the nomination). 110. Harold H. Bruff, Specialized Courts in Administrative Law, 43 ADMIN. L. REV. 329, 350 (1991). 112. U.S. CONST., art. II, § 4. 114. 467 U.S. 837, 865 (1984) (emphasis supplied) (highlighting that, while agencies are not directly accountable to the people, the President remains directly accountable to the electorate). 113. Kagan, supra note 55, at 2377 n.506. of congressional authority, a characterization distinctly at odds with the way one usually refers to the independent agencies. In the 1930s, a presidential commission studying the organization and management of the federal government described the independent agencies as a "headless 'fourth branch' of the Government, a haphazard deposit of irresponsible agencies and uncoordinated powers." 115 The commission contended that this "headless fourth branch" does "violence to the basic theory of the American Constitution that there should be three major branches of the Government and only three." 116 There is a substantial body of scholarly literature that calls into question the legal status of the "fourth branch" independent agencies, characterizing them as constitutional anomalies in our tripartite system. 117 To the extent that Humphrey's Executor has truly served to insulate the independent agencies from presidential supervision, whether as a matter of law or as a matter of tradition, their special constitutional status is quite likely "unjustifiable." 118 In their comprehensive study, The President and the Administration, which evaluated institutional policy grounds in favor of a constitutional framework sanctioning a strong unitary executive, Professors Lessig and Sunstein concluded: On the question whether Congress can create genuinely independent administrators, there is precious little guidance. Probably the best answer is that as a general rule (and subject to important exceptions), Congress is without constitutional power to immunize administrative officers exercising important discretionary policymaking authority from presidential control. Congress is therefore without power to create a 'headless Fourth Branch' of government. 119 115. THE PRESIDENT'S COMM. ON ADMIN. MGMT., REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE WITH STUDIES OF ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 40 (1937). 117. For a special volume of articles on the legal status of federal agencies, see A Symposium on Administrative Law: The Uneasy Constitutional Status of the Administrative Agencies, 36 AM. U. L. REV. 277 (1987). See also Breger & Edles, supra note 83, at 115560; Stephen L. Carter, Constitutional Improprieties: Reflections on Mistretta, Morrison, and Administrative Government, 57 U. CHI. L. REV. 357 (1990); Robert E. Cushman, The Constitutional Status of the Independent Regulatory Commissions (pts. 1 & 2), 24 CORNELL L.Q. 13, 163 (1938-39); Geoffery P. Miller, Independent Agencies, 1986 SUP. CT. REV. 41; Thomas O. Sargentich, The Contemporary Debate About Legislative-Executive Separation of Powers, 72 CORNELL L.Q. 430, 460-64 (1987). 116. Id. 118. Harold H. Bruff, On the Constitutional Status of Administrative Agencies, 36 AM. U. L. REV. 491, 513 (1987) ("[I]f executive oversight can be controlled, I see no reason to exempt the independent agencies from its influence. Viewed in this light, the special constitutional status of the independent agencies is unjustifiable. The Supreme Court should repudiate the dicta in Humphrey's Executor that account for it."). 119. Lessig & Sunstein, supra note 93, at 113. Referring to Humphrey's Executor, Lessig and Sunstein suggest that "the case was a bizarre and unfounded exercise in constitutional innovation" 120 that threatens "the core constitutional commitments to political accountability, expedition in office, and coordinated policymaking." 121 CONCLUSION It is odd for a doctrine of judicial deference to agency interpretations, especially deference that is strong enough to be characterized as controlling, 122 to rely on what is widely viewed as a constitutional innovation, perhaps even a bizarre one. It is odd to premise judicial deference to agency interpretations on separation of powers principles, as Chevron does, and not to question the soundness of the doctrine's applicability to agencies that by their very nature present constitutional difficulties on separation of powers grounds. And it is odd in a constitutional system with three defined branches for courts to give controlling deference to agencies that, not without reason, are commonly referred to as "the headless fourth branch." One obvious resolution of these oddities would be a constitutional jurisprudence looking toward the elimination of the insular features that give the independent agencies freedom from presidential control. That (perhaps unlikely) project would involve an overturning, or at least a reevaluation, of Humphrey's Executor. Something far short of that resolution (or revolution), however, is warranted. With respect to the independent agencies, the judicial branch should reassume a pre-Chevron posture of applying more exacting scrutiny to the statutory interpretations of independent agencies. Simply put, the judicial branch should reassert its authority, in Chief Justice Marshall's words, with respect to the independent agencies, to "say what the law is." 123 This revision in the current understanding of the Chevron doctrine would not mean that the courts would no longer accord any deference to the statutory interpretations of independent agencies. Rather, they would accord deference consistent with Skidmore principles. 124 This new understanding of Chevron would be more consistent with core constitutional values of the United States than the current understanding. 125 120. Id. at 101. 122. See Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 467 U.S. 837, 844 (1984) ("Such legislative regulations are given controlling weight unless they are arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute."). 121. Id. at 114. 123. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803). 125. See Lessig & Sunstein, supra note 93, at 101 ("Currently, a fundamental premise of administrative law is the lawmaking ingredient of practically every executive act, including, in Chevron, U.S.A. v. NRDC, the act of interpretation itself. In such a period, the whole 124. See supra note 97 and accompanying text. Ultimately, as the Court made clear in United States v. Mead, Congress can determine the degree of deference, if any, to be accorded agency decisions through its expressions of legislative intent. 126 If Congress wishes, it can enact legislation that prescribes that courts must give the same deference to both independent and executive branch agencies. Absent such legislation, however, it would be more consistent with our constitutional values if Chevron's strong deference doctrine is not interpreted to extend to independent agencies. There is one oddity that further supports this contention. It is more than a little strange that Chevron, the most significant administrative law decision of the last quarter-century, did not even refer to the APA, the fundamental charter of the administrative state. After all, the purpose of the APA was to impose a large measure of uniformity across the federal agencies. In addition, § 706 of the APA specifically addresses judicial review of agency action providing that "the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, . . . interpret . . . statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of agency action." 127 Interpreting statutory provisions is what Chevron is all about. This APA statutory directive is consistent with the separation of powers basis of Marbury v. Madison's declaration that the province of the judiciary is to "say what the law is." While Mead teaches that congressional intent, absent any other more specific expression to the contrary, determines whether and how much deference is due agency interpretations of statutes, the APA itself provides a textual basis for concluding courts should not grant controlling weight to independent agencies' statutory interpretations. Perhaps this reliance on Marbury v. Madison's injunction and the literal terms of the APA's directive is not sufficient to call into question the application of the Chevron doctrine across the board to all federal agencies. In any event, that is not my purpose here. But at least with respect to the notion of independent political bodies becomes highly problematic, especially in light of founding commitments."). If Chevron rests on a presumption about congressional intent, then Chevron should apply only where Congress would want Chevron to apply. In delineating the types of delegations of agency authority that trigger Chevron deference, it is therefore important to determine whether a plausible case can be made that Congress would want such a delegation to mean that agencies enjoy primary interpretational authority. 126. In Mead, the Court's citation to the following statement from Thomas Merrill and Kristin Hickman is instructive regarding the role of congressional intent in determining the deference due: United States v. Mead, 533 U.S. 218, 230 n.11 (quoting Thomas W. Merrill & Kristin E. Hickman, Chevron's Domain, 89 GEO. L.J. 833, 872 (2001)). 127. 5 U.S.C. § 706 (2000) (emphasis added). 2006] INDEPENDENT AGENCIES AND CHEVRON DEFERENCE 453 independent agencies that are not politically accountable to the people in the same measure as the President and Congress, I suggest that a reading of Chevron that accords less deference to independent agencies' decisions than to those of executive branch agencies would be more consistent with our constitutional system and its values. 454 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW [58:2 * * * Number 2 • Volume 58 • Spring 2006 • American Bar Association • Administrative Law Review "Defining Deference Down: Independent Agencies and Chevron Deference" by Randolph J. May, published in the Administrative Law Review, Volume 58, No. 2, Spring 2006. © 2006 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Clustered Multi-layer Multi-protocol Wireless Mesh Networks Taha Abdalla , Carlos Rey-Moreno and William D. Tucker and Antoine Bagula 1 2 2 2 Department of Computer Science University of the Western Cape Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa Email: email@example.com 1 ; { abagula,crey-moreno, firstname.lastname@example.org 2 Tel: +27 21 959 3010, Fax: +27 21 959 1274 Abstract—Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have emerged as an alternative option to the wired networks in areas where wired deployment is unfeasible and/or costly. They have been widely adopted in community networks as these networks are mostly built within "not for profit" projects and do not require enterprise class investment which can lead to inefficient network architectures and routing protocol designs. B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV has been designed as a simple routing protocol that adheres to lightweight equipment requirements of wireless mesh deployment in the rural areas of the developing countries. However, it is built around a flat WMN topology which is challenged with scalability, security and implementation issues; which can limit WMN growth and services expansion. This paper proposes and evaluates the performance of a new multilayer, multi-protocol WMN architecture that addresses B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV scalability issues by borrowing from wired networks their clustering model and building around the B.A.T.M.A.N Experimental (BMX6) protocol to introduce layer2 tunnelling through a cloud of layer3 routers. small number of interconnected clusters, each of them forming a sub-network with reduced broadcasting domain. Clustering is considered a successful mechanism to partition the WMNs. Many clustering techniques have been proposed such as, lowest ID algorithm [8], distributed algorithm [9] and others. In cluster-based WMN deployment scenarios, the nodes are grouped into clusters that use a cluster-head as gateway for the traffic leaving/entering the cluster and cluster-heads are networked into a backbone network layered above the clusters of normal nodes to form a "multi-layer network infrastructure". The introduction of layer 3 routing into a cloud of layer-2 routers to build a "multi-protocol network infrastructure" is another method that can address the scalability issues associated with BATMAN-ADV protocol. Keywords— B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV, BMX6 , CLUSTERED WMNS. I. INTRODUCTION A Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is a communication network that consists of mesh nodes, which work as network routers for the traffic carried by the network. Mesh clients are the end user devices connected to the mesh nodes. The mesh nodes operate in the wireless independent basic service set (IBSS) mode defined by the IEEE 802.11s standard at the MAC and physical layers. However, it does not set or define the routing and the layers mentioned above [1] .WMNs are multi-hop networks which require a routing mechanism to route and forward network traffic. Their popularity has led to as many as 70 routing protocols being proposed to work in WMNs. Better Approach for Mobile Ad hoc Networks Advanced (B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV) is a simple routing protocol designed and developed to work as a layer 2 routing protocol. It is implemented as a Linux Kernel module that can maintain the mesh network topology and manage path selection by using the B.A.T.M.A.N algorithm designed for layer 2 routing over a flat network topology. As designed, its underlying routing process often involves a large broadcasting domain which is challenged with scalability and security issues which can limit network growth and services expansion. Network partitioning into multiple clusters can address some of these issues by organizing the network into a relatively This paper presents the challenges associated with B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV and introduces a new multi-layer, multiprotocol architecture for WMNs that addresses some of these challenges. The architecture uses a clustering model where i) the nodes in the cluster select a cluster head (CH) node used a gateway for the traffic to/from the cluster ii) normal nodes communicate through their cluster head nodes and iii) the set of cluster heads form a communication backbone which is layered above the set of normal nodes to form a "multi-layer wireless mesh network". The architecture is based on a protocol implementation that combines B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV and BMX6 into a "multi-protocol wireless mesh network" where the traffic offered to the network is routed using BATMAN-ADV at the edge and tunnelled into a core using BMX6 with the expectation of further reduction in the broadcasting domain through layer-3 core routing. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II provides some background on B.A.T.M.A.N. Section III discusses the challenges of B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV. Section IV presents the proposed architecture. Section V provides an evaluation for the proposed architecture. Finally, section VI presents the conclusion and future work. II. BACKGROUND A. Routing protocols in WMNs A WMN is in essence composed of multiple wireless nodes sharing the same wireless medium and utilizing the CSMA/CA mode of operation. In such a network, the link between two nodes is not easy to be defined as point to multi- point links is involved. Therefore, the routing operations such as path calculation and packet forwarding are extremely challenging and traditional routing protocols cannot help, as these have been designed for point-to-point communication. Routing protocols for wireless mesh networks have been wildly researched. They can be classified as: 1. Layer 3 routing protocols Similar to traditional routing protocols, layer 3 routing protocols advertise IP network addresses. In this case, the mesh nodes do not require announcing the IP address of all the clients except for the summary address. This leads to less routing overheads. However, these kind of routing protocols are inefficient when deployed with mobile mesh clients. BMX6, B.A.T.M.A.N-D, OLSR and Babel are examples of layer 3 routing protocols. 2. Layer 2 routing protocols Layer 2 routing protocols advertise the MAC layer address of the mesh routers and clients. However, as there is no way to summarise the 48 bit MAC addresses, the mesh routers announce all the MAC addresses of the attached devices. This increases the routing overheads. B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV is an example of layer 2 routing protocol. B. B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV B.A.T.M.A.N is a distance vector routing protocol designed to mitigate the performance and deployment insufficiencies of the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) routing protocol [4]. In OLSR, the wireless mesh node has to evaluate and compute the whole path from the source to the destination, an operation that requires substantial computational capacity. B.A.T.M.A.N node starts broadcasting small packets called originator messages (OMGs) to declare its existence to other B.A.T.M.A.N nodes in the range. Upon receiving such messages, the receiver node rebroadcasts it based on certain B.A.T.M.A.N forwarding roles. The mesh network therefore gets flooded with originator messages. This flooding process will continue in single-hop neighbours as a second step, and then proceed by two-hop neighbours in the third step, and so forth. Originator messages are flooded until every node has received at least one or until their TTL (time to live) value has expired. Besides discovering the existing nodes, the OMGs are used to announce the clients that are associated with the nodes and provide a measure of the link quality as well. To achieve this, OMGs mainly consist of: - The sender's address, - Time to live value (TTL), - The sequence number (SN), and - Transmission quality (TQ). The routing metric used in B.A.T.M.A.N is the Transmission Quality (TQ). This is based on statistical measurement, whereby the more frequent OMGs received, the higher the quality and the better the path [2]. B.A.T.M.A.N-D was evaluated experimentally in a laboratory testbed in [6] in terms of throughput, latency and routing protocol overheads. The experimental results revealed that B.A.T.M.A.N-D performs better than OLSR routing protocol. Particularly, the routing overheads generated by B.A.T.M.A.N-D were less than OLSR's routing overheads. In [7], the authors measured the latency, throughput, jitter and the packet loss of B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV in order to evaluate B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV's performance. C. B.A.T.M.A.N EPERIMENTAL6 (BMX6) BMX6 is a layer 3 routing protocol for WMNs, which emerged as an independent branch for BATMAN-D routing protocol. It is aimed at reducing the massive routing overheads generated in BATMAN-D. To reduce routing protocol overheads BMX6 uses different mechanisms. These mechanisms include: (a) optimizing the traffic transmitted periodically through the network by means of establishing a common understanding between the neighbours using compact IDs and description hashes and (b) controlling the flooding of messages by analysing whether a link is relevant or not, and omitting non-relevant links during the flooding of OMGs. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency and the scalability, BMX6 divides the network state throughout the time into 1) transient state and 2) steady state. In transient state, neighbour nodes exchange information about their environment, such as, node description, links etc. to identify nodes in a compact way. In the steady state, the neighbour nodes exchange small packets to monitor the links status and to track the variation of link metrics. Therefore, routing protocol overheads increase in the initial state of the network, and start decreasing afterwards. There are two types of messages in BMX6: 1) periodic messages that are periodically generated by the protocol on every node, and (2) occasional messages that are exchanged only when necessary because of a change in the network [5]. III. B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV CHALLENGES As a wireless protocol that relies on a flat topology for communication, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV faces several challenges. These challenges are discussed below as follows. A. Address Resolution Protocol: A B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV network operates as a large layer 2 Ethernet network. In an Ethernet-like network, the client nodes have to broadcast ARP requests for lookup up for the IP address of a target node or client. ARP works effectively in a small scale such as a wired Ethernet where the broadcasting is controlled by the Spanning Tree Protocol. However, ARP is not suitable for B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV networks, due to the fact that B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV is a wireless mesh network where in absence of a mechanism to control the broadcast packet loss is very frequent. To perform the MAC address to IP address translation, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV introduced Distributed ARP Table (DAT) [10]. In DAT, B.A.T.M.A.NADV nodes cache ARP replies locally to minimize the number of ARP packets. Since clients tend to change IP address more frequently, caching ARP reply is not always reliable and the DAT mechanism does not provide MAC to IPv6 translation. B. Security and privacy challenge Wireless community networks have adopted WMNs widely. It is a collaborative network where the users own and control their nodes only. Using B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV as a routing protocol causes the users to disseminate the MAC addresses of their devices' across the entire network (see Fig 1). The authors believe that this process could be prevented in layer 3 routing protocol where only the IP addresses are announced. The MAC address is a unique attribute to the client's device which when disseminated beyond the user's domain could lead to security and privacy issues in that an attacker can look at B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV translation table to see all clients connected to networks and their mobility. C. Implementation challenges Most of the routing protocols in WMN implementations are based on routing the users' traffic from APs interface through Ad hoc interface as uplink interface. In case of B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV, all the interfaces are in layer 2 domains. Therefore, an intermediate interface is needed to forward user traffic. Thus, Bat0 virtual interface is brought to forward users' traffic as in Fig. 2. Additionally, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV not only does routing of the traffic, it also inserts an additional 32 byte header for each user packet sent to the mesh. Therefore, the MTU needs to be increased. These processes could cause more delay and become a bottleneck that limits network performance. D. Scalability challenges WMN faces scalability challenges that limit its growth to accommodate more nodes and features and expand its services. These challenges are as a result of: 1) the routing protocol overhead, and 2) the deployment architecture, among other factors inherited from the wireless network nature [11]. 1) Routing protocol overheads The routing protocol overhead can be expressed by the amount of data generated by control messages that are used by the routing protocol to maintain the routing table. This is where each node in the network sends specific messages in a certain time interval to announce itself. Furthermore, the other nodes listen to this message to calculate the route cost. Each routing protocol has its own mechanism for implementing these control messages. Link state routing protocols produce fewer control messages. In this case, the node tends to send a control message to selected nodes. Nonetheless, it requires additional computation capacity in order to calculate the whole possible path. On other hand, with distance vector routing protocols, the node has to send control messages to all its neighbouring nodes, thus leading to massive numbers of control messages being generated. Layer 2 routing protocols tend to generate more control overhead than layer 3 routing protocols. Given the fact that layer 2 routing protocols advertise the MAC addressed of each connected devices, layer 3 routing protocols announce only the IP address, which can represent multiple devices. 2) The deployment architecture The network architecture is another factor that affects WMN scalability. Wireless Mesh Networks can be deployed in Flat or Hierarchical architecture [11]. Flat network architecture uses a network topology with all of its nodes at the same level, with no clustering or grouping, leading to the entire network being a single broadcast domain. In such architecture, the nodes share the communication medium to transfer both the users' data and the control data. This topology is very simple and easy to build but leads to performance being negatively affected with the network growth. Since the entire network is in a single broadcast domain, each node has to listen to every node in the domain. Therefore, a flat network architecture does not scale very well. It is suitable to traditional ad hoc wireless network only. In a hierarchical network architecture, the nodes are grouped (logically, geographically, etc.), and assigned to multiple tiers. Each tier has different functionalities. The lowest tier (edges) includes the nodes used to service the associated clients. The upper tier (backbone) consists of nodes that do not terminate neither originate data traffic, but route the traffic between the groups or the clusters instead. Routing protocol overheads are the main factor that determines the routing protocol scalability. They mostly depend on the routing algorithm that is used by the routing protocol. B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV uses the B.A.T.M.A.N algorithm originally designed to work with B.A.T.M.A.N-D, a layer 3 implementation of the protocol. Thereafter, the same algorithm was implemented in B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV in the layer 2 of the Internet protocol stack. In B.A.T.M.A.N-D the OGMs messages are sent as UDP packets on port 4305, while B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV OGMs are set as Ethernet frames. B.A.T.M.A.N-D advertises the network information as layer 3 IP network address, on other hand, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV announces the MAC address of the connected devices. Fig: 7 and 8 reveal that B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV generates more routing overheads and a linear increase with it the network growth. This differs from B.A.T.M.A.N-D, according to the work done in [6] IV. NEW ARCHITECTURE Inspired by wired network architecture, this work introduces a new architecture for WMNs. It consists of layer 2 switching and layer 3 routing. With the objective to partition the flat WMNs to reduce the routing overhead, this architecture is built from three tiers: 1) The client tier, which has the end user devices, 2) the edge tier, it is a layer 2 domain to join clients, and 3) the backbone tier which aggregates the edge layer nodes. A. The client tier is the same as in the traditional WMNs, in which the end-user devices are such as laptops and cell phones. B. The edge tier serves to connect end-user devices. It works similar to the switching layer in the wired network since what is used is a layer 2 protocol. The routing protocol used is B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV. Following the B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV gateway announcement feature, nodes connected to backbone can announce themselves as gateways or cluster head. For redundancy and availability, gateway nodes are equipped with two radios. The first one running B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV to connect the normal nodes in the cluster, while the second interface runs BMX6 routing protocol to connect to nodes in the backbone. C. The backbone tier aggregates multiple layer 2 clusters in layer 3 domain using BMX6 routing protocol. It does not terminate traffic; it passes the users' data between the clusters instead. Figure 4: Traditional wired network architecture V. EVALUATION To evaluate the proposed model two experiments have been conducted. The first experiment was to measure the routing overhead in a flat network, and the second experiment for the new model. Network simulations tools such as NS3 are widely used to test network protocols. However, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV and BMX6 are yet to be integrated into the available simulation tools, and therefore a physical laboratory testbed is the most appropriate choice for these experiments. To quantify the amount of the routing protocol overhead, the testbed is set to measure the number and the size of the packets generated by B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV and BMX6 to maintain the network topology as the network grows. A. The physical testbed: The laboratory testbed consists of 12 ALIX PCs that work as wireless mesh nodes, and one PC to generate and capture traffic. Each ALIX PC has a 500 MHZ AMD processor, 256 MB DDR RAM with PCI 2.5 MHZ WIFI card. It is equipped with OpenWrt Attitude Adjustment firmware with B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV 2013.2.0 release and BMX6 0.1-alpha. To capture traffic, TCPDUMP is used. It is installed in each mesh node and instructed to start capturing traffic when the mesh nodes get initialized. Wireshark packet analyzer is used to analyze the captured overhead traffic. It is installed on a PC attached to the network. B. The first test In the first experiment, the routing overhead in a flat B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV has been measured.The network is set as follows: The mesh nodes are configured with two interfaces: 1) Ethernet interface to connect PC. 2) Wireless interface. The wireless interface is divided into two sub interfaces: 1) Ad hoc mode interface for B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV. 2) AP mode for wireless clients. C. The second test In the second experiment, the new clustered network model is formed as follows: 1) The edge nodes: ALIX nodes configured with B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV. The gateway nodes equipped with additional radio to run BMX6 connecting to the backbone. 2) The backbones: ALIX nodes equipped with two radios; the first radio running B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV connecting back one of the cluster, the second radios running BMX6 connecting backbone nodes. D. Conducting the tests For concluding the test, the mesh network testbed is set up in n:n full mesh which is the worst scenario for wireless mesh networks. To identify the pattern in which the overhead signalling increases, the test is set to measure traffic as the network grows. The test started with two nodes and continued up to the twelfth node in a spiral way. For each round, inbound and outbound traffic of the Ad Hoc interface is set to send and receive B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV traffic. For that, TCPDUMP captures and stores traffic for 10 minutes, which is sufficient time to monitor the network behaviour. It stores the traffic data in .pcap file format. Similar process conducted in the second test with the difference that nodes in the backbone run both B.A.T.M.A.NADV and BMX6 as well the gateway nodes in the edge. E. Traffic overhead analysis Wireshark packet analysis tool is used to analyse the traffic data, it provides statistical tools to quantify the numbers of packets and its size as well. Statistical modelling in means of regression analysis [12] is used to model the results in large scale networks. Equations 1-3 are used to generate the results. Whereby, Y represents the overhead generated in X number of nodes. Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show the obtained results obtained for routing overhead in packet number and byte per second as well. They illustrate that flat architecture produces more routing overhead that the new architecture does and it increases in a faster pattern as the network grows. Number of nodes Figure 7: routing overhead in packet number Figure 8: routing overhead in bytes. VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK. The paper studied B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV routing protocol. It establishes that B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV faces various challenges that make it suitable for small-scale networks. For large scale, high-density networks, B.A.T.M.A.N-ADV should be partitioned to clusters. Thus the paper introduced a new WMN clustered architecture that consists of three tiers. The architecture has undergone evaluation. The results have shown that the new architecture overtakes the flat networks in terms of scalability. For future research, we consider further performance evaluation in different areas such as data centres and campus networks. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Telkom, Cisco, Aria Technologies and THRIP (Technology and Human Resources for Industry Partnership) for their financial support via the Telkom Center of Excellence (CoE). This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Any opinion findings and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and therefore the NFR does not accept any liability in this regard. VII. REFERENCES: [1] B. Walke and Carmelita Gorg, "Medium Accesss Control in IEEE 802.11s," 2011. [Online]. Available: http:// http://www.comnets.rwthaachen.de/publications/dissertations/download.pdf [2] batman-adv, http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki,. [3] A. Adekiigbe, K. Abu Bakar , and O. Simeon, "Issues and Challenges in Clustering Techniques for Wireless Mesh Networks," JOURNAL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, vol. 8, no. 1, July 2011. [4] T. Clausen and P. Jacquet, "Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR)," Internet Engeneering Task Force. RFC 3626, 2003. [5] A. Neumann, E. Lopez, and L. Navarro, "An evaluation of BMX6 for community wireless networks," , Barcelona, 2012, pp. 651 - 658. [6] D. Johnson, N. Ntlatlapa, and C. Aichele, "A simple pragmatic approach to mesh routing using," in 2nd IFIP International Symposium on Wireless Communications and Information Technology in Developing Countries, Pretoria, 2008. [7] E. Chissungo , E. Blake, and H. Le, "Investigation into Batman-adv Protocol Performance in an Indoor Mesh Potato Testbed," in Third International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (INCoS), Fukuoka, 2011, pp. 8 -13. [8] C. Lin and M. Gerla, "Adaptive clustering for mobile wireless network," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 15, no. 7, Septemper 2006. [9] S. Basagni, "Distributed Clustering Algorithm for Ad Hoc Network," in Proceedings of Vehicular Technology Conference, 1999, pp. 310–15. [10] OpenMesh, "Distributed Arp Table," http://www.openmesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki/DistributedArpTable,. [11] S. Srivathsan, N. Balakrishnan, and S. Iyengar, "Scalability in Wireless Mesh Networks," in Guide to Wireless Mesh Networks. London: Springer London, 2009, ch. 13, pp. 325-347. [12] A. Sykes, "An Introduction to Regression Analysis,". [Online]. vailable: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/files/20.Sykes_.Regression.pdf Taha ABDALLA received his Btech IT degree in 2012 from Cape Peninsula University of Technology and presently studying towards his Msc. Computer Science degree at University of the Western Cape. His research interests include IP networks, routing protocols for WMNs.
Atlantic Employers' Counsel LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS OF INTEREST TO BUSINESS IN ATLANTIC CANADA Fall 2015 Editors: The Editors' Corner In this issue The Editors' Corner Bullying isn't Just For Kids Anymore: Actually, it Never Really was... When Harassment is not Harassment Top 10 Considerations for Workplace (and Thereabouts) Sexual Misconduct False/Unfounded Allegations: What about the Unsubstantiated Complaints? Service First Trick, Treat or…Taunt? Workplace Bullying and Harassment Fall has arrived! The leaves are changing colours, families are stockpiling Halloween candy (some of which will actually last long enough to be distributed on the 31st), and warm knitwear is being dragged back out of the closet. But what is happening at your workplace? Are all of your employees "playing nice" with each other or do you have some ghouls in the group? Workplace harassment and bullying have been receiving (rightfully so, we think) more and more of the spotlight in terms of the negative impact on both employees and employers. Sometimes one difficult employee is like a razorblade in an apple – creating fear and intimidation for everyone in proximity. This establishes and perpetuates tricky work situations for the affected employees and wreaks havoc with the productivity of the business. This edition of the AEC focuses on bullying and harassment at the workplace – what is (and what is not) bullying and harassment? What kind of policies should you have and how can you make them even stronger? How do you deal with false allegations? We hope you can carve out some time to review these articles and collect some tasty helpful hints. Bullying isn't Just For Kids Anymore: Actually, it Never Really was... The recognition that bullying occurs far beyond the playground is now so widespread that an entire episode of The Simpsons was dedicated to the topic earlier this year. However, despite the recognition of its occurrence, even the most seasoned human resources professionals often still shy away from dealing with serious interpersonal conflicts between coworkers or between superiors and subordinates. CHARLOTTETOWN FREDERICTON HALIFAX MONCTON SAINT JOHN ST. JOHN'S STEWARTMCKELVEY.COM Most Canadian provinces (the only exceptions are New Brunswick, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon) have legislation addressing workplace violence and/or harassment. Further, if your workforce is unionized, your applicable collective agreement(s) may require you, as the employer, to provide a workplace free of harassment and similar conduct. If harassment relates to a protected ground under human rights legislation, such legislation imposes requirements on employers in this context as well. Regardless of the form of bullying, employers are responsible, even if specific legislative or collective agreement requirements are absent or inapplicable. There are important legal and practical reasons to take workplace bullying/ harassment seriously and to respond to it accordingly. Recognizing and identifying workplace bullying Some examples of what is not workplace bullying are discussed elsewhere in this issue. Certainly, conduct that may constitute workplace bullying falls on a wide spectrum, from isolated incidents to prolonged campaigns, from the seemingly innocuous to the extreme and vicious. Bullying may occur between superiors and subordinates (and may flow in either direction), between coworkers unconnected by any reporting structure, through direct or virtual (online) conduct, and within or even outside the workplace itself. However, Employers are responsible for taking appropriate action to provide a safe workplace and for instituting and enforcing related policies. Some of the many forms of bullying that employers should watch out for include: * Interfering with the work of others; * Disregarding or criticizing work done by others; * Falsely accusing subordinates or coworkers of errors; * Insulting, belittling, demeaning or threatening others; * Using non-verbal tactics to intimidate others (e.g. glaring); * Discounting the thoughts or feelings of others; * Deliberately excluding others from work or social activities at work; * Encouraging others to turn against someone; * Making up or changing standards "on the fly"; and * Starting, or perpetuating, destructive rumours or gossip. Another example of bullying that is rapidly becoming an employer's concern is online bullying – whether the bullying is done at, or outside of, work. Much can be said about this topic, and many cases have recently been published about employees being disciplined or terminated for bullying or threatening coworkers, supervisors or subordinates via social media, even if the behavior occurred during off-hours, because the online conduct was somehow connected (or thought to be connected) to the employee's employment. Why address workplace bullying? Aside from any requirements to address bullying that may (or may not) be prescribed by legislation or collective agreements, employers have a vested interest in doing so: Employees who feel bullied are less productive Statistics from the Canada Safety Council show that bullied employees lose between 10% and 52% of work time from spending time defending themselves against the bully, networking with friends and coworkers for support and thinking about the situation. They often feel demotivated and stressed as a result of the situation, sometimes leading to sick leave due to stress-related illnesses. Significant damages may be awarded when an employer fails to act in face of bullying Last summer, the Ontario Court of Appeal released a decision which (although it significantly reduced the damages awarded by the court below) imposed a hefty damages award on the employer and the manager who bullied an employee until she left work and never returned. In Boucher v. Wal-Mart Canada Corp., 2014 ONCA 419, after refusing to falsify a record at the request of her manager, the employee was disciplined and then subjected to a campaign of ridicule, disrespect and humiliation by her manager, often in front of her coworkers. The manager regularly used profane language towards her and even pulled Boucher's subordinates in to meetings to witness him telling her how "stupid" she was and to otherwise demean her. Boucher complained to senior management under the employer's "open door communication" policy but her concerns were dismissed as being "unsubstantiated" and she was informed that she would be held accountable for complaining. Shortly thereafter, the manager grabbed Boucher by the elbow in front of a group of coworkers and again berated her by making her prove she could count to ten. Boucher was so humiliated that she left the store. She later emailed the employer saying that she would not return to work until her complaints about the manager were resolved. They never were and she never returned to work. Boucher's action for constructive dismissal and damages was tried before a judge and jury, who found that Boucher had been constructively dismissed and awarded her severance totalling 20 weeks' pay in accordance with her employment contract. The jury awarded damages against the manager personally in the amount of $100,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering, which the Court of Appeal upheld, as well as $150,000 in punitive damages, which the Court of Appeal reduced to $10,000 (for a total of $110,000 in damages against the manager). As against the employer, the Court of Appeal upheld the jury's award of $200,000 in aggravated damages but reduced the award of $1,000,000 to $100,000 for punitive damages (for a total of $300,000 in damages against the employer, in addition to the salary continuation Boucher had received). This case is certainly an example of flagrant misconduct by a workplace bully, and blatant disregard and inaction by the employer to end the manager's conduct. However, despite these extremes, this case serves as a reminder and a warning to employers (and managers/supervisors) that they may be held accountable for bullying behaviour – for failing to enforce workplace policies designed to protect employees, and/or for failing to take seriously the complaints of bullied employees (or in this case, for threatening retaliation for complaining). Some do's and don'ts of addressing workplace bullying DO: * Employers should implement a workplace bullying/ harassment policy, either as a stand-alone policy or as an element of their existing policies (e.g. social media policies, general codes of conduct). Review and update the policy periodically. Then, make the policy known to employees and enforce it! * Listen to employees who claim they are being bullied. * Pay attention to conduct that seems off-side or inappropriate. * Investigate complaints to determine if allegations of bullying are legitimate. * Take appropriate action – this may or may not involve disciplining the bully. Discipline may not always be required under the circumstances. Evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis and, if the circumstances warrant, don't be afraid to (reasonably and proportionately) discipline the workplace bully. DON'T: * Ignore conduct that amounts to bullying in the hopes that it will "just go away". * Impose negative consequences on a complainant if your investigation shows the complaint is not substantiated – this may discourage future complainants from coming forward, and could attract liability on the part of the employer. Ellen Oakes Thompson Frederickton, NB 506.444.8970 email@example.com When Harassment is not Harassment There is more and more discussion today about harassment and bullying in the workplace. This has led to assertions of harassment and bullying in situations even where the claims are unwarranted. Discipline is one of the most frequent areas where we see claims of harassment from employees employees claim that they are being harassed but managers feel they are simply doing their job. Problems arise because workplace harassment is a serious and legitimate topic, but employees sometimes allege they have been "harassed" because they are receiving negative feedback. The development of the law surrounding harassment has not changed the fact that employers are still allowed to discipline employees. Discipline is not a pleasant part of the relationship – for the employee or the employer – but that does not mean that it is harassment. Where the manager is acting appropriately and respectfully, there is no harassment. Importantly, adjudicators have confirmed that just because the situation is uncomfortable or there are unpleasant consequences for the employee, it does not equate to harassment. The frequently cited definition for workplace harassment is "engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome". Discipline can become harassment when it strays into this territory, for example, where the discipline is vindictive, cruel, or demeaning. However, the majority of discipline does not fall into the category of "harassment". Correcting problem behavior, providing a negative performance review, or telling an employee that he or she is falling below expectations would not usually be harassment but, instead, would be a normal function of the managerial role. Amodeo v. Craiglee Nursing Home provides some examples of alleged harassment where the conduct was merely 4 disciplinary in nature. For example, the employee was repeatedly reminded that she must document all discussions with residents' families. This was found to be a normal reminder of the expectations of the employee. Another allegation of harassment was based on the employee being told that she would have to work more hours if she could not keep up with completion of resident assessments, a required part of her job. The employee thought this was an impossible work demand. The Board found that, while some of the comments made towards the employee were blunt and unflattering, they were part of the manager's role in disciplining employees who were failing to meet expectations. What does this mean for Employers? While harassment is a serious matter, not every unpleasant situation for an employee is harassment. Employers can and should continue to discipline employees for problematic behavior. Where an employee claims they have been harassed, the employer should investigate the matter to ensure that the discipline was appropriate and the message was conveyed in a respectful manner. If such is the case, the employee should be reminded, respectfully, of the difference between being harassed and being asked to do her job. Stephen Carpenter, CHRP Charlottetown, PE 902.629.4556 firstname.lastname@example.org Patti Wheatley Charlottetown, PE 902.629.4546 email@example.com Top 10 Considerations for Workplace (and Thereabouts) Sexual Misconduct Over the past year Jian Ghomeshi went from being the "King of Spain" to eating "Humble Pie" (if you are too young/old to know what this is referring to, search "Moxie Früvous"). Whether it's the CBC or Bill Cosby, issues of sexual misconduct have been dominating the headlines. Even off-duty conduct is up for scrutiny – consider the worker who yells "FHRITP" to a reporter during a live broadcast 1 or heckles a female comedian off the stage during a work party. 2 Maybe it's time to revisit that Sexual Harassment Policy ("SHP"). Here's a top 10 list of things to consider: 1. Does the SHP conflict/overlap with other policies or processes? In recent years, employers have been adding a Respectful Workplace Policy, a Harassment Policy, and a Code of Conduct to their repertoire. Sometimes these policies are drafted in isolation without consideration of how they might affect other policies already in existence. Does having multiple policies still make sense for your organization? Should they be combined in one policy? Can the same behaviour be challenged under multiple policies? Similarly, it had been common for an SHP to have language prohibiting a complainant from filing a complaint under the SHP and also seeking a remedy pursuant to a grievance or through the relevant human rights legislation. More recently, policies are being revised to allow management the discretion to allow a process through an SHP even though a complainant may also file a complaint through another process to preserve any time limits. 2. Is your policy only about sexual harassment or are other types of sexual misconduct, such as sexual assault, included? How is sexual harassment defined? Is off-duty conduct covered? The definition of sexual harassment should at a minimum include these concepts: (a) A course of vexious conduct or comments related to sex (b) The conduct or comments are known or reasonably ought to be known to be unwelcome (c) The conduct or comments are repeated over time (or there is one significant event) (d) The conduct or comments may include (but are not limited to) conferring a benefit for a sexual favour. 3. Is the level of confidentiality appropriate? It's never a good idea to have an SHP which promises anonymity. Similarly, an SHP which provides too much confidentiality contributes to a "culture of silence" regarding the reporting of potential sexual harassment. In the fall out from the Ghomeshi investigations, The Toronto Star reported that a former York University Student was at an informal meeting of about 25 students in the fall of 1988 where residence advisors told the group that a couple of female students had said that Ghomeshi hit them. One said she was choked in a stairwell. Nothing official was done because the students were talking to the advisors "confidentially" to get advice. They were told to report it but none of them wanted to. Be careful to strike the right balance when addressing requests for confidentiality. Use wording to the effect of "confidentiality will be provided to the extent possible" and "people who participate in a process under the SHP are required to maintain confidentiality (or face discipline)". The SHP should also state that managers have a positive obligation to maintain a harassment-free workplace and therefore must intervene if they become aware of an allegation. 4. Who can file a complaint? Too often an SHP limits the ability to file a complaint to the person who was the target of the behaviour. If that person is unwilling to file a complaint then it is much more difficult for management to deal with the behaviour. SHPs are being revised to allow bystanders (those who have witnessed or know about potential sexual harassment) or management to initiate the complaint process. The SHP should also provide for discipline for false complaints made maliciously or in bad faith. 5. What are the time limits? Historically, the time limit in an SHP frequently corresponds to the time limit under the relevant human rights legislation. However, the legislative time limit may have changed. Further, the legislation may allow for extensions of the time limit under certain circumstances. Management may wish to retain discretion to waive a time limit under extenuating circumstances. 6. Have you maintained the right amount of discretion in your investigative process (formal vs. informal; internal vs. external)? 7. Are there various options for resolution (mediation, restorative justice, transformative mediation)? Have you been keeping up to date on emerging alternate dispute mechanisms and is the wording of your policy broad enough to include these? Restorative justice is a process where the perpetrators, victims and other stakeholders all come together to discover what and why something (e.g. sexual harassment) happened and how to fix it. It does not focus on punitive measures, as the thinking is that such measures do not change attitudes or positively influence future behaviour. Transformative mediation, similarly, is designed to get people communicating and working together. Its purpose is not to obtain a "settlement". Alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") can take many forms – is your SHP broad enough to include these or is it limited to traditional mediation? 8. What training is ongoing in conjunction with the Policy? Is it time to consider some of the new trends in training such as focusing on bystander intervention and consent? Bystanders are people who observe, or learn about, inappropriate workplace behaviour but who are not themselves the target of the behaviour. Workplaces across Canada are addressing attitudes such as "it was just a joke"; "she must have deserved it" and "it's none of my business" through bystander intervention awareness campaigns and education. Bystander training empowers men and women to take individual and collective responsibility for preventing sexual violence. These campaigns address fears or hesitation about getting involved. They teach people the skills they need to recognize and intervene when they witness behaviours that are, or may lead to, sexual violence. Similarly, more recent training on consent has abandoned the traditional "no means no" and moved to a "yes means yes" model reflecting that consent does not mean the absence of a "no" and cannot be provided in certain circumstances (e.g. minors, incapacity). Consent goes to the "unwelcome" component of the definition of sexual harassment. 9. What data are you keeping on the number of complaints and the manner in which they are resolved? Is this information available? If not, should you make it available to executives? What about to the workforce generally? 10. How are you evaluating the effectiveness of your Policy? Have you conducted audits of your staff to test their awareness of the Policy? 1 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/12/shawn-simoes-fired-hydro-one- fhritp_n_7269462.html 2 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/tc-transcontinental-employeesuspended-after-heckling-female-comic-at-awards-show/article24506521/ False/Unfounded Allegations: What about the Unsubstantiated Complaints? As long as there are harassment and respectful workplace policies that provide employees an opportunity to file complaints against their fellow employees, there will be, periodically, false or unfounded allegations. Employers can put themselves in a better position to avoid the liability associated with such false or unfounded allegations if they abide by the following: 1. A Clear and Appropriately Restrictive Definition of Bullying and Harassment Bullying and harassment are inherently fuzzy concepts. One person's harassment or bullying may be another person's discipline or constructive criticism. A clear definition of bullying and harassment that is contained in a policy ("Policy") that complies with applicable legislation should decrease the number of false or unfounded allegations. 2. Written Complaint The Policy should require the Complainant to provide a written complaint, outlining in detail the material facts associated with the alleged harassment or bullying (i.e. who, what, when, where, why, how, and witnesses). A false or unfounded allegation may be evident from the written Complaint. If the Complainant is unable to write the Complaint, an unbiased member of management may assist. Such assistance, however, has to be provided carefully to avoid any suggestion that the manager "put words in the Complainant's mouth" or omitted key facts. The Complainant should be given the opportunity to review and approve the final version of the Complaint. 3. The Investigator The Investigator should be unbiased, detail oriented, willing and able to ask tough questions (particularly of the Complainant) in as sensitive a way as possible. Working knowledge of basic legal concepts (fairness, hearsay, harassment), and the ability to write well are also important qualities the Investigator should possess. 4. Give the Respondent the Opportunity to Respond A fair and thorough investigation must give the Respondent (i.e. the person against whom the allegations are being made) an opportunity (and likely many opportunities) to respond to the Complaint and witness statements. 5. Do Not Rush to Judgment "Gut-feelings" and "hunches" should never override objective evidence and analysis. A Respondent's past performance difficulties do not give an employer license to rush to judgement. This is not to say that the Respondent's past is irrelevant but it can never override objective evidence and analysis. 6. Speed is Important but Getting it Right is More Important Bullying and harassment allegations have to be investigated with relative speed, but speed should not override the goal of "getting it right". Employers who get it wrong (because, for example, they jumped to a conclusion without conducting a thorough investigation) inevitably subject themselves to potential liability (e.g. bad faith findings, punitive damages, defamation claims, etc.). 7. Do not Overreact When serious allegations are made and such serious allegations, if true, put other members of the workplace in jeopardy, extraordinary measures may be appropriate (e.g. call the police, remove the employee against whom the allegations were made from the workplace). Employers, however, must proceed with caution because an overreaction that is detrimental to a Respondent's reputation will be problematic. 8. Confidentiality There is no question that maintaining confidentiality is easier said than done, but employers should make best efforts to make sure that the process is as confidential as possible. Confidentiality cannot be promised to the Complainant or Respondent because the Respondent, Complainant, and witnesses must be interviewed and be able to respond to specific factual assertions. However, this does not mean that witnesses should not be cautioned against "gossiping" about their interviews. Confidentiality should be emphasized. 9. If Allegations are Unfounded If the allegations are unfounded, the Respondent and Complainant should be so advised in separate meetings. Some policies provide that making intentionally false allegations will result in discipline. Given the fuzziness associated with even the most carefully worded definition of bullying and harassment, it may be difficult to conclude that a Complainant made an intentionally false allegation. In the event of unfounded allegations and when it is evident that confidentiality has not been maintained (see #8), an appropriate communications strategy should be created. There is no "one size fits all" communications strategy because any such strategy will be dependent upon the size and nature of the workplace, the allegations, and the extent to which confidentiality has been breached. Importantly, employees will need to be assured that, even though unfounded allegations may arise from time-to-time, the internal reporting system, and any resulting investigation, will be managed in a fair and reasonable way. 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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. INTRODUCTION The Municipality of Banna, Ilocos Norte was created by virtue of Republic Act No. 3997 dated December 18, 1964 as Municipality of Espiritu but renamed to Banna through Provincial Ordinance No. 120-95. The Municipality, like any other government units, enjoys total independence in managing, deciding and planning its own administrative, fiscal and developmental affairs in conformity with the national government's thrust for sustainable social and economic growth. Also, the LGU is envisioned to be a model for academic excellence, public health and safety, environmental preservation and good governance, providing equal opportunity for all its constituents in a peaceful, friendly atmosphere through God-centered leadership of the incumbent elected officials. The Municipality is a 4 th class municipality effective July 29, 2008 by virtue of Memorandum Circular No. 01-M(32)-08 dated November 12, 2008 of the Bureau of Local Government Finance, Department of Finance, Manila. The Municipality is currently headed by its Local Chief Executive, Hon. Carlito A. Abadilla II together with the Vice-Mayor Mary Chrislyn C. Abadilla and the Sangguniang Bayan Members. The overall manpower complement of the municipality as of December 31, 2018 is 138 which is composed of 12 elective officials, 46 permanent, 7 casuals and 73 job order employees. B. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS The municipality's financial conditions and operations are as follows: The Municipality of Banna appropriated the total amount of ₱85,145,500.71 in the General Fund with the total obligations of ₱59,743,729.57 for year 2018 while in 2017, the total appropriations and obligations were ₱82,806,966.00 and ₱55,923,023.20 respectively. Also, the Municipality appropriated the total amount of ₱1,877,891.91 in the Special Education Fund with total obligations of ₱1,350,030.00 for the year 2018 while in 2017, the total appropriations and obligations were ₱826,200.00 and ₱572,507.00 respectively. C. OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS The major accomplishments of the Municipality are the following: D. SCOPE OF AUDIT AND METHODOLOGY The Audit Team conducted a comprehensive audit on the accounts and operations of the Municipality of Banna, Ilocos Norte for Calendar Year 2018. The examination includes the review of operating procedures, interview with concerned officials and employees, verification/confirmation, reconciliation and analysis of accounts, and such other procedures considered necessary. The audit aimed to ascertain the propriety of financial transactions and compliance of the local government unit to prescribed rules and regulations. It was also made to ascertain the accuracy of financial records and reports, as well as the fairness of the presentation of the financial statements. It was further aimed at knowing whether development programs and projects were implemented in the most economical, efficient and effective manner. E. AUDITOR'S OPINION ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS A qualified opinion was rendered on the fairness of the presentation of the financial statements of the Municipality of Banna, Ilocos Norte as of December 31, 2018 because of the following reasons: (1) the propriety of the year-end balance of the Property Plant and Equipment account amounting to ₱253,218,042.70 cannot be established due to nonsubmission of Report of the Physical Count of Property Plant and Equipment, (2) the correctness and reliability of the year-end balance of the Cash in Bank – Local Currency, Current Account amounting to ₱235,419,216.46 cannot be established due to non-submission of bank reconciliation statements, (3) the recorded transactions of the municipality could not be ascertained due to non-submission of several disbursement vouchers and payrolls totaling ₱8,803,941.01. F. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Some transactions which need to be corrected or improved are enumerated in the herein audit observations with its corresponding recommendations, as follows: 1. The Municipality had inadequate internal control system on property management due to the inability of management to implement the previous years' audit recommendations to conduct/submit physical inventory of its properties totaling ₱224,840,944.81 (net book value) as prescribed under Sections 119, 120 and 124 of the New Government Accounting System for LGUs, Volume 1, thus no complete report thereon was prepared that would vouch for the physical existence, validity and correctness of the balances of Property, Plant and Equipment in the financial statements at year-end. We recommended that the Local Chief Executive issue an order/memorandum immediately for the conduct of physical inventory taking within a determined period of time and submit the inventory report within ten (10) days from the completion of the inventory taking as required under Chapter 7, Volume I of the New Government Accounting System (NGAS) for LGUs. A full time permanent personnel be employed incharged of property records considering the properties of the municipality is increasing every year. Also, monitor the progress of the inventory taking to ensure the submission of prescribed and complete RPCPPE within the target period. Lost/missing issued government properties should be charge to the persons accountable. 2. The reliability and accuracy of the balance of Cash in Bank account in the total amount of ₱235,419,216.46 is doubtful due to non-preparation of monthly Bank Reconciliation Statements, thus rendering the said account unreliable. We recommended that management submit monthly bank reconciliation statements and its supporting documents to our Office within the prescribed period stated above in order to establish the accuracy and reliability of the cash in bank balances during the period or at year-end. 3. Paid Disbursement Vouchers and Payrolls for CY 2018 totaling ₱ 8,803,941.01 were not submitted contrary to Section 7.2.1 of the Rules and Regulations on Settlement of Accounts as prescribed by COA Circular No 2009-006 and Section 5.3 of COA Circular No. 97-002, thus complete audit was not made rendering the transactions doubtful. We recommended that the Municipal Accountant submit all paid vouchers, payrolls and all reports within ten (10) days from ensuing month to the Auditor in order for the latter to have ample time to examine and audit all transactions of the Municipality. 4. The Municipality was not able to comply with the transition provision on the phased recognition of the Local Road Networks in the books of accounts which requires 75% compliance at the end of 2018 as stated under Item IX of COA Circular No 2015-008 hence, road network account was understated in the financial statements at year-end. We recommended that the Municipal Mayor to require the GSO coordinate with the Municipal Engineer to prepare the road map of the municipality for the proper inventory and reporting of the municipality's road network system. Further recommended, the Municipal Engineer to provide the Accountant and GSO with cost and description of all road components. The Municipal Accountant to record the amount of road networks equivalent to the required transition provision of 75% as of CY 2018 and 100% for the year 2019. 5. Cash advance made by the Municipal Treasurer for the payment of economic assistance of job orders for calendar year 2018 was not supported with a legal basis as required by Section 1.1.1 of COA Circular 2012-001 dated July 14, 2012, hence legality of the assistance made to the job orders was not ascertained. We recommended the submission of legal basis to support the payment of economic assistance to job orders, otherwise, disallowed in audit. 6. The Agency Head did not enforce the settlement of audit disallowances despite the issuance of COA Order of Execution (COE) in violation of Section 7.1.3 of COA Circular No. 2009-006 which resulted in the accumulation of unsettled disallowances with an aggregate amount of ₱714,017.72 as of December 31, 2018. We recommended that the Local Chief Executive direct the Municipal Treasurer to strictly enforce the immediate settlement of the disallowances by withholding the salaries and other compensation due to the persons liable as provided under Section 7.1.3 of COA Circular No. 2009-006. Also, may we invite your attention to the provisions of Rule XIII Section 3 of the 2009 Revised Rules of Procedure of the Commission on Audit (RRPC). 7. Disbursement vouchers in the total amount of ₱ 1,815,203.00 were not supported with complete documents contrary to COA Circular No. 2012-001 and the provisions of RA 9184, thus regularity and legality of the expenditures could not be ascertained. We recommended that management cause the immediate submission of the lacking documents to our Office for evaluation. Also, ensure that payments be made only if the claims are properly and completely documented to avoid suspensions in audit. 8. Construction in Progress account totalling ₱98,196,165.22 was not closed to appropriate asset account as required under Section 50 of the New Government Accounting System Manual Volume I, thus construction in progress is overstated and the appropriate asset account is understated in the financial statement. We recommended that the Municipal Accountant determine the completed projects and make necessary adjusting entries to effect the transfer from the Construction in Progress public infrastructure, buildings and other structure accounts to appropriate asset acount. 9. Programs, projects and activities funded under RA 7171 and RA 8240 totaling ₱119,165,416.00 were not implemented during the year contrary to the Supplemental Investment Program of the LGU of Banna for CY 2018 and Section 1 of R.A 7171, thus defeating the purpose of the fund of extending support to tobacco farmers. We recommended that management fully implement the programs/project/activities under RA 7171 and RA 8240 as planned and budgeted to help the tobacco farmers to augment their income and for the attainment of economic growth. G. SUMMARY OF TOTAL SUSPENSIONS, DISALLOWANCES AND CHARGES AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2018 \| Particulars \| Beginning Balance January 1, 2018 \| Issued \| Settled \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Notice of Suspension \| 1,498,680.04 \| 10,892,270.19 \| 0 \| \| Notice of Disallowance \| 2,251,134.27 \| 10,902,863.97 \| 0 \| \| Notice of Charge \| 0.00 \| 0.00 \| 0 \| \| Total \| 3,749,814.31 \| 21,795,134.16 \| 0 \| H. STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIOR YEARS' AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS Of the 54 audit recommendations embodied in the 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2009 Annual Audit Report. 25 were fully implemented, 16, were partially implemented, 3 were not implemented and 10 were reiterated in this report
Responsive Repairs Policy Asset Services GENERAL - EXTERNAL Date of next review: 01/08/2024 Date: 31/07/2022 1. Purpose This policy sets out Riverside's commitment to deliver an efficient and effective responsive repairs service that meets the needs of Riverside customers and enables Riverside to fulfil its statutory, regulatory and contractual obligations. Carrying out repairs is one of the most important services Riverside deliver to its customers. We want Riverside homes to be maintained in an affordable manner and ensure all Riverside homes provide its customers with a safe, warm and dry home, where everything is in working order. 2. Scope This policy covers repairs services to customers who rent their home under a tenancy agreement, customers who rent under a license, and those who own them as a leaseholder (whether through shared ownership or outright). Both our repairing obligations and those of our customers vary between those tenures, and this is reflected in the policy. The policy covers responsive repairs within customers' homes (including their gardens and garages, subject to terms of the tenancy, license, or lease agreement), in communal areas, and to communal assets for example, shared gardens, shared spaces including lifts and corridors. Riverside defines a Responsive Repair as unplanned work that is reported by our customers about their homes, or which arise from damage or wear and tear to communal areas and common parts. It rectifies, and makes good, a component, installation or part of a Riverside property for which w e are responsible, when it is faulty or needs repairing. This policy should be read in conjunction with the Policies outlined in section 4. This policy does not include planned or cyclical maintenance, which includes any Aids & Adaptation installation works. (Appendix 1 sets out our definitions of Responsive Repairs and Planned and Cyclical Maintenance). GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 3. Principles 3.1 Our policy is to: − Ensure we meet our repair obligations so that Riverside homes are well maintained, throughout the duration of the tenancy. − Comply with all legislative, regulatory and contractual (including tenancy) obligations. − Deliver an effective repairs service which responds to the needs of customers, and which aims to complete repairs at the first visit, within the priority times outlined within the policy. − Ensure our customers are aware of their repair responsibilities and our repair responsibilities, and that these are met. − Communicate effectively to our customers at all times in relation to the delivery of our responsive repairs service and enable Customers to communicate effectively with us (see Appendix 3). − Offer our customers suitable and convenient choice in booking appointments for repairs. 3.2 The following standards are the minimum that must be achieved: − Complete an inspection where this is required to determine the nature of the repair. − Resolve the fault at the first repair visit, wherever possible. − Meet the repair obligations that are contained within the tenancy agreement/lease and as set within law. − Delivers a customer focused service (Homes, not houses). − Use a range of communications tools to deliver an efficient service to our customers during and after booking a repair with us. (Please read Appendix 2). − Deliver quality work in a courteous manner. − Be cost effective and provide a value for money service. − Proactively consult with customers when required. − Flexibility to cover all types of contractual arrangements. 3.3 As a landlord, we are required to meet certain obligations that are set out in law. Additionally, our tenancy (or leasehold) agreements set out the responsibilities for both Riverside and our customers. Appendix 2 provides a breakdown of the responsibilities for Riverside and our customers. 3.4 Not all repairs will require an inspection. If an inspection is required, this will be completed within 7 calendar days. We categorise repairs with varying timescales as follo ws: \| P1 \| Emergency \| \|---\|---\| \| P2 \| Urgent \| \| P3 \| Routine Repairs \| \| P5 \| Routine Repairs \| (Used only during extreme circumstances, for example, Covid pandemic) Details of categories for Emergency and Urgent repairs are contained in Appendix 1. 3.5 We will seek to offer our customers reasonable choice in making a repairs appointment. If we need to change agreed arrangements, we will contact the customer as far in advance as possible to advise them. Please see below appointment times: Monday – Friday: 8am – 1pm Monday – Friday: 1pm – 5pm (Thursday evening 5pm - 8pm) Monday – Friday: 'Avoid School Run' 10am – 2pm Saturday: 8am – 12pm NB – The appointment times above are not subject to any repairs that fall into the Emergency criteria (see Appendix 1). 3.6 Our tenancy, license and leasehold agreements require customers to allow us (including appointed contractors) access to their home to carry out repairs at the agreed appointment time. If we are unable to gain access to carry out the repairs and the integrity of the property, its fabric and/or the safety of the customer or those in the vicinity of the property is compromised, we will take appropriate action to gain access to carry out the repair. This may include but is not limited to obtaining an injunction for access. If we are required to gain access this way, we will consider taking both immediate and retrospective action against the customer for the breach of their tenancy conditions. We may pass on to the customer the costs incurred by us taking this action. 3.7 Anyone working in our customer's home on our behalf is expected to meet our code of conduct (see Appendix 4). We will monitor the quality of our contractor's work and how they behave in our customers' homes. In return, we expect our customers to always treat our employees and contractors with respect. 3.8 We aim to meet all our obligations to carry out repairs within statute and this policy. If we do not, our customers can contact us and inform us of this. We will respond to complaints regarding our repairs service in line with our Complaints policy and Customer Feedback procedure. 3.9 We will monitor the quality of repairs through completion of Customer Satisfaction Surveys, the results of which will be published on our website. 3.10 In the event that flooring is installed due to being damaged from a repair, newly installed flooring must meet the following minimum performance: 4. Further Information & Support Stock Transfers: In some instances, specific transfer promises were made as part of a former stock transfer. If this is the case, Riverside will honour any promises that were made within a formal stock transfer agreement that was issued to customers. Right to Repair (Scotland): Right to Repair Right to repair covers a number of defined repairs identified under legislation, which if not completed within the target timescales allows the tenant to seek an alternative contractor and compensation may be payable for non -completion of the works. Our Right to Repair leaflet provides further inf ormation on applicable repairs and is available on Riverside Scotland's web page. Key Legal and Regulatory References: * Building Safety Bill * Defective Premises Act 1972 * Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 * Housing Act 1988 * Environmental Protection Act 1990 * Fire Safety Act 2021 Gas Safety (Installations and Use) Regulations 1998 * Health and Social Care Act 2008 * Housing Act 2004 * Equality Act 2010 Related Policies and Procedures: * Aids & Adaptation Policy * Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 * Home Standard, Regulator of Social Housing 2015 * Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 * Party Wall Act 2016 * Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) * Gas Safety Management Regulation 1996 * Housing Scotland Act 2001 * Housing Scotland Act 2006 * Asbestos Procedure * Complaints Policy * Customer Care Policy * Customer Feedback Procedure * Damp and Mould Policy * Decant Procedure * Empty Homes Standard * Electrical Safety Policy * Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy * Financial Redress Procedure * Fire Safety Policy * Gas Management Policy * Health & Safety Policy * Our Planned Standard * Warning Marker Procedure * Water Safety Policy 5. Roles and Responsibilities 5.1 What we and our customers are each responsible for is set out in our tenancy/leasehold/licence agreements. 5.2 We will maintain a list on our website of our and our customers' responsibilities (See Appendix 2). However, it is always the law and the indivi dual tenancy agreements that govern these responsibilities in each case, not this website list. In particular: − We expect our customers to treat their homes, and carry out repairs and maintenance, in accordance with the responsibilities set out in their ten ancy or lease agreement. We will not normally undertake repairs which, under the tenancy or lease agreement, are the customer's responsibility (though please see below on "assisting our customers"). − We will not normally undertake repairs to fixtures and f ittings installed by our customers. If we do attend a customer's home and it is found to be a customer's own installed component, we reserve the right to recover the cost of the repair from the customer; if we cannot repair then we will replace it with a component from the Riverside specification. − Where damage is caused by customers (or their family or visitors) to their home we will expect the customer to rectify it. If the customer does not do so, or does not do so to the required standard, we may carry out the repair and recover the cost of doing so from the customer. GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 5.3 We know that occasionally our customers believe that we should undertake repairs and maintenance that, under the tenancy, licence, or lease agreements, are not considered to be our responsibility. These most commonly relate to: − Trees and bushes. At the start of the tenancy, Riverside will ensure they are at a reasonable height and span (taking into account proximity to paths/buildings, blocking light etc.), are not causing damage and are not significantly diseased. We will expect customers to then maintain trees at the height and span during the tenancy. Leaseholders should check their lease agreement to check on where responsibility for trees lies, as there can be variations depending on the agreement and where the tree is situated, for example within comm unal gardens tree maintenance is usually Riverside's responsibility or the responsibility of a managing agent. − Walls, fences and boundaries . Riverside is responsible for boundary fences (this includes fences that lead onto a public right of way such as a road, field, waterway or car park. This also includes dividing fences that are between two properties. − Mould and Condensation. We ask our customers, where they can, to adequately heat rooms – The World Health Organisation recommends 18°c; customers should also ensure that the ventilation units provided are switched on to eradicate the possibility of condensation and mould occurring. Customers who are concerned about the cost of energy bills can contact Riverside's Affordable Warmth Team for advice. We advise that our customers clear mould spots as soon as they appear using an antifungal cleaning product. If customers have attempted to clean the area and it continues to come back, it should be reported to us so we can arrange for it to be inspected and asses s the underlying cause. This only relates to social and affordable rent properties. Leasehold customers should refer to their individual lease. Please also refer to Riverside's Damp and Mould Policy for further guidance. − Decoration. Customers are responsible for decorating and maintaining decorative order within their homes. However, where we have completed a repair and that repair has resulted in damage to existing décor, or an obvious and significant contrast between the repaired area and existing décor, we will make good that area and decorate it. The nature and extent of the decoration will be solely at our discretion. This only relates to social and affordable rent GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next 01/08/2024 review: properties. We have no such equivalent responsibilities in respect of leasehold homes. 5.4 Assisting our customers. We recognise that some of our customers may need help when it comes to meeting their repair responsibilities. We may, entirely at our discretion, provide a service in addition to the statutory and contractual responsibilities, t o assist our customers who may need support to meet the conditions of their tenancy. We will make this assessment based on the individual customer's needs at the point of the repair request, including whether there is anyone else who might reasonably assis t them, and whether there are any immediate risks to their health or safety. This may include an extension to the scope of repairs which we carry out. GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 6. Risks \| Risk Appetite \| Risk Thresholds \| \|---\|---\| \| • We seek to avoid legal or regulatory breaches regarding Disrepair. • Abandoned repairs will be minimised by making repair appointments and communicating details of when repairs are due to be completed. • We seek to avoid any health & safety concerns for our customers and others. \| • Compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. • Compliance with all Asset Key Performance Indicators. \| 7. Appeal & Complaints We aim to meet all our obligations to carry out repairs within statute and this policy. If we do not, our customers can contact us and inform us of this. We will respond to complaints regarding our repairs service in line with our Com plaints policy and Customer Feedback procedure. 8. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Riverside is committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. We strive to be fair in our dealings with all people, communities and organisations, taking into account the diverse nature of their culture and background and actively promoting inclusion. This policy aligns with Riverside's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and has been subject to an Equality Impact Assessment. Appendix 1: Definitions \| \| Term \| Description \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Responsive Repair \| \| \| \| Planned or Cyclical Maintenance \| \| \| \| Emergency Repairs (England) \| \| \| \| Emergency Repairs (Scotland) \| 4 Hours: Fire, gas leak; boiler fumes leak; water mains leak within property (or flat above); no power; burst radiator (not a minor leak); insecure property; blocked or broken WC (if only one in property); community alarm failure; smoke alarm failure; health & safety related matters. 12 Hours: Water leak; part power failure; leaking radiator (not a major leak); no hot water; faulty drainage; common stair lighting failure; major rain penetration through roof; safety related matters. \| \|---\|---\| \| Urgent Repairs (gas) (P15 – 3 calendar days) \| Urgent gas repairs will be completed in 24 hours during 1st October to 31st March, and in other months will be completed in up to 3 calendar days. \| \| Urgent Repairs (P2 – 5 calendar days) \| Problems with general lighting within the property (not kitchen and bathroom which are classed as an emergency) Severe, visible mould on internal plastered surfaces, such as ceilings or walls. (NB. Please see Damp & Mould policy) Equipment or debris in communal areas and bin chutes, or problems with removing waste materials. \| Any hazard in communal areas, such as slip, trip and fall hazards, rodent infestations or damaged play equipment. Problems with communal TV aerials. Follow on gas work, for example if a part is required. Appendix 2: Responsibilities Riverside: We will keep in repair the structure and exterior of your home including: − Drains, gutters and external pipes. − The roof. − External walls and doors of your home, windowsills, sash cords, external window and door frames, catches and glass, including necessary painting and decoration. − Internal walls, skirting boards, doors and door frames, floors, ceilings and plasterwork, but not including decoration of these. − Chimneys and chimney stacks and flues but excluding the swe eping of chimneys. − Pathways and steps (where they are the main means of access to your home). − Garages and stores (if included in your tenancy). − Boundary walls and fences that are present at the start of your tenancy. − Faulty locks to windows and doors (but not lost keys) − Washing lines (communal areas only) We will keep in repair and working order the installations for room heating, water heating and sanitation and for the supply of water, gas and electricity, including: − Basins, sinks, baths, toilets (but not the toilet seat), flushing systems and waste pipes. − Electrical wiring, gas pipes and water pipes. − Water heaters, fitted fires and central heating installations; (if a gas fire or any other fossil fuel appliance is installed as a secondary source, it will not be replaced.) − Sockets and light fittings, that were present or installed at the time the tenancy started. − Bathroom and Kitchen light bulbs that were present or installed at the time the tenancy started. − Smoke alarms which were present in the property at the time the tenancy started. − Ventilation. − Fire doors within communal premises, entrance doors onto communal walkway, and internal doors (flats only). We must carry out annual inspections of gas appliances, pipework and flues and all properties must have a valid electrical safety inspection certificate (EICR) every 5 years. We must take care to keep in repair the communal entrances, hallways, stairways, lifts, passageways, rubbish chutes and any, and all communal parts and areas, including electric lighting and septic tanks. We will keep in repair and working order any adaptations that we have provided in the customers home, including stair lifts and hoists. We will not be responsible for anything installed by the customer or a third party (including any person or organisation that provides support to the customer.) We will not be liable for the repair of any of the items listed above, if the repair is necessary because of damage to, or neglect of the customers home by the customer (including any failure to comply with their tenancy agreement), or members of their household or visitors. Please refer to section 5.2. Our Customers: The customer will tell us about any repairs that need to be done that are our responsibility as soon as they become aware of them. The customer will allow our staff, agents and contractors access to their home. GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 The customer will carry out any minor repairs to their home that are not Riverside's responsibility. This includes, but not limited to: − Replacing or repairing any fixtures or fittings (such as locks and keys, hinges, glass in doors and windows, baths, toilets, sinks, and basins) which require attention due to misuse by the customer, or members of their household or visitors to their home. − Decorating the inside of their home and keeping it in a reasonable state of decoration. − Keeping all baths, sinks and cisterns, sanitary fittings and drains clean and unblocked. − Renewing chains and plugs for sinks, baths and basins. − Replacing light bulbs. − Repairing and, if necessary replacing, gate catches, fireplace tiles and locks. − Maintaining in a good state of repair any fixtures and fittings that the customer installs in their home (including cookers and electrical appliances). − Maintaining in a good state of repair all toilet seats. − Replacing lost keys. − Checking and (if required) replacing batteries in any smoke or carbon monoxide detector in their home. − Cleaning any mould caused by condensation. − Altering doors for carpets (unless flats within communal blocks) − Filling small plaster cracks. − Clothes posts and lines (unless communal) − TV aerials (unless communal) − All "making good" and repairs when vacating a property. The customer must keep their private garden tidy by cutting any grass regularly, keeping trees and shrubs trimmed and maintaining any beds. N.B Please be aware that repair responsibilities for Supported Housing customers will be covered by our "Assisting our Customers". GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 Appendix 3: How to Report a Repair and Understanding the Progress of a Repair Riverside offer a variety of methods in which a customer can report a repair. These include: − Our Customer Service Centre (available 24/7) via telephone on 0345 111 0000 or for One Housing customers on 0300 123 9966. − Online via our website, or by using our Live Chat function. − Online using our customer app My Riverside or My OneHousing. − Via email email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.org − Contacting their local Riverside/OHG representative. Customers receive email or text confirmations after they have ordered a repair and can also check on its status via the App which can be downloaded from our website. On the day that a repair is due to be completed customers can track where operatives are while travelling to their home for a repair appointment. It provides a real-time location and a method of two-way communication between the customer and operative during the journey, should there be a need for contact before arrival. Operatives will advise customers on the status of their repair i.e. if it is complete or if any follow-on works will be required. Appendix 4: Code of Conduct and Expectations Our contractors agree to meet our code of conduct. We expect them to: − Keep their appointments or, if it is necessary to change them, do so and advise customers of this in good time. − Carry and show an identification card bearing their name, the name of their employer, and a recent photograph of themselves. − Work efficiently and tidily. − Treat the customer and their home with respect. − Be polite at all times. GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024 − Clear up after themselves. − If a repair cannot be resolved on first contact, a follow -on appointment will be agreed upon on site between the Riverside contractor and customer. Our contractors/colleagues have a right to feel safe while at work and may remove themselves from any situation if they determine it to be necessary. In return, we ask our customers to: − Provide Riverside and our contractors access to their home at the agreed appointment time – or change it as soon as possible if the customer is not going to be at home at the agreed time. − Treat our staff and contractors with respect. − Check the contractor's identification card and if there are any concerns about the authenticity of the identity to call our customer service centre immediately on 0345 111 000 / 0300 123 9966. − Take children with them if they have to leave the property whilst the contractor is in their home. − Refrain from smoking inside while the contractor is in their home. − We ask that all non-contained pets (e.g. dogs, cats) are removed from the area of repair. Period of Review: Our policy review programme is driven by service improvement initiatives, changes to legislation, regulation, evolving good practice or feedback from customers and other stakeholders. Typically, we review policies on a three -year cycle. This policy will be maintained by the Business Management & Repairs team who will be responsible for all amendments to the document. Document Control (Internal Use ONLY) \| Version \| 2 \| \|---\|---\| \| Reference \| ASRR002 \| \| Total Pages \| 18 \| \| Policy Sponsor \| Ian Gregg \| \| Policy Owner \| Phil Pemberton \| Change Category (Internal Use ONLY) \| Category of Change \| Tick Box \| \|---\|---\| \| Minor Changes (Non-Strategic) \| \| \| Major Changes (Re-Write) \| \| \| Summary of Changes Made \| \| Quality Assurance and Approval (Internal Use ONLY) \| Consultation and Approval \| Tick Box \| Date \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Associated Documents Reviewed \| \| \| \| Consultees: i.e. RCVE, GAC, relevant colleagues (specify teams) \| \| \| \| EIA complete and submitted with policy for approval \| \| \| GENERAL - EXTERNAL Policy Approval Date: 31/07/2022 Date of next review: 01/08/2024
How can we design critical thinking tools to anticipate, understand and address the complex impacts of AI systems in society and the environment? Master in Design for Responsible Artiﬁcial Intelligence Start date End of September ECTS credits 60 Course duration 400 hours Language English Degree Master's Degree in Design for Responsible Artiﬁcial Intelligence Schedule Monday-Thursday (16:00-19:00 CET online / 16:00-20:00 CET in-person) Director Andres Colmenares Admission Requirements Design graduates and professionals with experience in the public or private sector of the digital economy in areas related to tech, social innovation, culture or media. It is not essential to have a bachelor's degree to take this master's degree; we value professional experience as much as college education. If you have doubts about whether you would be a good ﬁt for this programme, please submit your request for a case-by-case evaluation. Welcome to an eclectic way of learning how to think through AI systems Design as a critical thinking tool for systems change Artiﬁcial Intelligence (AI) is considered one of the most important technical developments of our times. Since its early origins in the late 1950s as a scientiﬁc discipline that aimed to simulate different forms of intelligence using machines, the term AI has been equally used by computer scientists, new media artists, tech journalists, investors, politicians and science ﬁction writers to refer in multiple ways to a fascinating speculation: that cognitive functions as learning, reasoning, perception or even creativity can be described and modelled with such accuracy that it would be possible to reproduce them using computers. During the last decade, the exponential growth of computational power, planetary-scale data collection technologies and a data-driven media culture have enabled a wide range of successful applications of AI systems in areas such as natural language comprehension or image and speech recognition, accelerating the adoption of these systems across industries for process, task and decision automation at unprecedented scales, giving rise to crucial interrelated ethical, societal and environmental challenges in public and private sectors. The emergence of Responsible AI In recent years, as a way to address these challenges, different research institutions, governments and private companies around the globe, have developed robust research projects to design principles, guidelines, methodologies and tools for ethical, accountable and trustworthy AI systems and practices, often referred to as the emerging ﬁeld of 'Responsible AI'. Responsible AI practices aim to understand AI as socio-technical systems to study the different impacts they have in society and the Planet, while designing theories, frameworks, methods and other tools for an ethical, legal, and sustainable development, deployment, governance and usage of AI systems. There is a growing need in the public and private sectors, particularly in Europe, to provide tech workers from technical and non-technical backgrounds with a transversal set of capabilities and mindsets to collectively learn how to transform principles (ways of thinking) such as transparency, justice and fairness, non-maleﬁcence, responsibility and privacy into action (ways of doing) to assess and mitigate risks, increase digital media literacy in the wider public and learn the best ways humanity can use these powerful technologies to address the socio-ecological implications of the environmental emergency and make possible the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The Master in Design for Responsible Artiﬁcial Intelligence (MDRAI) aims to address this need with a part-time programme for professionals interested in developing skills in creative research, context analysis, critical thinking and storytelling, and strategic decision-making while investigating the multiple ways in which AI systems are impacting our daily lives and engaging with complex questions emerging from wider issue areas related to digital technologies in sustainability, ethics and social justice from an intersectional and transdisciplinary perspective. Programme Our programme aims to create a collaborative learning environment for the individual and collective development of critical knowledge, skills and capabilities needed to anticipate, identify, investigate and address social, ethical, environmental and cultural challenges emerging from the application of AI systems. The programme is partially informed by the insights and recommendations from the 'Framework for Trustworthy AI Education'1, part of the Erasmus+ project 'Trustworthy AI', with the goal of facilitating the introduction of the High-Level Expert Group's Guidelines on Trustworthy AI 2 (EUCommission, 2018) into Higher Education across disciplines and aligned with the EU's digital strategy, which emphasises the need to train professionals that can "shape technology in a way that respects European values". Programme structure The MDRAI program is a collaborative learning journey organised into 3 terms and 7 modules, offered in a low-residency mode which runs for 40 weeks over 10 months between September and June, where participants will expand the ways of thinking about AI and AI systems to better understand the technical foundations and state of the art of related technologies in a social context, alongside the full cycle for the design, development and evaluation of automated decision-making systems and their impact on society and the Planet. Term I (end of September — December) In this term, students alongside faculty and other guest collaborators, will interact to organise as a creative research collective around a self-assigned theme related to the Master's core topics that will run across the three terms of the program, as a way to practice and reﬂect on the power of collective intelligence. 2 Elisava You will also develop an advanced and multidimensional understanding of AI from its origins as a scientiﬁc discipline and its philosophical connotations to how AI systems work and are being used today in a wide range of contexts. You will also explore and understand the state-of-art of AI systems, their true capabilities and limitations, as a way to enable students to communicate their knowledge in advanced and explainable terms across technical and non-technical disciplines, while exploring and investigating the multidimensional impacts of AI systems, guided by specialists and researchers working in different sectors and regions. Module 1: Creative Research & Imagination Collaboratory In this module, you will develop skills to work effectively as a member of groups and networks of people with different levels of expertise, cultural and professional backgrounds, while learning how to research and analyze speciﬁc themes in creative, collaborative and collective ways while cultivating reﬂective and intuitive ways of investigating complex topics. We will also empower you to align your individual and collective learning experience with the cultural, ecological and societal transformations shaping this decade. Main Activities: A. Creating an R&I Collaboratory. A practical introduction to collaborative ways of learning, researching and cooperating while collectively deciding short and long-term goals, principles, guidelines and a manifesto. B. Researching Creative Research. Through self-assigned collective research projects, workshops, reading groups and debates, students will explore, reﬂect on and practice creative research methods, from artistic to indigenous approaches, with guidance from a transdisciplinary network of mentors. C. Designing for the Next Billion Seconds. Following a collective learning-by-doing approach, the students will explore, discuss, reﬂect, ideate and exchange perspectives, questions and thought experiments, while exercising their collective imaginations with long-term, critical and planetary mindsets to navigate the complexity, scale and speed of change of the multidimensional implications that AI systems and the digital economy have in the environmental emergency. Module 2: Decoding AI Systems Through lectures, tutorials, debates and workshops, in this module you will explore and interrogate, alongside specialists working with AI systems in diverse ﬁelds, the different dimensions and narratives of Intelligence, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Automation and Automated Decision-Making Systems (ADMS), how these systems and technologies are being used by organizations across the public and private sector, and how new media artists, journalists and creative technologists are experimenting with these technologies. Key Topics to be explored c What is AI? c Introduction to Machine Learning c Introduction to Neural Networks c History of AI c Philosophies of AI c Narratives of AI c How AI/ADM systems work c Applied AI services in public sector c Applied AI systems across industries c Creative AI: artistic perspectives 3 Module 3: AI Systems, Society and the Planet In this module, you will develop a critical understanding of the socio-economic, socio-technical, and socio-ecological aspects of AI systems, alongside the ethical, social, environmental and cultural implications emerging from their use at scale. You will also have the opportunity to engage with a broad set of perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities raised by AI systems in relation to the environmental emergency. Key Topics to be explored c Introduction to Socio-Technical Systems c Social Justice, power structures and AI c Environmental impact of AI c Ethics of AI c Cultural impact of AI c Digital Sustainability c AI for Climate Emergency Term II (January — March) During this term students will engage in a critical study, analysis and discussion of the foundations of Responsible AI, the evolution of its legal dimension and different principles and guidelines for AI ethics in public and private sector, with a strong focus on the requirements for Trustworthy AI according to the High Level Expert Group on AI set by the European Commission. Through lectures, case studies, debates and workshops, students will explore and analyze the practical dimensions of Responsible AI: how the guidelines and principles are being implemented, discussing and testing different impact assessment methods, technical and non-technical approaches, and tools to make AI explainable to the general public. Module 4: Responsible AI/ Governance, Principles and Requirements In this module you will develop an advanced and critical understanding of the legal, ethical and social dimensions of the theories shaping the emerging ﬁeld of Responsible AI, while engaging in a critical analysis of the current landscape of AI policy initiatives around the world with a strong focus in the European context. Key Topics to be explored c Introduction to Responsible and Trustworthy AI c AI Policy initiatives Overview: Focus on EU’s AI Act c Guidelines on Trustworthy AI in Europe c Understanding the Key Requirements for Trustworthy AI: c Human agency and oversight c Technical robustness and safety c Accountability c Privacy and data governance c Transparency c Societal and environmental well-being c Diversity, non-discrimination and fairness Module 5: Responsible AI/ From Principles to Implementation In this module you will engage with a broad range of methods and practical approaches to identify and critically analyze the impacts and risks of AI systems in a wide scope of contexts, while devel- oping analytical and creative skills to design methodologies and strategies for the implementation of Responsible AI guidelines with a strong focus on the explainability of AI. Key Topics to be explored c Understanding impact assessment c Best practices in Machine Learning c Explainable AI c Design perspectives on Responsible AI c Designing a Responsible AI toolkit Elisava Term III (April — June) The last part of the programme is focus on a ﬁnal project that will start with project team formations and formulation in Term II to be developed on Term III, including weekly design reviews and feedback from other students, design tutors and remote experts until the ﬁnal public presentations, alongside group feedback and collective reﬂection sessions on the whole learning experience. Module 6: Designing for Responsible AI: Final Projects In this module, you will develop communication skills to share their research process and outcomes in ways that make them accessible to a wider public, while applying the knowledge gained during the master studies and the critical mindset and design skills in a Responsible AI project that contributes to common good. Following the transdisciplinary nature of the programme, the ﬁnal projects will reﬂect critical proposals of tools, methodologies, narratives and strategies, addressing global issues situated in translocal contexts, using a variety of media, techniques and formats, from video essays to design ﬁctions, alongside a research report with the documentation of the research process. Transversal Practice (end of September – mid-June) Through group discussions, editorial challenges, tutorials and workshops, students will apply and develop their learnings from other modules, while practising critical design and sharing their reﬂections with a wider audience in different formats, creating the conditions for students to exchange and engage with experts across different ﬁelds and regions, as part of their learning experience. With guidance from specialists and collaborators, students will design and run a low-tech digital publication as an experimental media platform to share the outputs of their collective research and learning journeys. Module 7: Critical Design/Media Lab for Responsible AI In this module, you will develop skills to synthesise learnings and share knowledge in creative, collaborative and sustainable ways while cultivating a critical attitude towards design, tech and media. We will create an open and distributed learning environment that facilitates the engagement of students individually and collectively during the Master, with a deep awareness of the societal, cultural and ecological context where students, alongside faculty and other guest collaborators, will design and run a low-tech digital publication as an experimental media platform to share the outputs of their collective research and learning journeys. Methodology The master is designed as a creative research collaboratory with a strong focus on collaborative and transdisciplinary learning offering participants a unique context to develop skills in investigating and analysing complex topics while specialising on the design and implementation of strategies, narratives, decision-making techniques and methodologies for Responsible AI systems to engage with a broad range of stakeholders. Through in-person and remote lectures, group discussions, editorial challenges, tutorials and workshops, we will provide a broad, transdisciplinary and multicultural range of perspectives, approaches, methodologies and critical design and thinking tools that will enable you to learn how to communicate Responsible AI with professionals from other disciplines, as well as with citizens with different literacy levels. 4 There will be a strong focus on evolving the learning journey into a community of practice, growing a network of design-driven specialists in the multidimensional implications of AI systems, with a strong focus on the implementation of the guidelines and requirements developed by the European Commission around Trustworthy AI. Values The master comes from the intention to expand the understanding and exercise of design as a broad and plural decision-making practice, with a huge cultural relevance in the context of the environmental emergency that is shaping the current decade, through a set of universal values formulated in the Everything Manifesto3 (2019): c Design for humbleness c Design for responsibility & accountability c Design for plurality c Design for empathy & tolerance c Design for solidarity These values also apply to the collaborative learning experience that will start with participants reaching consensus on a set of principles that will guide their individual and collective process, building from the Design Justice Network principles 4 which "rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face". The experience The Master in Design for Responsible AI is organised into three terms offered in a low-residency mode which runs for 40 weeks over 10 months. You will be expected to commit 10-12 hours per week to study, which includes teaching time and independent study. Flexible learning This course enables you to pursue your studies part-time while continuing in your full-time career. To offer a ﬂexible format for professionals, guest faculty and collaborators from different regions to participate in this master, the programme is delivered via a blended part-time/remote learning journey, through weekly online synchronous group sessions in between 3 in-person residencies in Barcelona that will take place in the following dates: c Residency 1: September Kick-off week (1 week). c Residency 2: February-March. Design sprints and workshops for ﬁnal project (8 weeks). Dates will be agreed with students in September. c Residency 3: June. Final project (1 week). Dates will be agreed with students in September. Career opportunities The widespread implementation and scale of AI systems in society, is feeding an increasing need for professionals who can think broadly and critically while communicating clearly about AI, automated decision-making and its ethical, environmental, cultural and societal implications, both within the tech companies developing those systems and across the private and public sectors. As a specialist in Design for Responsible/Trustworthy AI, graduates will be equipped and well-placed to advance their careers in the tech sector, as well as in its intersection with areas such as media, consultancy, policy-making, public innovation, ﬁnancial services or sustainability. Elisava Who is this master for The MDRAI is created for professionals with backgrounds in digital service design, strategic design and communications, interaction design, cultural management, political science, social innovation, journalism, trend research, data science or other technical disciplines as data or computer science related to AI systems, who are working in different areas of the digital economy, leading or participating in digital transformation projects across public institutions and private sector organisations. Team Director ANDRES COLMENARES Creative foresight strategist. Co-founder of IAM and co-director of the Billion Seconds Institute Andres Colmenares is co-director and co-founder of IAM, a creative research lab that helps citizens and organizations make better decisions by using futures as tools to anticipate challenges and opportunities, emerging from the socio-ecological impacts of digital technologies and infrastructures. In his role as a strategist, curatorial designer and creative foresight consultant he has led and developed partnerships with organizations such as NESTA, Tate, Red Bull, Centre for Investigative Journalism, WeTransfer, BBC, SPACE10 (IKEA's research and design lab) and the University of Arts London, where he developed an experimental learning programme focused on empowering young people to think critically about digital technologies through the design of speculative narratives between 2017-2019. In 2018 he led the strategic design of Digital Future Society, a programme for the Mobile World Capital Foundation commissioned by the Government of Spain to connect experts, policymakers, civic organizations and entrepreneurs with the mission of understanding and engaging with the legal and ethical challenges and opportunities of digital transformation. He also facilitated sessions with academic, business and social innovation experts to set their 2030 horizon research agenda and designed a prototype of a Responsible AI toolkit for digital innovation teams in the public sector. He is also co-director of The Billion Seconds Institute, a lifelong learning initiative to reimagine the digital economy and since 2015 he organizes IAM Weekend, the annual conference in Barcelona for creative professionals looking to collectively rethink the futures of the internet. 5 Elisava He is faculty of the Masters in Design for Emerging Futures at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia/Elisava and has been invited as guest lecturer at institutions such as Merz Akademie (DE) and Berghs School of Communication (SE), as a curator for Design Does Forum (ES) and for the Branch Magazine Symposium at Ars Electronica Festival 2021 (AT), and as a keynote speaker at Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL) conference, ADC Festival (ES), Forward Festival (AT) and PRIMER EU, the leading futures thinking conference in Europe. In 2022 he will join the jury for the Grand prize of the European Commission honouring Innovation in Technology, Industry and Society stimulated by the Arts (S+T+ARTS). The following list includes both regular tutors, workshop leaders, and lecturers. The list is not deﬁnitive and will be updated through the year. Professors c Ariel Guersenzvaig. Director of the Master in Design and Management of User Experience and Digital Services (Elisava). c Tamara Kneese, Data&Society. c Eryk Salvaggio, new media artist. c Xiaowei Wang. Lead facilitator of Logic School. c Anne Quito, design critic. c Michelle Thorne. Sustainable Internet Lead at the Mozilla Foundation. Senior advisor to the Green Web Foundation and co-organizer of Open Climate. c Raziye Buse Çetin. Co-founder of the AI research, advocacy and art platform Dreaming Beyond AI. c Nadia Piet. AlxDesign Founder. c Filippo Cuttica. Co-founding member of art group IOCOSE. c Simone Rebaudengo. Product and interaction designer. Co-founder of oio. c Caroline Sinders. Founder of the Convocation Design+Research. Martín Pérez Comisso. Researcher in Socio-Technical c Systems. c Abdelrahman Hassan. Digital Ethics Specialist at IKEA. c Nushin Yazdani, Superrr Lab. c Karla Zavala Barreda, University of Amsterdam. WHY GO BEYOND? You can ﬁnd out more about the Master in Design for Responsible AI at mastersbeyond.elisava.net c If you are a Bold Category Member of Elisava's Alumni Association, you may enjoy a 15% discount on our Master's tuition. c There may be some changes to the faculty for reasons beyond the course programme. c Elisava will make the necessary and appropriate changes in the programme or, in exceptional circumstances, cancel the programme altogether if the course has not reached the minimum number of students to ensure its proper functioning two weeks before its initiation. Elisava will only refund the amounts already paid by the students. c According to their speciﬁc necessities, the Master schedules may include additional hours, including during the weekend.
Glossary of Terms The Glossary of Terms defines some of the most common legal terms in easy-tounderstand language. Terms are listed in alphabetical order. A \| B \| C \| D \| E \| F \| G \| H \| I \| J \| K \| L \| M \| N \| O \| P \| Q \| R \| S \| T \| U \| V \| W \| X \| Y \| Z \| A Acquittal - A decision by a judge or a jury that the person accused is not guilty of the crime for which they were tried. Affidavit - A sworn statement primarily used to justify the issuance of an arrest warrant or a search warrant. Allegation - In a legal setting, a claim or assertion that has yet to be proven or established as a fact. Appeal - A request that another, higher court review the decision of a lower court. A defendant has a right to appeal his/her conviction, but the prosecution cannot appeal an acquittal. Arraignment - An initial appearance where the defendant is advised of the charges against him/her. Arrest Warrant - A written order from a judge or magistrate directing a law enforcement officer to take a person suspected of a crime into physical custody. Assistant District Attorney General - An attorney for the State in criminal cases; a prosecutor. Attachment - A warrant that is issued by a court to have someone arrested for such things as failure to appear in court or contempt of court. B Bail - An agreement to pay the court system as security for the release of a defendant from jail; often used interchangeably with "Bond". Bail can be made with cash, property or with a surety. Bailiff - Someone employed to provide security, to keep order in the courtroom, and to do other tasks as directed by the judge. Bench - The place in the courtroom where the judge sits; can also refer to the judge personally or to the court. Bench Trial - A trial conducted before a judge without a jury with the judge deciding whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty. Bench Warrant - Similar to an arrest warrant; an order issued by a judge to bring a person before his/her court. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - The degree of proof needed for a jury or a judge to convict a person accused of a crime. Bind over - Refers to when a criminal charge is sent to the grand jury for further action. Bond - See "Bail". Bond Forfeiture - An action by the court to collect money owed when a defendant failed to appear. Bonded Arraignment - A court proceeding whereby a person charged with a crime who is out on bond or has been released on a misdemeanor citation is advised of the charges against him/her and is given the option to hire an attorney, to request a court-appointed attorney, or to represent himself/herself. Booking - A procedure that includes fingerprinting and photographing designed to identify a person charged with a crime. Burden of Proof - Level of proof required at various stages of prosecution. C Capital Case - Refers to a first-degree murder case in which the death penalty is an option, has been sought, or has been received. Citation - A charging instrument where the person is not arrested and taken into custody, but instead, is ordered to appear in court or otherwise respond to the charge against him/her; may or may not require citation booking. Citation Booking - A procedure where the defendant who is misdemeanor cited or served with a criminal summons is required to appear on a designated date and at a designated time for the booking process, which includes fingerprinting and photographing the defendant. Cited Court - The court where state traffic citations, Knox County ordinances, and TWRA offenses are heard. Clerk - A person employed to assist the court system by keeping its records; entering its judgments; etc. Concurrent Sentence - Running together; when two or more sentences are served at the same time. Consecutive Sentence - Successive; one sentence after another; when one sentence begins at the completion of another. Complainant - In the criminal system, a term that refers to any person who seeks assistance from the police or the legal system; someone who accuses another of a possible crime. Continuance - A delay or postponement of a court hearing. Conviction - A judgment of guilt in a criminal case. Court - A place where legal proceedings are conducted before a judge; may also refer to the judge personally. Court-Appointed Attorney- An attorney who is appointed by the Court to represent indigent defendants, or those who cannot afford to hire their own attorney; often a Public Defender. Criminal Court - One of three (3) courts in Knox County that handles both felony and misdemeanor cases to conclusion. Criminal Summons- A charging instrument where the person is not arrested and taken into custody, but instead, must be booked and appear in court to respond to the criminal charge against him/her. D Defendant - A person who has been formally charged with a crime. Defense Attorney - A lawyer who represents a defendant during the legal process. A defendant may hire a defense attorney or they may be eligible for a court-appointed attorney if they qualify. Delinquent Act - A violation of the law by a juvenile. Discovery - A process by which both the prosecution and the defense share certain information regarding a criminal case. Dismissal - A decision by a prosecutor or by a judge to end a case without a conviction of the defendant. Disposition - The end of a criminal case with a conviction, an acquittal, or a dismissal. District Attorney General - The popularly elected chief prosecutor who serves an 8-year term and is responsible for prosecuting all criminal charges in a judicial district. Often also referred to as "District Attorney" or "D.A.". District - A geographic area of the state for which a District Attorney General is responsible. Electronic Monitoring - A form of supervision where a defendant is tracked electronically while not in custody. Exhibit - A document or item used in court as evidence. Expungement - The process to remove a charge or charges from a public criminal record. Evidence - Testimony of witnesses and exhibits that are offered as proof of a fact. F Failure to Appear - A criminal charge that is issued for a defendant who does not come to court as required. Felony - Any crime for which the punishment is at least one year or more. Forfeiture - See "Bond Forfeiture". G General Sessions - A court of limited jurisdiction that can dispose of misdemeanor cases by plea, bench trial or dismissal. Can conduct preliminary hearings on misdemeanors and felonies but cannot dispose of felony cases by plea. Grand Jury - A body of 13 citizens that reviews criminal charges to determine whether there is probable cause to issue an indictment. A grand jury hearing is closed to the public and the press. Neither the defendant nor his/her attorney is present during deliberation. Guilty Plea - An admission in court by a defendant that he/she committed a crime. H I Indictment - A criminal charge issued by a grand jury. Indigent - The status of a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire an attorney as determined by a judge. Information - A criminal charge that bypasses the grand jury upon the agreement of both the prosecutor and the defense attorney. Judgment - A decision by a court or judge. Judicial Diversion - A type of expungeable probation for eligible offenders who plead guilty. Jurisdiction - The legal authority of a court to make decisions and exercise judicial power over certain types of cases and within certain geographical boundaries. Jury - In a criminal case, a group of twelve citizens who must all agree to convict or acquit a defendant at trial. Jury Selection - Before a trial begins, a process in court where the judge and the lawyers question potential jurors and select at least twelve to decide the case on trial. Juvenile - Someone under the age of 18. K L M Magistrate - A judicial officer responsible for issuing arrest warrants. Misdemeanor - A class of crimes where the punishment cannot exceed eleven months and twenty-nine days. Motion - A request for a decision or an action made to a judge by either side in a case. N No True Bill - A decision by a grand jury that there is not probable cause to issue an indictment. Nolle Prosequi - A decision by a prosecutor not to pursue a criminal charge; a dismissal. Order of Protection - A civil court order requiring a person to stay away from and/or not bother or threaten another. P Parole - A period of supervision for someone released from prison before the expiration of his/her sentence. Plea - A defendant's response to a criminal charge against him/her. Plea Agreement - An agreed upon disposition or settlement of a criminal case often where a defendant pleads guilty in return for a specific sentence. Preliminary Hearing - A court hearing before a general sessions judge for the purpose of determining if there is probable cause to support the criminal charge and send the case to the grand jury for consideration. Probable Cause - The degree of proof necessary to support the issuance of an arrest warrant or search warrant or to bind a charge over to the grand jury. Probation - A type of punishment where the defendant does not go to prison but remains free so long as he/she obeys conditions ordered by the judge. Probation Violation - An allegation that a defendant has not followed the conditions of probation established by the judge; can lead to the defendant's arrest and punishment by being sent to jail/prison. Prosecutor - See "Assistant District Attorney". Public Defender - A criminal defense attorney who is employed by the Public Defender's Office and who represents a defendant who is indigent and cannot hire his/her own lawyer. See "Court-Appointed Attorney". Q Restitution - Amount of money to be paid by the defendant to the victim in order to reimburse the victim for property stolen, damages, or injuries caused at the time of the crime. S Sentencing - When the judge decides the formal legal consequences of a criminal charge. The judge can order the defendant to serve a period of time in confinement, on probation, on an alternative sentence, or a combination thereof. State - In the criminal justice system, a reference to the prosecutor who is representing the interests of the State of Tennessee. Subpoena - A court order that directs a witness to appear before a judge, grand jury or other official proceeding. Failure to obey the order could lead to arrest and jail. T Testimony - In a criminal case, a statement of a witness under oath and in open court. Trial - In a criminal case, a proceeding in court with or without a jury to determine whether a person accused of a crime is guilty or not guilty as charged. It consists of the testimony of witnesses and the use of other evidence along with the arguments of lawyers for the prosecution and the defense. True Bill - A decision by a grand jury that there is probable cause to issue an indictment charging a defendant with a crime. Twelve of the thirteen grand jurors must vote in favor of returning an indictment for it to be a true bill. U V Venue - The physical location where all or a part of a crime occurred. Verdict - In a criminal case, a decision by a judge or jury to find a defendant guilty or not guilty. Victims' Compensation - In a criminal case, a procedure under that allows some victims of a violent crime to be reimbursed by the State for certain injuries and expenses related to the crime. For more information, please see our Victims' Compensation Section [Insert Link to Victims' Compensation Section]. Victim Impact Statement - An opportunity for a victim to address the judge during sentencing about the financial, emotional and physical effects that the crime has had on him/her. Victim/Witness Coordinator - A person employed by the District Attorney's Office to help victims and witnesses of crimes to understand their rights and answer their questions about the criminal justice system. Voir Dire - The question and answer process in which attorneys and the judge select jurors. W Waiver - A statement, usually in writing, by a defendant that he/she is giving up or not relying upon certain legal rights or protections. Witness - A person who provides evidence about the defendant and/or the crime charged. X Y Z
GRAAD 12 NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE GRADE 12 CONSUMER STUDIES FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 MEMORANDUM This memorandum consists of 14 pages. MARKS: 200 2 QUESTION 1 1.3 1.3.1 B (1) 1.3.2 C (1) 1.3.3 A (1) 1.3.4 G (1) 1.3.5 F (1) Understanding, moderate (F p 117–122, S p 140, 146–147) 1.4 1.4.1 D ii (F p 73, S p 90) (2) 1.4.3 E vi (F p 82, S p 94–95) (2) 1.4.4 C iii (F p 69, S p 80) (2) 1.4.5 A iv (F p 84–85, S p 94–95) (2) [40] Applying, difficult QUESTION 2: THE CONSUMER 2.1 • A contract is an agreement that is intended to create legal rights and duties between its parties. Remembering, easy (F p 155, S p 169) * A contract is a legal agreement between two or more parties where one party promises to do something in return for a valuable benefit of some sort. (Any 2) (2) 2.2 • Reduce the temperature of the geyser/Set the geyser's temperature to a steady 60 ºC. * Use a geyser blanket/insulate the geyser to prevent heat loss/to keep it warm. * Install a geyser timer. * Insulate the geyser's outlet pipes to prevent heat loss. * Install a solar water-heating unit/solar energy/wind energy unit linked to a geyser to heat water (Any 4) (4) * Shower instead of bathing./Showering uses less hot water./Use a lowflow shower head to control the amount of water usage each time./ A shower uses up to 40% less hot water. Remembering, easy (F p 174, S 192) 2.3 • Provide basic services to all citizins (water, electricity etc.) * Sewerage collection and disposal * A free amount of electricity/water/gas is allocated per household * Refuse removal * Municipal roads and storm water drainage * Municipal health services * Street lighting * Libraries * Municipal parks and recreation * Fire-fighting services * Promote local tourism (Any 4) * Abattoirs and fresh food markets Understanding, Moderate (F p 183, S p 201–204) 2.4.1 * The consumer price index is the tool that is used to measure inflation. * The consumer price index shows/measures a change/increase in the price/costs of a group of products and services over a year. * Inflation is the annual percentage change in the consumer price index. * In the extract the price of goods and services rose 6,4 per cent over a year. Therefore that was the inflation rate for that year. (Any 5) * The inflation rate is the percentage at which the price of goods and services increases. Understanding, moderate (F p 167–168, S p 184–185) (5) 2.4.2 (a) Weak rand: * Do not buy/buy fewer imported goods because they are more expensive/buy locally produced products. (1) (b) Increased petrol price: * Use cheapest mode of transport available. * Travel less in your own car/become part of a lift club/make use of public transport to reduce the money spent on personal transport. * Combine rides for errands to be done to reduce the amount of money spent on transport. * Buy locally produced goods because there are no/less transport costs involved and they will be cheaper. * Walk where you can to reduce the amount of money spent on transport. Creating, difficult 2.4 (4) (4) [20] QUESTION 3: FOOD AND NUTRITION 3.1 • Chemicals/Fertilizers/Pesticides/Herbicides which could harm the natural environment are not used. * Organic farming improves soil quality. * Water is cleaner/Pollution is limited/less. Remembering, easy (Any 3) (F p 104, S p 125) 3.2 • Use salt sparingly/no more than 5 g of salt should be consumed per day. * Flavour food with herbs and spices instead of salt. * Check for salt, sodium, sodium chloride and monosodium glutamate on the list of ingredients of processed food. * Avoid salty processed foods, such as smoked meat/bacon/macon/ biltong/potato chips/salted nuts/salted popcorn. * Use low fat/skimmed dairy products. * Eat low fat/less saturated fat foods to lose weight/maintain healthy weight. * Calcium/milk/milk products, potassium/bananas/potatoes and magnesium/green leafy vegetables may help to lower high blood pressure. * Cut down on coffee/tea. * Limit alcohol intake. * Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. * Eat high fibre/wholegrain cereals rather than refined cereal products. Remembering, easy (F p 77, S p 87, 88) (Any 5) 3.3 3.3.1 Lecithin * Prevents the separation of oils and water/Allows oils and liquids to mix together/Enables the combination of oil and water (3) (5) * Emulsifier * Provides a consistent texture (Any 2) Remembering, easy (F p 102, S p 123) (2) 3.3.2 Vitamin C * Prevents the oxidation of foods, prevents rancidity or discolouration (Any 2) Remembering, easy (F p 94, S p 114) (2) * Anti-oxidant 3.3.3 Sulphur dioxide * Prevents browning in dried fruit/fruit juices Remembering, easy (F p 94, S p 114) (1) 3.4 Cholesterol is found in blood and can build up inside the coronary arteries if the level becomes too high in the blood. The deposits, called plaque, cause the arteries to narrow, thicken and harden. This condition is known as atherosclerosis. This blocks the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart. This causes heart failure/heart attack (Any 4) Understanding, moderate (F p 75, S p 84) (4) 3.5 * 'Use by' indicates that the product is not marketable/cannot be sold after this date. * 'Use by' shows the period for which the product will be of good quality and safe to eat. * It appears on perishable products, e.g. milk/meat/fish * The consumer may get sick/food poisoning if the product is eaten after this date. * A 'use by' date that is close means that the product must be used within a short time * The consumer must choose products with a 'use by' date that is far ahead of the purchase dateas the product may be used earlier/the consumer must read labels when shopping for food products to check how near the 'use by' date isto the date of purchase. * Bulk buying of products should not be done when the 'use by' date is close if proper storage facilities are not available. (Any 5) (5) Applying, moderate (F p 95, S p 86) 3.6 3.6.1 Tuberculosis Inhaling the bacterium through the air when the aunt coughed/ sneezed/spat/spoke or sung./They lived in a crowded space with the aunt/being in close contact with the aunt/breathing the same air as the aunt for prolonged periods. Understanding, moderate (F p 89, S p 104) (2) 3.6.2 * Sugar/Honey/Syrup * Peanut butter * Non-fat dairy-milk powder/Amasi * Vegetable oil/butter/margarine (Any 2) Understanding, easy(F p 84, S p 105) * They use milk that contains calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D that strengthens bones. * The spinach provides calcium. * The canned fish, if eaten with the bones, will provide calcium. * They occasionally eat canned fish (oily fish) that contains Vitamin D that assists in the absorption of calcium and its incorporation into the bones. * She consumes protein in the fish and milk which assist with connective tissue synthesis/building tissues. * The tomatoes, oranges and strawberries contain vitamin C which is necessary for collagen/connective tissue synthesis/building tissues. * She does not eat too many protein-rich foods as the body releases acids into the bloodstream when it digests protein and draws calcium from the bones to neutralize the acids. (Any 6) NOTE: The foods can only be awarded a mark when linked with the correct nutrient. Understanding, moderate (F p 75–76, S p 89–90) (2) (6) 3.6.3 3.6.4 7 * Spinach is a source of iron and selenium and plays a role in maintaining a healthy immune system. * Spinach/Carrots contain beta-carotene/vitamin A and selenium that are anti-oxidants which protect cells against damage and keep the immune system healthy. Vitamin A keeps the linings of the lungs intact. * Green peppers/tomatoes/strawberries/oranges are rich in vitamin C that build the immune system and assist people in recovering from infections. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant which protects cells from damage. * Fruit and vegetables are colourful and may improve the appetite of a person with tuberculosis. (Any 6) Conclusion: Evaluating, difficult (F p 84–85, S p 100, 105) (8) The seasonal fruit and vegetables will have a positive impact on Wendy's health as they will meet the increased need for vitamins and minerals/boosts the immune system/protects the cells against damage. (2) [40] QUESTION 4: CLOTHING 4.1 * Economic, social, political-judicial technological events/changes. * Sustainability calls for change in style and fabric that clothing manufacturers use. * Consumers get bored and look for something new. * Biotechnology opened up a range of fabrics with special characteristics for special purpose textiles, for example sportswear. (4) Remembering, easy (F p. 51, S p. 53) 4.2 (6) \| TYPE OF FASHION \| NUMBER OF PEOPLE ACCEPTING AND WEARING THE STYLE \| LENGTH/DURATION OF THE FASHION \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Fashion fads \| A fashion fad is quickly accepted by a larger number of people than a classic fashion. \| A fashion fad lasts only one season/suddenly becomes popular and disappears suddenly/shortest life cycle. \| \| Fashion \| A fashion is accepted by the largest number of people/many people wear the style/worn by more people than a fashion fad and a classic fashion. \| Fashion lasts for two to three seasons/lasts longer than a fad but shorter than a classic style. \| \| Classic fashion \| A classic fashion is worn by a smaller number of people than a fashion/ fashion fad. \| A classic style lasts longer than a fashion fad or fashion/a fashion/the longest/ for many seasons/ years. \| Understanding, moderate (F p. 49–50, S p. 50–51) 4.3 4.3.1 When a product is deliberately given a name/logo known brand similar to a well to mislead/let consumers mistake it for the actual brand name. OR Unauthorised use of legally protected brand names mistaken for the original. Understanding, easy (S pg 72, F pg 64) that can be (3) 4.3.2 Piracy has a negative influence/hurtsthe economic environment as manufacturers of original brands sell less products and lose income. Retailers selling original brands will be missing out on opportunities for job creation and will suffer job losses this will result in unemployment/unfavourable economic conditions. The image/reputation of the brand is harmedconsumers lose faith in the brand and will not buy it. On the other hand piracy might boost sales in the informal sectorwhere pirated brands are popularand more affordable Evaluating, difficult (F p 64, S p 72) (7) [20] QUESTION 5: HOUSING 5.1 5.1.1 • Sectional title Remembering, easy (F p 122, S p 140) (1) 5.1.2 • It is safe/secure. * There is a lift/elevator from the parking bay/level to the unit/ apartment. * Each unit has a parking bay. * Easy access to transport routes. * The buyer can live in the unit or rent it out. (Any 3) Understanding, easy (3) * The units are built by a reputable developer. NOTE: From advertisement. 5.1.3 • National Home Builders Registration Council/NHBRC Remembering, easy (F p 119, S p 139) (1) 5.1.4 * The purchase price includes VAT, which is payable by the developer. * If a new property is being purchased from a developer, no transfer duty is payable. * Transfer duty is only payable when a property is transferred from a previous owner to a new owner. (4) Understanding, easy(F p128, S p146) (Any 7) 5.2 Financial implications: Understanding, moderate (F p 148, S p 162) 5.3 An instalment sale is a type of credit agreement. The buyer pays a deposit and the balance of the purchase price in instalments/smaller amounts over a set period of timeuntil the unit price has been paid in full. Finance charges (bank charges, administration charges, interest) and insurance charges must be paid. 5.3.1 * Saves electricity as batteries are used * Rechargeable batteries are environmentally friendly/ renewable source of energy * Charging indicator indicates when batteries are charged – can remove charger to save electricity Applying, moderate (from given information) * Main Voltage is 7,2 V which is lower energy consumption therefore environmentally friendly. (Any 2) (2) * Small dust capacity/0,5 litres dust capacity means that the vacuum cleaner must be emptied often * Will not clean thoroughly/well. * Less powerful than other vacuum cleaners * Small cleaning surface, it will therefore take a long time to complete cleaning the house. * Short operating time: Will have to recharge often/will not be able to clean the whole house in one go. * More suited to jobs on flat surfaces. * Must bend down to use it to clean floor: back will get sore/taxing on human resources. * Delicate surfaces will not be scratched due to the built-in wheels. (Any 7) * Can reach into awkward corners unlike the other more bulky/larger vacuum cleaners. Conclusion: Evaluating, moderate (F p 142–143, S 157,158 and from given information) * Therefore, this vacuum cleaner is not suitable to clean a three bedroom house. (1) 5.3.2 (4) (8) [40] QUESTION 6: ENTREPRENEURSHIP 6.3.3 Training enable the workers to: * Improve the quality of work * Do the job/Know what is expected of them * Be motivated * Increase job satisfaction * Increase productivity * Reduce wastage * Improve employee moral * Reduce maintenance and repair costs Remembering, easy (F p 25, S p 26) R2 810.00 + R1 300.00 + R500.00 = R4 610.00 R4 610.00 x 70% = R3 227.00 R4 610.00 + R3 227.00 = R7 837.00 R7 8377.00 ÷ 200 = R39,19 = R39.00 OR R2 810.00 + R1 300.00 + R500.00 = R4 610.00 R4 610.00 ÷ 200 = R23.05 R23.05 x 70% = R16.14 R23.05 + R16.14 = R39.00 = R39.19 Applying, moderate (F p 37–38, S p 38-41) (Any 4) (4) (7) * Lee has a passion for food/needlework/her business/ producing her products. * She has a number of appropriate target markets/groups * She is hard-working and creative. * Her business has suitable products for her target market/ which fulfill needs of the target markets. * The products are marketed through word of mouth and cellphone photos which convey information fast. * Her business is situated/located near her target group/ market. * There is a market for the products right through the year. Applying, moderate (F p 7, S p 10–11 and from the scenario) (Any 6) (6) 6.3.4 6.3.5 14 6.3.6 (a) Word of mouth What people said about her products/photos created interest/a desire to buy the product. The increase in orders boosted her business. (2) (b) Cell phone photo's Most people have cell phones therefore it is easy/quickto send photos and information. Analysing, moderate (F p 30–31, S p 30) The pictures attracted the people in the community/local school/mining companies/tourists. 6.3.7 • November/December/Christmas timebecause people are buying gifts/presents during this time * People are getting extra money (e.g. bonus) and can afford to buy. * During holidays/festive season people eat and entertain moreand they will buy more platters and milk tarts, increasing the turnover. * Overseas tourists visit South-Africa in the summerand would likely buy the fabric souvenirs * In December South African schools have holiday and there may be many South African visitors to the historical town. Creating, difficult (Any 4) (4) [40] TOTAL: 200 (4)
MUST 1314, Music Theory II CHARLES FRANCIS LEINBERGER, PH.D. UTEP Course Syllabus, Spring Semester ANNOUNCEMENTS Students enrolled in MUST 1314 for Spring Semester 2021, Section 001 (CRN 21214) and Section 003 (CRN 21228), should log into https://my.utep.edu and click on "Blackboard." Once in Blackboard, look for the menu on the left. After clicking on "Courses," look for "MUST 1314." After clicking on the course, you may need to move your mouse over the left margin to view the next menu. If you see an arrow pointing right ">" click on it. Go to "Home Page." You will see folders for each week of the semester. Assignment files and quizzes will be in the weekly folders. MUST 1314 quizzes and exams will be available for a limited time through Blackboard. Assignments templates will be available for download to your computer through the W. W. Norton digital web site, https://digital.wwnorton.com/conciseharmony2. If you haven't done so already, you should set up your W. W. Norton account. Each week, I will be sending several very important emails to students who are enrolled in MUST 1314. I will enter my email address in the "TO:" field and the teaching assistant's email in the "CC:" field. To protect students' privacy, student email adresses will be entered in the "BCC:" field. I very strongly recommend that students add my email address, email@example.com, to their "Safe Senders List." Thank you! C.F.L. COURSE INFORMATION Description: Harmonic progression including cadences, diatonic seventh chords, modulation to closely-related keys, an introduction to chromaticism, as well as non-chord tones and period forms. Location: Online Meeting Times: MWF, Asynchronous Prerequisite: A grade of "C" or better in MUST 1313 Music Theory I and MUST 1111 Aural Skills I Co-requisite: MUST 1112 Aural Skills II INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION Name: Charles Francis Leinberger E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Office: Fox Fine Arts Center, Room M432 Office Phone: (915) 747-7800 Office Hours: Charles Francis Leinberger's Office Hours Biography: Charles Francis Leinberger's Biography TEACHING ASSISTANT INFORMATION Name: Kornel Juhasz E-mail: email@example.com Office: Fox Fine Arts Center, Room M123 file:///C:/Users/charlesl/Documents/UTEP Web miners/1314.html Textbook/Workbook: TEXTBOOK/WORKBOOK/SOFTWARE Textbook: L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus: Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony, Second Edition (Required) Workbook: L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus: Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony, Second Edition (Optional) Workbook Assignment Templates are available at: https://digital.wwnorton.com/conciseharmony2. Software: Noteflight online music notation software is available at https://www.noteflight.com. Also see: My.utep.edu Supplemental Reading: Stefan Kostka, Dorothy Payne, and Byron Almén: Tonal Harmony, Eighth Edition Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin: The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis, Third Edition Steven G. Laitz: The Complete Musician Fourth Edition, Kent Kennan: Counterpoint, Fourth Edition COURSE GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND TEACHING PHILOSOPHY. Course Goal: Course Objective: Teaching Philosophy: To provide the student with the theoretical knowledge and skills needed for success in a career in music performance, education, composition, production, and business. Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to: 1. Understand and appreciate the existence of music as a written language; 2. Further understand the rules of music notation and to continue developing skills at notating music accordingly; 3. Understand more complex musical structures used by composers of tonal music in the creation of melody, harmony and rhythm; 4. Develop proficiency in writing two-, three-, and four-part harmony from figured bass using diatonic and chromatic, root-position and inverted triads and seventh chords, and composing contrapuntal melodies above a given bass line. Charles Francis Leinberger's Teaching Philosophy GRADING The final grade will be calculated according to the following point values: file:///C:/Users/charlesl/Documents/UTEP Web miners/1314.html Letter grades will be assigned based on the total number of points earned. W A grade of "W" (Withdrawal) will be assigned only if a student drops the course before the Course Drop Deadline, which is the Friday of Week 10. I A grade of "I" (Incomplete) will be assigned only if the student provides documentation for a situation that prevents him or her from completing the requirements for a passing grade. These situation include, but are not limited to, hospitalization, incarceration, and military deployment. COURSE POLICIES The following policies apply to all of Dr. Leinberger's classes: 1. Attendance Policy 2. Assignment Policy 3. Classroom Policy 4. Final Exam Policy and Schedules 5. Each student should check his or her UTEP email account each day of the semester when registered for this class. The following policies apply to this class: 6. Come to class on time and prepared. Bring your Textbook and workbook every Monday. Bring your workbook every Wednesday. 7. Assignments are due on Fridays. Assignments may be submitted electronically. A. Blackboard (preferred): i. Log into Blackboard and go to the folder for each week. ii. In the folder, look for the Assignment file and open it. iii. Under "Assignment Submission," click on "Browse My Computer." iv. Navigate to the folder on your computer where you have the completed assignment. v. You do not need to change the file name of the assignment. vi. After attaching all files, click "Submit." vii. Upload your assignments before 6:00 p.m. on the due date. B. Email (not preferred): When sending assignments by email, students must follow these guidelines: i. Assignments must be sent from the student's UTEP email account. ii. The "Subject" field of the email must contain "1314" or the email may not be received and read by the instructor or teaching assistant. iii. The body of the email must contain the student's real name. Students do not need to include a UTEP student ID number in the body of the email. iv. The file name of the attachment must begin with the student's UTEP username followed by a hyphen (dash) and the original file name. For example: "2.B7 Identifying Interval Size" will become: "charlesl-2.B7 Identifying Interval Size" (replace "charlesl" with your UTEP username) v. Email your assignments to the Teaching Assistant. See "Teaching Assistant Information"elsewhere in this syllabus. 8. Quizzes will be available on Fridays from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Students have 30 minutes to complete each quiz. If a student misses a quiz due to an excused absence (university function, medical emergency, car trouble, etc.), the student may request an extension. To do so, the student must provide some documentation for his or her absence. 9. Some listening will be done in class or in Monday's lecture video, but the student is responsible for all listening assignments. 10. The Midterm Exams will be Friday of Weeks 5 and 10. Exams will be available on Fridays from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Students will have sixty minutes to complete each exam. \| Week \| Days \| Topic \| Assignment \| Listening: Workbook \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| W \| \| \| \| file:///C:/Users/charlesl/Documents/UTEP Web miners/1314.html F 6 Cadential 4 15 C: 2 a, b, c (to be graded) 15 C: 2 h (in class) M Burstein and Straus: Chapter 16: Leading to the Tonic: 16 C: 2 c (to be graded) IV file:///C:/Users/charlesl/Documents/UTEP Web miners/1314.html 16 G: 1 (to be graded) 16 F: 1 \| \| F \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 3 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 18: Approaching V: IV6, ii, ii7, and IV7 \| 18 C: 5 a (in class) 18 D: 2 c, d (to be graded) 18 G: 1 a (to be graded) \| 18 G: 1 a \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 4 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 19: Multiple Functions: VI \| 19 B: 1 a-e (to be graded) 19 C: 2 a (to be graded) 19 F: 2 a, b, f (f1) (to be graded) \| 19 F: 2 a, b, f \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 5 \| M \| Review for Midterm 1 \| None \| None \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| Midterm 1 \| \| \| \| 6 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 20: Embellishing Tones in Four-Part Harmony Burstein and Straus: Chapter 21: III and VII \| 20 B: 1, 2 (in class) 20 D: 4 a-e (to be graded) 20 H: 1 (to be graded) 21 C: 1 a, b (to be graded) 21 E: 1 (Old Hundredth) (to be graded) \| 20 H: 1 21 E: 1 (Old Hundredth) \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 7 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 22: Sequences \| 22 G: 1 d (to be graded) 22 G: 2 a (to be graded) \| 22 G: 1 d 22 G: 2 a \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 8 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 23: Other 6 Chords 4 \| 23 C: 2 a, c, d (to be graded) 23 C: 2 e (in class) 23 D: 4, 6 (to be graded) \| 23 D: 4, 6 \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| SB \| \| \| \| \| \| 9 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 24: Other Embellishing Chords \| Print: 24 C: 2 a (to be graded) XML: 24 C: Additional Realizing Figured Bass: c (to be graded) Print and XML: 24 F: 1a, 1b, 1i (to be graded) Print and XML: 24 F: 2a (in class) \| 24 E: 1a, 1b, 1i, 2a \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| 10 \| M \| Review for Midterm 2 \| None \| None \| \| \| W \| Midterm 2 (Wednesday), Course Drop Deadline (Thursday). \| \| \| \| 11 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 25: Applied Dominants of V \| 25 B: 1 (in class) 25 D: 2 (to be graded) 25 G: 10 (to be graded) \| 25 G: 10 \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 12 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 26: Other Applied Chords \| 26 G: 3 (in class) 26 G: 10 (to be graded) \| 26 G: 10 \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 13 \| M \| Burstein and Straus: Chapter 27: Modulation to the Dominant Key \| 27 D (to be graded) 27 G: 1 f (to be graded) \| 27 G: 1 f \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| \| F \| \| \| \| Quiz 1 \| \| W \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| F \| \| \| \| \| 15 \| M \| Review for Final \| None \| None \| \| \| W \| \| \| \| \| Final \| W or F \| Final \| None \| None \| PLAGIARISM/ACADEMIC DISHONESTY STATEMENT Charles Francis Leinberger's Plagiarism and Collusion Statement DISABILITIES STATEMENT Charles Francis Leinberger's Disability Statement charlesl home Charles Francis Leinberger's Fall Semester Schedule Roman Numerals for Musical Analysis Modulation Types for Musical Analysis This page was updated 21 March 2021. All of this information is subject to change. file:///C:/Users/charlesl/Documents/UTEP Web miners/1314.html
MALE VICTIMS AND FEMALE AGGRESSORS: THE HIDDEN SIDE OF VIOLENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES Toldos Romero, M.P. Alicante: Editorial Cántico, 2013 José Luis Rojas-Solís Departamento de Psicología y Formación Ética [Department of Psychology and Ethics]. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Puebla he latest book by Dr. María de la Paz Toldos Romero, "Hombres víctimas y mujeres agresoras. La cara oculta de la violencia entre sexos" [Male victims and female aggressors: The hidden side of violence between the sexes] is a call to the recovery of common sense and humanism as indispensable guides for any scientist or professional interested in understanding the phenomenon of intimate partner violence. T ated the formation and survival of a subject that should never have been taboo: female violence. The text is the result of over ten years of rigorous research. Its genesis was the doctoral thesis "Adolescencia, violencia y género" [Adolescence, violence and gender], defended by the author at the Complutense University of Madrid in 2002. A necessary, courageous and even controversial book, certainly for some, as it contravenes the current zeitgeist that suggests that women are the sole and exclusive victims of violence between partners. Thus, through the nine chapters of the book, the author argues her main thesis: heterosexual men, gay men and lesbians can also be the victims of intimate partner violence. Initially, the author focuses on the necessary definition of the concept of violence and its separation from other related concepts. Toldos-Romero also re-evaluates intimate partner violence as a human and interpersonal phenomenon, as a type of gender violence that has different manifestations, which can affect both men and women and where the roles of the victim and perpetrator may be interchangeable. This argument is complemented by the different definitions of the term "gender" and, by extension, the term "violence". This is not merely a semantic argument, but a dissertation on the negative consequences of the tergiversation of "gender" reflected in simplistic and general approaches, infiltrated throughout much of the scientific community and the media. In short, it is a call for common sense that forces the reader to rethink an issue dominated by the interpolation of miscellaneous ideologies, radicalisms and interests. In the same vein, Paz Toldos analyzes the issue of "political correctness" in an excellent exposition on the underestimation of violence committed by women toward their partners. With remarkable courage and insight and building on extensive research in scientific and official sources, the author denounces the numerous biases and interests of different kinds that have perme- Correspondence: José Luis Rojas-Solís. Departamento de Psicología y Formación Ética Escuela de Derecho y Diplomacia. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Puebla. Vía Atlixcáyotl No. 2301, Reserva Territorial Atlixcáyotl, Puebla, Puebla, México, C.P. 72453. E-mail: email@example.com In an attempt to break this taboo, the author defends her argument by providing numerous examples from the media, representative scientific studies and official data to substantiate another important idea: intimate partner violence (IPV) is mostly bidirectional. Despite these considerations, we must make the following proviso: at no time does Paz Toldos forget that, in the context of intimate partner violence, the consequences are often more serious for women than for men. The book addresses the problem of female aggression in detail and presents some reasons why this phenomenon is not studied, citing as examples the "profitability" of abuse, the existence of double standards in the media and in the scientific community, pressure from radical groups or a simplistic understanding of violence as being primarily physical. However, the main contribution in the study of female aggression is the meticulous exposure of the kind of violence that is often more used by women: indirect violence, i.e. "social manipulation attacking the target in roundabout ways" (p. 25). In subsequent chapters, the analysis turns to the other neglected victims of IPV: homosexuals and lesbians. From reading the text, we infer how the sex-gender system favors the existence of patriarchy and other associated phenomena, such as heterocentrism, sexism and homophobia. These are factors that may have profoundly influenced the fact that there are few or no studies on violence in same-sex couples in Spanish-speaking countries. Thus, from information derived primarily from the Englishspeaking world, the author scrutinizes the violence between same-sex couples through its various manifestations and concludes that homosexual couples are equally as or more violent than heterosexual couples. From which it follows that the reductionist proposals that advocate men's domination of women as the leitmotiv of violence, are at least being contested. Following on from there, the book delves into the motives that cause both men and women to use violence. To this end, a distinction is made between emotional or hostile violence (designed to hurt, and arising from anger or frustration) and instrumental violence (aimed at achieving objectives such as to control, influence, coerce or impress) and it is re-emphasized that both types of violence may be committed by both sexes. Thus, when power ceases to be the cornerstone of the analysis, it follows that the difference in the perpetration of violence is in the methods used, whether by men or women. Next, the author expounds on the process by which men and women become violent. Having overcome the "sexist monkey" approaches that argue that domination or control is the only motivation men have for committing violence against women, many myths about violence are analyzed, including a very popular one that deals with the man as the sole aggressor. This section of the text is where Toldos strengthens her theoretical position on the phenomenon of partner violence; instead of the theories that emphasize a single explanatory factor, the author explains her reasons for opting for an ecological theory that inevitably includes psychological factors which are, specifically, psychological mediators. Finally, some ideas are developed that are crucial in the understanding, prevention and intervention of intimate partner violence. Perhaps the most important contribution is the shift of focus of prevention to "nonviolence." This means that instead of working on the prevention of risk factors, we should strengthen the protective factors based on the political, media, family and psychological aspects. It is in this last part where the author offers some concrete work proposals for the interested professionals. It is notable that the work of Dr. Paz Toldos addresses such a controversial and politicized subject using arguments that are based on empirical evidence, rather than personal experiences or ideological convictions. Notwithstanding the rigorous and systematic nature of this work, its expository clarity, the logical organization of the text and especially the deliberate transparency of the author are exceptional. It should also be emphasized that we have here a revealing analysis of intimate partner violence based on four aspects: the interpersonal, psychological, sociological and human aspects. Interpersonal because, although the study of couple phenomena involves at least two people, many studies are based on the idea that one member is sufficient to explain the other and the relationship. Therefore, the author's approach is intended to treat this problem as a whole, without omitting any of the relevant parties or their behavior, using an interpersonal, systemic and interactional approach. Psychological, which can be seen in the importance of psychological mediators without neglecting other explanatory factors. Also, it does not conceptualize violence as a result, but as a process. That is, without blaming the male or female victim or justifying the male or female aggressor, it considers the behavior of both as necessary to understanding the interactional process of violence. Sociological, because it takes into account the importance of socio-cultural transformations and their effect on society and the lives of individuals; as well as gender issues from a neutral and inclusive point of view. Human, because the author returns the human character to the problem of violence, an approach that undoubtedly extends the possibilities for understanding, prevention and social and psychological intervention. Paz Toldos joins a small but growing list of researchers, such as Cantera (2004) or Trujano Martínez and Camacho (2010), who have challenged the spiral of silence on violence against men, which is perhaps the same as that which at one time consented to the unjust muteness on violence against women. In the same vein, it should be noted that the author takes up the understanding of intimate partner violence with such academic and scientific rigor that the value of her work is increased by its possible echo in other areas beyond the scientific and academic world. For example, the recognition of violence towards other victims could encourage the creation or modification of public policies to address partner violence without discrimination based on the sex or sexual orientation of the victims. Without prejudice to this, it should be noted that it remains for future research to include the study of violence in transgender couples. Undoubtedly the work, the fruits of which we read in the text, has not been easy since Paz Toldos has had to overcome many dangers, and she has done so successfully in my point of view. Thus, for example, the fight against violence against women is never brought into question. On the contrary, it is encouraged. Even understanding that intimate partner violence is bidirectional, at no time is it suggested that the consequences of partner aggression are more severe for men than for women. Therefore any argument accusing the author of inciting a vacuous, superficial or sexist "counterculture" is unfounded. Her intention is rather to spur debate and reflection on such basic issues as the awareness of biases in research or in forming the tribunals of public opinion. Paz Toldos even focuses insightfully on other biases that surround the study of partner violence: gender as a substitute for women, the gender perspective as a substitute for feminist perspectives, the hetero-centrism that governs much of the scientific community and which ultimately obviates homosexuals, the sexism that marks men with the indelible label of abusers and women as helpless, resulting in the generation and persistence of rigid dichotomies that do not necessarily correspond to reality. Finally, the stimulus of debate and reflection that the author seeks has an indirect effect in the prevention of scientism, a fairly common mistake that overlooks the intricate web of ideologies, political and economic interests and even personal issues surrounding science. I believe that the intention of Paz Toldos is not, at any time, to emulate the entrenchment of the aged separation in the Anglophone context between those who defend the interests of women and "others", since the interests of men and women should not be -and never should have been- understood as a zero-sum game (Brush , 2005). In this sense, these types of study are more than welcome in Spain because they pave the way for a truly egalitarian and inclusive treatment between men and women and therefore for the understanding of intimate partner violence without being based on the sex or orientation of the members, but rather on their most important and undeniable condition, as human beings REFERENCES Brush, L D. (2005). Philosophical and political issues in research on women's violence and aggression. Sex Roles, 52, 867873. doi: 10.1007/s11199-005-4205-9 Cantera, L. M. (2004). Aproximación empírica a la agenda oculta en el campo de la violencia en la pareja [An empirical approach to the hidden agenda in the field of intimate partner violence]. Intervención Psicosocial, 13(2), 219-230. Trujano, P., Martínez, A. E. & Camacho, S. I. (2010). Varones víctimas de violencia doméstica: un estudio exploratorio acerca de su percepción y aceptación [Male victims of domestic violence: An exploratory study of perceptions and acceptance]. Diversitas: Perspectivas en Psicología, 6(2), 339-354.
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) B. Claise, Ed. Request for Comments: 7011 Cisco Systems, Inc. STD: 77 B. Trammell, Ed. Obsoletes: 5101 ETH Zurich Category: Standards Track P. Aitken ISSN: 2070-1721 Cisco Systems, Inc. September 2013 Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of Flow Information Abstract This document specifies the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) protocol, which serves as a means for transmitting Traffic Flow information over the network. In order to transmit Traffic Flow information from an Exporting Process to a Collecting Process, a common representation of flow data and a standard means of communicating them are required. This document describes how the IPFIX Data and Template Records are carried over a number of transport protocols from an IPFIX Exporting Process to an IPFIX Collecting Process. This document obsoletes RFC 5101. Status of This Memo This is an Internet Standards Track document. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7011. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 1] Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Table of Contents Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 2] Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 3] Contributors ......................................................75 Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 4] 1. Introduction Traffic on a data network can be seen as consisting of flows passing through network elements. For administrative or other purposes, it is often interesting, useful, or even necessary to have access to information about these flows that pass through the network elements. A Collecting Process should be able to receive the Flow information passing through multiple network elements within the data network. This requires uniformity in the method of representing the flow information and the means of communicating the flows from the network elements to the collection point. This document specifies a protocol to achieve these requirements. This document specifies in detail the representation of different flows, as well as the additional data required for flow interpretation, packet format, transport mechanisms used, security concerns, etc. 1.1. Changes since RFC 5101 This document obsoletes the Proposed Standard revision of the IPFIX Protocol Specification [RFC5101]. The protocol specified by this document is interoperable with the protocol as specified in [RFC5101]. The following changes have been made to this document with respect to the previous document: - All outstanding technical and editorial errata on [RFC5101] have been addressed. - As the [IANA-IPFIX] registry is now the normative reference for all Information Element definitions (see [RFC7012]), all definitions of Information Elements in Section 4 have been replaced with references to that registry. - The encoding of the dateTimeSeconds, dateTimeMilliseconds, dateTimeMicroseconds, and dateTimeNanoseconds data types, and the related encoding of the IPFIX Message Header Export Time field, have been clarified, especially with respect to the epoch upon which the timestamp data types are based. - A new Section 5.2 has been added to address wraparound of these timestamp data types after they overflow in the years 2032-2038. - Clarifications on encoding, especially in Section 6, have been made: all IPFIX values are encoded in network byte order. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 5] - Template management, as described in Section 8, has been simplified and clarified: the specification has been relaxed with respect to [RFC5101], especially concerning potential failures in Template ID reuse. Additional corner cases in template management have been addressed. The new template management language is interoperable with that in [RFC5101] to the extent that the behavior was defined in the prior specification. - Section 11.3 (Mutual Authentication) has been improved to refer to current practices in Transport Layer Security (TLS) mutual authentication; references to Punycode were removed, as these are covered in [RFC6125]. - Editorial improvements, including structural changes to Sections 8, 9, and 10 to improve readability, have been applied. Behavior common to all transport protocols has been separated out, with exceptions per transport specifically noted. All template management language (on both Exporting and Collecting Processes) has been unified in Section 8. - A new Section 12 on management considerations has been added. 1.2. IPFIX Documents Overview The IPFIX protocol provides network administrators with access to IP Flow information. The architecture for the export of measured IP Flow information out of an IPFIX Exporting Process to a Collecting Process is defined in [RFC5470], per the requirements defined in [RFC3917]. This document specifies how IPFIX Data Records and Templates are carried via a number of transport protocols from IPFIX Exporting Processes to IPFIX Collecting Processes. Four IPFIX optimizations/extensions are currently specified: a bandwidth-saving method for the IPFIX protocol [RFC5473], an efficient method for exporting bidirectional flows [RFC5103], a method for the definition and export of complex data structures [RFC6313], and the specification of the Protocol on IPFIX Mediators [IPFIX-MED-PROTO] based on the IPFIX Mediation Framework [RFC6183]. A "file-based transport" for IPFIX, which defines how IPFIX Messages can be stored in files for document-based workflows and for archival purposes, is discussed in [RFC5655]. IPFIX has a formal description of IPFIX Information Elements -- their names, data types, and additional semantic information -- as specified in [RFC7012]. The registry is maintained by IANA [IANA-IPFIX]. The inline export of the Information Element type information is specified in [RFC5610]. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 6] The framework for packet selection and reporting [RFC5474] enables network elements to select subsets of packets by statistical and other methods, and to export a stream of reports on the selected packets to a Collector. The set of packet selection techniques (Sampling, Filtering, and hashing) standardized by the Packet Sampling (PSAMP) protocol is described in [RFC5475]. The PSAMP protocol [RFC5476], which uses IPFIX as its export protocol, specifies the export of packet information from a PSAMP Exporting Process to a PSAMP Collector. Instead of exporting PSAMP Packet Reports, the stream of selected packets may also serve as input to the generation of IPFIX Flow Records. Like IPFIX, PSAMP has a formal description of its Information Elements: their names, types, and additional semantic information. The PSAMP information model is defined in [RFC5477]. [RFC6615] specifies a MIB module for monitoring, and [RFC6728] specifies a data model for configuring and monitoring IPFIX and PSAMP-compliant devices using the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF). [RFC6727] specifies the PSAMP MIB module as an extension of the IPFIX SELECTOR MIB module defined in [RFC6615]. In terms of development, [RFC5153] provides guidelines for the implementation and use of the IPFIX protocol, while [RFC5471] provides guidelines for testing. Finally, [RFC5472] describes what types of applications can use the IPFIX protocol and how they can use the information provided. It furthermore shows how the IPFIX framework relates to other architectures and frameworks. 2. Terminology The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. The definitions of the basic terms like Traffic Flow, Exporting Process, Collecting Process, Observation Points, etc. are semantically identical to those found in the IPFIX requirements document [RFC3917]. Some of the terms have been expanded for more clarity when defining the protocol. Additional terms required for the protocol have also been defined. Definitions in this document and in [RFC5470] are equivalent; definitions that are only relevant to the IPFIX protocol only appear here. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 7] The terminology summary table in Section 2.1 gives a quick overview of the relationships among some of the different terms defined. Observation Point An Observation Point is a location in the network where packets can be observed. Examples include a line to which a probe is attached; a shared medium, such as an Ethernet-based LAN; a single port of a router; or a set of interfaces (physical or logical) of a router. Note that every Observation Point is associated with an Observation Domain (defined below) and that one Observation Point may be a superset of several other Observation Points. For example, one Observation Point can be an entire line card. That would be the superset of the individual Observation Points at the line card's interfaces. Observation Domain An Observation Domain is the largest set of Observation Points for which Flow information can be aggregated by a Metering Process. For example, a router line card may be an Observation Domain if it is composed of several interfaces, each of which is an Observation Point. In the IPFIX Message it generates, the Observation Domain includes its Observation Domain ID, which is unique per Exporting Process. That way, the Collecting Process can identify the specific Observation Domain from the Exporter that sends the IPFIX Messages. Every Observation Point is associated with an Observation Domain. It is RECOMMENDED that Observation Domain IDs also be unique per IPFIX Device. Packet Treatment "Packet Treatment" refers to action(s) performed on a packet by a forwarding device or other middlebox, including forwarding, dropping, delaying for traffic-shaping purposes, etc. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 8] Traffic Flow or Flow There are several definitions of the term 'flow' being used by the Internet community. Within the context of IPFIX, we use the following definition: A Flow is defined as a set of packets or frames passing an Observation Point in the network during a certain time interval. All packets belonging to a particular Flow have a set of common properties. Each property is defined as the result of applying a function to the values of: 1. one or more packet header fields (e.g., destination IP address), transport header fields (e.g., destination port number), or application header fields (e.g., RTP header fields [RFC3550]). 2. one or more characteristics of the packet itself (e.g., number of MPLS labels, etc.). 3. one or more of the fields derived from Packet Treatment (e.g., next-hop IP address, the output interface, etc.). A packet is defined as belonging to a Flow if it completely satisfies all the defined properties of the Flow. Note that the set of packets represented by a Flow may be empty; that is, a Flow may represent zero or more packets. As sampling is a Packet Treatment, this definition includes packets selected by a sampling mechanism. Flow Key Each of the fields that: 1. belong to the packet header (e.g., destination IP address), or 2. are a property of the packet itself (e.g., packet length), or 3. are derived from Packet Treatment (e.g., Autonomous System (AS) number), and that are used to define a Flow (i.e., are the properties common to all packets in the Flow) are termed Flow Keys. As an example, the traditional '5-tuple' Flow Key of source and destination IP address, source and destination transport port, and transport protocol, groups together all packets belonging to a single direction of communication on a single socket. Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 9] Flow Record A Flow Record contains information about a specific Flow that was observed at an Observation Point. A Flow Record contains measured properties of the Flow (e.g., the total number of bytes for all the Flow's packets) and usually contains characteristic properties of the Flow (e.g., source IP address). Metering Process The Metering Process generates Flow Records. Inputs to the process are packet headers, characteristics, and Packet Treatment observed at one or more Observation Points. The Metering Process consists of a set of functions that includes packet header capturing, timestamping, sampling, classifying, and maintaining Flow Records. The maintenance of Flow Records may include creating new records, updating existing ones, computing Flow statistics, deriving further Flow properties, detecting Flow expiration, passing Flow Records to the Exporting Process, and deleting Flow Records. Exporting Process The Exporting Process sends IPFIX Messages to one or more Collecting Processes. The Flow Records in the Messages are generated by one or more Metering Processes. Exporter A device that hosts one or more Exporting Processes is termed an Exporter. IPFIX Device An IPFIX Device hosts at least one Exporting Process. It may host further Exporting Processes as well as arbitrary numbers of Observation Points and Metering Processes. Collecting Process A Collecting Process receives IPFIX Messages from one or more Exporting Processes. The Collecting Process might process or store Flow Records received within these Messages, but such actions are out of scope for this document. Collector A device that hosts one or more Collecting Processes is termed a Collector. Template A Template is an ordered sequence of <type, length> pairs used to completely specify the structure and semantics of a particular set of information that needs to be communicated from an IPFIX Device to a Collector. Each Template is uniquely identifiable by means of a Template ID. IPFIX Message An IPFIX Message is a message that originates at the Exporting Process and carries the IPFIX records of this Exporting Process, and whose destination is a Collecting Process. An IPFIX Message is encapsulated at the transport layer. Message Header The Message Header is the first part of an IPFIX Message; the Message Header provides basic information about the message, such as the IPFIX version, length of the message, message sequence number, etc. Template Record A Template Record defines the structure and interpretation of fields in a Data Record. Data Record A Data Record is a record that contains values of the parameters corresponding to a Template Record. Options Template Record An Options Template Record is a Template Record that defines the structure and interpretation of fields in a Data Record, including defining how to scope the applicability of the Data Record. Set A Set is a collection of records that have a similar structure, prefixed by a header. In an IPFIX Message, zero or more Sets follow the Message Header. There are three different types of Sets: Template Sets, Options Template Sets, and Data Sets. Template Set A Template Set is a collection of one or more Template Records that have been grouped together in an IPFIX Message. Options Template Set An Options Template Set is a collection of one or more Options Template Records that have been grouped together in an IPFIX Message. Data Set A Data Set is one or more Data Records, of the same type, that are grouped together in an IPFIX Message. Each Data Record is previously defined by a Template Record or an Options Template Record. Information Element An Information Element is a protocol- and encoding-independent description of an attribute that may appear in an IPFIX Record. Information Elements are defined in the IANA "IPFIX Information Elements" registry [IANA-IPFIX]. The type associated with an Information Element indicates constraints on what it may contain and also determines the valid encoding mechanisms for use in IPFIX. Transport Session In the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), the Transport Session is known as the SCTP association, which is uniquely identified by the SCTP endpoints [RFC4960]; in TCP, the Transport Session is known as the TCP connection, which is uniquely identified by the combination of IP addresses and TCP ports used. In UDP, the Transport Session is known as the UDP session, which is uniquely identified by the combination of IP addresses and UDP ports used. 2.1. Terminology Summary Table Figure A shows a summary of IPFIX terminology. +------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +------------------+--------------------+------------------------+ A Data Set is composed of Data Record(s). No Template Record is included. A Template Record or an Options Template Record defines the Data Record. A Template Set contains only Template Record(s). An Options Template Set contains only Options Template Record(s). 3. IPFIX Message Format An IPFIX Message consists of a Message Header, followed by zero or more Sets. The Sets can be any of these three possible types: Data Set, Template Set, or Options Template Set. The format of the IPFIX Message is shown in Figure B. ... +----------------------------------------------------+ Following are some examples of IPFIX Messages: 1. An IPFIX Message consisting of interleaved Template, Data, and Options Template Sets, as shown in Figure C. Here, Template and Options Template Sets are transmitted "on demand", before the first Data Set whose structure they define. +--------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +--------+--------------------------------------------------------+ 2. An IPFIX Message consisting entirely of Data Sets, sent after the appropriate Template Records have been defined and transmitted to the Collecting Process, as shown in Figure D. +--------+----------------------------------------------+ +--------+----------------------------------------------+ 3. An IPFIX Message consisting entirely of Template and Options Template Sets, as shown in Figure E. Such a message can be used to define or redefine Templates and Options Templates in bulk. +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ 3.1. Message Header Format The format of the IPFIX Message Header is shown in Figure F. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure F: IPFIX Message Header Format Each Message Header field is exported in network byte order. The fields are defined as follows: Version Version of IPFIX to which this Message conforms. The value of this field is 0x000a for the current version, incrementing by one the version used in the NetFlow services export version 9 [RFC3954]. Length Total length of the IPFIX Message, measured in octets, including Message Header and Set(s). Export Time Time at which the IPFIX Message Header leaves the Exporter, expressed in seconds since the UNIX epoch of 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, encoded as an unsigned 32-bit integer. Sequence Number Incremental sequence counter modulo 2^32 of all IPFIX Data Records sent in the current stream from the current Observation Domain by the Exporting Process. Each SCTP Stream counts sequence numbers separately, while all messages in a TCP connection or UDP session are considered to be part of the same stream. This value can be used by the Collecting Process to identify whether any IPFIX Data Records have been missed. Template and Options Template Records do not increase the Sequence Number. Observation Domain ID A 32-bit identifier of the Observation Domain that is locally unique to the Exporting Process. The Exporting Process uses the Observation Domain ID to uniquely identify to the Collecting Process the Observation Domain that metered the Flows. It is RECOMMENDED that this identifier also be unique per IPFIX Device. Collecting Processes SHOULD use the Transport Session and the Observation Domain ID field to separate different export streams originating from the same Exporter. The Observation Domain ID SHOULD be 0 when no specific Observation Domain ID is relevant for the entire IPFIX Message, for example, when exporting the Exporting Process Statistics, or in the case of a hierarchy of Collectors when aggregated Data Records are exported. 3.2. Field Specifier Format Vendors need the ability to define proprietary Information Elements, because, for example, they are delivering a pre-standards product, or the Information Element is in some way commercially sensitive. This section describes the Field Specifier format for both IANA-registered Information Elements [IANA-IPFIX] and enterprise-specific Information Elements. The Information Elements are identified by the Information Element identifier. When the Enterprise bit is set to 0, the corresponding Information Element appears in [IANA-IPFIX], and the Enterprise Number MUST NOT be present. When the Enterprise bit is set to 1, the corresponding Information Element identifier identified an enterprise-specific Information Element; the Enterprise Number MUST be present. An example of this is shown in Appendix A.2.2. The Field Specifier format is shown in Figure G. Where: E Enterprise bit. This is the first bit of the Field Specifier. If this bit is zero, the Information Element identifier identifies an Information Element in [IANA-IPFIX], and the four-octet Enterprise Number field MUST NOT be present. If this bit is one, the Information Element identifier identifies an enterprise-specific Information Element, and the Enterprise Number field MUST be present. Information Element identifier A numeric value that represents the Information Element. Refer to [IANA-IPFIX]. Field Length The length of the corresponding encoded Information Element, in octets. Refer to [IANA-IPFIX]. The Field Length may be smaller than that listed in [IANA-IPFIX] if the reduced-size encoding is used (see Section 6.2). The value 65535 is reserved for variablelength Information Elements (see Section 7). Enterprise Number IANA enterprise number [IANA-PEN] of the authority defining the Information Element identifier in this Template Record. 3.3. Set and Set Header Format A Set is a generic term for a collection of records that have a similar structure. There are three different types of Sets: Template Sets, Options Template Sets, and Data Sets. Each of these Sets consists of a Set Header and one or more records. The Set Format and the Set Header Format are defined in the following sections. 3.3.1. Set Format A Set has the format shown in Figure H. The record types can be either Template Records, Options Template Records, or Data Records. The record types MUST NOT be mixed within a Set. +--------------------------------------------------+ ... +--------------------------------------------------+ Set Header The Set Header Format is defined in Section 3.3.2. Record One of the record formats: Template Record, Options Template Record, or Data Record format. Padding The Exporting Process MAY insert some padding octets, so that the subsequent Set starts at an aligned boundary. For security reasons, the padding octet(s) MUST be composed of octets with value zero (0). The padding length MUST be shorter than any allowable record in this Set. If padding of the IPFIX Message is desired in combination with very short records, then the padding Information Element 'paddingOctets' can be used for padding Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 18] records such that their length is increased to a multiple of 4 or 8 octets. Because Template Sets are always 4-octet aligned by definition, padding is only needed in the case of other alignments, e.g., on 8-octet boundaries. 3.3.2. Set Header Format Every Set contains a common header. This header is defined in Figure I. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure I: Set Header Format Each Set Header field is exported in network format. The fields are defined as follows: Set ID Identifies the Set. A value of 2 is reserved for Template Sets. A value of 3 is reserved for Options Template Sets. Values from 4 to 255 are reserved for future use. Values 256 and above are used for Data Sets. The Set ID values of 0 and 1 are not used, for historical reasons [RFC3954]. Length Total length of the Set, in octets, including the Set Header, all records, and the optional padding. Because an individual Set MAY contain multiple records, the Length value MUST be used to determine the position of the next Set. 3.4. Record Format IPFIX defines three record formats, as defined in the next sections: the Template Record format, the Options Template Record format, and the Data Record format. 3.4.1. Template Record Format One of the essential elements in the IPFIX record format is the Template Record. Templates greatly enhance the flexibility of the record format because they allow the Collecting Process to process IPFIX Messages without necessarily knowing the interpretation of all Data Records. A Template Record contains any combination of IANAassigned and/or enterprise-specific Information Element identifiers. The format of the Template Record is shown in Figure J. It consists of a Template Record Header and one or more Field Specifiers. Field Specifiers are defined in Figure G above. +--------------------------------------------------+ ... +--------------------------------------------------+ The format of the Template Record Header is shown in Figure K. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure K: Template Record Header Format The Template Record Header Field definitions are as follows: Template ID Each Template Record is given a unique Template ID in the range 256 to 65535. This uniqueness is local to the Transport Session and Observation Domain that generated the Template ID. Since Template IDs are used as Set IDs in the Sets they describe (see Section 3.4.3), values 0-255 are reserved for special Set types (e.g., Template Sets themselves), and Templates and Options Templates (see Section 3.4.2) cannot share Template IDs within a Transport Session and Observation Domain. There are no constraints regarding the order of the Template ID allocation. As Exporting Processes are free to allocate Template IDs as they see fit, Collecting Processes MUST NOT assume incremental Template IDs, or anything about the contents of a Template based on its Template ID alone. Field Count Number of fields in this Template Record. The example in Figure L shows a Template Set with mixed IANA-assigned and enterprise-specific Information Elements. It consists of a Set Header, a Template Header, and several Field Specifiers. Information Element id.s 1.2 and 2.1 appear in [IANA-IPFIX] (Enterprise bit = 0) and therefore do not need an Enterprise Number to identify them. 3.4.2. Options Template Record Format Thanks to the notion of scope, The Options Template Record gives the Exporter the ability to provide additional information to the Collector that would not be possible with Flow Records alone. See Section 4 for specific Options Templates used for reporting metadata about IPFIX Exporting and Metering Processes. 22.214.171.124. Scope The scope, which is only available in the Options Template Set, gives the context of the reported Information Elements in the Data Records. The scope is one or more Information Elements, specified in the Options Template Record. At a minimum, Collecting Processes SHOULD support as scope the observationDomainId, exportingProcessId, meteringProcessId, templateId, lineCardId, exporterIPv4Address, exporterIPv6Address, and ingressInterface Information Elements. The IPFIX protocol doesn't prevent the use of any Information Elements for scope. However, some Information Element types don't make sense if specified as scope (for example, the counter Information Elements). The IPFIX Message Header already contains the Observation Domain ID. If not zero, this Observation Domain ID can be considered as an implicit scope for the Data Records in the IPFIX Message. Multiple Scope Fields MAY be present in the Options Template Record, in which case the composite scope is the combination of the scopes. For example, if the two scopes are meteringProcessId and templateId, the combined scope is this Template for this Metering Process. If a different order of Scope Fields would result in a Record having a different semantic meaning, then the order of Scope Fields MUST be preserved by the Exporting Process. For example, in the context of PSAMP [RFC5476], if the first scope defines the filtering function, while the second scope defines the sampling function, the order of the scope is important. Applying the sampling function first, followed by the filtering function, would lead to potentially different Data Records than applying the filtering function first, followed by the sampling function. 126.96.36.199. Options Template Record Format An Options Template Record contains any combination of IANA-assigned and/or enterprise-specific Information Element identifiers. The format of the Options Template Record is shown in Figure M. It consists of an Options Template Record Header and one or more Field Specifiers. Field Specifiers are defined in Figure G above. +--------------------------------------------------+ ... +--------------------------------------------------+ The format of the Options Template Record Header is shown in Figure N. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure N: Options Template Record Header Format The Options Template Record Header Field definitions are as follows: Template ID Each Options Template Record is given a unique Template ID in the range 256 to 65535. This uniqueness is local to the Transport Session and Observation Domain that generated the Template ID. Since Template IDs are used as Set IDs in the sets they describe (see Section 3.4.3), values 0-255 are reserved for special Set types (e.g., Template Sets themselves), and Templates and Options Templates cannot share Template IDs within a Transport Session and Observation Domain. There are no constraints regarding the order of the Template ID allocation. As Exporting Processes are free to allocate Template IDs as they see fit, Collecting Processes MUST NOT assume incremental Template IDs, or anything about the contents of an Options Template based on its Template ID alone. Field Count Number of all fields in this Options Template Record, including the Scope Fields. Scope Field Count Number of scope fields in this Options Template Record. The Scope Fields are normal Fields, except that they are interpreted as scope at the Collector. A scope field count of N specifies that the first N Field Specifiers in the Template Record are Scope Fields. The Scope Field Count MUST NOT be zero. The example in Figure O shows an Options Template Set with mixed IANA-assigned and enterprise-specific Information Elements. It consists of a Set Header, an Options Template Header, and several Field Specifiers. 3.4.3. Data Record Format The Data Records are sent in Data Sets. The format of the Data Record is shown in Figure P. It consists only of one or more Field Values. The Template ID to which the Field Values belong is encoded in the Set Header field "Set ID", i.e., "Set ID" = "Template ID". +--------------------------------------------------+ ... +--------------------------------------------------+ Note that Field Values do not necessarily have a length of 16 bits. Field Values are encoded according to their data type as specified in [RFC7012]. Interpretation of the Data Record format can be done only if the Template Record corresponding to the Template ID is available at the Collecting Process. The example in Figure Q shows a Data Set. It consists of a Set Header and several Field Values. 4. Specific Reporting Requirements Some specific Options Templates and Options Template Records are necessary to provide extra information about the Flow Records and about the Metering Process. The Options Template and Options Template Records defined in these subsections, which impose some constraints on the Metering Process and Exporting Process implementations, MAY be implemented. If implemented, the specific Options Templates SHOULD be implemented as specified in these subsections. The minimum set of Information Elements is always specified in these Specific IPFIX Options Templates. Nevertheless, extra Information Elements may be used in these specific Options Templates. The Collecting Process MUST check the possible combinations of Information Elements within the Options Template Records to correctly interpret the following Options Templates. 4.1. The Metering Process Statistics Options Template The Metering Process Statistics Options Template specifies the structure of a Data Record for reporting Metering Process statistics. It SHOULD contain the following Information Elements, as defined in [IANA-IPFIX]: (scope) observationDomainId This Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field and MUST be present, unless the Observation Domain ID of the enclosing Message is non-zero. (scope) meteringProcessId If present, this Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field. exportedMessageTotalCount exportedFlowRecordTotalCount exportedOctetTotalCount The Exporting Process SHOULD export the Data Record specified by the Metering Process Statistics Options Template on a regular basis or based on some export policy. This periodicity or export policy SHOULD be configurable. Note that if several Metering Processes are available on the Exporter Observation Domain, the Information Element meteringProcessId MUST be specified as an additional Scope Field. 4.2. The Metering Process Reliability Statistics Options Template The Metering Process Reliability Statistics Options Template specifies the structure of a Data Record for reporting lack of reliability in the Metering Process. It SHOULD contain the following Information Elements, as defined in [IANA-IPFIX]: (scope) observationDomainId This Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field and MUST be present, unless the Observation Domain ID of the enclosing Message is non-zero. (scope) meteringProcessId If present, this Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field. ignoredPacketTotalCount ignoredOctetTotalCount time first packet ignored The timestamp of the first packet that was ignored by the Metering Process. For this timestamp, any of the following timestamp Information Elements can be used: observationTimeSeconds, observationTimeMilliseconds, observationTimeMicroseconds, or observationTimeNanoseconds. time last packet ignored The timestamp of the last packet that was ignored by the Metering Process. For this timestamp, any of the following timestamp Information Elements can be used: observationTimeSeconds, observationTimeMilliseconds, observationTimeMicroseconds, or observationTimeNanoseconds. The Exporting Process SHOULD export the Data Record specified by the Metering Process Reliability Statistics Options Template on a regular basis or based on some export policy. This periodicity or export policy SHOULD be configurable. Note that if several Metering Processes are available on the Exporter Observation Domain, the Information Element meteringProcessId MUST be specified as an additional Scope Field. Since the Metering Process Reliability Statistics Options Template contains two identical timestamp Information Elements, and since the order of the Information Elements in the Template Records is not guaranteed, the Collecting Process interprets the time interval of ignored packets as the range between the two values; see Section 5.2 for wraparound considerations. 4.3. The Exporting Process Reliability Statistics Options Template The Exporting Process Reliability Statistics Options Template specifies the structure of a Data Record for reporting lack of reliability in the Exporting Process. It SHOULD contain the following Information Elements, as defined in [IANA-IPFIX]: (scope) Exporting Process Identifier The identifier of the Exporting Process for which reliability is reported. Any of the exporterIPv4Address, exporterIPv6Address, or exportingProcessId Information Elements can be used for this field. This Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field. notSentFlowTotalCount notSentPacketTotalCount notSentOctetTotalCount time first flow dropped The time at which the first Flow Record was dropped by the Exporting Process. For this timestamp, any of the following timestamp Information Elements can be used: observationTimeSeconds, observationTimeMilliseconds, observationTimeMicroseconds, or observationTimeNanoseconds. time last flow dropped The time at which the last Flow Record was dropped by the Exporting Process. For this timestamp, any of the following timestamp Information Elements can be used: observationTimeSeconds, observationTimeMilliseconds, observationTimeMicroseconds, or observationTimeNanoseconds. The Exporting Process SHOULD export the Data Record specified by the Exporting Process Reliability Statistics Options Template on a regular basis or based on some export policy. This periodicity or export policy SHOULD be configurable. Since the Exporting Process Reliability Statistics Options Template contains two identical timestamp Information Elements, and since the order of the Information Elements in the Template Records is not guaranteed, the Collecting Process interprets the time interval of dropped packets as the range between the two values; see Section 5.2 for wraparound considerations. 4.4. The Flow Keys Options Template The Flow Keys Options Template specifies the structure of a Data Record for reporting the Flow Keys of reported Flows. A Flow Keys Data Record extends a particular Template Record that is referenced by its templateId. The Template Record is extended by specifying which of the Information Elements contained in the corresponding Data Records describe Flow properties that serve as Flow Keys of the reported Flow. The Flow Keys Options Template SHOULD contain the following Information Elements, as defined in [IANA-IPFIX]: (scope) templateId This Information Element MUST be defined as a Scope Field. flowKeyIndicator 5. Timing Considerations 5.1. IPFIX Message Header Export Time and Flow Record Time The IPFIX Message Header Export Time field is the time at which the IPFIX Message Header leaves the Exporter, using the same encoding as the dateTimeSeconds abstract data type [RFC7012], i.e., expressed in seconds since the UNIX epoch, 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, encoded as an unsigned 32-bit integer. Certain time-related Information Elements may be expressed as an offset from this Export Time. For example, Data Records requiring a microsecond precision can export the flow start and end times with the flowStartMicroseconds and flowEndMicroseconds Information Elements, which encode the absolute time in microseconds in terms of the NTP epoch, 1 January 1900 at 00:00 UTC, in a 64-bit field. An alternate solution is to export the flowStartDeltaMicroseconds and flowEndDeltaMicroseconds Information Elements in the Data Record, which respectively report the flow start and end time as negative offsets from the Export Time, as an unsigned 32-bit integer. This latter solution lowers the export bandwidth requirement, saving four bytes per timestamp, while increasing the load on the Exporter, Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 32] as the Exporting Process must calculate the flowStartDeltaMicroseconds and flowEndDeltaMicroseconds of every single Data Record before exporting the IPFIX Message. It must be noted that timestamps based on the Export Time impose some time constraints on the Data Records contained within the IPFIX Message. In the example of flowStartDeltaMicroseconds and flowEndDeltaMicroseconds Information Elements, the Data Record can only contain records with timestamps within 71 minutes of the Export Time. Otherwise, the 32-bit counter would not be sufficient to contain the flow start time offset. 5.2. Supporting Timestamp Wraparound The dateTimeSeconds abstract data type [RFC7012] and the Export Time Message Header field (Section 3.1) are encoded as 32-bit unsigned integers, expressed as seconds since the UNIX epoch, 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, as defined in [POSIX.1]. These values will wrap around on 7 February 2106 at 06:28:16 UTC. In order to support continued use of the IPFIX protocol beyond this date, Exporting Processes SHOULD export dateTimeSeconds values and the Export Time Message Header field as the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch, 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, modulo 2^32. Collecting Processes SHOULD use the current date, or other contextual information, to properly interpret dateTimeSeconds values and the Export Time Message Header field. There are similar considerations for the NTP-based dateTimeMicroseconds and dateTimeNanoseconds abstract data types [RFC7012]. Exporting Processes SHOULD export dateTimeMicroseconds and dateTimeNanoseconds values as if the NTP era [RFC5905] is implicit; Collecting Processes SHOULD use the current date, or other contextual information, to determine the NTP era in order to properly interpret dateTimeMicroseconds and dateTimeNanoseconds values in received Data Records. The dateTimeMilliseconds abstract data type will wrap around in approximately 500 billion years; the specification of the behavior of this abstract data type after that time is left as a subject of a future revision of this specification. The long-term storage of files [RFC5655] for archival purposes is affected by timestamp wraparound, as the use of the current date to interpret timestamp values in files stored on the order of multiple decades in the past may lead to incorrect values; therefore, it is RECOMMENDED that such files be stored with contextual information to assist in the interpretation of these timestamps. 6. Linkage with the Information Model As with values in the IPFIX Message Header and Set Header, values of all Information Elements [RFC7012], except for those of the string and octetArray data types, are encoded in canonical format in network byte order (also known as big-endian byte ordering). 6.1. Encoding of IPFIX Data Types The following sections define the encoding of the data types specified in [RFC7012]. 6.1.1. Integral Data Types Integral data types -- unsigned8, unsigned16, unsigned32, unsigned64, signed8, signed16, signed32, and signed64 -- MUST be encoded using the default canonical format in network byte order. Signed integral data types are represented in two's complement notation. 6.1.2. Address Types Address types -- macAddress, ipv4Address, and ipv6Address -- MUST be encoded the same way as the integral data types, as six, four, and sixteen octets in network byte order, respectively. 6.1.3. float32 The float32 data type MUST be encoded as an IEEE binary32 floating point type as specified in [IEEE.754.2008], in network byte order as specified in Section 3.6 of [RFC1014]. Note that on little-endian machines, byte swapping of the native representation is necessary before export. Note that the method for doing this may be implementation platform dependent. 6.1.4. float64 The float64 data type MUST be encoded as an IEEE binary64 floating point type as specified in [IEEE.754.2008], in network byte order as specified in Section 3.7 of [RFC1014]. Note that on little-endian machines, byte swapping of the native representation is necessary before export. Note that the method for doing this may be implementation platform dependent. 6.1.5. boolean The boolean data type is specified according to the TruthValue in [RFC2579]. It is encoded as a single-octet integer per Section 6.1.1, with the value 1 for true and value 2 for false. Every other value is undefined. 6.1.6. string and octetArray The "string" data type represents a finite-length string of valid characters of the Unicode character encoding set. The string data type MUST be encoded in UTF-8 [RFC3629] format. The string is sent as an array of zero or more octets using an Information Element of fixed or variable length. IPFIX Exporting Processes MUST NOT send IPFIX Messages containing ill-formed UTF-8 string values for Information Elements of the string data type; Collecting Processes SHOULD detect and ignore such values. See [UTF8-EXPLOIT] for background on this issue. The octetArray data type has no encoding rules; it represents a raw array of zero or more octets, with the interpretation of the octets defined in the Information Element definition. 6.1.7. dateTimeSeconds The dateTimeSeconds data type is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order containing the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch, 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, as defined in [POSIX.1]. dateTimeSeconds is encoded identically to the IPFIX Message Header Export Time field. It can represent dates between 1 January 1970 and 7 February 2106 without wraparound; see Section 5.2 for wraparound considerations. 6.1.8. dateTimeMilliseconds The dateTimeMilliseconds data type is an unsigned 64-bit integer in network byte order containing the number of milliseconds since the UNIX epoch, 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, as defined in [POSIX.1]. It can represent dates beginning on 1 January 1970 and for approximately the next 500 billion years without wraparound. 6.1.9. dateTimeMicroseconds The dateTimeMicroseconds data type is a 64-bit field encoded according to the NTP Timestamp format as defined in Section 6 of [RFC5905]. This field is made up of two unsigned 32-bit integers in network byte order: Seconds and Fraction. The Seconds field is the number of seconds since the NTP epoch, 1 January 1900 at 00:00 UTC. The Fraction field is the fractional number of seconds in units of 1/(2^32) seconds (approximately 233 picoseconds). It can represent dates between 1 January 1900 and 8 February 2036 in the current NTP era; see Section 5.2 for wraparound considerations. Note that dateTimeMicroseconds and dateTimeNanoseconds share an identical encoding. The dateTimeMicroseconds data type is intended only to represent timestamps of microsecond precision. Therefore, the bottom 11 bits of the Fraction field SHOULD be zero and MUST be ignored for all Information Elements of this data type (as 2^11 x 233 picoseconds = .477 microseconds). 6.1.10. dateTimeNanoseconds The dateTimeNanoseconds data type is a 64-bit field encoded according to the NTP Timestamp format as defined in Section 6 of [RFC5905]. This field is made up of two unsigned 32-bit integers in network byte order: Seconds and Fraction. The Seconds field is the number of seconds since the NTP epoch, 1 January 1900 at 00:00 UTC. The Fraction field is the fractional number of seconds in units of 1/(2^32) seconds (approximately 233 picoseconds). It can represent dates between 1 January 1900 and 8 February 2036 in the current NTP era; see Section 5.2 for wraparound considerations. Note that dateTimeMicroseconds and dateTimeNanoseconds share an identical encoding. There is no restriction on the interpretation of the Fraction field for the dateTimeNanoseconds data type. 6.2. Reduced-Size Encoding Information Elements encoded as signed, unsigned, or float data types MAY be encoded using fewer octets than those implied by their type in the information model definition, based on the assumption that the smaller size is sufficient to carry any value the Exporter may need to deliver. This reduces the network bandwidth requirement between the Exporter and the Collector. Note that the Information Element definitions [IANA-IPFIX] always define the maximum encoding size. For instance, the information model defines octetDeltaCount as an unsigned64 type, which would require 64 bits. However, if the Exporter will never locally encounter the need to send a value larger than 4294967295, it may choose to send the value as unsigned32 instead. This behavior is indicated by the Exporter by specifying a size in the Template with a smaller length than that associated with the assigned type of the Information Element. In the example above, the Exporter would place a length of 4 versus 8 in the Template. Reduced-size encoding MAY be applied to the following integer types: unsigned64, signed64, unsigned32, signed32, unsigned16, and signed16. The signed versus unsigned property of the reported value MUST be preserved. The reduction in size can be to any number of octets smaller than the original type if the data value still fits, i.e., so that only leading zeroes are dropped. For example, an unsigned64 can be reduced in size to 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 octet(s). Reduced-size encoding MAY be used to reduce float64 to float32. The float32 not only has a reduced number range but, due to the smaller mantissa, is also less precise. In this case, the float64 would be reduced in size to 4 octets. Reduced-size encoding MUST NOT be applied to any other data type defined in [RFC7012] that implies a fixed length, as these types either have internal structure (such as ipv4Address or dateTimeMicroseconds) or restricted ranges that are not suitable for reduced-size encoding (such as dateTimeMilliseconds). Information Elements of type octetArray and string may be exported using any length, subject to restrictions on length specific to each Information Element, as noted in that Information Element's description. 7. Variable-Length Information Element The IPFIX Template mechanism is optimized for fixed-length Information Elements [RFC7012]. Where an Information Element has a variable length, the following mechanism MUST be used to carry the length information for both the IANA-assigned and enterprise-specific Information Elements. In the Template Set, the Information Element Field Length is recorded as 65535. This reserved length value notifies the Collecting Process that the length value of the Information Element will be carried in the Information Element content itself. In most cases, the length of the Information Element will be less than 255 octets. The following length-encoding mechanism optimizes the overhead of carrying the Information Element length in this more common case. The length is carried in the octet before the Information Element, as shown in Figure R. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure R: Variable-Length Information Element (IE) (Length < 255 Octets) The length may also be encoded into 3 octets before the Information Element, allowing the length of the Information Element to be greater than or equal to 255 octets. In this case, the first octet of the Length field MUST be 255, and the length is carried in the second and third octets, as shown in Figure S. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure S: Variable-Length Information Element (IE) (Length 0 to 65535 Octets) The octets carrying the length (either the first or the first three octets) MUST NOT be included in the length of the Information Element. 8. Template Management This section describes the management of Templates and Options Templates at the Exporting and Collecting Processes. The goal of Template management is to ensure, to the extent possible, that the Exporting Process and Collecting Process have a consistent view of the Templates and Options Templates used to encode and decode the Records sent from the Exporting Process to the Collecting Process. Achieving this goal is complicated somewhat by two factors: 1) the need to support the reuse of Template IDs within a Transport Session and 2) the need to support unreliable transmission for Templates when UDP is used as the transport protocol for IPFIX Messages. The Template Management mechanisms defined in this section apply to the export of IPFIX Messages on SCTP, TCP, or UDP. Additional considerations specific to SCTP and UDP transport are given in Sections 8.3 and 8.4, respectively. The Exporting Process assigns and maintains Template IDs per Transport Session and Observation Domain. A newly created Template Record is assigned an unused Template ID by the Exporting Process. The Collecting Process MUST store all received Template Record information for the duration of each Transport Session until reuse or withdrawal as described in Section 8.1, or expiry over UDP as described in Section 8.4, so that it can interpret the corresponding Data Records. The Collecting Process MUST NOT assume that the Template IDs from a given Exporting Process refer to the same Templates as they did in previous Transport Sessions from the same Exporting Process; a Collecting Process MUST NOT use Templates from one Transport Session to decode Data Sets in a subsequent Transport Session. If a specific Information Element is required by a Template but is not present in observed packets, the Exporting Process MAY choose to export Flow Records without this Information Element in a Data Record described by a new Template. If an Information Element is required more than once in a Template, the different occurrences of this Information Element SHOULD follow the logical order of their treatments by the Metering Process. For example, if a selected packet goes through two hash functions, and if the two hash values are sent within a single Template, the first occurrence of the hash value should belong to the first hash function in the Metering Process. For example, when exporting the two source IP addresses of an IPv4-in-IPv4 packet, the first sourceIPv4Address Information Element occurrence should be the IPv4 address of the outer header, while the second occurrence should be the address of the inner header. Collecting Processes MUST properly handle Templates with multiple identical Information Elements. The Exporting Process SHOULD transmit the Template Set and Options Template Set in advance of any Data Sets that use that (Options) Template ID, to help ensure that the Collector has the Template Record before receiving the first Data Record. Data Records that correspond to a Template Record MAY appear in the same and/or Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 39] subsequent IPFIX Message(s). However, a Collecting Process MUST NOT assume that the Data Set and the associated Template Set (or Options Template Set) are exported in the same IPFIX Message. Though a Collecting Process normally receives Template Records from the Exporting Process before receiving Data Records, this is not always the case, e.g., in the case of reordering or Collecting Process restart over UDP. In these cases, the Collecting Process MAY buffer Data Records for which it has no Templates, to wait for Template Records describing them; however, note that in the presence of Template withdrawal and redefinition (Section 8.1) this may lead to incorrect interpretation of Data Records. Different Observation Domains within a Transport Session MAY use the same Template ID value to refer to different Templates; Collecting Processes MUST properly handle this case. Options Templates and Templates that are related or interdependent (e.g., by sharing common properties as described in [RFC5473]) SHOULD be sent together in the same IPFIX Message. 8.1. Template Withdrawal and Redefinition Templates that will not be used further by an Exporting Process MAY be withdrawn by sending a Template Withdrawal. After receiving a Template Withdrawal, a Collecting Process MUST stop using the Template to interpret subsequently exported Data Sets. Note that this mechanism does not apply when UDP is used to transport IPFIX Messages; for that case, see Section 8.4. A Template Withdrawal consists of a Template Record for the Template ID to be withdrawn, with a Field Count of 0. The format of a Template Withdrawal is shown in Figure T. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure T: Template Withdrawal Format The Set ID field MUST contain the value 2 for Template Set Withdrawal or the value 3 for Options Template Set Withdrawal. Multiple Template IDs MAY be withdrawn with a single Template Withdrawal; in that case, padding MAY be used. Template Withdrawals MAY appear interleaved with Template Sets, Options Template Sets, and Data Sets within an IPFIX Message. In this case, the Templates and Template Withdrawals shall be interpreted as taking effect in the order in which they appear in the IPFIX Message. An Exporting Process SHOULD NOT send a Template Withdrawal until sufficient time has elapsed to allow receipt and processing of any Data Records described by the withdrawn Templates; see Section 8.2 for details regarding the sequencing of Template management actions. The end of a Transport Session implicitly withdraws all the Templates used within the Transport Session, and Templates must be resent during subsequent Transport Sessions between an Exporting Process and Collecting Process. This applies to SCTP and TCP only; see Sections 8.4 and 10.3.4 for discussions of Transport Session and Template lifetime over UDP. All Templates for a given Observation Domain MAY also be withdrawn using an All Templates Withdrawal, as shown in Figure U. All Options Templates for a given Observation Domain MAY likewise be withdrawn using an All Options Templates Withdrawal, as shown in Figure V. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Figure V: All Options Templates Withdrawal Set Format Template IDs MAY be reused for new Templates by sending a new Template Record or Options Template Record for a given Template ID after withdrawing the Template. If a Collecting Process receives a Template Withdrawal for a Template or Options Template it does not presently have stored, this indicates a malfunctioning or improperly implemented Exporting Process. The continued receipt and interpretation of Data Records are still possible, but the Collecting Process MUST ignore the Template Withdrawal and SHOULD log the error. If a Collecting Process receives a new Template Record or Options Template Record for an already-allocated Template ID, and that Template or Options Template is identical to the already-received Template or Options Template, it SHOULD log the retransmission; however, this is not an error condition, as it does not affect the interpretation of Data Records. If a Collecting Process receives a new Template Record or Options Template Record for an already-allocated Template ID, and that Template or Options Template is different from the already-received Template or Options Template, this indicates a malfunctioning or improperly implemented Exporting Process. The continued receipt and unambiguous interpretation of Data Records for this Template ID are no longer possible, and the Collecting Process SHOULD log the error. Further Collecting Process actions are out of scope for this specification. 8.2. Sequencing Template Management Actions Since there is no guarantee of the ordering of exported IPFIX Messages across SCTP Streams or over UDP, an Exporting Process MUST sequence all Template management actions (i.e., Template Records defining new Templates and Template Withdrawals withdrawing them) using the Export Time field in the IPFIX Message Header. An Exporting Process MUST NOT export a Data Set described by a new Template in an IPFIX Message with an Export Time before the Export Time of the IPFIX Message containing that Template. If a new Template and a Data Set described by it appear in the same IPFIX Message, the Template Set containing the Template MUST appear before the Data Set in the Message. An Exporting Process MUST NOT export any Data Sets described by a withdrawn Template in IPFIX Messages with an Export Time after the Export Time of the IPFIX Message containing the Template Withdrawal withdrawing that Template. Put another way, a Template describes Data Records contained in IPFIX Messages when the Export Time of such messages is between a specific start and end time, inclusive. The start time is the Export Time of the IPFIX Message containing the Template Record. The end time is one of two times: if the template is withdrawn during the session, then it is the Export Time of the IPFIX Message containing the Template Withdrawal for the template; otherwise, it is the end of the Transport Session. Even if sent in order, IPFIX Messages containing Template management actions could arrive at the Collecting Process out of order, i.e., if sent via UDP or via different SCTP Streams. Given this, Template Withdrawals and subsequent reuse of Template IDs can significantly complicate the problem of determining Template lifetimes at the Collecting Process. A Collecting Process MAY implement a buffer and use Export Time information to disambiguate the order of Template management actions. This buffer, if implemented, SHOULD be configurable to impart a delay on the order of the maximum reordering delay experienced at the Collecting Process. Note, in this case, that the Collecting Process's clock is irrelevant: it is only comparing the Export Times of Messages to each other. 8.3. Additional Considerations for Template Management over SCTP The specifications in this section apply only to SCTP; in cases of contradiction with specifications in Section 8 or Section 8.1, this section takes precedence. Template Sets and Options Template Sets MAY be sent on any SCTP Stream. Data Sets sent on a given SCTP Stream MAY be represented by Template Records exported on any SCTP Stream. Template Sets and Options Template Sets MUST be sent reliably, using SCTP ordered delivery. Template Withdrawals MAY be sent on any SCTP Stream. Template Withdrawals MUST be sent reliably, using SCTP ordered delivery. Template IDs MAY be reused by sending a Template Withdrawal and/or a new Template Record on a different SCTP Stream than the stream on which the original Template was sent. Additional Template Management considerations are provided in [RFC6526], which specifies an extension to explicitly link Templates with SCTP Streams. In exchange for more restrictive rules on the assignment of Template Records to SCTP Streams, this extension allows fast, reliable reuse of Template IDs and estimation of Data Record loss per Template. 8.4. Additional Considerations for Template Management over UDP The specifications in this section apply only to UDP; in cases of contradiction with specifications in Section 8 or Section 8.1, this section takes precedence. Since UDP provides no method for reliable transmission of Templates, Exporting Processes using UDP as the transport protocol MUST periodically retransmit each active Template at regular intervals. The Template retransmission interval MUST be configurable via, for example, the templateRefreshTimeout and optionsTemplateRefreshTimeout parameters as defined in [RFC6728]. Default settings for these values are deployment- and application-specific. Before exporting any Data Records described by a given Template Record or Options Template Record, especially in the case of Template ID reuse as described in Section 8.1, the Exporting Process SHOULD send multiple copies of the Template Record in a separate IPFIX Message, in order to help ensure that the Collecting Process has received it. In order to minimize resource requirements for Templates that are no longer being used by the Exporting Process, the Collecting Process MAY associate a lifetime with each Template received in a Transport Session. Templates not refreshed by the Exporting Process within the lifetime can then be discarded by the Collecting Process. The Template lifetime at the Collecting Process MAY be exposed by a configuration parameter or MAY be derived from observation of the interval of periodic Template retransmissions from the Exporting Process. In this latter case, the Template lifetime SHOULD default to at least 3 times the observed retransmission rate. Template Withdrawals (Section 8.1) MUST NOT be sent by Exporting Processes exporting via UDP and MUST be ignored by Collecting Processes collecting via UDP. Template IDs MAY be reused by Exporting Processes by exporting a new Template for the Template ID after waiting at least 3 times the retransmission delay. Note that Template ID reuse may lead to incorrect interpretation of Data Records if the retransmission and lifetime are not properly configured. When a Collecting Process receives a new Template Record or Options Template Record via UDP for an already-allocated Template ID, and that Template or Options Template is identical to the alreadyreceived Template or Options Template, it SHOULD NOT log the retransmission, as this is the normal operation of Template refresh over UDP. When a Collecting Process receives a new Template Record or Options Template Record for an already-allocated Template ID, and that Template or Options Template is different from the already-received Template or Options Template, the Collecting Process MUST replace the Template or Options Template for that Template ID with the newly received Template or Options Template. This is the normal operation of Template ID reuse over UDP. As Template IDs are unique per UDP session and per Observation Domain, at any given time, the Collecting Process SHOULD maintain the following for all the current Template Records and Options Template Records: <IPFIX Device, Exporter source UDP port, Collector IP address, Collector destination UDP port, Observation Domain ID, Template ID, Template Definition, Last Received>. 9. The Collecting Process's Side This section describes the handling of the IPFIX protocol at the Collecting Process common to all transport protocols. Additional considerations for SCTP and UDP are provided in Sections 9.2 and 9.3, respectively. Template management at Collecting Processes is covered in Section 8. The Collecting Process MUST listen for association requests / connections to start new Transport Sessions from the Exporting Process. The Collecting Process MUST note the Information Element identifier of any Information Element that it does not understand and MAY discard that Information Element from received Data Records. The Collecting Process MUST accept padding in Data Records and Template Records. The padding size is the Set Length minus the size of the Set Header (4 octets for the Set ID and the Set Length), modulo the minimum Record size deduced from the Template Record. The IPFIX protocol has a Sequence Number field in the Export header that increases with the number of IPFIX Data Records in the IPFIX Message. A Collector can detect out-of-sequence, dropped, or duplicate IPFIX Messages by tracking the Sequence Number. A Collector SHOULD provide a logging mechanism for tracking out-ofsequence IPFIX Messages. Such out-of-sequence IPFIX Messages may be due to Exporter resource exhaustion where it cannot transmit messages at their creation rate, an Exporting Process reset, congestion on the network link between the Exporter and Collector, Collector resource exhaustion where it cannot process the IPFIX Messages at their arrival rate, out-of-order packet reception, duplicate packet reception, or an attacker injecting false messages. 9.1. Collecting Process Handling of Malformed IPFIX Messages If the Collecting Process receives a malformed IPFIX Message, it MUST discard the IPFIX Message and SHOULD log the error. A malformed IPFIX Message is one that cannot be interpreted due to nonsensical length values (e.g., a variable-length Information Element longer than its enclosing Set, a Set longer than its enclosing IPFIX Message, or an IPFIX Message shorter than an IPFIX Message Header) or a reserved Version value (which may indicate that a future version of IPFIX is being used for export but in practice occurs most often when non-IPFIX data is sent to an IPFIX Collecting Process). Note that non-zero Set padding does not constitute a malformed IPFIX Message. As the most likely cause of malformed IPFIX Messages is a poorly implemented Exporting Process, or the sending of non-IPFIX data to an IPFIX Collecting Process, human intervention is likely necessary to correct the issue. In the meantime, the Collecting Process MAY attempt to rectify the situation any way it sees fit, including: - terminating the TCP connection or SCTP connection - using the receiver window to reduce network load from the malfunctioning Exporting Process - buffering and saving malformed IPFIX Message(s) to assist in diagnosis - attempting to resynchronize the stream, e.g., as described in Section 10.3 of [RFC5655] Resynchronization should only be attempted if the Collecting Process has reason to believe that the error is transient. On the other hand, the Collecting Process SHOULD stop processing IPFIX Messages from clearly malfunctioning Exporting Processes (e.g., those from which the last few IPFIX Messages have been malformed). 9.2. Additional Considerations for SCTP Collecting Processes As an Exporting Process may request and support more than one stream per SCTP association, the Collecting Process MUST support the opening of multiple SCTP Streams. 9.3. Additional Considerations for UDP Collecting Processes A Transport Session for IPFIX Messages transported over UDP is defined from the point of view of the Exporting Process and roughly corresponds to the time during which a given Exporting Process sends IPFIX Messages over UDP to a given Collecting Process. Since this is Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 46] difficult to detect at the Collecting Process, the Collecting Process MAY discard all Transport Session state after no IPFIX Messages are received from a given Exporting Process within a given Transport Session during a configurable idle timeout. The Collecting Process SHOULD accept Data Records without the associated Template Record (or other definitions such as Common Properties) required to decode the Data Record. If the Template Records or other definitions have not been received at the time Data Records are received, the Collecting Process MAY store the Data Records for a short period of time and decode them after the Template Records or other definitions are received, comparing Export Times of IPFIX Messages containing the Template Records with those containing the Data Records as discussed in Section 8.2. Note that this mechanism may lead to incorrectly interpreted records in the presence of Template ID reuse or other identifiers with limited lifetimes. 10. Transport Protocol The IPFIX Protocol Specification has been designed to be transport protocol independent. Note that the Exporter can export to multiple Collecting Processes using independent transport protocols. The IPFIX Message Header 16-bit Length field limits the length of an IPFIX Message to 65535 octets, including the header. A Collecting Process MUST be able to handle IPFIX Message lengths of up to 65535 octets. While an Exporting Process or Collecting Process may support multiple transport protocols, Transport Sessions are bound to a transport protocol. Transport Session state MUST NOT be migrated by an Exporting Process or Collecting Process among Transport Sessions using different transport protocols between the same Exporting Process and Collecting Process pair. In other words, an Exporting Process supporting multiple transport protocols is conceptually multiple Exporting Processes, one per supported transport protocol. Likewise, a Collecting Process supporting multiple transport protocols is conceptually multiple Collecting Processes, one per supported transport protocol. 10.1. Transport Compliance and Transport Usage SCTP [RFC4960] using the Partially Reliable SCTP (PR-SCTP) extension as specified in [RFC3758] MUST be implemented by all compliant implementations. UDP [UDP] MAY also be implemented by compliant implementations. TCP [TCP] MAY also be implemented by compliant implementations. SCTP should be used in deployments where Exporters and Collectors are communicating over links that are susceptible to congestion. SCTP is capable of providing any required degree of reliability when used with the PR-SCTP extension. TCP may be used in deployments where Exporters and Collectors communicate over links that are susceptible to congestion, but SCTP is preferred, due to its ability to limit back pressure on Exporters and its message-versus-stream orientation. UDP may be used, although it is not a congestion-aware protocol. However, in this case the IPFIX traffic between the Exporter and Collector must be separately contained or provisioned to minimize the risk of congestion-related loss. By default, the Collecting Process listens for connections on SCTP, TCP, and/or UDP port 4739. By default, the Collecting Process listens for secure connections on SCTP, TCP, and/or UDP port 4740 (refer to the Security Considerations section). By default, the Exporting Process attempts to connect to one of these ports. It MUST be possible to configure both the Exporting and Collecting Processes to use different ports than the default. 10.2. SCTP This section describes how IPFIX is transported over SCTP [RFC4960] using the PR-SCTP [RFC3758] extension. 10.2.1. Congestion Avoidance SCTP provides the required level of congestion avoidance by design. SCTP detects congestion in the end-to-end path between the IPFIX Exporting Process and the IPFIX Collecting Process, and limits the transfer rate accordingly. When an IPFIX Exporting Process has records to export but detects that transmission by SCTP is temporarily impossible, it can either wait until sending is possible again or decide to drop the record. In the latter case, the dropped export data SHOULD be accounted for, so that the amount of dropped export data can be reported using the mechanism described in Section 4.3. 10.2.2. Reliability The SCTP transport protocol is by default reliable but has the capability to deliver messages with partial reliability [RFC3758]. Using reliable SCTP messages for IPFIX export is not in itself a guarantee that all Data Records will be delivered. If there is congestion on the link from the Exporting Process to the Collecting Process, or if a significant number of retransmissions are required, the send queues on the Exporting Process may fill up; the Exporting Process MAY either suspend, export, or discard the IPFIX Messages. If Data Records are discarded, the IPFIX Sequence Numbers used for export MUST reflect the loss of data. 10.2.3. MTU SCTP provides the required IPFIX Message fragmentation service based on Path MTU (PMTU) discovery. 10.2.4. Association Establishment and Shutdown The IPFIX Exporting Process initiates an SCTP association with the IPFIX Collecting Process. The Exporting Process MAY establish more than one association (connection "bundle" in SCTP terminology) to the Collecting Process. An Exporting Process MAY support more than one active association to different Collecting Processes (including the case of different Collecting Processes on the same host). When an Exporting Process is shut down, it SHOULD shut down the SCTP association. When a Collecting Process no longer wants to receive IPFIX Messages, it SHOULD shut down its end of the association. The Collecting Process SHOULD continue to receive and process IPFIX Messages until the Exporting Process has closed its end of the association. When a Collecting Process detects that the SCTP association has been abnormally terminated, it MUST continue to listen for a new association establishment. When an Exporting Process detects that the SCTP association to the Collecting Process is abnormally terminated, it SHOULD try to re-establish the association. Association timeouts SHOULD be configurable. 10.2.5. Failover If the Collecting Process does not acknowledge an attempt by the Exporting Process to establish an association, SCTP will automatically retry association establishment using exponential backoff. The Exporter MAY log an alarm if the underlying SCTP association establishment times out; this timeout should be configurable on the Exporter. The Exporting Process MAY open a backup SCTP association to a Collecting Process in advance, if it supports Collecting Process failover. 10.2.6. Streams An Exporting Process MAY request more than one SCTP Stream per association. Each of these streams may be used for the transmission of IPFIX Messages containing Data Sets, Template Sets, and/or Options Template Sets. Depending on the requirements of the application, the Exporting Process may send Data Sets with full or partial reliability, using ordered or out-of-order delivery, over any SCTP Stream established during SCTP association setup. An IPFIX Exporting Process MAY use any PR-SCTP service definition as per Section 4 of the PR-SCTP specification [RFC3758] when using partial reliability to transmit IPFIX Messages containing only Data Sets. However, Exporting Processes SHOULD mark such IPFIX Messages for retransmission for as long as resource or other constraints allow. 10.3. UDP This section describes how IPFIX is transported over UDP [UDP]. 10.3.1. Congestion Avoidance UDP has no integral congestion-avoidance mechanism. Its use over congestion-sensitive network paths is therefore not recommended. UDP MAY be used in deployments where Exporters and Collectors always communicate over dedicated links that are not susceptible to congestion, i.e., links that are over-provisioned compared to the maximum export rate from the Exporters. 10.3.2. Reliability UDP is not a reliable transport protocol and cannot guarantee delivery of messages. IPFIX Messages sent from the Exporting Process to the Collecting Process using UDP may therefore be lost. UDP MUST NOT be used unless the application can tolerate some loss of IPFIX Messages. The Collecting Process SHOULD deduce the loss and reordering of IPFIX Data Records by looking at the discontinuities in the IPFIX Sequence Number. In the case of UDP, the IPFIX Sequence Number contains the total number of IPFIX Data Records sent for the Transport Session prior to the receipt of this IPFIX Message, modulo 2^32. A Collector SHOULD detect out-of-sequence, dropped, or duplicate IPFIX Messages by tracking the Sequence Number. Exporting Processes exporting IPFIX Messages via UDP MUST include a valid UDP checksum [UDP] in UDP datagrams including IPFIX Messages. 10.3.3. MTU The maximum size of exported messages MUST be configured such that the total packet size does not exceed the PMTU. If the PMTU is unknown, a maximum packet size of 512 octets SHOULD be used. 10.3.4. Session Establishment and Shutdown As UDP is a connectionless protocol, there is no real session establishment or shutdown for IPFIX over UDP. An Exporting Process starts sending IPFIX Messages to a Collecting Process at one point in time and stops sending them at another point in time. This can lead to some complications in Template management, as outlined in Section 8.4 above. 10.3.5. Failover and Session Duplication Because UDP is not a connection-oriented protocol, the Exporting Process is unable to determine from the transport protocol that the Collecting Process is no longer able to receive the IPFIX Messages. Therefore, it cannot invoke a failover mechanism. However, the Exporting Process MAY duplicate the IPFIX Message to several Collecting Processes. 10.4. TCP This section describes how IPFIX is transported over TCP [TCP]. 10.4.1. Congestion Avoidance TCP controls the rate at which data can be sent from the Exporting Process to the Collecting Process, using a mechanism that takes into account both congestion in the network and the capabilities of the receiver. Therefore, an IPFIX Exporting Process may not be able to send IPFIX Messages at the rate that the Metering Process generates them, either because of congestion in the network or because the Collecting Process cannot handle IPFIX Messages fast enough. As long as congestion is transient, the Exporting Process can buffer IPFIX Messages for transmission. But such buffering is necessarily limited, both because of resource limitations and because of timeliness requirements, so ongoing and/or severe congestion may lead to a situation where the Exporting Process is blocked. When an Exporting Process has Data Records to export but the transmission buffer is full, and it wants to avoid blocking, it can decide to drop some Data Records. The dropped Data Records MUST be accounted for, so that the number of lost records can later be reported as described in Section 4.3. 10.4.2. Reliability TCP ensures reliable delivery of data from the Exporting Process to the Collecting Process. 10.4.3. MTU As TCP offers a stream service instead of a datagram or sequential packet service, IPFIX Messages transported over TCP are instead separated using the Length field in the IPFIX Message Header. The Exporting Process can choose any valid length for exported IPFIX Messages, as TCP handles segmentation. Exporting Processes may choose IPFIX Message lengths lower than the maximum in order to ensure timely export of Data Records. 10.4.4. Connection Establishment and Shutdown The IPFIX Exporting Process initiates a TCP connection to the Collecting Process. An Exporting Process MAY support more than one active connection to different Collecting Processes (including the case of different Collecting Processes on the same host). An Exporting Process MAY support more than one active connection to the same Collecting Process to avoid head-of-line blocking across Observation Domains. The Exporter MAY log an alarm if the underlying TCP connection establishment times out; this timeout should be configurable on the Exporter. When an Exporting Process is shut down, it SHOULD shut down the TCP connection. When a Collecting Process no longer wants to receive IPFIX Messages, it SHOULD close its end of the connection. The Collecting Process SHOULD continue to read IPFIX Messages until the Exporting Process has closed its end. When a Collecting Process detects that the TCP connection to the Exporting Process has terminated abnormally, it MUST continue to listen for a new connection. When an Exporting Process detects that the TCP connection to the Collecting Process has terminated abnormally, it SHOULD try to re-establish the connection. Connection timeouts and retry schedules SHOULD be configurable. In the default configuration, an Exporting Process MUST NOT attempt to establish a connection more frequently than once per minute. 10.4.5. Failover If the Collecting Process does not acknowledge an attempt by the Exporting Process to establish a connection, TCP will automatically retry connection establishment using exponential backoff. The Exporter MAY log an alarm if the underlying TCP connection establishment times out; this timeout should be configurable on the Exporter. The Exporting Process MAY open a backup TCP connection to a Collecting Process in advance, if it supports Collecting Process failover. 11. Security Considerations The security considerations for the IPFIX protocol have been derived from an analysis of potential security threats, as discussed in the Security Considerations section of the IPFIX requirements document [RFC3917]. The requirements for IPFIX security are as follows: 1. IPFIX must provide a mechanism to ensure the confidentiality of IPFIX data transferred from an Exporting Process to a Collecting Process, in order to prevent disclosure of Flow Records transported via IPFIX. 2. IPFIX must provide a mechanism to ensure the integrity of IPFIX data transferred from an Exporting Process to a Collecting Process, in order to prevent the injection of incorrect data or control information (e.g., Templates), or the duplication of Messages, in an IPFIX Message stream. 3. IPFIX must provide a mechanism to authenticate IPFIX Collecting and Exporting Processes, to prevent the collection of data from an unauthorized Exporting Process or the export of data to an unauthorized Collecting Process. Because IPFIX can be used to collect information for network forensics and billing purposes, attacks designed to confuse, disable, or take information from an IPFIX collection system may be seen as a prime objective during a sophisticated network attack. An attacker in a position to inject false messages into an IPFIX Message stream can affect either the application using IPFIX (by falsifying data) or the IPFIX Collecting Process itself (by modifying or revoking Templates, or changing options); for this reason, IPFIX Message integrity is important. The IPFIX Messages themselves may also contain information of value to an attacker, including information about the configuration of the network as well as end-user traffic and payload data, so care must be taken to confine their visibility to authorized users. When an Information Element containing end-user payload information is exported, it SHOULD be transmitted to the Collecting Process using a means that secures its contents against eavesdropping. Suitable mechanisms include the use of either a direct point-to-point connection assumed to be unavailable to attackers, or the use of an encryption mechanism. It is the responsibility of the Collecting Process to provide a satisfactory degree of security for this collected data, including, if necessary, encryption and/or anonymization of any reported data; see Section 11.8. 11.1. Applicability of TLS and DTLS Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC5246] and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) [RFC6347] were designed to provide the confidentiality, integrity, and authentication assurances required by the IPFIX protocol, without the need for pre-shared keys. IPFIX Exporting Processes and Collecting Processes using TCP MUST support TLS version 1.1 and SHOULD support TLS version 1.2 [RFC5246], including the mandatory ciphersuite(s) specified in each version. IPFIX Exporting Processes and Collecting Processes using UDP or SCTP MUST support DTLS version 1.0 and SHOULD support DTLS version 1.2 [RFC6347], including the mandatory ciphersuite(s) specified in each version. Note that DTLS is selected as the security mechanism for SCTP. Though TLS bindings to SCTP are defined in [RFC3436], they require that all communication be over reliable, bidirectional streams, and they also require one TLS connection per stream. This arrangement is not compatible with the rationale behind the choice of SCTP as an IPFIX transport protocol. Note that using DTLS has a man-in-the-middle vulnerability not present in TLS, allowing a message to be removed from the stream without the knowledge of either the sender or receiver. Additionally, when using DTLS over SCTP, an attacker could inject SCTP control information and shut down the SCTP association, causing a loss of IPFIX Messages if those messages are buffered outside of the SCTP association. Techniques such as those described in [RFC6083] could be used to overcome these vulnerabilities. When using DTLS over SCTP, the Exporting Process MUST ensure that each IPFIX Message is sent over the same SCTP Stream that would be used when sending the same IPFIX Message directly over SCTP. Note that DTLS may send its own control messages on stream 0 with full reliability; however, this will not interfere with the processing of stream 0 IPFIX Messages at the Collecting Process, because DTLS consumes its own control messages before passing IPFIX Messages up to the application layer. When using DTLS over SCTP or UDP, the Heartbeat Extension [RFC6520] SHOULD be used, especially on long-lived Transport Sessions, to ensure that the association remains active. Exporting and Collecting Processes MUST NOT request, offer, or use any version of the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), or any version of TLS prior to 1.1, due to known security vulnerabilities in prior versions of TLS; see Appendix E of [RFC5246] for more information. 11.2. Usage The IPFIX Exporting Process initiates the communication to the IPFIX Collecting Process and acts as a TLS or DTLS client according to [RFC5246] and [RFC6347], while the IPFIX Collecting Process acts as a TLS or DTLS server. The DTLS client opens a secure connection on SCTP port 4740 of the DTLS server if SCTP is selected as the transport protocol. The TLS client opens a secure connection on TCP port 4740 of the TLS server if TCP is selected as the transport protocol. The DTLS client opens a secure connection on UDP port 4740 of the DTLS server if UDP is selected as the transport protocol. 11.3. Mutual Authentication When using TLS or DTLS, IPFIX Exporting Processes and IPFIX Collecting Processes SHOULD be identified by a certificate containing the DNS-ID as discussed in Section 6.4 of [RFC6125]; the inclusion of Common Names (CN-IDs) in certificates identifying IPFIX Exporting Processes or Collecting Processes is NOT RECOMMENDED. To prevent man-in-the-middle attacks from impostor Exporting or Collecting Processes, the acceptance of data from an unauthorized Exporting Process, or the export of data to an unauthorized Collecting Process, mutual authentication MUST be used for both TLS and DTLS. Exporting Processes MUST verify the reference identifiers of the Collecting Processes to which they are exporting IPFIX Messages against those stored in the certificates. Likewise, Collecting Processes MUST verify the reference identifiers of the Exporting Processes from which they are receiving IPFIX Messages against those stored in the certificates. Exporting Processes MUST NOT export to non-verified Collecting Processes, and Collecting Processes MUST NOT accept IPFIX Messages from non-verified Exporting Processes. Exporting Processes and Collecting Processes MUST support the verification of certificates against an explicitly authorized list of peer certificates identified by Common Name and SHOULD support the verification of reference identifiers by matching the DNS-ID or CN-ID with a DNS lookup of the peer. IPFIX Exporting Processes and Collecting Processes MUST use non-NULL ciphersuites for authentication, integrity, and confidentiality. 11.4. Protection against DoS Attacks An attacker may mount a denial-of-service (DoS) attack against an IPFIX collection system either directly, by sending large amounts of traffic to a Collecting Process, or indirectly, by generating large amounts of traffic to be measured by a Metering Process. Direct DoS attacks can also involve state exhaustion, whether at the transport layer (e.g., by creating a large number of pending connections) or within the IPFIX Collecting Process itself (e.g., by sending Flow Records pending Template or scope information, or a large amount of Options Template Records, etc.). SCTP mandates a cookie-exchange mechanism designed to defend against SCTP state exhaustion DoS attacks. Similarly, TCP provides the "SYN cookie" mechanism to mitigate state exhaustion; SYN cookies SHOULD be used by any Collecting Process accepting TCP connections. DTLS also provides cookie exchange to protect against DTLS server state exhaustion. The reader should note that there is no way to prevent fake IPFIX Message processing (and state creation) for UDP and SCTP communication. The use of TLS and DTLS can obviously prevent the creation of fake states, but they are themselves prone to state exhaustion attacks. Therefore, Collector rate limiting SHOULD be used to protect TLS and DTLS (like limiting the number of new TLS or DTLS sessions per second to a sensible number). IPFIX state exhaustion attacks can be mitigated by limiting the rate at which new connections or associations will be opened by the Collecting Process; limiting the rate at which IPFIX Messages will be accepted by the Collecting Process; and adaptively limiting the amount of state kept, particularly for records waiting for Templates. These rate and state limits MAY be provided by a Collecting Process, and if provided, the limits SHOULD be user configurable. Additionally, an IPFIX Collecting Process can eliminate the risk of state exhaustion attacks from untrusted nodes by requiring TLS or DTLS mutual authentication, causing the Collecting Process to accept IPFIX Messages only from trusted sources. With respect to indirect denial of service, the behavior of IPFIX under overload conditions depends on the transport protocol in use. For IPFIX over TCP, TCP congestion control would cause the flow of IPFIX Messages to back off and eventually stall, blinding the IPFIX system. SCTP improves upon this situation somewhat, as some IPFIX Messages would continue to be received by the Collecting Process due to the avoidance of head-of-line blocking by SCTP's multiple streams Claise, et al. Standards Track [Page 57] and partial reliability features, possibly affording some visibility of the attack. The situation is similar with UDP, as some datagrams may continue to be received at the Collecting Process, effectively applying sampling to the IPFIX Message stream and implying that some information about the attack will be available. To minimize IPFIX Message loss under overload conditions, some mechanism for service differentiation could be used to prioritize IPFIX traffic over other traffic on the same link. Alternatively, IPFIX Messages can be transported over a dedicated network. In this case, care must be taken to ensure that the dedicated network can handle the expected peak IPFIX Message traffic. 11.5. When DTLS or TLS Is Not an Option The use of DTLS or TLS might not be possible in some cases, due to performance issues or other operational concerns. Without TLS or DTLS mutual authentication, IPFIX Exporting Processes and Collecting Processes can fall back on using IP source addresses to authenticate their peers. A policy of allocating Exporting Process and Collecting Process IP addresses from specified address ranges, and using ingress filtering to prevent spoofing, can improve the usefulness of this approach. Again, completely segregating IPFIX traffic on a dedicated network, where possible, can improve security even further. In any case, the use of open Collecting Processes (those that will accept IPFIX Messages from any Exporting Process regardless of IP address or identity) is discouraged. Modern TCP and SCTP implementations are resistant to blind insertion attacks (see [RFC4960] and [RFC6528]); however, UDP offers no such protection. For this reason, IPFIX Message traffic transported via UDP and not secured via DTLS SHOULD be protected via segregation to a dedicated network. 11.6. Logging an IPFIX Attack IPFIX Collecting Processes MUST detect potential IPFIX Message insertion or loss conditions by tracking the IPFIX Sequence Number and SHOULD provide a logging mechanism for reporting out-of-sequence messages. Note that an attacker may be able to exploit the handling of out-of-sequence messages at the Collecting Process, so care should be taken in handling these conditions. For example, a Collecting Process that simply resets the expected Sequence Number upon receipt of a later Sequence Number could be temporarily blinded by deliberate injection of later Sequence Numbers. IPFIX Exporting and Collecting Processes SHOULD log any connection attempt that fails due to authentication failure, whether due to being presented an unauthorized or mismatched certificate during TLS or DTLS mutual authentication, or due to a connection attempt from an unauthorized IP address when TLS or DTLS is not in use. IPFIX Exporting and Collecting Processes SHOULD detect and log any SCTP association reset or TCP connection reset. 11.7. Securing the Collector The security of the Collector and its implementation is important to achieve overall security; however, a complete set of security guidelines for Collector implementation is outside the scope of this document. As IPFIX uses length-prefix encodings, Collector implementors should take care to ensure the detection of inconsistent values that could impact IPFIX Message decoding, and proper operation in the presence of such inconsistent values. Specifically, IPFIX Message, Set, and variable-length Information Element lengths must be checked for consistency to avoid buffersizing vulnerabilities. Collector implementors should also pay special attention to UTF-8 encoding of string data types, as vulnerabilities may exist in the interpretation of ill-formed UTF-8 values; see Section 6.1.6. 11.8. Privacy Considerations for Collected Data Flow data exported by Exporting Processes and collected by Collecting Processes typically contains information about traffic on the observed network. This information may be personally identifiable and privacy-sensitive. The storage of this data must be protected via technical as well as policy means to ensure that the privacy of the users of the measured network is protected. A complete specification of such means is out of scope for this document and is specific to the application and storage technology used. 12. Management Considerations [RFC6615] specifies a MIB module that defines managed objects for monitoring IPFIX Devices, including basic configuration. This MIB can be used to measure the impact of IPFIX export on the monitoring network; it contains tables covering: Transport Session, Cache definition, Observation Point definition, Template and Options Template definition, export features (failover, load-balancing, duplicate), and export statistics per Process, Session, and Template From an operational aspect, an important function of this MIB module is provided by the Transport Session Statistical table, which contains the rate (in bytes per second) at which the Collector receives or the Exporter sends out IPFIX Messages. Of particular interest to operations, the Transport Session Statistical table in Section 5.8.1 of this MIB module exposes the rate of collection or export of IPFIX Messages, which allows the measurement of the bandwidth used by IPFIX export. [RFC6727] describes extensions to the IPFIX-SELECTOR-MIB module specified in [RFC6615] and contains managed objects for providing information on applied packet selection functions and their parameters (filtering and sampling). Since the IPFIX-SELECTOR-MIB [RFC6615] and PSAMP-MIB [RFC6727] modules only contain read-only objects, they cannot be used for configuration of IPFIX Devices. [RFC6728] specifies a configuration data model for the IPFIX and PSAMP protocols, using the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF). This data model covers Selection Processes, Caches, Exporting Processes, and Collecting Processes on IPFIX and PSAMP Devices, and is defined using UML (Unified Modeling Language) class diagrams and formally specified using YANG. The configuration data is encoded in Extensible Markup Language (XML). A few mechanisms specified alongside the IPFIX protocol can help monitor and reduce bandwidth used for IPFIX Export: - a bandwidth-saving method for exporting redundant information in IPFIX [RFC5473] - an efficient method for exporting bidirectional flows [RFC5103] - a method for the definition and export of complex data structures [RFC6313] Alternatively, PSAMP [RFC5474] can be used to export packets sampled by statistical and other methods, which may be applicable to many monitoring areas for which IPFIX is also suited. PSAMP also provides control over the impact on the measured network through its sampling rate. The set of packet selection techniques (Sampling, Filtering, and hashing) standardized by PSAMP is described in [RFC5475]. PSAMP also defines an explicitly configurable export rate limit in Section 8.4 of [RFC5474]. 13. IANA Considerations IANA has updated the "IPFIX Information Elements" registry [IANA-IPFIX] so that all references that previously pointed to RFC 5101 now point to this document instead. IPFIX Messages use two fields with assigned values. These are the IPFIX Version Number, indicating which version of the IPFIX protocol was used to export an IPFIX Message, and the IPFIX Set ID, indicating the type for each set of information within an IPFIX Message. The Information Elements used by IPFIX, and sub-registries of Information Element values, are managed by IANA [IANA-IPFIX], as are the Private Enterprise Numbers used by enterprise-specific Information Elements [IANA-PEN]. This document makes no changes to these registries. The IPFIX Version Number value of 0x000a (10) is reserved for the IPFIX protocol specified in this document. Set ID values of 0 and 1 are not used, for historical reasons [RFC3954]. The Set ID value of 2 is reserved for the Template Set. The Set ID value of 3 is reserved for the Options Template Set. All other Set ID values from 4 to 255 are reserved for future use. Set ID values above 255 are used for Data Sets. New assignments in either the "IPFIX Version Number" or "IPFIX Set IDs" sub-registries require a Standards Action [RFC5226], i.e., they are to be made via Standards Track RFCs approved by the IESG. Appendix A. IPFIX Encoding Examples This appendix, which is a not a normative reference, contains IPFIX encoding examples. Let's consider the example of an IPFIX Message composed of a Template Set, a Data Set (which contains three Data Records), an Options Template Set, and another Data Set (which contains two Data Records related to the previous Options Template Record). IPFIX Message: +--------+------------------------------------------. . . A.1. Message Header Example The Message Header is composed of: +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.2. Template Set Examples A.2.1. Template Set Using IANA Information Elements We want to report the following Information Elements: - IPv4 source IP address: sourceIPv4Address [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - IPv4 destination IP address: destinationIPv4Address [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - Next-hop IP address (IPv4): ipNextHopIPv4Address [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - Number of packets of the Flow: packetDeltaCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - Number of octets of the Flow: octetDeltaCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets Therefore, the Template Set will be composed of the following: A.2.2. Template Set Using Enterprise-Specific Information Elements We want to report the following Information Elements: - IPv4 source IP address: sourceIPv4Address [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - IPv4 destination IP address: destinationIPv4Address [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - An enterprise-specific Information Element representing proprietary information, with a type of 15 and a length of 4 octets - Number of packets of the Flow: packetDeltaCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets - Number of octets of the Flow: octetDeltaCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 4 octets Therefore, the Template Set will be composed of the following: +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.3. Data Set Example In this example, we report the following three Flow Records: Note that padding is not necessary in this example. A.4. Options Template Set Examples A.4.1. Options Template Set Using IANA Information Elements Per line card (the router being composed of two line cards), we want to report the following Information Elements: - Total number of IPFIX Messages: exportedMessageTotalCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 2 octets - Total number of exported Flows: exportedFlowRecordTotalCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 2 octets The line card, which is represented by the lineCardId Information Element [IANA-IPFIX], is used as the Scope Field. Therefore, the Options Template Set will be: A.4.2. Options Template Set Using Enterprise-Specific Information Elements Per line card (the router being composed of two line cards), we want to report the following Information Elements: - Total number of IPFIX Messages: exportedMessageTotalCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 2 octets - An enterprise-specific number of exported Flows, with a type of 42 and a length of 4 octets The line card, which is represented by the lineCardId Information Element [IANA-IPFIX], is used as the Scope Field. The format of the Options Template Set is as follows: +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.4.3. Options Template Set Using an Enterprise-Specific Scope In this example, we want to export the same information as in the example in Appendix A.4.1: - Total number of IPFIX Messages: exportedMessageTotalCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 2 octets - Total number of exported Flows: exportedFlowRecordTotalCount [IANA-IPFIX], with a length of 2 octets But this time, the information pertains to a proprietary scope, identified by enterprise-specific Information Element number 123. The format of the Options Template Set is now as follows: +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.4.4. Data Set Using an Enterprise-Specific Scope In this example, we report the following two Data Records: +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.5. Variable-Length Information Element Examples A.5.1. Example of Variable-Length Information Element with Length Less Than 255 Octets +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A.5.2. Example of Variable-Length Information Element with 3-Octet Length Encoding Normative References [IANA-IPFIX] IANA, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Entities", <http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix/>. [RFC1014] Sun Microsystems, Inc., "XDR: External Data Representation Standard", RFC 1014, June 1987. [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC3436] Jungmaier, A., Rescorla, E., and M. Tuexen, "Transport Layer Security over Stream Control Transmission Protocol", RFC 3436, December 2002. [RFC3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003. [RFC3758] Stewart, R., Ramalho, M., Xie, Q., Tuexen, M., and P. Conrad, "Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) Partial Reliability Extension", RFC 3758, May 2004. [RFC4960] Stewart, R., Ed., "Stream Control Transmission Protocol", RFC 4960, September 2007. [RFC5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008. [RFC5246] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008. [RFC5905] Mills, D., Martin, J., Ed., Burbank, J., and W. Kasch, "Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification", RFC 5905, June 2010. [RFC6125] Saint-Andre, P. and J. Hodges, "Representation and Verification of Domain-Based Application Service Identity within Internet Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509 (PKIX) Certificates in the Context of Transport Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 6125, March 2011. [RFC6347] Rescorla, E. and N. Modadugu, "Datagram Transport Layer Security Version 1.2", RFC 6347, January 2012. [RFC6520] Seggelmann, R., Tuexen, M., and M. Williams, "Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) Heartbeat Extension", RFC 6520, February 2012. [RFC7012] Claise, B., Ed., and B. Trammell, Ed., "Information Model for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)", RFC 7012, September 2013. [TCP] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7, RFC 793, September 1981. [UDP] Postel, J., "User Datagram Protocol", STD 6, RFC 768, August 1980. Informative References [IEEE.754.2008] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic", IEEE Standard 754, August 2008. [IPFIX-MED-PROTO] Claise, B., Kobayashi, A., and B. Trammell, "Operation of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol on IPFIX Mediators", Work in Progress, July 2013. [IANA-PEN] IANA, "Private Enterprise Numbers", <http://www.iana.org/assignments/enterprise-numbers/>. [POSIX.1] IEEE 1003.1-2008, "IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX(R))", 2008. [RFC2579] McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J. Schoenwaelder, Ed., "Textual Conventions for SMIv2", STD 58, RFC 2579, April 1999. [RFC3550] Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V. Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", STD 64, RFC 3550, July 2003. [RFC3917] Quittek, J., Zseby, T., Claise, B., and S. Zander, "Requirements for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)", RFC 3917, October 2004. [RFC3954] Claise, B., Ed., "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version 9", RFC 3954, October 2004. [RFC5101] Claise, B., Ed., "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of IP Traffic Flow Information", RFC 5101, January 2008. [RFC5103] Trammell, B. and E. Boschi, "Bidirectional Flow Export Using IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)", RFC 5103, January 2008. [RFC5153] Boschi, E., Mark, L., Quittek, J., Stiemerling, M., and P. Aitken, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Implementation Guidelines", RFC 5153, April 2008. [RFC5470] Sadasivan, G., Brownlee, N., Claise, B., and J. Quittek, "Architecture for IP Flow Information Export", RFC 5470, March 2009. [RFC5471] Schmoll, C., Aitken, P., and B. Claise, "Guidelines for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Testing", RFC 5471, March 2009. [RFC5472] Zseby, T., Boschi, E., Brownlee, N., and B. Claise, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Applicability", RFC 5472, March 2009. [RFC5473] Boschi, E., Mark, L., and B. Claise, "Reducing Redundancy in IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) and Packet Sampling (PSAMP) Reports", RFC 5473, March 2009. [RFC5474] Duffield, N., Ed., Chiou, D., Claise, B., Greenberg, A., Grossglauser, M., and J. Rexford, "A Framework for Packet Selection and Reporting", RFC 5474, March 2009. [RFC5475] Zseby, T., Molina, M., Duffield, N., Niccolini, S., and F. Raspall, "Sampling and Filtering Techniques for IP Packet Selection", RFC 5475, March 2009. [RFC5476] Claise, B., Ed., Johnson, A., and J. Quittek, "Packet Sampling (PSAMP) Protocol Specifications", RFC 5476, March 2009. [RFC5477] Dietz, T., Claise, B., Aitken, P., Dressler, F., and G. Carle, "Information Model for Packet Sampling Exports", RFC 5477, March 2009. [RFC5610] Boschi, E., Trammell, B., Mark, L., and T. Zseby, "Exporting Type Information for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Information Elements", RFC 5610, July 2009. [RFC5655] Trammell, B., Boschi, E., Mark, L., Zseby, T., and A. Wagner, "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) File Format", RFC 5655, October 2009. [RFC6083] Tuexen, M., Seggelmann, R., and E. Rescorla, "Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) for Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)", RFC 6083, January 2011. [RFC6183] Kobayashi, A., Claise, B., Muenz, G., and K. Ishibashi, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Mediation: Framework", RFC 6183, April 2011. [RFC6313] Claise, B., Dhandapani, G., Aitken, P., and S. Yates, "Export of Structured Data in IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)", RFC 6313, July 2011. [RFC6526] Claise, B., Aitken, P., Johnson, A., and G. Muenz, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Per Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) Stream", RFC 6526, March 2012. [RFC6528] Gont, F. and S. Bellovin, "Defending against Sequence Number Attacks", RFC 6528, February 2012. [RFC6615] Dietz, T., Ed., Kobayashi, A., Claise, B., and G. Muenz, "Definitions of Managed Objects for IP Flow Information Export", RFC 6615, June 2012. [RFC6727] Dietz, T., Ed., Claise, B., and J. Quittek, "Definitions of Managed Objects for Packet Sampling", RFC 6727, October 2012. [RFC6728] Muenz, G., Claise, B., and P. Aitken, "Configuration Data Model for the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) and Packet Sampling (PSAMP) Protocols", RFC 6728, October 2012. [UTF8-EXPLOIT] Davis, M. and M. Suignard, "Unicode Technical Report #36: Unicode Security Considerations", The Unicode Consortium, July 2012. Acknowledgments We would like to thank Ganesh Sadasivan for his significant contribution during the initial phases of the protocol specification. Additional thanks go to Juergen Quittek for coordination between IPFIX and PSAMP; Nevil Brownlee, Dave Plonka, and Andrew Johnson for the thorough reviews; Randall Stewart and Peter Lei for their SCTP expertise and contributions; Martin Djernaes for the first essay on the SCTP section; Michael Behringer and Eric Vyncke for their advice and knowledge in security; Michael Tuexen for his help regarding the DTLS section; Elisa Boschi for her contribution regarding the improvement of SCTP sections; Mark Fullmer, Sebastian Zander, Jeff Meyer, Maurizio Molina, Carter Bullard, Tal Givoly, Lutz Mark, David Moore, Robert Lowe, Paul Calato, Andrew Feren, Gerhard Muenz, Sue Hares, and many more, for the technical reviews and feedback. Finally, a special mention to Adrian Farrel for his attention to management and operational aspects. Contributors Stewart Bryant Cisco Systems 10 New Square, Bedfont Lakes Feltham, Middlesex TW18 8HA United Kingdom EMail: email@example.com Simon Leinen SWITCH Werdstrasse 2 P.O. Box 8021 Zurich Switzerland Phone: +41 44 268 1536 EMail: firstname.lastname@example.org Thomas Dietz NEC Europe Ltd. NEC Laboratories Europe Network Research Division Kurfuersten-Anlage 36 69115 Heidelberg Germany Phone: +49 6221 4342-128 EMail: email@example.com Authors' Addresses Benoit Claise (editor) Cisco Systems, Inc. De Kleetlaan 6a b1 1831 Diegem Belgium Phone: +32 2 704 5622 EMail: firstname.lastname@example.org Brian Trammell (editor) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Gloriastrasse 35 8092 Zurich Switzerland Phone: +41 44 632 70 13 EMail: email@example.com Paul Aitken Cisco Systems, Inc. 96 Commercial Quay Commercial Street, Edinburgh EH6 6LX United Kingdom Phone: +44 131 561 3616 EMail: firstname.lastname@example.org
1 DSIR Marine and Freshwater, Water Quality Centre, P.O. Box 11-115, Hamilton. 2 DSIR Land Resources, Mt Albert Research Centre, Private Bag, Auckland. CHANGES IN THE WATER, SOIL, AND VEGETATION OF A WETLAND AFTER A DECADE OF RECEIVING A SEWAGE EFFLUENT Summary: The impact of discharging an oxidation pond effluent into a wetland in the Waitangi Forest (Northland) was assessed by comparing the water, soil, and vegetation of this wetland (the sewage wetland) with that of an adjacent wetland not receiving effluent (the reference wetland). The hydroperiod of the two wetlands differs markedly with the sewage wetland now permanently flooded whereas the reference wetland is subject to summer drawdown. Marked differences were found in gross chemical indicators such as pH and redox potential between the soils of the 2 wetlands. Extreme differences were also found in the nutrient chemistry of the soils and this was related to differences in water chemistry. This was especially the case for the plant available forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. Typically the sewage wetland soil contained ammonium and inorganic phosphorus two orders of magnitude greater than that of the reference wetland. Major differences were noted also in the plant communities of the two wetlands. The sedge Eleocharis sphacelata and the bulrush Typha orientalis dominated communities covering a large part of the sewage wetland, whereas the reference wetland contained a much more diverse Baumea-Isachne grassy sedge community. Historical information indicated that the sewage wetland had similar hydrological, chemical, botanical characteristics to the reference wetland before discharge of the effluent commenced. It is concluded that most of the vegetation community changes that have occurred may be interpreted in terms of allogenic succession but that future community changes will have a strong autogenic component. Keywords: Wetlands; sewage; water quality; succession; soil chemistry. Introduction As is the case internationally, wetlands in New Zealand have only recently been recognised widely as a valuable, but diminishing component of the natural landscape (Environmental Council, 1983). Because of the high intrinsic values of natural wetlands any management practice affecting their functions and uses should be examined critically. One such practice gaining popularity is the use of wetlands for treatment and disposal of sewage wastes (Venus, 1987). There is no published data on the ecological impacts of sewage discharges to wetlands in New Zealand, and little data about wetlands of similar type internationally, from which to decide whether such disposal practices will cause unacceptable changes to the ecosystem. 1985; Whigham, 1985). Depending on the intial trophic status of the wetland, nutrient additions from wastewater should lead to greater nutrient availability which will result in greater cycling, decomposition, and ultimately, to a change in community composition to species more tolerant of high nutrient loads (Shaver and Melillo, 1984). Such changes are likely to be subtle rather than dramatic. At a recent conference, Odum (1987) commented that more profound ecological changes in vegetation were difficult to detect on a short time scale and could take 20 years or more to become apparent. However, changes to microbial processes occur over much shorter time-scales and may, therefore, provide an early indicator of macro-ecological changes (Hodson et al., 1985). Theory would suggest (Howard-Williams, 1985; Kadlec, 1987) that sewage effluent inputs will affect the plant communities of a wetland, principally through changing the hydrological characteristics and/or the nutrient status of the system. Changes in plant diversity may be induced by increasing frequency and depth of flooding, changes in the velocity distribution, and masking of the natural hydroperiod (Richardson and Nichols, In this study, we use a variety of techniques, including microbial assays, to characterize two arms of a wetland, one of which has received a treated sewage effluent (oxidation pond) for a decade. We use these data, in combination with data on the botanical composition of the wetlands to deduce what the long term consequences of the discharge will be both in terms of the impact on the wetland, and the impact to downstream ecosystems. New Zealand Journal of Ecology l4:©New Zealand Ecological Society Figure 1: Map of Waitangi Forest wetlands in relation to the discharge of oxidation pond effluent. The sampling sites for water and sediment are approximately at the mid-point of each transect. Site description The study site forms part of an extensive wetland system occupying the valley. bottoms between sandstone spurs contiguous with a basalt flat. The hills surrounding the wetland system are afforested, mainly with Pinus radiata. Oxidation pond effluent from the township of Paihia has been discharged into an arm of the wetland (Fig. I) since 1978. No discharge records have been kept; however, the sewered population of Paihia has a marked 'seasonal variation from a stable base of 2000 in winter to a fluctuating summer population which currently peaks at approximately 8000 (Northland Regional Council, 1990). The designers of the scheme impounded the wetland at the point of discharge to force the effluent to flow around a loop of wetland (from discharge point to site 4, Fig. 1) which they envisaged would provide additional treatment. Treatment time in the 'loop swamp' was assisted further by piping runoff water from the catchment in which the oxidation ponds were sited, to a point just below a forestry road culvert (our site 4, Fig. 1). The 'loop swamp' and the effluent-impacted wetland between the culvert (site 4) and the outlet (site 8) we named the 'sewage wetland'. Approximately 200 m before the outlet, the sewage wetland merges with water from a large arm of wetland not affected by sewage effluent which we named the 'reference' wetland (Fig. 1). Shortly after this confluence the flow is markedly channelized and has characteristics more akin to a stream than a wetland. This stream then meanders a further 3 km before reaching the coast at Kerikeri inlet. Methods Transects Six transects were laid out perpendicular to the flow path in the sewage wetland at approximately 200 m intervals from the discharge point (Fig. 1). A further two transects were laid out in the 'reference' wetland; one approximately 100 m upslope of the confluence with the sewage wetland (site 6) and the other (site 7) a further 300 m upslope. Near the centre of each transect, a permanent sampling station was established for water and soil sampling, and as a point to conduct experiments. Water sampling and analysis On 5 occasions at 3 monthly intervals over 1 year, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and temperature, were measured in situ at each sampling station. Water samples were also taken for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus forms), and biochemical and chemical oxygen demand. Samples taken for nutrient analyses were immediately preserved (40 g m -3 HgCl 2 ) and a fraction filtered (< 0.45 _m cellulose acetate) within 3 hours of collection. Samples were refrigerated until analysis. References to the analytical methods used may be found in Cooke (1988) and Cooke and Cooper (1988). Significant differences between sites were calculated using oneway ANOVA and Tukey tests, or its nonparametric equivalent in cases where the data was non-normally distributed. Differences are reported significant with 95% confidence. The flow rates from the oxidation pond, the oxidation pond catchment, site 4, and site 8 were measured using standard gauging techniques. This also enabled calculation of the flow contribution from the loop swamp (minus oxidation pond effluent), and the reference wetland. Soil sampling and analyses Duplicate 20 cm long soil cores were taken at each site using a sharpened PVC pipe (10 cm diameter). The cores were transported to a field laboratory where the pipe was sliced open. Redox potential (Pt-calomel electrodes) and pH were measured immediately at 1,2,4,6,8,10 and 15 cm from the surface. Because of marked difference in pH, redox potentials (Eh) were corrected to pH 7.0 (Eh 7 ) using the formula given by Bohn (1971). The cores were then sliced at these same intervals and mixed before subsampling. Two g subsamples from each slice were shaken with 10 cm 3 M KCl containing 40 g m -3 mercuric chloride for 1 h on an end-over-end shaker. The extracts were centrifuged and decanted for later analysis of mineral nitrogen forms. Extraction was completed within 3 h of taking the cores. Further 1 g subsamples were taken for determination of readily mineralizable carbon (Cooper and Cooke, 1984), and water soluble phosphorus (Olsen and Sommers, 1982). Additional analyses performed on the soil were total inorganic and organic phosphorus (Olsen and Sommers, 1982), Kjeldahl-nitrogen (Cooper and Cooke, 1984), total solids and volatile solids (gravimetrically after drying at 105 °C and ashing at 550°C, respectively), water soluble carbon (Burford and Bremner, 1975), and denitrifying enzyme activity (Tiedje, 1982). Denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) was included because it was surmised that nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 -N) could be an important form of N exported from the oxidation pond, and because denitrification is the only process whereby N can be permanently lost (other than by export) from the wetland ecosystem (Brodrick, Cullen and Maher, 1988; Howard-Williams, 1985). The results for all analyses are reported as the mean of samples at each depth from sites 1,2,3,4,5 and 8, and 6 and 7, for the sewage and reference wetlands, respectively. Vegetation survey' Vegetation measures were made along each of the 8 marked transects (Fig. 1) and an additional transect (5a) 20 m downstream from 5, which was included to ensure adequate representation of a distinctive sedgeland type in the sample. At 5 m intervals along each transect (land to land), all vascular plant species within aim radius were identified and their percentage cover values estimated by eye within 7 class intervals. One hundred and eleven quadrats were examined in all during March 1989. Patterns in the distribution of the plants and their interrelationships were examined by subjecting the % cover measures of the 31 most abundant species (species recorded in >1 site) to multivariate cluster analysis using the polythetic divisive technique of two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN: Hill, Bunce & Shaw, 1975; Hill, 1979). Results Hydrology The addition of oxidation pond effluent has resulted in the sewage wetland being permanently flooded. Except under heavy rainfall conditions (Table 1), the specific discharge from the loop swamp was relatively constant throughout the year, with approximately 75% of the flow being accounted for by effluent input. In contrast, discharge from the reference wetland showed greater dependence on antecedent rainfall. For example, under near drought conditions which occurred in March 1990, there was no discharge at Table 1: Discharge estimates from sewage and reference wetlands. (Bracketed values are the proportion of discharge from the sewage wetland that can be accounted for by effluent inflow) all from the reference wetland indicating that evapotranspiration had caused a marked drop n water level. Water chemistry There were major differences in water chemistry (Fig. 2) between the sewage and reference wetlands. Furthermore, there were some significant differences in water chemistry of the sewage wetland with distance away from the point of discharge. Some of this difference can be ascribed to dilution of the effluent by 'natural' wetland waters during its passage through the wetland, and indeed one needs to know the mass flow (concentration x flow) before one can reasonably infer whether any removal processes are operative. A detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this paper and in any case it is the concentration in the water column which is likely to influence both the soil characteristics and the plant response. Nevertheless, since the electrical conductivity (EC) of the reference wetland was much lower than hat of the oxidation pond effluent (Fig. 2a), EC may be taken as a useful surrogate measure of dilution, from which to compare the concentration distributions of the other parameters (Fig. 2b-21). Marked departures from the EC distribution is indicative that processes other than dilution are operative. Sulphate (Fig. 2b) is an example of a concentration distribution which does not depart significantly from that of EC. The alkaline discharge from the oxidation pond has clearly modified the pH of the wetland waters (Fig. 2c). The reference wetland waters were moderately acidic with a pH range of 5.2-6.5, whereas the sewage wetland waters were 1.5 pH units higher on average. The EC distribution, and also our flow gaugings and hydrodynamic studies (Williams, B.W.; Bleeker, F.; Cooke, J.G.; Cooper, A.B. Transport of wastewater through a natural wetland. Paper presented at New Zealand Water Supply and Disposal Association Conference, Tauranga, August 1990), show that water at site 2 is almost entirely derived from the oxidation pond. The significant drop in pH between sites 1 and 2 is therefore attributed to the buffering capacity of the wetland detritus and soil. Similarly, there were significant differences in dissolved oxygen between sites (Fig. 2d). This was due to a number of factors. Firstly, the oxidation pond effluent was quite oxic. The effluent, and a ponded area immediately after the discharge (Site 1) were often supersaturated at the surface in summer due to a thick scum of the alga Oscillatoria mougeotii. By site 2, however, this alga was no longer evident. Decomposition of the algae probably contributed to the high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, Fig. 2e) at this site and concomitantly its low DO. The significant rise in DO between sites 4 and 5 is probably due to: (i) all the algal-derived BOD having been exerted, (ii) dilution with catchment waters of low BOD (Fig. 2e), and, (iii) reaeration due to channelization and an approximately 0.5 m drop in bed level. The addition of lower DO waters from the reference wetland resulted in waters with a mean DO of 3.4 g m-3 at site 8. There was a large range in the organic content of the waters (as reflected by oxygen demand). Much of the variation encountered in the reference wetland is due to sampling artifacts. During summer, it was often difficult to sample the water without disturbing bottom soil and much of the variation in BOD (Fig. 2e) and COD (Fig. 20 was due to the inclusion of this particulate material; when samples were filtered (Fig. 2g) the concentration of oxygen demanding organics in the reference wetland waters was significantly less than those in the sewage wetland. Ammonium-nitrogen comprised more than 90% of the dissolved reduced-N (Kjeldahl-N) pool dissolved in the sewage wetland waters (only the dissolved component is reported for the same reasons applying to oxygen demand), whereas in the reference wetland most (>75%) of this pool was organic-N (Fig. 2h & i). There was approximately an order of magnitude difference in the size of the N pool between the sewage and reference wetlands reflecting the large extra N input from the oxidation ponds. Similarly there were big differences in the oxidized N (N0 3 -N) pool between the two wetlands (Fig. 2j). However, because of the large variance in nitrate concentrations in the sewage wetland, no significant difference could be detected between the two wetlands. Most of the variation in NO 3 -N concentration in the sewage wetland is due to seasonal variation in nitrate emanating from the oxidation pond, with high concentrations during the summer and low concentrations in winter. The reverse trend was observed at sites 4, 5 and 8. This is probably due to a combination of increased N0 3 -N from catchment sources, and decreased nitrate reduction due to lower temperatures, more oxic conditions, and faster travel times. Phosphorus showed a similar pattern to that of nitrogen in that P in the reference wetland was clearly significantly less than than in the sewage wetland (Fig. 2k & l). There were, however, differences in P between sites within the sewage wetland that did not occur with N. The major difference was that P at the outlet of the wetland system (site 8) was significantly less than the next site upstream in the sewage catchment (site 5) indicating significant P removal was occurring between the two sites. Soil chemistry Differences in water chemistry were reflected in the soil chemistry. The Eh 7 of the reference wetland indicated moderately aerobic condition in the top half centimetre of soil whereas soil in the sewage wetland was highly reducing even at this depth (Fig. 3a). The pH of the soil in the surface layer of the sewage wetland was approximately 1.0 pH unit higher than that of the reference wetland, and declined to the relatively constant pH of the reference wetland soil at 9 cm depth (Fig. 3b). The organic-N (Kjeldahl-N - NH.-N) content of the sewage wetland soil was higher than that of the reference wetland (Fig. 3c), but not as unequivocally so as the ammonium-N fraction (Fig. 3d). The organic-N fraction clearly dominated the total N pool being 2 orders of magnitude greater than the ammonium fraction in the sewage wetland, and 3 orders of magnitude greater in the Figure 3: Soil chemistry at sites within the wetland system. Bars represent the mean value calculated for each wetland at that depth. All concentrations are reported on a dry weight basis. reference wetland. In contrast, nitrate-N was found in only trace quantities in the soil of both wetlands (Fig. 3e). This is not unexpected in such a reduced environment; however, it is likely that nitrate from the water column is being reduced in the soil of the sewage wetland since denitrifying enzyme activity was elevated in its surface layers (Fig. 3f). There was little difference in total carbon (as indicated by volatile solids) between the two wetland soils and in fact the reference wetland soil had a higher proportion of organics than the sewage wetland when expressed on a dry weight basis (Fig. 3g). This is probably due to a higher quantity of inorganics in the sewage wetland as indeed calcium and magnesium were present in much greater concentrations in the sewage wetland soil than that of the reference wetland (data not shown). Similarly there was little difference in water soluble carbon, with again the reference wetland soil generally having slightly higher concentrations (Fig. 3h). However, the sewage wetland soil had higher values of readily mineralizable carbon over the top 7 cm than the reference wetland (Fig. 3i) indicating a greater pool of potentially available carbon. The difference in phosphorus form concentrations between the two soil types was consistent with that for nitrogen and carbon but even more striking. There were major differences in the levels of both water soluble P (Fig. 3j) and inorganic P (Fig. 31) between the sewage and reference wetland soils, and concentrations of both P forms in the sewage soil decreased with depth. In contrast there was no consistent difference in organic P levels between the two wetland soils (Fig. 3k). In direct contrast to nitrogen, most of the phosphorus in the sewage wetland soil was present in inorganic form. Vegetation A total of 50 species of vascular plants was recorded on the transects. Thirty-two species (64%) are native (28 angiosperms and 4 ferns), one of which (Ranunculus urvilleanus) is recognised as rare and endangered (Wilson and Given, 1989), and at least one other (the grass Hierochloe redolens) as uncommon. Marked differences in the vegetation were noted between the sewage and reference wetlands. The vegetation of the reference wetland is predominantly a Baumea-Isachne grassy sedgeland with scattered shrubs (mostly of Coprosma tenuicaulis). This vegetation type, which has the greatest diversity of floristics and community structure, occurs in a modified form on part of the sewage wetland (transects 3 and 5a - Fig. 4). A much larger part of the sewage wetland is dominated by either the bamboo spike sedge (Eleocharis sphacelata) or the bulrush Typha orientalis (raupo). There was a low species diversity within stands dominated by either of these species (Fig. 4), with many of the native species growing in other communities absent. Compared with the reference wetland, there is a general reduction in abundance and/or presence of some native species. Most notable in this category are the sedge Baumea rubiginosa, the shrub Coprosma tenuicaulis (swamp coprosma), and the ferns Blechnum minus and Gleichenia dicarpa (tangle fern). Conversely some native herbs, notably Ranunculus amphitrichus and Polygonum salicifolium were found only in the sewage wetland (Fig. 4). On sewage wetland sites where the Baumea-Isachne grassy sedgeland prevails, some native species remain more or less equally abundant or increase; most notably the swamp grass Isachne globosa, flax (Phormium tenax), the sedges Baumea articulata, Eleocharis acuta, E. sphacelata, and species of Carex, especially C. virgata, and the herb Hydrocotyle pterocarpa. The sewage wetland is characterized also by the presence and particularly abundance of some exotic species, most notably the purple duckweed Spirodela punctata (which was not recorded in the reference wetland), and the herbs Lotus pedunculatus and Polygonum punctatum. Multivariate cluster analysis (TWINSPAN) clearly distinguished patterns in plant distribution recorded at each site and their interrelationships (Fig. 5). The sites in which the 3 main vegetation types were found cluster consistently. Eleocharis/Spirodela stands were found in relatively deep water near the head of the sewage wetland. Raupo dominated stands (transects 2,4,5) were distinguished at a high level. It is notable that a small raupo dominated stand on the reference catchment (sites 7.1-7.4) clusters as a distinct entity with the other sites in the reference wetland. This is because these sites also contain native species (e.g. Baumea rubiginosa, Coprosma tenuicaulis, Isachne globosa) which were absent from raupo stands in the sewage wetland, and also lack the exotic duckweed. Baumea-Isachne grassy sedgeland sites (reference transects 6 & 7, and sites on transects 3, Sa, and 9) clustered in a more complex pattern, but one which is interpretable ecologically. The sites in which Eleocharis sphacelata was characteristically in association with the native grass Isachne globosa in relatively shallow water (< 10 cm deep) cluster as a distinct entity with relatively close affinity to the Eleocharis/Spirodela stands of deeper water. Additionally, the reference catchment sites and many sites at the extremities of the sewage wetland transects separated out from sites which were obviously on the effluent pathway. Discussion The discharge of oxidation pond effluent to the wetland has clearly resulted in fundamental changes to the wetland hydrology, water and soil chemistry, and vegetation. The sewage wetland is now permanently flooded whereas the reference wetland is subject to drawdown under drought conditions. Water in the sewage wetland has become more alkaline and nutrient enriched than the adjacent reference wetland and this difference is also reflected in the soil environment. These differences in the physical and chemical environments of the wetland have apparently resulted in fundamental changes to the botanical character of the wetland. A diverse Baumea/Isachne grassy sedgeland has now been replaced by a relatively uniform community dominated by Eleocharis sphacelata and Typha orientalis. Unfortunately, no detailed botanic survey was carried out before effluent disposal into the wetland commenced. Nevertheless, several sources of unpublished information support the notion that the differences we observed between the sewage and reference wetlands are indeed due to change ensuing since the start of the scheme. The Environmental Impact Report (Bay of Islands County Council - Proposed Paihia Sewerage Scheme, 1976) states that the dominant marsh vegetation in the water course below the then proposed discharge point (between our sites 1 and . 4) was "dense beds of the rushes Baumea articulata, Baumea teretifolia, and Baumea rubiginosa, with Juncus sp. and Eleocharis sphacelata present in places." Patches of flax and raupo were also recorded in dryer marsh areas as well as "tea-tree and bracken". Thus it would appear that at this time, raupo was not dominant, and it would appear from the above qualitative description, and also from water chemistry data, that the 'sewage' wetland was similar in character to the reference wetland of today. After 5 years of effluent discharge to the wetland, a qualitative survey by one of us (NMUC) noted that much of the manuka was dead and that the remaining manuka showed a marked reduction in vigour (Clunie, N.M.U. and Esler, A.E. Unpublished Botany Division Vegetation Series Report No. 439). Clunie and Esler also suggested that in the long term the higher nutrient status may favour raupo ahead of the sedges. Photographic comparisons between the surveys done in 1983 and 1989 also show that there has been local expansion of both E. sphacelata and T. orientalis communities, probably mainly at the expense of Baumea spp. At one specific location (site 8), which was photographed in both the 1983 and 1989 surveys, it was noticeable that whereas in 1983 Baumea rubiginosa was dominant with some willow herb Polygonum salicifolium intermixed, by 1989 the B. rubiginosa had been almost totally displaced by the now dominant P. salicifolium with patches of Isachne, Ludwigia, Eleocharis acuta, and (less) E. sphacelata and Carex spp. Although there is good evidence that changes in vegetation communities within the sewage wetland have occurred since discharge started in 1978, we can only speculate as to whether these changes are due to changes in either the hydrological or the chemical environment, or some combination of both. Evidence from the literature would suggest that water level is likely to be a major factor causing vegetation shifts in the short term. In addition to the obvious killing of vegetation (such as manuka) adapted to a drier environment, the continuous flooding brought about by the effluent discharge will eliminate the wetting and drying cycles that occur in unamended wetlands due to peaks in winter runoff, and summer evapotranspiration respectively. Thus species which require a period of drawdown in which to germinate would be eliminated (Whigham, 1985). This may account in some measure for the absence, e.g., of the fern Blechnum minus from the sewage wetland. However, it seems more likely that it is simply the depth of water that has caused the near elimination of these species and also Baumea rubiginosa and Coprosma tenuicaulis. For example it would appear that E. sphacelata is the only rooted macrophyte able to survive in deep (0.4-0.6 m) waters at the head of the wetland (site 1), and even this plant was absent when the water depth exceeded 0.6 m. Conversely, transport within the effluent stream may be responsible for the introduction of other species such as Ranunculus amphitrichus and Polygonum punctatum which were found only in the sewage wetland. It may be noted that each of these latter species (and also Polygonum salicifolium and Lotus pedunculatus which only occurred in trace proportions in the reference wetland) grow elsewhere only on sites of moderate to high trophic status, whereas species such as the fern Gleichenia dicarpa grow naturally on sites of very low trophic status. While there are sound ecological reasons for believing that a large increase in nutrient availability in a wetland ecosystem will result in vegetation species shifts (Howard-Williams, 1985; Shaver and Melillo, 1984) much of the literature on this aspect is confusing. In general, it would appear that field surveys on wetlands which have received increased nutrients from sewage effluents have shown species changes (e.g. Finlayson et al., 1986; Mudroch and Capobianco, 1979; Tilton and Kadlec, 1979) whereas specific field experiments designed to simulate sewage additions have often produced inconclusive results (Bayley et al., 1985; Sanville, 1988; Valiela et al., 1985). Notwithstanding the difficulty in conducting realistic field experiments of this type, we believe that a major reason for the inconclusive results from such work is their relatively short-term nature. The primary forcing function in determing ecosystem response of the nutrient additions is the availability. Similarly, for the micro-organisms involved in the recycling of extra nutrients within the wetland they must have a increased supply of available carbon. Our study has shown major differences in plant available forms of nutrients and microbially available forms of carbon, whereas differences in unavailable forms were very much less. The increase in available nutrient forms in the sewage catchment soil has arisen for two reasons. Firstly the total pool of available nutrient in overlying water has increased, and secondly, the capacity of the wetland detritus and soil to immobilize these nutrient forms has been exceeded. The detrital components of wetland soil, which includes most of the microbial biomass, have a large capacity to trap and immobilize throughflowing nutrients (Richardson, 1985). In fact model results from Dixon and Kadlec (1975) suggest that incoming nutrients are accumulated for at least to years in the detrital components of a wetland. Thus in the case of fertilization experiments, even if the nutrient application rate may realistically simulate loading from wastewater, the initial immobilization potential of wetland detritus will almost certainly ensure that there is little nutrient available for plant uptake which could initiate change in nutrient cycling and species composition. Thus, we believe the definitive experiment on the response of wetland ecosystems to added nutrients remains to be done. However, considering that hydrological conditions in the sewage wetland have remained relatively stable since at least 1983, it appears likely that it is the fertilization effect of the effluent that is responsible for the expansion of T. orientalis reedland. There are numerous examples cited in the literature where aggressive Typha spp. have replaced other species in similar conditions (Kadlec, 1981; Whigham, 1985) and at least one where Typha spp. have been replaced by an even more aggressive Glyceria grandis (Mudroch and Capobianco, 1979). Certainly the annual cycle of growth and die-back favours expansion of T. orientalis under non-limiting conditions. In a parallel study we (Cooke and Cooper, in prep.) have shown that the rate of decomposition of fallen T. orientalis leaves is much greater in the sewage wetland than the reference wetland. Observation would also suggest that production and litter fall of T. orientalis are also greater in the sewage catchment than in the reference catchment and further studies are underway to confirm this. Higher rates of production, litter fall, and decomposition in the sewage wetland result in a higher rate of wetland soil development and creation of highly reducing conditions at the soilwater interface. At the margins of T. orientalis communities, especially where this coincides with a channel of effluent-enriched water, this in turn appears to provide favourable conditions for further colonization of the species. The modification of the hydrologic environment caused by vegetation changes has important implications to the transport of wastewater through the wetland (Williams et al., 1990, unpublished). Within the interior of T. orientalis communities in the sewage wetland, rapid nutrient cycling in combination with reduction in light climate at the surface of the wetland caused by the vigorous raupo growth, may well explain the almost total exclusion of other species. Unlike the very gradual changes alluded to by Odum (1987) in the introduction of this paper, the vegetation changes which we have documented occurred very rapidly. As there also has been a drastic change in environmental conditions within the sewage wetland, the inescapable conclusion is that the vegetation changes have been allogenic. Undoubtedly the addition of effluent to the wetland has completely disrupted autogenic succession processes. However, it may be that the system has now reached hydrologic equilibrium beyond which allogenic influences will be spatially quite small. The aggradation of the wetland soil surface within the rapidly cycling raupo communities will eventually cause the wetland soil to dry out locally. Under these conditions it is conceivable that ombrotrophic conditions will eventually result and autogenic succession will again be dominant. For logistical reasons, we restricted our study to a relatively small area close to the effluent discharge point. Downstream of our site 8 there are extensive wetland areas, albeit highly channelized. In this paper we have purposely avoided discussing nutrient removal processes. However, the changes in vegetation we have observed, and the processes leading to those changes, allow us to make some deductions as to downstream effects. The rapid allogenic succession that has accompanied the introduction of the effluent would, in the first instance result in rapid uptake of nutrients from floodwaters. However, as succession has proceeded, and with continuing input of nutrient from the effluent, the proportion of the total nutrient pool which is reutilized by wetland plants will decrease. The rise in swamp soil level will also decrease the effective area available for nutrient removal and result in increasing channelisation. Therefore the net result will be an increase in the pool of nutrients leaving the system. It is therefore likely that the vegetation changes that occurred within the sewage wetland, especially the expansion of Typha reedland, will also occur progressively downstream of site 8. However, the time taken for this to occur throughout the entire watercourse may be very large in terms of the life expectancy of a wastewater treatment system. Are the environmental changes we have outlined unacceptable? The Environmental Impact Report for the Paihia sewage scheme stated that the wetland area below the discharge point was of 'low ecological value', so perhaps it could be argued that any changes which have occurred are not of concern. However, criteria determining this argument are largely anthropocentric. It is only by studies such as this one that the nature of the system, and the processes and changes in it can be determined, so that rational discussion and evaluation can ensue. 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THE CHRONICLES OF SPLATACUS (be part of the adventure) PART 2 Splatafeld entertains the Saxons and the Vikings by Mike Redwood Splats Entertainment This is part of a series of plays set throughout the history of Britain. Following the story of Splats travelling players as they adventure their way through history meeting the Celts, Romans, AngloSaxons, Vikings, Normans, Medieval folk and Renaissance Tudors. As each new settlers join Splats we invite your pupils to joins us to. Find out more at www.Splatsentertainment.com CAST FOR ACT 1 SPLATAFELD MUM ERIC/A KING GUTHRUM KING ALFRED VARIOUS SPEAKING VIKING SPLATACUS CIRCUS TROOP WARRIOR 1 WARRIOR 2 MUSIC CUE1: NARRATOR: This is the story of our home, not my house or yours but the island we live on and all the peoples who have adventured through this green and pleasant land. Waves of tribes have come to this island but our story is about the jugglers who entertained them, this is the story of my family of travelling entertainers called Splats. We are Splatacus circus, and now you are a part of it. We came to this island with the Romans but that is another story, ours is about the time you call the Dark Ages and a great Saxon King called Alfred and his deadly enemy the Viking King Guthrum. Let me introduce myself, my name is Splatafeld and I am an Anglo-Saxon entertainer. NARRATOR does something entertaining CAST cheers. I live on a little island in the Somerset marshes. In the summer my family travels around the towns performing our juggling show and in the winter, when the roads are to muddy or the snow to heavy we live on this island in the marshes. SPLATFELD: This is my mum. MUM: Hello. MUM performs a ribbon and bows. SPLATFELD: This is Eric, he was a Viking slave. NARRATOR: Ah, Yes. People have slaves. If they capture an enemy man, woman or even a child they make them their slave. So you see why the Vikings and the Saxons hate each other so much. But my mum bought Eric in a slave market because she felt sorry for him. Now he is free and very helpful when we go to entertain Vikings in their vast wooden halls as he speaks their language. Hello. ERIC: ERIC performs a poi and bows. NARRATOR: On our island in the marshes we are surrounded by the sea and so nobody comes and nobody goes much. It is very safe. Which is quite useful as we are living in dangerous times. Recently, King Guthrum the Viking decided he liked our country and invaded it. MUSIC CUE 2: DANCE OF THE PAST CAST makes two VIKING ships. NARRATOR: VIKINGS all roar. NARRATOR: VIKING1: VIKING2: VIKING3: VIKING4: NARRATOR: KING GUTHRUM: NARRATOR: VIKING5: VIKING6: KING GUTHRUM : VIKINGS all roar. NARRATOR: And so the East of our country was taken over by Danes but the south was still us the Anglo Saxons. KING GUTHRUM: Well, no it's not because we are invading it now. SAXONS are having a Christmas party singing 'JINGLE BELLS' VIKINGS attack and SAXONS scatter slow motion. KING ALFRED and two WARRIORS escape in slow motion. MUSIC CUE 4: WARNING BELL TOLLING VIKINGS: Attack. The Vikings are from countries far away called Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We called them all Danes. They are highly trained warriors with swords, axes and spears. These people don't have enough land at home and can't grow enough food and so they go Viking, which is another word for pirate or thief they come to our land and steal our gold, silver, food in fact anything they can. Some of the Vikings decided they liked it here. Lovely weather. The snow turns to water before it lands! The snow is so warm it is actually melted falling out of the sky! Wow! It hadn't taken them long to fit in, they were already talking about the weather. King Guthrum said... Let's invade. and They did. They took over the East our country and gave it a new name. Let us call it Danelaw. We are Danes... ...and we make the laws. NARRATOR: The Vikings attacked at Christmas when the Saxons weren't expecting it. No one fought in the winter you see, it was hard to move on the muddy roads and in the cold. With only two bodygaurds King Alfred of the Saxons just managed to run away and hide here on our marshy island . My mum said he had to work for his food like everyone else, he was in charge of the cooking. But he got a bit distracted trying to think of a better name than Dane law. KING ALFRED holding a piece of paper as he writes( could have this line ) KING ALFRED: Danelaw, rubbish name. I am going to win my kingdom back and give it a a better name...... (declaims) THE LAND OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS LAND. SPLATAFELD: Doesn't sound right... ERIC: what about me I am a Dane? SPLATAFELD: and I am bit Roman. KING ALFRED: Mmm,must work on that. KING ALFRED: Well I am still king of this marsh island. MUM: No you're not, I am. NARRATOR: They could smell burning Mum said... MUM: Can I smell burning? ERIC: He burnt the oat cakes. SPALTAFELD: You told him to watch them. MUM: Now you are in trouble. KING ALFRED: Sorry. I have a lot of gold. I can pay for it? ALL: Gold? SPLATAFELD: Do you? MUM: Where? BODY GAURD1: He buried it on Puffin Island. SPLATAFELD: Where is that? BODY GAURD 2: Only he and the Puffins know. NARRATOR: Alfred new he needed to get his buried gold to pay his army and his cooking wasn't working out but he didn't know how to get his gold Splatafeld said... SPLATAFELD: We will help you? ERIC: If you share your gold? KING ALFRED: If we get the gold I can pay an army to fight the Vikings? Lets do it. ALL: Hurray. NARRATOR: But we had a problem, we were surrounded by Vikings all looking for King Alfred. All VIKINGSgo Grrr... My mum came up with a brilliant idea. MUM: Why don' t we go disguised as our travelling circus? ERIC: Even the Vikings like to see a show. KING ALFRED: I can play the [choose an instrument from school] and sing. SPLATAFELD: Lets get the show on the road! KING ALFRED: And I can spy on the Vikings as we travel. BODY GAURD1: We can't perform any tricks? BODY GAURD2: So will tell everyone what you are doing. BODY GAURD 1: and all meet back on this marsh island BOTH GAURDS: WITH YOUR ARMY. MUSIC CUE 5: ROSSINI MAGPIE THEIF ( TO COVER CHANGE) NARRATOR: ...and so we set off with our whole circus troop. Alfred sent his two warriors to find the rest of his army to meet him at our marshy island. If Alfred’s army found out how brave he was disguising himself as an entertainer Alfred’s army would follow him into battle. They liked a bit of reckless bravery and considering his playing and singing he really was brave. Let's see what happened with the next group. A round of applause for this group. THE END OF ACT 1 CAST FOR ACT 2 SPLATAFELD MUM ERIC/A KING GUTHRUM KING ALFRED FRIAR VARIOUS SPEAKING VIKING SPLATACUS CIRCUS TROOP BODY GAURD 1 BODY GAURD 2 Act 2 The CIRCUS TROOP walk on the spot as if travelling. NARRATOR: So we set off on our journey with all the circus troop. It was a long winter walk, the rain was heavy, the roads were muddy and we kept meeting mad Vikings but when we did we showed them our tricks which they loved... MUSIC CUE6: CIRCUS MUSIC The CIRCUS TROOP perform and the VIKINGS enjoy it. CIRCUS TROOP wave goodbye walk and meet more VIKINGS. VIKING1: If you don't make us laugh, we will give you a three axe review. SPLATAFELD: Is that the same as a three star review? ERIC: This is a bit more painful. VIKING2: ONE AXE IN THE CHEST. VIKING3: ONE AXE IN THE BACK. VIKING4: ONE AXE IN THE HEAD. SPLATAFELD: Oh! ALL VIKINGS laugh. The CIRCUS TROOP perform a circus scarf juggling. NARRATOR: But Alfred's playing wasn't so good... KING ALFRED plays his chosen instrument badly. NARRATOR: The only thing worse than his playing was his singing. KING ALFRED (to the tune of 'The wheels on the bus') The Vikings in the boat go row,row, row, row row row, row row row. The Vikings in the boat go row, row, row, row row row, row row row. All day long. KING ALFRED sings it very badly, VIKINGS go to attack then, CIRCUS TROOP feather balance, VIKINGS laugh and decide not to kill ALFRED. VIKINGS wave goodbye to CIRCUS TROOP. NARRATOR: ….and so finally we made it to the port of Bristol. Then I understood why they called him Alfred the Great. He was really very inventive. He had created a navy and they met him. MUSIC CUE 7: RIDE OF THE VALKYERIES KING ALFRED Clicks his fingers and a ship appears the through cast making it. ALL CIRCUS TROOP 'HURRAH'. SPLATAFELD: Later when he invented school I wasn't so happy about it. NARRATOR: So we set sail for Puffin Island. We met all sorts of weather; gales and storms and then no wind at all until suddenly we saw: A ship appears through VIKING CAST making it. ALL: Vikings AHHH, ROW!!!!!!!! ALFRED'S Ship row. NARRATOR: it was definitely Vikings chasing us. We knew they were Vikings as they had monster figureheads on their ship. We rowed and we rowed until we got to Puffin island and we ran and we ran and we ran, then we crept and we crept and we crept through the scary trees until... SPLATAFELD: Aahh.... ALL: Who are you? FRIAR: I am the Friar. Have you got any Cheese? NARRATOR: This is the Friar he lives in ... FRIAR: Cheese? NARRATOR: no, the monastery on Puffin Island and he helps king Alfred hide his ... FRIAR: Cheese? NARRATOR: No, Gold, and now all he wants is... FRIAR: Cheese? KING ALFRED: Have you still got the gold hidden for me? FRIAR: Yes Lord, in the caves on the cliff. Cheese? KING ALFRED: Here's Cheese. NARRATOR: You see, the Friar had lived alone on the Island to pray to god. He was a holy man and ate only bird eggs but he really missed cheese. NARRATOR: The grown ups went to get the gold. They were frightened as the Vikings were on the Island they told us to stay hidden but we had a brilliant idea. ERIC: Lets burn the Viking ship! SPLATAFELD: They will only have one old guard with it. NARRATOR: With out the blessing of my parents we crept down to the ship, knocked out the old Viking and set fire to the ship. MUSIC CUE 8: FIRE Just then King Alfred and the rest of the troop appeared being chased by the Vikings. FRIAR MUM, ALFRED: Get to the ship quick. VIKINGS: Our ships on fire. We are stuck. FRIAR : No cheese for you. HA HA. MUSIC CUE 8: ROWING NARRATOR: We had the gold and we rowed to Chester a town in the north to complete our journey back to the safety of the marshes by road. Let's see how they get with group three. A round of applause for group two. END OF ACT 2 CAST FOR ACT 3 SPLATAFELD MUM ERIC/A SLASHER FOWL VIKING JUDGE KING ALFRED FRIAR VARIOUS SPEAKING VIKING SPLATACUS CIRCUS TROOP BODY GAURD 1 BODY GAURD 2 NARRATOR: SLAHSER FOWL: VIKINGS: When we landed we were in Danelaw, the land of the Vikings in the north of the country. My mum thought we would be safer in our disguises as travelling entertainers was working well until we meet the most deadly of VIKINGS the hardest to entertain he slasher Fowl. Famous for his cutting marks ,with his axe if he didn't like your show. Welcome to the Execution Factor now remember if we like your act you live if we dont it's... You wont be dead (dramatic pause) you will be totally dead. . The CIRCUS TROOP are giving their best show biz smiles as they don't understand. NARRATOR: He was a hard unfeeling judge who claimed he only wanted the best entertainment for his Vikings. Eric understood he said... ERIC: I don't think you want to know what they said. Music and Circus show ongoing VIKINGS clap. NARRATOR: The show was going well until Alfred decided to sing. KING ALFRED: My turn. MUM: (slow motion) Nooooo KING ALFRED (to the tune of 'The wheels on the bus') The Vikings in the boat go row,row, row, row row row, row row row. The Vikings in the boat go row, row, row, row row row, row row row. All day long. SLAHSER FOWL: I have seen some bad acts and this is the worst so meet my bad axe. NARRATOR: When we thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. The body guards arrived and said... ACT 3 BODYGAURD1: BODYGAURD2: King Alfred,your army has gathered at the marsh island. Ready for battle King Alfred. BODYGAURD1: We told them about you spying on the Vikings. CIRCUS TROOP freeze and smile VIKINGS get their swords out. NARRATOR: Alfred's bodygaurd had travelled around the kingdom telling his warriors that Alfred was spying on the Vikings. Everyone thought he was so brave that they decided to fight for him. Oh dear, But they had blown Kings Alfred's disguise. SLAHSER FOWL: That explains the singing. VIKINGS: It's Alfred, get him. CIRCUS TROOP: Run away. MUSIC CUE 9: WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE CAST pass like trees in the distance. Tree gloves on whilst the others are riding a horse staying stationary. A sign comes up with 'Hammerwitch' on. KING ALFRED: Hurray, I have my army back, lets ride. SPLATAFELD: What about the gold? ALFRED: We will bury it here in this field. As long as I know where it is. MUM: It can be dug up when the country needs the money. First they bury the gold and then...They are behind a screen and the trees move but the riders are stationary chased by VIKINGS. As the chase comes to an end the CAST line up as SAXON shield wall and VIKINGS run away. A sign for 'Eddington' comes up. ALL: Hip Hip Hurrah. NARRATOR: Everyone was happy with the victory but Alfred wasn't. KING ALFRED: The Danes don't want to be Vikings they want to live here as farmers. SAXONS: What??? ALFRED:...and we Christians have to forgive and share? SAXONS: What??? ALFRED: So we will split the country? NARRATOR: So Alfred decided to invite Guthrum to become a Christian and the country was split in half. Alfred was very happy with us he said. KING ALFRED: Thank you. You can be my royal entertainers. SPLATAFELD: What about the Royal gold? KING ALFRED: I am sure there will be a time when the country really needs the money. SPLATAFELD: and then they can find it in Staffordshire. NARRATOR: Alfred just needed a name for his new land. KING ALFRED: How about MAINLY SAXON LAND? ERIC: What about the Vikings who live here? WARRIOR: ... and the Celts? WARRIOR: and the left over Romans? ALFRED: Lets say we are a bit Angl ish, that doesn’t sound to strong? ALL: No. NARRATOR: Yes Anglish includes everyone. Angleland, the land of the Anglo Saxons we thought it would catch on. And we also new that by making Guthrum a Christian, letting them have some land would make them feell welcome and less fighty and with Alfred's amazing inventiveness it wouldn't be long until the whole country would be united under the name of Angleland. MUSIC CUE 10 Historical Fiction This is a historical fiction and is a combination of facts we know from evidence, myth and fiction. As you know the Dark Ages are called that simply because there was little written down after the Romans left in the fifth century. This was because the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings didn't write things down. It was with the Christian missionaries that written language was introduced by the monasteries. The facts we do have are from the Saxon Chronicles commissioned by King Alfred. King Alfred was a keen Christian and believer in the usefulness in reading and writing. History is 'written by the victors' as Churchill's phrase goes so even this Chronicle is not absolutely true. But from this Chronicle we are able to establish facts. Further evidence is provided by Bishop Asser's use of a version of the Chronicle in his work Life of King Alfred, known to have been composed in 893. You may want to show your pupils images of the Saxon Chronicles. A second source for this period is archaeological. Exciting discoveries are Sutton Hoo and of course the Staffordshire Hoard. I have taken a great historical liberty by connecting the Staffordshire Hoard to King Alfred as it firstly is very early days in it's discovery and secondly it may be up to 100 years earlier but still it is Anglo-Saxon artefacts and very exciting. So here are lists of facts, legends and fiction that you can explain to your pupils and look at. Facts. There was a King Alfred who was called Great. There was a King Guthrum of the Vikings. The Vikings were called Danes and were from Norway, Sweden and Demark. Going Viking meant stealing, raiding and pirating. They weren't always Viking. The Vikings did invade at Christmas. King Alfred did hide in the marshes of Somerset with only a few followers. The Anglo-Saxon did gather an army and fight a battle at Eddington in 878 and defeat the Vikings. King Alfred did create the navy and schools. When Danes were being Vikings they placed frightening carved dragon heads as figureheads to scare their enemy. King Alfred did create the idea of England and the name. Some Anglo-Saxons did bury a very rich horde of gold in Staffordshire. Guthrum did become a Christian. Alfred was a devout Christian maybe that is why he shared the land the or gold or was it inventive diplomacy? Legend Alfred burnt the cakes whilst in hiding. Alfred spied on the Vikings by pretending to be an entertainer. The idea of the cow horned raiding Viking is a legend. They were mainly people looking for land to settle on. Fiction There was no Splatafeld that helped King Alfred. Although, there were travelling jugglers and some of our jokes are that old. The journey they take does make geographical sense though. Create your own Historical fiction Maybe your pupils could find their own historical facts and make a fiction. It is helpful to pick a very specific event and then weave a fictional character into it. PROP MAKING 1) SIGNS: 'EDINGTON', 'PUFFIN ISLAND', 'HAMMERWITCH' 2) CIRCULAR SHEILDS For all Saxons and Vikings 3)TREE HANDS by Greca How to Make Tree Hands These are for Acts 1, 2 & 3. The children who are going to be trees in the chase will use these. They are priority and you need to make at least ten pairs. You will need: * Green Card or paint * Scissors * Glue 1. Cut out the card base this should be at 2. least 10cm wider than the child's hand. 3. Cut out the leaves from green card or paper. You can draw on the leaf ridging with a black pen. Then glue them onto the base. 4. Cut out a wrist strap out of any spare card this needs to be large enough for the children to ge How to Make Tree Hands The children who are going to be trees in the chase will use these. They are priority and you need to make at least ten pairs. You will need: * Green Card or paint * Scissors * Glue 1. Cut out the card base this should be at 2. least 10cm wider than the child's hand. 3. Cut out the leaves from green card or paper. You can draw on the leaf ridging with a black pen. Then glue them onto the base. 4. Cut out a wrist strap out of any spare card this needs to be large enough for the children to ge 4)Helmet Every scene will need 10 of these. To Make: Scissors, Tape, and a length of String or paper. Print out the 2 parts per child. Cut out pieces on page. Cut out the eye hole in each piece. Turn the two pieces over (face down) and position them together as shown in figure with the edges touching but not overlapping. Tape the straight area where they meet. Now turn the entire piece around so the four points are facing you. Begin taping together the two middle edges, starting between the eyes and working towards the outside. It's VERY important to join only half an inch or so at a time, and don't let the edges overlap. The piece should begin to curve as you work your way outwards, as shown in figure 1b. This seam may prove difficult at first, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. After the two edges are joined all the way to the corners (don't join the small flat areas at the top) you may join the two outer seams in this same manner. ) HELMET IS FOR ALL SAXONS AND VIKINGS. 1)KING GUTHRUM STYLED ON THE STTON HOO MASK (CUT FACE PLATE OUT IF YOU WANT) 2) KING ALFRED 3) DRAGON HEAD FOR VIKING SHIP THE BEAST HEAD TO GO ON THE VIKING SHIPS ONE FOR EACH SHIP.
Prosodic Effects of Syntactic Distribution in Vocatives in European Portuguese Silvana Abalada, Aida Cardoso & Vera Cabarrão firstname.lastname@example.org, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.org Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa Main Goal To verify if there is a correlation between the prosody and the syntactic distribution (initial, medial, and final) of the vocative in European Portuguese (EP), taking into account: (i) acoustic measures; (ii) pitch accents; (iii) boundary tones; (iv) intonation contours; (v) phrasing. Theoretical Background: General Issues - Vocatives have been studied on a par with other elements (e.g., appositions, comment clauses, dislocated elements, and question tags). - Different theoretical approaches led to different designations for these elements: (i) "parentheticals" (Dehé & Kavalova, 2007; Dehé, 2009a); (ii) "extra-sentential elements" (Astruc, 2005; Astruc‐Aguilera & Nolan, 2007); (iii) "peripheral elements" (Prieto, 2002). - Moreover, this kind of elements is described as a group of heterogeneous expressions that vary in syntactic category and function, as well as in length and complexity. Theoretical Background: Studies on Parentheticals - Factors like length and complexity can influence the prosodic phrasing parentheticals (Peters, 2006; Dehé, 2007, 2009b). of "Certain types of relatively short parentheticals such as comment clauses, reporting verbs, question tags and vocatives may be prosodically integrated into either the preceding or following intonation domain (…)."(Dehé, 2009b) - Initial and non-initial parentheticals have a different prosodic behavior (Prieto, 2002; Astruc, 2003, 2005; Astruc-Aguilera & Nolan, 2007). "In general we can say that initial elements (…) form independent tonal units, get an independent tonal contour, separated by clear pauses, and show a tendency to have a final rise (…). Non-initial elements (…) may form independent phrases, which can be separated by pauses, phrase accents or mere lengthening." (Astruc, 2003) Theoretical Background: Studies on Parentheticals - Intonation contours of non-initial parentheticals can be influenced by the intonation contour of the sentence (Prieto, 2002; Astruc, 2003, 2005; Astruc-Aguilera & Nolan, 2007). "Segon, [els constituents perifèrics a l'oració — vocatius, elements parentètics, dislocacions —] solen pronunciar-se amb un registre més greu que el de l'oració principal i, en molts casos, repeteixen el contorn melòdic d'aquesta en una tonalitat més baixa." (Prieto, 2002) - Interpolated constituents are associated with a diversified behavior, since they are characterized by rising pitch accents and by high and low pitch accents comparing to the intonation contours of the sentence (Wichmann, 2000). "There are in addition a number of other ways of dealing prosodically with parenthetical items. They can for example be pitched both higher and lower than the surrounding talk, depending on their communicative function." (Wichmann, 2000) Theoretical Background: Studies on Vocatives - Intonation contours of initial vocatives show similarities with the ones described for isolated vocatives (Prieto, 2002). "Els vocatius situats a l'inici de l'oració no reprodueixen el patró de l'oració principal — tal com fan els vocatius interns i finals—, sinó que presenten l'entonació típica dels vocatius aïllats (…)." (Prieto, 2002) - In EP, two types of isolated vocatives have been described (Frota, in press): (i) vocative chant (greeting): (L+) H* !H%, with the possibility of lengthening and split up of the nuclear syllable of the vocative when there is no post-tonic syllable; (ii) low vocative chant (insisting call): (L+) H* L%. Methodology: Corpus - Subjects: Two female subjects (CA and TA), native speakers of standard EP. - Variables of the Target-sentences: (i) the three distributional patterns of the vocatives: initial, medial and final; (ii) the number of syllables of the sentence (5, 7, and 10) and the vocative (1, 2, and 3); (iii) the stressed syllable of the vocative (last, penultimate, and antepenultimate syllables). - Data Collection: Elicited reading task motivated by a situational context, accordingly with the Atles interactiu de l'entonació del català (Prieto & Cabré, 2008). The corpus is composed by 432 sentences (54 target-sentences and 54 distractors read twice by each subject). Methodology: Annotation - Material: 216 target-sentences (108 by each subject). - Parameters: - Conventions: ``` (i) acoustic measures: (a) relative length; (b) intensity (maximum and minimum); (c) f 0 (maximum, minimum, and range); (ii) pitch accents; (iii) boundary tones; (iv) intonation contours; (v) break indices. ``` ``` Towards a P_ToBI (Viana & Frota, 2007). Praat (Boersma & Weenink , 2009), 5.2.10. ``` - Descriptive Statistics: (i) acoustic measures: (a) mean values; (ii) pitch accents, boundary tones, intonation contours, and break indices: (a) crosstabs. -Inferential Statistics: (i) acoustic measures: (a) Mann-Whitney (U) (for two independent samples); (b) Kruskal-Wallis (H) (for more than two independent samples); (ii) pitch accents, boundary tones, intonation contours, and break indices: (a) Chi-square (χ 2 ). SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), 18.0.0. Methodology: Statistical Analysis Data: Relative Length There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the relative length of the vocative (H(2) = 56,788, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (U = 1492,5, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (U = 1552, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (U = 836,5, p < ,001). Data: Maximum of Intensity There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the maximum of intensity of the vocative (H(2) = 121,737, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (U = 1923,5, p = ,008); - initial and final vocatives (U = 89, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (U = 415, p < ,001). Data: Minimum of Intensity There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the minimum of intensity of the vocative (H(2) = 77,061, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (U = 1114,5, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (U = 1501, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (U = 601,5, p < ,001). Data: Maximum of f 0 There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the maximum of f 0 of the vocative (H(2) = 108,188, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (U = 1877, p = ,004); - initial and final vocatives (U = 221,5, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (U = 578,5, p < ,001). Data: Minimum of f 0 There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the minimum of f 0 of the vocative (H(2) = 130,826, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between the follow distributions: - initial and final vocatives (U = 219, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (U = 15, p < ,001). However, there is no significant differences between initial and medial vocatives (U = 2555, p = ,882). Data: Range of f 0 There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the range of f 0 of the vocative (H(2) = 14,387, p = ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between the follow distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (U = 1716, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (U = 1971, p = ,013). However, there is no significant differences between medial and final vocatives (U = 2134,5, p = ,068). Data: Pitch Accents There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the pitch accents of the vocative (χ 2 (10) = 125,144, p < ,001). \| \| \| Pitch Accents \| \| \| \| \| \| Total \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| H* \| H+L \| H+L \| L* \| L+H \| L+H \| \| \| Initial Vocative \| N \| 40 \| 5 \| 19 \| - \| - \| 8 \| 72 \| \| \| % \| 55,6% \| 6,9% \| 26,4% \| - \| - \| 11,1% \| 100,0% \| \| Medial Vocative \| N \| 10 \| - \| 16 \| 31 \| 5 \| 10 \| 72 \| \| \| % \| 13,9% \| - \| 22,2% \| 43,1% \| 6,9% \| 13,9% \| 100,0% \| \| Final Vocative \| N \| - \| - \| 31 \| 41 \| - \| - \| 72 \| \| \| % \| - \| - \| 43,1% \| 56,9% \| - \| - \| 100,0% \| \| Total \| N \| 50 \| 5 \| 66 \| 72 \| 5 \| 18 \| 216 \| \| \| % \| 23,1% \| 2,3% \| 30,6% \| 33,3% \| 2,3% \| 8,3% \| 100,0% \| The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (χ 2 (5) = 59,479, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (χ 2 (4) = 96,880, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (χ 2 (4) = 31,176, p < ,001). Data: Boundary Tones There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the boundary tones of the vocative (χ 2 (2) = 25,692, p < ,001). \| \| \| Boundary Tones \| \| \| \| Total \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| !H- / !H% \| H- / H% \| L- / L% \| No Boundary \| \| \| Initial Vocative \| N \| 25 \| 8 \| 35 \| 4 \| 72 \| \| \| % \| 34,7% \| 11,1% \| 48,6% \| 5,6% \| 100,0% \| \| Medial Vocative \| N \| - \| 4 \| 18 \| 50 \| 72 \| \| \| % \| - \| 5,6% \| 25,0% \| 69,4% \| 100,0% \| \| Final Vocative \| N \| - \| - \| 72 \| - \| 72 \| \| \| % \| - \| - \| 100,0% \| - \| 100,0% \| \| Total \| N \| 25 \| 12 \| 125 \| 54 \| 216 \| \| \| % \| 11,6% \| 5,6% \| 57,9% \| 25,0% \| 100,0% \| The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 70,971, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 49,794, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (χ 2 (2) = 86,400, p < ,001). Data: Intonation Contours There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the intonation contours of the vocative (χ 2 (14) = 168,382, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial vocatives (χ 2 (7) = 88,305, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (χ 2 (5) = 96,880, p < ,001); - medial and final vocatives (χ 2 (4) = 31,176, p < ,001). Data: Intonation Contours \| \| \| Intonation Contours \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| H* / H* H- / H* H% \| (L+)H* !H- / (L+)H* !H% \| (L+)H* L- / (L+)H* L% \| H+L L- / H+L L% \| H+L* / H+L* L- / H+L* L% \| L* / L* L- / L* L% \| L+H \| L+H / L+H* H- \| \| Initial Vocative \| N \| 11 \| 25 \| 12 \| 5 \| 19 \| - \| - \| - \| \| \| % \| 15,3% \| 34,7% \| 16,7% \| 6,9% \| 26,4% \| - \| - \| - \| \| Medial Vocative \| N \| 10 \| - \| - \| - \| 16 \| 31 \| 5 \| 10 \| \| \| % \| 13,9% \| - \| - \| - \| 22,2% \| 43,1% \| 6,9% \| 13,9% \| \| Final Vocative \| N \| - \| - \| - \| - \| 31 \| 41 \| - \| - \| \| \| % \| - \| - \| - \| - \| 43,1% \| 56,9% \| - \| - \| \| Total \| N \| 21 \| 25 \| 12 \| 5 \| 66 \| 72 \| 5 \| 10 \| \| \| % \| 9,7% \| 11,6% \| 5,6% \| 2,3% \| 30,6% \| 33,3% \| 2,3% \| 4,6% \| Data: Intonation Contours Taking into account the distribution patterns… … in initial vocatives: - there are some intonation contours that only occurred in this distribution, crucially the ones associated, in EP, with: (i) vocative chant (greeting): (L+)H* !H- / (L+)H* !H%; (ii) low vocative chant (insisting call): (L+)H* L- / (L+)H* L%; (iii) command: H+L L- / H+L L%; … in medial vocatives: - there is a higher frequency of L/ L L- / L* L%, but there is also intonation contours with high (H* / H* H- / H* H%) and rising (L+H/ L+H H- and L+H) pitch accents; … in final vocatives: - there are only L L% and H+L* L%. Data: Break Indices There is a significant effect of the distributional patterns of the vocative on the break indices of the vocative (χ 2 (9) = 127,323, p < ,001). \| \| \| \| Break Indices \| \| \| \| Total \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| \| 0 \| 1 \| 3 \| 4 \| \| \| Initial Vocative \| \| N \| - \| 4 \| 43 \| 25 \| 72 \| \| \| \| % \| - \| 5,6% \| 59,7% \| 34,7% \| 100,0% \| \| Medial Vocative \| Left Boundary \| N \| 7 \| 7 \| 57 \| 1 \| 72 \| \| \| \| % \| 9,7% \| 9,7% \| 79,2% \| 1,4% \| 100,0% \| \| \| Right Boundary \| N \| 21 \| 29 \| 19 \| 3 \| 72 \| \| \| \| % \| 29,2% \| 40,3% \| 26,4% \| 4,2% \| 100,0% \| \| Final Vocative \| \| N \| 13 \| 16 \| 43 \| - \| 72 \| \| \| \| % \| 18,1% \| 22,2% \| 59,7% \| - \| 100,0% \| \| Total \| \| N \| 41 \| 56 \| 162 \| 29 \| 288 \| \| \| \| % \| 14,2% \| 19,4% \| 56,3% \| 10,1% \| 100,0% \| The statistical analysis shows significant differences between each of the distributions: - initial and medial (right boundary) vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 66,515, p < ,001); - initial and final vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 45,200, p < ,001); - medial (left boundary) and final vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 8,282, p = ,041); - medial (left boundary) and medial (right boundary) vocatives (χ 2 (3) = 40,444, p < ,001). Data: Break Indices Taking into account the distribution patterns… … in initial vocatives: - there is a prevalence of break indices of 3 and 4 (94,4%); … in medial vocatives: - there is a higher percentage of break indices of 3 and 4 on the left boundary (80,6%) than on the right one (30,6%); … in final vocatives: - there is no break indices of 4; - there is a balance between break indices of 0 and 1 (40,3%), one the one hand, and 3 (59,7%), on the other hand. Data: Break Indices Additionally… … there is a significant effect of the number of syllable of the vocative on the break indices of the vocative (χ 2 (9) = 127,323, p < ,001). The statistical analysis shows significant differences between: - vocatives with 1 syllable and with 3 syllables (χ 2 (3) = 11,827, p = ,008); - vocatives with 2 syllables and with 3 syllables (χ 2 (3) = 23,088, p = ,000). However, there is no significant differences between vocatives with 1 syllable and with 2 syllables (χ 2 (3) = ,678, p = ,878). Discussion There is a correlation between the prosody and the syntactic distribution of the vocative, since there are prosodic differences related to the distribution (initial, medial, and final) of the vocative in EP. Discussion Initial Vocatives: - presence of intonation contours associated with isolated vocative in EP (Frota, in press): (i) vocative chant (greeting): (L+)H* !H- / (L+)H* !H%; (ii) low vocative chant (insisting call): (L+)H* L- / (L+)H* L%; - presence of intonation contours associated with command in EP (Frota, in press): H+L L- / H+L L%; - higher levels of intensity can be related with emphasis (Ladd, 2008), and, therefore, with the pragmatic values of greeting, insisting call, and command; - higher levels of f0 (specifically maximum and range of f0) can be associated with phonetic features of order in EP (Falé, 2005; Falé & Faria, 2007); - the higher tendency to form major and minor intonation phrases points to the fact that initial vocatives tend to form an independent tonal unit (in fact, they are the only ones that form major intonation phrases); - split up of the nuclear syllable when no post-tonic syllable is available (8 cases in 36 vocatives, about 22%) as described for isolated vocatives in EP (Frota, in press). Discussion Medial Vocatives: - presence of a diversified behavior, since there are low, high and rising pitch accents, which have been associated with interpolated constituents in British English (Wichmann, 2000); - presence of a lower and narrower pitch range, since there is a higher frequency of L/ L L- / L* L% and lower levels of range of f0, which have been associated with interpolated constituents in British English (Wichmann, 2000); - presence of rising pitch accents (L+H/ L+H H- and L+H) that suggest continuity and that, therefore, allow a parallel with interpolated parentheticals in EP (Viana & Frota, 2007; Frota, in press); - the absence of major intonation phrases points to the fact that medial vocatives do not tend to form an independent tonal unit; - the asymmetry between left and right boundaries of the medial vocative concerning break indices is evidenced by the higher percentage of break indices of 3 and 4 on the left boundary than on the right one; - that asymmetry suggests that medial vocatives tend to be associated to the material that occurs at the end of the sentence. Discussion Final Vocatives: - presence of a unified behavior regarding intonation contours and break indices; (i) presence of only low and falling pitch accents (L L% and H+L* L%); (ii) balance between break indices of 0 and 1, one the one hand, and 3, on the other hand; - higher values of relative length can be related with the final lengthening preceding a major intonation phrase boundary in EP (Frota, 2000); - the absence of major intonation phrases (like reported for medial vocatives) points to the fact that final vocatives do not tend to form an independent tonal unit. Discussion Furthermore… …we can draw a distinction between initial and non-initial elements: - initial vocatives: (i) tend to form independent intonation phrases; (ii) show similarities with isolated vocatives concerning intonation contours and the possibility of split up of the nuclear syllable; (iii) have higher levels of range of f0; (iv) are related with the pragmatic values of greeting, insisting call and command; - non-initial (medial and final) vocatives: (i) do not form major intonation phrases; (ii) have higher frequency of low pitch accents; (iii) show no significant differences regarding range of f0; (iv) are probably related with the pragmatic value of a secondary interpellation (the main being the verb and its illocutionary force). Acknowledgments Professor Sónia Frota Professor Ana Lúcia Santos Professor Ana Isabel Mata Professor Luísa Loura Carina Amaral Telma Abalada João Miguel Santos CLUL/ANAGRAMA References Astruc, M. L. (2003) "Sentence external elements in Catalan". In P. Prieto (ed.): Catalan Journal of Linguistics 2, Special Issue on Romance Intonation. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Astruc, M. L. (2005) "The form and function of extra‐sentential elements". In F. Chalcraft & E. Sipetzis (eds.): Cambridge Occasional Papers in Linguistic 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Astruc‐Aguilera, M. L. & F. Nolan (2007) "Variation in the intonation of extra‐sentential elements". In P. Prieto, J. Mascaró & M. J. Solé (eds.): Segmental and prosodic issues in Romance phonology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Boersma P. & D. Weenink (2009) Praat: doing phonetics by computer. In http://www.praat.org/. Dehé, N. (2007) "The relation between syntactic and prosodic parenthesis". In N. Dehé & Y. Kavalova (eds.): Parentheticals. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Dehé, N. & Y. Kavalova (2007) "Parentheticals: An introduction". In N. Dehé & Y. Kavalova (eds.): Parentheticals. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Dehé, N. (2009a) "Parentheticals". In L. Cummings (ed.): Pragmatics Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. Dehé, N. (2009b) "Clausal parentheticals, intonational phrasing, and prosodic theory". In Journal of Linguistics 45 (3). . Falé, I. (2005) Percepção e Reconhecimento da Informação Entoacional em Português Europeu Ph.D. Thesis, University of Lisbon. References Falé, I. & I. H. Faria (2007) "Imperatives, orders and requests in European Portuguese Intonation". In J. Trouvain & W. Barry (eds.): Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Saarbrücken. Frota, S. (2000) Prosody and Focus in European Portuguese. New York & London: Garland Publishing. Frota, S. (in press) "The intonational phonology of European Portuguese". In S. Jun (ed.): Prosodic Typology II: The Phonology and Intonation of Phrasing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ladd, D. Robert (2008) Intonational Phonology. Cambridge & Nova Iorque: Cambridge University Press, 2 nd Edition. Prieto, P. (2002) "Entonació". In J. Sòla, M. Lloret, J. Mascaró & M. P. Saldanya (eds.): Gramàtica del Català Contemporani. Barcelona: Editoria Empúries. Peters, J. (2006) "Syntactic and prosodic parenthesis". In Proceedings of the International Conference on Speech Prosody. Dresden. Prieto, P. & T. Cabré (2008) Atles interactiu de l'entonació del català. http://prosodia.uab.cat/atlesentonacio/index.html. In Viana, M. C. & S. Frota (2007) "Towards a P_ToBI". In http://www.fl.ul.pt/dlgr/SonseMelodias/PToBI/P-ToBI.htm (Colaborators: I. Falé, F. Fernandes, I. Mascarenhas, A. I. Mata, H. Moniz & M. Vigário). Wichmann, A. (2000) Intonation in Text and Discourse: Beginnings, Middles and Ends. Harlow: Longman / Pearson Education. Initial Vocative Initial Vocative Medial Vocative Final Vocative
MINUTES OF THE BUCKINGHAM TOWN COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT AND PROPERTY COMMITTEE HELD AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS ON MONDAY 24 th April 2006 PRESENT Councillor Mrs. P. Desorgher D. Isham G. Loftus H. Mordue (Chairman) Ms. R. Newell Mrs. C. Strain-Clark R. Stuchbury In attendance Mrs. P. Stevens Town Clerk Ms. P. J. Heath APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Cllr. P. Collins (Mayor), and Mrs. H. Saul. 2006/251 DECLARATION OF INTEREST FOR ITEMS ON THE AGENDA There were no declarations of interest for items on the agenda 2006/252 THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Members received and noted the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 th March 2006 which had been ratified on 10 th April 2006. 2006/253 ACTION REPORTS AND UPDATES ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA (246/2006) Chandos Park Toilets Members were informed that a volunteer had accepted the amount offered by the Town Council and that the toilets are being locked every evening. 2006/254 REPORT, IF REQUIRED, ON CEMETERY LODGE REFURBISHMENT Future use of Cemetery lodge – report by Town Clerk The Clerk reported on a letter received from HM Customs and Excise which states that the Council can reclaim the VAT on the building work even if the Lodge is let on a short term basis. It was AGREED that the Lodge be used initially by the Town Council for storage and overflow office space, and then leased for short term lets, with a view to using the Lodge for a Town Council employee. Cllr. Stevens raised the issue of the doors: when the carpenter she had asked to prepare and fit the doors had gone to the Lodge he found new doors already fitted. It was AGREED that the Clerk and Chairman would investigate. 2006/255 REPORTS ON THE OPERATION OF BRACKLEY ROAD CEMETERY 255.1 Policy document for the Cemetery The policy document had been circulated at the last meeting under minute no.238.4 [3E] Members discussed the planting on the grave and the problems that could be caused if the plants were not maintained. It was agreed to provide a 5 year licence to plant with a clause reserving the right to remove the plants, or charge the owner for the maintenance if not maintained. Proposed by Cllr. Newell, seconded by Cllr. Loftus, and AGREED to adopt the policy document as circulated with the above condition. 255.2 Decision on the request for memorial benches A letter from Mr. Webster with details of the bench had been circulated with the agenda. Proposed by Cllr. Isham, seconded by Cllr. Stuchbury, and AGREED to allow the installation of a memorial bench in Buckingham Cemetery at the location specified in the letter, and agreed with the Town Clerk, subject to a written undertaking by the family to maintain the bench. Proposed by Cllr. Isham, seconded by Cllr. Stuchbury, and AGREED to allow the installation of a memorial bench in Bourton Park, a design and location to be agreed between the family and the Town Clerk. ACTION THE CLERK 255.3 Report on the exhumation (min no 238.3) The Town Clerk reported on the early morning exhumation of the ashes. Members discussed whether to insist on liners to ashes boxes to assist in any future recovery of ashes but it was felt that the infrequency of the problem did not warrant the additional expense. 255.4 Cost of repairing and refurbishing the Cemetery gates Members were given details of the 3 quotations to repair the Cemetery Gates and side railings. Proposed by Cllr. Stuchbury, seconded by Cllr. C. Strain-Clark, and AGREED to accept the quotation by Roecraft of £870 plus VAT. Members discussed the cleaning up and re-pointing of the pillars whilst the gates were away being refurbished. Proposed by Cllr. Stuchbury, seconded by Cllr. Isham, and AGREED to having the pillars re-pointed. (The Clerk with the assistance of the Chairman to have designated power to accept a quotation up to £1000; if above that amount then Cllr. Desorgher, Cllr. Stuchbury and Cllr. Isham have designated power to accept an increased amount.) The above amounts to be taken from the 2005/2006 horticultural budget as specified in minute no. 248/2006. ACTION THE CLERK 2006/256 REPORTS ON CHANDOS PARK Cost of servicing the sprinkler system for the bowling green. The Clerk informed Members that the sprinkler system was in need of a service and annual maintenance. Proposed by Cllr. Isham, seconded by Cllr. Stuchbury, and AGREED that the Clerk, with the assistance of the Chairman, be given designated authority to spend up to £750 on the servicing and annual maintenance of the bowling green sprinkler system. The Clerk informed members that the annual starring of the Green would take place on 25 th April. The Club have approached the Council requesting that a thatch treatment is applied to the green. Members felt that if the problem was extensive the Clerk would have designated authority to get it done; it was agreed to obtain a quotation and an independent assessment of the problem. ACTION THE CLERK 2006/257 REPORTS ON BOURTON PARK 257.1 Penstock repair/refurbishment Cllr Stuchbury reported that he had been able to clear the penstock and get the gate to move but special Allen keys were needed in order to make the system work correctly. It was noted that some river work may be needed to completely clear the penstock and any blockages in the back stream. Proposed by Cllr. Isham, seconded by Cllr. Desorgher, and AGREED to purchase a size 11 pair of waders and a set of Allen keys. ACTION THE CLERK 257.2 Bourton Park Car Park The Clerk informed Members that complaints were beginning to be received in the office about the "boy racers" in Bourton Park Car Park. It appears that the groups that used to congregate in the Cornwall's Meadow Car Park are now using the car park at Bourton Park. Complaints are about the traffic noise as vehicles race in and out of the narrow entrance, the near misses with traffic on the road, and the noise from car stereos. It was AGREED that the Clerk monitor the complaints and liaise with the Police over the problem, giving a full report to the next meeting. ACTION THE CLERK Cllr. R. Newell left the meeting 2006/258 BUCKINGHAM TOWN AUDIT AND ANY ACTION REQUIRED The newly installed slabs of the footpath between the White Hart and NatWest Bank change colour abruptly from cream to grey outside Wine Rack. It was AGREED to write to the County Council and obtain an explanation. ACTION THE CLERK Cllr. Stevens asked if the blacktop by Markham's Court could be toned down as it was too shiny a black. 2006/259 UPDATE ON THE COMMUNITY PLAN INITIATIVES In the absence of Mr Gadd there was no report on the Community Plan. Members discussed the front page article on the Community Plan SEEDA bid, noting that the Town Council's involvement had not been made clear. Members discussed the history of the Community Plan and the reasons behind its set up. Members AGREED that 1) a letter should be sent to the Steering Group reminding them that the Town Council as a principal partner and fund-holder needs to be included in the publicity; 2) a press release should be sent to the Advertiser highlighting the Community Plan as a success story of the Town Council; 3) request copies of all the Community Plan steering group and committee minutes; 4) that the Town Council representatives on the Steering Group ensure that the flow of information is two-way. It was noted that this is the last year of the funding and information on the future of the Community Plan should be discussed at the next meeting. 2006/260 INFORMATION ON THE SUSPECTED RIGHT OF WAY BETWEEN CHANDOS ROAD AND STATION TERRACE The Clerk informed Members that no response had been received from the County Council but the University stated that it was a permitted right of way and not designated; this is evidenced by the fact they close the path once a year. It was agreed to defer to the next meeting pending a reply from the County Council. 2006/261 CLEANER NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ENVIRONMENT ACT 2005 AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TOWN COUNCIL The Clerk gave Members a full explanation of the Cleaner Neighbourhood and Environment Act explaining each of the powers it allows the Council. Members discussed the Fixed Penalty Notices (Fan's) which are issued by designated personnel only. The Council would need to draw up a policy on who would have the authority and the criteria for issuing. Issuing staff would have to receive training before they can issue tickets unless it is the PCSO, who is exempt. Part of the responsibility of the Act is the enforcement of the tickets issued which may include prosecution. The Clerk informed Members that exploratory discussions had taken place with the PCSO as to the possible designation to issue FPN and also with revenue department of the District Council who may be able to undertake the prosecutions at a cost. Proposed by Cllr. Stuchbury, seconded by Cllr. Isham, and RECOMMENDED that the Town Council agree in principle to accepting and using the powers under the Cleaner Neighbourhood & Environment Act 2005, and the Council agrees to the Environment & Property Committee investigating fully the powers, possible implementation and full costing, reporting to the Council for final approval before implementing the powers. 2006/262 TO RECEIVE DETAILS OF 2005/06 A copy of the budget would be circulated to all Members. 2006/263 CHAIRMAN'S ITEMS FOR INFORMATION 263.1 St. Rumbold's Well Members discussed the story which appeared in the local newspaper about the damage done at St Rumbold's well by vandals; the Town Council had originally been involved in the funding of this project. It was AGREED that the Chairman would talk to the Buckingham Society to see how the Town Council could assist in the clean up and restoration of the site. ACTION THE CHAIRMAN 263.2 Bucks. Tree News Cllr. Stuchbury brought to Member's attention an article which indicated that BTCV had been taking trees from Railway Walk and transplanting them at Holloway Spinney. The Clerk confirmed no permission had been sought but pointed out that BTCV, AVDC and BCC refer to the whole of the disused railway as Railway Walk although part is owned by the University and part (known as the Scenic Walk) by the District Council; therefore the trees may not have been from Buckingham Town Council land. It was AGREED to write to BTCV and Jason West, the Wildlife Project Manager, pointing out the designations and ownership and stating that any trees removed from the Railway Walk must have Town Council permission. The following items were heard under section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission of Meetings) Act 1960 which excludes members of the Public due to the confidential and financial nature of the business to be discussed 2006/264 APPLY FOR PLANNING PERMISSION FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE COUNCIL OFFICES 2006/265 TIMESCALE FOR PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PLANS FOR THE COUNCIL OFFICES Meeting closed at 9.20pm CHAIRMAN ……H. Mordue………………………DATE ………30th May 2006……………………..
North Walkden Primary School Worsley Road North, Walkden, Worsley, Manchester, Lancashire, M28 3QD Inspection dates 9–10 October 2013 \| \| Previous inspection: \| Satisfactory \| 3 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Overall effectiveness \| \| \| \| \| \| This inspection: \| Good \| 2 \| \| Achievement of pupils \| \| \| \| \| Quality of teaching \| \| \| \| \| Behaviour and safety of pupils \| \| \| \| \| Leadership and management \| \| \| \| Summary of key findings for parents and pupils This is a good school. Pupils' progress has improved since the previous inspection and all groups now achieve well across the school in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals do better than their classmates in reading and their attainment is very close to that of their peers in writing and mathematics. The quality of teaching is never less than good and there are examples of outstanding practice in all three key stages. Teachers plan classroom activities closely with regard to the differing needs of their pupils and they mark work in detail so that pupils know what they need to do to improve. Teaching assistants know their pupils well and ensure that they have every opportunity to take full advantage of everything the school offers them. The family support worker ensures that there are strong links between home and school and provides sensitive support to pupils, often on an individual basis. It is not yet an outstanding school because Pupils do not have enough opportunities to talk about their work before they begin to write. Calculation problems in mathematics are not linked often enough to real-life contexts. Pupils' conduct and attitudes to learning are good and often outstanding. They feel secure in school and are well aware of how to stay safe outside its walls. They are proud of their school, get on well with their classmates and have a high regard for the adults who work with them. In their words, 'The grown-ups are always kind to us.' The curriculum meets pupils' personal and academic needs well. Literacy and numeracy are also promoted effectively in subjects other than in English and mathematics. School sports funding is used well to employ coaches in a range of physical activities including gymnastics. The exceptional executive headteacher and the talented senior team lead by example and continue to ensure that on-going improvement is the order of the day. Governors are wellinformed about pupils' personal and academic achievement and they hold leaders and managers rigorously to account for the decisions they make. Subject leadership is underdeveloped and subject co-ordinators do not yet monitor pupils' progress as closely as they could. Links with the local and wider communities are not promoted extensively enough. Information about this inspection Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 17 part-lessons, taught by eight teachers. One lesson was observed jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors observed two phonics (letters and sounds) sessions and also heard pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 read. Inspectors spoke to two groups of pupils, including members of the school council. They also held discussions with five members of the governing body, including the Chair and Vice-Chair. In addition, they spoke to a representative of the local authority, the family support worker, a sports coach, pastoral staff, teachers and the senior leadership team. They took account of the 16 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) and spoke informally to parents at the beginning of the school day. They also scrutinised 10 questionnaires returned from staff. Inspectors observed the school at work and looked at internal and external pupil progress and attainment data and pupils' work in both English and mathematics. They analysed a variety of documentation including school improvement planning, strategies to enable the school to gain an accurate view of its own performance, reports written on behalf of the local authority and minutes of governing body meetings. They also considered information in relation to child protection, safeguarding, attendance and behaviour. Inspection team \| Jim Kidd, Lead inspector \| Additional Inspector \| \|---\|---\| \| Prydwen Elfed-Owens \| Additional Inspector \| Full report Information about this school This is a smaller-than-average sized primary school, but pupil numbers have increased by nearly 30% since 2010. There are slightly more boys than girls. The proportion of pupils supported at school action is above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also above that usually found. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium (additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, those from service families and those looked after by the local authority) is high, at more than twice the national average. Most pupils are White British and there are few pupils who speak English as an additional language. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics. The school is an Investor in Families, holds the International School award and is currently working towards Eco-School Green Flag status. The deputy headteacher runs the school for two-and-a half days per week, when the executive headteacher is present at the sister school. Since the previous inspection, there has been considerable refurbishment work on the school site and also significant changes in staffing, including the appointment of a new assistant headteacher. What does the school need to do to improve further? Continue to accelerate pupils' progress and raise their attainment further by: giving pupils more opportunities to talk about their ideas before they begin their writing assignments ensuring that pupils have sufficient opportunities to reinforce their numeracy skills by solving problems which are directly linked to real-life contexts developing subject leadership in order that co-ordinators monitor pupils' progress more closely in the areas for which they are responsible. Promote more extensive links with the local and wider communities in order to: raise the aspirations of pupils and their families about what they can achieve give pupils more opportunities to engage with cultures and religions which are different from their own. Inspection judgements The achievement of pupils is good Children generally enter the Nursery class with skills and knowledge which are well below those expected for their age, particularly in language and communication. Much–improved phonics teaching, more effective assessment and better use of resources both indoors and outdoors mean that children now make consistently good progress across the Early Years Foundation Stage. This good progress continues in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and pupils reach broadly average standards by the end of Year 6. Attainment and progress in English and mathematics improved markedly in 2013 and inspection evidence, including lesson observation and scrutiny of exercise books, demonstrates that pupils in the current Year 6 are on course to reach even higher standards by the time they leave. Progress and attainment in mathematics are improving apace, partly as a result of the opportunities pupils have to practise and reinforce their numeracy skills in other subjects of the curriculum, including science. Pupils are, however, insufficiently aware of how much mathematics is related to everyday life. Literacy is promoted well in all subjects and particularly in history. In Year 3, for example, pupils have opportunities to complete persuasive writing after having considered the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Pupils enjoy reading, and by the end of Year 2 and Year 6 they read aloud with confidence and they are well aware of how to split up complex words in order to pronounce them correctly. Standards in writing are now better than at the time of the previous inspection. The school uses pupil premium funding wisely and effectively, to provide more computer hardware such as I-Pads and to employ more teaching assistants to work closely with pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. As a result, pupils supported by the pupil premium do better than their peers in reading. In 2013, for example, they reached over 29 points in this subject, which was much higher also than the national average for all pupils. In both writing and mathematics they were only one fifth of a point behind their peers in school, demonstrating that the gaps between their performance and the performance of others have closed significantly. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are both challenged and supported well by teachers and teaching assistants, As a consequence, they too achieve well in their studies. All parents spoken to and who responded to Parent View believe their children make good progress at the school. The quality of teaching is good The quality of teaching is good and there are examples of outstanding practice in all three key stages. However, teaching over time is not outstanding because, although pupils' progress is accelerating and is better than at the time of the previous inspection, it is good rather than excellent. Teachers and teaching assistants work well together to ensure that lessons, resources and support activities are planned in relation to the individual needs of their pupils. Pupils, including those who are disabled or who have special educational needs, receive work and activities which are matched to their abilities and to their particular learning styles. In a Year 5 history lesson, for example, in which there was a strong emphasis on developing pupils' literacy skills, pupils worked individually, discussed their ideas in pairs and groups, watched a persuasive DVD and were also required to give extended comment on the benefits of joining the army. Similarly, in a Year 6 science lesson, which was designed also to promote pupils' numeracy and literacy development, pupils were required to complete experiments on gravity and air resistance in front of the class, were encouraged to use subject terminology such as 'prediction', 'validity' and 'surface area' and also compared their results using the addition and subtraction of decimals. In Year 2, pupils used paint tools on individual laptop computers to create animation. They benefited from a colourful and stimulating environment, in which their work is displayed prominently on the classroom walls. Indeed, display across the whole school is impressive and pupils are able to use the corridors and classroom walls as an extra resource for learning. The teaching of phonics is a strength and in the Reception class teachers use a range of relevant resources to establish accurate letter formation, reading and also independence in learning. On occasions, teaching and learning methods do not always ensure that pupils can make maximum progress in their studies. For example, although the quality of pupils' writing is improving rapidly, they still do not have enough opportunities to share their ideas with their classmates prior to putting pen to paper. In addition, some calculation problems in mathematics are not linked sufficiently to real-life situations. Marking is regular, informs pupils of the standards they are reaching and gives them accurate advice on how they can improve. The behaviour and safety of pupils are good There are outstanding elements of pupils' personal development, but pupils' behaviour and safety are judged good overall because attendance is only broadly average. Nonetheless, all parents who spoke informally with inspectors, those who submitted verbal comments and those who responded to the on-line questionnaire believe that their children are safe and happy in school. As one parent commented, 'The dedication and commitment to my son has been immense; from the headteacher to teachers, office, lunchtime and cleaning staff, the school is really like a family.' Pupils behave well and sometimes outstandingly well in lessons and throughout the school site at breaks and lunchtimes. They respond well to the dignity and respect with which they are treated by the adults who work with them and are keen to learn. In addition, they get on well with their peers and enjoy the many responsibilities they have, as school councillors for example, to help the school run smoothly. Pupils in Year 6 support children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and organise some of their play activities at lunchtime. Pupils are welcoming and courteous to visitors, open doors for them and show them around the school. They are particularly pleased to show them their work in their exercise books and also displayed on the walls. They are proactive in their work for charity and raise money for children less fortunate than themselves. They say that bullying, including bullying based on prejudice, is rare and that if it occurs it is dealt with swiftly by staff. The school promotes pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively, through, for example, the thought-provoking assemblies and the well-planned personal, social and health education programme. Pupils have a keen sense of right and wrong and also benefit from visits to cultural sites such as the Octagon Theatre. Their singing in assembly is a delight to hear. Pupils enjoy the impressive display of Indian art on the corridors. However, the school recognises that links with the local and wider communities, with a view to raising aspirations and to enabling pupils to engage more with cultures and religions which are different from their own, are somewhat underdeveloped. The leadership and management are good Teaching, support and administrative staff speak with one voice about the executive headteacher and senior team. They comment, 'They lead by example, support us and challenge us, and make sure that the school continues to improve.' Indeed, senior leaders ask searching questions of themselves and others and have put in place effective strategies which have brought about improvements in pupils' progress and attainment since the previous inspection. They do not, however, rest on their laurels and are fully aware that subject leadership is underdeveloped and that some aspects of classroom practice do not ensure that pupils make maximum progress in writing and mathematics. Performance appraisal arrangements are secure. Teachers benefit from a range of in-service courses delivered within the local family of schools and also as part of the link with the sister school. Teachers also value the opportunities they have to share their skills with others and to observe their colleagues teaching, for example, when the art co-ordinator modelled lessons to staff. The curriculum meets pupils' needs well overall and is driven by the emphasis on developing their literacy and numeracy skills and also on providing them with extra-curricular activities which interest them and which raise their self-esteem. The Primary School Sports funding is being used to employ sports coaches who visit the school to improve teachers' skills in delivering physical education and games. It has also been used to purchase new sports equipment and to pay for swimming lessons for pupils in Years 4 and 5. Child protection and safeguarding policies and practice meet current requirements and the school rejects discrimination in all its forms. Pupils' good achievement both personally and academically shows that the school promotes equality of opportunity well. The local authority continues to provide good support for the school, particularly in relation to supporting teachers on how to develop pupils' skills in literacy and numeracy. Representatives also observe teaching and learning and give detailed feedback to teachers and senior leaders. The governance of the school: Governors support the school well and have a good understanding of the school's performance in all areas of its life. They hold leaders and managers at all levels to account with rigour. They are fully aware of the quality of teaching and learning and of how the school attempts to improve teachers' classroom practice. They oversee performance appraisal arrangements and ensure that teachers receive financial reward only if they meet their targets in relation to pupil progress. They analyse and evaluate on a regular basis relevant data in relation to pupils' learning and attainment. As a result, they demonstrate an accurate awareness of pupils' achievement, both personally and academically. They monitor the spending of pupil premium funding closely and ask searching questions of the leadership about the impact of this spending on the achievement of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. What inspection judgements mean \| School \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Grade \| Judgement \| Description \| School details This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 195 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bernard Pennington Headteacher Anne Smith Date of previous school inspection 19 January 2012 Telephone number 01204 571039 Fax number 01204 579424 Email address email@example.com Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance 'raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email firstname.lastname@example.org. You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection. You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email email@example.com. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to 'Subscribe'. Piccadilly Gate Store St Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: firstname.lastname@example.org W: www.ofsted.gov.uk © Crown copyright 2013
Report of the Supervisory Board Joachim Faber Chairman of the Supervisory Board Shares Services 2014 Governance Management report Financial statements Notes Responsibility Report of the Supervisory Board In the year under review, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG held in-depth discussions on the position and prospects of the company and performed its duties in accordance with the law and the Articles of Association. We regularly advised the Executive Board on the management of the company and monitored its work; we were involved in all fundamental decisions. Where required by law, the Articles of Association, or the bylaws, we adopted resolutions following thorough examination. In total, there were six regular and two extraordinary plenary meetings in 2014. In addition, two strategy workshops were held in which we discussed Deutsche Börse Group's growth strategy and the compet itive environment in detail. At our meetings, the Executive Board provided us with comprehensive and timely information – verbally and in writing – in line with the legal requirements on the course of business, the position of the company and the Group (including the risk situation, risk management and compliance), as well as on the company's strategy and planning. We discussed all transactions significant for the company in the plenary meetings and in the Supervisory Board committees, based on the reports of the Executive Board. The high frequency of both plenary and committee meetings facilitated an active exchange of information between the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board. The Executive Board also reported on individual issues in written reports and discussed individual topics with us between meetings. In addition, the Chief Executive Officer kept the Chairman of the Supervisory Board informed at all times about current developments relating to the company's business, significant transactions, upcoming decisions, as well as the long-term outlook and thoughts on emerging developments, and discussed these matters with him. The Executive Board submitted all measures requiring Supervisory Board approval in accordance with the law, the Articles of Association, or the bylaws to the Supervisory Board, and the Supervisory Board approved these measures. The Supervisory Board also assured itself that the Executive Board's actions were lawful, due and proper, and appropriate. All members of the Supervisory Board attended at least half of the Supervisory Board meetings in 2014. The members of the Supervisory Board participated in the Supervisory Board meetings and the committees as follows: Attendance of Supervisory Board members at meetings in 2014 Meetings \| Richard Berliand \| 17 \| 17 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Irmtraud Busch \| 12 \| 12 \| \| Karl-Heinz Floether \| 15 \| 15 \| \| Marion Fornoff \| 13 \| 11 \| \| Hans-Peter Gabe \| 11 \| 11 \| \| Richard M. Hayden \| 16 \| 15 \| \| Craig Heimark \| 14 \| 14 \| \| David Krell \| 12 \| 12 \| \| Monica Mächler \| 12 \| 12 \| \| Friedrich Merz \| 17 \| 17 \| \| Thomas Neiße \| 12 \| 10 \| \| Heinz-Joachim Neubürger \| 20 \| 20 \| \| Gerhard Roggemann \| 19 \| 19 \| \| Erhard Schipporeit \| 17 \| 17 \| \| Jutta Stuhlfauth \| 11 \| 11 \| \| Martin Ulrici \| 12 \| 11 \| \| Johannes Witt \| 17 \| 17 \| \| Average attendance rate \| \| \| Topics addressed in plenary meetings of the Supervisory Board In the year under review, the Executive Board provided us with comprehensive information about strategic growth options, especially in Asia. We kept a close eye on regulatory developments at national, European and global level and discussed their potential impact on Deutsche Börse Group's business model. We also debated the opportunities and risks that may arise for Deutsche Börse Group from regulatory developments. Another focus of our Supervisory Board work was to prepare for generational change on the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG: we appointed Carsten Kengeter as the designated successor to the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Börse AG, Reto Francioni. Mr Francioni will retire from the Executive Board on 31 May 2015 and will hand over the chairmanship to Mr Kengeter, effective 1 June 2015. We took these decisions by mutual agreement, and in close consultation, with Mr Francioni. Another focal point of our work was our discussion of the enhancements to Deutsche Börse Group's compliance and risk management system. The Executive Board regularly informed us about Deutsche Börse AG's share price performance, including in comparison to its competitors. Moreover, the Executive Board reported on the business perform ance, financial position and results of operations of Deutsche Börse AG, its affiliated companies and Deutsche Börse Group as a whole. Our plenary meetings focused in particular on the following issues during the reporting period: Shares Services 2014 Governance Management report Financial statements Notes Responsibility At our first regular meeting for the reporting period on 19 February 2014, we addressed in detail the preliminary results for financial year 2013 and the dividend proposed by the Executive Board for that year. We also resolved the amount of the variable remuneration of the Executive Board for financial year 2013 following in-depth discussion. We discussed the list of measures requiring Supervisory Board approval in the bylaws for the Executive Board as well as the responsibilities of the Supervisory Board committees. In addition, we resolved to establish an interim Supervisory Board committee to monitor the implementation of the measures for optimising Deutsche Börse Group's risk management and risk governance that are set out in a risk management roadmap for the period until the end of Deutsche Börse AG's Annual General Meeting in 2015. At the regular meeting on 5 March 2014, we discussed in particular the company's annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for 2013 plus the combined management report; the auditors were present for this. The 2013 annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements were approved in line with the recommendation by the Audit Committee, which had previously conducted an in-depth examination of the documents. The report of the Supervisory Board for 2013 and the agenda for the 2014 Annual General Meeting were also resolved. We decided to propose to the Annual General Meeting on 15 May 2014 that the size of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG be reduced from the present figure of 18 members to twelve, effective from the end of the current period of office. We discussed in detail the review of the appropriateness of the Executive Board's remuneration and specified the target consolidated net income for 2014 as the basis for determining the variable cash component for members of the Executive Board for financial year 2014. In addition, we addressed the status of our IT reorganisation. At the regular meeting held directly before the Annual General Meeting on 15 May 2014, we discussed the upcoming Annual General Meeting with the Executive Board. The Executive Board reported to us on the investigation by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York against Clearstream Banking S.A. in connection with alleged violations of US anti-money laundering and sanction regulations. In addition, we approved the engagement of the law firm Mayer Brown LLP, where Supervisory Board member Friedrich Merz is a senior counsel, by International Securities Exchange, LLC in the area of intellectual property rights protection. See also the section entitled "Management of individual conflicts of interest". At the regular meeting on 26 June 2014, we discussed strategic options relating to derivatives as well as clearing and settlement, the status of collateral management for clearing transactions and the status of clearing for OTC transactions as part of TARGET2-Securities (T2S). In addition, the Executive Board provided an update on the investigation by the US District Attorney's Office against Clearstream Banking S.A. At the regular meeting on 25 September 2014, the Executive Board provided us with in-depth information on the implementation status of the Risk Management Roadmap. We addressed in detail Deutsche Börse Group's regulatory strategy. In this context, we discussed the European Commission's proposal for the regulation of indices, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II / MiFIR), the European Market Infrastructure Regulation including the relevant implementing technical standards (EMIR / ESMA), the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV), as well as the financial transaction tax and the regulation of high-frequency trading. At the extraordinary meeting on 27 October 2014, we dealt exclusively with succession planning for Deutsche Börse AG's Executive Board. We appointed Carsten Kengeter as a member of the Executive Board for a three-year term effective 4 April 2015. Mr Kengeter will assume the chairmanship from Reto Francioni with effect from 1 June 2015. We resolved to terminate the contract with our long-serving Chief Executive Officer, Mr Francioni, ahead of schedule by mutual agreement effective 31 May 2015 as well as to terminate the appointment of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Andreas Preuss, by mutual consent with immediate effect and to reappoint him, also with immediate effect, for another term until 31 May 2018. At the regular meeting on 1 December 2014, we addressed Group-wide innovation strategies and discussed Deutsche Börse Group's risk management. We also discussed the political communication strategy and its implementation in 2015 with the Executive Board. Moreover, at the recommendation of the Personnel Committee we reappointed Hauke Stars as a member of the Executive Board for another five-year term. Furthermore, we discussed the results of our annual efficiency audit in accordance with section 5.6 of the German Corporate Governance Code and discussed and adopted the 2015 budget. We also resolved the declaration of conformity in accordance with section 161 of the Aktiengesetz (AktG, German Stock Corporation Act) for the reporting period. The declaration of conformity is available at www.deutsche-boerse.com / declconformity. At the extraordinary meeting on 1 December 2014, the Executive Board reported on the concept for dissolving the structure established in connection with the financing of the acquisition of International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc. in 2007. Following in-depth discussion, we adopted a resolution on this issue. Work of the committees The Supervisory Board had a total of seven committees in the year under review. The committees are primarily responsible for preparing the decisions to be taken by and topics to be discussed in the plenary meetings. Additionally, the Supervisory Board has delegated individual decision-making powers to the committees, to the extent that this is legally permissible. The individual committee chairs provided detailed reports of the work of their committees at the plenary meetings. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board chairs the Personnel Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Strategy Committee. The detailed composition and duties of the Supervisory Board committees in the year under review can be found in the Corporate governance declaration in accordance with section 289a of the Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB, German Commercial Code). The Audit Committee convened six regular meetings and held one workshop in 2014. The Personnel Committee met five times in 2014, while the Nomination Committee met three times. The Strategy Committee held two regular meetings and one extraordinary meeting in 2014. The Technology Committee met four times in 2014. The Clearing and Settlement Committee held three meetings in 2014. The interim committee established to monitor the implementation of the Risk Management Roadmap convened two meetings in 2014. In addition, the Audit Committee and the Clearing and Settlement Committee held one joint meeting, which focused on compliance with sanctions regimes. The committees dealt with the following issues in particular: Audit Committee ■ ■ Accounting: Examination, in the presence of the auditors, of the annual financial statements of Deutsche Börse AG and of the Group, of the combined management report and the audit report, as well as of the half-yearly financial report and the quarterly reports ■ ■ Auditor: Obtaining the statement of independence from the auditor, issue of the engagement letter to the auditor and preparation of the Supervisory Board's proposal to the Annual General Meeting regarding the election of the auditors. Agreement on the auditor's fee and definition of the areas of emphasis for the audit ■ ■ Internal control systems: Discussion of questions regarding risk management, compliance as well as the internal control and auditing system. The committee was informed about these topics – including the methods and systems used and their efficiency, adequacy and effectiveness – throughout the entire reporting period and discussed them in detail. ■ ■ Discussion of Deutsche Börse Group's dividend and budget ■ ■ Discussion and definition of the Audit Committee's tasks ■ ■ Preparation of the Supervisory Board's resolution on the corporate governance report and the remuneration report as well as on the corporate governance declaration in accordance with section 289a of the HGB and the declaration of conformity in accordance with section 161 of the AktG Personnel Committee ■ ■ Executive Board remuneration: Discussion of the degree to which the members of the Executive Board had achieved their targets; determination of the variable cash component for 2013; definition of the target consolidated net income for 2014 as the basis for determining the variable cash component for members of the Executive Board; adoption of the individual targets for the members of the Executive Board for 2015; discussion of the remuneration report; review of the appropriateness of the Executive Board remuneration and of their pensionable income ■ ■ Personnel matters: Process for selecting a successor to the Chief Executive Officer with external support. Preparation of a recommendation to the plenary meeting that it appoint Carsten Kengeter as a member and chairman of the Executive Board, for the termination ahead of schedule, by mutual agreement, of the appointment and contract of service of Mr Francioni, for the termination with immediate effect of the appointment of Deputy Chief Executive Officer Andreas Preuss' and his immediate reappointment as Deputy Chief Executive Officer for another term until 31 May 2018 and the reappointment of Hauke Stars as a member of the Executive Board ■ ■ Preparation of a recommendation to the plenary meeting for a reduction in the size of the Supervisory Board ■ ■ Discussion of the impact of the CRD IV Regulation on the remuneration system ■ ■ Discussion of the results of the employee survey conducted in 2013 and the resulting measures ■ ■ Approval of Andreas Preuss' re-election to the Board of Directors of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) Nomination Committee Preparation of the election by the Annual General Meeting in 2015 of the shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board with the support of an external consultant: ■ ■ Basis for selecting candidates: the qualification profile for the composition of the Supervisory Board resolved by the plenary meeting; for details see the corporate governance report ■ ■ Special emphasis on "diversity" and "Asian market experience" Strategy Committee ■ ■ Discussion of current strategic projects and growth initiatives ■ ■ Medium-term strategy planning, taking into account regulatory developments ■ ■ Discussion of the innovation strategy Technology Committee ■ ■ In-depth discussion of the implementation of the reorganisation of Deutsche Börse Group's information technology and the enhancement of its trading and post-trading systems ■ ■ Discussion of Deutsche Börse Group's IT security, IT risk management, IT sourcing strategy and cloud strategy ■ ■ Discussion of the IT budget for 2015 Clearing and Settlement Committee ■ ■ Discussion of Deutsche Börse Group's initiatives in the area of securities settlement ■ ■ Discussion of current regulatory developments ■ ■ Examination of the Global Liquidity Hub (platform for liquidity and risk management), T2S and post-trade services for OTC (over-the-counter) markets ■ ■ Discussion of developments in the OTC clearing business ■ ■ Discussion of the clearing roadmap initiative ■ ■ Examination of the implementation of and compliance with sanctions against specific states and legal persons Interim Risk Management Roadmap Committee ■ ■ Discussion of the Executive Board's report on the implementation of the measures to optimise risk management and risk governance ■ ■ Examination of Deutsche Börse Group's risk strategy and risk appetite and of the special risk profile of regulated Group companies ■ ■ Discussion of the operational risk management system and risk metrics Audit of the annual and consolidated financial statements KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (KPMG), domiciled in Berlin, audited the annual financial statements of Deutsche Börse AG and the consolidated financial statements, as well as the combined management report for the financial year ended 31 December 2014, together with the accounting system, and issued an unqualified audit opinion. The condensed financial statements and interim management report contained in the half-yearly financial report for the first six months of 2014 were reviewed by KPMG. The documents relating to the financial statements and the reports by KPMG were submitted to us for examination in a timely manner. The lead auditors, Karl Braun (CMO, member of the Board, KPMG) and Andreas Dielehner (Partner, KPMG), attended the relevant meetings of the Audit Committee and the plenary meeting of the Supervisory Board to approve the financial statements. The auditors reported on the key results of the audit, elaborated in particular on the net assets, financial position and results of operations of the company and Group, and were available to provide supplementary infor mation. The auditors also reported that no significant weaknesses in the control and risk management systems had been found, in particular with respect to the financial reporting process. The audit of compliance with all relevant statutory provisions and regulatory requirements did not give rise to any objections. KPMG provided information on other services that were rendered in addition to audit services. There were no grounds for suspecting impairment of the auditors' independence. The Audit Committee discussed the financial statement documents and the reports by KPMG in detail with the auditor and examined them carefully itself. It is satisfied that the reports meet the statutory requirements under sections 317 and 321 of the HGB in particular. The Committee reported to the Supervisory Board on its examination and recommended that it approve the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements. Shares Services 2014 Governance Notes Responsibility Report of the Supervisory Board Our own examination of the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements and the combined management report for 2014 in a plenary meeting did not lead to any objections and we concurred with the results of the audit performed by the auditor. We approved the annual financial statements prepared by the Executive Board and the consolidated financial statements at our meeting on 6 March 2015 in line with the Audit Committee's recommendation. The annual financial statements of Deutsche Börse AG has thus been adopted. The Audit Committee discussed the Executive Board's proposal for the appropriation of the unappro priated surplus in detail with the Executive Board, in particular in view of the company's liquidity and financial planning as well as taking into account shareholders' interests. Following this discussion and its own examination, the Audit Committee approved the Executive Board's proposal for the appropriation of the unappropriated surplus. After examining this ourselves, we also approved the Executive Board's proposal in the plenary meeting of the Supervisory Board. Composition of the boards In relation to the Executive Board, we resolved the following in 2014 at the recommendation of the Personnel Committee: ■ ■ We appointed Carsten Kengeter as a member of the Executive Board for a three-year term effective 4 April 2015. Mr Kengeter will assume the chairmanship from Reto Francioni with effect from 1 June 2015. ■ ■ We resolved to terminate the contract with our long-serving Chief Executive Officer, Reto Francioni, ahead of schedule by mutual agreement effective 31 May 2015. ■ ■ We resolved to terminate the appointment of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Andreas Preuss, by mutual consent with immediate effect and to reappoint him, also with immediate effect, for another term until 31 May 2018. ■ ■ We reappointed Hauke Stars for a term of five years. No changes were made to the Supervisory Board in the year 2014. Management of individual conflicts of interest On 15 May 2014, we approved the engagement of Mayer Brown LLP by International Securities Exchange, LLC to provide legal services in the area of intellectual property rights protection. Friedrich Merz, who is a senior counsel at Mayer Brown, did not take part in the discussion of the engagement nor did he take part in the vote by the Supervisory Board on this matter. The Supervisory Board would like to thank the Executive Board and all employees for their dedication and achievements in 2014. At the beginning of February 2015, we were deeply saddened by the death of our Supervisory Board colleague, Heinz-Joachim Neubürger. Mr Neubürger, who the Nomination Committee had already proposed as a candidate for the election of the new Supervisory Board, was a valuable member of the board, both as a person and in his professional capacity. We will honour his memory. Frankfurt / Main, 6 March 2015 For the Supervisory Board: Joachim Faber Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Friday, December 17, 1999 For release at 8:30 a.m. MAJOR RELEASES * Consumer Price Index, November 1999 * In November, consumers paid 2.2% more than they did in November 1998 for the goods and services contained in the Consumer Price Index basket. The main contributors to the increase were energy prices, led by gasoline, although their annual rate of growth has slowed in the last two months. Wholesale trade,October 1999 2 5 Wholesale sales rebounded in October, up 1.8%, based primarily on large gains for wholesalers of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery. Increased sales in the other products group, which includes livestock and paper products, also contributed. OTHER RELEASES MAJOR RELEASES Consumer Price Index November 1999 Percentage change in the CPI from the same month of the previous year (All-items excluding energy) In November, consumers paid 2.2% more than they did in November 1998 for the goods and services contained in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. This 12-month rate of change was lower than in September (+2.6%) and October (+2.3%), but slightly higher than in August (+2.1%). The index for energy continued to increase notably, although its annual rate of growth has slowed in the last two months. Excluding the impact of energy prices, the CPI rose 1.5% in November. Percentage change in the Consumer Price Index from the same month of the previous year Among the energy components, the biggest impact on the All-items index came from price increases for gasoline. As well, prices for natural gas and fuel oil were up considerably. Upward pressure on the CPI was also exerted by higher prices for food purchased from restaurants, air transportation and tuition fees. Partly counterbalancing those increases were decreases in the prices of computer equipment and prices for fresh fruit and vegetables. Slight drop in the monthly CPI Between October and November, the CPI dropped slightly (-0.1%), marking the ﬁrst decline since December 1998. The most important factors were lower prices for traveller accommodation, clothing and footwear, and gasoline. These decreases were offset by higher prices for automotive vehicles, as well as for fresh fruit and vegetables. The Consumer Price Index for clothing and footwear fell 1.8% from October to November. The biggest price decreases were observed in women's clothing. This month's decline is in line with those observed in the last three years. The mild fall weather was a key factor in encouraging retailers to lower prices in order to move winter inventories. The low tourist season brought lower prices for traveller accommodation for the third consecutive month. This month's drop brings a cumulative price decrease of 20.7% between July and November, in line with the decreases registered in previous years. Gasoline prices fell 1.7% in November, recording the largest drop since December 1998. The decline in gasoline prices is attributable to the decreases in the price of crude oil registered in October (-4.4%) and to intense competition among retailers. Gasoline indexes registered declines for all provinces, except for Prince Edward Island (+7.6%). The index for automotive vehicles rose 1.6% in November. Automotive vehicle price changes between the old and the new model year are introduced into the CPI each November. These variations include adjustments to reﬂect differences between the vehicle features of the two model years as well as manufacturer and dealer rebates. The November increases in the past three years have been signiﬁcantly lower than the increases noted in the nine years preceding this period. Prices for fresh fruit and vegetables rose 4.1% between October and November. Reduced supplies of local produce, resulting in a seasonal shift to higher priced imports, pushed prices up. The Consumer Price Index (not seasonally adjusted) Provincial highlights In November, 12-month changes in the All-Items indexes for the provinces ranged from a low of 1.5% for British Columbia to a high of 3.1% for Alberta. From October to November, changes in provincial CPI's ranged from a decline of 0.4% in Alberta to an increase of 0.9% in Prince Edward Island. Provincial spotlight: British Columbia and Newfoundland Over the 12-month period ending in November, the CPI for British Columbia rose 1.5% while that for Newfoundland advanced 2.2%. This compares with an annual increase of 2.2% for Canada. In British Columbia, the advance in the transportation index explains a large portion of the province's overall annual increase. Transportation prices rose 5.4%, mainly under the inﬂuence of higher gasoline prices. In British Columbia, gasoline prices rose 19.4%, while they increased 18.3% on average for Canada. Higher prices for inter-city transportation, automotive vehicles, and automotive vehicle maintenance and repair services also contributed to the advance in the transportation index. Other notable increases were recorded for natural gas prices, which were up 19.7% in British Columbia, higher than the 11.5% increase for Canada as a whole. Higher prices were also registered for food purchased from restaurants, household furnishings, other recreational services, health and personal care, and men's clothing. The overall advance in British Columbia's CPI was offset to some extent by a 1.8% drop in prices for owned accommodation. This decline contrasts with the 1.0% increase registered for Canada. The decreases for mortgage interest cost and homeowners' replacement cost played the biggest role in the decline of the owned accommodation index. Price declines were also noted for vegetables and vegetable preparations, alcoholic beverages purchased from stores, bakery and other cereal products, fruit, fruit preparations and nuts, and women's clothing. In Newfoundland, the 12-month increase of 2.2% in the All-items index was mainly the result of increases in the shelter and transportation indexes. Higher prices for fuel oil and owned accommodation were the main contributors to the 4.5% rise in the shelter index. Fuel oil prices rose 35.7% in Newfoundland, while they were up 17.4% for Canada as a whole. In the transportation component, higher prices were recorded for the operation of automotive vehicles, inter-city transportation and the purchase of automotive vehicles. Newfoundland residents also faced price increases for women's clothing, furniture and household textiles, travel services, education and reading, health and personal care, other recreational services, and non-alcoholic beverages. Offsetting part of these increases were price declines for fresh vegetables, home entertainment equipment and services, fresh or frozen beef, fresh fruit, and household equipment. Available on CANSIM: matrices 9940-9956 Available at 7 a.m. on Statistics Canada's Web site (www.statcan.ca). The November 1999 issue of the Consumer Price Index (62-001-XPB, $11/$103) is now available. See How to order publications. The December 1999 Consumer Price Index will be released on January 21, 2000. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact (613-951-9606; fax: 613-951-1539; email@example.com ), Prices Division. The Consumer Price Index and major components 1992=100 The Consumer Price Index by province, Whitehorse and Yellowknife 1992=100 Wholesale trade October 1999 (preliminary) Wholesale sales rebounded in October, up 1.8% to $30.9 billion. The advance was based primarily on large gains for wholesalers of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery along with support from wholesalers in the other products group, which includes wholesalers of livestock and paper products. Generally, wholesale sales have been rising over the past several years except for the ﬁrst half of 1998 when sales levelled off. Wholesale sales recover in October Advances in 6 of the 11 trade groups were led by wholesalers of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery (+9.7%), which rebounded from a 10.8% decrease in September. Other notable advances were registered by wholesalers of farm machinery, equipment and supplies (+8.9%) and other products (+3.9%). Wholesalers of food products posted the largest monthly decline (-1.3%). Meanwhile, wholesalers of apparel and dry goods were the only ones to post a year-over-year decrease (-1.6%). Computer sector storms back Wholesalers of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery reported October sales at a level 9.7% higher than September. At the same time, inventories increased by 2.3%. There was a lot of activity in October within the supply chain of computers and other electronic equipment. Shipments by Canadian manufacturers of electrical and electronic products were up 3.9% in October after a slight 0.1% increase in September. Canada's international trade data for October shows gains in the value of imports (+16.7%) and exports (+4.0%) of ofﬁce machines and equipment, following decreases during September. Wholesale sales of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery reach a plateau Generally, sales by wholesalers of computers, packaged software and other electronic machinery have reached a plateau the last three months. Except for a brief lapse in early 1998, sales within the computer sector have been generally rising for several years. Wholesale sales of farm machinery, equipment and supplies increase for the second month Sales within the farm machinery, equipment and supplies group rose for the second month in a row, up 8.9%. It is important to note that wholesalers within this group do not restrict their activity to the sale of farm machinery, equipment and supplies. Several of the larger wholesalers have made an effort to be less vulnerable to weakness in sales of agricultural equipment by diversifying into wholesaling of other related products such as commercial construction and forestry equipment. Following a period of generally increasing sales that began in late 1995, sales in this group peaked in the autumn of 1997 and have since been following a downward trend. October's increase in sales was accompanied by a 2.5% drop in inventories. Inventories are now almost 10% below the peak level of October 1998. They have since tended to drop. Wholesale sales of other products increased a healthy 3.9% during October, the ﬁrst increase in four months. Included in this group are livestock and agricultural chemical supplies as well as paper and paper products. Several factors aided this increase: livestock prices have reached a three-year high, prices for paper and paper products increased 1.2% and exports of fertilizers and fertilizer materials rose 19.0% in October. In recent months, sales in this trade group have generally plateaued at about $4.0 billion. A similar plateau occurred between mid-1997 and early 1998 with sales dipping between these periods. Sales by wholesalers of motor vehicles, parts and accessories rose 1.1% in October, but inventory levels remained unchanged. With eight increases in the last nine months, wholesalers in the auto sector continue their strong advance. Much of the production is destined for export. During October, the value of exports of automotive products (i.e., cars, trucks and parts) was up 2.0%. Following a period of diminishing sales from the fall of 1997 until mid-1998, sales by wholesalers of motor vehicles, parts and accessories have generally been escalating. After several months of declines, wholesalers of lumber and building materials reported increased sales in October (+1.1%). This coincides with a 6.1% increase in the value of building permits in Canada. In the United States, building permits were up 5.2% in October. Sales rose for wholesalers of lumber and building materials despite continued depressed prices for lumber in October (-6.3%). The general level of sales peaked in July and has since headed slightly downward. Among the groups with declines in sales, wholesalers of food products experienced the largest setback, down 1.3% in October. At the same time, inventories were up 0.6%. The decrease in sales was broadly based across dairy, seafood and fresh fruit and vegetable products. Prices for meat, ﬁsh and dairy products dropped 0.1% while fruit and vegetable prices dropped 0.2%. Concurrently, imports of fresh vegetables were down 13.2% in October. New Brunswick leads in the Atlantic provinces Wholesale sales in New Brunswick climbed in October, up 2.2%. There are several ongoing projects in that province that may be contributing to wholesale activity of industrial machinery and equipment. Two such projects are the gas pipeline from Sable Island toward the United States and the expansion of a section of the Trans-Canada Highway. Except for a period of declines through the second half of 1998, sales by wholesalers in New Brunswick have generally been improving for several years. New Brunswick wholesalers generally see improving sales In the West, Saskatchewan showed a strong gain (+3.4%) based on strong sales by wholesalers within the farm machinery and equipment group as well as in sales of agricultural chemical supplies by wholesalers in the other products group. After reaching a peak in early 1998, sales in Saskatchewan generally fell until late 1998 and have since increased. Inventories climb higher Across all sectors, inventories rose 0.2% in October, bringing the value of inventories held by wholesalers to $41.7 billion. Though the overall value of inventories dropped slightly during the ﬁrst quarter of 1999, wholesalers continue to accumulate inventories as in the past several years. The value of inventories is currently 2.8% higher than in October 1998. Wholesalers continue to accumulate inventory Though inventories are increasing, a relatively larger increase in sales has caused the inventories-tosales ratio to slip from 1.37 in September to 1.35 in October. The ratio has ﬂuctuated around 1.35 for the last six months, the same level seen in late 1997. Since 1997, the ratio had climbed to 1.45 by mid-1998 and has since fallen to its current level. Available on CANSIM: matrices 59, 61, 648 and 649. The October 1999 issue of Wholesale trade (63-008-XIB, $14/$140) will be available shortly. See How to order publications. For data or general information, contact the Client Services Unit (613-951-3549; 1 877 421-3067; firstname.lastname@example.org). To enquire about the concepts, methods and data quality of this release, contact Greg Parsons (613-951-0062; email@example.com), Wholesale Trade Section, Distributive Trades Division. The Daily, December 17, 1999 Wholesale merchants' sales and inventories p Preliminary ﬁgures. r Revised ﬁgures. .. Figures not available. OTHER RELEASES Travel between Canada and other countries October 1999 The number of trips between Canada and the United States fell in October compared with September. Meanwhile, the number of trips between Canada and overseas countries increased. (Unless otherwise speciﬁed, the data are seasonally adjusted.) The number of overnight trips by Canadians to the United States had ﬂuctuated between 1.2 million and 1.3 million from mid-1994 to February 1998, and has generally been rising since the low of 986,000 in August 1998. On the other hand, after a period of declines since November 1991, the number of same-day car trips by Canadians to the United States has generally been increasing since the low of 2.1 million in January 1999. Among Canada's 10 most important markets other than the United States, travellers from South Korea (+59.2%), Mexico (+32.6%) and Japan (+27.8%) made substantially more overnight trips to Canada than in October 1998. Travellers from Taiwan (-10.5%) and Hong Kong (-2.4%) recorded the largest drop in trips to Canada (unadjusted data). Canadians made 3.6 million trips to the United States in October, down 2.5% from September. This was mainly due to a 2.2% decline in their number of same-day car trips to the United States. During the same period, the number of overnight trips by Canadians to the United States remained practically unchanged at 1.2 million (+0.4%). Americans made 1.3 million overnight trips to Canada in October, down 0.4% from September, while their number of same-day car trips increased slightly over the previous month (+0.5%) to 2.3 million. This resulted in a slight decrease in their overall number of trips to Canada, down 0.2% from September to 3.7 million. In October, Canadians made 353,000 overnight trips to overseas destinations, up slightly (+0.5%) over September. Meanwhile, overseas residents stayed at least one night in Canada on 366,000 occasions, up 2.0%. The number of overnight trips by Americans reached its most recent low in March 1993, at 941,000, then ﬂuctuated around 1.1 million between mid-1994 and September 1996. Since then, the number of overnight trips has generally been rising. The number of same-day car excursions by Americans to Canada has generally been moving upward since it hit a low of 1.4 million in January 1994. After having been decreasing for more than a year, the number of overnight trips by overseas residents to Canada has generally been rising since mid-1998. The situation was reversed for Canadian travel to overseas destinations, where the number of overnight trips has generally been decreasing since the high of 373,000 in November 1998. Note: Month-to-month comparisons use seasonally adjusted data. Year-over-year comparisons use unadjusted data. Travel between Canada and other countries r Revised ﬁgures. 1 Totals exceed the sum of same-day car trips and total trips of one or more nights because they include all of the same-day trips. p Preliminary ﬁgures. 2 Estimates for the United States include counts of cars and buses, and estimated numbers for planes, trains, boats and other methods. 3 Figures for other countries exclude same-day entries by land only, via the United States. Available on CANSIM: matrices 2661-2697, 5780-6048 and 8200-8329. The October 1999 issue of International travel, advance information (66-001-PPB, $8/$73) will be available shortly. See How to order publications. For data requests, contact Pearl Bellefeuille (613-951-1674; fax: 613-951-2909; firstname.lastname@example.org). For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods and data quality of this release, contact Johanne Plante (613-951-1910; fax: 613-951-2909; email@example.com), Tourism Statistics Program. Construction Union Wage Rate Index November 1999 The Construction Union Wage Rate Index (including supplements) increased 0.3% from October to 114.8 (1992=100) in November. The composite index increased 2.3% compared with November 1998. Union wage rates are published for 16 trades in 20 metropolitan areas for both the basic rates and rates including selected supplementary payments. Indexes on a 1992=100 time base are calculated for the same metropolitan areas and are published for those where a majority of trades are covered by current collective agreements. Available on CANSIM: matrices 956, 958 and 9922-9927. The fourth quarter 1999 issue of Construction price statistics (62-007-XPB, $24/$79) will be available in March 2000. See How to order publications. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, and data quality for this release, contact Louise Chaıˆné (613-951-3350; firstname.lastname@example.org; fax: 613-951-1539) Client Services Unit, Prices Division. Selected ﬁnancial indexes November 1999 November ﬁgures are now available for selected ﬁnancial indexes including conventional mortgage rates, prime business lending rates, provincial bond yield averages and exchange rates on 1992=100 time base. Available on CANSIM: matrix 9928. These indexes will appear in the fourth quarter 1999 issue of Construction price statistics (62-007-XPB, $24/$79), which will be available in March 2000. See How to order publications. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods and data quality for this release, contact Louise Chaıˆné (613-951-3350; fax: 613-951-1539; email@example.com), Client Services Unit, Prices Division. Stocks of frozen poultry meat December 1, 1999 (preliminary) Data are now available for stocks of frozen poultry meat in cold storage on December 1, 1999. Available on CANSIM: matrices 5675-5677. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality for this release, contact Sandra Gielfeldt (613-951-2505), Livestock and Animal Products Section, Agriculture Division. Apparel industry 1998 Data from the Survey of the Apparel Industry, which was sponsored by Industry Canada, are now available. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality for this release, contact Brenda Desjardins (613-951-0034; firstname.lastname@example.org), Small Business and Special Surveys Division. PUBLICATIONS RELEASED Infomat - A weekly review, December 17, 1999 Catalogue number 11-002-XIE (Canada: $3/$109). Catalogue number 11-002-XPE Infomat - A weekly review, December 17, 1999 (Canada: $4/$145; outside Canada: US$4/US$145). All prices exclude sales tax. Catalogue numbers with an -XIB or an -XIE extension are Internet versions; those with -XMB or -XME are microﬁche; and -XPB or -XPE denote a paper version. How to order publications Simplify your data search with the Statistics Canada Catalogue (11-204-XPE, $16; outside Canada: US$16). Its keyword index will guide you to statistics on Canada's social and economic activity. Order publications by phone: Please refer to the • Title • Catalogue number • Volume number • Issue number • Your VISA or MasterCard number. In Canada and the United States call: 1-800-267-6677 From other countries call: 1-613-951-7277 1-877-287-4369 To fax your order: Address changes or account inquiries: 1-800-700-1033 To order a publication by mail write: Statistics Canada, Circulation Management, Operations and Integration Division, Ottawa, K1A 0T6. Include a cheque or money order payable to Receiver General of Canada/Publications. Canadian customers add 7% GST and applicable PST. To order by Internet: write to email@example.com or download an electronic version by accessing Statistics Canada's Web site (www.statcan.ca), under the headings Products and services, Downloadable publications. Authorized agents and bookstores also carry Statistics Canada's catalogued publications. Statistics Canada's ofﬁcial release bulletin Catalogue 11-001E. Published each working day by the Communications Division, Statistics Canada, 10-H, R.H. Coats Bldg., Tunney's Pasture, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6. To access The Daily on the Internet, visit our site at http://www.statcan.ca. To receive The Daily each morning by E-mail, send an E-mail message to firstname.lastname@example.org. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message, type "subscribe daily ﬁrstname lastname". Editor: Dan Smythe (613-951-1103, email@example.com) Head of Ofﬁcial Release: Chantal Prévost (613-951-1088), firstname.lastname@example.org Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada. © Minister of Industry, 1999. Citation in newsprint, magazine, radio, and television reporting is permitted subject to the requirement that Statistics Canada is acknowledged as the source. Any other reproduction is permitted subject to the requirement that Statistics Canada is acknowledged as the source on all copies as follows: Statistics Canada, The Daily, catalogue 11-001E, along with date and page references. RELEASE DATES: DECEMBER 20 TO 24 December 20 to 24 (Release dates are subject to change.)
RESEARCH Open Access Can diffusion tensor imaging lesion patterns predict the outcome of ischemic stroke? Mervat Mostafa 1 , Maged Abdel Naseer 1 , Ramy Edward 2 , Mohammad Edrees 1 and Dalia M. Labib 1* Abstract Background: Stroke can affect any portion of the central nervous system leading to a wide variety of symptoms depending on the part that is involved. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an emerging neuroimaging technique that allows measuring the integrity of white matter tracts. Objectives: The objective of this study is to find out if the diffusion tensor tractography technique can provide prognostic information regarding clinical outcome following ischemic stroke. Subjects and methods: Forty patients with acute ischemic stroke were studied with DTI. Size of infraction, degree of reduction of fractional anisotropy (FA), and pattern of corticospinal tract (CST) affection were identified. We assessed our patients according to the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Medical Research Council (MRC) scale at onset of stroke and 3 months later. Results: FA reduction was correlated with MRC and NIHSS on admission (P < 0.001, 0.004 respectively) and after 3 months (P < 0.001, 0.013 respectively). The pattern of CST affection was associated with NIHSS and MRC after 3 months (P = 0.035, 0.001 respectively). Conclusion: DTI may be an indirect indicator of the ischemic stroke outcome. Keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging, Tractography, Stroke, Prognosis, MRC, NIHSS Introduction Stroke is the third common cause of disability and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It can be further divided into ischemic or hemorrhagic [1]. The dysfunction can be physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or a combination of the three and it depends on the involved parts of the central nervous system (CNS) [2, 3]. size of the infarction on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) but with the emergence of MRI tractography, many authors suggested the location of infarction rather than its size to predict the prognosis following stroke [7]. Combining clinical scores with imaging the corticospinal tract (CST) integrity can improve predictions about the prognosis of motor outcome [8]. A wide variety of factors can play a major role in the outcome of ischemic stroke including age, stroke severity, stroke mechanism, infarct location, comorbid conditions, interventions such as thrombolysis, stroke unit care, and rehabilitation [4–6]. Many authors were relying on the * Correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.org Department of Neurology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt 1 Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an MRI technique for evaluating brain structure by measuring tissue water diffusion in 3-dimensional (3-D) space. Diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) visualizes the course of major white matter tracts which normally shows anisotropic diffusion in contrast to the grey matter thus DTI technique can be used to detect long patterns of orientation as well as the integrity of white matter tracts [9]. Also, it provides information about the course, the compression, displacement, or. interruption of white matter tracts in three dimensions thus it can be used to detect the prognosis following a stroke [10]. This work aimed to find out if brain imaging using diffusion tensor tractography technique can provide prognostic information regarding clinical outcome following ischemic stroke. Patients and methods Forty patients with first-ever acute or subacute ischemic stroke confirmed by conventional MRI and diffusionweighted imaging (DWI) were recruited and selected consecutively from the Neurology Department in Kasr Al-Ainy Hospital, Cairo University from May 2015 to November 2016. Patients were excluded if they had recurrent stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and contraindication to MRI assessment such as claustrophobia and/or cardiac pacemakers. All patients were treated with conservative medical therapies (no one received intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator) and had started physiotherapy within 2 weeks after the stroke. Signed informed consent documents were provided by all patients or appropriate family members. The patients were assessed twice (on admission and after 3 months) for stroke severity using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) [11] and for motor performances of the upper and lower extremities using Medical Research Council (MRC) scale [12, 13]. Stroke severity was categorized as mild (NIHSS score 1–4), moderate (NIHSS score 5–10), and severe stroke (NIHSS score ≥ 10). MRC scale of the hemiparetic side was categorized as mild (4), moderate (2–3), and severe (0–1). The clinical recovery was defined as a decrease of points in the NIHSS score and increase points of the MRC scale. The patients were considered improved if the scores of the both scales had been better categorized. Radiological examinations were conducted using a standard 1.5 Tesla whole-body MR system (Gyroscan Intera T15, Philips Medical Systems, Best, Netherlands). All patients were submitted to the MR imaging without prior preparation or anesthesia. The technique was performed using a birdcage head coil suited for MRI. The sequences obtained were axial T1W, T2W, FLAIR, DW, and diffusion tensor. T1WI: TR 450 ms, TE 15 ms, flip 69°, matrix 180 × 169, FOV 210 × 236, number of excitation: 2, slice thickness: 6.0/1.5. T2WI: TR 3619 ms, TE 100 ms, flip 90°, matrix 192 × 165, FOV 210 × 236, number of excitation: 2, slice thickness: 6.0/1.5. FLAIR: TR/TI 6000/2000 ms, TE 120 ms, matrix 208 × 192, FOV 210 × 236, number of excitation: 2, slice thickness: 6.0/1.5 diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI): a diffusion weighting factor of zero and 1000 s/mm 2 , TR 4100 ms, TE 115 ms, flip 90°, matrix 132 × 105, FOV 210 × 236, number of excitation: 1, slice thickness: 6.0/1.5 diffusion tensor: a single shot, a spin-echo planar sequence in 12 encoding directions. A diffusion weighting factor of 800 s/mm 2 , TR 8000 ms, TE 67 ms, flip 90°, matrix 112 × 110, FOV 210 × 236 mm, number of excitations: 2, slice thickness: 2.0/00. The images were transferred to the Philips extended MR workstation for postprocessing and the maps obtained were Greyscale FA maps, directionally encoded color FA maps, and 3D fiber tractography: were performed using multiROI technique based on known anatomy. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn in the unaffected portion of the white matter tracts, and the software detects the white matter tracts that passed through the ROIs. Measurements were performed at the site of infarction and the corresponding area at the contralateral hemisphere. A specific color was assigned to tracts running in the three orthogonal planes: red was for the right to left tracts, green for the anteroposterior tracts, and blue for craniocaudal tracts. We categorized the patients according to the size of infarction: small or lacunar (< 3 cm), mediumsized (3 – 8 cm), and large (> 8 cm). The FA reduction value: mild (0.4), moderate (0.2 – 0.3), and severe (0.1). The CSTs [ 14 ]: disrupted tract (if it showed a marked reduction of the anisotropy so that it could not be identified on the FA maps and could not be traced by fiber tracking algorithm), displaced tract (if it showed abnormal location or abnormal orientation, but it maintains its normal anisotropy when compared to the corresponding contralateral tract), and preserved tract (if it maintains its normal location, orientation, and anisotropy compared to the corresponding contralateral normal tract). The CSTs were considered disrupted if at least one tract was disrupted. Statistical analysis Data were coded and entered using the statistical package SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 21. Data were summarized using mean, standard deviation, median minimum, and maximum in quantitative data and using frequency (count) and relative frequency (percentage) for categorical data. Comparisons between quantitative variables were done using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Comparisons between values measured at admission and values measured after 3 months were done using the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. For comparing categorical data, chi-square (χ 2 ) test was performed. The exact test was used instead when the expected frequency is less than 5. Correlations between quantitative variables were done using the Spearman correlation coefficient. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was constructed to obtain the most sensitive and specific cutoff value of FA with a calculation of area under the curve (AUC). Logistic regression was done to detect independent predictors of improvement. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results This study included 27 males (57.5%) and 13 females (42.5%) with a mean age (± SD) of 62.75 years (±8.33). As regards the risk factors, hypertension was more common in patients (95%) followed by diabetes mellitus (DM) (70%), hyperuricemia (55%), dyslipidemia (52.5%), smoking (52.5%), ischemic heart disease (30%), and atrial fibrillation (AF) (15%). The patients underwent MRI within the first 7 days of the stroke onset and we found that 22 (55%) of our patients had small-sized infarction, 37.5% had mediumsized infarction, whereas only 7.5% presented with large infarction. Thirty-three patients (82.5%) had infarcts in the distribution of anterior circulation while 7 patients (17.5%) had infarcts in the distribution of posterior circulation. As regards the site of the lesion, 22 patients (55%) had right-sided lesion and 18 patients (45%) had left-sided lesions. Only 5 patients (12.5%) had cortical infactions while 35 patients had subcortical infarctions. On admission, clinical assessment of the patients was done using NIHSS scoring. Three patients had mild NIHSS with preserved CSTs pattern on MRI tractography. Thirtyone patients had moderate NIHSS with 35.5% of them showed disrupted tractography, 19.3% showed displaced pattern, and 45.2% showed preserved pattern. The last 6 patients were categorized as severe NIHSS with 66.7% of them showed disrupted form while the rest 33.3% showed preserved pattern. Some patients showed a decrease in the size of the CST, but it was intact throughout its extent. This was attributed to Wallerian degeneration. The mean FA values inside the area of infarction (ROI) were statistically decreased (P ˂ 0.001) in comparison to the contralateral unaffected area as their mean value was 0.26 ± 0.12 while the contralateral unaffected area, mean value was 0.5 ± 0.08. A statistically significant difference was detected between the scores of NIHSS and MRC scale on admission and after 3 months. The patients gradually regressed with treatment and physiotherapy (Table 1). The degree of reduction of FA at ROI was strongly correlated with NIHSS scale on admission (r = −0.446, P = 0.004) and after 3 months (r = −0.391, P = 0.013) (Table 2). The degree of reduction of FA at ROI was strongly correlated with MRC scale on admission (r = 0.629, P ˂ 0.001) and after 3 months(r = 0.754, P ˂ 0.001) (Table 3). CST involvement was significantly correlated with the scores of the NIHSS after 3 months (P = 0.035). The NIHSS after 3 months of patients with preserved CST were lower than those with displaced CST, and those with displaced CST were significantly lower than those with disrupted CST. Therefore, the NIHSS scores of patients with disrupted CST after 3 months were significantly higher than patients with preserved and displaced CST (Table 4). Table 1 Comparison between scores of clinical scales on admission and 3 months after stroke onset IOR interquartile range, MRC Medical Research Council, NIHSS National Institute of Health Stroke Scale SignificantPvalue Damage to the CST was significantly correlated with the degree of motor weakness measured by MRC on admission and after 3 months (P 0.002, 0.001 respectively) (Table 5). There was a statistically significant association between the pattern of CST tracts involvement and axonal damage expressed as decreased FA values (P ˂ 0.001) as patients with intact tract had normal FA values while those with interruption of the normal course of the tract showed variable degree of reduction of the FA values (Table 6). So, the greater the reduction of rFA values, the more affection of the motor tract, and on follow-up, those patients showed less significant clinical improvement with treatment and physiotherapy. ROC revealed that the rFA value of 0.3 can be used as a cutoff value to predict the prognosis of stroke patients. The sensitivity of this cutoff value was 64% with 73% specificity. The positive and negative predictive values were estimated to be 56.2% and 79.1% respectively. The AUC for the cutoff value was 0.774. Table 2 Correlation between the degree of FA reduction and NIHSS on admission and 3 months after ischemic stroke FA fractional anisotropy, NIHSS National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, ROI region of interest SignificantPvalue Table 3 Correlation between the degree of FA reduction at ROI and MRC on admission and 3 months after ischemic stroke FA fractional anisotropy, MRC Medical Research Council, ROI region of interest Significant P value There was no significant association between infarct size and the CST involvement (P = 0.105), NIHSS or MRC scales neither on admission (P = 0.717, P = 0.133 respectively) nor after 3 months (P = 0.244, P = 0.596 respectively) (Fig. 1). We used multivariate logistic regression to find the confounding factors affecting recovery. We found no independent predictors affecting recovery as all variables were not significant (P ˃ 0.05) (Table 7). Discussion The early recovery from the stroke has been attributed to the resolution of tissue edema and mass effect associated with infarction. While relative preservation of the integrity of the white matter tracts particularly, the CST plays an important role in long-term recovery and indicates a better clinical outcome [15, 16]. In our study, we use both tools of the DTI which are the quantitative one represented by measuring the FA value in both the affected and unaffected sides of ischemic stroke and the other qualitative one by evaluating the corticospinal tract involvement within the infarcts. This study revealed a statistically significant reduction in the FA values on the affected sides compared with the contralateral sides with a significant correlation between the FA value and the motor outcome of the ischemic stroke patients. Our results were in agreement with other studies [17–20]; and this reduction in the FA value in the infarction area signifies the loss of cellular integrity with irreversible cellular injury [21]. tract [22], Pierpaoli and his colleagues [23] added that axonal loss, gliosis, and an accompanying increase in the extracellular matrix have been considered to be the determinants of the decrease in diffusion anisotropy in Wallerian degeneration [24]. So, FA is more sensitive to detect Wallerian degeneration than these conventional MR imaging parameters which requires at least 4–5 weeks after the stroke to detect it using T2-weighted images or conventional MRI parameters. These explanations could find an answer about why there was a strong significant association between the pattern of CST affection and the FA reduction value indicating that the more severe affection of CST, the lower the FA reduction value (P < 0.001). In agreement with previous studies [20, 25–27], we found a strong correlation between the FA values as measured by DTI and the NIHSS on admission (P < 0.004) and after 3 months of admission (P < 0.013). Moreover, a significant association (P = 0.001) and correlation (P < 0.001) between the FA values and the degree of weakness as measured by MRC scale on admission. The previous findings indicate that the FA value is strongly linked to the clinical presentation of the stroke patients either in the acute stage or during their follow-up period. As diffusion anisotropy mirrors the fiber integrity and the degree of the fiber organization in the white matter Despite in this current study, there was no significant association between the pattern of CST involvement in DTI and the NIHSS on admission (P = 0.178), there was still an association between the pattern of CST and the NIHSS after 3 months (P = 0.035). In agreement with previous studies [28, 29], there was a strong association between the pattern of CST involvement and the degree Table 4 Correlation between CST involvement and NIHSS on admission and 3 months after ischemic stroke = 3) CST corticospinal tract, NIHSS National Institute of Health Stroke Scale Significant P value Table 5 Correlation between CST involvement and MRC on admission and 3 months after ischemic stroke CST corticospinal tract, MRC Medical Research Council Significant P value of weakness measured by MRC on admission and after 3 months ( P = 0.002) ( P = 0.001) respectively. This could be explained by the fact that CST is the main tract responsible for voluntary motor power which is the main domain measured by MRC scale. In contrast, NIHSS which measures many other domains in addition to motor function as the level of consciousness, eye movement, gaze, sensation, ataxia, and dysarthria. So, we found that the pattern of CST involvement on admission can give us a good idea about the stroke prognosis after 3 months. In our study, we found all the patients with disruption of corticospinal tracts had residual deficits on clinical follow-up, whereas the patients with displaced and preserved tracts had a near-complete neurological recovery. Our findings are in agreement with the previously reported studies [25, 30]. This indicates that fiber tractography is well-correlated with the clinical outcome of the patients which means the patients with severe white matter (WM) affection will have an unfavorable clinical outcome. Although it seems logical that larger lesions would correlate with greater deficits [31], the results in the current study join a longstanding debate regarding the relationship between infarct size and clinical outcome measures of stroke. In agreement with previous studies [4, 32, 33], we found that the size of the lesion was not significantly associated with neither the pattern of CST involvement (P = 0.105), NIHSS on admission (P = 0.7), NIHSS after 3 months (P = 0.244), MRC on admission (P = 0.133) nor the MRC after 3 months (P = 0.596). In agreement with the previous study of [34] where the size of the infarction is not stated, the main Table 6 Association between the pattern of CST affection and the FA at ROI CST corticospinal tract, FA fractional anisotropy, ROI region of interest Significant P value influential factor of the clinical picture and infarction site and the degree of disruption of nerve fibers tracts may have roles. Whereas subcortical strokes are normally smaller than cortical strokes, the patients with subcortical infarcts have worse motor outcomes than those with cortical strokes. These findings may be explained by the extent of damage specifically within the CST which is a major determinant of motor deficit and not the size of the lesion. Table 7 Multivariate linear regression model against clinical improvement AF atrial fibrillation, DM diabetes mellitus, ECG electrocardiogram, ECHO echocardiography, HTN hypertension, IHD ischemic heart disease, Lt left, Rt right The advantage of DTI lies in the fact that it gives direct and superior visualization of the involved white matter tracts in vivo, which is currently not possible by conventional imaging and DWI and it is technically feasible to incorporate such a DTI sequence into the routine imaging protocol for stroke patients. Conclusion As relative preservation of CST results in subsequent good clinical recovery, so we concluded that DTI can be used as an indirect indicator for the ischemic stroke outcome. Abbreviations AUC: Area under the curve; CNS: Central nervous system; ROC: Receiver operating characteristic; CST: Corticospinal tract; DTI: Diffusion tensor imaging; DTT: Diffusion tensor tractography; DWI: Diffusion-weighted imaging; FA: Fractional anisotropy; IFOF: Inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; MRC: Medical Research Council; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; NIHSS: National Institute of Health Stroke Scale; ROI: Regions of interest; SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Science; WM: White matter Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the subjects for their participation and cooperation in this study. Informed consent An informed written consent was taken from each patient involved in this study prior to the conduct of any study-related activities. All data obtained from every patient were confidential and were not used outside the study. The patients have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without giving any reason. Authors' contributions MM and MAN contributed to the research idea, data acquisition, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript review. DML contributed to research idea, data acquisition, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript writing and review. RE contributed to the interpretation of radiological data. ME contributed to data acquisition, data analysis, and interpretation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the current Cairo University regulations and Egyptian legislation but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and after institutional approval. Ethics approval and consent to participate All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. Our study was approved by the ethical committee of the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, on the 4th of May 2015, but Cairo University does not provide approval reference number. Consent for publication Not applicable Competing interests None of the authors has any conflict of interest. Author details 1 Department of Neurology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. 2Department of Radio-diagnosis, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. 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pharmacy (n.) late 14c., "a medicine," from Old French farmacie "a purgative" (13c.), from Medieval Latin pharmacia, from Greek pharmakeia "use of drugs, medicines, potions, or spells; poisoning, witchcraft; remedy, cure," from pharmakeus (fem. pharmakis) "preparer of drugs, poisoner, sorcerer" from pharmakon "drug, poison, philter, charm, spell, enchantment." Meaning "use or administration of drugs" is attested from c. 1400; that of "place where drugs are prepared and dispensed" is first recorded 1833 The words "pharmacy" and "pharmaceutical" are derived from the Greek word, pharmakeia (Strong's G5331). This word is found in the Bible in the following passages of scripture. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery (pharmakeia), enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 and the light of a lamp will not shine in you (the great city Babylon) any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations (ethnos) were deceived by your sorcery (pharmakeia). Revelation 18:23 Other versions read: - By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. (NIV) - and all the nations were deceived by your witchcraft. (ISV) - for all nations have been deceived by thy enchantments. (Douay-Rheims Bible) - because all the nations were deceived by your magic spells! (NET Bible) - because in your spell inducing drugs all the races were led astray. (Heritage Bible [* presently unable to provide further documentation of this resource]) Ceutical is a suffix meaning refined healing item or therapy Nearly everyone is being influenced by this sorcery. Even if you aren't taking prescription medication, over-the-counter or other drugs, you still ingest food and drink, bathe, shower or breathe air, so you too are influenced by this sorcery. Drug spells are not always the direct result of someone intentionally practicing witchcraft, who casts a spell with a potion. While this certainly does happen, spells are inherent in the action of many drugs and even "natural" preparations. Many, and probably most, come with a literal curse attached and/or are specifically designed to invite one. The Industry - Another Level of Deceit My former father-in-law enjoyed a career as a very successful pharmaceutical sales rep. His clients were doctors of many kinds, and I understand the dynamic of their relationships, the motives and influences. Here's some news reports and testimonies offered by professionals in the business. Shocking Report from Medical Insiders (June 18, 2015) "To state the point in other words, Horton states bluntly that major pharmaceutical companies falsify or manipulate tests on the health, safety and effectiveness of their various drugs by taking samples too small to be statistically meaningful or hiring test labs or scientists where the lab or scientist has blatant conflicts of interest such as pleasing the drug company to get further grants. At least half of all such tests are worthless or worse he claims. As the drugs have a major effect on the health of millions of consumers, the manipulation amounts to criminal dereliction and malfeasance." (Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-chief of The Lancet, the world's most respected medical journal.) Gwen Olsen, a fifteen-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry says that the pharmaceutical companies are not in the business of health and healing but instead the business of disease maintenance and symptom management. See The Mission - Gwen Olsen - the Rx Reformer. Jim Stone: Why Vaccine Industry Suppressed "Vaxxed" (4/10/16) Former Big Pharma Exec of 35 yrs Blows Whistle on Corruption - Dr. John Rengen Virapen, former Eli Lilly & Co executive Merck's Former Doctor (Dr. Dalbergue) Predicts that Gardasil will Become the Greatest Medical Scandal of All Time MMR Vaccines for US Market: Merck senior management tried to pay off its own vaccine scientists to remain silent about scientific fraud (2/7/15) CDC scientists held meeting to destroy autism-vaccine documents, reveals CDC whistleblower (12/3/15) Government Wipes Recent Vaccine Injury Data from Website (5/31/15) How Vaccine Hysteria Could Spark Totalitarian Nightmare (2/4/15) America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other Disturbing Behavior (Dr. Mercola) The Forgotten History of Vaccinations You Need to Be Aware Of Big Pharma - many excellent links. Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in United States(5/3/16) How Many Die From Medical Mistakes In U.S. Hospitals? (9/20/13) First Do No Harm (1997 - Meryl Streep, Fred Ward) - a very moving true story! The entire medical system seems to be designed around profit. There is the economic kind of profiting, and beyond that there is a profiting through the advancement of darker agendas. What is the impact on you, personally, and on those around you? As a saint, what can or should you do about this situation in this critical hour at the closing of this age? Perhaps what you read here will help you understand the situation better and gain a higher level of freedom from pharmakeia's deceitful influence. To make sense of why Bible versions translate the word we associate with drugs into words like "sorceries" and "witchcraft" you have to see it as one of Satan's schemes. It helps, too, to know where pharmakeia came from, and how and why it works. so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11 The Pharmakeia Strategy Pharmakeia is one among many schemes (Greek - "noema") or strategies of Satan. It absolutely does, in the language of 2 Corinthians, take advantage of us! This scheme or strategy prepares us for Satan's approaching crux move involving the Beast and the mark of the Beast. To trick people into receiving the mark of the Beast is the ultimate "taking advantage of," is it not? Pharmakeia is singularly credited in Revelation 18 as the means by which all the ethnos/races are deceived. Pharmakeia thus provides the cover for all his dark strategies, but the effectual work of this evil is also very direct! It's no big secret that some drugs are used to facilitate satanic spells and demonic activity. While it's not popularly known, the still widely recognized witch's broomstick was used as an drug applicator. ( What's the deal with witches and broomsticks? / An interview of (Rev.) Hazel L'Aura G / Joy Juice and Witches ) While the delivery systems are usually more sophisticated now, the effects produced today by the whole of pharmakeia are, if we take Revelation 18 seriously, quite effectual. What I recently came to realize is that the ultimate goal of all pharmakeia, whether "legal" or "illegal," is one solitary end, which is to facilitate the union of the sons of god with the daughters of men! Because the procreative scheme is thus the foundation for understanding the role of pharmakeia, I'm offering, here, a synopsis of what I wrote recently in the series, Who is Cain's Father?. From the garden of Eden onward, the serpent has been bent on bringing forth offspring in his own image. This first manifested in the conception and birth of Cain, the union of the serpent and Eve. The effectiveness of this campaign is evident in that the great flood of Noah's day was expressly brought forth to purge the earth of the serpent-kind. Despite that setback, the serpent has persisted in this work and will soon be granted a major success in the milestone mark of the Beast. This mark will transform the offspring made in the image of the Creator and Most High God into the serpent's own image. The pharmaceutical strategy supports this epic scheme. It does so by providing cover for Satan's other schemes, and also, by direct action, plying our bodies, minds and emotions, our very souls. The Watcher/Nephilim Connection Have you been under the impression that man gradually learned about drugs strictly through the trial and error of multiplied centuries of effort? That would be a false impression. Mankind actually learned from those described in the Bible as " the sons of god " (Genesis 6) and " angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode ." (Jude 1:6) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:4 In the book of Enoch (referenced in Jude 1:14), we find an expanded testimony about these beings called Watchers, learning of their activity and their Nephilim "large giant" spawn. 1) And they took wives for themselves and everyone chose for himself one each. And they began to go into them and were promiscuous with them. And they taught them charms and spells, and they showed them the cutting of roots and trees. 2) And they became pregnant and bore large giants. And their height was three thousand cubits. 3) These devoured all the toil of men; until men were unable to sustain them. 4) And the giants turned against them in order to devour men. 5) And they began to sin against birds, and against animals, and against reptiles, and against fish, and they devoured one another's flesh, and drank the blood from it. 6) Then the Earth complained about the lawless ones. Enoch Chapter 7 1) And Azazel taught men to make swords, and daggers, and shields, and breastplates. And he showed them the things after these, and the art of making them; bracelets, and ornaments, and the art of making up the eyes, and of beautifying the eyelids, and the most precious stones, and all kinds of coloured dyes. And the world was changed. 2) And there was great impiety, and much fornication, and they went astray, and all their ways became corrupt. 3) Amezarak taught all those who cast spells and cut roots , Armaros the release of spells, and Baraqiel astrologers, and Kokabiel portents, and Tamiel taught astrology, and Asradel taught the path of the Moon. 4) And at the destruction of men they cried out; and their voices reached Heaven. Enoch Chapter 8 As very likely more properly rendered in the popular translation by H. R. Charles, verse 3a reads: "Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings." As it was, so it is and will be. The Lord Y'shua declared, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." (Matthew 24:37) This same condition responsible for the great flood of Noah's day, which is the genetic mixture of the sons of god and daughters of men, is appointed for the last days - our day! This is the condition represented in Daniel chapter 2 in the mixture of iron and clay composing the feet of the statue. The statue is a prophetic device that pictures a time line through the succession of earthly kingdoms from head down, from ancient Babylon forward in time to Mystery Babylon and the reign of the Beast. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. Daniel 2:43 The Watchers who had taken the daughters of men as wives mingled themselves with the seed of men through their procreative union. The mingled, or hybrid, offspring are referred to as giants, Nephilim. The ultimate goal of the fallen angels' "knowledge download" and practice has not changed! Satan's pharmakeia strategy is to facilitate the bringing forth of offspring. The fallen Semjaza taught all those who cast spells and cut roots, which is pharmakeia. The iron/sons-of-god are leveraging Satan's strategies, including pharmakeia, to mingle themselves with the clay/seed-of-men. What clued me in to the primary goal of the pharmakeia strategy was the realization that most of the schemes serve Satan's grand procreative scheme. When the Lord began to grant me surprising insight into the modern "graven images" as one of Satan's schemes (See The Open Scroll Blog from the end of October, 2009 forward), it became apparent that this procreative scheme is and has ever been the underlying theme of graven images. It dawned on me (Thank you Lord!) that the procreative scheme was at the root of these other schemes, even pharmakeia! The pharmakeia "card was played" in the garden, according to some historical accounts of how the serpent seduced Eve. The pharmakeia "card was played" as the Watcher Semjaza taught all those who cast spells and cut roots, which I'll elaborate upon shortly. It was played again after the flood when Noah was taken advantage of while drunk, with Ham seizing the opportunity to procreate with Noah's wife and bring forth the cursed father of the giant Canaanites. It's being played still today. Have you ever heard of "date rape" drugs? This is nothing new! Revelation 18:23 testifies to this same card being played today to the same end, naming pharmakeia as the agency of deception - WITH the use of the word "ethnos" when describing the scope of the deception. Take this as a clue. To see the connection between today's pharmaceuticals and Satan's ancient agents we have only to recognize the symbol used to identify prescription medication and the merchants who sell it. The Rx Connection Pharmakeia has a symbol associated with it, a stylized "Rx" that signals "prescription" to most people today. This may surprise you, but the Rx symbol is actually the Eye of Horus, identifying mark of Horus-Jupiter-Zeus! This compares to another familiar version - the glowing capstone of the pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill. Search it out to verify for yourself this important fact. Here's one example of what you'll find: The Eye of Horus. If you're savvy about symbols (following The Open Scroll Blog yet?), you know the Rx as the Eye of Horus links pharmaceutical drugs to the Beast and mark of the Beast ploy. There is nothing ambiguous about this connection because anything identified with such a mark means what all similar symbols mean. The Rx symbol and the spell inducing drug scheme it represents exist to facilitate the mark of the beast. This symbol is ubiquitous in the health care environment, as is the Rod of Asclepius that links the medical practice to the Greek god known by that name or alias. The health care environment has been and continues to be signaled by the elite agencies as the primary sector in which the mark will be introduced. (Search my blog for such as NCR.com marketing scenes, the ObamaCare bill, PositiveId, Osirix, etc.) From the early enchantments and cutting of roots taught by the fallen Semjaza forward through time to the pharmakeia referenced in Revelation 18 you can track the Rx symbol and the trade it represents. The Rx symbol has another interpretation that provides an interesting perspective. "Rx is an abbreviation for the Latin word 'recipere' or 'recipe,' which means 'Take, thou.'" (What does the pharmacist's symbol "Rx" mean?) This is an expression of a command to receive the drug/spell being offered. The interpretation of Rx as 'recipere' acknowledges the symbol as an inducement to receive the pharmakeia. This compares to the inducement inherent in the name "PositiveId," the implantable microchip family of companies recently renamed from Verichip. "PositiveId" can be understood as equivalent to, "accept (acceptance-Positive) the mark (Id)" of the Beast. These two inducements, "take, thou" and "accept the mark," have already teamed up, with the implantable microchip functioning as a Rx delivery system and as a means of linking the chipped person with their medical records, including their Rx! Here's a quote from a source where the author rejected the 'recipere' interpretation in favor of the Rx symbol as a reference to Jupiter. (Jupiter is an alias for the Beast and the dragon who gives him his power, comparing to Horus, Zeus or Apollo.) "Rx is not, as is frequently supposed, an abbreviation of a Latin word meaning recipe or compound, but is an invocation to Jupiter, a prayer for his aid to make the treatment effective...sometimes in old medical manuscripts all the R's occurring in the text were crossed." (Devils, Drugs, and Doctors (1931)) The author makes a good point based upon the observation that 'R's were crossed in the old medical manuscripts. It seems obvious to me that the Rx symbol is an invocation to Jupiter, seeing how it was a Watcher who taught men about spells and the cutting of roots. Such an invocation of aid from Jupiter is the invitation for a curse, biblically and truthfully. It may well be said that the familiar Rx symbol is an accursed graven image. Here's a popular translation of the traditional Hippocratic Oath, which was written in Greek. Note, Horus is Apollo, son of Zeus, aka Jupiter. "I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement: To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art; and that by my teaching, I will impart a knowledge of this art to my own sons, and to my teacher's sons, and to disciples bound by an indenture and oath according to the medical laws, and no others. I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts. I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art. In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or men, be they free or slaves. All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal. If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all humanity and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my life." This is what the profession is rooted in, even if the version that a participant has sworn left out the names of the gods it is still pagan idolatry. How do we know? One way is to see that by constraining members to swear an oath those responsible for the medical profession engage in a practice that is fundamentally wrong. 33 "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil. Matthew 5:33-37 12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment. James 5:12 How Pharmakeia Works: Detuning for a biological realignment towards genetic reassignment Towards the goal of facilitating the union of the sons of god with the daughters of men, pharmakeia plies our bodies and minds, acting to conform us to the image of the serpent. Drugs induce changes in our body chemistry. These effect our body's function, metabolic processes. They influence how we feel, think and act, our personality, responses and reactions. These changes may be temporary but may also last a very long time. Some cause our DNA to be rewritten, which changes us quite tangibly into a different "us." Because the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and our blood is subject to pharmakeia's effects, there is a direct impact on our souls! The influence is also supernatural, with the very real effect of opening a door or gateway, a dimensional portal through which demons may pass. Our thoughts and actions are then given over to their control. These entities are referred to as familiar spirits. The supernatural activity of angels and demons is the effectual power, which do work through natural agencies. Pharmakeia can hinder people from receiving the holy spirit, or can isolate those who have it from the Lord and deny them what benefit would otherwise be enjoyed. Technically, I believe effectual chemical agents configure biological structures so they resonate with certain vibrational frequencies. These tune us, literally, to match established frequencies or their harmonics. A resonant link is established like that between a singer and a crystal glass when the singer can hold a note and break the glass. The principle can be noted in relevant passages of scripture. Consider the following verses and how voices produce audio signals. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. Joshua 6:20 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 2 Thessalonians 4:16 There is a link between the natural and supernatural that involves wavelengths and frequencies. The understanding of chemistry involves knowledge of the three (or higher?) dimensional molecular structures and the nature of the bonds. I believe pharmakeia is the knowing manipulation of these structures and bonds by drugs and spells, effectively retuning the targeted resonating structures from those of the inherited Yahweh/Adamic to the fallen serpent / Watcher / Nephilim. Think of this like an antichrist detuning mechanism that works to reset our biology from Messiah-like to antiMessiah-like. For more insight, see the blog series Threshold - The CBS sci-fi series from 2005 and watch this sci-fi series, considering the alien signal that invokes the transformation - and how blessed we are that the Lord would expose the enemy's hand in this hour. The fact that this kind of transformation occurs is documented in the Bible. Genesis 10:8 reveals that Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth. The Hebrew for "began to be a mighty one" is "chalal gibbowr" which, when you search out the usage of these two words, makes it very apparent what is meant. He was detuned, if you will, from the image of Yahweh to Lucifer, or, in a figure, broken off from the Yahweh/Adam tree and grafted into the serpent tree. This is the intent of pharmakeia, to ungraft and regraft, to facilitate a genetic reassignment that will come through the addition of a third strand of DNA. Pharmakeia prepares an individual for the mark of the beast on an emotional level, causing an affinity for the serpent and the serpent-kind and a desire for union with the serpent as an aphrodisiac. It facilitates the supernatural opening of what is referred to as the third eye or sixth chakra enlightenment channel. It prepares an individual physically by making them a fit container, a welcoming abode for the entities who were bound during the great flood and that still await their release. An individual so detuned is a willing and even eager receptacle, a canning jar ready to be filled, a receiver slave. How Pharmakeia Works: Deceit, delusion, smoke and mirrors As stated earlier, pharmakeia provides cover for Satan's strategies, according to Revelation 18:23, "... because all the nations (ethnos) were deceived by your sorcery (pharmakeia)." A key passage on this topic is found in 2 Thessalonians. 8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9) that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10) and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11) For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will 12) in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 I often refer to the deception wrought as the antichrist delusion. The deluding influence God sends can, to a large degree, be equated to the great city Babylon's pharmakeia. The sovereign God has ordained that it should be as so presented, to accomplish His purposes of judgment. Don't fret about it - this is a good thing because ultimately judgment has two sides, including reward! Certainly, we have had and are even now receiving sufficient warning. The deception of wickedness for those who perish isn't explicitly defined in the passage, but it really doesn't need to be. The subject is addressed throughout the scriptures. The activity of Satan underwrites the procreative scheme with myriad strategies. Pharmakeia provides the cover for these with powerful synergy as it works its magical biological realignment towards genetic reassignment. It is the ultimate facilitation tool. The drug spells are unlocking doors and providing control levers and bases of control. Pharmakeia lowers the natural resistance to the foreign ideas and images Satan introduces so influentially. What I mean by "natural resistance" is something imprinted into the nature of created beings that establishes a basis for discernment and accountability. 18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19) because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 Drug Spells and Satan's Myriad Schemes What are some of Satan's myriad schemes that are underwritten by pharmakeia? The most obvious of Satan's schemes is the simple lie, a contradiction of the truth of the word of God. For example, the serpent told Eve while in the garden of Eden, "Ye shall not surely die," but the Lord God had said, "thou shalt surely die." As with that lie, the ultimate goal of these lies is seduction. The lies come through the speech and song lyrics of deceived and deceiving people in every context, or through the written word. Sometimes what comes to the conscious mind aren't actual words but rather pictures of familiar and recognizable things. Pharmakeia provides a smokescreen, an environment like "smoke and mirrors" that causes mental confusion and the inability to discern truth, making it difficult or even impossible to recognize and subsequently filter out lies. The spell inducing drugs thus provide something akin to lubrication for the insertion so the lies slide right on in. Lies often come in the form of words that are perceived by the conscious mind but that's merely the most obvious way. When the "front door" is locked, that doesn't mean the devil can't get in to your "house." There are many ways; back doors, side doors, windows, through the doggie door or down the chimney! The serpent is subtle. You might think these things we see and hear consciously have the most influence, but the more I learn the more I think otherwise. Musical Enchantment "Sex, drugs and rock and roll" or "Wine, women and song" - how many people have been taken advantage of through the millennia by such a combination as these? Music can have a powerful influence, for good or for evil. The Bible testifies that David, son of Jesse, was a skillful musician and that the Lord was with him. So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him. 1 Samuel 16:23 If inspired music can drive an evil spirit from a man, can music inspired from another source have the opposite effect? Certainly! The key testimony from the book of Enoch ("Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings" - Enoch 8:3a) that documents how pharmakeia was learned from the Watchers is also understood to relate to music. The following excerpt references the work of the noted British cuneiform scholar Oliver Robert Gurney (1911 - 2001). "Enchantment: Gurney describes the Hittite worship and shows that the rituals were almost identical to the Canaanite and Hebrew worship. One of the features of 'sympathetic' magic among the Hittites was the "Old Woman" or "wise woman" which may mean "midwife." Other scholars note that early musicians acted as midwives between a worshipper and their god. Gurney notes that "thirteen such women are known, but they function as sorceresses in countless rituals." Of the sorceresses who performed magic through the incantation of what we would call a poem or song, the "author" are 3 midwives, 1 doctor, 1 prostitute, and 2 temple singers." (Enoch Book 1: Watchers) What does a midwife do but facilitate the delivery of offspring? As more than a hint, you see, the enchantments and root cutting as pharmakeia and music operate together to facilitate the procreative agenda of the ages, to bring forth the offspring of the union of the sons of god and the daughters of men, a race bearing the image of the serpent. Wine, women and song! Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll! Seeing this combination in the context of the mark of the Beast may seem novel to you but such as that has been the goal for a very long time. Subliminal - below the threshold of consciousness Most likely, you've heard of subliminal messages. It's also likely you've heard subliminal messages aren't effective. I'm sure you've heard there's no such thing as Satan, too. I hope you didn't fall for either one! If you check modern dictionaries, you'll find definitions like the following because subliminals are legitimate. Subliminal: "existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the behavior of the individual: a subliminal stimulus; subliminal advertising." (Dictionary.com Unabridged - Based on the Random House Dictionary) When words and images are presented below the threshold of our consciousness there is, by definition, no awareness of the stimulus and thus no opportunity to consciously control our response. Reason is removed from the equation. This situation is taken advantage of in many ways. Regarding visual imagery, words like "sex" and "death" may be found subtly imprinted in paintings, ads, commercials and magazine covers, and also pictures of skulls, violent crime, male and female genitalia, and people engaging in sexual activity. For some examples, see this video: Subliminal persuasion through media, music and HAARP (Programming The Nation trailer). Such as this would not be accepted if it were obvious to our conscious minds. When presented with sufficient subtilty, however, most people are influenced and the intentionally solicited reaction is produced. Regarding audible imagery, words and sounds are sometimes presented with similar subtilty, heard and received without being consciously perceived. Walmart was accused of subliminal programming not long ago. They played messages through the store's loudspeakers encouraging shoppers not to steal. In 2003, the words, "I hate you" were heard by Blanche Skelton coming from an item purchased from Walmart that had been hung on her baby's crib. This repeating mantra was concealed within the sounds of ocean waves from the aquarium toy that was intended to lull the baby to sleep. There are risks involved when someone undertakes to present subliminal messaging. If the subliminal artifact is discovered and exposed, depending on the nature of or result of what has been done, there may be some negative impact on the transgressors's reputation. Watch this video to see CNN flashing a subliminal ad for a pharmaceutical. The popularity of subliminals reveals how their use is popularly deemed a worthwhile risk. The perception is that the benefits are substantial, and the evidence validates that perception. Symbols and the Second Commandment Beyond the presentation of literal words and recognizable images there are symbols. These can be presented in such a way that whether or not we're consciously aware of their presence, it makes little difference; they influence our thoughts, feelings and behavior. These work even when we can't consciously interpret their meaning. Symbols can be gestures, shapes, colors, sounds or quantities or numberings of things, and combinations and alignments of component elements. Symbols have been leveraged for the exercise of control over people for a very long time. They are continually used to great effect. What I've learned about such things in the last few years has changed the way I perceive the world around me in a big way. As I've shared what I've learned with others I've heard the amazing testimony of others whose eyes have also been opened. The messaging and influence of such spells comes through incredibly diverse media. Our culture is saturated with symbols whose bottom line is to prepare us for joining with Satan through the mark of the Beast. If you doubt that statement is true, you probably haven't considered the Beijing Olympics closing ceremonies or followed The Open Scroll Blog. "The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol." Carl Jung (1875 - 1961) - father of analytical psychology " To cast a spell is to project energy through a symbol. " "The Spiral Dance" - a popular manual for witchcraft by Starhawk "A symbol can act in two ways. First, it can be used to focus and project your energy through it. Second, a symbol can function as a magnifier and transmitter of energy, even if you are not focusing attention on the symbol. Symbols do have a life force of their own. They are mini- transmitting stations for subtle energies that are infused in our reality. Each symbol interacts with your energy field, constantly generating a force field that strengthens you. " "Sacred Space" - a popular Wiccan magic book by Denise Linn "Signs and symbols control the world, not phases and laws." Confucius (551-479 BC) You might wonder why, if this is really so, the Bible doesn't warn about such a threat to our freedom. It does, but we've been lied to about it so the deceivers (for example, the institution of the Roman Catholic church; an extension of the throne of Babylon) could leverage this powerful mechanism, this strategy of Satan. This threat is actually addressed be the second commandment of the famous and famously ignored ten. 4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6) And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:4-6 There is the warning. Such an image might be as obvious as a statue of a golden calf, or as subtle as a missing or misplaced dot in a corporate logo. There are two parts to this commandment. The first involves the making of such a likeness. The second involves the worship of such an image. If an image is made that represents or attempts to represent what is described (which are found in other contexts as generally relating to the created beings called angels), it is contrary to His command and, as acts of disobedience, will reap consequences. A shrine for the worship of "Mary," a St. Christopher medal, or perhaps a simple cross or dove; if a thing is assigned a spiritual meaning or elevated in importance it is such an idol. Any "good luck" charm is still a charm, meaning, witchcraft is involved. Unless the making of the form of some thing in the physical world that is intended to represent something else symbolically is explicitly directed by the most High God (as in the building of the tabernacle) it will absolutely serve to bring a curse. I see no option here. Reversed Speech - Speech Inversion There's another kind of operative activity that compares somewhat to visual symbols but is auditory in nature, and still quite controversial at the present time. It's popularly referred to as Reverse Speech TM , which is now a trademark owned by David John Oates of reversespeech.com. It differs from symbols in that symbols can be consciously recognized and interpreted but this other activity is only ever imperceptible to the conscious mind, directly. At least this is the case in my experience and in the experience of others like myself. While this is not directly perceptible to the conscious mind, we know about it because we have the means to record speech, invert the audio signal and play it back, which exposes the phenomenon. I reason that the fact of the existance of this phenomenon suggests that, given the requisite generating and transmitting mechanisms, some provision has been made for receiving and rendering the messaging in real time. As to what influence this has upon our thoughts, feelings and behavior in our condition at the present time, well, I could only speculate, but perhaps this functions in some way that compares to how the symbolic visual imagery functions. You can learn about symbols and speech inversion from pages on TheOpenScroll.com like "Speech Inversion - Spilling the Beans" and from the examples I've posted to my YouTube channel, alias 17Stormy17. The content of speech inversion involves both recognizable words and unrecognizable. Most of it sounds rather murky at best, and much of it often sounds like gibberish, even when listening over and over for something recognizable. Yet, something is being said, sometimes with words foreign to "known" languages. Whether words like nairf, schneerch, niersch and marf are of the tongue of angels or perhaps "lost" languages of men, I can't say. I can tell you that I've personally listened for hundreds of hours to reversed speech and that I believe this has been at the Lord's direction. I am convinced that this content compares with regular forward speech in many ways. Reversals expose the fact that there is a spiritual realm and that people function as hosts and mouthpieces for beings from another dimension. There is content broadcasted on this channel that is what I call soul chatter, describing what's on a speaker's mind. There is also that which can only be identified as coming from somewhere else, from holy or unholy spirit. Since demons do broadcast on this channel there is vast potential for influence upon the minds of the speakers and hearers as a strategy of Satan. Inverted speech is not of itself an evil scheme of Satan. The holy spirit is a "content producer" on the reverse channel and there is also benign soul chatter. Likewise, neither are music and symbolism of themselves inherently evil. It's when devils operate that an evil scheme is in play, like when a "graven image" symbol has been made contrary to the second commandment. The nature of what is produced is in accordance with its source. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23 18) "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19) "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. Matthew 15:18-19 14) After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15) there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16) ["If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."] Mark 7:14-16 If we tend to our hearts as the Lord has commanded, what we say and do is going to be the blessed fruit of obedience and love. Otherwise, what's brought forth will be evil, whether music, symbols, speech reversals, or whatever else. It matters not whether you or I or anyone else involved consciously intends to participate in one of Satan's schemes, what matters is the fact of participation. Satan's schemes constantly work to detune our biological structures and get us resonating on his frequencies. You and I have been influenced by all his schemes, by some, even while yet in the womb! We are constantly being influentially manipulated by drug spells and other kinds of spells, subliminally discipled for antichrist, and there are precious few among us that escape that snare. Many think they will, and ARE ALREADY DECEIVED! The procreative transformation of the mark of the Beast is coming, and, let me be very forthright about this: Unless you are watchful and are very attentive to constantly seek diligently to obey the Lord Y'shua in all things, you will be deceived and your end will be cause for regret. If you don't submit to God and resist the devil you will surely dance to the beat of Satan's music. The flood of demonic influence saturating our environment massages us in every way possible to encourage the union of the sons of god with the daughters of men, conforming us to Satan's image in the most cunning, subtle and deceitful ways. Yet, a defense against the attack of the enemy has been provided, and such a defense as the Lord Y'shua provides is essential to the one who is to be found awake and watching when He comes for His Bride! Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 Here are more schemes you may have heard about that work in subtle ways. Of course, brainwashing comes to mind straightaway as a general descriptive. What is sometimes labeled propaganda works to program and condition our thinking with determined terminology and linguistic structures. Hypnotic suggestions are planted in various ways, some with great effect. These may or may not be done under the recognizable banners of witchcraft as magical spells and incantations. What is known today as NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) is in the category of mind and behavior control. Such books as "Awaken the Giant Within" (Right. Think about it.) by Anthony Robbins, and, "Get the Life You Want" by Richard Bandler, are related examples. Attempting to use techniques on one's self to shortcut the learned discipline of self-control at the Lord's direction yields bad results, and when such techniques are "applied" to control others it's, of course, never good. Attempts to control others by manipulation may be done targeting a single individual or with the goal of controlling entire populations. Search online for such as subliminal persuasion, conversational hypnosis, creative visualization. Compare, too, what is at the core of all this to what you recognize as popular religious practice. Hmmmmm. If you have never considered such the Manchurian Candidate as a potential reality, you haven't paid attention to events in recent years that really have no other explanation than that or something similar. Watch this BBC News clip of the "unexplainable" behavior of a pair of Swedish twins, then give what you saw some serious consideration. Twins are unfortunately the subjects of many kinds of experiments. Remember Joseph Mengele? The explanation for the behavior of the Swedish twins seems obvious. Someone's control experiment was entirely successful. The media's report and the public reaction to the reporting of the event makes some interesting statements about the reality of our time as well. It may be that every kind of audio wave and frequency has been studied with a view to understanding the effects on human behavior and health. You and I have been unwitting subjects in these experiments. Technologies like HAARP are believed to be leveraged to that end of exerting broad controlling influence. What a powerful tuning fork for the global population! Other devices have been developed that target more localized groups or individuals. Some have the ability to put voices inside heads like a magical ventriloquist. If you haven't seen the movie "Men Who Stare at Goats" and then listened to John Alexander's interview in the bonus features section, I recommend doing so, Lord willing. Drugs in the water supply, processed foods and chemtrails - genetically modified plants and animals used for food and the spread of spores, bacterias and virus waveform "pollution" from the electrical grid and broadcast towers and every sort of energetic projection coming through the entertainment media - all these things work to tune us, to retune us from Yahweh-like to serpent-like. What is done for control is not just for the simple acquisition of money or goods. Material wealth is only a means to the end. What is done is beyond even the feeding of the prideful ego of a few wicked people. When you evaluate the scope and scale of these schemes, the greed and pride points beyond mere natural man to the serpent and to his interest in men as the means to acquire worship as God, having the subjects in his kingdom made in his own image. It is a full replacement agenda, substituting himself for the Most High, his body for His Body, his body's head for His Body's Head and even his bride for His Bride. The Aphrodisiacand the Goddess of Magic One could hardly address this topic without considering aphrodisiacs. "Aphrodisia" means sexual desire. An "aphrodisiac" is a food, drug, potion, or other agent that arouses sexual desire. I've presented pharmakeia as facilitating the procreation scheme, which means that it truly serves on some level as an aphrodisiac. Word Origin & History: aphrodisiac - 1719, from Gk. aphrodisiakos "inducing sexual desire," from aphrodisios, "pertaining to Aphrodite" (q.v.), Gk. goddess of love and beauty. (Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper) Just that connection alone should speak to many of you pretty loudly about the point of pharmakeia. Yes, it facilitates procreation between the sons of god and daughters of men. Like the Rx symbol, aphrodisiacs can be traced back to the Watchers who taught the magic of pharmaceuticals. Since this Aphrodite is secretly so popular and influential even today, I'm going to expose some of what's been hidden so you can perceive this presence in your daily life. "Aphrodite was the ancient Greek goddess of sexual love, fertility, and beauty. In Greek mythology Aphrodite was renowned for her mortal lovers, who included Adonis and Anchises." (Wikipedia entry for Aphrodite) It's the union of the immortal with the mortal lovers that is, of course, the real focus of the pharmakeia aphrodisiac. Aphrodite may be a reference to Lucifer or to a Watcher or archon like, perhaps, Azazel. This demonic entity is celebrated in many cultures, associated with the Roman Venus, the Phoenician Ashtoreth, the Egyptian Hathor, the Saxon Eostre and Ostara, and the Assyrian Ishtar. When temple prostitutes are involved, a Baal/Ashtoreth god/goddess alias is being worshiped. - The Sign of the Queen of Heaven - Our Lady of the Olympics - Our Lady of the Nations I can easily demonstrate the influence the Goddess of Magic has in today's world. The fertility goddess is celebrated in pagan christianity as/at Easter with eggs, prolific bunnies and sunrise rites around the Vernal Equinox. "In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse them she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived." (Ostara - Encyclopedia Mythica) Easter, that's still pretty influential, right? There is coming a fake baptism/resurrection at that time of the year that's going to reveal the Beast, which is the hinge pin of the procreation / transformation! Have you ever seen children on an Easter morning sugar / food dye / chocolate-caffeine buzz? Oh my! An aphrodisiac attack! The Aphrodite legend presents her as arising from the sea, from the sea foam (aphros), comparing to the picture presented in Revelation 13:1: "And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea..." Some elements associated with the goddess are the shell, dolphin, dove, sparrow, swan, rose, mirror. The famous painting by Botticelli shows Venus (Aphrodite) on the shell. As Ostara she is the personification of the rising sun. Tying in with my blogging about occult symbols, note how these are combined in a logo you should find familiar. Here's another logo of note. Sea-Doo is a brand of personal watercraft. Their logo just shouts Aphrodite! If you're savvy about occult symbols, you notice the letters called out are the A and D, as in Aphro-Dite. This god's emblematic dolphin is featured, which forms an arc. The arc presents the heavenly arch and suggests that underneath it is a female circle. Within the female circle is the male dot (a Bindu). The most obvious shape in view is the downward-pointing delta signaling the triple helix transformation of the daughters of the Adam and Eve. This is about the union of the sons of god with the daughters of men, suggesting the aphrodisiac facilitation. Their slogan, "The good life just got better," appears with the focus on the word "good." This is a signal phrase because the better life referenced is the one that comes with the triple helix "upgrade" - a HUGE LIE! It compares to Walmart's "live better," whose slogan is associated with their comparable six pointed star. The rose and mirror are combined in this snapshot from The Iron Giant, length animation. an antichrist signaling feature While The Iron Giant has never achieved widespread popularity, a thematically related movie sure has, called Momma Mia! In December 2008, Mamma Mia! surpassed Titanic (1997) as the highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom, and remained #1 until it was overtaken by Avatar sometime in 2010. The Goddess is beloved. The setting is a Greek island and a villa in particular that is in the storyline "rumored" to be built on the legendary fountain of Aphrodite. I put "rumored" in quotes because the magical influence of the waters of the fountain are certainly evidenced in the movie. I watched this movie recently, knowing that it was at the Lord's direction, who had been directing me to watch particular movies in a curriculum of instruction about symbolic representations and the gods they honor. Many of these movies feature the number 9, the single digit signal of the triple helix transformation. Mamma Mia! is one of a similar kind marked with number 8 signals, being made in 2008 and having a duration of 108 minutes, which actually sums to 9. Did you notice how the current Shell logo exhibits eight rays? The number eight was heavily featured during the Olympics in Beijing and in the associated crop sign of 8/8/08. It signals the counter-flood of Noah the eighth (2 Peter 2:5), the coming of which is most certainly being facilitated by the aphrodisiac scheme. The Eye as agent of transformation Another form of the Rx symbol that apparently used to be popular actually presented an eye instead of the R, positioning the x below it. (If anyone finds a good picture of this example, please let me know.) That "prescription" eye was even known as the Eye of Horus. Horus has been considered the "father of pharmacy." It's in identifying this symbol as the EYE of Horus that really highlights the objective of the pharmakeia scheme. It was the eye that some versions of the ancient story accounted as holding the magical regenerative force, the power of resurrection or rebirth. The eye symbol points beyond death to a different life and identity, which is to say that it's not representing any "band-aid" healing restorative work that simply extends the life of man in this body and soul identity. The Eye of Horus is all about such a dramatic transformation. The mark of the Beast will involve this same magic, in the promise of the granting to mortal men a facsimile of immortality through a triple helix DNA transformation. See this blog post for some very convincing documentation. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. Revelation 9:6 Often, the truth of Satan's schemes that the higher echelon agents will only reveal when cloaked in esoteric symbolism is more plainly declared by agents with lesser visibility. In such an example, I want you to consider what I found on the site DNA Alchemy. This is a validation of much of what I've been declaring. The following is a testimony excerpted from The Eye of Horus page. Consider it as brought forth by way of familiar spirits. I have always seen the Eye of Horus shown as an ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Symbol and heard the story about Osiris and Isis and the birth of Horus their son. It was not until I was activated through the Eye of Horus that I understood what it really meant and that the story was a parable meant to keep alive the energies until humanity was ready. The Eye of Horus Clearing and Activation is energy work that was "downloaded" to me as I was deep in Meditation just as I directly experienced my own personal Eye of Horus Activation. The Eye is the Eternal Eye through which a template of vibratory patterns is used by the Masters and Lords of Light to generate physical creation. The Father's Eye of divine creation coordinating the minds of the Elohim so that the divine image can be passed on to all generations of creations. The Eternal Eye allows the Father's Living Light to make visible His garment so that it can form the Light substances. From the Father's Living Light through Sacred Geometry, Light is transmitted through the Eye of Horus to the human being to transform him into a Light Being. This is known to me as a remembrance as far back as Lemuria and is a very ancient system that had been used on the Earth Plane but forgotten until now. I am not the only person who has remembered this. When it is said that through the Eye of Horus you are transformed into a Light Being it does not mean that this is the only means. I believe that everyone is receiving the accelerated energies that are present on the Earth now. The people who are drawn to activate through the Eye of Horus energies are, in my opinion, the way showers. The Eye of Horus refers to the ancient Mystery School Teachings of Creational Geometry encoded by Isis and Osiris and left behind with their priests in Egypt. These are the same souls who are the priests in Atlantis and other programs. They carry this genetically encoded information in their DNA - triggered now as we move back to 2012. If you understand the testimony of Luke 11 and how the "dark" light of a lamp is cast by the occult pyramid eye, and the corresponding Olympic torch and cauldron, no further commentary about that person's testimony is necessary. Pharmakeia as procreative facilitator - exposed by technical means The function of pharmakeia as a primary facilitator of the procreative agenda can be recognized through the exercise of some more technical study methodologies. If this kind of thing interests you, you should find this simple thematic structure of Enoch 7 of great interest. It certainly speaks to me! 1) And they took wives for themselves and everyone chose for himself one each. And they began to go into them and were promiscuous with them. And they taught them charms and spells, and they showed them the cutting of roots and trees. 2) And they became pregnant and bore large giants. If you wrap parenthesis around the third "sentence" of verse 1, the surrounding context then flows with unbroken continuity. This exercise reveals that the third part of verse 1 functions as a parenthetical insertion. E. W. Bullinger would refer to it as an "introversion" structural form, examples of which you may have encountered in the popular work, The Companion Bible. Because the pharmakeia strategy is presented as if it were sandwiched between two slices of procreation, so to speak, we can see these as particularly related. The literary structure highlighting pharmakeia as the central element supports the bracketing procreative scheme. In another manner of showing that two subjects are related, consider the language of Revelation chapter 18. and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations (ethnos) were deceived by your sorcery (pharmakeia). Revelation 18:23 The English words "ethnic" and "ethnicity" derive from the word "ethnos." This Bible text's manner of identifying the Earth's inhabitants makes a racial rather than geo-political distinction, which would be implied by (mis)translating ethnos as "nations." When, in verse 23, the Greek words "ethnos" and "pharmakeia" are presented together, you can read between the lines, so to speak. When you consider the evidence that history, past, present and future, revolves around two fruit bearing trees (the Adamic (Yahweh's line) and Luciferian) and have eyes to see the procreative theme being redundantly signaled by every apparent means, well, Revelation 18:23 just speaks pretty loudly about the 23 (verse) chromosome packages composing the mark-of-the-Beast (6+6+6=18 - the chapter number). Now, consider how the greater context of that verse 23 (chapters 17 and 18) features illicit sexual relationships. 17:3) and upon her forehead was a name written: `Secret, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Whores, and the Abominations of the earth.' 18:3) because of the wine of the wrath of her whoredom have all the nations drunk, and the kings of the earth with her did commit whoredom, and merchants of the earth from the power of her revel were made rich. Revelation 17:3, 18:3 (YLT) These are, of course, figurative expressions, yet, I've learned time and again, as the Lord opens my eyes, how metaphorical and allegorical language used in the Bible conceals literal truths. Certainly, beyond the figurative, whoredom with a harlot involves a sexual relationship, procreation. A couple years back I put a lot of time and effort into trying to discern the thematic structure of Revelation 17 and 18, and as a result of the Lord prospering this effort with much favor I can direct you to the result. Revelation 17 & 18 - An interactive presentation of its thematic structure There, you can see for yourself how verse 3 and 23 are directly linked, one to the other. To expose the helpful highlighting, hover your mouse over the lightest gray bar in front of 18:3. Make sure you can see both the 18:3 and 18:23b-24 sections in your view at the same time. There's a lot of effort in the thematic structure work but there's always a big reward with the insight granted! The ultimate goal of the fallen angels' "knowledge download" and practice has not changed. The pharmakeia taught by Semjaza facilitated the procreative scheme prior to the flood and so it is today, in the days of the coming of the son of Man when the transforming mark of the beast nears its prophesied introduction. In Closing There's an obvious lesson here. Mind your drug use. Weigh whatever promises or benefits are associated with the medications with what they might actually be costing you. If you suspect the influence of curses in your life and find the Lord's blessings elusive, consider the potential role pharmakeia plays in your life. If you find yourself struggling with faith and peace, less pharmaceuticals and not more is usually the better choice. I encourage you to entrust your health and wellbeing to the Lord, who is the great physician. Seek His specific guidance and take care to follow through with that direction. You might want to print some copies of the following paragraph to relabel your drugs. "Warning," taking this drug may increase your susceptibility to demonic influence. Long term use may lead to unpleasant side effects such as but not limited to falling under satanic spells, demonic possession, and antichrist delusion. Destruction may occur. If a bustle occurs in your hedgerow while taking this drug, please stop taking it immediately and call your friendly ministering saints who can seek the Lord with you for deliverance." If you ever watch TV, you've spent time watching commercials for drugs of many kinds. The drug companies and the mass media are pushing drugs like there's no tomorrow! Why? Because, truly, not many more tomorrows remain. No effort is being spared to medicate the masses, globally. Such as GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffmann–La Roche, Pfizer and even long respected Johnson & Johnson don't have clean ethics records, and there is every reason to question their motives as we consider what is done over what is said. Given what has been presented in this writing, you have another version of the facts to consider about what big pharma is really all about. If you feel sure you would know whether or not you were under a spell, I challenge that reasoning because in fact you would not consciously perceive it unless the Lord Y'shua gave you a conviction about it. Spells are by their very nature deceitful. Otherwise, how could they work? Since there is no conscious awareness about our state, our primary, and really, only, defense, is to trust in the author of the Bible to uphold His promises of blessing for obedience, and make every effort to obey! It's very important to grasp the relationship between obedience and the state of being deceived. In these last days it's really so very critical for you and I to understand, who truly seek to be found worthy of becoming Y'shua's Bride at His coming. Consider the following scripture. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:24 The language used in that verse conceals from some and reveals to others the truth that everyone will absolutely be deceived, excepting the small number accounted as "the very elect," because it is not possible to deceive them. What assurance do you have that you personally will be accounted among such a small number as the "very elect"? Strive to be found worthy of the Lord until your appointed end. Watch, according to Mark 13:37. What you will see as you watch in this hour is that all the sorceries of Babylon are being leveraged to deceive! 12) Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13) But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14) For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, Hebrews 3:12-14
Accepted for publication in IEEE Software Special Issue on Automatic Program Repair A Software-Repair Robot based on Continual Learning Benoit Baudry, Zimin Chen, Khashayar Etemadi, Han Fu, Davide Ginelli, Steve Kommrusch, Matias Martinez, Martin Monperrus, Javier Ron, He Ye, Zhongxing Yu Abstract—Software bugs are common and correcting them accounts for a signiﬁcant part of costs in the software development and maintenance process. This calls for automatic techniques to deal with them. One promising direction towards this goal is gaining repair knowledge from historical bug ﬁxing examples. Retrieving insights from software development history is particularly appealing with the constant progress of machine learning paradigms and skyrocketing 'big' bug ﬁxing data generated through Continuous Integration (CI). In this paper, we present R-HERO, a novel software repair bot that applies continual learning to acquire bug ﬁxing strategies from continuous streams of source code changes, implemented for the single development platform Github/Travis CI. We describe R-HERO, our novel system for learning how to ﬁx bugs based on continual training, and we uncover initial successes as well as novel research challenges for the community. INTRODUCTION Developing software is a complex process that creates software which typically suffers from errors, such as null pointer exceptions and memory leaks. These errors can have severe consequences, ranging from customer dissatisfaction to the loss of human lives. Correcting the errors manually is notoriously tedious, difﬁcult, and time-consuming, and automatically repairing them has long been a dream in programming. report on our experience in building the program repair bot R-HERO, which automatically performs machine learning on continuous integration builds. Among the various proposals for automatic program repair, one particularly promising category leverages machine learning on big data. For instance, Prophet [9] learns a generic model of how natural a ﬁx is, and uses the model to rank patch candidates. Our goal in this article is to Continuous Integration (CI) is deeply integrated into collaborative development platforms such as GitHub and Bitbucket. Typically, developers make changes to the code base (called commits) and a CI service compiles the code and runs the tests for each commit. This compilation and test execution phase is called a "build". Development using continuous integration results in a continuous stream of builds. For instance, in October 2018 alone, there were 9,495,908 Travis CI builds created from 2,378,349 unique commits on GitHub [5]. Our intuition is that these build streams provide unique insights on how skilled human developers ﬁx bugs. As an example, Listing 1 shows a real GitHub commit that replaces the 'null' object with 'this' object and makes the CI build process successfully pass. This patch, drawn from the commit and build stream, is a piece of evidence that 'null' is abused frequently, and that replacing it with the reference to the current instance is a viable patching strategy. Such a patch could be one data point for an ever learning software repair bot. ``` Listing 1: A human patch from commit 528696fc of BenjaminNitro/Project110. 1 @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ public Celsius(float t) 2 3 @Override 4 public Temperature toCelsius() { 5 - return null; 6 + return this; 7 } ``` Continual learning (also known as lifelong learning) is the learning paradigm which consists of learning continuously and adaptively from a stream of data. Continual learning is viewed as a fundamental step towards artiﬁcial intelligence [13], and research into this learning paradigm has produced groundbreaking results in the past few years. For example, in natural language processing, chatbots using continual learning have solved the underlying open-world knowledge problem [3], which consists of learning in conversations with facts that have never been encountered before. Our key intuition is that, by feeding continuous integration build streams to continual learning techniques, the resultant model can potentially have expertise for ﬁxing different types of bugs in an open manner. In the past years, we have worked on this problem and designed the ﬁrst ever program repair bot based on continual learning. We call this bot R-HERO. R-HERO is designed to repair a speciﬁc class of errors: those that can be ﬁxed with a single-line code change (aka one-liner). This class of errors has the following desirable properties: it is a common class of errors, as witnessed by the fact that one-line commits constitute a signiﬁcant portion of all commits [1]; these errors cover a wide range of behavioral problems such as control ﬂow errors (ﬁxing conditions), exception errors, missing behavior (addition of one single method call), etc [19]; oneline ﬁxing is on the frontier of program repair research, as the large majority of systems focus on such bugs [8], [12], [9], [2], [4], [10]. In the following, we present the architecture for R-HERO, we report on our recent results on ﬁxing real-life bugs in continuous integration, and analyze the research challenges uncovered by our experiments. Software Repair Bots Program repair techniques differ in various ways, including the type of oracle they use, as well as the targeted bug category [6]. Several techniques use test suites as the oracle and are designated as test suite based repair. These repair techniques are classiﬁed into three categories: heuristic-based [8], synthesis-based [12], and learning-based [9]. They differ in how they analyze and modify the buggy code. Due to both the advancements in machine learning and the massive amount of available CI data, learning based techniques are increasingly popular. Techniques in this category have been developed, for instance, to ﬁx compilation errors [7] and learn meaningful patch changes [15]. One of the hardest problems of test suite based repair is that test suites are incomplete. Consequently, the generated ﬁx can pass the available tests but break untested functionality. This problem is called the overﬁtting issue [14]. Current approaches typically use test augmentation to alleviate this problem. The integration of core repair algorithms into modern development workﬂows is a key dimension of the program repair problem space. One possible integration is through software bots: SapFix [10] and Repairnator [16] are examples of bots that constantly monitor software failures and run program repair tools against each bug. Repairnator has produced human-competitive patches, which were accepted by human developers and permanently merged into the code base [11]. RHERO represents our newest effort in pushing the state of the art of program repair bots: compared to Repairnator, R-HERO makes full use of "Big Commit Data" based on continual learning to ever improving its repair capabilities. Continual Learning for Repair We deploy continual learning on top of continuous integration build data streams. We argue Figure 1: Overview of R-HERO, a software bot that learns to generate patches, build after build. Store human patches Store machine patches Continuous integration Centralize development data Failing builds Build trigger Builds Commits, comments, pull requests Pull request Patches & labels Overfitting prevention Labels for machine patches Fault localization Buggy code& suspect line Positive examples Pull-request creation Plausible patches High quality patch Patch generation R-Hero Developer Raw patches Compilation & test execution Training Continual Repair Legend a) b) c) d) e) f) that continual learning is an appropriate paradigm for a program repair bot because code constantly evolves. New libraries and tools get developed, new approaches to programming problems emerge, and new security patching strategies are uncovered. By using continual learning, the idea is that the overall performance of the repair bot improves over time, because the repair model is never set in stone. Continual learning would be able to capture bug ﬁxing strategies that occur over different time frames, from days (emergency patching of 0-day vulnerabilities) to months (API updates) and years (programming language evolution). Architecture of R-HERO Figure 1 shows the six main building blocks of R-HERO: a) Continuous integration, b) Fault localization, c) Patch generation, d) Compilation & Test execution, e) Overﬁtting prevention, and f) Pull-request creation. R-HERO stores its knowledge in two databases respectively composed of human-written and machine-synthesized patches. R-HERO receives and analyzes the events from a continuous integration (CI) system such as Travis CI. It collects commits that result in a passing build as determined by CI. The changes from a commit may or may not have been a bug ﬁx, but the fact that the change passes all tests hints that it is useful training data. The extraction of single-line changes works as follows: for each commit, R-HERO goes over the corresponding diff and iterates over each hunk. It extracts training data only from hunks that describe single-line changes. This may produce several useful training data points per commit. In other words, R-HERO uses the before and after commit code to train its machine learning model for patch generation. R-HERO currently relies on the SequenceR MLbased patch generator [4], a sequence-to-sequence neural network model trained to receive buggy code as input and to generate patch proposals as output. At each training step, SequenceR updates its model's weights to determine the tokens that should be output in the proposed patches. Next, we detail the repair process, shown with blue arrows in Figure 1. The repair process is triggered by R-HERO monitoring the continuous integration to detect failing builds, manifested by at least one failing test case. For a given failing build, R-HERO checks out the version of the project that produces the failing build. Then, the fault localization component models the program under repair and pinpoints the locations that could be buggy (ﬁle names and line numbers). R-HERO passes the collected locations to SequenceR which generates one or more potential patches for each location. Because the patch generation was trained on any kind of one-line change that results in a passing build, R-HERO repairs both compilation errors and test failures. R-HERO then validates each candidate patch. It ﬁrst compiles the patches and executes all the tests to verify if, after applying the patch, the compilation and test execution do not fail anymore. The patches that pass both validations are known as plausible patches. Once R-HERO ﬁnds plausible patches, it assesses them, in order to avoid annoying developers with overﬁtting patches. This check is based on the overﬁtting detection system ODS [17]. ODS is a probabilistic model trained using supervised learning on both human patches (which are assumed to be positive examples), and machine patches (labelled as correct or incorrect), collected from previous program repair research [18]. Finally, when a high-quality patch is identiﬁed by ODS, R-HERO submits a pull-request to the corresponding GitHub project which has the failing build. The pull-request message to the developer describes the build failure and the patch, https://bit.ly/3fRIHhd is an example of such a pullrequest. Achievements of R-HERO Data Collection In order to measure the applicability of RHERO, we started it from scratch on May 16, 2020. At this date, all weights in the neural network were random, and R-HERO did not know anything about how to generate patches. Then, we started to analyze the stream of continuous integration build data: looking at passing builds to train the system in a continual manner, and trying to generate patches for failing builds. For this purpose, R-HERO constantly monitors all Travis CI and GitHub Actions builds for GitHub repositories that use Maven. Consequently, RHERO does not operate on a ﬁxed set of projects, it can potentially repair any failed build in any Github project. We continued from this date until R-HERO had synthesized plausible patches for projects from 10 different GitHub organizations (in GitHub, an organization is a shared account for groups and companies) and until a fully automated pull-request had been created. Overall, this execution took 196 days and ended on Nov 28, 2020. At this point R-HERO had collected 550,000 one-line code changes for training and, based on the trained model, R-HERO had tried to repair 44,002 failing builds that were reproduced locally. We complement this automated patch collection with manual analysis. To check whether RHERO generates human-like ﬁxes for build failures, we manually collect the ﬁxes implemented by developers. We ﬁnd potential developer ﬁxes as follows: the ﬁrst commit with a successful build happening after the failed one. If the manual analysis of this last pushed commit shows that it does resolve the failure, we consider it as the ground truth ﬁx made by human developers. This manual analysis revealed that one patch synthesized by R-HERO is identical to the patch produced by the human developer, described in the Patch Story section next. Story of a correct patch by R-HERO Lizzie is an open-source project hosted on GitHub. It has 22k lines of code written by more than 30 developers along 1,030 commits, and has been praised with more than 600 GitHub stars. On the morning of Aug 19, 2020, one commit to Lizzie broke the Travis CI build. That commit, which modiﬁes the ﬁle GIBParser.java, moved the declaration of the variable sk to below its ﬁrst use. That change produced a compilation error: "cannot ﬁnd symbol: variable sk". As a result, Travis CI could not build the revision. ``` Listing 2: R-HERO Patch for build 719254693, identical to the developer patch, generated after training over 70,914 commits. ``` ``` 1 @@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ 2 int i = line.indexOf("GONGJE:"); 3 4 - if (sk != -1) { 5 + if(i!=(-1)){ 6 int sk = i + "GONGJE:".length(); 7 int ek = line.indexOf(',', sk); ``` The same morning, R-HERO watched and analyzed the status of thousands of Travis CI's builds, including that one from Lizzie. As soon as R-HERO detected the broken status of that build, it started its repair mission. R-HERO ﬁrst checked out the failing project and locally reproduced the failure. Then, R-HERO passed the Lizzie project to the repair pipeline to ﬁnd candidate patches. At this point in time, R-HERO continual learning model had been trained with data extracted from 70,914 commits. R-HERO's patch generation output one patch, displayed in Listing 2: it replaces the variable 'sk' (not yet declared at line 6) by the variable 'i', declared a few lines above. RHERO veriﬁed that the patched program compiled and passed all Lizzie's unit tests. In total, R-HERO took 8 minutes to execute all of the mentioned steps. Two days later, Aug 21 2020, a developer committed a patch that ﬁxed the problem introduced on Aug 19. The patch is identical to the one automatically synthesized by R-HERO. RHERO learned from zero knowledge to create that patch by only observing the build stream. It is worth noting that Lizzie, the project repaired by R-HERO, is the UI of Leela Zero, an opensource implementation of AlphaGo Zero, a famous system that learns, also from zero, to play Go. Overall Performance Patch Diversity. R-HERO was able to synthesize 85 plausible patches to ﬁx 13 failed builds and made one pull-request. Four of these 13 builds failed due to a compilation error, and nine failed due to test failures. This demonstrates that R-HERO is indeed able to ﬁx both types of bugs (compilation errors and test failures). We systematically analyzed the 85 patches created by R-HERO and found that it was able to produces six types of patches: a) return expression update (21), b) method invocation update (25), c) assignment update (12), d) if condition update (26), and e) removing a try keyword (1). This diversity of bug ﬁxing strategies conﬁrms that data-driven repair is effective [2], and shows that R-HERO captures the variety of problems behind continuous integration build failures. Performance over time. We conduct an experiment based on the protocol of Chen et al. [4] to measure the overall performance of R-HERO. The patch dataset, called CodRep4, consists of 3998 pairs of buggy and ﬁxed versions of Java source code. Each time the R-HERO model is updated with continual learning (i.e. every three days approximately), we count the number of bugs for which R-HERO generates a patch that is syntactically identical to the corresponding ﬁxed version. Note that due to continual learning, the R-HERO model changes over time, therefore, R-HERO produces different numbers of correct patches at different points in time. The results of this experiment are shown in Figure 2. Each point on the orange curve indicates the number of correct CodRep4 patches that R-HERO generates at a speciﬁc point in time. Each point on the green line shows the cumulative number of correct patches generated by R-HERO. For example, the execution on July 1st resulted in correct patches for 300 buggy ﬁles in CodRep4. The increasing trends in Figure 2 conﬁrm that continual learning is a valid approach for program repair. Overﬁtting Patch Classiﬁcation. Currently, RHERO's overﬁtting detection module uses our best-in-breed model trained from a) 2,003 humanwritten correct patches and b) 8,299 automatically synthesized incorrect patches, labelled by humans and the automated technique RGT [18]. Of the 85 plausible patches, R-HERO discarded 64 incorrect patches, showing that it is able to increase the precision of generated patches reported to the developer. To further study this, we have performed an in-depth manual analysis for all of 64 patches. Among 64 patches, we identiﬁed that 57 patches are overﬁtting, which means ODS' classiﬁcation was correct in 89.06% of cases on this data, conﬁrming previous research [17]. Overall, ODS and SequenceR work well in concert n R-Hero, discarding the majority of the overﬁtting patches and increasing the value proposition for the developer. End-to-end Integration R-HERO integrates many different state-of-theart components from program repair research, and the question of the feasibility of fully automated pull-requests is an open one in the community [16]. R-HERO demonstrates that this is the case. On Nov 28, 2020, after 196 days of training, R-HERO created a ﬁrst pull-request to the thomasleplus/xee project (https://github.com/thomasleplus/xee) without any human intervention: the data collection for training SequenceR, the patch synthesis, the validation of the patch using ODS and the mechanism to propose the patch to the developer were done by R-HERO in a fully automated manner. This pull-request proves that R-H ERO is able to learn to repair a failing build from zero, starting with zero repair knowledge. The proposed pull-request was not merged by the developer, stating that it does not fully ﬁx the bug, yet, according to the developer feedback, the patch exposed incorrect design in the failing test case. Reproducibility All the data of this experiment has been systematically saved for sake of scientiﬁc reproducibility, it is available on a GitHub repository (github.com/repairnator/open-sciencerepairnator/). For every build, we provide the Travis CI data, the log ﬁle associated with the execution of R-HERO, and the plausible patches created by R-HERO. For every patch, we provide its manual analysis categorization about the failure and correctness data. Research Challenges In this section, we summarize the two important research challenges highlighted by R-HERO. Overﬁtting Patches and Compilation Errors To our knowledge, most of the research about overﬁtting research focuses on test-based program repair. Consequently, "overﬁtting patches" mostly refer to patches that pass developer-provided test cases, but don't correctly ﬁx the bug. Our work reveals that overﬁtting can also affect compilation bugs: we have observed that R-HERO may ﬁnd a patch that perfectly repairs a compilation error while being incorrect. This shows that considering the compiler as an oracle is ﬂawed, contrary to the core assumption of the related research on compilation error repair [7]. In short, the research challenge is: what kind of additional oracles can be used to avoid degenerated patches in compilation error repair? Catastrophic Forgetting Continual learning is prone to a problem called catastrophic forgetting, which occurs when newly learned knowledge interferes with capabilities previously learned by the model [13]. This phenomenon causes the model to forget old knowledge and potentially leads to decreased performance. In Figure 2, the orange line represents the performance of R-HERO evaluated on a reference dataset. As we can see, during the initial stage, the performance steadily improves, but R-HERO stops improving after one month of continual learning. Then, the performance varies and even sometimes decreases. However, the green line in Figure 2 (cumulative number of correct ﬁxes) shows that R-HERO is still learning to repair new bugs. This indicates that the nonmonotonic increase of the the orange line is due to R-HERO forgetting previously learned bug ﬁxes, i.e., catastrophic forgetting is happening. Our experiment is the ﬁrst one to show that catastrophic forgetting happens in the context of learning-based program repair, and our initial investigation of the problem reveals that it is a hard research problem. Limitations Though R-Hero shows great promise in ﬁxing software bugs happening in continuous integration, its limitations clearly call for future work: 1) RHero is trained on one-line changes, this limits R-Hero from ﬁxing complex bugs requiring multiline edits (as for most existing repair systems). 2) the prototype implementation of R-Hero does not scale: among the considered 44,002 failing builds, R-Hero has only repaired 13/44,002 builds. This is arguably a low ratio but, to the best of our knowledge, nobody has ever succeeded in reporting a higher ratio on arbitrary builds from continuous integration (i.e. by drawing from the ﬁeld distribution of all possible bugs). So far, RHero has done a single pull-request, discussed above, and we hope it is the beginning of a fruitful series of bot contributions. Conclusion We believe that continual learning and continuous feedback are essential ingredients to go beyond pure software technology. They provide a useful paradigm to incorporate human knowledge into a self-improving software system, and for automated repair, they enable software engineering research to achieve a truly socio-technical repair system. To that extent, R-HERO is a milestone in showing that developers and bots can cooperate fruitfully to produce high-quality, reliable software systems. Acknowledgments This work was partially supported by the Wallenberg Artiﬁcial Intelli- gence, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) funded by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF). The experiments were performed on resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing. References 1. Oliver Arafat and Dirk Riehle. The commit size distribution of open source software. 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Sapﬁx: Automated end-to-end repair at scale. In International Conference on Software Engineering, 2019. 11. Martin Monperrus, Simon Urli, Thomas Durieux, Matias Martinez, Benoit Baudry, and Lionel Seinturier. Repairnator patches programs automatically. Ubiquity, 2019(July):1–12, 2019. 12. Hoang Duong Thien Nguyen, Dawei Qi, Abhik Roychoudhury, and Satish Chandra. Semﬁx: Program repair via semantic analysis. In 2013 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 772– 781. IEEE, 2013. 13. German I Parisi, Ronald Kemker, Jose L Part, Christopher Kanan, and Stefan Wermter. Continual lifelong learning with neural networks: A review. Neural Networks, 113:54–71, 2019. 14. Zichao Qi, Fan Long, Sara Achour, and Martin Rinard. An analysis of patch plausibility and correctness for generate-and-validate patch generation systems. In Proceedings of ISSTA. ACM, 2015. 15. Michele Tufano, Jevgenija Pantiuchina, Cody Watson, Gabriele Bavota, and Denys Poshyvanyk. 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Entering Limbo 1976 * The Pickering Fire Department complains that half the ﬁres in Pickering in the previous year were on the airport and north Pickering sites and blames government neglect. * January – Because Transport Canada assumes that the shelving of the airport will be temporary, little eﬀort is made to protect or preserve the buildings on the site. Public Works Canada calls for tenders for the sale and removal of 18 homes and 57 other buildings deemed unsafe and unﬁt for rental. This TC policy leads to decades-long constraints on the farming community and other tenants who remain on the Lands, and to ongoing, relentless neglect and eventual demolitions, punctuated by the department's repeated attempts to revive the airport plan. * May – Transport Minister Otto Lang announces that, without Pickering to relieve Malton, air traﬃc will be diverted to Mirabel, overﬂying Toronto. Says Malton will not be allowed new air carriers for at least 5 years. Malton accuses MOT (formerly DOT) of stalling improvements to Malton to create a need for Pickering. An MOT sub-group claims that Malton expansion would cost more than building a whole new airport. Minister Lang supports the statement and insists on a new airport. * Ontario's Ombudsman reports that Pickering area residents were cheated and misled by government land agents. * July – A survey sent out to all Ontario travel agents by the Metropolitan Toronto Airport Review Committee (MTARC, secretly People or Planes) reveals that a very high percentage of agents disagree with Lang's claims about Malton's diﬃculties and the urgent need to divert traﬃc to Mirabel. 1977 1978 * Transport Canada (TC, formerly MOT) releases a Contingency Plan, warning that Malton (soon to be renamed Pearson) faces ﬁerce congestion and that urgent action is needed. * Transport Minister Lang tells the House of Commons that Malton will not be allowed to expand; halts study into 4th runway. * Paper Juggernaut: Big Government Gone Mad, by veteran reporter Walter Stewart, is published by McClelland and Stewart. The book, on how north Pickering became an airport site, is a brutal exposé of political deviousness and lies, blinkered thinking, incompetence, and heartlessness. 1979 "The secret ﬁles make it clear that, had the information available to the government at the time been made available to the public, Pickering airport could never have been started." (p. 15). Timeline: 1976-2012 Entering Limbo / V.O.C.A.L. / Land Over Landings * October – Ottawa releases the Southern Ontario Multimodal Passenger Studies report, which reveals that TC's current claim – to be "landbanking" the Lands for an airport – was not the intention of the government before this year. (The intention had been an airport as soon as possible.) The report states that, with a few airport modiﬁcations and more terminal capacity, Malton would meet capacity needs until at least the late 1980s, while recommending that the Pickering Lands and the protective zoning around them "be maintained to protect the long range option for the development of a major airport at Pickering." The report also cautions that there are "limitations implicit in any long range forecasts of travel demand" and that new forecasts show that passenger volumes "will be lower than previously estimated." The Pickering airport issue then fades (or is allowed to fade) into silence for years. * February – Transport Canada oﬃcials are quoted as saying that new forecasts show no need for a third terminal at Malton until the 1990s. 1983 1985 * Ottawa's Central Ontario Area Aviation Master Plan for 1985 calls for a third reliever airport, at Pickering, to handle Malton's general aviation traﬃc up to 2000, after which the airport would be expanded to become a major international airport by 2020. * Mar. 31 – The Auditor General's report states that the Ministry of Transport should "develop and disclose a clear plan for the use or disposition of idle land holdings such as those at Pickering, Ontario." The AG found that the idle land "has an adverse impact on the ﬁnancial performance of the Air Transportation Program" and that "the rental income is less than the interest cost on the funds that could be realized by selling the land." * Ottawa's Airport Authority Group, while treating a Pickering airport as a given, recommends selling half the total site acreage. Local MP Scott Fennell (PC) persuades Transport Minister Donald Mazankowski to appoint a committee to study Pickering and to have Guelph University's Ontario Agricultural College inventory the lands. The Minister budgets $100,000 for the Guelph study of agricultural use, current conditions, potential, and sense of community. Three members of People or Planes are appointed to the Pickering Airport Lands Revitalization Committee (PARC). 1986 * In Ste-Scholastique, meanwhile, where Mirabel has never been completed and is struggling, the federal government deeds or sells back to farmers over 80,000 acres of expropriated land. * June – PARC issues its report. It recommends that the government "maximize the agricultural potential [of the Lands] by establishing in cooperation with the municipalities an agricultural preserve, through private ownership by farming enterprises with the Crown retaining development rights." The remaining 10% (the Duﬃns Creek watershed) should become a conservation and ecological reserve. 1987 * August – There is an outcry when Public Works oﬀers 9,600 acres to Ontario and area municipalities instead of to former owners or existing tenants, as was recommended by PARC and as was done at Mirabel. Durham Regional Council then weighs in with a majority vote requesting Ottawa to proceed with airport construction. The ensuing uproar carries on for months. * June – MP Scott Fennell announces that half the federal land will be sold. 1989 1991 * Mar. 15 – The new federal MP for the area, Rene Soetons, announces that the surplus land should be available for sale by late 1990. However, nothing happens. * Transport Canada releases an Environmental Impact Statement, declaring that the best mediumterm alternative for dealing with air-traﬃc increases in Toronto is to add three new runways at Pearson. However, TC immediately follows the Statement with an "Alternatives" document in which Pickering again ﬁgures. * The ﬁne Bentley House in Brougham is granted federal heritage designation. 1992 * Aug. 28 – TC draws up a "Plan Showing Pickering Lands 1992 Disposal." A total of 243 units of land on the airport site are to be sold. They include lots all around the periphery, notably, those right across the northern part of the site, including all of Altona, and those along the north side of Hwy 7, including all of Brougham. It is a tacit admission that the 1972 expropriation was far broader than required. * Aug. 3 – TC produces a revised "Plan Showing Pickering Lands Disposal." Now, just 238 lots are to be sold. The disposal plan is never acted on. 1994 * Oct. 18 – Former Ontario Premier William Davis states in an interview that People or Planes' inﬂuence on his government's decision to withdraw co-operation on the matter of Pickering airport was "substantial." * In Ottawa, the Southern Ontario Area Airports Study (SOAAS) is underway, so it's possible that the lot-disposal plans [see Aug. 3] were shelved pending the results of this study. * Transport Canada announces a narrower federal government role in the airport system. Under a new National Airports Policy, the federal government will no longer operate most airports, will lease the major ones, and will transfer ownership of smaller ones to local authorities. V.O.C.A.L. 1995 * March – The Southern Ontario Area Airports Study (SOAAS) is completed and released. It makes no speciﬁc recommendations but does indicate that, based on current traﬃc forecasts, Pearson would reach its full six-runway capacity in the 2012–2025 time period. Transport Canada seems to view the report's conclusions as a green light for building a future airport, and gears up. 1996 * Responsibility for developing and operating Pearson is transferred from Transport Canada to the newly created Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which will be headed by ex-Transport Canada oﬃcials for some years. * V.O.C.A.L. (Voters Organized to Cancel the Airport Lands) is formed, under the leadership of Claremont resident and businessman Stephen Frederick. A new wave of loud public protests begins. 1998 2001 * Transport Canada initiates regulatory action to protect the option of developing a Pickering airport. * The Pickering land is classiﬁed as an airport site under the Aeronautics Act. * Ottawa announces that 7,200 acres on the north and west sides of the airport site have been designated as Green Space in perpetuity – no great concession, as no airport construction was ever planned for those buﬀer areas. The plan is never formalized by Ottawa. * Apr. 5 – Transport Canada tasks the GTAA with "undertaking the interim planning work that would enable the federal government to determine" whether a "regional/ reliever" airport is needed on the Pickering lands. As part of this initiative, the GTAA commissions ArupNAPA and Landrum & Brown Inc. to show there is a business case for the new airport, which the GTAA would build and operate. * Transport Canada issues many orders of "eviction for the purposes of demolition." For the second time (the ﬁrst was in 1973), the Barclay family is ordered to leave Tullis Cottage, its ancestral home, built in 1840. Demolition is scheduled. The Barclays ﬁght back with a media campaign and assistance from local politicians and historians, and win. They are allowed to stay as long as they promise not to speak to the media for two years. 2002 * September – ArupNAPA and Landrum & Brown Inc. submit their "Pickering Lands Airport Initiative: Financial Assessment Analysis" to the GTAA. Three scenarios have been studied. The analysts conclude that all three showed that "an airport on the Pickering lands was a feasible project and * After renovations totalling $500,000, the GTAA opens a Pickering Airport Site Oﬃce in the historic Bentley House in Brougham. could be funded from the usual sources available to the GTAA." (Lorne Almack and Brian Buckles, of Green Durham Association (GDA), will later call the analysis "cursory" and criticize its failure to consider the potential of Hamilton airport, which distorted the ﬁndings to make Pickering appear to be viable.) * The GTAA submits a detailed Pickering Airport Draft Plan to Transport Canada. The plan is for a large 3-runway "regional/reliever" airport on the site. It not only includes 35 runway siting conﬁgurations and a shortlist of the preferred six but also lists 53 speciﬁc roadworks and other transportation upgrades that will be required to improve airport access. 2004 * Transport Canada, clearly anticipating a go-ahead to build the airport, stops re-renting vacated properties on the site, foregoes revenue, and boards up houses. * Oct. 31 – Mirabel: Passenger ﬂights cease. Only cargo ﬂights are left. The airport is dubbed one of the costliest white elephants in Canadian history. * Sept. 3 – Zoning regulations are passed for an airport at Pickering, even though Pearson has been expanded after all, and can expand again. * Nov. 19 – V.O.C.A.L. has started to get very vocal, with some 50 members demonstrating in front of the GTAA's site oﬃce in Brougham. The GTAA's vice president, Steve Shaw, has just said: "The forecast clearly shows there will be a demand over the next 20 or so years for a capacity Pearson can't handle." The ﬁrst phase at Pickering (two runways for general aviation and ﬂight schools) is expected to cost $250 million and to open in 2012. The plan is still subject to an environmental assessment and the federal government's approval. * Steve Shaw also says, about the phased-in approach: "The last thing we want to do is build an airport that will sit empty. You build what you need as you need it." Premier Dalton McGuinty, meanwhile, is saying: "One of the questions I'm asking is: What about the future of Hamilton airport?" Land Over Landings 2005 * Jan. 20 – MP Mark Holland (Lib.) holds a meeting at the Pickering Recreation Centre. Says he is opposed to the GTAA plan for a large airport but still supports a small one to replace Buttonville or Oshawa. Land Over Landings sets about changing his mind. Meanwhile, Pickering Council has voted * Jan. 18 – A meeting is organized by Claremont residents Gerd Untermann and Celia Klemenz at Claremont United Church in response to the notices of eviction that many tenants are receiving. Among the two dozen or so attendees are 16 tenants (300 tenants still live on the Lands). Michael Robertson takes on a leadership role and suggests that the group call themselves Land Over Landings, to succeed People or Planes. He launches landoverlandings.com. to seek government funding in order to hire their own experts to sit on an Environmental Assessment panel. Only Mayor Dave Ryan opposes Cllr Pickles' motion. * Feb. 16 – A broadcast e-mail goes out from LOL , reporting that Tullis Cottage is to be torn down (no reason was given). This is the third notice of eviction the family has received. The Barclays are told to be out of the house by the end of June. A letter campaign is launched. * Feb. 8 – A protest group from Brougham, led by Gord McGregor, joins forces with the Claremont group. Michael Robertson is elected president, Mary Delaney vice-president, Gord McGregor secretary, and Erik von Maydell treasurer. Michael suggests that they style themselves Land Over Landings –The Stewardship Group. * Feb. 22 – The latest developments are shared at an LOL meeting at Brougham Hall: 12 homes are on the eviction list, bids for demolitions had closed on Feb. 17, and the demolition work is to take place between March 3 and 11. * LOL circulates information for tenants: Michael, Mary, and Gord (Head of the Evictions Committee) meet with Lucy Butts (Programme Coordinator, Transport Canada) and Vernon Moore (Properties and Facilities Manager, Public Works). LOL is told that no currently unoccupied houses will ever be tenanted, period. Nor can tenants share the cost of necessary repairs or hire approved contractors to do repairs, even if needed, owing to "alleged or proven" poor maintenance by Public Works over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, houses in good condition will continue to be maintained. LOL urges tenants to bone up on Ontario's Tenant Protection Act. * Feb. 24 – A Pickering councillor advises that a recent motion passed by Council requested that the federal and provincial governments cease demolitions. He says he will also speak to the area MP. * Transport 2000 Ontario issues a paper refuting government and GTAA claims regarding need for a Pickering airport, and argues that the government should be promoting rail instead. * Mar. 10 – The short moratorium ends and demolitions resume. In all, 25 buildings are bulldozed, many in Brougham. * Mar. 3 – Demolitions begin but some tenants, such as the Knapps, choose to ﬁght their eviction and refuse to leave. Local councillors object to the demolitions, and MP Mark Holland (Lib.) obtains a temporary halt while the community scrambles to protect heritage structures and family homes. * Mar. 11 – Murray Stroud Law Oﬃce writes to the Transport Minister on behalf of "a number of concerned residents of the City of Pickering ... concerned about the premature demolition of historical homes," and asks that Public Works be directed to "stop evicting tenants and demolishing homes until your Ministry has established clear policies and informed our clients of them." * Mar. – In his March newsletter, Mark Holland advises residents receiving eviction notices that they may dispute them through the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, a provincial body. * Mar. 29 – A logo for Land Over Landings is approved (designers: John Frechette, Celia Klemenz). * Apr. 22 – Mark Holland holds a town hall meeting in Claremont, attended by more than 200 people all opposed to the GTAA's airport proposal. He tells the audience that he can no longer support even a smaller regional airport in north Pickering and that he is now committed to doing all he can to work with them to stop any airport from going ahead. * Mark Holland writes to the Ministry of Transport, citing his meetings with Transport 2000 Ontario and others, all of whom have made similar arguments for why the airport should not be built. He also notes that a new airport seems wrong while Canada is trying to meet its Kyoto commitments and is inappropriate at a time of concerns about greenhouse gases. He also highlights the site's proximity to the "sensitive eco-system of the Oak Ridges Moraine" and the need to "be more concerned about food security and production of food closer to home." [Dispiriting to think that these same arguments are still having to be made in 2024...] He asks the Minister for "an immediate halt to all evictions and demolitions" until a fairer, more transparent process is in place. And he asks that an objective peer review of the GTAA's proposal be made before anything else, including an environmental assessment. Minister Lapierre takes the peer review request to Cabinet. * May 21 – Jerry Degen, a Toronto ﬂight safety expert, raises the issue of a potential disaster if airplanes experiencing engine problems were ﬂying near Pickering's nuclear plant. * May 19 – Transport Canada will undertake a 6-month "preliminary due diligence review of previous Pickering airport studies to see if more work is required to determine need." * Jun. 1 – Minister Lapierre responds to the Murray Stroud letter, giving a rote description of how Transport Canada is committed to managing properties in "a prudent and ﬁscally responsible manner" and that Public Works "ensures that all occupied properties are ﬁt for habitation"... He does, however, point out, as Mark Holland has done, that tenants have recourse to the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal. * July 15 – We take Mark Holland on a tour of the Lands and the properties under eviction/demolition notices. Three days later he sends a letter to Minister LaPierre, saying that his tour "was an eye opener, and it has reinforced my view that the present practice of vacating and demolishing these homes is unacceptable." More eviction notices go out, including one for Tullis Cottage again. * Jun. 13 – Mirabel: Developers unveil plans for a giant amusement park – Lac Mirabel – to be built on the airport site. (The plan will die in 2010. Part of the site will be turned into an ICAR motosport racetrack instead.) * July 22 – Five families present their cases before the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, describing their experiences at the hands of Public Works. * Sept. 13 – At the Tribunal, the Beelbys hear Transport Canada state that "only" 40 houses have been slated for demolition. * Aug. 30 – A new Land Over Landings (LOL) executive is formed: Chair Gord McGregor, Vice-Chairs Mary Delaney and Gerd Untermann, Treasurer Erik von Maydell, and Secretary Gabrielle Untermann. Formal meeting minutes are kept from this point on. Multiple copies of Paper Juggernaut are collected by Gerd for distribution. Plans are set in motion to have information booths at every possible local event. * Sept. 17, 21 – V.O.C.A.L. holds meetings on the evictions situation. * Sept. 28 – Transport Canada announces that the Pickering Airport Site Zoning Regulations have gone into eﬀect. * Sept. 27 – The Knapps' eviction is upheld by the Tribunal. * The name "Land Over Landings" is registered as a business. * Through an Access to Information request, the Beelbys ﬁnd Public Works work orders that were paid for repairs that were never done on their house. They also ﬁnd a Public Works estimate of $104,000 for "necessary repairs," later reduced to $76,000. (The home inspection company had estimated $19,500.) This is but one of many such stories and examples of what was happening on the Lands. Mark Holland had requested this documentation in order to present it to Transport Minister Jean Lapierre with a request for an investigation and moratorium on evictions and demolitions. * Oct. 6 – Mark Holland declares at a town hall meeting that "management of the Lands should be transferred from Public Works." * October – The Federal Liberal caucus supports an immediate moratorium on further evictions and demolitions until the entire process can be reviewed. * LOL writes to the Transport Minister about having "documentary and photographic evidence that there have been irregularities in the federal government's administration and maintenance of the buildings" on the Lands, and supports Mark Holland's request that Public Works "should no longer manage these lands and homes" and that "they should be removed immediately from this position of responsibility and held accountable for their actions in an open, public investigation." * Oct. 18 – The Knapps appeal the Tribunal's decision. * Oct. 11 – National Post article: "Last tenant moves out, new roof goes on: Ottawa spends millions upkeeping vacant homes." The article reveals that remaining tenants have many stories to tell of waste and malfeasance by Public Works, including examples of houses being nicely refurbished and then left vacant and unlocked, or new wells dug for tenants but never hooked up. Mark Holland: "Houses that are beautiful and in excellent shape are empty. I don't know what is going on. The way the Lands have been managed – 'questionable' is a kind term." He wants Transport Canada to turn over management of the Lands to a professional ﬁrm. * Oct. 26 – At a meeting with Mark Holland, Transport Minister LaPierre says that he "will not interfere with current evictions." * Nov. 7 – Pickering Council unanimously passes a motion "to preserve the Tullis Cottage, Brougham Hall, Tremorest Hall, Altona Inn and Brougham Schoolhouse ... and develop a plan to preserve other areas of key importance to Pickering's heritage…." Council asks Transport Canada to rescind the eviction/demolition order on Tullis Cottage. * November – Mark Holland, in his newsletter, advises that he will be holding a town hall meeting on Dec. 16 in Claremont and will be seeking comments regarding this "current 'due diligence' review of the need for an airport." He is pleased the review will be happening before any decision is made on whether to proceed with an environmental assessment. He continues to seek a moratorium on evictions and demolitions and fairer treatment of tenants. * Nov. 14 – A year after the GTAA makes public its draft plan for a regional/reliever airport at Pickering, Land Over Landings stages the Brougham Uprising to prove "we're not dead yet!" Actors and residents, many in period costume "resurrect the spirit of rebels from long ago to reclaim their community and strike a blow against their modern oppressors, Transport Canada and the GTAA, now housed in the historic Bentley House." On a mock scaﬀold, Brougham is saved but the GTAA is hanged in eﬃgy. * Nov. 29 – The Tribunal overturns the Barclays' eviction. Transport Canada rescinds the demolition order on Tullis Cottage and will pay for its repairs. * Dec. 7 – The federal government has called a snap election, and Mark Holland has no doubt that the airport will be an election issue. It's understood that the decision on whether to proceed will be made in 2009 and, if the airport is found to be needed, it could be operational by 2012. * Dec. 6 – The McKays' eviction is overturned by the Tribunal. * Dec. 13-17 – It is reported that 17 new tenders have been issued for wells to be dug on the Lands; 9 other wells are to be decommissioned. * Dec. 19 – The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal has found, with regard to one federal property, that "the Landlord (Public Works and Government Services Canada) is responsible for the poor condition of the rental unit by failing to devote the resources necessary to adequately maintain the rental unit." Also, that "the condition of the rental unit is due to normal wear and tear and usage by the tenants over the past 25 years and the Landlord's failure to perform regular and routine maintenance over that period of time." Therefore, the landlord is found to be "in serious breach of its responsibilities under the Act." In other words, the landlord has a responsibility to ensure that the property doesn't fall into disrepair and cannot then use that fact as grounds for eviction. 2006 * Jan. 21 – LOL holds a fundraiser, "Cabaret of the Gilded Cage," at Brougham Hall. In the years (decades!) to come, there will be many more LOL fundraisers and LOL tables, booths, and displays at countless events and venues, all to inform the public of the airport issue and to increase the supporter base. * Jan. 11 – Land Over Landings and V.O.C.A.L. join forces to host an all-candidates meeting prior to the upcoming federal election. * Jan. 23 – The Conservatives win the election; Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister. * Jan. 26 – MP Mark Holland calls on the new government to honour Liberal commitments re the proposed airport and tenant issues: namely, to continue the due diligence review, continue the informal moratorium on evictions and demolitions, preserve signiﬁcant heritage buildings, and remove Public Works from its role on the Lands. * Jan. 24 – Transport Canada lodges an appeal against the Tribunal's decisions despite having made public assurances that they would abide by the decisions. The Pierces' house is condemned. * Feb. 7 – Tim Dobson, former Pickering-Scarborough Conservative candidate (having lost to Liberal Dan McTeague), advises that "Harper has asked a team of area MPs, candidates and riding association members to form a policy for the Lands." Evictees are advised that "all cases will be amalgamated to contest appeals after all Tribunal decisions are made." * Feb. 13 – LOL receives a form letter from the Finance Minister's correspondence unit in response to LOL's invitation to attend an information meeting at Brougham Hall. The Minister (Jim Flaherty) does not respond to the invitation. * Feb. 14 – McGrath/Ramsey lose their case at the Tribunal. Demolition begins on the gas station in Brougham, on Hwy #7. Shortly after the front awning comes down, work stops. The building will sit derelict for years before demolition is completed – in November 2011. * Mar. 2 – On the 34th anniversary of the airport announcement, "Last Stand," Peter Shatalow's documentary ﬁlm (billed as "the heroic true story of ordinary citizens who found the courage to ﬁght 'Big Government'"), is premiered in the auditorium of J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate in Ajax, to an audience of close to 500. * Feb. 28 – LOL sends congratulatory letters to new federal ministers. Transport Canada issues tenders for the decommissioning of 30 wells. * Mar. 14 – The ﬁrst 50 airport-protest lawn signs are produced. * Apr. 11 – The Tribunal studying the tenants' complaints blasts the federal landlords. Public Works loses the right to continue managing the Lands. TC turns over the responsibilities to SNC-Lavalin ProFac, a private land-management agency. Long-overdue property repairs will henceforth be properly carried out. * April – Transport Canada intends to demolish 86 houses on the Lands. (This information is obtained by Mark Holland months later through an Access to Information request; the memo is partly censored.) * Apr. 11 – The Beelbys and MacKays win at the Tribunal and receive rent rebates. * Jun. 10 – We attend the Durham Conservation Association's AGM where we are awarded $2,000 from their Trillium grant. * May 3 – Mark Holland writes to Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon to express his disappointment that there will be no public consultation around the "due diligence" review, pointing out the possibility of a skewed outcome if the right questions aren't asked. He also asks the Minister for his assurance that Transport Canada's appeal of several of the Tribunal's rulings is not just a way to avoid "responsibility for past failures." * Jul. 1 – LOL attends a meeting at the Toronto Hunt Club featuring Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon and other Conservative politicians. * Sept. 7 – Mark Holland writes to say that Minister Cannon has ﬁnally responded to his letter of May 3 but not very helpfully. The gist of what he learns: the government is engaging in "long-term planning to ensure the protection of the Pickering Lands for future aviation needs"; the "due diligence" review will be going ahead with no public participation; if an airport need is found, an environmental assessment will be held and the public would be involved then; and Cannon says the current methodology for terminating tenancies for demolition is "fair and transparent." * Sept. 5 – We receive a letter from federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, suggesting a meeting. (It never happens.) Meetings of the Grow the Greenbelt project take place with Jim Robb, the Sierra Club of Canada, the Rouge Duﬃns Greenspace Coalition... * Sept. 7 – We learn that Transport Canada's appeal regarding the eviction cases they lost at the Tribunal will be heard by Ontario's Superior Court of Justice on October 16 and 17. Meanwhile, decisions that had gone in Transport Canada's favour are also being appealed and will also be heard by the provincial Court at Osgoode Hall. * Oct. 16 – We are joined by members of the Sierra Club, Grow the Greenbelt, the Pickering Green Festival, and others as we demonstrate in front of Osgoode Hall while the eviction cases are being heard. * Nov. 6 – Vice-chair Gerd Untermann agrees to pursue a suggestion of Lorne Almack's: form a committee that will work on proposals for the future use of the Lands, concentrating on getting them preserved as foodland within a Land Trust. * Nov. 2 – "Last Stand" is shown at the International Environmental Film and Video Festival at the Royal Ontario Museum. * Dec. 18 – Mirabel: CBC News reports that "[I]n a move he called 'correcting a historical injustice,' Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced [today] the return of 4,450 hectares of farmland expropriated a generation ago to build Mirabel airport. About 125 farmers, who rent their land from Ottawa, will be allowed to buy it back more than 37 years after they were forced to sell to the federal government to make room for the ill-fated Mirabel International Airport, north of Montreal." In his speech, Harper calls this "correcting a mistake of history." 2007 * Jan. 24 – In an advisory, Mark Holland invites the media to accompany him on a tour of the houses slated for demolition. "He believes that there has been a strategy to depopulate the area in order to reduce public resistance to an airport in Pickering." * Jan. 9 – Transport Minister Cannon announces that demolitions will be resumed, thereby eﬀectively ending the informal moratorium. The Pickering News Advertiser carries a notice that seven houses and ﬁve barns on the Lands are to be demolished. n * Jan. 25 – MP Holland tours houses slated for demolition. CBC/Radio-Canada is there. * Feb. 1 – Jim Flaherty hosts an Open House at Westminster United Church in Whitby. Gord and Sharon Powell attend for LOL. * Jan. 26 – Holland conducts a town hall meeting about the situation on the Lands. * Feb. 21 – Pickering's Mayor Ryan addresses the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade: "We all know that an airport in Pickering would have a tremendous ﬁnancial beneﬁt. ... It is expected that a Pickering airport would have an annual economic worth in the hundreds of millions." He does not give sources for his ﬁgures. * Mar. 20 – 1,000 new buttons and 5,000 brochures are produced for a spring and summer publicinformation blitz by LOL. Local historian John Sabean, meanwhile, races against time to catalogue buildings on the Lands before they disappear. * Mid-March – The provincial courts ﬁnd against all ﬁve evictees. Plans are made to apply to the haourt of Appeal. Those who'd originally won their case before the Tribunal have the option of going back to the Tribunal. * Mar. 26 – There are 46 attendees at a special meeting at Brougham Hall to discuss a trust fund – the Pickering Lands Defence Fund – sponsored by Mark Holland for evictees: over $10,000 is raised. The Fund will be administered pro bono by Aird and Berlis. Brougham Recreation undertakes to donate up to $3,000 per family to cover appeal costs. * Mar. 28 – Michael Robertson and Peter Rodrigues make a presentation at Regional Council: the upshot is that the Planning Committee's motion requesting that Transport Canada hasten its airport decision doesn't go to a vote and is sent back to the committee. * Apr. 27-29 – LOL materials are displayed at the Green Living Show at Exhibition Place. The leader of Ontario's Conservative Party, John Tory, says of the airport plan: "It was a bad idea 30 years ago and it's still a bad idea." * Apr. – Mark Holland, in his April newsletter, says he has now seen written evidence that Transport Canada's policy "– as long expected – is not to re-rent any buildings once they become vacant. Instead they are boarded up and allowed to deteriorate ... they see the people as being in the way of their plans." He also refers to a Transport Canada memo dated February 21, 2006, obtained via an Access to Information request, in which concern was expressed by TC about "possible media attention" over the screening of "Last Stand" in 2006, causing them to send a staﬀ member to the event to try to obtain a copy of the ﬁlm. Other related Access to Information requests ﬁled by Holland have gone unfulﬁlled by TC to the point where oﬃcials at the Oﬃce of the Information Commissioner agree that the government is in violation of the law. * Apr. 30 – Bernadette Zubrisky, Sierra Club of Canada, sends an impassioned e-mail to Prime Minister Harper, pointing out how much more important these Lands would be to the GTA if retained as greenspace, oﬀering citizens biodiversity, clean water, "forests as carbon sinks, and ﬁelds to grow our own food" – in what she calls "a new integrated national/provincial near to urban park." * May 9 – Members of LOL present a letter at the AGM of the Great Toronto Airports Authority, suggesting that the GTAA enter into partnerships with existing area airports to handle present and future air traﬃc, thereby preserving "grade A farmland and environmentally sensitive green spaces such as the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Duﬃns-Rouge Agricultural preserve." * May 2 – Melissa Morgan receives a reply from Transport Canada to a letter she wrote on March 28 to Transport Minister Cannon: She is assured that "Transport Canada takes its responsibilities as custodian and landlord very seriously" and she is told that "In October 2006, Ontario Divisional Court found that Transport Canada, as Landlord, met the conditions to terminate the tenancies in question, and that the department had, in fact, acted in food faith." * May 10 – Transport Canada has found from its due diligence eﬀorts that further study is required on the airport matter. From Mark Holland's May newsletter: "The Conservative government has let the fox into the chicken coop by awarding a contract to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to assess the need for an airport in Pickering ... the ﬁndings will become part of Transport Canada's so-called 'due diligence' review." Holland points out that "In September 2005, the Liberal Transport Minister promised a thorough and impartial due diligence review that would look at transportation needs throughout southern Ontario, and consider other alternatives such as Hamilton. This completely reverses that commitment [because] the GTAA is not partial. It is an interested stakeholder. Of course they're going to recommend in favour of an airport, and that's what this government wants." According to Minister Cannon, the GTAA's work will be conducted over a six-month period. * At the Regional Planning Committee meeting, Isobel and Tom Thompson, Brian Buckles, Stephen Fredericks, and Melissa Morgan speak of their concerns regarding the low-key GTAA announcement * May 15 – Transport Canada's lawyers refuse to negotiate the re-renting of houses. The Knapps and Mike Puterbough seek leave to appeal. by Cannon. A few councillors feel that the GTAA appointment is inappropriate. Regional Chair Roger Anderson and Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan disagree, as expected. * June 19 – More from Mark Holland re documents obtained under the Access to Information Act: The documents are so heavily censored as to make them diﬃcult to follow but it's clear that Transport Canada has foregone considerable revenue by refusing to re-rent houses, instead leaving them to sit vacant and deteriorate. "This is a department that is so ﬁxated on building an unnecessary airport in Pickering that they have completely bungled the management of the lands." An independent study into the status of the site in 2004 found that about 70 houses were vacant and boarded up, and that this lost revenue stream was compounded by the need for more security on the site, as it became a magnet for all kinds of illicit activity. * June 5 – Global News producer Neil McArtney and a cameraman attend an LOL meeting. Wendy Beelby shares the results of an Access to Information request regarding federal money spent on Fran Day's house after her death. This work was done even though Transport Canada never leased the house again. It was demolished. * The guest at tonight's LOL meeting is Steve Gilchrist, former MPP and now on the board of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust; Wendy Beelby reports that Profac have visited her house and will remediate any mould found and will also put on a new roof. * Sept. 6 – In a Toronto Star article, Toby Lennox, VP of corporate aﬀairs at the GTAA, says that Pearson could reach capacity within 20 years, even after building its sixth runway, so where do they go? "We're on record. We got asked a number of years ago by Transport Canada to put together a plan for the development of an airport at Pickering. We did that. The proposal we came up with is not a six-runway ... airport. It's a reliever airport, it's three runways maximum, and all planning was done to build signiﬁcant buﬀer areas. ... It's gonna have to get done." Mark Holland is quoted as saying "it blew my mind" that TC had hired the GTAA to study airport capacity issues in southern Ontario, knowing the agency's pro-Pickering position on the matter. Lennox counters that the GTAA won the contract "fair and square." TC's spokesperson Paula Fairfax says the ﬁnal decision on an airport won't happen until at least 2009. * Aug. 12 – We give Steve Gilchrist and federal Environment Minister John Baird a tour of the Lands. * Oct. 16 – The Knapps and Mike Puterbough are refused leave to appeal. * Nov. 20 – The Knapps and Mike Puterbough are given dates for the termination of their leases – January 31, 2008. Ed Vikari suggests it's time for "the Stewardship Group" to be removed from LOL's logo. * Nov. 6 – First serious discussion by LOL of moving away from trying to save houses and, instead, moving toward preserving the land. * December – Land Over Landings and all concerned citizens in the area nervously await the GTAA report. It is expected to be strongly pro-airport, even though an airport would destroy prime farmland just when an international food crisis is looming and when airlines keep ﬁling for bankruptcy. * Dec. 31 – LOL hosts it's ﬁrst New Year's Eve Dance, at the Brougham Hall, to help bolster community spirits. (It's a huge success.) 2008 * Feb. to May – We participate in the Claremont Winter Carnival and the Whitevale Spring Festival. Artist-in-residence Heather Rigby proposes a Dinner Plate Project to spotlight the cause: she will "draw" and mow a huge, decorative place setting on Michael Robertson's hang glider ﬂying ﬁeld on the Lands. TC gives permission for the Project. * Jan. 28 – LOL organizes a demonstration outside Mike Puterbough's house to protest his mid-winter eviction from a house that Public Works had refused to maintain. He tells the media: "I'm too tired to ﬁght any more." * May 7 – We once again attend the GTAA's AGM and deliver a letter to the Chairman of the Board, following up on requests in the previous year's letter and making the case again for dropping any plans to put an airport on this prime farmland. * June 17 – The Beelbys ﬁle an appeal at Divisional Court. * June 2 – 50 new No Airport signs are ordered; new rack cards are approved; letters to politicians are prepared for people to sign and send. * June through August – We attend GDA's AGM, have booths at EcoFair, Cedarvale Park, the Glass House (part of the Claremont House Tour), the Cornell picnic... * Sept. 2 – The Beelbys move into a house on Orchard Heights in Brougham, where they still live. * July 1 – The Beelby's are oﬀered a settlement by TC's lawyers. * Sept. 14 – A Land Trust meeting takes place at Lorne Almack's, called by Heather Rigby and attended by Brian Buckles, Gord Willson, Melissa Morgan, Michael, Pat Horne, and Gabrielle. Attendees review an early draft of Lorne's "Management of Public Lands: A Prospectus," (prepared for Green Door Alliance – Durham Conservation). * Oct. 14 – The election delivers a Conservative minority government; our Liberal MP, Mark Holland, retains his seat. * Oct. 8 – We host an all-candidates meeting for the upcoming federal election. John Wager, from Greenwood, moderates. * Oct. 19 – "Last Stand" is screened at the Claremont Community Centre. Mary and Michael R. speak. * Lived-in properties on the Lands continue to be maintained by the federal landlord now that Public Works is out of the picture. And for the ﬁrst time in years, tenants are oﬀered other homes on the Lands if their houses are deemed too costly to repair. But the population is declining. Houses of families that are moving away, or houses of elderly tenants who move out, or who die, are usually boarded up. Few new tenants are allowed to move in, and only then, on commercial leases. * Nov. 15 – Mary, Gabrielle, and Sharon Powell go to Ottawa to attend Mark Holland's swearing-in ceremony and dinner and to deliver an information package to (now Transport Minister) John Baird's oﬃce. * Deadlines for release of the GTAA's needs assessment report have come and gone; there is no news from Ottawa. * Dec. 31 – New Year's Eve Dance at the Brougham Hall. 2009 * Jan. 28 – Gabrielle and Myrna McGregor paint the 4x8 map of the Lands that will be used as an event display piece for years. * Jan. 28 – Mary, LOL's vice-chair, is interviewed on "First Local" radio. The following month, she does presentations at local schools. * Mar. 3 – First mention (by Sharon Powell) of the need to make a business case for the Lands; there is news that the Browns are to be rehoused on Orchard Heights in Brougham, after receiving an eviction notice. * Tenants receive a letter from TC advising that the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) will be monitoring the Lands. It includes the unprecedented admission that the Lands are a "valuable part of Canada's natural heritage." * Apr. 21 – Mary works with new webmaster Karen Phillips to renew and enhance LOL's website. * May through September – We attend a GTAA public meeting, staﬀ booths at the Whitevale Festival, the Archeology Festival (Claremont Conservation Area), and the Greenwood Festival, attend an RDGC meeting, and more. * July 7 – Posted on YouTube is a short video of Mark Holland promoting a Land Trust for the Lands. * May 22 – We receive a response from the GTAA's new Chair to last year's letter to the previous board chairman. She largely repeats the standard mantra: that any decision will be made by the Government of Canada and not by the GTAA, so we should raise our concerns with Transport Canada. (At least she answered...) * October – (exact date unknown) Although the needs assessment report still hasn't been made public, the GTAA quietly packs its bags and, one night, moves out of the Bentley House. We take this as a pretty clear sign that the study has been unable to make a case for an airport in Pickering. * Oct. 20 – Lorne Almack introduces his fully ﬂeshed-out Prospectus on "Management of Federal Lands in Pickering," in which he argues persuasively for a Conservation Land Trust. * Oct. 4 – Mary presents our case at a Liberal Party Membership Fair. * Oct. 22 – We attend a meet-and-greet for Chris Alexander. * Nov. 6 through Dec. 31 – A busy schedule: a meeting in Stouﬀville re Markham Airport (this is a public Open House, broadcast on CBC; Sharon P. and Michael R. attend); a York Region Environmental Alliance (YREA) meeting; a booth at Chef's Challenge, Dunbarton HS; a presentation to geography teachers of Durham District School Board (DDSB); and... the New Year's Eve Dance. 2010 * Jan. 19 – The guest at LOL's regular meeting is Cllr David Pickles, who explains why he doesn't want an airport question on the ballot in the upcoming municipal elections. We're against the idea for the same reason – the risk that a majority of voters, including many newcomers to the area, unfamiliar with the history and what is at stake, would believe the need-for-airport-capacity arguments and the job-creation promises, and vote yes. * We maintain ties with Mark Holland's staﬀ, meet with Rouge Park farmers, and purchase a laptop for presentations. It will be used a lot! * Feb. on – A whirlwind of high school presentations and attendance at, or participation in, meetings and events of Durham Culinary Assoc., Markham Foodbelt, Environmental Stewardship Pickering, Climate Change Forum Ajax, the Whitevale Festival... * Feb. 6 – Mary meets with a supportive professor of Environmental Studies at Trent. * Feb. 19 – Gerd and Gabrielle are interviewed by Global News on the matter of the ballot question. * Apr. 19 – The airport question is removed from the municipal ballot. * Mar. 16 – Meeting at Whitevale to discuss proposals for a national park. Among those in attendance: Patricia Short-Galle from TC, Jim Robb of Friends of the Rouge Watershed, representatives of Whitevale, Green Durham Association.... * May 10 – Ottawa conﬁrms what has been widely suspected: the GTAA's Needs Assessment Study Report has been in Transport Canada's hands since March. It will be released, the public is told, only after a "due diligence review" by TC. Pro-airport Regional Chair Roger Anderson, believing he knows the report's conclusions, vows to "market the hell out of it." * June 15 – LOL member Peter Rodrigues attends the GTAA's AGM and reports hearing conﬁrmation that TC is reviewing the needs assessment report. Meanwhile, some houses on the Lands are being re-tenanted and leased for commercial uses. * May 18 – Concerns are raised about the dumping of soil on former Pickering Cllr Rick Johnson's leased property on Brock Road, on the Lands. * July – Federal Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieﬀ visits Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade (APBOT) and publicly states that the Liberal Party of Canada is opposed to an airport on these agricultural lands. Along with MPs Mark Holland and Dan McTeague, he joins APBOT in calling on the federal government to release the ﬁndings of the needs assessment study. * Aug. 20 – Mark Holland writes to new Transport Minister Chuck Strahl querying TC's decision to grant permission to a tenant to truck in unspeciﬁed amounts of unmonitored earth to the property he leases on Brock Road. Holland has received hundreds of communications from constituents concerned by the negative impact this unmonitored dumping will have on the environment. He requests documentation on the matter that can be shared with his constituents. * August – What Transport Canada releases instead is a list of 42 vacant structures, many of signiﬁcant heritage value but now slated for demolition. Before a formal attempt can be mounted to save the houses, two of them burn down in suspicious circumstances. * Sept. 19 – Resident artist Heather Rigby's Dinner Plate Project is completed and photographed from the air. The image will be much used, on placemats, cards, ﬂiers, and in news articles. * Oct. 25 – Peter Rodrigues is elected councillor for Ward 3, which includes the Lands. * Sept. 21 – Mary and Gerd attend a luncheon for Michael Ignatieﬀ, who again makes his position clear: there is "no business case for an airport." * Oct. 27 – The owner of Buttonville Municipal Airport, a busy general-aviation airport in Markham, announces its closure in ﬁve years' time. The news spurs immediate claims in certain quarters that Ottawa will now have to build Pickering to replace Buttonville. * November - LOL members attend an Ontario Farmland Trust workshop, give presentations at more high schools, meet with the Durham Food Policy Council... * Dec. 31 – New Year's Eve Dance. * December – New Transport Minister Chuck Strahl (PC) responds to a July letter from Ignatieﬀ, Holland, and McTeague, telling them that the government's intent is to eventually clear the Lands of all buildings. 2011 * Jan. 12 – We meet with federal Conservative candidate Chris Alexander (PC) at the McGregors' house in Brougham. * January – The City of Pickering asks Transport Canada not to demolish 7 potential heritage structures and asks that Ottawa fund the cost of heritage research and reinstate the heritage steering committee (involving Pickering, Markham, and Ottawa) that had been abandoned. * Jan. 17 – Prior to a Pickering Council meeting, LOL holds a rally protesting the demolitions. * Feb. 10 – Transport Minister Strahl gives the houses a reprieve but refuses to fund research or upkeep, calling this a municipal responsibility – even though Ottawa has been owner and landlord for 39 years. The steering committee is not reconvened. Instead, TC issues a list of 60 more structures to be demolished. * Jan. 18 – A petition opposing the demolitions is opened on MP Mark Holland's website. * February and March – LOL participates in the Claremont Winter Carnival (winning a $50 prize for most humorous ﬂoat?!) and has a booth on Heritage Day at Pickering Town Centre; we also attend a public meeting at Brougham to review Pickering's Oﬃcial Plan. * May 17 – Mark Holland vows to continue ﬁghting on our behalf. Pickering Green Festival is disbanding and reports that the organization's funds will be donated to Land Over Landings. * May 2 – The federal election brings a change of government. Chris Alexander is our new MP. * The pride and joy of Brougham, the City, and the Region – Durham Sustain Ability, founded by Jack McGinnis, world-renowned father of Blue Box recycling – is forced to vacate Brougham's Commercial House after draconian changes to the rental agreement. Brougham's coﬀee shop closes. But the City of Pickering leases the showpiece Bentley House as Parks and Recreation oﬃces – welcome news within the much-diminished community. * Ottawa's new mantra for the Lands is now this: a "balanced" solution that must combine "job creation, economic activity and environmental stewardship." Land Over Landings, Green Durham Association (formerly Green Door Alliance and Durham Conservation), and other groups argue that intensive food production under a Land Trust would meet all those criteria. According to Ottawa, Transport Canada will now "work on a land use and management plan for the 7,530 hectares." * July 11 - Transport Canada ﬁnally releases the GTAA's Needs Assessment Study: Pickering Lands report, leading to a ﬂlurry of interviews and media coverage. The Report states that the Pickering Lands should be retained for a future new airport, to be needed "most likely" between 2027 and 2037, but maybe as late as 2041 – or later. "If and when required" is the ﬁnal word. No business case has been made. * Land Over Landings research unit sets to work on a detailed response to the Needs Assessment Study. Meanwhile, various local politicians (the usual suspects) claim, without evidence, that the report provides a resolution to the situation. * Aug. 17 – We take MP Chris Alexander on a "wall-to-wall" tour of the Lands; he is shocked by the state of the area – "like a war zone, as if there had been a war and nothing had been done since" – and stunned by the size and emptiness of the site. * July 19 – The news of the report's release brings many new faces to LOL's next meeting. Mary notes that we've been "in limbo for 6 years, now we're ready." Many attendees sign on to various work groups. * Sept. 12 – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, addressing Ajax-Pickering's Board of Trade, says: "This is about economic development in Durham Region … It's our turn to grow … To do that we need highways … we need to improve our airport facilities." * Sept. 26 – Peter Rodrigues and Gabrielle meet with the CEO of Hamilton International Airport, to sound him out on the Pickering airport issue. He has no interest in getting involved but does concede that building Pickering would not help Hamilton. * Sept. 16 – Transport Minister Denis Lebel responds to a Pickering's Council request that the City be allowed to investigate and perhaps implement "a limited program to assist with the private acquisition of heritage structures for [removal] to private lands." TC is willing to consider this, as long as the lessee is the City and the City negotiates with private parties independently of Transport Canada. He also makes clear that demolitions will still occur with regard to any structures in Brougham that are "vacant, dilapidated," and he points out (as if Transport Canada had played no role in this) that "vacant structures ... pose a very real threat to the health and safety of the public, including ﬁrst responders." Pickering is given until September 30 to decide on any leases. * Oct. 20 – Michael and Gord meet with Dan Glass of the UK's environmentalist protest group, Plane Stupid. * Nov. 20 – MP Chris Alexander hosts a town hall meeting in Claremont. The topic: "Forty Years Later: How Should the Pickering Lands Be Used?" He says he is 100% against an airport. For the ﬁrst time, we hear a federal government oﬃcial refer to the situation on the Lands as "a breach of trust." The large and passionate audience is virtually unanimous in demanding that the site be preserved for agricultural use and as a natural heritage area. * Nov. 15 – The City of Pickering says it's "trying to work with TC to save one or two important heritage homes." * Dec. 12 – Dying for an Airport is published by Pat Valentine. A condensed history of the expropriated area that also documents, in words and pictures, the deterioration of the Lands and everything on them, will be used as an advocacy tool and a fundraiser for Land Over Landings. * Dec. 31 – New Year's Eve Dance. * Dec. 23 – From the Toronto Star: "Plans for the land remain vague, but a footprint for the airport is expected to be completed by next spring, according to Paula Fairfax, a Transport Canada spokesperson." And the demolitions continue... * Jan. 17 – 30 copies of Dying for an Airport have already been sold. The City of Pickering reports that it will be renting 10 or 11 houses from TC "for 6 months." * Feb. 13 – A number of LOL members contribute to a video by Peter Shatalow, each of us, in our own short clip, giving reasons why we think the Pickering Lands should be saved. The result to be posted on YouTube. * Jan. 31 – We formalize LOL's overall goal: "To secure the preservation, in perpetuity, of the federally owned lands in Pickering, Markham, and Uxbridge, as food-producing farmland and unspoiled natural heritage for the health and long-term economic beneﬁt of the Greater Toronto region." * Mar. 2, 3 – We mark the 40th anniversary of the airport announcement on the ﬁrst of those days and celebrate the 40th anniversary of POP on the second. Both "Open House" events are held at the Brougham Hall. On the second day, speakers Charles Godfrey, Bill Lishman, Bob Almack, Anne Howes (of "Last Stand" fame), Mike "the Kite" Robertson, Charles Neville, Tommy Thompson, Brett Davies, and others address the crowd from the head table after a raucous demonstration outside the old GTAA site oﬃce (the Bentley House). Over 170 attendees sign the "I was here" poster. * April – We post on our website our detailed "Response to the Needs Assessment Study: Pickering Lands, Final Report." Its message in a nutshell: "According to the media and airport proponents, the study had concluded that an airport would be needed in Pickering by 2027. Not so. Our Response quotes from the Report's conclusion [see entry for July 11, 2011, above] ... In fact, there is no clarity in the Final Report as to when (or even if) the need for a Pickering airport will arise. The ﬁndings were questionable, ambiguous, and contradictory...." * Mar. 20 – Our response to the Needs Assessment Study Report is presented at today's LOL executive meeting. Correspondence is ongoing with City staﬀ regarding the status of heritage houses on the Lands. The limited edition run of Dying for an Airport has sold out. * Apr. 17 – We learn that ﬁve buildings on the Lands are to be used by the City of Pickering and four will be removed by private individuals. Lorne Almack updates his Prospectus to include reference to "building a community." * Oct. 24 – We learn that Ever Green Villa/Melody Farm is slated for demolition. The house had been leased for many years but, in 2000 or so, TC chose to board it up. Three demolition orders had been successfully fought but the depredations of weather, time, and TC's policies of deliberate neglect have ﬁnally prevailed. * July 20 – Mary is interviewed by Channel 12 News. * Oct. 25 – Ten of us cross the "No Trespassing" barriers to have a closer look at the house and photograph/document its condition before it's pulled down. Ransacked by squatters, weed-infested and rotting, the handsome home that, when ﬁrst built, people travelled miles to see, is now unsalvageable. * Nov. 13 – MP Chris Alexander hosts an informal afternoon public "Conversation" at the Claremont Community Centre. He agrees with our reading of the Needs Assessment Study Report. Says that * Nov. 9 – Ever Green Villa/Melody Manor is demolished. We demonstrate on Brock Road for the better part of the day to raise public awareness as bulldozers tear the house down. Jim Flaherty recently told him he would like to see "an announcement" re the Lands sooner rather than later, but Chris doesn't foresee one before early next year. He understands that the announcement would say that a framework has been set up to invite and consider solid proposals from all interested groups or individuals who have a vision for the Lands, and he advises us to be ready with a vision (and implies that we should have a solid business case and powerful backing). He says that the arguments of those who want to put a small airport on the Lands would not go down well with Transport Canada. * Dec. 18 – Chris Alexander advises: "Expect an announcement from Jim Flaherty very soon." * Nov. 20 – Pam Veinotte, Superintendent, Rouge National Urban Park, tells us: "There are no plans to extend the Park onto federal Lands." * Dec. 31 – New Year's Eve Dance. Revised 13 January 2024
___________________________________________________________ OPINION ___________________________________________________________ A. INTRODUCTION 1. I am asked to advise on the obligations of Government of the United Kingdom under international human rights law to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of caste. 2. I am further asked to advise on whether it is sufficient in international human rights law to justify failing to enact such legislation on the grounds of evidence gathering or further consultation. 3. I am not asked to advise on remedy. 4. My conclusion is that the United Kingdom is obligated by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ("the Convention") to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of caste and to ensure that victims of such discrimination have an effective remedy. The failure of the Government of the United Kingdom to do this means they are in breach of Article 2 (1) and Article 6 of the Convention. 5. Further, the violation cannot be justified, either in principle or on the facts, by the necessity of either further evidence gathering or consultation. B. CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN THE UK 6. The Equality Act 2010 ("the Act") was enacted on the 8 April 2010. The purpose of the Act was to consolidate and include a complex raft of equality legislation prohibiting discrimination on various grounds. 1 1 Hansard, 11 May 2009, Column 553 (Second Reading Speech) 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. On 7 July 2009, during the Committee stage in the House of Commons, an amendment was introduced to include “caste” as a self-standing category of discrimination: a "protected characteristic" in its own right. 2 An amendment was also introduced defining "caste" as a subset of the protected characteristic of “race”. 3 The House of Commons rejected both amendments. The Solicitor-General's justification was that there was very little evidence of caste discrimination occurring in the United Kingdom. 4 As a result of the above, there were two legislative decisions. The first was that the definition of race in section 9 (1) of the Act would be limited to “colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins”. The second was that section 9 (5) would be introduced, providing for the option to amend section 9 to include caste discrimination in the future. Section 9(5) provides that: A Minister of the Crown may by order— (a) amend this section so as to provide for caste to be an aspect of race; (b) amend this Act so as to provide for an exception to a provision of this Act to apply, or not to apply, to caste or to apply, or not to apply, to caste in specified circumstances 14. It is widely believed that s. 9 (5) of the Act was introduced as a compromise. 2 House of Commons, Notice of Amendments, 7 July 2009 3 House of Lords, Lords Amendments to the Equality Bill, 24 March 2010 4 Hansard, 6 April 2010, Column 927 5 "Caste prejudice 'may exist' in British workplaces", BBC News, 3 March 2010 5 15. Since 2010, the Government have not sought to activate s. 9 (5) (or indicate one way or another as to whether they intend to do so). Likewise, the Government have not legislated for caste discrimination in any other way. C. THE UNITED KINGDOM'S OBLIGATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Is discrimination on the grounds of caste protected in international human rights law? 16. Article 1.1 of the Convention defines "racial discrimination" as meaning: any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. 17. However, General Comment No. 29 states that discrimination based on "descent" in Article 1.1 includes: discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights. 6 18. Further, in 2000 the Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights ("UN Sub-Commission") passed Resolution 2000/4 declaring that discrimination based on work and descent is a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law. 7 19. Finally, the Report to the General Assembly of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related 6 General Recommendation No. 29, Preamble 7 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 2000/4, Discrimination based on work and descent, Adopted without a vote at its 17 th meeting, 11 August 2000 intolerance, of 24 May 2011 confirmed the "existence of international legal obligations to protect against discrimination based on work and descent." 8 20. It is therefore clear that since 2000 and certainly since 2002, international human rights law has recognised "caste" as an aspect of "race discrimination" warranting protection. What are the obligations of the United Kingdom under the Convention? 21. The United Kingdom has signed and ratified the Convention. In particular, the United Kingdom became subject to the obligations contained within the Convention on 20 March 1969, thirteen days after its ratification of the Convention. 9 22. Article 2. 1 of the Convention imposes an obligation on State parties to: d) prohibit and bring to an end, by all appropriate means, including legislation as required by circumstances and other means of eliminating barriers between races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen racial division. 23. Article 6 of the Convention requires the United Kingdom to guarantee to all persons within its jurisdiction: effective protection and remedies, through the competent national tribunals and other State institutions, against any acts of racial discrimination which violate his human rights and fundamental freedoms contrary to this Convention, as well as the right to seek from such tribunals just and adequate reparation or satisfaction for any damage suffered as a result of such discrimination. 8 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council, 17 th session, Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Githu Muigai, A/HRC/17/40, 24 May 2011 at para 86 9 CERD, Article 19.2 23. 26. In interpreting the precise content of these obligations, reference may be made to the following: i. General recommendations issued by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ("CERD") in accordance with article 9.2 of the Convention; ii. Concluding observations made by the CERD with respect to the reporting mechanism established in article 9 of the Convention; and iii. Observations of the CERD made under the individual complaints mechanism established by article 14 of the Convention. 24. Firstly, it is clear that State Parties are under a positive obligation to continuously monitor instances of racial discrimination occurring within their jurisdiction. 25. The CERD has recognised on a number of occasions that a State party to the Convention cannot claim to be satisfying is obligations merely by asserting that there is an absence of racial discrimination within its territory. 10 According to the CERD, State parties are required under the Convention to take legislative, judicial and other measures to give effect to its provisions, even in the apparent 11 absence of racism. Secondly, any legislation that implements a State’s Convention obligations must be "totally adequate to combat discrimination effectively." 12 Where the adopted laws “do not seem to respond fully to the requirements of the Convention”, a State party will fail to uphold its obligations. 13 Further, a State is required to, inter alia , ensure that all available domestic remedies are widely disseminated. 10 Jamaica, CERD, A/57/18 (2002) 30 at para 131 11 Qatar, CERD, a/57/18 (2002) 38 at para 190 12 Austria, CERD, A/57/18 (2002) 15 at para 29 13 Botswana, CERD, A/57/18 (2002) 53 at para 298 14 Ecuador, CERD, A/58/18 (2003) 22 at para 64 14 27. Finally, where discrimination has been identified, States are under "a positive obligation to take effective action." 15 The CERD has observed that "it does not suffice ... merely to declare acts of racial discrimination punishable on paper. Rather, criminal laws and other legal provisions prohibiting racial discrimination must also be effectively implemented by the competent national tribunals and other State institutions. 16 Where a State Party fails to "carry out an effective investigation to determine whether or not an act of racial discrimination had taken place", that State Party violates article 2.1(d) of the Convention. 17 Recommendations and Responses: The CERD, UPR and Special Rapporteur 28. The CERD has expressed a clear view on the lack of caste discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom. 29. In the CERD's Concluding Observations in August 2003, (CERD/C/63/CO/11), the CERD made the following recommendation to the UK Government: 25. The Committee recalls its general recommendation 29, in which the Committee condemns descent-based discrimination, such as discrimination on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status, as a violation of the Convention, and recommends that a prohibition against such discrimination be included in domestic legislation. The Committee would welcome information on this issue in the next periodic report. [Emphasis added]. 30. The United Kingdom responded to the CERD's recommendations in their combined 18 th and 19 th reports in 2010: 42. The Government has noted the Committee's request for information on "descent-based" discrimination in the UK 15 Jama v Denmark, Communication No. 41/2008, 21 August 2009, para 7.2; Adan v Denmark, Communication No. 46/2008, 13 August 2010, para 7.2; Dawas and Shava v Denmark, Communication No. 46/2009, 6 March 2012, para 7.2 16 Gelle v Denmark, Communication No. 34/2004, 6 March 2006, para 7.3; Jama v Denmark, Communication No. 41/2008, 21 August 2009, para 7.3; 17 Adan v Denmark, Communication No. 46/2008, 13 August 2010, para 7.7 (paragraph 24, 2003 Concluding Observations). The Government has seen no firm evidence on whether castebased discrimination in the fields covered by the Convention exists to any significant extent in the UK. The Government has therefore made a commitment to commission research into caste discrimination. 31. In March 2010, the Government commissioned a report to verify the existence of caste-based discrimination to assess the nature, extent and severity of caste prejudice, discrimination and harassment in the United Kingdom. 32. Further, on 6 July 2010 (A/HRC/21/9), the following recommendation was made to the Government under the Universal Periodic Review Procedure ("UPR"): 110.61. Put in practice a national strategy to eliminate discrimination against caste, through the immediate adoption of the Equality Law of 2010 that prohibits such discrimination, in conformity with its international human rights obligations, including CERD's General Recommendation 29 and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism. [Emphasis added]. 33. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research published its report in December 2010. 34. The report identified discrimination and harassment in relation to work (bullying, recruitment, promotion, task allocation); provisions of services and education (bullying). The report concluded that the existing legislation did not cover caste discrimination and recommended that "extending the definition of race to include caste would provide further, explicit protection". 18 35. The United Kingdom's response to the UPR in September 2012 was: 18 Hilary Metcalf and Heather Rolfe, "Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain", December 2010 at page 65 The UK Government are currently considering the evidence available to them, such as the report by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR), together with the correspondence and representations put forward by both those who want the Government to legislate and those who are opposed to such legislation being introduced before reaching any conclusion on whether or not to prohibit caste discrimination as a specific aspect of race discrimination under the Equality Act 2010." 19 36. Finally, the Report to the General Assembly of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance of 24 May 2011 notes that: The general measures contained in general recommendation No. 29 (2002) of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination should also be implemented. Specific legislation to outlaw direct and indirect racial discrimination against the affected groups is recommended. [Emphasis added]. Conclusion on obligation 37. It is clear from both Article 1.1 (as interpreted by General Comment No. 29) and Article 2.1 of the Convention that the UK is obliged, as a matter of international human rights law, to legislate for caste discrimination. 38. This position was confirmed to the UK in the 2003 CERD Concluding Observations recommending that "a prohibition against such discrimination be included in domestic legislation" and reiterated in a variety of ways thereafter. 39. Therefore the failure of the Government of the United Kingdom to legislate for caste discrimination is, prima facie, a violation of Articles 2 (1) and 6 of the Convention. 19 United Kingdom response to the Universal Periodic Review recommendations, Annex, 23 September 2012 40. However, international human rights law does not mandate the mechanism through which State parties choose to implement their obligations. 20 The UK is therefore not required under its Convention obligations to activate section 9(5) of the Act. The Convention simply requires the UK to provide effective legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of caste. D. CAN THE DELAY IN LEGISLATING FOR CASTE DISCRIMINATION BE JUSTIFIED? 41. In light of the UK's position in 2010 and 2012 (see paras 31 and 36 above), an issue arises as to whether it is possible for the Government to justify nonlegislation for discrimination due to a desire to either obtain further evidence or engage in further consultation. 42. The obligation in Article 2(1) above is described as being one which applies "without delay." 21 43. Further, the positive obligation to implement legislation does not depend on evidential issues. It is clear that reliance on an apparent absence of racism is not a ground for failing to satisfy the obligations under the Convention: the requirement to take legislative, judicial and other measures remains. 22 44. It is therefore clear that the obligation to enact legislation is an immediate one. This is further the case when one considers the status of non-discrimination in international law generally. 23 45. Therefore, it is likely to be the case that the UK have been in breach of their Convention obligations since 2002/2003 (the dates of General Comment no. 29 and/or the Concluding Observations on the UK.) 20 Prosecutor v Kajelijeli, ICTR-98.44-A-A, Appeals Chamber Judgment, 23 May 2005, para 219: "It is for the requested State to decide how to implement its obligations under international law." 21 Article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women also obliges State parties to eliminate discrimination "without delay." 22 Jamaica, CERD, A/57/18 (2002) 30 at para 131; Qatar, CERD, a/57/18 (2002) 38 at para 190 23 The right to non-discrimination is guaranteed by all international and regional human rights instruments. Further, the right to non-discrimination on the grounds of race is customary international law: South-West Africa Cases (Second Phase) [1966] ICJ Rep 3, 32 293 and 299-230 (Tanaka J. dissenting); Barcelona Traction (Second Phase) [1970] ICJ Rep 3, 32. 46. Further, in omitting "caste" from the Act, the United Kingdom has further failed to uphold its obligation to fully implement the terms of the Convention. This obligation was breached notwithstanding an absence of evidence demonstrating caste discrimination in the United Kingdom. 47. Finally, and in any event, it does not appear that delay can be justified on the facts. 48. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research published a report in December 2010 which concluded that caste discrimination occurred within the United Kingdom. 24 The report identified that existing legislative measures did not adequately cover situations of caste discrimination and recommended extending the definition of "race" to include "caste" in order to provide further protection. 25 49. In addition to this, there is a wealth of other evidence pointing to the prevalence of caste discrimination. 26 50. Therefore, on any reading, it appears that from December 2010, the Government of the United Kingdom has been aware that the existing legislation is not "totally adequate to combat discrimination effectively" but has not amended the legislation, thereby placing it in breach of its international obligations. E. CONCLUSION 51. The UK is obliged in international human rights law to legislate for caste discrimination and further obliged to provide victims of such discrimination with an effective remedy. Their failure to do so, since 2002 and certainly since 2010, is a violation of Article 2 (1) and 6 of the Convention. 52. Further, the violation cannot be justified, either in principle or on the facts, by the necessity of either further evidence gathering or consultation. 24 Hilary Metcalf and Heather Rolfe, "Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain", December 2010 25 Ibid at page 65 26 Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance, Hidden Apartheid – Voice of the Community, Caste and Caste Discrimination in the UK, A Scoping Study, November 2009 53. However, international law does not mandate a specific response from the UK Government. It is a matter for the Government's discretion as to whether they enact domestic legislation through the activation of s. 9 (5) (a) or through another legislative mechanism. It simply matters, as a matter of international law, that legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of caste is enacted without delay. 06.02.13 GRÁINNE MELLON Barrister 36 Bedford Row Chambers LIONEL NICHOLS Fellow St Anne's College, Oxford
Priorities for the Sustainability of Maritime and Coastal Passenger Transport in Europe edited by Silvio Nocera, Raffaele Pesenti, Igor Rudan, Srđan Žuškin Evaluating the Level of Service of Ferry Ports A Methodological Proposal Vlatka Stupalo University of Zagreb, Croatia Natalija Kavran University of Zagreb, Croatia Marko Šoštarić University of Zagreb, Croatia Andrej Dávid University of Zilina, Slovakia Abstract Quality of transport service is a crucial factor to provide transport services in line with the users expectations. In this research, we start from previous knowledge of the concept Level of Service (LOS) in the transport sector to evaluate whether tools and scales defined in previous studies are also applicable in defining the level of service in the ferry port. We decided to focus on the tool for measuring service quality in Ro-Ro ferry ports because they are the most important and often the only connection between the island and the mainland. Therefore, they are an essential factor in ensuring the sustainable development of the islands. Keywords Maritime passenger services. Level of service. Port management. Transport service quality. Maritime transport. Summary 1 Introduction. – 2 The Concept of Level of Service in the Transport Sector. – 3 Shortcomings of Previous Research on the Level of Service. – 4 Main Ferry Port Land Areas. – 5 Proposal of Methodology. – 5.1 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Quay Apron Area. – 5.2 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Marshalling Area. – 5.3 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Area for Passenger and Luggage Accommodation. Edizioni Ca’Foscari Submitted 2022-06-15 \| Published 2022-09-07 Open access © 2022 Stupalo, Kavran, Šoštarić, Dávid 1 Introduction The quality of transport services is a crucial factor for providing adequate transport services that meet the needs and desires of users. In this research, the previous knowledge on the concept of level of service (LOS) in the transport sector was analysed to find out whether the LOS scales defined in previous research and used as tools for determining service quality in road and air transport planning manuals are also suitable for determining service quality in the ferry port. The LOS guidelines and technological processes described in the HCM (Highway Capacity Manual), ADRM (Airport Development Reference Manual), and TCQSM (Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual) manuals were analysed to answer this research question. Based on the results of desktop analysis of existing maritime port service quality concepts and formulas for calculating sustainable capacity of Ro-Ro ferry ports, a methodology for assessing capacity and service levels in Ro-Ro ferry ports was proposed using the existing LOS scales. In these manuals, each scale is explicitly defined for each subsystem of the transport system. For this research, the Ro-Ro ferry port area has been divided into three main subsystems based on the technological processes of transport within the port area: quay apron area, marshalling area or vehicle staging area and area for passenger, and luggage accommodation. 2 The Concept of Level of Service in the Transport Sector In traffic engineering, the quality of service of a particular traffic object is often determined with the concept of 'level of service' (hereafter: LOS), which uses a six-level scale from A to F, where A means an excellent quality of service, while F is an unacceptable quality of service (often also defined as a system breakdown). This concept presents and rates the quality of service of each traffic object in a simple way. The simplicity of this concept makes it easier to present the current and future performance of the traffic object to the decisionmakers and the general (non-technical) public. The concept of LOS for traffic objects was first defined in the second edition of the HCM in 1965 after the concept of traffic capacity had been defined in the previous first edition in 1950. Since then, LOS has been used as an elementary benchmark for the planning, design, and organisation of road facilities. The HCM guidelines have become a standard reference code when defining capacity and LOS procedures in road transport, especially after the third edition in 1985 and other editions since then. For walkways, including stairways, LOS is further defined in 1970 in the doctoral thesis of John J. Fruin (1970) and in his book (1971), published as a result of the author's dissertation. 1 The methods for analysing the capacity and quality of public transport from the perspective of passengers and transport operators are, in addition to the HCM, also defined in the TCQSM. The first TCQSM was published in 1999 (Kittelson & Associates 1999) and summarised the methods for determining public transport capacity and LOS for bus and rail transport objects. 4 Although the determination of capacity for ferry transport is not defined in the first edition, 5 it has been included in the second and last third editions (TCRP 2003; 2013) Based on the HCM and the Fruin guideline for LOS, Transport Canada (TC) 2 defined the concept of LOS for airports in the mid to late 1970s. This concept was adopted in 1981 by the Airport Associations Coordinating Council (IATA 1981), now Airports Council International (ACI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA), which incorporated it in the ADRM with some modifications. 3 As the publisher of the ADRM-a is IATA, these guidelines are often referred to in practice as 'IATA guidelines'. All previously listed authors/manuals define LOS using a six-level scale from A to F. Still, the parameters and the way of determining these levels differ from author to author, i.e., manual to manual. Moreover, the parameters for traffic objects also change regarding the perception of space in different cultures (Šimunović 2006, 180). 1 Fruin (1970, 1971) has produced guidelines for the design of walkways and stairways based on his research at bus and rail terminals managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 2 The results of the research and definition of LOS TC were published in the Interim Level of Service Standards and Airport Services and Security. During the research, a methodology for measuring LOS was developed known as CASE (Canadian Airport System Evaluation). The TC has defined standards for a total of five main passenger stopover areas, namely: counter, waiting/circulation area, holding area, baggage claim area and police, customs, or immigration control. These standards and methodology are shown in TRB 2010a, 146-50. 3 The 1981 ADRM has been regularly updated and is now known as the manual that provides guidelines for designing airport facilities with user needs in mind. 4 The concept of LOS for rail transport is defined in the TCQSM, which defines this concept LOS according to the guidelines provided by Fruin. In addition to TCQSM, the LOS concept according to Fruin has also been adopted by the British railway company Network Rail (Network Rail 2011) to define guidelines for assessing the capacity of a passenger railway station. 5 In the first edition, ferry transport is mentioned only as one of the modes of transport offering regular public transport services. 3 Shortcomings of Previous Research on the Level of Service Previous research on LOS has not considered the perception of passengers with reduced mobility and safety as indicators for service level, nor has it recognised that they need to be considered in future LOS research. For maritime passenger transport, the guidelines are issued jointly by the Irish Department of Transport and the National Disability Authority (NDA s.d.). In contrast, in the UK, the DPTAC (Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee) issues guidelines for the shipbuilding industry with the support of the IMO. The latter guidelines were evaluated for their uptake and effectiveness between 2004 and 2005 as part of the UK national project, whose final report was published in 2006 (Keith et al. 2006). When planning transport facilities, persons with reduced mobility should be considered so that they can board, access, move around, stay and work without hindrance. At the EU level, the accessibility of buildings for all persons is considered one of the essential requirements for buildings. It is laid down in Regulation No 305/2011 (EU 2011). The standards for transportation facilities in the United States of America are laid down in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (U.S. Department of Transportation s.d.). According to the provisions of ADA, all new transport stations must be accessible to persons with reduced mobility. The needs of persons with reduced mobility must be considered in the design of the object. It is also important to consider the condition of emergency evacuations in individual facilities (safety). 4 Main Ferry Port Land Areas The maritime port area comprises the sea and land areas of the port and is used for the conduct of port activities. The port's land area includes all port infrastructure and port superstructures, from the coastline to the final land boundary of the port area. * quayside, yard, landside, and hinterland (Böse 2011, 13-21; Bichou 2009, 136-44); Different authors have classified the maritime port areas differently in analysing the port area, so there is no universally accepted classification. From the perspective of the functional elements of the port, previous works have divided the maritime port area into: * marshalling yards, passenger facilities, berth facilities (Agerschou et al. 2004, 291-7); 68 * terminal forecourt (landside), 6 terminal (wetside), 7 buildings (PIANC 1995, 33-8); Considering the technological processes of traffic in the ferry port and the functionality and connectivity of the individual port facilities, the land area of the ferry port is divided into three areas (Stupalo 2015, 30): * landside facilities, dockside facilities, en-route (vessel route) (TCRP 2013, 9-28). 1. quay apron area; 3. area for passenger accommodation. 2. marshalling area or vehicle staging area; 5 Proposal of Methodology The analysis of the LOS scales identified in the available literature and described in the previous chapters has shown that specific scales can be used in ferry ports to assess capacity and service levels. The applicability of these scales to evaluate individual parts of public transport passenger terminals, including the maritime passenger terminal, has already been identified in the TCQSM manual. In line with the mainland areas of the ferry port defined in the previous chapter, the following sub-chapters pay particular attention to the level of service in each of these areas. The scales identified have separately assessed the area for passengers and the area for road vehicles. These areas within the ferry terminal can be further divided into three subsystems: 1) processing area, 2) holding areas, and 3) links or corridors. The appropriateness of this subdivision in the analysis of traffic objects has already been recognised in studies by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (TRB 2010a, 147) and IATA (1981, 8). Although these areas have been recognised, the LOS scale for the processing area has not been identified in previous research, but the LOS scales for the other two subsystems have. 6 Port connections to the public road network. 7 Area from the forecourt to the final land boundary of the port area. 5.1 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Quay Apron Area The Quay apron area can be divided into two elementary subsystems: * area for the movement and stay of road vehicles. * area for the movement and stay of passengers/pedestrians (if boarding is not via a bridge) The level of service of an area designated for passenger/pedestrian movement can be further divided into three subsystems: * holding area – if more passengers/vehicles arrive at the vessel than can be handled via the loading ramp/bridge, a queue forms next to the ship. A queue may also form when a passenger buys a ticket or hands it over to a staff member at that location. Given the characteristics of this subsystem, it can be evaluated: * traffic processing points – need not be part of the quay apron area subsystems. It takes place when the passenger (with or without a vehicle) buys the ticket or hands it over to the ticket officer in this area, e.g., when boarding the vessel. As mentioned above, the LOS scale for this subsystem has not been identified in the literature; – for passengers – using the LOS scale for queuing, defined by Fruin (1987, 84-7) – for vehicles – no LOS scale applicable to this subsystem was found in the literature. Considering the characteristics of this subsystem, it was concluded that the application of the LOS scale within the HCM for the signalised and unsignalised intersections is not appropriate. Indicator control delay 8 is the main service measure in the HCM for evaluating LOS at the intersection. – for vehicles – no LOS scale has been identified in the literature that could apply to this subsystem. Considering the characteristics of this subsystem, it was concluded that the application of the LOS scale within the HCM for the intersection system is not appropriate. Intersections are evaluated in the manual by the indicator 'regulated waiting', i.e., the difference between the time of free passage of the vehicle and the time of passage, which includes the time of stopping and restarting the vehicle, 8 "Control delay includes delay associated with vehicle slowing in advance of an intersection, the time spent stopped on an intersection approach, the time spent as vehicles move up in the queue, and the time needed for vehicles to accelerate to their desired speed" (TRB 2010b, 4-15). * links or corridors – the primary purpose of links or corridors in the quay apron area is to connect the area intended for passenger accommodation (if embarking/disembarking of passengers is not done across the bridge) and the marshalling area with the vessel (when embarking), and connecting the vessel with port exit points when disembarking). Given the characteristics of this subsystem, it can be evaluated: – for vehicles – after analysing quay apron area; it was concluded that no LOS scale is applicable for evaluating the roads of this area, since the level of service within this area, perceived by the passenger, depends on various factors decided mainly by the (for example location of each vehicle on the vessel, order (priority) of parking, method of disembarkation/embarkation, etc.). Factors that port has influence relate to ensuring appropriate marking of this area and its width. – for passengers – depending on the design of the links or corridor, different LOS scales have been identified in the literature. In the ferry port, the links or corridors of the quay apron area are located primarily near the vehicle movement area. Therefore, the LOS scales defined within the HCM for pedestrian mode (TRB 2010b), for urban street and segment measures, were identified as applicable for the evaluation of pedestrian/passenger links/corridors. In addition to these scales, walkway sections can also be valued using Fruin's LOS scales for walkways (Fruin 1987, 74-8) and stairways (Fruin 1987, 79-83). The analysis of Fruin's indicators showed that the values are approximate but not identical to the HCM indicators (TRB 2010b, ch. 23, 3-4) used to evaluate off-street pedestrian facilities. It was concluded that there is no satisfactory way to determine the most appropriate scale. The selection of the scale should be on the traffic planner who evaluates the facility. 5.2 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Marshalling Area Research conducted by Stupalo (2015) didn't identify the LOS scale, which could be applied to evaluate the capacity and level of service of the marshalling area. Therefore, the need for additional research focused on defining the LOS scale of the marshalling area was recognised. Possible indicators for the evaluation of this area are the capacity of the area and the width of the holding lanes. Based on these indicators suitability of this area can be evaluated depending on the traffic demand (whether the area is sufficient for the accommodation of all vehicles in rest, and whether it is suitable for passenger accommodation, the possibility of unobstructed entry/exit of passengers to/from the vehicles). While considering the level of service of the marshalling area, the proposal for the boundary between LOS C and LOS D is when the length of the holding lanes stops being enough, and there is an overflow of traffic to adjacent roads. This proposal is consistent with the IATA definition for the boundary between LOS C and D (TRB 2010a, 150) for passenger queuing. If overflow causes dysfunction to the port's secondary processes, they could be used to further elaborate scale to lower LOS levels. According to Morales-Fusco and Saurí (2009) optimal size of marshalling area in Ro-Ro terminals is the size that can accommodate twice as many vehicles as capacity of the biggest vessel that reaches the terminal. In this type of terminal vehicles usually do not leave the port area immediately upon disembarkation but are stored within the port area. However, this is not the case in the ferry port, where vehicles, after disembarking, usually immediately leave the port area. Therefore, the optimal capacity of the marshalling area in the ferry port would be the one that enables simultaneously accommodation of vehicles which corresponds to the capacity of the average vessel or the biggest vessel that reaches the terminal. The percentage of area utilisation, its design, and organisations, including the entrance system for vehicles to the marshalling area (e.g., ticket booths, the possibility of reservation), could also be considered. All these factors affect the time spent within the marshalling area. 5.3 Evaluation of the Capacity and Level of Service of the Area for Passenger and Luggage Accommodation The area for passenger and luggage accommodation is intended for movement and retention of passengers/pedestrians. Processors, which refers to the ticket, customs and police booths and other similar facilities for monetary, regulatory or security processes of traffic, are not defined by LOS scales in the before mentioned manuals. But the need for their definition has been recognised. Further research should focus on defining adequate processing time in these facilities based on the data obtained from passengers and service providers. Maximum queuing time guidelines are defined in ADRM but not using the LOS scale. 9 9 The maximum waiting time has been defined for different areas (e.g., check-in economy, baggage claim, security), but only as a time that is "short to acceptable" and "acceptable to long" (IATA 2004, 189). 72 The level of service of reservoirs can be determined based on standards defined by IATA (2004) and Fruin (1987) for: – IATA's LOS scale for check-in queue area (IATA 2004, 180‑7) is based on the size of the area for passenger/pedestrian (sq. meter/occupant) regarding the width of the queue, number of bags and number of luggage carts; * ticket or check-in queue area – two LOS scales have been identified: – Fruin's LOS scale for queuing (Fruin 1987, 84-7) is based on average pedestrian area occupancy (sq. feet/person) and average inter-person spacing (feet). * wait/circulation area – the LOS scale for this space is defined by IATA and is based on the size of the area for passenger/pedestrian (IATA 2004, 297-8) and, only for LOS C (IATA 2004, 184), on location (before and after check-in), presence of luggage carts and the passengers' speed; It was concluded that there is no satisfactory way to determine the most appropriate scale. The selection of the scale should be on the traffic planner who evaluates the facility. * holding area – the LOS scale for this space is defined by IATA based on the percentage of occupied space (IATA 2004, 186, 297-8). – IATA's LOS scale for passport control (IATA 2004, 185-6); * border control area – two scales have been identified: – Fruin's LOS scale for queuing (Fruin 1987, 84-7). scale should be on the traffic planner who evaluates the facility. Both scales evaluate the object concerning the surface area per passenger, and the values of the indicators are approximate, although not identical. Therefore, there is no satisfactory way to determine the most appropriate scale, and the selection of the The level of service of links/corridors within an area for passenger and luggage accommodation can be determined based on Fruin's guidelines, which are also recommended in the TCQSM manual (TCRP 2013, ch. 10, 39-62) for: * stairways – the level of service is based on average pedestrian area occupancy and average flow volumes (Fruin 1987, 79-84; * doorway and walkways – the LOS is based on the pedestrian space (sq. feet/person), avg. speed (feet/min), flow per unit width (persone/feet/min) and volume-to-capacity ratio (v/c); 10 10 Volume-to-capacity (v/c) or demand-to-capacity (d/c) ratio is a special case service measure. This measure is used when defining a boundary between LOS E and LOS F, but not to define other LOS thresholds. This measure cannot be measured directly in the field, nor is it a measure of traveller perceptions. Until capacity is reached (i.e., when flow breaks down or ques build on) the d/c ration is not perceived by travellers (TRB 2010b, ch. 5, 9). 73 TCRP 2013, 10-48). LOS for stairs is also prescribed by HCM (TRB 2010b, ch. 23, 3), but since TCQSM recommended using Fruin's LOS scale, its application should be considered when measuring the level of service of the ferry port. Links or corridors connecting the port building to the outer entrances and exits of the port (with the exception of the bridge connecting the terminal building to the ferry) can be assessed using indicators defined in the HCM defined indicators for urban roads and sections of urban roads, i.e., based on LOS scales defined for the evaluation of facilities with interrupted traffic flow. 11 From the manuals described earlier, it can be concluded that the LOS at the ferry port, whose main purpose is to provide public transport services, should be from LOS D (in shorter periods) to LOS C or even higher. This means that the LOS should not be below LOS C during the busiest 15 minutes of the peak hour. A higher level of service can be adopted by ferry ports that want to attract shipowners and passengers with quality service. The study period 12 should be minimum during the peak hour. For evaluation analysis, approach C (TRB 2010b, ch. 16, 2) should be used, with a study period of one hour with consecutive analysis periods of 15 minutes. This approach considers systematic variations in traffic flow between periods and queues that carry over to the next analysis period and produces a more accurate representation of delay. The proposed methodology analyses the level of service from the perspective of passengers, i.e., users of transport services, and does not include an analysis of the level of service from the shipowner's perspective (transport service provider). The methodology covers the area from the entry into the port area to the boarding into the ship (ship's ramp). As a result of the defined methodology answer to the research question from the introduction is: The service level guidelines set out in the road, and air transport manuals are applicable when evaluating the capacity and service level of a ferry port. 11 Guidelines are defined in TRB 2010b. 12 The study period is the time interval represented by the performance evaluation. It consists of one or more consecutive analysis periods. An analysis period is the time interval evaluated by a single application of the methodology. 74 Bibliography Agerschou, H.; Dand, I.; Ernst, T.; Ghoos, H.; Jensen, O.J.; Korsgaard, J.; Land, J.M.; McKay, T.; Oumeraci, H.; Petersen, J.B.; Runge-Schmidt, L.; Svendsen, H.L. (2004). Planning and Design of Ports and Marine Terminals. 2nd ed. London: Thomas Telford. Böse, J.W. (ed.) (2011). Handbook of Terminal Planning. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. Operations research/computer science interfac- Bichou, K. (2009). Port Operations, Planning and Logistics. London: Informa. es series 49. Fruin, J.J. (1970). Designing for Pedestrians a Level of Service Concept [PhD Dissertation]. New York (US): Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. EU (2011). Laying Down Harmonised Conditions for the Marketing of Construction Products and Repealing Council. Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 Directive 89/106/EEC. Fruin, J.J. (1971). Pedestrian Planning and Design. New York: Metropolitan Association of Urban Designers and Environmental Planners, Inc. ty/Demand Management. Geneva: Airport Associations Coordinating Council. IATA (2004). Airport Development Reference Manual. 9th ed. Montreal; Genova: International Air Transport Association. Fruin, J.J. (1987). Pedestrian Planning and Design. Mobile (AL): Elevator World, Inc. IATA, International Air Transport Association (1981). Guidelines for Airport Capaci- Keith, S.; Whitney, G.; Sentinella, J.; Wong, W.; Platt-Evans, C.; Fielding, C.; Smith, L. (2006). Review of DPTAC Guidance: Large Passenger Ships and Passenger Infrastructure (Final Report). Unpublished project report UPR SE/187/05. https:// webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20070205205450/ http://www.dptac.gov.uk/pubs/guideshipfinal/index.htm. Morales-Fusco, P.; Saurí, S. (2009). "Performance Indicators for Roll-on–Rolloff Terminals: A Planning Assessment Tool". Transportation Research Record, 2100(1), 38-46. https://doi.org/10.3141/2100-05. Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (1999). Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual. 1st ed. Washington, DC. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/ tcrp/tcrp_webdoc_6-a.pdf . NDA, National Disability Authority (s.d.). Guidelines for Accessible Maritime Passenger Transport. Ireland. https://nda.ie/nda-files/guidelines-foraccessible-maritime-passenger-transport.pdf . PIANC, Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (1995). Port Facilities for Ferries, Practical Guide. Brussels. Network Rail (2011). Station Capacity-Assessment Guidance. London. https://pdfslide.net/download/link/station-capacity-assessment-guidance. Šimunović, L.J. (2006). Sustavno istraživanje parametara pješačkog toka u urbanim sredinama [PhD Thesis]. Zagreb: University of Zagreb. TCRP, Transit Cooperative Research Program (2003). Report 100: Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. http://www.trb.org/ Main/Blurbs/153590.aspx. Stupalo, V. (2015). Methods for Evaluation of Capacity and Level of Service in Ferry Port [PhD Thesis]. Zagreb: University of Zagreb. TCRP (2013). Report 165: Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. http://doi.org/10.17226/24766. TRB (2010b). Highway Capacity Manual. 5th ed. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. https://www.trb.org/ Main/Blurbs/164718.aspx. TRB, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2010a). ACRP Report 25: Airport passenger terminal planning and design. Vol. 1, Guidebook. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. https://doi. org/10.17226/22964. U.S. Department of Transportation (s.d.). ADA Standards for Transportation Facilities. https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/civil-rights-ada/ada-regulations.
This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 1: IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBSTANCE/MIXTURE AND OF THE COMPANY/UNDERTAKING 1.1 Product identifier: MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA Other means of identification: Non-applicable 1.2 Relevant identified uses of the substance or mixture and uses advised against: Relevant uses: Air freshener Uses advised against: All uses not specified in this section or in section 7.3 1.3 Details of the supplier of the safety data sheet: Romeo Marketing Olfativo SL C/Brea,26 P.I. Carrus 03206 Elche - Alicante - España Phone: +34965365058 email@example.com www.odorkiller.es 1.4 Emergency telephone number: Servicio de Información Toxicológica Teléfono: + 34 91 562 04 20 .Información en español (24h/365 dias). Unicamente con la finalidad de proporcionar respuesta sanitaria en caso de urgencia. SECTION 2: HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION 2.1 Classification of the substance or mixture: CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008: Classification of this product has been carried out in accordance with CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. Aquatic Chronic 3: Hazardous to the aquatic environment, long-term hazard, Category 3, H412 Flam. Liq. 2: Flammable liquids, Category 2, H225 2.2 Label elements: CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008: Danger Hazard statements: Aquatic Chronic 3: H412 - Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Flam. Liq. 2: H225 - Highly flammable liquid and vapour. Precautionary statements: P101: If medical advice is needed, have product container or label at hand. P102: Keep out of reach of children. P210: Keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames and other ignition sources. No smoking. P233: Keep container tightly closed. P280: Wear protective gloves/protective clothing/eye protection/protective footwear. P370+P378: In case of fire: Use ABC powder extinguisher to extinguish. P403+P235: Store in a well-ventilated place. Keep cool. P501: Dispose of contents/container according to the separated collection system used in your municipality. Supplementary information: EUH208: Contains 1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one, 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene, Damascenone, Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde, Linalool, Linalyl acetate . May produce an allergic reaction. UFI: HH00-X07U-100R-SYYA 2.3 Other hazards: Product fails to meet PBT/vPvB criteria SECTION 3: COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS 3.1 Substance: Non-applicable MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 3: COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS (continued) 3.2 Mixture: Chemical description: Perfume/s Components: In accordance with Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (point 3), the product contains: \| Identification \| Chemical name/Classification \| \| Concentration \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 Index: Non-applicable REACH: 01-2119450011-60- XXXX \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether⁽¹⁾ Not classified \| \| 2,5 - <10 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| \| \| \| CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 Index: 603-117-00-0 REACH: 01-2119457558-25- XXXX \| propan-2-ol⁽²⁾ ATP CLP00 \| \| 2,5 - <10 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Eye Irrit. 2: H319; Flam. Liq. 2: H225; STOT SE 3: H336 - Danger \| \| \| CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 Index: 603-235-00-2 REACH: 01-2119474016-42- XXXX \| Linalool⁽²⁾ ATP ATP10 \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Skin Sens. 1B: H317 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 Index: Non-applicable REACH: 01-2119489989-04- XXXX \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene⁽²⁾ Self-classified \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Aquatic Chronic 1: H410; Skin Irrit. 2: H315; Skin Sens. 1B: H317 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: 101-86-0 EC: 202-983-3 Index: Non-applicable REACH: Non-applicable \| Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde⁽²⁾ Self-classified \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Aquatic Acute 1: H400; Aquatic Chronic 2: H411; Skin Sens. 1B: H317 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 Index: 603-212-00-7 REACH: 01-2119488227-29- XXXX \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6-c]pyran⁽²⁾ ATP ATP01 \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Aquatic Acute 1: H400; Aquatic Chronic 1: H410 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 Index: Non-applicable REACH: 01-2119454789-19- XXXX \| Linalyl acetate ⁽²⁾ Self-classified \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Eye Irrit. 2: H319; Skin Irrit. 2: H315; Skin Sens. 1B: H317 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: 57378-68-4 EC: 260-709-8 Index: Non-applicable REACH: Non-applicable \| 1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one⁽²⁾ Self-classified \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Acute Tox. 4: H302; Aquatic Acute 1: H400; Aquatic Chronic 1: H410; Skin Irrit. 2: H315; Skin Sens. 1A: H317 - Warning \| \| \| CAS: 23696-85-7 EC: 245-833-2 Index: Non-applicable REACH: Non-applicable \| Damascenone⁽²⁾ Self-classified \| \| <1 % \| \| \| Regulation 1272/2008 \| Aquatic Chronic 2: H411; Skin Irrit. 2: H315; Skin Sens. 1A: H317 - Warning \| \| ⁽¹⁾ Substance with a Union workplace exposure limit ⁽²⁾ Substances presenting a health or environmental hazard which meet criteria laid down in Regulation (EU) No. 2015/830 To obtain more information on the hazards of the substances consult sections 11, 12 and 16. SECTION 4: FIRST AID MEASURES 4.1 Description of first aid measures: The symptoms resulting from intoxication can appear after exposure, therefore, in case of doubt, seek medical attention for direct exposure to the chemical product or persistent discomfort, showing the SDS of this product. By inhalation: This product is not classified as hazardous through inhalation. However, in case of intoxication symptoms it is recommended to remove the person affected from the area of exposure, provide clean air and keep at rest. Request medical attention if symptoms persist. By skin contact: This product is not classified as hazardous when in contact with the skin. However, in case of skin contact it is recommended to remove contaminated clothes and shoes, rinse the skin or if necessary shower the affected person thoroughly with cold water and neutral soap. In case of serious reaction consult a doctor. By eye contact: This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 4: FIRST AID MEASURES (continued) Rinse eyes thoroughly with water for at least 15 minutes. If the injured person uses contact lenses, these should be removed unless they are stuck to the eyes, in which case removal could cause further damage. In all cases, after cleaning, a doctor should be consulted as quickly as possible with the SDS for the product. By ingestion/aspiration: Do not induce vomiting, but if it does happen keep the head down to avoid aspiration. Keep the person affected at rest. Rinse out the mouth and throat, as they may have been affected during ingestion. Most important symptoms and effects, both acute and delayed: 4.2 Acute and delayed effects are indicated in sections 2 and 11. 4.3 Indication of any immediate medical attention and special treatment needed: Non-applicable SECTION 5: FIREFIGHTING MEASURES 5.1 Extinguishing media: Suitable extinguishing media: If possible use polyvalent powder fire extinguishers (ABC powder), alternatively use foam or carbon dioxide extinguishers (CO₂). Unsuitable extinguishing media: IT IS RECOMMENDED NOT to use full jet water as an extinguishing agent. 5.2 Special hazards arising from the substance or mixture: As a result of combustion or thermal decomposition reactive sub-products are created that can become highly toxic and, consequently, can present a serious health risk. 5.3 Advice for firefighters: Depending on the magnitude of the fire it may be necessary to use full protective clothing and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Minimum emergency facilities and equipment should be available (fire blankets, portable first aid kit,...) in accordance with Directive 89/654/EC. Additional provisions: Act in accordance with the Internal Emergency Plan and the Information Sheets on actions to take after an accident or other emergencies. Eliminate all sources of ignition. In case of fire, cool the storage containers and tanks for products susceptible to combustion, explosion or BLEVE as a result of high temperatures. Avoid spillage of the products used to extinguish the fire into an aqueous medium. SECTION 6: ACCIDENTAL RELEASE MEASURES 6.1 Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures: For non-emergency personnel: Isolate leaks provided that there is no additional risk for the people performing this task. Evacuate the area and keep out those without protection. Personal protection equipment must be used against potential contact with the spilt product (See section 8). Above all prevent the formation of any vapour-air flammable mixtures, through either ventilation or the use of an inert medium. Remove any source of ignition. Eliminate electrostatic charges by interconnecting all the conductive surfaces on which static electricity could form, and also ensuring that all surfaces are connected to the ground. For emergency responders: See section 8. 6.2 Environmental precautions: Avoid at all cost any type of spillage into an aqueous medium. Contain the product absorbed appropriately in hermetically sealed containers. Notify the relevant authority in case of exposure to the general public or the environment. 6.3 Methods and material for containment and cleaning up: It is recommended: Absorb the spillage using sand or inert absorbent and move it to a safe place. Do not absorb in sawdust or other combustible absorbents. For any concern related to disposal consult section 13. 6.4 Reference to other sections: See sections 8 and 13. This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 7: HANDLING AND STORAGE 7.1 Precautions for safe handling: A.- General precautions for safe use Comply with the current legislation concerning the prevention of industrial risks. Keep containers hermetically sealed. Control spills and residues, destroying them with safe methods (section 6). Avoid leakages from the container. Maintain order and cleanliness where dangerous products are used. B.- Technical recommendations for the prevention of fires and explosions Transfer in well ventilated areas, preferably through localized extraction. Fully control sources of ignition (mobile phones, sparks,…) and ventilate during cleaning operations. Avoid the existence of dangerous atmospheres inside containers, applying inertization systems where possible. Transfer at a slow speed to avoid the creation of electrostatic charges. Against the possibility of electrostatic charges: ensure a perfect equipotential connection, always use groundings, do not wear work clothes made of acrylic fibres, preferably wearing cotton clothing and conductive footwear. Comply with the essential security requirements for equipment and systems defined in Directive 2014/34/EC (ATEX 100) and with the minimum requirements for protecting the security and health of workers under the selection criteria of Directive 1999/92/EC (ATEX 137). Consult section 10 for conditions and materials that should be avoided. C.- Technical recommendations on general occupational hygiene Do not eat or drink during the process, washing hands afterwards with suitable cleaning products. D.- Technical recommendations to prevent environmental risks Due to the danger of this product for the environment it is recommended to use it within an area containing contamination control barriers in case of spillage, as well as having absorbent material in close proximity. 7.2 Conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities: A.- Technical measures for storage Minimum Temp.: 5 ºC Maximum Temp.: 30 ºC Maximum time: 6 Months B.- General conditions for storage Avoid sources of heat, radiation, static electricity and contact with food. For additional information see subsection 10.5 7.3 Specific end use(s): Except for the instructions already specified it is not necessary to provide any special recommendation regarding the uses of this product. SECTION 8: EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION 8.1 Control parameters: Substances whose occupational exposure limits have to be monitored in the workplace (European OEL, not country-specific legislation): Directive (EU) 2000/39, Directive 2004/37/EC,Directive (EU) 2006/15, Directive (EU) 2009/161, Directive (EU) 2017/164, Directive (EU) 2019/1831: \| Identification \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| IOELV (8h) \| 50 ppm \| \| \| IOELV (STEL) \| \| DNEL (Workers): \| Identification \| \| Systemic \| Local \| Systemic \| Local \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 283 mg/kg \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 308 mg/m³ \| Non-applicable \| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 888 mg/kg \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 500 mg/m³ \| Non-applicable \| \| Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 3,5 mg/kg \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 24,58 mg/m³ \| Non-applicable \| This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 8: EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION (continued) Short exposure Identification 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6- c]pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 Oral Dermal Inhalation Oral Dermal Inhalation Oral Dermal Systemic Local Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Long exposure Systemic Non-applicable 28,7 mg/kg 30 mg/m³ Non-applicable 36,7 mg/kg 13,5 mg/m³ Non-applicable 2,5 mg/kg Local Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable Non-applicable EC: 204-116-4 Inhalation Non-applicable Non-applicable 2,75 mg/m³ Non-applicable DNEL (General population): \| \| \| Short exposure \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Identification \| \| Systemic \| Local \| Systemic \| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 36 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 121 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 37,2 mg/m³ \| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 26 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 319 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 89 mg/m³ \| \| Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 2,49 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 1,25 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 4,33 mg/m³ \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 3 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 17,2 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 9 mg/m³ \| \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6- c]pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 2,3 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 22 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 4 mg/m³ \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 0,2 mg/kg \| \| \| Dermal \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 1,25 mg/kg \| \| \| Inhalation \| Non-applicable \| Non-applicable \| 0,68 mg/m³ \| PNEC: Identification Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 STP Soil Intermittent Oral STP Soil Intermittent Oral STP Soil Intermittent Oral STP Soil Intermittent Oral 4168 mg/L 2,74 mg/kg 190 mg/L Non-applicable 2251 mg/L 28 mg/kg 140,9 mg/L 0,16 g/kg 10 mg/L 0,327 mg/kg 2 mg/L 0,0078 g/kg 10 mg/L 2,7 mg/kg Non-applicable 0,0267 g/kg Fresh water Marine water Sediment (Fresh water) Sediment (Marine water) Fresh water Marine water Sediment (Fresh water) Sediment (Marine water) Fresh water Marine water Sediment (Fresh water) Sediment (Marine water) Fresh water Marine water Sediment (Fresh water) Sediment (Marine water) 19 mg/L 1,9 mg/L 70,2 mg/kg 7,02 mg/kg 140,9 mg/L 140,9 mg/L 552 mg/kg 552 mg/kg 0,2 mg/L 0,02 mg/L 2,22 mg/kg 0,222 mg/kg 0,0044 mg/L 0,00044 mg/L 3,73 mg/kg 0,75 mg/kg MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 8: EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION (continued) \| Identification \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6-c] pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 \| STP \| 1 mg/L \| Fresh water \| 0,0068 mg/L \| \| \| Soil \| 1,5 mg/kg \| Marine water \| 0,00044 mg/L \| \| \| Intermittent \| Non-applicable \| Sediment (Fresh water) \| 2 mg/kg \| \| \| Oral \| 20,4 g/kg \| Sediment (Marine water) \| 0,394 mg/kg \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| STP \| 1 mg/L \| Fresh water \| 0,011 mg/L \| \| \| Soil \| 0,115 mg/kg \| Marine water \| 0,001 mg/L \| \| \| Intermittent \| 0,11 mg/L \| Sediment (Fresh water) \| 0,609 mg/kg \| \| \| Oral \| Non-applicable \| Sediment (Marine water) \| 0,061 mg/kg \| 8.2 Exposure controls: A.- Individual protection measures, such as personal protective equipment As a preventative measure it is recommended to use basic Personal Protective Equipment, with the corresponding <<CE marking>> in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/425. For more information on Personal Protective Equipment (storage, use, cleaning, maintenance, class of protection,…) consult the information leaflet provided by the manufacturer. For more information see subsection 7.1. All information contained herein is a recommendation which needs some specification from the labour risk prevention services as it is not known whether the company has additional measures at its disposal. B.- Respiratory protection The use of protection equipment will be necessary if a mist forms or if the occupational exposure limits are exceeded. C.- Specific protection for the hands As the product is a mixture of several substances, the resistance of the glove material can not be calculated in advance with total reliability and has therefore to be checked prior to the application. \| Pictogram \| PPE \| Labelling \| CEN Standard \| Remarks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Mandatory hand protection \| Chemical protective gloves (Material: Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), Breakthrough time: > 480 min, Thickness: 0.062 mm) \| \| EN ISO 21420:2020 \| Replace the gloves at any sign of deterioration. \| D.- Eye and face protection E.- Body protection \| Pictogram \| PPE \| Labelling \| CEN Standard \| Remarks \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Work clothing \| \| \| Replace before any evidence of deterioration. For periods of prolonged exposure to the product for professional/industrial users CE III is recommended, in accordance with the regulations in EN ISO 6529:2013, EN ISO 6530:2005, EN ISO 13688:2013, EN 464:1994. \| \| \| Anti-slip work shoes \| \| EN ISO 20347:2012 \| Replace before any evidence of deterioration. For periods of prolonged exposure to the product for professional/industrial users CE III is recommended, in accordance with the regulations in EN ISO 20345:2012 y EN 13832-1:2007 \| F.- Additional emergency measures Environmental exposure controls: In accordance with the community legislation for the protection of the environment it is recommended to avoid environmental spillage of both the product and its container. For additional information see subsection 7.1.D This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 8: EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION (continued) Volatile organic compounds: With regard to Directive 2010/75/EU, this product has the following characteristics: V.O.C. (Supply): 77,03 % weight V.O.C. density at 20 ºC: 660,96 kg/m³ (660,96 g/L) Average carbon number: 2,54 Average molecular weight: 56,24 g/mol SECTION 9: PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES 9.1 Information on basic physical and chemical properties: For complete information see the product datasheet. Appearance: Physical state at 20 ºC: Liquid Appearance: Transparent Colour: Greenish Odour: Characteristic Odour threshold: Non-applicable * Volatility: Boiling point at atmospheric pressure: 86 ºC Vapour pressure at 20 ºC: 5240 Pa Vapour pressure at 50 ºC: 24960,97 Pa (24,96 kPa) Evaporation rate at 20 ºC: Non-applicable * Product description: Density at 20 ºC: 858,1 kg/m³ Relative density at 20 ºC: 0,858 Dynamic viscosity at 20 ºC: 1,05 cP Kinematic viscosity at 20 ºC: 1,22 mm²/s Kinematic viscosity at 40 ºC: Non-applicable * Concentration: Non-applicable * pH: Non-applicable * Vapour density at 20 ºC: Non-applicable * Partition coefficient n-octanol/water 20 ºC: Non-applicable * Solubility in water at 20 ºC: Non-applicable * Solubility properties: Non-applicable * Decomposition temperature: Non-applicable * Melting point/freezing point: Non-applicable * Flammability: Flash Point: 20 ºC Flammability (solid, gas): Non-applicable * Autoignition temperature: 235 ºC Lower flammability limit: Not available Upper flammability limit: Not available Particle characteristics: Median equivalent diameter: Non-applicable 9.2 Other information: Not relevant due to the nature of the product, not providing information property of its hazards. This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 9: PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES (continued) Information with regard to physical hazard classes: Explosive properties: Non-applicable Oxidising properties: Non-applicable * Corrosive to metals: Non-applicable * Heat of combustion: Non-applicable * Aerosols-total percentage (by mass) of flammable components: Non-applicable * Other safety characteristics: Surface tension at 20 ºC: Non-applicable * Refraction index: Non-applicable * *Not relevant due to the nature of the product, not providing information property of its hazards. SECTION 10: STABILITY AND REACTIVITY 10.1 Reactivity: No hazardous reactions are expected because the product is stable under recommended storage conditions. See section 7. 10.2 Chemical stability: Chemically stable under the indicated conditions of storage, handling and use. 10.3 Possibility of hazardous reactions: Under the specified conditions, hazardous reactions that lead to excessive temperatures or pressure are not expected. 10.4 Conditions to avoid: Applicable for handling and storage at room temperature: 10.5 Incompatible materials: 10.6 Hazardous decomposition products: See subsection 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5 to find out the specific decomposition products. Depending on the decomposition conditions, complex mixtures of chemical substances can be released: carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide and other organic compounds. SECTION 11: TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION 11.1 Information on toxicological effects: The experimental information related to the toxicological properties of the product itself is not available Contains glycols. It is recommended not to breathe the vapours for prolonged periods of time due to the possibility of effects that are hazardous to the health . Dangerous health implications: In case of exposure that is repetitive, prolonged or at concentrations higher than the recommended occupational exposure limits, adverse effects on health may result, depending on the means of exposure: A- Ingestion (acute effect): - Acute toxicity : Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, however, it contains substances classified as dangerous for consumption. For more information see section 3. - Corrosivity/Irritability: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met. However, it does contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. B- Inhalation (acute effect): - Acute toxicity : Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for inhalation. For more information see section 3. - Corrosivity/Irritability: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 11: TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION (continued) C- Contact with the skin and the eyes (acute effect): - Contact with the skin: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met. However, it contains substances classified as hazardous for skin contact. For more information see section 3. - Contact with the eyes: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met. However, it does contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. D- CMR effects (carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and toxicity to reproduction): - Carcinogenicity: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for the effects mentioned. For more information see section 3. IARC: ethanol (1); propan-2-ol (3); d-limonene (3); Coumarin (3); 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (3) - Mutagenicity: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. - Reproductive toxicity: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. E- Sensitizing effects: - Respiratory: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous with sensitising effects. For more information see section 3. - Skin: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met. However, it contains substances classified as dangerous with sensitising effects. For more information see section 3. F- Specific target organ toxicity (STOT) - single exposure: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met. However, it contains substances classified as hazardous for inhalation. For more information see section 3. G- Specific target organ toxicity (STOT)-repeated exposure: - Specific target organ toxicity (STOT)-repeated exposure: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. - Skin: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. H- Aspiration hazard: Based on available data, the classification criteria are not met, as it does not contain substances classified as hazardous for this effect. For more information see section 3. Other information: Non-applicable Specific toxicology information on the substances: \| Identification \| Acute toxicity \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| LD50 oral \| 5280 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| 12800 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| 72,6 mg/L (4 h) \| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| LD50 oral \| >5000 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| 9510 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 \| LD50 oral \| 3000 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| 5610 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| LD50 oral \| >5000 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| >5000 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde CAS: 101-86-0 EC: 202-983-3 \| LD50 oral \| 3100 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| 3000 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6-c]pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 \| LD50 oral \| >2000 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| >2000 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 11: TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION (continued) \| Identification \| Acute toxicity \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| LD50 oral \| 14500 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| 5610 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| 1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one CAS: 57378-68-4 EC: 260-709-8 \| LD50 oral \| 1600 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| >2000 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| \| Damascenone CAS: 23696-85-7 EC: 245-833-2 \| LD50 oral \| >2000 mg/kg \| \| \| LD50 dermal \| >2000 mg/kg \| \| \| LC50 inhalation \| >20 mg/L \| SECTION 12: ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION The experimental information related to the eco-toxicological properties of the product itself is not available 12.1 Toxicity: Acute toxicity: \| Identification \| Concentration \| \| Species \| Genus \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| LC50 \| 10000 mg/L (96 h) \| Pimephales promelas \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| 1919 mg/L (48 h) \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| Non-applicable \| \| \| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| LC50 \| 9640 mg/L (96 h) \| Pimephales promelas \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| 13299 mg/L (48 h) \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| 1000 mg/L (72 h) \| Scenedesmus subspicatus \| Algae \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| LC50 \| 1,3 mg/L (96 h) \| Lepomis macrochirus \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| 1,38 mg/L (48 h) \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| Non-applicable \| \| \| \| Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde CAS: 101-86-0 EC: 202-983-3 \| LC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (96 h) \| \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (48 h) \| \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (72 h) \| \| Algae \| \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6-c]pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 \| LC50 \| 0,95 mg/L (96 h) \| Oryzias latipes \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| 0,194 mg/L (48 h) \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| 0,723 mg/L (72 h) \| Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata \| Algae \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| LC50 \| 11 mg/L (96 h) \| Cyprinus carpio \| Fish \| \| \| EC50 \| 15 mg/L (48 h) \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| \| \| EC50 \| 62 mg/L (72 h) \| Desmodesmus subspicatus \| Algae \| This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 12: ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION (continued) \| Identification \| Concentration \| \| Species \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one CAS: 57378-68-4 EC: 260-709-8 \| LC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (96 h) \| \| \| \| EC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (48 h) \| \| \| \| EC50 \| >0.1 - 1 (72 h) \| \| \| Damascenone CAS: 23696-85-7 EC: 245-833-2 \| LC50 \| >1 - 10 (96 h) \| \| \| \| EC50 \| >1 - 10 (48 h) \| \| \| \| EC50 \| >1 - 10 (72 h) \| \| Chronic toxicity: \| Identification \| Concentration \| \| Species \| Genus \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| NOEC \| Non-applicable \| \| \| \| \| NOEC \| 0,5 mg/L \| Daphnia magna \| Crustacean \| 12.2 Persistence and degradability: \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| BOD5 \| Non-applicable \| Concentration \| Non-applicable \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| COD \| 0 g O2/g \| Period \| 28 days \| \| \| BOD5/COD \| Non-applicable \| % Biodegradable \| 73 % \| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| BOD5 \| 1,19 g O2/g \| Concentration \| 100 mg/L \| \| \| COD \| 2,23 g O2/g \| Period \| 14 days \| \| \| BOD5/COD \| 0,53 \| % Biodegradable \| 86 % \| \| Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 \| BOD5 \| Non-applicable \| Concentration \| 100 mg/L \| \| \| COD \| Non-applicable \| Period \| 28 days \| \| \| BOD5/COD \| Non-applicable \| % Biodegradable \| 90 % \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| BOD5 \| Non-applicable \| Concentration \| 100 mg/L \| \| \| COD \| Non-applicable \| Period \| 28 days \| \| \| BOD5/COD \| Non-applicable \| % Biodegradable \| 0 % \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| BOD5 \| Non-applicable \| Concentration \| 81 mg/L \| \| \| COD \| Non-applicable \| Period \| 28 days \| \| \| BOD5/COD \| Non-applicable \| % Biodegradable \| 80 % \| 12.3 Bioaccumulative potential: \| Identification \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether CAS: 34590-94-8 EC: 252-104-2 \| BCF \| \| \| Pow Log \| \| \| Potential \| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| BCF \| \| \| Pow Log \| \| \| Potential \| This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 12: ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION (continued) \| Identification \| Bioaccumulation potential \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Linalool CAS: 78-70-6 EC: 201-134-4 \| BCF \| \| \| \| Pow Log \| 2.97 \| \| \| Potential \| \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| BCF \| 750 \| \| \| Pow Log \| 5.7 \| \| \| Potential \| High \| \| Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde CAS: 101-86-0 EC: 202-983-3 \| BCF \| 17 \| \| \| Pow Log \| \| \| \| Potential \| Low \| \| 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylindeno[5,6-c]pyran CAS: 1222-05-5 EC: 214-946-9 \| BCF \| 1584 \| \| \| Pow Log \| 5.9 \| \| \| Potential \| Very High \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| BCF \| 174 \| \| \| Pow Log \| 3.9 \| \| \| Potential \| High \| 12.4 Mobility in soil: \| Identification \| Absorption/desorption \| \| Volatility \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| propan-2-ol CAS: 67-63-0 EC: 200-661-7 \| Koc \| 1.5 \| Henry \| 8,207E-1 Pa·m³/mol \| \| \| Conclusion \| Very High \| Dry soil \| Yes \| \| \| Surface tension \| 2,24E-2 N/m (25 ºC) \| Moist soil \| Yes \| \| 2-acetoxy-2,3,8,8-tetramethyloctahydronaphthalene CAS: Non-applicable EC: 915-730-3 \| Koc \| 13200 \| Henry \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Conclusion \| Immobile \| Dry soil \| Non-applicable \| \| \| Surface tension \| Non-applicable \| Moist soil \| Non-applicable \| \| Linalyl acetate CAS: 115-95-7 EC: 204-116-4 \| Koc \| 518 \| Henry \| 177 Pa·m³/mol \| \| \| Conclusion \| Low \| Dry soil \| Yes \| \| \| Surface tension \| Non-applicable \| Moist soil \| Yes \| 12.5 Results of PBT and vPvB assessment: Product fails to meet PBT/vPvB criteria 12.6 Other adverse effects: Not described SECTION 13: DISPOSAL CONSIDERATIONS 13.1 Waste treatment methods: Type of waste (Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014): HP14 Ecotoxic, HP3 Flammable Waste management (disposal and evaluation): Consult the authorized waste service manager on the assessment and disposal operations in accordance with Annex 1 and Annex 2 (Directive 2008/98/EC). As under 15 01 (2014/955/EC) of the code and in case the container has been in direct contact with the product, it will be processed the same way as the actual product. Otherwise, it will be processed as non-dangerous residue. Waste should not be disposed of to drains. See paragraph 6.2. Regulations related to waste management: In accordance with Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) the community or state provisions related to waste management are stated Community legislation: Directive 2008/98/EC, 2014/955/EU, Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014 SECTION 14: TRANSPORT INFORMATION MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 14: TRANSPORT INFORMATION (continued) Transport of dangerous goods by land: With regard to ADR 2021 and RID 2021: 14.1 UN number: 14.2 14.3 UN proper shipping name: Transport hazard class(es): Labels: 14.4 Packing group: Environmental hazards: 14.5 14.6 Special precautions for user Special regulations: Tunnel restriction code: Physico-Chemical properties: Limited quantities: Transport in bulk according to Annex II of Marpol and the IBC Code: Transport of dangerous goods by sea: With regard to IMDG 40-20: 14.1 UN number: 14.2 UN proper shipping name: 14.3 Transport hazard class(es): Labels: 14.4 Packing group: 14.5 Marine pollutant: 14.6 14.7 Special precautions for user Special regulations: EmS Codes: Physico-Chemical properties: Limited quantities: Segregation group: Transport in bulk according to Annex II of Marpol and the IBC Code: Transport of dangerous goods by air: With regard to IATA/ICAO 2022: 14.6 14.4 14.3 14.2 UN proper shipping name: 14.1 UN number: see section 9 Physico-Chemical properties: II Packing group: 3 Labels: 3 Transport hazard class(es): FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S. (ethanol) UN1993 Environmental hazards: No 14.5 Transport in bulk according to Annex II of Marpol and the IBC Code: Non-applicable 14.7 Special precautions for user SECTION 15: REGULATORY INFORMATION 15.1 Safety, health and environmental regulations/legislation specific for the substance or mixture: Candidate substances for authorisation under the Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH): Non-applicable Substances included in Annex XIV of REACH ("Authorisation List") and sunset date: Non-applicable Regulation (EC) No 1005/2009, about substances that deplete the ozone layer: Non-applicable Article 95, REGULATION (EU) No 528/2012: propan-2-ol (Product-type 1, 2, 4) 14.7 UN1993 FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S. (ethanol) 3 3 II No 274, 601, 640D D/E see section 9 1 L Non-applicable UN1993 FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S. (ethanol) 3 3 II No 274 F-E, S-E see section 9 1 L Non-applicable Non-applicable This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 15: REGULATORY INFORMATION (continued) REGULATION (EU) No 649/2012, in relation to the import and export of hazardous chemical products: Non-applicable Seveso III: \| Section \| Description \| Lower-tier requirements \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| P5c \| FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS \| 5000 \| Limitations to commercialisation and the use of certain dangerous substances and mixtures (Annex XVII REACH, etc ….): Shall not be used in: —ornamental articles intended to produce light or colour effects by means of different phases, for example in ornamental lamps and ashtrays, —tricks and jokes, —games for one or more participants, or any article intended to be used as such, even with ornamental aspects. Specific provisions in terms of protecting people or the environment: It is recommended to use the information included in this safety data sheet as a basis for conducting workplace-specific risk assessments in order to establish the necessary risk prevention measures for the handling, use, storage and disposal of this product. Other legislation: The product could be affected by sectorial legislation 15.2 Chemical safety assessment: The supplier has not carried out evaluation of chemical safety. SECTION 16: OTHER INFORMATION Legislation related to safety data sheets: The SDS shall be supplied in an official language of the country where the product is placed on the market. This safety data sheet has been designed in accordance with ANNEX II-Guide to the compilation of safety data sheets of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (Regulation (EC) No 2015/830). Modifications related to the previous Safety Data Sheet which concerns the ways of managing risks.: Non-applicable Texts of the legislative phrases mentioned in section 2: H412: Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects. H225: Highly flammable liquid and vapour. Texts of the legislative phrases mentioned in section 3: The phrases indicated do not refer to the product itself; they are present merely for informative purposes and refer to the individual components which appear in section 3 CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008: Acute Tox. 4: H302 - Harmful if swallowed. Aquatic Acute 1: H400 - Very toxic to aquatic life. Aquatic Chronic 1: H410 - Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Aquatic Chronic 2: H411 - Toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Eye Irrit. 2: H319 - Causes serious eye irritation. Flam. Liq. 2: H225 - Highly flammable liquid and vapour. Skin Irrit. 2: H315 - Causes skin irritation. Skin Sens. 1A: H317 - May cause an allergic skin reaction. Skin Sens. 1B: H317 - May cause an allergic skin reaction. STOT SE 3: H336 - May cause drowsiness or dizziness. Classification procedure: Aquatic Chronic 3: Calculation method Flam. Liq. 2: Calculation method (18.104.22.168) Advice related to training: Training is recommended in order to prevent industrial risks for staff using this product and to facilitate their comprehension and interpretation of this safety data sheet, as well as the label on the product. Principal bibliographical sources: http://echa.europa.eu http://eur-lex.europa.eu Abbreviations and acronyms: This SDS is an English translation of Regulation (EU) nº 2015/830, without any country-specific legislation MIKADO FLOR LIRIO Y MELOCOTÓN AMBIENTADOR COCHE CANELA NARANJA SECTION 16: OTHER INFORMATION (continued) ADR: European agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road IMDG: International maritime dangerous goods code IATA: International Air Transport Association ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organisation COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand BOD5: 5day biochemical oxygen demand BCF: Bioconcentration factor LD50: Lethal Dose 50 LC50: Lethal Concentration 50 EC50: Effective concentration 50 LogPOW: Octanolwater partition coefficient Koc: Partition coefficient of organic carbon UFI: unique formula identifier IARC: International Agency for Research on Cancer The information contained in this safety data sheet is based on sources, technical knowledge and current legislation at European and state level, without being able to guarantee its accuracy. This information cannot be considered a guarantee of the properties of the product, it is simply a description of the security requirements. The occupational methodology and conditions for users of this product are not within our awareness or control, and it is ultimately the responsibility of the user to take the necessary measures to obtain the legal requirements concerning the manipulation, storage, use and disposal of chemical products. The information on this safety data sheet only refers to this product, which should not be used for needs other than those specified.
THUNDER RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL 2018-2019 Student Handbook Thunder Ridge Middle School 941 Kansas Avenue Agra, KS 67621 (785) 638-2244 Superintendent/K-3 & 9-12 Principal, Jeff Yoxall Pre-K, 4-8 Principal, Beth Norris Handbook Information/Expectation - This handbook contains the yearly required notification on the following issues: - Family Educational Right to Privacy Act - Nondiscrimination - Directory Information - Inoculations - Drug Free Schools and Communities Policy - Availability of Asbestos Plan - As a condition of enrollment, I am required to abide by all regulations contained in this handbook as well as other policies established by the board of education. - If I choose not to abide by the regulations contained in this handbook, any other policy established by the board of education, or any reasonable request by school authorities, disciplinary action may be imposed, up to and including expulsion from school. Purpose of the Handbook This handbook is intended to be used by students, parents and staff as a guide to the rules, regulations, and general information about Thunder Ridge Schools. Each student is responsible for becoming familiar with the handbook and for information contained within. Parents are encouraged to use the handbook as a resource to assist their child in following the rules at Thunder Ridge Schools. Although the information found in this handbook is detailed and specific on many topics, the handbook is not intended to be all encompassing or to cover every situation and circumstance that may arise during the school year. This handbook does not create a "contract". The administration reserves the right to make decisions and make rule revisions at any time to implement the educational program and to assure the well-being of all students. The administration will be responsible for interpreting the rules contained in the handbook. Should a situation or circumstance arise that is not specifically covered in this handbook, the administration will make a decision based upon all applicable school district policies, and state and federal statutes and regulations. TABLE OF CONTENTS Nondiscrimination..............................................................................................................1 Bullying........................................................................................................................38 Emergency Safety Interventions (ESI) ........................................................................41 Nondiscrimination Discrimination against any student on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion in the admission or access to, or treatment in the district's programs and activities is prohibited. Superintendent Jeff Yoxall has been designated to coordinate compliance with nondiscrimination requirements contained in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Any student who believes he or she has been discriminated against may file a complaint with the building principal or the compliance coordinator. Any student complaint of discrimination shall be resolved under the district's discrimination complaint procedure. Mission Statement We will seek through cooperation and unity to create a district where the welfare of the students is the primary objective. In order to accomplish this we will involve the school board, administrators, high qualified professional staff, students and representatives of all communities. We believe that with open communication and mutual respect the district will be one that provides an outstanding education in a safe and challenging environment. We will never cease in our pursuit of excellence. Enrollment/Withdrawal from School All resident students shall be admitted to attend school in the district unless they have been expelled. A resident student is any child who has attained the age of eligibility for school attendance and lives with a parent or a person acting as a parent who is a resident of the district. All students enrolling in the district for the first time shall provide required proof of identity. Students enrolling in kindergarten or first grade shall provide a certified copy of their birth certificate or other documentation, which the board determines to be satisfactory. Students enrolling in grades 2-12 shall provide a certified transcript or similar pupil records. The enrollment documentation shall include a student's permanent record card with a student's legal name as it appears on the birth certificate, or as changed by a court order and the name, address, telephone number of the lawful custodian. The records shall also provide the identity of the student as evidenced by a birth certificate, copy of a court order placing the student in the custody of Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services, a certified transcript of the student, a baptismal certificate or other documentation the board considers satisfactory. Drop-Add Period Once enrolled in a class, the class may be dropped only after a form is signed by a parent, the principal, the counselor, and the student. Dropping a class may be done only until the end of the first three days of classes. All classes will be for the full year unless otherwise listed. Non-Resident Students The district is not required to admit non-resident students. Non-resident students are those who do not meet the definition of a resident student. Non-resident students may be admitted only to the extent staff, facilities, equipment and supplies are available. A non-resident student who has been suspended or expelled from another district will not be admitted to the district unless approved by the board. Enrollment Each year during enrollment, parents and students must fill out a pupil information form including the following information: - name(s), phone number(s) and address of the student's parent(s)/guardian(s); - name of the student's physician; and - name of individual(s) to contact in case of emergency; - description of any medical conditions of which the staff needs to be aware. This information is kept on file and made part of the student's record. Please notify the school secretary within seven days if any of the following change: - numbers for home or parents' work; - mailing or street address; or - emergency contacts. The superintendent shall assign students to the appropriate building. Any student desiring to attend a school outside the attendance area in which the student resides may do so only with the prior written permission of the superintendent. Assignment to a particular grade level or particular classes shall be determined by the building principal based on the educational abilities of the student. If the parents disagree, the principal's decision may be appealed to the superintendent. If the parents are still dissatisfied with the assignment, they may appeal in writing to the board. Student Fees Students may be assessed fees for the following (not an inclusive list): Each student grades K-12 may choose (voluntary) purchase an Activity Card for $15. This will cover the costs of home athletic events, musicals, and assemblies. A textbook fee of $20 will be assessed for each student for textbooks and workbooks used by the students. Other costs may include: - membership dues in student clubs; - materials for class projects; - voluntarily purchased pictures, publications, class rings, graduation announcements, etc.; - voluntarily purchased student accident insurance; - musical instrument rental and supplies; - personal apparel, used in extracurricular activities, that become the property of the student; and - activity trip fees. Each teacher will provide information pertaining to school supplies on the first day of class. In the high school, full faith and credit shall be given to units earned in other accredited schools, unless the principal determines there is valid reason for not doing so. Transfers from Non-Accredited Schools Students transferring from non-accredited schools will be placed by the principal. Initial placement will be made by the principal after consultation with parents or guardians and guidance personnel. Final placement shall be made by the principal based on the student's documented past educational experiences and performance on tests administered to determine grade level placement. It shall be the responsibility of the principal of the appropriate school to determine whether a student has transferred or withdrawn from school. Any student who is absent from school for more than 5 consecutive days shall be presumed to have transferred or withdrawn, unless the principal may determine by investigation that such is not the case. Any student that drops out of school or is expelled from school loses all rights and privileges afforded students of Thunder Ridge Schools. Fees and dues collected will be returned on a pro-rated basis only if the student or his/her parents or guardian asks for their return. Readmission All applicants for readmission to the school shall be submitted to the appropriate building principal in writing. If the student who is applying for readmission has been previously expelled from the school, the principal shall attempt to establish communication with the parents or guardian and to counsel with both parents and student concerning his/her readmission. If the student who is applying for readmission has previously withdrawn, either formally or otherwise, the principal by appropriate counseling shall assist the student in planning his/her schedule, in obtaining the necessary books and supplies and in re-establishing himself as an active participant in the program of the school. Procedure for student withdraw from school: 1. The student must pick up a checkout sheet from the office. 2. Each teacher must sign out the student from the assigned class. 3. All school materials must be returned. 4. All bills must be paid. 5. Checkout sheet must be returned to the office with appropriate signatures. All student records shall be treated as confidential and primarily for local school use unless otherwise stipulated. FERPA Under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) parents of students and eligible students (those who are 18 or older) are afforded various rights with regard to educational records that are kept and maintained by the school. In accordance with FERPA, you are required to be notified of those rights which include: - The right to review and inspect all of your educational records except those which are specifically exempted. - The right to prevent disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in your educational records to other persons with certain limited exceptions. Disclosure of information from your educational records to other persons will occur only if: - we have your prior written consent for disclosure; - the information is considered directory information and you have not objected to the release of such information - disclosure without consent is permitted by law. - The right to request your educational records be amended if you believe the records are misleading, inaccurate, or otherwise in violation of your rights. This right includes the right to request a hearing at which you may present evidence to show why the record should be changed if your request for an amendment to your records is denied in the first instance. - The right to file a complaint with the Family Policy and Regulations Office at the U.S. Department of Education if you believe USD 110 has failed to comply with FERPA's requirements. The address of this office is 400 Maryland Ave. SW, MES, Room 4074, Washington, D.C. 20202. Directory Information For purposes of FERPA, USD 110 has designated certain information contained in educational records as directory information which may be disclosed for any purpose without your consent. Directory information categories may include the following: the student's name, address, telephone number, picture, parent or guardian, date and place of birth; major field of study; weight, height, participation in and eligibility for officially recognized activities and sports; dates of attendance or grade placement; honors and awards received; and the most recent educational agency or school attended by the student. You have a right to refuse to permit the designation of any or all of the above information as directory information. If you refuse, you must file written notification to this effect with USD 110 at the Thunder Ridge High School before September 1. If refusal is not filed, USD 110 assumes there is no objection to the release of the directory information designated. School pictures are normally taken within the first 2-3 weeks of school at the grade school building. Students are under no obligation to purchase pictures, but they are available for purchase. Students are required to take student pictures even if not purchasing for the school yearbook. Academics The school has developed grade level/course objectives for all subject areas. The course objectives are aligned grades K-12. The district educational testing program shall consist of multiple assessments. These assessments shall include, as a minimum, individual teacher subject matter tests, district group achievement tests, and any state required tests. Students may be promoted when they have demonstrated mastery of the board-approved learning objectives. The final decision to promote or retain a student shall rest with the principal after receiving information from parents/guardians, teachers and other appropriate school personnel. Honor Roll The middle school honor roll will be based on letter grades of each general education class. Three levels will be recognized: all As, all As & Bs, and all As, Bs, & only one C. To be listed on the nine weeks, semester, or yearly honor roll a student must meet the following criteria for the grading period. Grading Scale 98 – 100 = A 92 – 97 = A 90 – 91 = A- 88 – 89 = B 82 – 87 = B 80 – 81 = B- 78 – 79 = C 72 – 77 = C 70 – 71 = C- 68 – 69 = D 62 – 67 = D 60 – 61 = D- 59 and Below F Periodic reports either written, by telephone or individual conference with the parent(s) may be made to parents during the interim between formal reports being issued. Staff shall contact parents of students who are failing to master the learning objectives or whose grades have shown a decrease since the last formal reporting period. Formal reports shall be made to students and parents following the end of each established grading period (every 9 week period). Report cards will be either sent home or handed to students at the end of each 9-weeks. Art / Study Hall Enrollment Policy At the end of each school year, 6 th , and 7 th grade students are given the opportunity to choose whether or not they want to take an art class the following year as 7 th and 8 th graders. The options are; art all year, study hall all year, or a semester of each. Depending on the interest level of students, in each category, administration will determine the schedule. Upon enrolling in Art the following criteria must be maintained: Must remain eligible: -if the student becomes ineligible, the student will be given a verbal warning. They will have one week to bring their grades up and become eligible again. -if the student is still ineligible, the student will report to study hall for the following week, also working on bringing up their grade. If they do so they return to Art the following week. -if said student at the end of week two is still ineligible, they will remain in Study hall the rest of the semester. -if a student becomes ineligible a second time, the student will be moved to Study Hall the remainder of the semester. -Work missed during this time of absence will be marked excused and they will not be expected to make it up. Academics are of utmost importance to students in order to succeed. This policy is designed to help students achieve great things, and be rewarded for maintaining a high standard for themselves. Band/Vocal Classes Students wishing to participate in Band for the current school year must pre-enroll in the class before the start of regular fall classes. As a member of the Band class, all students are expected to maintain the commitment for the entire school year. Necessary supplies for Band students, such as reeds, valve oil, etc. may be purchased through the director on a cash and carry basis, not on credit. Continuous days without a playable instrument will result in a reduction in the daily points and consequently a negative impact on the overall grade. Seventh and Eighth Grade students are eligible for lettering in Band and/or Vocal by meeting the following requirements: Being a student in good standing and participating in honor groups and/or contest as a soloist or member of an ensemble. A student in good standing has maintained a weekly C- average or above in Band or Vocal. Students shall reimburse that school district for Regional contest fees when cancellations are made AFTER the registration deadline. Band and Vocal students will participate in scheduled League, Regional and State Clinics and Contests, as well as school concerts, parades and pep band, as part of their total grade. Failure to meet this expectation will have a substantial affect on the band and /or vocal grade. Parents are to contact the MUSIC DEPARTMENT in advance of absences that are not avoidable. (Note: Absences from performances are strongly discouraged. In a small school, each member of the performing ensemble plays a very important role in the outcome of the final performance.) Parent-Teacher Conferences Parents and students are encouraged to request a conference with teachers at any time convenient to all parties. Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences will be held as soon as possible after the first 9week grading period To be listed on the nine weeks, semester, or yearly honor roll a student must meet the following criteria for the grading period. 1. The middle school honor roll will be determined by letter grades in all regular education classes, all As, all As and Bs, and all As, Bs, and no more than one C. 2. The student must have no grades lower than a C-. Any grade lower than C- will automatically disqualify the student from being on the honor roll, regardless of what other grades are earned. 3. Students with incompletes will not be listed on the honor roll. Promotion Recognition Eighth grade students will be recognized at promotion according to GPA. The President's Award Program requires a 3.5 GPA and high achievement on a standardized or state test. Promotion Exercises Students who have completed the requirements for promotion may be allowed to participate in promotion exercises unless participation is denied for appropriate reasons. Promotion exercises shall be under the control and direction of the building principal. The following requirements must be met in order to participate in promotion: - Textbooks returned - Library books returned - Uniforms returned - Band Instruments returned, if rented from the school - Bills paid for meals - Bills paid for unreturned items - All homework complete - No pending discipline issues - Check out sheet complete Homework Students are expected to complete homework and turn it in on time. Teachers may assign a zero if the student fails to turn the assignment on time. We feel it is extremely important that students take the responsibility to make sure assignments are completed on time. It is the student's responsibility to obtain make-up assignments from teachers following an excused or unexcused absence. For each day of absence, a student has one day to make up the work. For example, if a student is gone three days in a row, the student has three days to make up the work upon returning to school. If a student knows that he or she will be gone prior to their absence, they are to get the assignment from their teacher and have it turned in prior to leaving unless other arrangements are made with the instructor. If the student knows that he/she is going to be gone prior to absence and does not take the initiative to obtain his/her assignments ahead of time, the teacher may give the student a zero. THUNDER RIDGE ACADEMY THUNDER RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADES 6-8 The TRMS Staff 6 th – 8 th grade teachers have established an after school program Monday through Wednesday from 3:50 – 4:30 throughout the school year. The Academy Program will be held in the ITV classroom, and will be provided by teachers in the building on a volunteer rotating basis. Students will be allowed to attend athletic practice after they have attended the Academy session. We believe academics are by far the most important part of a student's education at Thunder Ridge Schools. Students who are well prepared for the post secondary world are much more successful than those who are not well prepared. USD 110 wants to give our students every opportunity to be successful in their careers and life. We know a good education is the key to a successful career. With the support of our parents, this program could be a tremendous benefit to our students. Students may also voluntarily attend the Academy for help with homework after school OR they will be referred by their teacher for late assignments. Late assignments that are turned in with sloppy or unacceptable answers will also be given a referral to the Academy. When a student has a late assignment he/she will be given an Academy Phone Pass that will be submitted to the school secretary and the student will call their parents/guardians to let them know they will be staying after school for the following Academy session. (This will be Tuesday for those students calling Monday, Wednesday for those calling on Tuesday and Monday for those who call on Wednesday – Friday.) A note will be sent home with the student to give to the parent as well. A Google document will be set up for the teachers every week to add the names of those students who will be attending the Academy and exactly what these students need to work on during the Academy session. After students finish their late assignments they will also be given opportunity to work on the next day's assignments or Lexia/Core 5 Reading, Reading Plus, Accelerated Reading and Math websites that improve our students basic knowledge. If a student "forgets" to attend the Academy on the day that it is assigned he/she will be required to double the days to make up for the lost time. Students who have not filled their TR obligations will not attend extra-curricular activities. The school will NOT transport children from the Academy. Parents will need to come to get their children from TRMS or have a designated driver that will pick up their student. Academic Dishonesty Academic dishonesty–as in cheating or plagiarism–is not acceptable. Cheating includes copying another student's work–such as homework, class work, or test answers–as one's own. Plagiarism is the use of another person's original ideas or writing without giving credit to the true author. A student that engages in any form of academic dishonesty will be subject to the loss of credit for the work in question, as well other disciplinary measures. Human Sexuality and AIDS Curriculum The human sexuality and AIDS curriculum is available for inspection from the high school office upon request. A parent or guardian (or student eighteen years of age or older) may use the district optout provision to remove the student from some portion or all of human sexuality and AIDS classes included in the district's required curriculum. To receive information on the opt-out provision, contact the principal's office. Attendance Kansas law requires students to attend school until the age of 18. Sixteen and seventeenyear-olds may be exempt from the compulsory attendance requirement if: - they have attained a diploma or GED; or - they are enrolled in an approved alternative education program, recognized by the local board of education; or - a court orders exemption; or - the parent or person acting as parent consents in writing to their child being exempt from the requirement and the child and parent attend a final counseling session conducted by the school to sign a disclaimer. The law requires the disclaimer to include the following information: - the academic skills the child has not yet achieved; - the difference in future earning power between a high school graduate and a high school dropout; and - a list of educational alternatives available to the child. Students age 16 or 17 who are not exempt shall be reported as truant. See "Attendance/Truancy," below. Any student not in school, unless on a school trip will be counted absent. Exception: Students attending school sponsored activities without parents consent during the regular school hours as spectators will be considered unexcused. Students taken from school by their parents to attend school sponsored activities as spectators are excused. Attendance Policy Attendance Policy Mission Statement: Regular and prompt school attendance is vital to a good education as well as to the development of responsibility and personal discipline. Regular attendance demonstrates respect for teachers and peers by minimizing the time used to help a student catch up after an absence. Opportunities for education and growth sometimes occur outside the school. USD 110 encourages you, with the guidance of your parents or guardians to evaluate these opportunities and take advantage of those that promote your personal development. Illness and family concerns may also require time away from school. Responsible use of this policy will give you and your parents a chance to arrange your priorities and provide for illness without the threat of disciplinary consequences. You must understand, however, that not every opportunity or need justifies an absence from school. We expect you to give school attendance priority over matters of personal convenience and desire. USD 110 will not excuse absences that serve no constructive purpose or which, regardless of the purpose, are excessive or generally avoidable. Attendance Procedures: 1. If a student is absent the parent/guardian must contact the school between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on the day of the absence. If the office does not receive confirmation of the absence by phone or written notification the absence will be unexcused, for the time missed. ** Please see the Make-Up Work Policy below- zero credit will be issued if the absence is unexcused. 2. Any illness or hospitalization of 4 days or longer will require a note from the doctor verifying the reason and length of the absence. 3. Students who know in advance that they are going to be absent are encouraged to advise the office one day in advance of the absence and make arrangements for make-up work with their teachers before they leave. Please see the Make-Up Work Policy below. 4. In the event of an unforeseen absence, it is the student's responsibility upon returning to school to meet with each teacher to get missed assignments and to make arrangements to complete make-up work. Please see the Make-Up Work Policy below. 5. All students absent 1st hour will not be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities (including any practices, games, etc). The exception to this rule is medical appointments, and funerals. Those students returning to school with a doctor's note or sufficient documentation for their absence will be permitted to practice or play that day. 6. A student may not leave school property during the school day unless parent contact is completed and permission is granted by school officials. All students who leave during the day must sign out at the office. Leaving without permission from the office will result in an unexcused absence for the periods missed by the student. 7. If your child/children will not be riding the bus home from a school sponsored event, the child must be signed out with a coach and will only be released to a parent/legal guardian. The administration realizes it is difficult to schedule medical and dental appointments, but we request that parents make every effort to schedule appointments so their child misses as little school time as possible. Excused absence (an absence will be excused for the following reasons): Funerals * Illness * Medical Appointments- with a doctor's note * Family trips- Advance notice is to be given to the school * Absence which a parent of the student requests in advance by telephone and which the Principal feels will contribute in a substantial and educational way to the best interest of the student or the student's family * Parent request- Not to exceed 2 parent request per semester Unexcused absences: Absences for reasons other than the above. Some examples are but not limited to: * Oversleeping * Hair appointments * Failing to call the school before 9 am and notify the office of the student's absence Excessive absences: Attending school is currently the main job of a student. Attendance is necessary for effective learning, but it also teaches responsibility, creates habits that will carry them through life. We know things come up and students are required to miss school. We want to instill a policy that will help the students and their parents make WISE CHOICES about how they use their absences. At TRMS - 7-8th grade The day is divided into 10 periods in which attendance is taken. Each period will consist of 1/10th of a day. At 10 total period absences the student will have missed one whole day. 4th-6th grade The day will be divided into quarter of a day periods. Tardy 8:00-8:15 AQ= Absent Quarter 8:16-10:45 AH= Absent Half 10:46-1:00 ATQ= Absent Three Quarters 1:01-3:29 LE= Left Early 3:30-3:45 Therefore, if a child arrives at school, leaves part way during the day then returns, if they are gone Less than 15 minutes they are T or LE, either means gone 15 minutes or less More than 15 minutes they are AQ, absent quarter of the day More than 135 minutes they are AH absent half of the day More than 270 minutes they are ATQ, absent three quarters of the day Absences will be tallied this way - for ALL EXCUSED AND UNEXCUSED ABSENCES. Missing between 1 & 15 minutes is considered tardy, but missing 16 minutes or more of a class is an absence. Student Activity absences will not be included in the excessive absence policy. * The following chart will be followed for missed days and consequences. \| At 8 absences \| Attendance Alert Letter will be mailed \| \|---\|---\| \| At 14 absences \| Parent Conference will be held with the principal, student, parents & teacher(s) \| \| At 20 absences \| Parent Conference explaining: Each additional day missed will be made up with three days of detention after school from 3:45-4:30. Incompletes will be in place until all seat time is made up. See make up time opportunities below. All grades will be finalized at the end of school - no work will be accepted for credit after that, but you will receive incompletes until all seat time is completed. Make up work must follow Make up work Policy below. \| At the end of each quarter, students with 5 or more absences for the quarter will serve one detention time, before being allowed to attend extracurricular activities. Students will have one week to make this up. Exceptions for documented medical issues will be handled on a case-by-case basis by the Principal. Doctor's notes stating the reason and duration of the absences will be required. Truancy Policy: The Board of Education does not condone truancy for any reason and encourages all students to attend school on a regular and systematic basis. Truancy is defined as any three consecutive unexcused absences, any five unexcused absences in a semester or seven unexcused absences in a school year, whichever comes first. The superintendent of schools shall include in his annual report any information relative to truancy, which he feels, should be called to the attention of the Board and to the community. The superintendent shall attempt to enlist the support and cooperation of the Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services in dealing with the problems created by truancy. The superintendent of schools is authorized to report truancies to the administrative judge of the Kansas DCF (Department of Children and Families) for referral. Make-Up Work: 1. If the absence is excused the student will need to meet with their teacher(s) to set a time limit when the work is due not to exceed 1 day for every day absent. Work not made up in the assigned time, even though the absence is excused, will be recorded as a zero and marked incomplete until finished. 2. Partial credit will be issued if the absence is unexcused. 3. Advanced make-up work - if a student knows of impending absence, assignments should be secured and work made up in advance. This is the student's responsibility. 4. Concerning all inter-school activities, teachers must be notified and all make-up work must be obtained in advance of departure. Teachers will contact the coach/sponsor if this is an issue. 5. A student who does not keep his make-up work current will not be allowed to depart early for future non curricular events. 6. Students on Out-of-School Suspension (OSS) must have all work ready to turn in upon returning to school. It is the student's responsibility to get work from teachers. They will receive a maximum of 59% credit. Teacher discretion applies to all make-up work policy. See specific teacher syllabus for late work policy, missed class participation grades, etc. Power School Attendance Conversion for grades 4-6 T= Tardy 8:00 – 8:15 Therefore, if a child arrives at school, leaves part way during the day then returns, if they are gone: Less than 15 minutes they are T or LE, either mean gone 15 minutes or less More than 15 minutes they are AQ, absent a quarter of the day More than 135 minutes they are AH absent half of the day More than 270 minutes they are ATQ, absent three quarters of the day Power School Attendance for grades 7-8 will be taken per class period. Tardy Policy Be responsible by entering class on time, if you are late due to being held by the previous teacher they will send you with a pass and it will not be recorded in the office. If you need to address an issue that will make you late, take your materials to class and ask permission from the teacher. If the teacher is told instead of being asked, you will be counted tardy. 3 Tardies – 20 minutes after school 4 Tardies – 30 minutes after school 5 Tardies – unexcused absence and In-School Suspension Tardies are cumulative, not class specific. The habit of being late is inconsiderate and selfcentered. Time after school will be completed on a Monday or Tuesday, with arrangements being made by the student to notify parents for ride arrangements or the student must notify the coach of the current sport season if applicable. Discipline PHILOSOPHY: The word "discipline" is derived from the word "disciple" which means, "to teach." The purpose of these discipline and attendance policies is to ensure a safe, child-centered learning environment, which is free of disruption. These policies involve parents, community members, and school personnel in the process, and hold students accountable for their behavior. The goal of the Thunder Ridge School District is to develop those traits known as the Six Pillars of Character counts: Caring, Respect, Fairness, Citizenship, Trustworthiness, and Responsibility. The effective education of our students requires a school environment in which students feel safe and secure. The Board of Education is committed to maintain an environment conducive to learning in which students are safe from violence, threats, name-calling, intimidation, and unlawful harassment. This policy shall include circumstances related to racial harassment and racial discrimination and how each are related to student to student, student to school personnel, and school personnel to student incidents. A POLICY ADDRESSING THE PROHIBITION OF HARASSMENT BASED ON RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, AND NATIONAL ORIGIN, AND PROCEDURES FOR REPORTING AND INVESTIGATING IS BEING FINALIZED AND SHALL BE FORTH COMING. DISCIPLINARY REFERRAL PROCESS: 1. It is acknowledged that all staff members share in the responsibility for enforcing the discipline policies and creating an environment conducive to learning. All referrals shall be made in writing. 2. The principal and/or his/her designee shall conduct and document a confidential investigation to determine whether or not to proceed with charging the referred student with a violation of policy. 3. In investigating a referral, the administrator or designee shall interview witnesses as appropriate and necessary. 4. In processing disciplinary referrals, the administrator or designee shall utilize, as appropriate, Character Counts-focused counseling with students. 5. All disciplinary policy consequences described below accumulate throughout the school year unless otherwise specified. Parents will be contacted regarding each offense. 6. Any/all unlawful items shall be confiscated and be turned over to a law enforcement agency as soon as possible. 7. When a student has been placed on a district contract, by the Hearing Authority, the following should occur: The student will return to school with a copy of the district contract and a re-entry check-off form, which will require a Principal/Assistant Principal signature and a referral to the Student Assistance Team for clearance. If a student has been long-term suspended by the Hearing Authority, or if a student violates his/her district contract, resulting in long term suspension, the following should occur: Upon returning from long term suspension, the student will be required to obtain a re-entry Check in form, sign by the Principal/Assistant Principal, who will refer the student to the Student Assistance Team prior to clearance. Parents will be contacted regarding each offense. SUSPENSION PROCEDURES When a principal (or designee) determines that a student be suspended, the following procedures will be followed: 1. A meeting will be held prior to the suspension of any student. At this meeting the student will be entitled to: A. A written or oral statement of the charges; B. If the student denies the charges, a summary of the evidence against the student will be presented. C. The student will be provided an opportunity to explain his/her conduct. 2. The meeting shall precede suspension of the student except where the nature of the misconduct requires immediate removal. In such situations, the meeting will follow the suspension as soon as reasonably possible following the date of suspension. 3. Following the suspension, the parents or guardians of suspended students will be notified in writing. The notification will include the dates of the suspension, description of the student's misconduct, and the action taken by the principal. EXPULSION PROCEDURES When a principal (or designee) recommends to the superintendent (or designee) that a student be expelled from school, the following procedures will be followed: 1. The superintendent (or designee) may conduct an expulsion meeting, or may appoint one of the following persons to conduct the expulsion meeting: a. Legal counsel b. A member of the administrative staff who did not expel the student and was not involved in the events giving rise to the expulsion. 2. An expulsion will not take place until the student and the student's parents are given notice of their right to appear at an expulsion meeting conducted by the superintendent or the person designated above. Failure by a student or a student's parent to appear at this meeting will be deemed a waiver of rights administratively to contest the expulsion or to appeal it to the school board. 3. The notice of the right of an expulsion meeting will be in writing, delivered by certified mail or by personal delivery, and contain the reasons for the expulsion and the date, time, place, and purpose of the meeting. 4. At the expulsion meeting, the principal (or designee), will present evidence to support the charges against the student. The student or parent will have the opportunity to answer the charges against the student, and to present evidence to support the student's position. 5. If an expulsion meeting is held, the person conducting the expulsion meeting will make a written summary of the evidence heard at the meeting, take any action found to be appropriate, and give notice of the action taken to the student and the student's parent. The student or parent has the right to appeal the decision of the person conducting the expulsion meeting to the school board within 10 days of the receipt of notice of the action taken. The student or parent appeal to the school board must be in writing. If an appeal is properly made, the board must consider the appeal unless the board votes not to hear the appeal. If the board hears the appeal, it will consider the written summary of the expulsion meeting and the arguments of the school administration and the student and/or the student's parent(s). The board will then take any action deemed appropriate. IN-SCHOOL SUSPENSION In-School Suspension is used primarily for disciplinary situations. In-School Suspension involves removing a student from the mainstream of school activity and assigning him/her to a strictly supervised and restricted classroom. The student assigned to In-School Suspension will be allowed to complete work (assignments, tests, etc.) for credit. The student cannot receive credit for participation in class lectures and discussion, or lab situations that are missed due to the ISS assignment. Teachers may send tests or other assignments to students to be completed during their ISS time, but they are not obligated to do so. Students assigned to one period of ISS: Teachers may send students to ISS room upon notification of the office for the class period, if warranted. The ISS supervisor will keep a log of students sent directly from one classroom for a one period suspension. Students assigned to ISS for one period must copy from the student handbook throughout the period. The suspended student must report to the ISS room at 8:10 a.m. Suspended students must bring a sack lunch or purchase a meal while on ISS. The lunchroom will have available a table assigned to ISS students. The students will be escorted to and from the lunchroom by the lunch duty teacher. Students in ISS are always responsible for completing assignments for classes missed. When a student is suspended for the day (this does not include one-hour removal from class), that student is not permitted to participate in extra-curricular practices (athletics, musical, etc.) or competitions until the beginning of the following day. IN-SCHOOL SUSPENSION GUIDELINES 1. No sleeping will be allowed during In-School Suspension. 2. No food or drink allowed. 3. No talking. 4. No disruptive behavior. 5. No magazines. 6. Students refusing to follow the guidelines of ISS will be suspended Out-of-School for 1-10 days and must make up the ISS assignment upon returning. 7. Students placed in ISS cannot attend school athletic activities including practices and games or any other extra-curricular activity until the beginning of the following day. OUT-OF-SCHOOL SUSPENSON Out-Of-School Suspension is for disciplinary purposes. Out-Of-School Suspension involves removing a student from the school premises for a specified number of days. Out-Of-School Suspension is used for more severe disciplinary issues and for repeated offenses. Students placed in Out-Of-School Suspension are not allowed on school grounds during the suspension and are not allowed to be involved in any school activities during the suspension. Students are to complete assignments missed during an Out-Of-School Suspension and will receive up to 59% credit on each assignment. DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCES FOR VIOLATING SCHOOL POLICY ALL DISCIPLINE POLICIES APPLY TO BEHAVIOR THAT OCCURS WHILE ON SCHOOL PROPERTY, IN A SCHOOL BUS/VEHICLE, OR AT A SCHOOL ACTIVITY, BUS STOP, ATHLETIC OR SOCIAL EVENT. IF THIS HAPPENS WEAPONS IN SCHOOL POLICY (School Year) The Board of Education recognizes that the presence of weapons in school not only creates unacceptable risks of injury or death, but also creates a climate that undermines the educational purposes of the schools. Accordingly, it is the policy of the Board of Education to forbid the possession, custody, or use of weapons by students or unauthorized personnel in or around school property. This policy is enacted to implement the requirements of the Federal Gun Free Schools Act of 1995. Definitions: Weapon: For purposes of this policy, a "weapon" is any firearm, knife, explosive, or other object, even if manufactured for a nonviolent purpose, that has a potentially violent use, or any "look-a-like" object that resembles an object that has a potentially violent use, if under the surrounding circumstances, the purpose of keeping or carrying the object is for use, or threat of use, as a weapon. Firearm: For the purposes of this policy, and for purposes of compliance with Federal Gun Free Schools Act, a "firearm" is defined as any weapon, including a starter gun, which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; the frame or receiver of any such weapon; and firearm muffler or firearm silencer, or any destructive device. Prohibitions: It is the policy of the Board that no student shall bring a weapon into a school zone, nor carry or keep any weapon in a school zone or while attending or participating in any school activity, including during transportation to or from such activity. Enforcement: This policy shall be enforced according to the Board's Student Search and Seizure Policy. Disciplinary actions pursuant to this policy shall follow the procedures prescribed by the State Board of Education Regulation NO. 81-3, as amended and the policies of the district. Penalties for Violations: Any student found to be in violation of this policy shall be subject to discipline, including long-term suspension. a. In compliance with the Federal Gun Free Schools Act, any student found to be in violation of this policy due to possession of a firearm, as defined in this policy, shall at a minimum, be expelled from school for a period of not less than one year (186 school days), provided, that the Superintendent or the Board of Education may modify such penalty in appropriate cases in their discretion. b. This policy shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 1. In accordance with the provision of 20 U.S.C. § 1415e(3) (B) of the IDEA, a child with a disability who is determined to have brought a weapon to a school under the jurisdiction to the School Board may be placed in an interim alternative educational setting as specified by the IEP team. 2. If the parent or guardian requests a due process hearing, the child shall remain in the alternative educational setting during the tenure of such proceeding, unless the parents and school officials agree otherwise. THEN THIS HAPPENS Any offense: Parental notification and notification to the appropriate law enforcement authorities and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority with a recommendation of long-term suspension for one (1) calendar year (186 school days). IF THIS HAPPENS POSSESSION OF WEAPONS OTHER THAN FIREARMS: (School Year) THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Any offense: Parental notification and notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority with a recommendation of longterm suspension for the remainder of the current semester with the option of extending the long-term suspension for one (1) calendar year (186 school days). IF THIS HAPPENS (Student to Student/School Personnel/Other Persons) THREAT OR ATTACK WITH A WEAPON (School Year) A threat with a weapon or an attack with a weapon with the obvious intent to harm school personnel, another student, or other persons attending a school function or on school property. A weapon is defined as any instrument such as a knife, gun, ice pick, razor, or any substance used with the intent of inflicting bodily harm. Weapons are not to be in student possession while attending school, at a school activity, or on a school bus or other means of district transportation. Possession of a weapon will be dealt with under "Weapons in School Policy". IF THIS HAPPENS THREAT TO USE A WEAPON (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel/Other Persons) THEN THIS HAPPENS Any offense: Parental notification and notification of the appropriate law enforcement agency and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority with a recommendation of longterm suspension for one (1) calendar year (186 school days). Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) IF THIS HAPPENS DISRUPTIVE AND DANGEROUS TACTICS (School Year) Offenses that are considered dangerous or disruptive. Arson, playing with fire, calling in a bomb threat, possession or explosion of fireworks an explosives, riot, walk-outs, strikes, setting off fire alarms, discharging fire extinguishers are included in this section. Also, other acts that are equally as disruptive or dangerous might be charged as an offense in this policy, such as students obstructing school personnel from responding to a dangerous or potentially dangerous situation. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Any offense: Parental notification and notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority who will have the prerogative of long-term suspension for remainder of the current semester with the option of extending the long-term suspension through the succeeding semester and/or district behavior contract, depending on the nature of the offense. IF THIS HAPPENS SEXUAL ATTACK (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel) The act of abusing the personal rights of another by the imposition of sexual acts. Various forms of touching may be interpreted as assault. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Any offense: Parents of both students and the appropriate law enforcement agency shall be notified. The student responsible for the assault shall be referred to the Hearing Authority and suspended from school until the hearing is held. The Hearing Authority may expel the student for up to one (1) calendar year (186 school days) or place the student on a behavior contract. The student responsible for the assault must begin counseling with a mental health agency prior to returning to school. IF THIS HAPPENS PHYSICAL ATTACK (School Year) (Student to School Personnel) An actual attack on school personnel, or other persons on school property or at a school activity. This may include any form of intentionally forceful, harmful, hurtful, or clearly offensive physical contact administered upon or directed to the body of another, including, but not limited to: a. Striking, kicking, squeezing, pushing, or pinching any part of the body, or forcefully grabbing the body or attempting to do any of the foregoing; or b. Restraining or restricting physical movement through physical contact, or attempting to do either. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Any offense: Parental notification and notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency, and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the parents and student present with recommendation to expel for up to one (1) year (186 school days). The student shall be suspended for a minimum of five (5) days or until the hearing, whichever is longer. IF THIS HAPPENS PHYSICAL ATTACK (School Year) (Student to Student) The act of inflicting bodily injury of a serious nature to another student. This would include using part of your person, including, but not limited to the following: fist, head, elbow, foot, knee, or teeth. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and, if needed,notification of the appropriate law enforcement agency, and up to five (5) days suspension with a mandatory parent conference nd for re-entry. If in the opinion of the principal, the severity of the injury sustained is of a violent or serious nature, then, the principal/designee would have the option of referring the student to the Hearing Authority to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for up to one (1) year (186 school days). If the student is referred to the Hearing Authority, the student will be suspended for a minimum of five (5) days or until the hearing, whichever is longer. Outside counseling is required. 2 Offense: Parental notification and notification of the appropriate law enforcement agency, and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide and opportunity for a hearing with parents and student present to discuss recommendation for district behavior contract and/or the possibility of long-term suspension for up to one (1) year (186 school days). The student will be suspended until the hearing. IF THIS HAPPENS AGGRESSIVE CONFRONTATION(School Year) (Student to Student) The act of verbally or physically confronting another student in a disruptive manner. Shall include, but not be limited to, the acts of intentionally pushing, shoving, bumping, running into, tripping, or grabbing another student however no punches are thrown. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: After careful investigation to ascertain the extenuating circumstances and individual guilt, proceed with parental notification and up to three (3) days suspension with parent. Mediation and counseling may be suggested. 2 nd Offense: After careful investigation to ascertain the extenuating circumstances and individual guilt, proceed with parental notification and then up to five (5) days suspension with mandatory parental conference for re-entry. Mediation and counseling required. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification and then refer to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with parents and student present with recommendation for long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester and/or district behavior contract. 4 th Offense: Parental notification and recommend long-term suspension to the Hearing Authority for the remainder of the school year. IF THIS HAPPENS THREAT (School Year) (Student to School Personnel) Threatening physical harm, harassment or intimidation toward school personnel either by spoken or written word or by gesture or expression. Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification, referral for counseling, and a three (3) day suspension with mandatory parental conference. Notification of appropriate law enforcement agency and, referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with parents and student to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester and/or district behavior contract. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification, notification of appropriate law enforcement agency, and recommendation of long-term suspension to the Hearing Authority of the remainder of the school year. IF THIS HAPPENS THREAT (School Year) (Student to Student) Threatening physical harm, harassment or intimidation toward another student or a guest of the school either by spoken or written word or by gesture or expression. Signing to intimidate another student or students THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and mandatory parental conference, and either one (1) day in or out of school suspension or a chosen alternative form of discipline. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and mandatory parental conference, refer for counseling, and either a three (3) in or out of school suspension or a chosen alternative form of discipline. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with parents and student present to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension and/or district behavior contract at this hearing. 4 th Offense: Parental notification and recommendation of long-term suspension to Hearing Authority for the remainder of the school year. IF THIS HAPPENS HAZING/INTIMIDATION (School Year) (Student to Student) Any willful act done by a student, whether individually or in concert with other, to another student(s) for the purpose of subjecting such student(s) to humiliation, intimidation, physical abuse or threats of abuse, social or other ostracism, shame, or disgrace. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and notification of the appropriate law enforcement agency, and a minimum of five (5) days suspension with a mandatory parent conference for re-entry. If in the opinion of the principal, the severity of the injury sustained is of a violent or serious nature, then, the principal/designee would have the option of referring the student to the Hearing Authority to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for up to one (1) year (186 school days). If the student is referred to the Hearing Authority, the student will be suspended for a minimum of five (5) days or until the hearing, whichever is longer. Outside counseling is required. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and notification of the appropriate law enforcement agency, and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide and opportunity for a hearing with parents and student present to discuss recommendation for district behavior contract and/or the possibility of long-term suspension for up to one (1) year (186 school days). The student will be suspended until the hearing. IF THIS HAPPENS SEXUAL HARASSMENT (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel) Behavior (including gestures) or words (oral or written) that are directed at a student or school personnel because of his/her sex that are uninvited, unwanted, or unwelcome which would cause the person of that sex to feel uncomfortable or offended or when the conduct by its nature is clearly unwelcome or inappropriate. A student who has initially welcomed conduct of a sexual nature by active participation must give specific notice to the alleged harasser that such conduct is no longer welcomed in order for such subsequent conduct to be deemed unwelcome. Examples include, but are not limited to: a. Comments about body parts or rating a person's body. b. Spreading of sexual rumors, stories or jokes. c. Using sexual orientation as an insult. d. Staring or pointing at a person's body parts. e. Making obscene gestures. f. Displaying of sexual materials. g. Verbal sexual advances including subtle pressure for sexual activity. h. Repeated or persistent unwelcome requests for dates, meeting, or other social interactions. NOTE: If sexual touch occurs, the Sexual Attack policy can be enforced. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parents of both students shall be notified. The student responsible for the harassment will receive up to a three (3) day suspension with a mandatory conference for re- entry. At principal’s discretion notification of appropriate law enforcement agency if the circumstances warrant such. 2 nd Offense: Parents of both students shall be notified. The student responsible for the harassment will receive up to a five (5) day suspension. The principal would have the option of referring the student to the Hearing Authority with recommendation for long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. At principal’s discretion, notification of appropriate law enforcement agency if the circumstances warrant such. 3 rd Offense: Parents of both students shall be notified. Notification of appropriate law enforcement agency and the student responsible for the offense shall be referred to the Hearing Authority for possible long-term suspension for the remainder of the school year. IF THIS HAPPENS INDECENT EXPOSURE (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel ) The act of exposing one's private parts, including buttocks, in public. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and three (3) days suspension. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and then referral to the Hearing Authority with a recommendation for a behavior contract and/or long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. 3 rd Offense: Parent notification and then recommend long-term suspension to the Hearing Authority for the remainder of the year. IF THIS HAPPENS ABUSIVE LANGUAGE/GESTURE (School Year) (Student to School Personnel) The usage of improper language or the usage of insulting language/gesture or the use of profanity directed toward school personnel. FALSE REPORT (School Year) (Student to School Personnel) A student who makes a false report of child abuse or neglect against another person in bad faith or with malicious purpose. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and up to three (3) day suspension. At principal discretion, appropriate law enforcement agency may be notified. 2 nd Offense : Parental notification with mandatory parental conference, notification of appropriate law enforcement agency. Referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with parents and student to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester and/or district behavior contract. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification, notification of appropriate law enforcement agency, and recommendation of long-term suspension to the Hearing Authority for the remainder of the school year. IF THIS HAPPENS Student using abnormal speech or exhibiting abnormal behavior resulting from the usage of drugs and/or the consumption of intoxicating (alcoholic) beverages or inhalants DRUNKENNESS/DISORIENTATION (School Year) IF THIS HAPPENS The possession of marijuana, hallucinogenic drugs, other abuse prone drugs, counterfeit drugs, any substance with an intoxicating effect, or the possession of intoxicating (alcoholic) beverages. This also includes possession of paraphernalia that has been used to ingest drugs. POSSESSION OF DRUGS/ALCOHOL/COUNTERFEIT DRUGS/ANY SUBSTANCE WITH INTOXICATING OR ADDICTIVE EFFECT (School Year) Definition of Possession: b. In a student's assigned or unassigned locker. a. On a student's person while at school, school activity, or while being transported to and from an activity in a school bus or school vehicle. c. In a student's car or friend's car while on school property. e. On a student's person while under sports/activity season 24 hour policy. d. Knowingly concealed on school property by a student. Definition of Counterfeit Drugs: b. Any substance represented as an illegal or abuse-prone drug. a. Any substance designed to look like an illegal or abuse-prone drug. Definition of a Substance with intoxicating/addictive effect: b. Drugs prescribed by the student's physician that are being taken according to the directions of the prescription are exempt under this policy. a. A substance such as permanent markers, hair spray, vanilla, liquid paper, gasoline, or caffeine pills used to produce an intoxicating effect. SUCH PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS ARE TO BE KEPT IN THE HEALTH OFFICE AND TAKEN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL. NOTE: IF THIS HAPPENS USAGE OF ALCOHOL/DRUGS/COUNTERFEIT DRUGS/ANY SUBSTANCE WITH AN INTOXICATING/ADDICTING EFFECT (School Year) The usage of marijuana, hallucinogenic drugs, other abuse prone drugs, counterfeit drugs, any substance with an intoxicating or addictive effect, or having consumed intoxicating (alcoholic) beverages. Definition of Usage b. Using prior to attending a school activity, then attending the school activity. a. Using prior to attending school, then attending school. c. Using while at school. e. Using while under sports/activity season 24 hour policy. d. Using while being transported in a school bus/vehicle to and from school or to and from an activity, which the school is sponsoring or in which the school is taking part. The following provisions apply when a student violates any or all of the substance abuse definitions. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification, notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and, if needed, referral to the Hearing Authority for an long-term suspension hearing. Student will be suspended up to five (5) days or until the scheduled hearing. At the hearing with the Hearing Authority, if the student is found to be in violation of this policy, and is allowed to remain in school, a contract shall be agreed to by the student, parent(s), and school district that provides for the following: a. The punishment up to and including short-term suspension. b. Suspension from all student activities for a period of not less than two weeks. 2 c. An evaluation from an acceptable drug and alcohol program. a. A punishment up to and including long-term suspension up to one (1) year (186 school days). Offense: nd A second time violator shall be subject to the following sanctions; b. Suspension from all school activities for a period of not less than a month. 3 rd Offense: A third of subsequent violation of this policy, shall be subject to the following sanctions: c. A student placed on long-term suspension under this policy may be readmitted on a probationary status. a. A punishment up to and including expulsion from school. c. A student who is expelled from school under the terms of this policy may be readmitted during the term of the expulsion only if the student maintains regular attendance at an approved drug and alcohol education and rehabilitation program. IF THIS HAPPENS b. Suspension from participation and attendance at all school activities for the year. 2 nd Offense: Sale or distribution of marijuana, hallucinogenic drugs, other abuse prone drugs, and/or intoxicating (alcoholic) beverages to other students or persons while on school property or a school activity. Definition of Sale or Distribution a. The act of selling drugs or alcoholic beverages for money or compensation. b. The act of distributing drugs or alcoholic beverages without gaining compensation. c. The act of distributing drugs or alcoholic beverages while under sports/activity season 24 hour policy. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) Any offense: Parental notification, notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and then refer the student to the Hearing Authority with a recommendation of longterm suspension for one (1) calendar year (186 days). The student will be suspended until the hearing. ATHLETIC/ACTIVITY DRUG & ALCOHOL POLICY (K-12). (Usage/Possession/Sale or Distribution) PHILOSOPHY: Athletics and Activities are an integral part of the educational process providing students with opportunity to further develop their unique capabilities, interests and needs beyond the classroom environment. Participation in these programs is a PRIVILEGE offered to and earned by students. Because participants are representatives of their school and community, their conduct is expected to exemplify high standards at all times. The following applies when students, who are members of a district's athletic or activity programs, are in violation of the usage, possession, sale, or distribution of the district's drug and alcohol policies. This policy applies to participants during each sports/activity season and requires twenty-four (24) hour compliance, on and off campus. NOTE: "Confirmed Offense" is defined as an eyewitness report by a school district employee, information substantiated by a police report, a statement of selfincrimination or other credible evidence. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) 1 st Offense: a. Students involved in an athletic/activity program will forfeit their privilege of participation in competition for two activities. The athlete will continue to practice during the suspension. b. "On Campus" violations or infractions occurring "to, from or at" extracurricular events will result in notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency or juvenile authorities and then a referral of the students to the Hearing Authority. Appropriate discipline recommendations will be made consistent with substance abuse policies. c. Students will be required to abide with district drug and alcohol counseling program requirements. a. Students involved in an athletic/activity program will forfeit their privilege of participation in all extracurricular programs for a period of four events. Students will also forfeit their eligibility for all relevant awards, honors, or letters. b. "On Campus" violations or infractions occurring "to, from or at" extracurricular will result in notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency or juvenile authorities and then a referral of the student to the Hearing Authority. Appropriate discipline recommendations will be made consistent with substance abuse policies. 3 rd Offense: Student is suspended from participation in athletic/extra-curricular activities for the remainder of year. LARCENY, BURGLARY, AND CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO SCHOOL OR PERSONAL PROPERTY a. Larceny consists of stealing of anything of value, which belongs, to the school, school personnel, or other individuals on school property or at a school function. b. Burglary consists of unauthorized entry of any vehicle water-craft aircraft, dwelling, or other structure, movable or immovable, which belongs to the school, school personnel, or other individuals while on school property or at a school function with the intent to commit any felony or theft therein. c. Criminal damage to school or personal property consists of intentionally damaging any real or personal property of the school or school personnel without the consent of the school or personnel. d. Any pupil who commits larceny, burglary, or criminal damage to school or private property shall be liable to the school or owner for full restitution of the property or for payment to the school or individual owner for an amount equal to the fair market value of the property, less any salvage value. In the event such a pupil shows financial inability to restore to the school or individual owner the fair market value less salvage (if any), an installment payment plan shall be established. If such a pupil is found by the Board to: 1. be financially able to restore the value or 2. be financially able to meet a reasonable installment plan to restore the value and fails or refuses to do so, the student may be subjected to long-term suspension until such time as compliance begins. e. Any pupil who commits burglary, larceny, or criminal damage to school or personal property may also be found to have engaged in misbehavior or other specific offenses under these policies may be invoked. This procedure may include referral to a Human Services Agency or the District Attorney if the act is judged criminal and/or delinquent. The school administrator will refer the student to the District Hearing Authority to decide whether the student will be allowed to remain in school or be placed on suspension for a period of time comparable with other acts of similar nature. CRIMINAL AND DELINQUENT ACTS Certain acts may be determined criminal and delinquent and forwarded to the attention of the juvenile court system, the district attorney, or other human service department. This action is at the discretion of the administrative authority (unless covered specifically by board policy) and may be carried out in addition to sanctions imposed within the school system. These acts include but are not limited to: a. Willful interference with the educational process of any public school by committing, threatening to commit, or inciting others to commit any act which would disrupt, impair, interfere with or obstruct the lawful mission, processes, or procedures of a public school; b. Arson; c. Assault and/or battery; d. Property; e. Criminal libel; f. Criminal trespass; g. Unlawful assembly or disturbing lawful assembly; h. Extortion; i. Larceny, robbery, or burglary; j. Illegal sale, possession, or use of; a. alcoholic beverages; b. firearms or other deadly weapons including explosives or flammable fluids; k. Sale, possession, or use of, without prescription, a drug or controlled Substance; l. Use of solvent for intoxication; m. Use of a telephone to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend. If a criminal and delinquent act is committed by a student and this act is not identified in a specific policy, the school administrator will refer the student to the District Hearing Authority to decide whether the student will be allowed to remain in school or be placed on suspension for a period of time comparable with other acts of similar nature. IF THIS HAPPENS THIEVERY (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel) Taking something without permission from another student, teacher, school building, or school premises and/or knowingly being in possession of stolen property, goods or contraband. EXTORTION (School Year) (Student to Student/School Personnel) The illegal taking of money or property by using threat or using force. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency, if needed, and up to either three (3) day in or out of school suspension. If the charge is Extortion, referral to Hearing Authority who will provide opportunity for a hearing with the parent and student to discuss possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of semester. The Hearing Authority will have the prerogative of long-term suspension and/or district behavior contract. The student will be suspended until the hearing. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification, notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and five (5) day in or out of school suspension with a mandatory parent conference for re-entry. Referral to Hearing Authority (principal's discretion). 3 rd Offense: Parental notification, notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency and then refer student to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the parent and student present to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension and/or district behavior contract at this hearing. The student will be suspended until the hearing. SECONDARY STUDENTS EXPELLED FOR THIEVERY WILL BEGIN AT STEP THREE IF THEY RETURN DURING THE SAME SCHOOL YEAR. IF THIS HAPPENS FORGERY (School Year) The act of falsifying a person's name, or altering of any school document and/or fraudulent use of school documents, such as passes, etc. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary School (3-12) 1 st Offense: Parent notification and either a one (1) day in or out of school, OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification, and either a three (3) day in or out of school suspension with mandatory parent conference for re-entry OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Student Assistance Team and/or counseling (mandatory if not previously referred) for consideration of intervention options, and five (5) days in or out of school suspension, or a chosen alternative form of discipline. Additional consequences may include placement in an alternative setting and/or a local behavior contract. 4 th Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the parents and student present to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension at this hearing. The student will be suspended until the hearing. SECONDARY STUDENTS HAVING BEEN EXPELLED FOR FORGERY WILL BEGIN AT STEP THREE IF THEY RETURN DURING THE SAME SCHOOL YEAR IF THIS HAPPENS MISBEHAVIOR (School Year) Behavior which creates a willful and significant interference with the educational process. Misbehavior may include repetitive disruptions for which the classroom teacher has exhausted classroom consequences, including parent notification. The misbehavior may occur on school property, school bus/vehicle, at a bus stop, or at an activity, athletic or social event. The principal or his/her designee will use their discretion in the processing of student referrals. Misbehaviors include, but are not restricted to the following definitions: 1. The use of profane language or gestures, which are disruptive, but not directed at school personnel. 2. The willful refusal to identify one's self upon request from school personnel. 3. The failure to disperse or leave any school facility or school event after being requested to do so by authorized school personnel. 4. The refusal to follow a reasonable direction issued by authorized school personnel. 5. The theft of minor items such as school supplies. 6. The wearing of clothing which is disruptive to the educational process or in poor taste. 7. Signing or tagging to establish territory on school property. a. Making particular hand gestures to signal affiliation or action. At the time of parental notification, parental input will be solicited as to the consequences of the misbehavior. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Principal-student conference. If the principal or his/her designee feel the student behavior warrants a parent conference, then the student may be suspended until a conference can be arranged. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and then either one (1) day in or out of school suspension OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification, referral for counseling and/or to the Student Assistance Team for review, and then either three (3) day in or out of school suspension OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 4 th Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Student Assistance Team (mandatory if not previously referred) for consideration of Intervention options, and then five (5) days in or out of school suspension, or a chosen alternative form of discipline. Additional consequences may include placement in an alternative setting and/or a local behavior contract. 5 th Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the parent and student present to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension and/or district behavior contract at this hearing. The student will be suspended until the hearing. STUDENTS HAVING BEEN EXPELLED FOR MISBEHAVIORS WILL BEGIN AT STEP FOUR IF THEY RETURN DURING THE SAME SCHOOL YEAR. IF THIS HAPPENS TRUANCY (School Year) A student found to be truant is absent from class or school without the prior knowledge and consent of the parent or guardian. The office must receive written or verbal verification within 24 hours of the absence. Students charged with Truancy will not receive credit for class work missed due to the absence. Any work missed will be counted as a zero (0) for grading purposes. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary and Secondary Schools (K-12) 1 st Offense: Parental notification and then either one (1) day in-school suspension OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and then either three (3) day in-school suspension OR a chosen alternative form of discipline. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification and referral to the appropriate Social Services and/or law enforcement agency and the Student Assistant Team (mandatory if not previously referred) for consideration of intervention options, and then five (5) days inschool suspension, or a chosen alternative form of discipline. Additional consequences may include placement in an alternative setting and/or a local behavior contract. 4 th Offense: Parental notification and referral to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the parent and student present to discuss the possibility of long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension and/or district behavior contract at this hearing. The student will be suspended until the hearing. STUDENTS HAVING BEEN EXPELLED FOR TRUANCIES WILL BEGIN AT STEP THREE IF THEY RETURN DURING THE SAME SCHOOL YEAR. IF THIS HAPPENS TARDINESS(Grading period) An interruption of the educational process caused by arriving in the classroom after normal starting time. Tardiness—General tardy policies are to be worked out at the building level. If a child is tardy, steps should be taken to correct the problem. In the absence of a School Board-approved building-level policy, the policies described below will be applied. Individual schools are to involve parents in developing procedures to inhibit tardiness. Such procedures will be published in the student handbook and/or published in the school newspaper that is sent home to parents. Individual school tardy policies cannot result in long-term suspension. THEN THIS HAPPENS Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) Each school will develop a tardy policy to be approved by the Board. IF THIS HAPPENS TOBACCO POLICY(School Year) (Student) The usage of tobacco products; smoking, chewing or dipping or possession of tobacco products including electronic cigarettes on one's person while at school, on school property, school bus/vehicle, or at a school activity. Elementary & Secondary Schools (3-12) 1 st Offense: Principal-student conference and parent notification and appropriate consequences appropriate to the behavior. The student may also be referred for counseling. 2 nd Offense: Parental notification and either one (1) day in-school suspension or a chosen alternative form of discipline. 3 rd Offense: Parental notification and either three (3) days in-school suspension or a chosen alternative form of discipline. 4 th Offense: (and Subsequent) Parental notification, and either five (5) days in-school suspension, three to five (3-5) days out of school suspension, or a chosen alternative. Additional consequences may include placement in an alternative setting and/or a local behavior contract. NOTE: In cases of on-going, persistent offenses, the local behavior contract may stipulate that a student may be referred to the Hearing Authority who will provide an opportunity for a hearing with the student and parent to recommend behavior contract and/or long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. Violations of the Tobacco Policy will be included under the Multiple Violations provisions. Students who are expelled for violation of the tobacco policy and return during the same school year will begin at step #3 of this policy. MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS It is possible under these policies to be referred to the administration for misbehavior on several occasions in the various classifications without reaching the level of recommended long-term suspension. In order to discourage such a practice, students in elementary schools who are referred to the administration for disciplinary action eight (8) times during a semester will be considered for long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester. Students attending mid or high schools who are referred to the administration For disciplinary action four (4) times during a semester or six (6) times during a school year, will be recommended to the Hearing Authority for long-term suspension for the remainder of the semester/year. The Hearing Authority would have the prerogative of long-term suspension at this hearing. If the student is allowed to remain in school and subsequent offenses occur, a recommendation for long-term suspension will be made by the administration. Absentee offenses will not be included in long-term suspension cases involving multiple misbehaviors. In long-term suspension cases involving multiple misbehaviors, the misbehaviors can be counted in any combination of two or more categories. GUILT BY ASSOCIATION The concept of guilt by association is recognized in these policies. In a situation where a student is in the company of another student who is guilty of misbehavior but the same guilt or innocence cannot be established, then the parent/guardian will be notified of the incident. BUS RULES School bus drivers are to have control of all children conveyed between the homes of the children and the school, and return. The driver shall keep order, maintain discipline among students while in the bus or along the route, treat all students in a civil manner, see that no pupils are imposed upon or mistreated while in his/her charge, and use every care of the safety of students under the driver's charge. School bus drivers shall assure that all pupil passengers observe the following regulations: 1. Each pupil shall be seated immediately upon entering the bus. The driver may assign seats. 2. Pupils are not to stand or move from place to place during the trip. 3. Indecent conduct, loud, boisterous language will not be permitted. 4. Passengers are not to behave in any manner, which fringes upon the rights of any other passenger. Keep your hands to yourself. 5. Windows and doors are to be opened or closed only with the permission of the bus driver. 6. No pupil is to enter of leave the bus until it has come to a complete stop, and the driver opens the door. 7. Each student is to be waiting at his/her loading station when the bus arrives. 8. Before riding a bus other than the assigned bus, students are to have a written note from their parent or guardian stating their destination and should obtain a bus pass from the office. Students are to identify themselves to the driver. 9. ABSOLUTELY NO TOBACCO, DRINKS, ALCOHOL, OR ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE ALLOWED ON THE BUS. 10. Students are not to throw objects of any kind on the school bus or out the windows. 11. Students are discouraged from bringing such items as radios, tape or CD players, MP3 Players, or boom boxes on the bus. Should a student bring these items on a bus, the driver nor school bear any responsibility if it is lost, stolen or damaged. Electronic Devices Policy will be followed. Skateboards are not permitted. 12. The privilege of riding the school bus may be denied to any student who does not conduct himself (or herself) in a safe and orderly fashion. School bus drivers and administration will determine what is safe and orderly. DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR TRANSPORTATION VIOLATIONS When a student violates one of the rules listed above disciplinary action may be taken. This action will generally occur in a sequential fashion however, depending upon the nature of the behavior, action may be taken of a more serious fashion. When receiving a written bus discipline referral, the bus discipline form must be signed by the parent and returned to the bus driver before returning to ride the bus. 1 st Offense: A written warning is given to the student. The warning removes the student from bus privileges until the form is returned signed by the parent. This form should be given to the bus driver before entering the bus the next day. 2 nd Offense: The student will be removed from the bus for one day and/or placed in ISS for one day. 3 rd Offense: The student will lose bus-riding privileges for a period of 5 school days. 4 th Offense: The student will lose bus-riding privileges for a period of 10 school days. 5 th Offense: The student will lose bus-riding privileges for a period of 20 school days. 6 th Offense: Bus privileges suspended for the rest of the year. OFFENSE DISCIPLINE FLOW-CHART GUIDELINES 1 ST OFFENSE 2 ND OFFENSE 3 RD OFFENSE \| Weapons in School/Possession/ Threat or Attack or to Use \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Recommended Expulsion \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Disruptive and Dangerous Tactics \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Recommended Long- term Suspension/ Expulsion \| \| \| \| Sexual Attack \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/Long-term Suspension/ Expulsion \| \| \| \| Physical Attack/ Student to Staff \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Recommend Expulsion/ Minimum 5 Day OSS until Suspension/Expulsion Hearing \| \| \| \| Physical Attack/ Student to Student \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Minimum 5 Day OSS up to Long-term Suspension \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Referral to Hearing Officer/ Possible Long- term Suspension/ Minimum 5 day OSS \| \| \| Aggressive Confrontation \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ 3 Day OSS Mandatory Parent Conf. \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Recommended Long-term Suspension/ Expulsion \| \| \| Threat of Physical Harm/Intimidation Student to Student \| Parent Notification/ 1 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ 3 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Hearing Authority/ Recommend Long- term Suspension \| \| Hazing/ Intimidation \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Minimum 5 Day Suspension up to Long-term Suspension/ Mandatory Parent Conf. \| Parent/Law Enforcement Notification/ Suspension until Hearing/ Recommend Long- term Suspension \| \| \| Sexual Harassment \| Parent Notification/ 3 Day Suspension/ Mandatory Conference Notify Law if Warranted \| Parent Notification/ 5 Day OSS/ Possible Long-term Suspension for Remainder of \| Notify Law Enforcement/ Refer to Hearing Authority/ Long-term Suspension for Remainder of Year \| 4 TH OFFENSE Semester Indecent Exposure Parent Notification/ 3 Parent Notification Parent Notification/ \| Abusive Language /Gestures \| Referral for Counseling/ 3 Day Suspension/ Mandatory Parent conf. \| \| Mandatory Parent Conf./ Notify Law Enforcement/ Possible Long- term Suspension \| Parent/Law Notification/ Recommend Long- term Suspension \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Athletic/Activity Drug Policy \| Parent/Student/Coach 2 Week/2 Activities Whichever Greater \| \| \| \| \| Drunkenness/ Possession of Drugs/Alcohol or Like Substances \| Parent/Law Notification/ Long-term Suspension Hearing/ 5 Day OSS or until Hearing \| \| Enroll in Drug & Alcohol Counseling/ Long- term Suspension/ Behavior Cont. \| \| \| Larceny/Burglary Criminal Damage to School or Personal Property \| \| Parent/Law Notification/ 3 Day Suspension/ Mandatory Parent Conf. For Re- entry/ Restitution \| Parent/Law Notification/ 5 day Suspension/ Mandatory Parent Conf. For Re- entry/ Hearing for Long-term Suspension/ Restitution \| Parent/Law Notification/ Long- term Suspension/ Hearing/ Restitution \| \| Forgery \| \| Parent Notification/ 1 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Parent Conf. For Re- entry/ 3 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Parent Conf./ Referral to SAT/ 5 Day Suspension \| \| Misbehavior \| \| Principal/Student conf/ Parent Notification/ Parent Conf. If Warranted \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Conf./ 1 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Parent Conf./ Referral to SAT/ 3Day Suspension \| \| Truancy \| \| Parent Notification and Conf./ 1 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Conf./ Counseling Referral/ SIT Review/ 3 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Conf./ Referral to SRS/ Mandatory SAT/ 5 Day Suspension \| \| Tardiness \| \| 4th Tardy (per Semester)/ 30 Minute Detention after School \| 5th Tardy/ Two 30 minute Detentions after School/ Consecutive Days \| 6th Tardy/ Mandatory Parent Conf./ 1 Day Suspension \| \| Tobacco \| \| Principal/Student Conf./ Parent Notification \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Conf./1 Day Suspension \| Parent Notification/ Mandatory Conf./ 3 Day Suspension \| This chart is used only as a guideline. If misconduct is deemed more severe by the administration, steps may be skipped. When a student is placed on In-School Suspension, the student will be required to write the section of the discipline code he/she violated 3 times before working on assignments. The rest of the day will be used to complete assignments that are missed during the day. When a student is on In-School Suspension, the assignments will be counted as a grade. The students will not receive a class participation grade if the teacher uses one as a part of the student's daily grade. Students on In-School Suspension will report to the Principal at 8:00 a.m. The student may either bring a sack lunch, or eat school lunch. If the student is eating school lunch, the student will sit at a designated place in the lunch room. The student will be escorted to the lunch room by the Principal or lunch duty supervisor, and return to the ISS room when the Principal or lunch duty supervisor returns to the High School. The student will be given bathroom breaks at approximately 10:00 a.m., 12 noon, and 2:00 p.m. If a student is on Out-of-School Suspension, the student will receive "no credit" for work missed while not in school. This includes daily assignments, tests, and other work due during the time the student is on Out-of-School Suspension. BULLYING BULLYING POLICY A. The Thunder Ridge School District has developed a plan to prevent bullying. Bullying is dangerous and disrespectful behavior that will not be permitted or tolerated. The USD 110 Board of Education prohibits bullying in any form either by any student, staff member, or parent towards a student or by a student, staff member, or parent towards a staff member on or while using school property, in a school vehicle or at a school-sponsored activity or event. For the purposes of this policy, the term "bullying" shall have the meaning ascribed in Kansas law. Staff members who bully others in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension and/or termination. If appropriate, staff members who violate the bullying prohibition shall be reported to local law enforcement. Parents participating in prohibited bullying conduct aimed at district students and/or staff members may jeopardize their access to district facilities; district property; school sponsored activities, programs, and events; and/or districts students and/or staff members through the district's communication systems. As appropriate, reports to local law enforcement will be filed to report criminal bullying behaviors. This policy and the district bullying may be posted on the district's website and copies of such documents shall be made available to parents of current students upon request. Bullying may involve a range of misconduct that, based on the severity, will warrant a measured response of corrective action and/or discipline. Behaviors that do not rise to the level of bullying, as defined below, still may be subject to intervention and/or discipline under another section of the discipline plan or a discipline policy. Some bullying behaviors may require a report to local law enforcement. B. Bullying means any intentional gesture or any intentional written, verbal or physical act or threat that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student or staff member that a reasonable person, under the circumstances, knows of or should know will have the effect of: 1. Harming a student or staff member, whether physically or mentally; 2. Damaging a student's or staff member's property; 3. Placing a student or staff member in reasonable fear of damage to the student or staff member; or 4. Placing a student or staff member in reasonable fear of damage to the student's or staff member's property; or Any form of intimidation or harassment prohibited by the board of education of the school district in policies concerning bullying adopted pursuant to this section or subsection of K.S.A. 72-8205, and amendments thereto. "School vehicle" means any school bus, school van, other school vehicle and private vehicle used to transport students or staff members to and from school or any school-sponsored activity or event. C. The following bullying policy was adopted by the USD 110 Board of Education at the regular meeting held on July 14, 2008. JDDC Bullying (See GAAB, JCE, JGEC, JGECA, JDD and EBC) The board of education prohibits bullying in any form on school property, in a school vehicle or at a school-sponsored activity or event. The administration shall propose, and the board shall review and approve a plan to address bullying on school property, in a school vehicle or at a school-sponsored activity or event. The plan shall include provisions for the training and education of staff members and students shall include appropriate community involvement as approved by the board. Students who have bullied others in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension and expulsion. If appropriate, students who violate the bullying prohibition shall be reported to local law enforcement. D. Each building in the Thunder Ridge School District will develop a character development program, as a way to encourage anti-bullying behavior, that meets the following requirements: 1. A "Character development program" means a program which is secular in nature and which stresses positive character qualities. 2. "Character qualities" means positive character qualities which include, but is not limited to, honesty, responsibility, attentiveness, patience, kindness, respect, self-control, tolerance, cooperation, initiative, patriotism and citizenship. E. The district will provide bullying training for all staff members each year. All school employees must either attend the provided training session live or watch the official film provided by the district in lieu of attendance, with written proof in the form of signing in at the beginning of the live session, or signing the film in and out. Staff supervision by administrators will include attention to employee efforts to implement the anti-bullying and character education plans required by the board policy. F. Each building will gather bullying data and report the results to the Board of Education at the end of each school year. The data will be gathered from the following sources: 1. Bullying Discipline Referrals 2. School Climate Surveys G. Students may report any bullying incident to any adult employee of the Thunder Ridge School District. Once they have received a report from a student, it is the responsibility of the employee to promptly contact the principal of the building and inform him/her of the complaint. A letterbox will be placed in a location accessible to all students in each building, so students who feel unable to talk to staff will have a point of contact. Once a report has been made, it is the responsibility of the building principal or his/her designee to investigate the incident, and act according to the policies or the Thunder Ridge School District. H. Each building shall establish a bullying committee that is responsible for coordinating the school's bullying prevention program. The committee shall include the building principal, one counselor, at least one teacher, a parent, and at least one student. CYBERBULLYING Cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technology or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyberharassment or cyberstalking. Adult cyberharassment or cyberstalking is NEVER called cyberbullying. The methods used are limited only by the child's imagination and access to technology. And the cyberbully one moment may become the victim the next. The kids often change roles, going from victim to bully and back again. Cyberbullying is usually not a one time communication, unless it involves a death threat or credible threat of serious bodily harm. Kids usually know it when they see it, while parents may be more worried about the lewd language used by the kids than the hurtful effect of rude and embarrassing posts. Cyberbullying may arise to the level of a misdemeanor cyberharassment charge, or if the child is young enough may result in the charge of juvenile delinquency. Most of the time the cyberbullying does not go that far, although parents often try and pursue criminal charges. It typically can result in a child losing their ISP or IM accounts as a terms of service violation. And in some cases, if hacking or password and identity theft is involved, can be a serious criminal matter under state and federal law. EMERGENCY SAFETY INTERVENTIONS (ESI) - The Board of Education is committed to limiting the use of Emergency Safety Interventions ("ESI"), such as seclusion and restraint, with all students. The Board of Education encourages all employees to utilize other behavioral management tools, including prevention techniques, deescalation techniques, and the positive behavioral intervention strategies. - "Seclusion" requires all three of the following conditions to be met: (1) the student is placed in an enclosed area by school personnel; (2) the student is purposefully isolated from adults and peers; and (3) the student is prevented from leaving, or reasonably believes that the student will be prevented from leaving the enclosed area. - "Emergency Safety Intervention" is the use of seclusion or physical restraint when a student presents immediate danger to self or others. Violent action that is destructive or property may necessitate the use of emergency safety intervention. - "Chemical Restraint" means the use of medication to control a student's violent physical behavior or restrict a student's freedom of movement. - "Physical Restraint" means bodily force used to substantially limit a student's movement. - "Mechanical Restraint" means any device or object used to limit a student's movement. - "Physical Escort" means the temporary touching or holding the hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, or back of a student who is acting out for the purpose of inducing the student to walk to a safe location. - "Time-out" means a behavioral intervention in which a student is temporarily removed from a learning activity without being confined. Prohibited Types of Restraint All Staff members are prohibited from engaging in the following actions with all students: 1. Using face-down (prone) physical restraint. 2. Using face-up (supine) physical restraint. 3. Using physical restraint that obstructs the student's airway; 4. Using physical restraint that impacts a student's primary mode of communication; 5. Using chemical restraint, except as prescribed by a licensed healthcare professional for treatment of a medical or psychiatric condition; and 6. Use of mechanical restraint, except: a. Protective or stabilizing devices required by law or used in accordance with an order from a licensed healthcare professional; b. Any device used by law enforcement officers to carry out law enforcement duties; or c. Seatbelts and other safety equipment used to secure students during transportation. Training All staff members shall be trained regarding the use of positive behavioral intervention strategies, de-escalation techniques, and prevention techniques. The Intensity of the training provided will depend upon the employee's position. Documentation The principal or designee shall provide written notification to the student's parents any time the ESI is used with a student. Such notification shall be provided within two (2) days. In addition, each building will maintain documentation any time ESI is used with a student. Such documentation must include the following: 1. Date and time of the intervention, 2. Type of intervention, 3. Length of time the intervention was used, and 4. School personnel who participated in or supervised the intervention. All such documentation shall be provided to the building principal, who shall be responsible for providing copies of such documentation to the superintendent on at least a biannual basis. At least once per school year, each building principal or designee shall review the documentation of ESI incidents with appropriate staff members to consider the appropriateness of the use of ESI in those instances. Local Dispute Resolution Process The Board of Education encourages parents to attempt to resolve issues relating to the use of ESI informally with the Building Principal and/or Superintendent before filing a formal complaint with the board. In the event that the complaint is resolved informally, the administrator must provide a written report of the informal resolution to the Superintendent and the parents to retain a copy of the report at the school. The Superintendent will share the informal resolution with the Board of Education and provide a copy to the state department of education If the issues are not resolved informally with the Building Principal and/or Superintendent, the parents may submit a formal written complaint to the Board of Education by providing a copy of the complaint to the Clerk of the Board and the Superintendent. Upon receipt of a formal written complaint, the board president shall assign an investigator to review the complaint and report the findings to the Board as a whole. Such investigator may be a board member, a school administrator selected by the board, or a board attorney. Such investigator shall be informed of the obligation to maintain confidentiality of student records and shall report the findings and recommended action to the Board in executive session. Any such investigation must be completed within thirty (30) days of receipt of the formal written complaint by the Board Clerk and Superintendent. On or before the 30 th day after receipt of the written complaint, the Board shall adopt the report containing findings of fact and, if necessary, appropriate corrective action. A copy of the report adopted by the Board shall be provided to the parents, the school, and the State Board of Education. DRESS CODE The appearance of students, relating to dress and grooming, is an important factor for maintaining an effective and desirable atmosphere for learning. Thunder Ridge Middle School students will be expected to wear clothing and to dress in a manner that reflects pride in one's self and one's school. Students are expected to wear clothing and to manage appearance in a manner that does not disrupt the educational setting, interfere with health or safety, or promote vulgarity and obscenity. Student dress will be regulated to the extent that worthwhile values of health, safety, decency, and good taste are emphasized. All students are expected to dress cleanly and neatly at all times. It is the responsibility of the students and parents to maintain a healthy and respectful looking appearance while attending school and school activities. Specific regulations of the dress standards are: 1. Shoes or other appropriate footwear are to be worn at all times. 2. Hats, bandannas, headbands, hoods, scarves, stocking caps, or other similar head coverings should be removed upon entering the building and not placed on until exiting the building after the school day is over. Exception: Hats may be worn on school sanctioned hat days for designated activities.. 3. Any attire that glorifies, advertises, promotes, or via innuendo or double meaning gang membership, death, violence, sex, alcohol, tobacco, and or illegal substances, Satanism, racism, gothic attire, and inappropriate language or ideas are considered inappropriate. (This includes hats, belt buckles, and medallions). 4. All shirts, blouses must have sleeves and be of adequate length to tuck in. 5. No tank top styled, narrowed shoulder or spaghetti strap shirts, sweaters or blouses. Exception: Female attire for Formal and Semi-Formal dances. 6. Spandex or Lycra short/pants must be worn with cover shorts/pants. Exception: Spandex volleyball shorts for practice and games may be worn, but not during regular school hours. 7. Pants, jeans, shorts: The safety of students and employees of Thunder Ridge Schools is of the utmost concern. Recent situations concerning school safety and security concerns demands a change in our dress code in the type and style of pants, jeans, and shorts worn. The following guidelines designates acceptability: a. Rear pockets to be no deeper than 7 inches measured from the bottom of the pocket to the top of the pocket. b. Front pockets to be no deeper than 12 inches measured from the bottom of the pocket to the top of the pocket. c. Proper waist size. d. Worn at waist. e. Cuff length can touch the floor but cannot be walked on. The following is not acceptable: a. Extreme baggy pants, jeans, and shorts. b. Hem of shorts and skirts are to be an acceptable length. No shorter than fingertip length. c. Clothing accessories such as chains will not be permitted. Billfolds with chains will not be permitted. d. Sunglasses may not be worn in the building. Exception: Sunglasses may be sanctioned for fun day activities. e. All jackets/coats must be placed in lockers during school hours. Trench coats should not be worn in the building at any time. (Administration will make appropriate adjustments if building is not heated properly) f. Body piercing that is a distraction to the classroom setting is not acceptable. g. Caps, insignia, emblems, shirts, and other items identified and associated with gang activity will not be allowed. Dress Code Violation Disciplinary Actions: 1 st Offense: Student/Principal Conference, student changes into appropriate attire. 2 nd Offense: Mandatory Student/Parent/Principal Conference, (may be a phone conversation) student changes into appropriate attire. 3 rd Offense: Parental Notification. Student changes into appropriate attire. Student is given one day detention. 4 th Offense: Mandatory Student/Parent/Principal Conference, student changes into appropriate attire. Student is given up to three days detention. Additional offense consequences will be determined at the conference. NOTE: The administration has the final authority to determine the appropriateness of a student's attire. Discipline can range from correcting appropriate dress to suspension from school because of repeated dress code violations. Public Display of Affection Students are not to openly display affection to one another in the formal school setting. Close physical contact is not condoned by the school, and if persistent, will result in parental contact and disciplinary action. TRANSPORTATION CHANGES When there is a temporary change in a child's transportation routine, a parent or guardian must send a written note to the teacher or a phone call must be received at the office. The office will be notified if a note is sent. If written notification from a parent or guardian is not received, the student's regular routine will be followed. If you will be picking your child up during the school day, the policy will be that the parent/guardian signs the student out on the sheet in the office. If your child/children will not be riding the bus home from a school sponsored event, the child must be signed out with a coach and will only be released to a parent/legal guardian. Activities Students are expected to be courteous, treat others with dignity and respect and follow all codes of conduct during pep rallies and assemblies. Pep Rallies for the middle school will be arranged by the principal and cheer sponsors. Pep Rallies will only be held when there is a home ballgame or possibly tournaments. Pep Rallies will start based on first game time. Most athletic and other school organizations are conducted under the rules of the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Therefore, every encouragement is given to participating students to act in accordance with regulations, rules and academic standards outlined by the K.S.H.S.A.A. School Sponsored Clubs School sponsored clubs shall be under the direct control of school personnel. Every school-sponsored club shall have a constitution which has been approved by the building principal and filed in the school office. To the extent non-curriculum related school sponsored clubs are allowed to meet in school facilities during non-instructional time, non-school sponsored student clubs may also meet in school facilities. Non-School Sponsored Student Clubs Non-school sponsored clubs shall submit a request for use of school facilities to the administrator prior to using the facilities. A faculty member (or other adult approved in advance) shall attend the meetings as a supervisor but shall not participate in the group's activities. Solicitations by students of students or school personnel during school hours and on school property shall be done only when they are related to school sponsored activities. All student sales projects shall require the principal's prior approval. See "Fund-Raising," above. All classroom parties and other school social events must be approved in advance by the principal. Unless prior permission is granted, students will not be permitted to leave then return to the building during dances or other similar school functions. A student may not bring a guest not enrolled in the district unless prior permission is given by the principal. Middle School Eligibility: The Thunder Ridge Middle School activities program will be separated into two classifications for determining eligibility. Extra curricular activities will be: football, volleyball, basketball, track, cheerleading, pep rallies, dances or other activities not directly related to a credit class as determined by the principal. Co-curricular activities will include the following: band, vocal music, or other activities directly related to a credit class as determined by the principal. Lyceum programs do not fall under either extra or co-curricular. These programs are intended to be educational and on that basis they will not be subject to the weekly eligibility. There is an eligibility list turned in each week by the faculty. The list will be turned in on Thursday afternoon of each week and will be compiled by the office. Any student who receives two Ds or an F in one or more classes will be ineligible to participate in any extra-curricular activity the following week (Sunday – Saturday). EXCEPTION: A student has the opportunity once per semester to stay eligible when having two (2) Ds or one (1) F during that week. The student must request to use an eligibility pass from the Principal, when they would like to use the eligibility option for a week. The student is responsible for presenting the pass to the coach/sponsor. The student can request to use the exception at any time during the year. If the student has more than two (2) Ds or more than one (1) F they are disqualified from this exception. Passes may be denied based on office referrals for behavior. If a student has been referred to the office during the previous week, the eligibility pass is not available. All district and Kansas State High School Activities Association requirements for eligibility must be met before a student will be allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities. Athletic or Activity Event Participation To participate in an athletic or activity event, students must be in attendance for at least ½ of the school day of the event. Physical Education Dress Code & Participation Policy Students at the middle school are requested to bring or leave in their locker, a pair of shoes that will only be worn on the gym floor during physical education. These must be shoes that are not worn to school or outside. The floor is used for the middle school volleyball and basketball programs and it is important to protect the floor from damage. Limited Participation or Non-Participation Policy A student has a non-participation note from a doctor. A student has a note from a doctor stating limitations. A student has a note from parent or guardian requesting limited participation. Requests for more than one day require a statement from a doctor. Students not participating in physical education will not participate at recess. K.S.H.S.A.A. Regulations A student is eligible: 1. If you are a bona fide undergraduate student in good standing. 2. If you are not yet 19 years of age. 3. If you have not completed eight semesters of high school attendance. 4. If you have not yet completed eight semesters of high school attendance competition nor more than four seasons in one sport. (includes grades 9-12) 5. If you are passing in five subjects of unit weight and you must be eligible according to the USD 110 scholastic eligibility requirements. 6. If you passed in five subjects of unit weight your last semester of attendance. 7. If you do not engage in outside competition in sports recognized by the KSHSAA during the season in which you represent your high school in a sport. 8. If you have passed an adequate physical examination by a physician and have written consent of your parent. 9. If you have met the requirements of the transfer rule. ( In case you are a transfer student) 10. If you are not a member of a high school fraternity. 11. If you have not competed under a false name for money or merchandise of intrinsic value and have observed all other provisions of the amateur rule. 12. If your attendance is regular and your conduct and standard of sportsmanship is satisfactory, and have not been suspended or expelled from any class or from school for any period of time. Middle School Dances All Thunder Ridge Middle School dances will be limited to Thunder Ridge Middle School students and their dates in grades 7 & 8. The office shall approve out of district dates in advance. Students may bring out of district guests by placing the guest name on a list in the office by the announced deadline. The principal may deny any out of town guest from attending a school sponsored dance. Students may arrive late and may leave early, but a student will not be permitted to leave and re-enter. Drinking at any dance is strictly prohibited. Any student that arrives at a dance visibly under the influence of alcohol or drugs will be refused admittance and their parents will be called. Ending time for dances not followed by a school day will be determined by sponsor and principal approval. The ending time will not be later than 11:00 p.m. Meals Policy For activities where overnight lodging is required for the trip. Meals shall be at the rate of $7.00 per meal. Additional costs shall be the responsibility of the individual student. For the above policy individual organizations may ask the school board for assistance. Overnight Stay Policy Motel costs may be paid from activity accounts if one of the following conditions is met: 1. Trips of a distance over 150 miles, depending on the starting time of the event. For the above policy the individual organizations may ask the board for assistance. All class or organization social events that take place at the school must be school sponsored. 1. School work to be missed will be made-up and turned in prior to the student being absent. 2. Students shall conduct themselves in a courteous manner at all times. You represent yourself, your school, and your state. 3. Students shall be in their respective rooms by 11:00 p.m.; lights out by 11:30 p.m.. 4. A sponsor or coach will be present at all times in any motel or hotel room where boys and girls are present. 5. No outside visitors will be allowed in a student's room unless approved by a coach or sponsor. 6. No dating, or similar social arrangements will be allowed between boys and girls, either between members of the school groups or with outside persons. 7. Students are expected to dress in accordance with the activity or event in which they are participating and according to the dictates of their coach or sponsor. 8. Vandalism, use of intoxicants, tobacco, or other conduct unbecoming a student will not be tolerated. 9. If a student violates these regulations, his parents or guardian will be notified by a collect telephone call, and he will be sent home immediately by the first available public transportation methods, at parental or guardian expense. 10. It is the responsibility of coaches and students to report any violations to the school principal as soon as possible. 11. Students will be required to utilize school approved transportation to and from school sponsored activities and events unless previous arrangements have been made and approved by the administration. 12. School transportation, buses and cars, will depart at specified times. Any student, or other person, who is late at departure time, will be left behind. 13. Students purposely not attending a school sponsored event for which an entry fee has been paid will reimburse the school for the entry fee. 14. Extenuating circumstances may necessitate occasional fluctuation of these regulations at the discretion of the school principal, district superintendent, or sponsor and the parents of the student involved. At all times students are to follow the directions of the sponsor or coach. Health and Safety Students should report any injury incurred at school or a school-sponsored activity to the principal or appropriate sponsor. When appropriate, a parent shall be notified of a student injury as soon as possible to determine appropriate action. It the student needs medical attentions and the parents cannot be reached, the principal shall seek emergency medical treatment. See Appendix C for sample student accident form. If a student has an accident which requires medical treatment, no action shall be taken by an employee except the following: - send for medical help; - make the student as comfortable as possible while waiting for competent medical assistance to arrive; and - notify the principal. If an employee present is qualified to administer first aid, aid may be given. Qualified employees, for this purpose, are the school nurse or those employees who have successfully completed an approved Red Cross first aid program. SAFETY HOTLINE: As of July 1, 1999, a statewide school safety hotline will be staffed by the Kansas Highway Patrol to give students an opportunity to report "impending school violence." TOLL-FREE KANSAS SCHOOL SAFETY HOTLINE NUMBER IS 1-800-626-8203 Medications The supervision of oral and injectable medications shall be in strict compliance with the rules and regulations of the board. School employees may not dispense or administer any medications, including prescription and non-prescription drugs, to students except as outlined in board policy. In certain explained circumstances when medication is necessary in order that the student remains in school, the school may cooperate with parents in the supervision of medication the student will use; but the medical person authorized to prescribe medication must send a written order to the building administrator who may supervise the administration of the medication or treatment, and the parents must submit a written request to the building administrator requesting the school's cooperation in such supervision and releasing the school district and personnel from liability. Student Self-Administration of Medication is allowed when medication is used for the treatment of anaphylactic reactions or asthma which is prescribed by a physician licensed to practice medication or an advanced registered nurse practitioner. The self- administration of medication is allowed for students grades 6-8. To be eligible, a student must meet all requirements as outlined in board policy. Parents shall submit a written statement from the student's health care provider stating name and purposes of medication, prescribed dosage, conditions of self-administration, additional special circumstances, and length of time for which medication is prescribed. All medications are to be kept in the office along with required paperwork. School personnel shall not be required to be custodians of any medication except as required by a written order of a licensed medical person. The medication shall be examined by the school employee administering the medication to determine if it appears to be in the original container, to be properly labeled and to be properly authorized by the written order of licensed medical person. Two containers, one for home and one for school should be requested from the pharmacist. Only oral medications should be administered except in emergency situations. Any changes in type of drugs, dosage and/or time of administration should be accompanied by new physician and parent permission signatures and a newly labeled pharmacy container. The building administrator may choose to discontinue the administration of medication provided he has first notified the parents or medical person in advance of the date of such discontinuance with the reasons therefore. In the administration of medication, the school employee shall not be deemed to have assumed to himself any other legal responsibility other than acting as a duly authorized employee of the school district. See Appendix D for a sample medication permission form. Immunization All students enrolling in any district school shall provide the building principal with proof of immunization of certain diseases or furnish documents to satisfy statutory requirements. Booster shots required by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Environment are also required. Students who fail to provide the documentation required by law may be excluded from school by the superintendent until statutory requirements are satisfied. Notice of exclusion shall be given to the parents/guardians as prescribed by law. Students who are not immunized against a particular disease(s) may be excluded from school during any outbreak. Screenings Dental Screening: Kansas State law requires schools to provide free dental inspections for all students. Dental inspection forms are available at enrollment and in the office with the information regarding the dental inspections. Vision Screening: Kansas State law requires the school to check vision (eye problems). Grades pre-K, 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 5 th , 7 th , 9 th , and 11 th , and new students are checked each fall. A teacher or parent may request a vision check anytime during the school year. If your child passes the vision check, no written letter will be mailed. If your child fails the vision check, you will receive written instructions requesting your child see an eye doctor. If you have any questions, feel free to talk to the school nurse. Please let the school secretary know what the eye doctor recommended. Hearing Screening: Kansas State law requires the school to check hearing (ear problems). Grades pre-K, 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 5 th , 7 th , 9 th , 11 th , new students, and students that failed a hearing test are checked. A teacher or parent may request a hearing check anytime during the school year. If your child passes the hearing check, no written letter will be mailed. If your child fails the hearing check, you will receive written instructions in the mail. If you have questions, feel free to talk to the speech therapist or school nurse. Scoliosis Screening: Kansas law does not require scoliosis checks. But scoliosis (a curve of the spine) checks can be done at the school in the spring for grades 5 th -8 th . Parents will be sent a written note if further checks are needed. Student Illness If a student is ill the school will call the parent requesting that the student be picked up and taken home. If the parent cannot be reached, the student will remain at school until a parent a guardian can be reached. All students up to the age of nine shall submit evidence they have undergone a health assessment prior to entering kindergarten or before enrolling in the district for the first time. To prevent spreading of contagious disease as much as possible, students with a fever of 99.9 o F or higher will be sent home. Students that are ill with a fever (99.9 or greater) must not return to school until they are fever-free for 24 hours without taking feverreducing medication. Students that have seen a doctor for an illness that needs antibiotics must not return to school until the student has taken the antibiotic for at least a 24 hour period. Physicals for Athletics Students participating in athletics, cheerleading, and dance squad must have a physical on file before participating. No student will be allowed to participate in practice or a game until a signed physical form has been turned into the office. Any student noted by a physician or the school nurse as having a communicable disease may be required to withdraw from school for the duration of the illness. The student will be readmitted to regular classes upon termination of the illness, as authorized by the student's physician or as authorized by a health assessment team. The board reserves the right to require a written statement from the student's physician indicating the student is free from all symptoms of the disease. Severe Weather Students shall be informed of emergency drill procedures at the beginning of each school year. When the superintendent believes the safety of students is threatened by severe weather or other circumstances, parents and students shall be notified of school closings or cancellations by announcements made over the following radio/TV station(s): KQMA (92.5 FM Radio) KWCH 12 Eyewitness News KOLN/KGIN CH 11 Television NTV Kearney Television Network Be sure to check KQMA/92.5 Phillipsburg FM Radio ….they will be the first news station to be contacted if school is closed or starts late. If an emergency occurs with less than one hour of warning time, the district will keep all students under school jurisdiction and supervision. Staff will remain on duty with the students during the emergency period. Parents may come to school and pick up their children. Students shall be released according to board policy for release of students during the school day. Fire Drills Fire drills will be conducted once a month in accordance with Kansas law. The signal for the fire drill will be the fire alarm. Responsibilities of the students: 1. Calmly, quietly leave the room. 2. Stay with your class. 3. Follow the directions of the teacher. Responsibilities of the teacher: 1. Be sure all windows and doors are closed when you leave the room. 2. Turn off the lights. 3. Your are the last to leave the room. 4. Once outside the building check roll to be sure all students are present. 5. Take your grade book with you. The building is vacated according to the maps posted in each room. Tornado Drills A tornado warning means that a tornado has been sighted and this or other tornadoes may strike in our vicinity. You must take action to protect yourselves. The signal for a tornado warning will be a series of long blasts on the bull horn over the intercom and through the halls. Tornado Shelters are designated as the locker rooms at the south end of the gym. Responsibilities of students: 1. Calmly, quietly leave room 2. Stay with your class. 3. Follow directions of the teacher(s). Responsibilities of teachers: 1. You are the last person to the leave the room. 2. Once in the tornado shelter please keep your students quiet. 3. Take your grade book with you. An asbestos management plan has been developed for the school district. A copy of the management plan is available from the District Office located in the Grade School (785476-2218). The district periodically applies pesticides inside buildings. Information regarding the application of pesticides is available from the District Office located in the Grade School (785-476-2218). General Information A copy of the school calendar is located in this handbook. Any student may file a complaint with the principal concerning a school rule or regulation if it applies to the student. The complaint shall be in writing, filed within 20 days following the application of the rule or regulation, and must specify the basis for the complaint. The principal shall investigate the complaint and inform the student of the resolution within 10 days after the complaint is filed. Student Gifts to Staff Members The giving of gifts between students and staff members is discouraged. Students shall be allowed to collect money or purchase gifts for faculty members at the principal's approval. Student Organization Gifts to the School Student organizations, with prior approval of the organization sponsor and building principal, may donate a portion of the organization's funds to the district. These donations shall require prior board approval. A gift is defined as any donation, present or endowment in the form of cash, merchandise or personal favor. Any student organization gift to the district shall become district property when accepted by the board. Personal Property The district is not responsible for students' personal property and does not provide insurance on students' personal property. If a student's personal property is broken, damaged or stolen repair or replacement is the student's responsibility. Students are encouraged to not bring valuable jewelry to school. Students should not keep cash in their lockers or bags. The administration encourages students to get a lock for their locker. An extra key or the combination must be kept in the office. Electronic Devices/Cell Phones/MP3 Players/CD Players Students are discouraged from bringing phones, CD players, MP3 players, headphones, beepers, laser pointers, games, and other items that may be disruptive to the school environment. Items causing a disruption or concern are subject to the following: 1 st Offense: Device taken to the office. Student may pick up at the end of the day. 2 nd Offense: Device taken to the office and may be picked up by the parents only. 3 rd Offense: Device taken to the office and remain in office for four weeks. For safe keeping, phones may be checked in at the office before school begins and picked up after school without penalty. If not checked in before school begins, the above offenses will apply. Contact with students, as well as students calling home, should be made through the office in order to avoid disturbing the classroom and support school policy. Posters Posters, drawings or other materials must be approved by the principal for posting in the school. All unauthorized posting will be removed immediately and become the property of the school. Recognition Program The school will hold an awards program in the spring of the school year. The program is for students and anyone else interested in the program. The awards program is for both academics and athletics. A potluck supper is served and parents from each class are chosen to organize the program. Scheduling School Events Before school events may be scheduled and placed on the calendar, they must be approved by the principal's office and placed on the weekly bulletin of events. The deadline for having these events to appear on the bulletin is 2:00 p.m. Thursday. CHURCH NIGHT Wednesday night is church night in our communities. As a result, no activities other than Kansas State High School Activities Association events (over which we have no control in scheduling) will be scheduled after 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night for the students of U.S.D. 110. Expectations of USD 110 Staff Staff members shall maintain professional relationships with students that are conducive to an effective educational environment. School Telephone Use District telephones are for school business. Use of phones for personal business should be avoided except in case of an emergency. Use of phones for social calls is not permitted. Students shall not make long distance calls on district telephones without the prior permission of the principal. Calls made to students during school hours need to be made for emergencies only. Student Vehicles/Parking Students who drive to school shall park in the designated parking areas. Students may not go to their vehicles during the school day without permission from the principal. A student who is observed driving recklessly on or near school property shall be reported to the building principal. The principal shall review the violation with the student at the first opportunity and sanctions including but not limited to the following may be applied: - the student may be prohibited from parking or driving on school property; - the student may be disciplined according to the disciplinary code. - a letter may be sent to the student's parents; - Law enforcement may be contacted Visitors Patrons and parents are encouraged to visit the district facilities. All visits shall be scheduled with the building principal. *To ensure safety and security, all visitors must check in at the office before proceeding to contact any other person in the building or on the grounds. Students are not allowed to bring visitors to school without prior permission of the principal. School Property The Middle School opens at 7:30 a.m. in the morning and closes at 4 p.m. Use of the building after hours by non-school organizations and groups must be approved in advance by the building principal. Use of equipment and supplies is for the performance of official and approved assignments only. Use of district equipment or supplies for personal projects is prohibited without prior permission of the principal. Students shall handle all school equipment and supplies carefully. Students shall be responsible for any damage they cause to school equipment or supplies. Use of or access to district computers and computer software is limited to district employees and students. Use of computers is for the performance of official and approved assignments only. Use of district computer equipment or software for personal student projects is prohibited without prior permission of the teacher. Only software purchased by the district may be loaded onto district computers. Software licensed to the district shall not be used on computers not owned by the district. District software shall not be copied for personal use. Students shall not use electronic communications, including e-mail and the internet, to harass staff, students, or other individuals. No Right to Privacy Students shall have no expectation of privacy or restricted access to any information generated during the course of their work or entered in any district computers. Students waive any right to privacy in e-mail messages and consent to the access and disclosure of e-mail messages by authorized persons. Students shall only use passwords or other encoding or security mechanisms as assigned by the district computer system(s) administrator or other officials designated by the board. The use of a password does not affect the administration's right to monitor. All forms of electronic communications are monitored by the administration to ensure the systems are only being used for official purposes. Ownership Computer materials or devices created as part of any assignment undertaken on school time shall be the property of the district. Internet Inappropriate use and/or transmission of any material in violation of any United States or state regulation, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to copyrighted material, threatening or obscene material, or material protected by a trade secret. Computer Network Use Guidelines All users of the schools' computers and networks are expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette. Informal rules of behavior have evolved for the use of and communication on the Internet and other on-line services. These rules of behavior include, but are not limited to, the following: - Be polite. Do not write or send abusive messages to others. - Use appropriate language. Do not swear; use vulgarities or any inappropriate language. - Do not reveal your personal address or phone numbers or that of other students or colleagues. - Note that electronic mail (e-mail) is not guaranteed to be private. People who operate the system do have access to mail. Messages relating to or in support of illegal activities may be reported to the authorities. - All communications and information accessible via the network should be assumed to be private property which is subject to copyright laws. - Do not place unlawful information on any network system. - Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point. Focus on one subject per message. - Do not use the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users (e.g., downloading very large files during prime time; sending mass email messages). Computer Usage Policy: - 1. To use a classroom or lab computer for internet a student must have permission and direct supervision. - 2. No chat rooms at any time. - 3. No e-mail unless it is an assignment for a specific class during the class period. No e-mail will be allowed before or after school, or during the noon hour. - 4. No games at any time. No student is to load any games on school computers. - 5. Any inappropriate internet usage will be a violation of the Internet Policy. Consequences of Violation of Technology Policies All of the policies and handbook procedures for acceptable use of computers and network are intended to make the computers and networks more useful to students and teachers. They are also intended to minimize the burden of administering the networks; so more time can be spent enhancing services. Use of the computers for programs, software, e-mail and to access telecommunications resources is a privilege, not a right. Violations of the policies and procedures of USD 110 school concerning use of computers and networks will result in disciplinary action. Three levels of punishment may be enforced by the administration. While the levels may be implemented in order, nothing prevents the administration from selecting any step depending on the facts and the severity of the violation. Level 1: Warning and Loss of Privileges for Two Weeks Student will lose computer privilege/Internet access for a period of two weeks. Any additional loss of privileges will be determined by the administration. Level 2: Pattern of Abuse, Repeated Abuse or Flagrant Violations: Student who, after a Level 1 warning, continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior by violating the district's previously communicated written standards of conduct may be removed from any computer/Internet privileges for the remainder of the school year or remaining school years and recommended for suspension. Level 3: Suspension/Expulsion Violations Student could be suspended from school (removal for five days or more) if he/she engages in conduct on the Internet that contains the elements of the offense of criminal mischief, as defined by state and federal law. Any student expelled for misuse of technology will also lose computer privileges for the remainder of the school year or school years. See Appendices E and F for sample agreements to be signed by parents and students. Student Lockers Lockers in the district schools shall be under the supervision of the building principal and assigned to the student to store necessary school materials and clothing. Copies of combinations and/or keys to all locker locks shall be in the sole possession of the principal and stored in a place designed to guard against unauthorized access or use. The principal may search any locker at any time without notice to the student to whom the locker is assigned if there is reason to believe the locker contains matter prohibited by law or school regulations. Textbooks If a student damages a textbook in any way the student will be required to pay for the damage to the book. Full replacement cost will be charged for any lost books or badly damaged books. Library Books Books checked out from the school library are the responsibility of the student whose name is the last one listed on the check out card. Students will be charged a fee for replacement of lost or non-returned books. Student Services Academic Counseling Students are encouraged to talk with a school counselor, teachers and principals in order to learn about the curriculum, course offerings, graduation requirements, qualified admissions for Regents Universities and other academic issues. The counselor can provide information about vocational training schools, colleges and universities, careers and financial aid. Personal Counseling The counselor is available to assist students with personal concerns. The counselor may make available information about community resources to address personal concerns. Students who wish to meet with the counselor should make an appointment in advance. The library is a school library. Students are encouraged to use the library, but not as an excuse to avoid doing schoolwork. No student will be allowed in the library without a pass. Library books may be checked. Students who do not return checked out books on time will be charged overdue fines on the book. Food Service USD 110 believes that good nutrition is vitally important for helping children grow a strong body and mind, establish healthy lifetime eating habits and succeed in school. The USD 110 School Food Service Department offers balanced and nutritious meals at a reasonable price for its students (see prices below). The district participates in the Child Nutrition Program. Two popular programs – the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, help qualifying parents/guardians by providing free and reduced-priced meals for students. Applications are available for each household at enrollment and are also available from the building secretaries. Federal requirements dictate that a new application be completed every school year (see application for details). Thunder Ridge Middle School has a closed lunch period. Students are not allowed to leave campus during lunch period. Students may bring sack lunches and eat in the school cafeteria. Lunch may be purchased from the lunch program or brought from home. Milk may be purchased to supplement lunches brought from home. Delinquent Meal/Milk Balances Students of USD 110 are required to pay for meals in advance. Payments will be accepted at each building in the district. Each student will have a meal account where advance payments will be posted. When a full pay student's meal account balance falls below $15.00 or a reduced pay student's meal account balance falls below $8.00, the student will be notified on a daily basis. Reminder notices for those student meal accounts will be printed and handed out to students at the end of the school day. If a student's meal account balance becomes negative, the student will only be allowed to charge a maximum of 5 meals. The student meal cost is different per grade, so the allowable charge amount will vary. A student will not be allowed to charge the purchase of an extra milk or second lunch while the account has a negative balance. Grade School students with negative balances will not receive milk during snack time. (Eligibility for free or reduced priced meals does not cover extra milks or snack milk fees.) Parents/guardians must provide a sack lunch from home until there is a positive balance in the student meal account. If arrangements cannot be made for a student to bring a sack lunch from home or a positive balance provided into the student account the case will be turned over to DCF (Department of Children and Families). Meal prices are as follows: If school begins late due to road conditions, breakfast will not be served. If school begins late due to road conditions, the Pre-K morning program will not be in session. Class Responsibilities The class organizational responsibilities include: finances, organization, ordering, etc., for everything listed for that specific event. Students and the class sponsor are expected to see that these responsibilities are completed. Middle School Promotion Eighth Grade – Stage decorations Eighth Grade – Choose seventh grade students to lead the eighth grade students in, hand out programs and monitor gift table if needed. Selection of Officers Class officers are not selected at the middle school. Cheerleader Selection Interested 7 th and 8 th grade students may participate as a cheerleader. The rules and policies of the middle school cheer constitution must be agreed to and followed. ACCIDENT REPORT FORM A student who has been injured on school property must fill out an accident form as soon as possible following the injury. School Name____________________________________________________________ Your Name_____________________________________________________________ Your Home Address ______________________________________________________ Social Security Number ___________________________________________________ Date of Accident __________________________ Time of Accident _______________ In your own words, describe what happened: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ ______________ What physical problems are you experiencing as a result of this injury: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Did you report this injury to a school employee? ________________________________ If not, explain. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Date Reported _______________________ Employee's Name ____________________ What were you doing at the time of the accident: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Were there any witnesses? _________ If yes, who:______________________________ Did you go to a hospital or clinic? ___________________________________________ Address of Hospital/Clinic _________________________________________________ Name of treating physician ________________________________________________ Additional Comments: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ ________________________ Signature Date PERMISSION FOR MEDICATION PRESCRIPTION/NON-PRESCRIPTION (OTC) Name of Student ______________________________________________________ School ___________________________________ Grade ______________________ Medication _______________________________ Dosage _____________________ Date Started Medication ________________________________________________ Time of Day Medication is to be given _____________________________________ I hereby give my permission for ___________________________________to take the above medication at school as ordered. I understand that it is my responsibility to furnish this medication. I further understand that any school employee who administers any drug or nonprescription pursuant to parental written request to my student in accordance with written instructions from the physician or dentist shall not be liable for damages as a result of an adverse medication reaction suffered by the student because of administering such medication. NOTE: The medication is to be brought to school in the original container appropriately labeled by the pharmacy, or physician, stating the name of the medication, the dosage and times to be administered. _________________________________________ _______________________ Signature of Parent/Guardian Date USD 110 does not have a full time licensed person to administer prescription medications, so the district has elected to have each child’s physician delegate directly to a school employee the duty to administer medications to their patient in the school setting. By signing this form, the physician agrees that he or she is delegating directly to a USD 110 unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). The USD 110 UAP will read the “Guidelines for Medication Administration in Kansas Schools” revised June 2010 and be allowed to ask questions and demonstrate understanding of materials before they are assigned the medication administration task. _________________________________________ _______________________ Signature of Health Care Provider Date
MEMORANDUM To: City Council President Jennifer Campbell and Members of the San Diego City Council From: The Implementation Team for the City of San Diego Community Action Plan on Homelessness: Keely Halsey, Lisa Jones, Tamera Kohler, and Nancy Sa Date: July 16, 2021 Subject: Supplemental Information for July 20, 2021, City Council Agenda Item #331 An informational report will be presented on the City of San Diego Community Action Plan on Homelessness (Action Plan) at the July 20, 2021, City Council meeting. The presentation will provide a mid-year update on the plan and related homelessness initiatives. However, due to time constraints, the verbal presentation will not include all of the activity undertaken since the previous update in October 2020 and accomplishments achieved to date. This memorandum provides an overview of new activities accomplished or underway, which are organized by the foundational strategy that applies to each activity. Information on progress toward the Action Plan goals, including additional details on the activities listed below, is available on the Action Plan dashboards, which are anticipated to be published on August 1, 2021, and can be found at https://www.sdhc.org/homelessness-solutions/community-action-plan/. Implementing Structure The Action Plan recommended the creation of a governance structure that supports cross-agency collaboration, systems-level thinking and accountability. The Leadership Council regularly reviews progress on the Action Plan and provides direction to the Interagency Implementation Team. The Leadership Council includes agency leaders and community representatives, including a person with lived experience, business and philanthropic leaders. The Interagency Implementation Team is a group of senior level staff from the main funding agencies and oversight structures in the City related to homelessness. The team provides recommendations to the Leadership Council and carries out actions and activities to achieve the goals in the Action Plan based on priorities within the framework of the five foundational strategies. Leadership Council \| San Diego City Council \| Council President \| \|---\|---\| \| County of San Diego \| Chair, County Board of Supervisors \| \| San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) \| President and Chief Executive Officer \| \| Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH) \| Chief Executive Officer \| \| Philanthropic Organization \| Lucky Duck Foundation \| \| Individual with Lived Experience \| Voices of Our City Choir \| \| Business Representative \| SDG&E \| Implementation Team \| City of San Diego \| Chief of Homelessness Strategies & Housing Liaison \| \|---\|---\| \| San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) \| Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives \| \| Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH) \| Chief Executive Officer \| Policy Liaisons \| San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) \| Vice President of Policy \| Molly Chase \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| County of San Diego \| Policy Advisor for Supervisor Nathan Fletcher \| Sarah Dawe \| \| Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH) \| Chief Operations Officer \| Lahela Mattox \| The five foundational strategies are: 2. Create a Client-Centered Homeless Assistance System 1. Implement a Systems-Level Approach to Homelessness Planning 3. Decrease Inflow Through Increase of Prevention and Diversion 5. Increase the Production of/Access to Permanent Solutions 4. Improve the Performance of the Existing System 1. Implement a Systems-Level Approach to Homelessness Planning SDHC to Publish New System Performance Dashboard In August 2021, SDHC will launch a new publicly available System Performance Dashboard. SDHC's Homeless Housing Innovations Division oversees SDHC- and City of San Diegofunded homeless shelters and housing and services contracts, which include extensive monthly data collection and analysis of key performance metrics and demographics. The goal of this new dashboard is to provide information to the public about how the City of San Diego- and SDHCfunded programs are performing as a system. The dashboard will be available on SDHC's website for policy makers, community stakeholders and the general public to have access to information that details how the different types of homelessness interventions are performing compared to industry-standard, best-practice metrics. One of the guiding principles detailed in the Action Plan is to make data-driven decisions and create transparency. These dashboards support that principle. The System Performance Dashboard will be available in August on SDHC's website at https://www.sdhc.org/homelessness-solutions/. Work with the County and other funders to anticipate shifts in funding and ensure partner agencies are prepared for those changes Regular work groups and planning meetings consisting of key staff from lead agencies are occurring. They work to anticipate shifts in funding and ensure that agencies are collaborating and preparing for funding opportunities to support efforts to address homelessness within the City and the region. Work groups consist of representatives from the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH) and the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC). New accomplishments in 2021 include: * A Work Group has been developed among the County, City, RTFH and SDHC to align funding priorities as appropriate and leverage existing and future funding to advance the Action Plan's goals. This also includes a new collaborative effort to focus resources on persons experiencing Substance Use Disorder challenges and develop innovative programs specifically to serve this population more effectively. Previous accomplishments can be viewed online in the Action Plan dashboard. Implement the Neighborhood-Based Coordinated Street Outreach Program The Housing Authority of the City of San Diego and the City Council approved the Neighborhood-Based Coordinated Street Outreach Program on October 27, 2020. The initiative aligns with one of the Key Items for Consideration identified in the Action Plan, as well as the foundational strategies to implement a systems-level approach and create a client-centered homeless assistance system. The City of San Diego's Fiscal Year 2022 budget, which Mayor Todd Gloria proposed and the City Council approved on June 14, 2021, includes $1 million to expand the City of San Diego Neighborhood-Based Coordinated Street Outreach Program. This expansion will support more than 13 additional full-time equivalent staff positions to supplement the work being done by the 17 positions added last year and the outreach resources funded through other service provider contracts. City of San Diego Homelessness Response Center The Homelessness Response Center (HRC) implements a streamlined, coordinated, client-centric City of San Diego Homelessness Crisis Response System. The program's objective is to provide system navigation services that coordinate all activities to move someone from homelessness to housed. The program is aligned with the five foundational strategies of the Action Plan and is informed by lessons learned and successes of Operation Shelter to Home. The HRC opened in May 2021 following the conclusion of Operation Shelter to Home. Create a Communications Work Group and Plan The Action Plan encourages transparent communication to the public and community stakeholders about the successes, challenges and progress toward the Action Plan's goals. A communications work group consisting of members of each of the Action Plan's implementing agencies has been tasked with developing a communications strategy for the Leadership Council's and Implementation Team's consideration that would support transparency, accountability and public engagement and raise awareness of the Action Plan and homelessness issues in the City of San Diego. Shared Housing Learning Collaborative Shared Housing is an effective tool in areas, such as San Diego, that have extremely limited vacancies and unit availability. The expansion of Shared Housing is one critical pathway to finding a home for the thousands of individuals experiencing homelessness in San Diego. RTFH promoted and participated in community trainings on Shared Housing, supported by Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego (FTEHSD), and hosted a Shared Housing Forum with approximately 150 attendees, representing housing and service providers, including the youth system. RTFH is coordinating efforts in San Diego to increase system capacity and promote the use of the Shared Housing model. Critical to this work is partnering with individuals with lived experience to participate in a leadership role with the RTFH and other partners. RTFH has worked with John Brady and Voices of Our City Choir to include individuals with lived experience. In addition, RTFH has funded the participation of San Diego service providers in a national Shared Housing learning collaborative with the Shared Housing Institute. The learning collaborative is 12 weeks, spanning May 2021 through August 2021. The RTFH also published a Shared Housing white paper that can serve as a foundation for local understanding of what Shared Housing is and further explain key components. Emergency Housing Vouchers On May 5, 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a PIH Notice 2021-15 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV)-Operating Requirements. The vouchers are intended to help San Diegans who are experiencing homelessness; are at risk of experiencing homelessness; are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; or who recently experienced homelessness and for whom rental assistance will help prevent their homelessness or a high risk of housing instability. SDHC received 480 federal Emergency Housing Vouchers, which took effect on July 1, 2021. SDHC is collaborating with the RTFH, as the lead agency for the regional Continuum of Care, to identify qualifying households for these vouchers and to administer the vouchers, in accordance with HUD requirements. SDHC and the RTFH are working together on the appropriate referral pathways through the Coordinated Entry System (CES) to refer eligible households and to identify support resources available to households who are enrolled and utilize an Emergency Housing Voucher through SDHC. 2. Create a Client-Centered Homeless Assistance System Homelessness Program for Engaged Educational Resources (PEER) Homelessness PEER is an existing collaboration between SDHC and San Diego City College, funded by SDHC, which started in October 2020. It provides homelessness services-specific education through a two-unit course, "Human Services 75," to develop the local workforce needed for programs and services that help individuals experiencing homelessness. The program also provides an academic counselor and career coach to work with the students on securing volunteer, internship or employment opportunities in organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness. Using ARPA funds as set forth in the Mayor's budget proposal, in Fiscal Year 2022, the program will be expanded to offer the course twice per semester and increase staffing to broaden the scope and reach of the program. Students learn about national and regional policy, local programming and practical application, including having opportunities to engage with national experts, local front-line staff and service provider leadership. Students will also receive assistance from dedicated career counselors to work with students on career planning and job placement opportunities within local homelessness services. Engage with Advisory Groups The Action Plan recommends creating feedback mechanisms and seeking input from stakeholders by utilizing Advisory Groups to convene on specific issues. Participation is informal and voluntary, and frequency is determined on an ad hoc basis to achieve Action Plan goals and solicit input and expertise across a broad sector of service users and stakeholders. The RTFH makes regular effort to engage with youth through the Youth Action Board, and RTFH and SDHC participate in the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP) committee meetings. Engagement with Advisory Groups of Persons with Lived Experience is also an ongoing focus, and members of the Implementation Team communicate with members of the HEAL network and Voices of Dignity and attend meetings when invited and deemed appropriate by existing advocacy groups. A Provider Advisory Group and a Front-Line Staff Advisory Group were formed to create further opportunities for feedback specific to the activities and efforts that support the Action Plan's goals. The groups are scheduled to meet quarterly. Reduce negative impacts of enforcement and criminal history on people experiencing homelessness and any barrier that may come up toward obtaining housing The City has examined some of its practices and policies regarding the intersection of law enforcement and homelessness, resulting in increased focus on treatment and diversion programs – which provide officers the opportunity to link individuals with treatment and shelter in lieu of citation or arrest – and efforts to increase service-provider-led outreach, for example. Further, in March 2021, Mayor Gloria also directed changes to policies regarding the City's response to homeless encampments and the belongings of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. These changes provide a more person-centered approach to environmental services cleanings. Some of the changes include suspension of cleanups and enforcement during inclement weather, suspension of cleanups at night, and easier means to retrieve personal items removed during cleanups. For more information on these and additional changes, visit https://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/mayor-gloria-directs-broad-changes-addressing-homelessencampments. Analyze data and identify potential opportunities to impact the contributing factors related to disproportionate representation of certain populations regarding entry into homelessness According to the 2020 Point-in-Time Count, Black persons accounted for 21 percent of the unsheltered population and 30 percent of the sheltered population, while only accounting for 5.5 percent of the general population in San Diego County. The Leadership Council and Implementation Team identified this activity as an area of focus for 2021. Below are activities that related to this item. In July 2020, the RTFH Board approved the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Addressing Homelessness Among Black San Diegans. The purpose of the Ad Hoc Committee is to explore the factors contributing to disparities among Black persons experiencing homelessness, listen and engage in extensive public dialogue with community stakeholders, and to develop a series of recommendations that the CoC can take to better address the impacts of systemic racism and its effects within the homelessness crisis response system. Furthermore, the 2020 Point-in-Time Count found that of those who were 55 and older and completed the unsheltered survey, 43 percent reported being homeless for the first time; 54 percent were sleeping on the street or sidewalk; 55 percent reported a physical disability; and 58 percent have been homeless for less than one year in the past three years. Additionally, 12 percent of those 55 or older are chronically homeless and unsheltered, and nearly 1 in 4 are female. While chronological age demonstrates many older adults are living without a home, the rigors of homelessness also are known to prematurely age people as well. In April 2021, the RTFH Board approved the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness. The purpose of the committee is to focus on the needs of older adults experiencing homelessness, specifically reviewing data on the prevalence of homelessness among seniors, best practices to meet older adults' shelter and housing needs, and education to homelessness service providers about the unique needs of older adults. The committee also will make recommendations about how the region's homelessness response system can reduce homelessness among older adults. Implement an automated client-feedback program to improve system performance SDHC is implementing an automated client-feedback system that will collect both quantitative and qualitative information that can provide system-level performance feedback. The survey questions are being developed through a community engagement process with people with lived experience to ensure the survey has a client-centered approach. The automated system will encourage honest participation of persons utilizing the City's homelessness response programs because it includes a layer of anonymity in the different ways that a person can provide input. The client-feedback system will be implemented across multiple programs in late summer 2021 and will inform program and system-level trends, service gaps or changes that may be needed. 3. Decrease Inflow Through Increase of Prevention and Diversion City of San Diego Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) Ordinance Enhancements SDHC is proposing several important updates to City's SRO Ordinance with the chief purpose to incentivize the preservation or replacement of this important housing source in the City, place long-term covenants on units to ensure affordability to lower income populations, improve relocation assistance to vulnerable residents, and enhance the City's administration of the SRO properties. SDHC conducted video webinars with stakeholders on September 15, 2020, and May 17, 2021, and updated drafts of the proposed ordinance were posted on SDHC's website. For more information about the proposed updates to the City's SRO ordinance, including links to recordings of the video webinars, please visit https://www.sdhc.org/housing-opportunities/singleroom-occupancy-units/ COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Programs SDHC currently administers the City of San Diego COVID-19 Housing Stability Assistance Program. In March 2021, the program's online application launched. The program helps pay past-due, unpaid rent and utilities for individuals and families with low income in the City of San Diego who experienced a financial hardship due to the pandemic. On June 28, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 832, which allows the COVID-19 Housing Stability Assistance Program and similar programs statewide to now pay 100 percent of the rent obligations for qualifying low-income households. Previous State law limited assistance payments to 80 percent of past-due rent and 25 percent of upcoming rent. SDHC advocated for payments at the 100 percent level in letters and meetings in April, May and June. With this new law, SDHC anticipates fully expending all of the Coronavirus Relief Funds previously allocated to the Housing Stability Assistance Program. As of July 15, 2021, SDHC has disbursed $46,746,293.88 to help 6,404 qualifying applicants. The application remains open at covidassistance.sdhc.org, and additional applications are submitted each day. 4. Improve the Performance of the Existing System Enhance technical resources for providers that incentivizes and supports capacity building San Diego homelessness service providers experience capacity challenges, including limited staff and training resources. To support the funders, providers and community in successfully implementing services and achieving greater impact, RTFH, SDHC and the County have partnered to fund and support a series of trainings on best practices and emerging models. Additionally, RTFH and its partners have worked with national experts to bring service providers together to better coordinate and establish standards of practice through community Learning Collaboratives focused on outreach, Rapid Rehousing (RRH) and Diversion. This continued support is critical to the success of the providers and their ability to provide services effectively. Additional ongoing capacity building activities include a Housing-Focused Shelter initiative and a Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Partnership Collaborative. The Housing-Focused Shelter initiative utilizes the expertise of Iain De Jong, a nationally recognized expert and founder of OrgCode Consulting, to provide intensive training and support on enhancing best practices on operating a housing-focused shelter program. SDHC launched a PSH Partnership Collaborative in June 2021. The collaborative, implemented by SDHC and facilitated by LeSar Development Consultants, works with SDHC stakeholders— including PSH service providers, property managers, and developers—to obtain feedback and input and review existing processes to inform PSH best practices. The collaborative focuses on reviewing client-centered practices and alignment with the Housing First model, strengthening efforts around knowledge sharing and capacity building, and identifying opportunities for streamlining that benefit all stakeholders. Please also note that the Homelessness PEER program, described above, contributes toward this goal. Outreach Standards and Practices Over the last two years, RTFH has been working with Iain De Jong, a nationally recognized expert and founder of OrgCode Consulting, to develop an enhanced set of standards for street outreach services. Starting in the summer of 2019, OrgCode began working with a diverse set of stakeholders, including SDHC, the City and the County, to understand current outreach practices, listen to key stakeholders, and conduct initial outreach trainings. The Outreach Standards serve as a guiding framework for how coordinated outreach occurs throughout the region. Included in the Outreach Standards is the establishment of regional coordination entities to work with all outreach teams throughout the region, regardless of funding source, to ensure a comprehensive outreach effort. RTFH finalized the Street Outreach Standards in January 2021 and has been working with its key partners to support the implementation of the Street Outreach Standards – including with the existing and new outreach teams referenced above. The investment in street outreach will assist the region in ensuring the availability of appropriately trained outreach workers whose efforts are dedicated to helping people experiencing homelessness access permanent housing. Mobile outreach technology will enhance coordination of regional outreach efforts and deployment of outreach workers to the areas of highest need. Standards and Practices around Rapid Rehousing (RRH) Over the last two years, the RTFH has been working with Michelle Valdez, a nationally recognized expert, on convening an RRH learning collaborative and drafting RRH standards of practice. In fall 2019, RTFH convened a local learning collaborative with various RRH providers, with SDHC as a key partner supporting the effort. Michelle Valdez facilitated the learning collaborative and met with RRH providers to better understand current RRH practices, identify gaps and needs, and for RRH providers to learn from each other and share strategies that are working and address challenges. The RRH learning collaborative was suspended due to COVID-19, and the group reconvened in September 2020 for the first time since the pandemic started. Michelle Valdez has continued to work with RTFH, SDHC, the County and local stakeholders on the RRH standards of practice. RTFH was successful in finalizing the RRH Standards, released in February 2021. Ms. Valdez continues to work with stakeholders to support the community in implementing the RRH Standards. Harm Reduction Program The Action Plan's Leadership Council tasked an ad hoc working group composed of City, County, RTFH and SDHC staff to discuss the variety of new funding opportunities coming forward at both a state and local level that could support the City's and region's homelessness efforts, and identify potential opportunities for the Leadership Council's consideration. A new strategy was developed to address the immediate and long-term challenges facing unsheltered individuals that aligns with the Action Plan and is consistent with widely accepted best practices. A multiphased approach launched in June 2021. Phase 1 consists of a monthlong outreach effort that involves outreach workers, County Public Health nurses, eligibility and social workers from the County Office of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities, and Federally Qualified Health Centers in the downtown city core. This outreach campaign is supported by a phased expansion of capacity at four shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Phase 2 consists of a transformative approach to addressing homelessness that pairs outreach and engagement with care-coordination services and low-barrier access to housing with the goal of improving client wellness and stability. Community Harm Reduction Teams (C-HRT) will use evidence-based practices to engage people with highly complex and acute needs who are experiencing homelessness and are at increased risk of harm due to substance use and mental health conditions. The program incorporates two components: 2. Bridge housing, including short-term beds and Safe Haven housing, will be available consistent with harm-reduction practices, where clients can be connected to permanent supportive housing. 1. C-HRT will engage individuals experiencing homelessness with substance use and cooccurring conditions in a concentrate geographic area. They will provide ongoing carecoordination services, low-barrier harm-reduction services, referrals to primary care and behavioral health services, medication management, transportation, and bridge housing that includes on-site wraparound services with links to permanent supportive housing. The County of San Diego and the City of San Diego will dedicate American Rescue Plan Act funds to this critical effort. Built for Zero Initiative The RTFH and its partners, including SDHC, have signed onto a national initiative known as Built for Zero, led by Community Solutions. The action boosts the City's Action Plan and supports the momentum to end veteran and youth homelessness. Built for Zero is a proven method that uses data to change how local homelessness response systems work and the impact they can achieve. The data provide a real-time number of veterans experiencing homelessness, help craft strategies to connect all veterans with proper support, prioritize community resources, and regularly measure progress. The result is more tailored solutions for individuals and a clearer picture of the system as a whole. A Leadership Team and Improvement Team have been developed. The Leadership Team is tasked with providing leadership and policy guidance on the Built for Zero initiative. The Improvement Team is tasked with supporting the Built for Zero model. This team meets regularly to review data and system needs to reach and end veteran homelessness. 5. Increase the Production of/Access to Permanent Solutions Identify currently funded projects in pipeline and occupancy timeline A pipeline and occupancy timeline was developed to identify currently funded permanent supportive housing (PSH) units. The pipeline reporting includes information on PSH that has completed and been occupied since the Action Plan analysis was conducted; PSH that is newly under construction/financing; and the number of PSH units still needed to meet the Action Plan goals. This reporting will help inform decisions around development goals outlined in the Action Plan. The pipeline data can be found on the Action Plan dashboard at https://www.sdhc.org/homelessness-solutions/community-action-plan/. Identify funding opportunities for additional projects SDHC's Policy Department closely monitors legislative activities, including upcoming funding opportunities, and provides updates to the SDHC Board of Commissioners at the Boards regular meetings. The City's Government Affairs Department also advocates on the State and Federal level for funding resources. A joint working group consisting of members from the RTFH, County, City and SDHC also coordinate on a regular basis to track funding opportunities for the region. Work with community partners to identify potential land/property for development San Diego has an extremely expensive and competitive housing market. The ability to provide landlord incentives to secure units is critical and will help the region achieve goals of addressing veteran and youth homelessness. The Action Plan identified that the private rental market needed to provide 20 percent of the necessary housing inventory. As part of SDHC's HOUSING FIRST – SAN DIEGO initiative, SDHC implemented a robust Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program (LEAP) to meet this need within the City of San Diego. LEAP has experienced strong success securing private-market units and building strong relationships with landlords in the City of San Diego. Recognizing this is still a need for the rest of the San Diego region, RTFH included the creation of a regional Flexible Housing Pool (FHP) to operate within the broader region as part of the 2019 and 2020 Work Plan. RTFH partnered with Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego and the County to establish the FHP and in July 2020 entered into a contract with Brilliant Corners to operate a Flexible Housing Pool. The first-year goal was to place 140 households into permanent housing through the FHP.
Statement for the Record "S.785 - Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019" Matt Kuntz, J.D., Executive Director, NAMI Montana On behalf of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on September 9, 2020 Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Tester and distinguished members of the Committee, on behalf of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, I would like to extend our gratitude for the opportunity to share with you our views and recommendations regarding "S.785 – The Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019." NAMI applauds the Committee's dedication in addressing the critical issues around veterans' suicide. NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to treatment, support and research, and is steadfast in its commitment to raising awareness and building a community of hope for all of those in need. As NAMI Montana's Executive Director, I serve as a member of the Coalition to Heal Invisible Wounds (Coalition). I also serve on the Secretary of Veterans Affairs National Research Advisory Council (NRAC) and served as a member of the Creating Options for Veterans Expedited Recovery Commission (COVER Commission). I am not speaking on behalf of the Coalition, NRAC, or the COVER Commission, but am speaking on behalf of NAMI. Commander John Scott Hannon I met Commander John Scott Hannon in the fall of 2013 when he retired from his service with the Navy SEALs to live on his family's homestead in Colorado Gulch outside of Helena, Montana. Commander Hannon's family and friends called him by the name "Scott." I will use that name throughout this testimony. Scott and I met for coffee in the fall of 2013 because his mother, Gretchen, thought we might strike up a friendship. Neither Scott or I were especially social, and we struggled to find something to talk about. Thankfully, we realized that we both loved designing custom outdoor adventure gear. That mutual obsession formed the basis of what would become a strong friendship in the following years. Scott served in the SEALs from 1991-2012. He accrued major awards during this service and more than his fair share of hidden wounds that followed him back to his family's idyllic mountain hideaway. His journey towards recovery was courageous. It was amazing, even for someone like me who works every day in this field. Scott was able to turn the tide against his post-traumatic stress injuries and alcohol addiction. He had amazing therapists and a broad traditional treatment team both in and outside of the VA that provided for his care. Scott really benefited from his experience helping heal injured raptors at the Montana Wild rehabilitation center. He teamed up with the Montana VA to incorporate this type of experience into the traditional dual diagnosis treatment program and worked to help document the outcomes of this important effort. I can imagine Scott's broad smile while looking at Section 203 of this legislation which provides a pathway for research-proven complimentary treatments. Scott was adamant that the system for caring for veterans' brain health issues needed to improve. Scott volunteered with NAMI Montana in our efforts to support, educate and advocate for Montanans who live with mental illness and their families. Scott also talked about how NAMI's Family-to-Family program helped his family better understand his condition and support his journey towards recovery. Through all the work to regain his health, Scott was able to hit the point of his recovery where he was able to rebuild the bond with his daughter Keira Vida Hannon White. I can still remember the twinkle in his eyes when he described how amazing it was to spend weeks of the summer of 2017 with her. Those wonderful weeks with Vida were the best weeks of his life. Part of Scott's successful recovery after years of struggling in care was that his clinicians were finally able to diagnose and treat the bipolar disorder that was hiding behind the post-traumatic stress and alcohol addiction. Unfortunately, Scott's symptoms of bipolar disorder reemerged hard in the fall of 2017. Scott, his family, and his support system worked to help him overcome the mania that began the episode and the deep depression that followed, but we lost him in February of 2018. Scott's family and I have cried and laughed together in remembering him. One of those conversations remains with me and is essential to understanding the Precision Medicine Initiative in Section 305 of this bill. Scott's sister Kimberly Hannon Parrott said, "I just wish that we had known about the bipolar disorder earlier. Scott overcame everything else. He just needed more time to work on that one." I couldn't agree with her more. Scott had spent over half a decade in intensive mental health and substance abuse treatment both in the VA and the Department of Defense. How much different would his trajectory have been if Scott, his loved ones, and his care team knew exactly which mental health conditions he had at the beginning of his treatment and 2 what types of care they would respond to. Instead, the care and his recovery flailed for years with treatments that were not targeted towards one of his key conditions. I believe that Section 305 of this legislation will help more veterans receive the right care at the right time, helping to ensure that the hidden wounds of war will not take them away from their life and the people who love them. It will be a powerful and appropriate legacy to a dear friend who served this country honorably. The Promise of S. 785 NAMI's forty years of work across the United States has focused on improving community-based mental health support and infusing care with the lessons of scientific research. We are pleased that this legislation addresses multiple issues that affect mental health care for veterans. NAMI applauds all of the important components in the bill, but will focus particularly on two: Section 305, the "Precision Medicine for Veterans Initiative" and Section 507, "Safety Planning in Emergency Departments." The Precision Medicine for Veterans Initiative According to the authors of "Suicide Among Soldiers: A Review of Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors," "The fact that the vast majority of suicides occur among people with a current mental disorder makes this risk factor a prime target for screening and prevention efforts."P0F 1 P However, as Scott's experience shows, it can be difficult for clinicians to diagnose appropriately, particularly for veterans with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders and PTSD. The legislation's "Precision Medicine for Veterans Initiative" (the "Initiative") was crafted to better identify—and more effectively treat—our veterans with hidden wounds. The Initiative will "identify and validate brain and mental health biomarkers (measurable indicators of a state or condition) among veterans, with specific consideration for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, traumatic brain injury, and such other mental health conditions as the Secretary considers appropriate."P1F i The Initiative will ensure that the VA is conducting biomarker research, specifically "brain structure and function measurements, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalogram[.]"P2F ii P The Initiative "shall [also] coordinate with additional biological methods of analysis utilized in the Million Veterans Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs."P3F iii The Initiative will ensure that data is stored and shared in a manner that protects each veteran's privacy while still allowing for dynamic collaboration between a broad conglomeration of 3 researchers capable of advancing the science of veterans' brain health. The Initiative's policies and procedures for "large-scale collection of standardized data and open data sharing" will "be modeled on the All of Us Precision Medicine Initiative administered by the National Institutes of Health."P4F iv P In summary, the Initiative will use the power of anonymous data-driven research to enable clinician's to determine more precisely what condition(s) a veteran has and what treatments they will respond to. Implementing Safety Planning in Emergency Departments Emergency departments (EDs) often function as the "primary or sole point of contact with the health care system" for people struggling with suicidality.P5F v PThe Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) has implemented a Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) program for "veterans presenting to the emergency department who are assessed to be at risk for suicide and are safe to be discharged home."P6F vi P This program "includes issuance and update of a safety plan and post-discharge follow-up outreach for veterans to facilitate engagement in outpatient mental health care."P7F vii The VHA had identified expanding the implementation of the SPED program as one of its top to clinical goals for suicide prevention.P8F viii P Specifically, "By September 30, 2021, VA will increase implementation of Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED), to ensure completion of safety planning for eligible Veterans in the ED/Urgent Care Center (UCC) from a baseline of 34% to 90%."P9F ix P The SPED effort included the clinical demonstration project "Suicide Assessment and Follow-up Engagement: Veteran Emergency Treatment (SAFE VET)."P10F x P This program was specifically designed to address the issue of the "dearth of empirically supported brief intervention strategies to address this problem in health care settings generally and particularly in emergency departments (EDs), where many suicidal patients present for care."P11F xi In September of 2018, UJAMA PsychiatryU published the results of a large-scale cohort comparison study to determine whether the SAFE VET intervention was associated with reduced suicidal behavior and improved outpatient treatment engagement in the 6 months following discharge, an established high-risk period.P12F xii P The study found that SAFE VET was associated with 45% fewer suicidal behaviors, approximately halving the odds of suicidal behavior over 6 months (odds ratio, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.33-0.95, P = .03). Additionally, veterans that received the SAFE VET intervention had more than double the odds of attending at least 1 outpatient mental health visit (odds ratio, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.57-2.71; P < .001). Section 507 of this legislation requires the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Administration to present an in-depth report on the VHA's efforts "to implement a suicide prevention program for veterans presenting to an emergency department or urgent care center of the Veterans Health 4 Administration who are assessed to be at risk for suicide and are safe to be discharged home, including a safety plan and post-discharge outreach for veterans to facilitate engagement in outpatient mental health care."P13F xiii P This report requires analysis of the SPED's program distribution throughout the VA system and fidelity to the research-based model. NAMI applauds the inclusion of this report language in the legislation. Effective emergency room interventions are essential to reducing suicide. This report will complement the VA's multi-year initiative to translate this critical suicide prevention research into practice and ensure that the VHA has the requisite support for the rollout of effective suicide prevention interventions in VHA Emergency Departments across the country. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify in front of this honorable Committee. Your attention to this issue means a lot to me, the Hannon family, and the NAMI organization. We look forward to working with you to save the lives of America's injured heroes. Sincerely, Matt Kuntz, J.D., Executive Director NAMI Montana i "S.785 - Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019" as accessed at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate- August 31, 2020. bill/785/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22S.785%22%7D&r=4&s=1# to c- ide08038501f8349a9a9ae4d0c4d19d5cb ii Ibid at Section 305(c). iii iv on Ibid. v Knox, K., L., Stanley, B., Currier, G., Brenner, L., Holloway, M., & Brown, G.K. (2012). An emergency department based brief intervention for Veterans at risk for suicide (SAFE VET). American Journal of Public Health. 102 suppl(1): S33-7, 2012. Ibid at Section 305(b) vi vii "S.785 - Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019" at Section 507. viii Ibid. https://www.performance.gov/veterans_affairs/FY2020_july_Suicide_Pr ev ention.pdf. Accessed on August 31, 2020. "Suicide Prevention: FY2020: Q1-Q2 Update," July 2020. ix x Ibid at page 2. xi Stanley, Barbara, et al. "Comparison of the safety planning intervention with follow-up vs usual care of suicidal patients treated in the emergency department." JAMA psychiatry 75.9 (2018): 894-900. xii Ibid. Ibid. xiii Sec. 507(b) 5
Revision: 27/09/2022 Soudabond Turbo Gun Page 1 from 5 Technical data This information relates to fully cured product. \| Basis \| Polyurethane \| \|---\|---\| \| Consistency \| Stable foam adhesive , thioxotrpic \| \| Curing system \| Moisture curing \| \| Skin Formation (EN 17333-3) \| 3 min \| \| Cutting Time (EN 17333-3) \| 20 min \| \| Insulation factor (DIN52612) \| 34 mW/m.K \| \| Can be walked upon after \| About 30 minutes \| \| Yield \| Up to 14 m² \| \| Shear strength (EN 17333-4) \| Ca. 36 kPa \| \| Tensile Strength (EN 17333-4) \| Ca. 70 kPa \| \| Temperature resistance \| -40 °C till +90 °C (cured) 120 °C (max 1 hour) \| Measured at 20 °C / 65 % R.H. These values may vary depending on ambient factors such as temperature, humidity and type of substrate. 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Cheaper than the traditional systems. - Substantial space and weight savings compared to conventional PU adhesives, bonding mortars, etc. Applications Excellent solution to glue smaller decoration against walls and ceilings: e.g. Rosettes, Skirting Boards, ... Clean, efficient and economical permanent bonding of insulation panels. - Levels uneven surfaces. - Does not age or rot, but should not be exposed to UV radiation. Remark: This technical data sheet replaces al previous versions. The directives contained in this documentation are the result of our experiments and of our experience and have been submitted in good faith. Because of the diversity of the materials and substrates and the great number of possible applications which are out of our control, we cannot accept any responsibility for the results obtained. Since the design, the quality of the substrate and processing conditions are beyond our control, no liability under this publication is accepted. In every case it is recommended to carry out preliminary experiments. Soudal reserves the right to modify products without prior notice. Tel: +32 (0)14-42.42.31 Fax: +32 (0)14-42.65.14 Soudabond Turbo Gun Revision: 27/09/2022 Suitable for bonding polystyrene (EPS + XPS), polyurethane (PUR/PIR) and phenol resin foam based insulation panels for flat roofs, perimeters, facades, insulation/drain elements, cellar ceilings, internal insulation, etc. Suitable for bonding small gypsum plasterboard/gypsum fiberboard in dry lining applications. Suitable for bonding small non-load bearing walls, e.g. partition walls, screen walls, cellar bars, stone shelves, etc., of rectified blocks (aerated concrete, sand-lime brick, gypsum, stone, concrete, hollow bricks ...). Fills cavities between individual thermal insulation panels. Installing of sockets. Packaging Colour: orange Packaging: 750 ml aerosol (net) Shelf life 24 months unopened and stored in dry and cool conditions (Between 5 and 25 °C), Upright storage is recommended. After application, just lock the gun and it's closed. If the product will not be used within the following week, clean can and gun with Soudal Gun & Foam Cleaner. After cleaning, remove the Soudal Gun & Foam Cleaner and empty the gun completely. Application method Gluing Substrates: All usual substrates such as concrete, masonry, stone, plaster, wood, cold bituminous thick coatings, sand or slate surfaced bituminous sheeting, polystyrene, polyurethane and phenol resin foam, corrosion protected steel sheeting, fibre cement, gas concrete, particle board, plasterboard, gypsum fiberboard, fibre cement, hard PVC and emulsion paints. Remark: This technical data sheet replaces al previous versions. The directives contained in this documentation are the result of our experiments and of our experience and have been submitted in good faith. Because of the diversity of the materials and substrates and the great number of possible applications which are out of our control, we cannot accept any responsibility for the results obtained. Since the design, the quality of the substrate and processing conditions are beyond our control, no liability under this publication is accepted. In every case it is recommended to carry out preliminary experiments. Soudal reserves the right to modify products without prior notice. Page 2 from 5 Adhesive surfaces must be stable, clean, without bubbles and free of separating agents such as talcum, grease, oils, etc. Suitable are building moist, but not wet (water film, standing water) substrates. Any cement slurries and sinter layers on mineral substrates must be removed mechanically. Bubbles in bituminous sheeting must be removed. To ensure perfect adhesion, the bituminous sheeting should have a fully covered surface. Does not adhere to PE, PP. PTFE and silicone. All substrates should be tested for suitability with regard to adhesion and compatibility. Directions for use: General Prior to using the product, cover all adjacent areas for protection against soiling. In windy conditions, precautions must be taken to ensure that Soudabond Turbo Gun cannot contaminate components, objects or persons in the vicinity. Good ventilation must be ensured for indoor use. Wear protective goggles and gloves. Tightly screw the can to the thread in the gun and shake the gun about 20 times downwards so that the contents are mixed well to ensure an optimum adhesive quality and high yield. After extended periods of non-use, the gun must be shaken again to obtain the required adhesive quality! With the adjusting screw on the gun, adjust the adhesive bead to the required diameter. (The emptier the can, the more the adjusting screw needs to be opened). The gun must be held vertical during application. Soudabond Turbo Gun Revision: 27/09/2022 A distance of 1 to 2 cm must be maintained between the gun nozzle and insulation panel/substrate while spraying. Apply pressure to the insulation panel within about 3 minutes (20°C-65% R.H. – this time is shorter at higher temperature/humidity and longer at lower temperature / humidity). Do not tap or remove and reapply panels as this will damage the adhesive structure and reduce the adhesive strength substantially. At high temperatures and low humidity in particular, curing can be accelerated by lightly spraying the adhesive bead with water. 1. Bonding flat roof insulation materials Apply Soudabond Turbo Gun directly to the substrate. Pressure should be applied to the insulation panels for optimal contact. The panels must not be subjected to traffic for about 30 minutes. Consumption: At least three uniform adhesive beads with a minimum diameter of 30 mm are required per sqm adhesive surface. The number of adhesive strips, according to DIN 1055, part 4, depend on the region, roof area, structure height, corner and edge areas as well as the materials to be bonded. The amount of adhesive to be applied depends on the wind load and must be increased in corner and edge areas. 2. Perimeter insulation Soudabond Turbo Gun facilitates the installation of insulation panels in perimeter areas according to DIN 4108-2. (Not suitable for pressing water!). Page 3 from 5 Spray Soudabond Turbo Gun from bottom to top with a bead spacing of about 25 cm (minimum three beads per continuous panel or minimum two beads for short panels!) on to the insulation panel or cellar wall. Press the insulation panel lightly against the cellar wall. Work from bottom to top without gap. The insulation panels must be bonded staggered in corners of buildings. The installed insulation panels can be readjusted with a long spirit level to correct any post expansion of the adhesive within 3 minutes. The insulation achieves its final strength through the pressure of the filled soil, gravel or similar. Filling must take place within 14 days after bonding. 3. Cellar ceiling insulation For working overhead, suitable protective goggles must be worn! Soudabond Turbo Gun has a very high initial bonding strength and is therefore ideal for permanent bonding of insulation panels to cellar ceilings, garage ceilings or other overhead areas, also without additional mechanical fastening. Suitable are all standard insulation panels of polystyrene (EPS and XPS) and PUR/PIR measuring maximum 600 x 1200 mm with a maximum thickness of 100mm and a maximum weight of 400g. Larger and heavier insulation panels and/or additional surfaces should be fixed mechanically within 15 minutes. This is easily done using ceiling supports for example. Prior to application, the substrate stability must be verified. This can also take place with a sealing tape test. Remark: This technical data sheet replaces al previous versions. The directives contained in this documentation are the result of our experiments and of our experience and have been submitted in good faith. Because of the diversity of the materials and substrates and the great number of possible applications which are out of our control, we cannot accept any responsibility for the results obtained. Since the design, the quality of the substrate and processing conditions are beyond our control, no liability under this publication is accepted. In every case it is recommended to carry out preliminary experiments. Soudal reserves the right to modify products without prior notice. Tel: +32 (0)14-42.42.31 Fax: +32 (0)14-42.65.14 Soudabond Turbo Gun Revision: 27/09/2022 In this test, sealing tape is applied to the substrate and quickly pulled off again. If old paint or plaster adheres to the adhesive tape, this means that the substrate does not have the necessary stability and must be reinforced or removed. With chalking and highly absorbent substrates, the substrate adhesion can be improved with a deep solvent primer. Protruding concrete burr must be removed mechanically. At least one circular and one angular adhesive foam bead with a minimum diameter of 30 mm (about 40 g per panel) must be applied to each panel. Do not apply the adhesive too close to the outer edges to avoid the excess going over the edges when pressure is applied to the insulation panel. Before bonding the insulation panel to the ceiling, Soudabond Turbo Gun must be allowed to stand for 1,5 to maximum 2,5 minutes to achieve the required initial strength. The insulation panel can subsequently be bonded to the ceiling. The panel must be placed carefully in the required position and pressure applied without tapping (damages the adhesive structure). The next insulation panel must be bonded 5 minutes after the previously bonded panel so that it remains in place when the next panel is bonded. Insulation panels must be additionally fixed in the centre with a suitable insulation anchor under unfavourable bonding conditions. 4. Interior insulation/dry lining Prior to application, the substrate stability must be verified. This can also take place with a sealing tape test. In this test, sealing tape is applied to the substrate and quickly pulled off again. If old paint or plaster adheres to the adhesive tape, this means that the substrate does not have the necessary stability and must be reinforced or removed. With chalking and highly absorbent substrates, the substrate adhesion can be improved with a deep solvent primer. Remove protruding concrete burr or excess plaster. Soudabond Turbo Gun levels uneven surfaces up to 30 mm. Page 4 from 5 Apply Soudabond Turbo Gun about 2cm away from the edge of the panel as a 30mm circular bead and to the panel surface in lines or a Wshape. It must be ensured that the adhesive contact area is about 40% after applying pressure. The adhesive must always be applied circular also for panel cut-outs, penetrations, etc., to prevent rear circulation of the interior insulation. After applying Soudabond Turbo Gun, depending on the climatic conditions, allow to flash off for about 1 to 2 minutes. This ensures that an optimal adhesive strength is achieved with reduced post expansion. Subsequently place the insulation panel on wedges, align and apply pressure from bottom to top. Do not tap or remove the panels as this can reduce the adhesive strength substantially. Apply new adhesive if necessary. After about 6 to 10 minutes, check for correct seating, readjust with a spirit level/level. Edges of walls, ceilings and floors, openings and penetrations must be filled out completely with Soudabond Turbo Gun air-tight and sound insulated. Work can be continued after minimum 30 minutes. Soudabond Turbo Gun can also be used for mounting electrical installation boxes. 5. Construction block bonding Soudabond Turbo Gun must not be used for components requiring approval, e.g. supporting walls and walls relevant for safety! Good ventilation must be ensured for indoor use! Remark: This technical data sheet replaces al previous versions. The directives contained in this documentation are the result of our experiments and of our experience and have been submitted in good faith. Because of the diversity of the materials and substrates and the great number of possible applications which are out of our control, we cannot accept any responsibility for the results obtained. Since the design, the quality of the substrate and processing conditions are beyond our control, no liability under this publication is accepted. In every case it is recommended to carry out preliminary experiments. Soudal reserves the right to modify products without prior notice. Tel: +32 (0)14-42.42.31 Everdongenlaan 18 - 20 Fax: +32 (0)14-42.65.14 Soudabond Turbo Gun Revision: 27/09/2022 Clean the adhesive surfaces, remove lose particles and moisten. Apply two Soudabond Turbo Gun adhesive beads with a diameter of about 30mm to the substrate and subsequently to all further concrete precision blocks. The adhesive beads must be applied about 50 mm away from the stone edge parallel on horizontal and vertical joints. Position/join and align bricks within 3 minutes (20°C/65% R.H. – this time is shorter at higher temperature/humidity and longer at lower temperature/humidity). If once joined bricks are removed, new adhesive beads must be applied. Allow excess adhesive to cure and subsequently remove, e.g. with a spatula. Depending on the ambient temperature, work can be continued after minimum 30 minutes. The adhesive achieves full strength after minimum 12 hours. 6. Other applications Due to its excellent adhesive properties, reduced foaming and fast final strength, Soudabond Turbo Gun is suitable for numerous bonding applications. Soudabond Turbo Gun is ideal for the installation of smaller decorative elements, insulation panels in building and construction. Installation of loft insulation reveals and claddings as well as bonding of wall edging strips are just a few examples. General note: Do not load/subject the bond to traffic within the curing time of about 1 hour! All open joints within the insulation can be filled out with Soudabond Turbo Gun. Trim protruding, fully cured adhesive with a sharp knife. Soudabond Turbo Gun can be painted or plastered after curing. Filling Shake at least 20 seconds with the can upside down to ensure proper mixing of the ingredients and maximum yield. Thread the can tightly to the Applicator Gun. Remark: This technical data sheet replaces al previous versions. The directives contained in this documentation are the result of our experiments and of our experience and have been submitted in good faith. Because of the diversity of the materials and substrates and the great number of possible applications which are out of our control, we cannot accept any responsibility for the results obtained. Since the design, the quality of the substrate and processing conditions are beyond our control, no liability under this publication is accepted. In every case it is recommended to carry out preliminary experiments. Soudal reserves the right to modify products without prior notice. Tel: +32 (0)14-42.42.31 Page 5 from 5 It's recommended to shake the can after each work interruption. When the product is applied in multiple layers, moisten the surface between each layer. If not yet cured, use Soudal Gun and Foam Cleaner for cleaning. Cured adhesive should be removed mechanically. Can temperature: +5 °C - 35 °C Ambient temperature: +5 °C - 30 °C. Surface temperature: +5 °C - 35 °C Health- and Safety Recommendations Take the usual labour hygiene into account. Always wear gloves and goggles. Remove cured foam mechanically. Never burn away. Consult label and material safety data sheet for more information. When vaporizing (for example with a compressor), additional security measures will be required. Standards and certificates M1 Emission classification of building materials

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