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Once again I feel compelled to start a write up with a disclaimer. I neither agree nor disagree with the values espoused by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Some of their stances on issues such as right to life and the gay community are controversial to say the least. This is here as a matter of record. With that being said… The Ancient Order of Hibernians (in America) is an Irish – Catholic organization that was founded in New York City in 1836. Supposedly, the roots of the organization were formed in Ireland over 400 years ago. It seems that in the early 1600’s in occupied Ireland, there was a law that forbade the celebration of mass and any priest caught trying to keep the Catholic faith alive faced the death penalty. The same law offered five English pounds for the head of any priest caught celebrating mass. (This was also the same amount that was being offered for the head of a wolf.) The Hibernians, as they called themselves, served as guards and protected the priests when mass was being said in the Irish countryside. Here in the States, the AOH was formed in response to threats from something called the Know-Nothing Party, an anti immigrant. anti-Catholic organization, that were conducting violent attacks on Catholic Churchs and its members. Recognizing that there was strength to be had in numbers, Irish immigrants banded together and the Ancient Order of Hibernians was formed. They served to protect the Churches and members from these attacks. As the threat from the Know Nothings faded, the focus of the AOH shifted to that of supporting charitable causes embraced by the Catholic Church, assisting new Irish immigrants in finding employment and the preservation of Irish language, history and traditions in the States. Today, the Hibernians are still active in preserving Irish language, culture and tradition but have expanded their scope to include the promotion of the Right To Life movement across the country as well as the expulsion of gays from the Catholic Church. As a matter of fact, as many as 1,000 Hibernians stood guard over St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1992 when it was threatened by gay “activists”. When Irish Americans contacted their homeland in 1836 and described the conditions that they were experiencing , a letter was received in reply. The following is the text of that letter. ”Brothers, Greeting: Be it known that to you and to all whom it may concern that we send to our few brothers in New York full instructions with our authority to establish branches of our society in America. The qualifications for membership must be as follows: All the members must be good Catholics, and Irish or of Irish descent, and of good and moral character, and none of your members shall join any secret societies contrary to the laws of the Catholic Church, and all times and at all places your motto shall be: ‘Friendship , and True Christian Charity In 1908, at a national convention of Hibernians, the following preamble to their constitution was adopted. The members of The Ancient Order of Hibernians in America declare that the intent and purpose of the Order is to promote Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity among its members by raising or supporting a fund of money for maintaining the aged, sick, blind and infirm members, for the payment of funeral benefits, for the advancement of the principles of Irish nationality, for the legitimate expenses of the Order, and for no other purpose whatsoever. The motto of this Order is Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity. Friendship shall consist of helping one another and in assisting each other to the best of our power. Unity, in combining together for mutual support in sickness and distress. Christian Charity, in loving one another and doing to all men as we would wish that they should do unto us. (1) This Order is to be formed exclusively of practical Catholics. Therefore, each member is expected to comply with all his Christian duties. (2) Should any of the members fail in the above, and instead of giving edification and encouragement, become a stumbling block and a disgrace to the Organization, such a one, after proper charitable admonition, unless there be an amendment in his conduct, shall be expelled from the Order. (3) In order, however, that all may be done with justice, Christian charity and edification, there shall be in each county a Chaplain, appointed by the Ordinary of the Diocese, to be consulted by the Division before determining anything relating to morality or religion. (4) The Chaplain in each county shall see that nothing is done or countenanced within his jurisdiction which is contrary to the laws of the Catholic Church, the decrees of the Plenary Councils of Baltimore, and the Synodical Constitutions of the Diocese. In any difficulty or doubt which he may not be able to solve, he shall consult the Ordinary of the Diocese. (5) All Divisions of this Order shall adopt the foregoing preamble, and their special Constitution and By-Laws shall be in harmony with the Constitution and By-Laws of this Order. Source – the Catholic Encycopledia	128,322
Pregnenolone is biochemically the “mother hormone.” It is made directly from cholesterol within the mitochondria of the adrenal glands and, to a lesser degree, the nervous system, with the help of the cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme, Pregnenolone is a precursor to various hormones, such as progesterone, mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, androgens, and estrogens. So it can help the body maintain normal hormone levels, which in turn helps numerous body functions. Serving Size 1 capsule Servings Per Container 100 Amount Per Serving Pregnenolone 50 mg Other ingredients: rice flour, gelatin, water. Contains rice. This product contains NO milk, egg, fish, peanuts, crustacean shellfish (lobster, crab, shrimp), soybeans, tree nuts, wheat, yeast, gluten, or corn. Contains NO sugar, and no artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors, or preservatives. Dosage and Use Take one capsule daily preferably early in the day on an empty stomach, or as recommended by a healthcare Based on animal research, those who have a predisposition of brain seizures or suffer from epilepsy should not supplement with pregnenolone. Pregnenolone may affect hormone levels. Those with hormonal cancers, such as prostate or breast cancer, should	84,082
In the past decade, the world has undergone quite a few digital disruptions. From the PC to the internet to the latest cloud technology revolution, to name a few. Each disruption has brought forth even more themes and avenues to explore. Web API is the next in line in this list. The premise of the API economy is all about creating more value using multiple platforms than any one of them individually can. The API economy is already disrupting the way organisations do business. This is applicable for both startups and enterprises. Programmable Web, the world’s largest API repository mentions that there are currently more than 30000 APIs in existence. In reality, these numbers are hardly surprising, given the potential of the API economy. Here’s why: Pinpointed solutions: Effectively solving problems of reliability and scalability put cloud technology on the map. However, customers were still required to buy complete solutions, in many cases, sophisticated software packages to be able to use only a handful of those benefits. API became the technological cornerstone that helped businesses to design solutions and deliver answers unique to the industry, to an organisation and specific users by leveraging more data. Promote the build culture (as opposed to buying): Until a while ago, developing products to meet specific needs used to be a technical implementation detail reserved for developers and architects. A startup that needed a specific solution would end up developing a solution from scratch to avoid paying hefty sums for capabilities they would never use. With the API economy, the same developers can pick up existing blocks of API solutions and fit them together to develop their unique solutions. Even larger enterprises have woken up to the immense freedom that APIs provide. Also, APIs come with the much-needed instant gratification that developers and enterprises now expect on par with end-users, to design their solutions and deliver them the way they deem fit - thus giving the power back to the enterprise. Essentially, “APIs are essentially software legos.” For example, Exotel enhanced its customer stickiness by providing a simple service. An Exotel API will identify the caller ID and interact with a Quickbooks API to pull out the call balance for the user. It will voice-play the balance back to the customer with the help of another Exotel API. APIs multiply solutions: APIs offer multiple solutions based on predefined criteria like functionality, cost, data points and dynamically negotiate any changes for a particular service. It feeds the consumer model of information technology and fuels the consumption of services and experiences by interweaving several clear solutions to create other unique ones. Wired magazine said, “APIs have become a data currency that is exchanged between applications.” The API economy fuels itself: Because every customer signs up for a very particular benefit which is typically delivered to him in the form of a service, the API economy automatically has the undertone of a subscription economy. It is further fueled by the fact that integrations to provide pinpointed services can now be built from the APIs offered by multiple enterprises. This means that the user will continue to use the services of these many enterprises to benefit from subscribing to even one service. In the example above, any customer using this service is automatically using both Exotel and QuickBooks to receive this benefit. The API model explodes potential reach: In cases where API users are themselves technological enterprises that design solutions for their customers from APIs of other enterprises, these benefits are deeply embedded in their offerings and distributed to their clients- which explodes the reach and usability of the API economy. For example, a feature embedded within an accounting software uses Exotel’s API to enable their customers to schedule phone calls as payment reminders to their customers. In this case, the benefit of Exotel’s API has reached a customer who is three levels removed from us. It is worthwhile to note that the Indian market is yet to attain the maturity to exploit the full potential of the API economy. Local business preferences and maturity of the developer ecosystem play a large role in the trajectory of this growth. With the rise of the app-centric business, every enterprise and developer is a potential target for your APIs and every new application created is a thriving channel to reach new customers. In other words, the promise of the API economy is only limited by imagination. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETTelecom.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETTelecom.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.	2,396
- Filed Under They sit across from each other at a large, square desk. An old mahogany desk with deep drawers. It's a desk for two, called a partners desk. "We bought it from a Louisville dealer," says Adolph "Bucks" Weil Jr., 79, the millionaire cotton merchant seated to the left. "Bucks saw it pictured in an ad, didn't you?" asks his 75-year-old brother, Robert S. "Bobby" Weil, the millionaire cotton merchant seated to the right. The two men often make paragraphs together. A slight decrease in volume at the end of a sentence signals it's time for the other to start talking. Continuing their description of the partners desk, Bucks answers his brother, starting a series of deferrals from one Weil to another. "Yeah in the '50s the '60s. After Dad died. Dad died in 1968. I guess it was about 1970. The interesting thing about this desk is it comes in three parts. A piece like this on either side, and then there's a center piece. It sits on a frame. It sits on a frame," Describing the brothers, longtime friend Will Hill Tankersley says, "You can't tell where one ends and the other begins." So, it is fitting that for the first time the Montgomery Advertiser Citizen of the Year award goes to two people Bucks and Bobby Weil, co-chairmen of the board at Weil Brothers Cotton, a Montgomery business that is the sixth or seventh largest cotton merchant house in the world. Weil Brothers buys cotton all over the world, sells cotton all over the world and has about 125 employees working all over the world. The company was founded in Opelika in 1878 by a Jewish immigrant from Germany named Isidor Weil, who was Buck's and Bobby's grandfather. Isidor moved the business to Montgomery in 1903. But it is the Weil' civic duties that earned them the Citizen of the Year award. The brothers volunteer time and money to United Way, the Montgomery Food Bank, the interracial One-Montgomery group and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, among others. "I'm happy to be a part of the committee that recommended them," says longtime civil rights activist Johnnie Carr, one of the independent members of the community who selected the honorees. "Millionaire" is a conservative description of the Weils, who friends say are modest with their wealth and modest about how much of it they give away. "These people are great philanthropists, but they do things anonymously. They make the difference," says Mr. Tankersley, who won the award two years ago. "These really are great men." In explaining why the two give away so much money, Bucks appears even modest in his modesty: "My father urged my brother and myself to do civic work. He himself did his work very quietly. There is some passage from Maimonides (a 12th-century Jewish scholar) that talks about the eight stages of charity, and he (the Weils' father) liked to do things without people knowing what he did. "My father used to send money to people and organizations without them knowing where it came from. He was quite an inspiration. We're not that modest. He really was an outstanding person. I don't think we're immodest, but we are certainly not that modest." Says Bobby: "We were always being told that civic work is the rent you pay for living in a community. I guess that is a little hackneyed by now, but it's true." Weil Brothers also is a family tradition. Several years ago, Bucks and Bobby handed over day-to-day operations to their two sons, Adolph III and Robert II. Those two, known as "Andy" and "Bobby Two" sit at their own partners desk today. Bucks and Bobby still work every day. Bucks lives in McGehee Estates with his wife of 47 years, the former Jean Kaufman; Bobby lives in Cloverdale with his wife of 52 years, the former Virginia Loeb. Both families attend Temple Beth Or synagogue, where Bucks and Bobby have served as president. Ask the Weil brothers what Montgomery needs to do over the next 10 years and they talk about education and its relationship to better business. "The proliferation of good private schools is fine. It's great," Bucks says, "But I think there has been a deterioration in the quality of education in the public schools. There's been so much building up of the private school system. "Our public school system has to be improved, I think. I don't know whether Bobby agrees. It is extremely important that there be better education for blacks and whites, because if we go along and they are not educated, we cannot support industry. And there will not be a better Montgomery 10 years from now. You agree with that, Bobby?" "Absolutely," Bobby replies. "About five years ago Bobby served on a long-range planning committee of the Montgomery Area United Way that recommended changes in the city's public schools. The effort failed when the Montgomery County Board of Education couldn't agree enough to adopt the recommendations. The brothers themselves are well educated. Bucks attended Barnes, an old Montgomery private school, then Culver Military Academy, Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. At Cambridge, he played bridge as often as he attended classes and finally graduated having attained only one "A," according to "An American Harvest: The Story of Weil Brothers Cotton," a book that the Weils sponsored about the family business. Bucks "clearly had little interest in becoming an attorney," according to the book. He entered the family business shortly thereafter. Skipping two grades along the way, Bobby attended public schools in Montgomery, including Bellinger Hill School and Sidney Lanier High School. He spent his senior year at Culver Military Academy, then went to Dartmouth, followed by Harvard Business School. At Harvard, Bobby learned a "case study approach (that) proved a powerful tool in sharpening his naturally analytical mind," according to "American Harvest." Bucks says Bobby is '"a true intellectual. I'm not." "No," Bobby says. "You are. I've told your son that." "Is that where he got that crazy idea?" (Bobby) would have made a great lawyer." "God. Don't say that." Bucks was named vice president of the firm in 1950 and president in 1958. By then, the Advertiser was describing him and his brother as "civic leaders" in a short profile of the two men. Bucks served as a member of the boards of United Jewish Appeal, Montgomery Spastic Children's School, Boy's Club of Montgomery and Tukabatchee Area Council of the Boy Scouts. He also served as president of the Jewish Federation of Montgomery. Bucks also served on the Alabama Ethics Commission for five years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The volunteer staff reviews ethics complaints filed against public officials. "I thought that was most interesting," Bucks said of this stint on the Ethics Commission. "A lot of questions came up that were very difficult. For instance, the question came up that if a school teacher was a member of the Legislature, was it proper for him to vote on some legislation that might involve teacher's pay? "Paul Hubbert (a longtime teachers lobbyist and two-time gubernatorial candidate) testified, and I must say he is a very, very bright man. And he convinced the commission that that was not a violation of ethics." Bucks pauses and smiles. "I don't know whether he mesmerized us or not." Bucks also has served as president of the Montgomery Area United Way, a board member of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and is an active supporter of Meals on Wheels. Bobby was a vice president of the firm by the 1940s and became president of the firm in 1968. In 1948, he received the Junior Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award. By the early 1960s, Bobby had served as vice president of the Community Chest, director of the United Appeal and treasurer of United Community Services. Ten years ago, during his final speech as chairman of the Men of Montgomery, Bobby urged the group to admit women and blacks to the club. "Montgomery is at a crossroads," he began. ". . Fewer and fewer blacks own their own businesses and this has to be changed, because it develops leadership. "Our preoccupation with the past has done us proud in restoration and tourism," he told the group. "But we must ask ourselves if we are proud of what our grandfathers built. What are we building to make our grandchildren proud?" Bobby received a standing ovation after the speech. As he told a reporter, "I'm not sure it was because they approved of what I said or because it was my last meeting as chairman." Change did not occur overnight, but in a few years the club evolved into the Committee of 100, a development arm of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. Bobby also has served as co-chairman of One Montgomery and the Montgomery fund chairman of the United Negro College Fund, among other civic activities. And he is a co-founder and director emeritus of the Montgomery Academy. One group is called the Unity. The other is the Thirteen. They are Montgomery literary clubs, both founded in the early 1900s, not that one needs to know that to realize they predate the video generation. The members of each club prepare one paper a year to read to the rest of the club. Then it is discussed. Bucks attended Unity, he now classifies himself as member emeritus. "He always writes papers that are interesting, insightful," Mr. Tankersley says. "The Unity serves only ice water during the meetings." "We are the puritanical outfit," Mr. Tankersley says. The Thirteen serves wine, Bobby says with a smile. He remains active in the organization and has written 31 papers during his membership. He read 16 books to write his paper on the Algonquin Roundtable, a group of writers who met in the 1920s at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. Last year Bobby explored the mysterious death suicide or murder of the explorer Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. For next year, Bobby is considering a piece about how people lived during the Renaissance. "You should read a book called The World Led Only By Fire," Bucks says from across the desk, getting up to pull a copy from his shelf in a corner of the office. "It's a wonderful book. You think things are corrupt now God!" Both men have always enjoyed books. When asked what he does in his spare time, Bucks says, "Well I read" before speaking of golf and tennis. Bucks is reading "Jefferson's Bible," a collection of Old Testament and New Testament writings that excludes the Immaculate Conception and the Resurrection. "It has to do with morals and ethics," Bucks explains. "I'm Jewish (but) I read it because I respect it." Bobby complains that he doesn't read as much fiction as he used to, that too much of his reading is connected to cotton and financial issues. As a younger man he started but didn't complete a novel. "I gave a chapter to my wife to read," Bobby recalls. "And I said, 'Do you think that'd make a good dime novel?' She said, 'I don't think it would make a nickel.'" KINGS OF COTTON Bucks and Bobby, called "Mr. Bucks" and "Mr. Bobby" around the office, no longer handle day-to-day operations at the firm, which Bucks pronounces "fuhhhm." "I consider myself the officer in charge of second guessing," Bobby says. The offices of Weil Brothers Cotton, which is in an office park off East Boulevard after years in downtown Montgomery, is nondescript from the outside. Once inside, you know you're somewhere special. Expensive, original artwork hangs from the walls, which makes you feel like you're in a museum in which you don't have to keep your voice down, so you're free to discuss cotton futures. Sculptures rest on tables. There are works by Monet, Winslow Homer, Degas and others. The Weils' art is constantly coming to and from museums to which they loan items from their collection. It's an office that makes you ask yourself, "Is this Montgomery?" a question to which Bucks and Bobby would object. "I enjoy the Shakespeare (festival) and the museum and all that sort of business," Bucks says. Still, there have been thoughts over the years to moving Weil Brothers Cotton. Memphis, for example, would be a better location because it is closer to today's cotton business. The last time a move was seriously considered was in the 1950s. On April 24, 1954, the anniversary of grandfather Isidor's birthday, Bucks and Bobby went to put flowers on his grave in Oakwood Cemetery. They were alone. The sun was setting. Bucks turned to Bobby. "You know, it's even a wonderful place to be dead in," he said. So, they never moved. Today, with telephones, computers and fax machines, being located in Montgomery is no big disadvantage. And the two men aren't going to retire tomorrow. "A lot of friends, when they got to retirement age, were rather anxious to retire," Bobby says. "And I noticed that many of those were not in love with their business. "(We) love this business. This is an absolutely fascinating business. Plus, my brother and I, when we wake up in the morning, we know we have something to do."	125,991
Development of Low-cost DAS Technologies to Help Reach European Union's Target to Increase Road and Driver Safety London - 11 January 2012 - Providing sophisticated Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) like driver monitoring system, lane departure warning, intelligent headlamp control and traffic sign recognition to compact cars such as the Ford Focus or Citroen C4 has helped to bring down driver assistance systems from high-end cars to mass-volume compact cars. According to Frost & Sullivan, technological developments such as the integration of radar and camera as well as sensor fusion between multiple applications are enabling a price reduction which may well lead to a 40 per cent penetration of ADAS in compact cars by 2018. "ADAS is surely set to be more popular over the next decade as it will help achieve the European Union's Transport Policy 2011–2020 which aims to reduce road fatalities by 50 per cent," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Manish Garg. "The growth of ADAS technology is certain as suppliers no longer stop with just developing a sensor for the premium vehicle segment and waiting for it to gain popularity. Instead, they take into account the requirements of all vehicle segments to develop a portfolio of sensors. To achieve the European Union's target, it is therefore important to develop more low-cost DAS technologies and enable a wider acceptance of the safety systems." According to the Accident Research of the German Association of Insurers (GDV), lane departure warning alone can prevent up to 15 per cent of road fatalities. Similarly, intersection assist can prevent up to 35 per cent of accidents in Germany. Suppliers like Continental, TRW and Bosch are working closely with OEMs right from product concept to developing low-cost ADAS systems such as lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition, intelligent headlamp control and driver monitoring for midsized and compact cars as these are the segments that will help achieve economies of scale and bring down the price. Continental recently developed a low-cost integrated ADAS system capable of performing multiple functions such as lane departure warning, intelligent headlamp control and driver monitoring system. TRW's 24GHz forward-looking radar, a low-cost substitute for the camera, has been able to drive down the cost of DAS technology and is available as an option on the Lancia Delta hatchback. PSA Peugeot Citroen on the other hand has been capable of developing multiple low cost ADAS for their cars. "There is no reason to consider driver assistance as a luxury status symbol due to their high price and availability on high end luxury cars," believes Mr. Garg. "Instead, a wider rollout of ADAS technology in European compact vehicles is expected over the next 2-3 years. Potential future regulations for ADAS systems following the truck and bus regulations already in place, and the introduction of insurance incentives would certainly assist in bringing DAS even to the compact and subcompact vehicles segment." "SYNC revolutionised the infotainment market by bringing the hi-tech infotainment system to low-end cars; similarly, the low-cost multi-functional camera is set to revolutionise the safety market by bringing hi-end technology to compact cars," concludes Garg. If you are interested in more information on this topic or would like to speak to Research Analyst Manish Garg, please contact Katja Feick, Corporate Communications, at firstname.lastname@example.org. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com. Frost & Sullivan P: +49 (0) 69 77 0 33 43 F: +49 (0) 69 23 45 66	45,648
Robert Mengerink didn’t know how much an online school really costs to operate – until he started one. When he learned this summer that the agency he heads, the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County, could offer a basic online program for less than half of what the state pays online schools per student, he was taken aback. The county this fall started letting school districts enroll students in an online program that offers a computer, an online curriculum and teachers connected to the students online. The cost? About $2,980 per student for a full course load all year. Meanwhile, Ohio pays all online charter schools about $5,700 per student, the same amount it gives a standard charter school with a building and classrooms. That rises to an average of $6,337 per student statewide after extra special education funding is added. “You can do a quality program for less than $6,000,” said Mengerink. “That’s key. I was a little surprised that we could do it as inexpensively as this and still have a quality program.” TRECA Digital Academy, another publicly operated provider of online K-12 education, says it can do it for about $3,600 per student. That potential savings highlights questions that critics of online schools have been asking for years: What really happens to that taxpayer-provided money? Is most of it going to educate students? Or are schools pocketing a large profit while cutting corners for students? Accounting for Expenses Like all charter schools, the online schools are set up as nonprofits but often pay for-profit companies to run them. The majority of Ohio’s seven statewide online schools are operated by – or have close ties to – private, for-profit companies. More than 80 percent of students in statewide online schools attend one of those for-profit schools. Part 2: Running an online school can cost half as much as a traditional school Despite receiving $209 million in state money for the 2010-11 school year for about 30,000 students, online schools don’t have to give a detailed accounting of their expenses to the state. The schools don’t talk much about their books either. “How much money is being made?” asked former State Rep. Stephen Dyer, an Akron-area Democrat, who criticized state funding of online schools in a report last year for Innovation Ohio, a left-leaning think tank. “Nobody’s coming forth with any of that. They just don’t cost that much. They don’t pay the teachers as much. They don’t have busing. They don’t have lunch ladies. It’s just a server and a couple guys to keep it up and running.” Mengerink also wonders. “If we can do it for that, I’m guessing the private providers can do it as well,” Mengerink said. “There’s certainly a big profit in there.” Bill Sims, head of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said that expenses in the $3,000 to $4,000 range are probably not realistic and that some online education systems are more advanced than the cheaper ones. He said studies show that online schools’ costs should be similar to those of other schools. “Yes, they don’t have buses, but they have very expensive software and systems that they need to keep updated and up to speed,” Sims said. He previously worked for K12 Inc., the operator of Ohio Virtual Academy, one of the state’s largest online schools. Sims said that when he worked for K12 Inc., the staff never looked to cut corners to make money. “When I was there, it was a very serious attempt to come up with the best product we could,” he said. No buses, no lunches, no problem Online schools still cost less than the roughly $10,700 that the Ohio Department of Education says the average school district spends per student. Part of that comes from not needing bus drivers, not running a lunch program, not having to maintain buildings. The online schools also save costs the same way charter schools across Ohio do: by paying teachers less than the unionized ones at school districts. District teachers statewide made an average of $45,747 in the 2010-11 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Online teachers made an average of $36,850. Both averages are pro-rated for full-time equivalency. Online schools also typically have more students per teacher than a traditional district. In the 2010-11 school year, the Cleveland schools had 14 students for every teacher, Akron 13 and Cincinnati 16. Those totals are for all full-time equivalent teachers, including speech, library, art and music teachers, not just classroom teachers. Because of those ratios, and online schools’ need for fewer support staff, employee compensation makes up less than half of overall costs for most statewide online schools, according to the schools’ annual state audits. However, some online schools contract outside for many services. At Ohio Virtual Academy, of the $68 million the school spent in 2010-11, about one-third went to salaries and benefits for teachers, counselors and administrators, according to its state audit. At most traditional public schools, employee compensation makes up 75 percent to 80 percent of the budget. Financial Reports, State Audits Offer Clues State audits of online schools, and the financial reporting of the company that operates Ohio Virtual Academy, offer some clues about how they spend money, but they don’t answer questions directly. The state audit of Akron-based OHDELA, the Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy, highlights the difficulty in determining how profitable operating an online school is. OHDELA’s roughly 1,800 students make it the fifth-largest online school in Ohio. But you can’t see what it does with 75 percent of its $14 million budget. OHDELA’s last audit shows $10 million paid as a management fee to an affiliate of White Hat Management, the for-profit charter school company that has been a major player in Ohio’s charter movement. “We spend less than half [of what traditional, public schools spend] and achieve average to above average results.” –Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow spokesperson Nick Wilson That fee covers instructors’ salaries, curriculum materials, software and computers. But detailed information is not included in public records. OHDELA Vice President Robert Fox did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Ohio Virtual Academy’s audit shows a similar pattern. About two-thirds of the $68 million the school spent in 2010-11- $43 million – went toward purchasing services from K12 Inc., the company that runs it. That includes the salaries and benefits for administrators and other management staff. In addition to paying administrative personnel costs, the $45 million payment to K12 Inc. also covered instructional materials, software and curriculum fees and leased computers, according to the audit and the school’s financial manager. K12 Inc. is a publicly traded company, so it files financial reports for investors and regulators. It made a $24 million profit in 2011. But it does not report exactly how much profit it makes from Ohio Virtual Academy. The academy brings in 13 percent of the company’s revenue, according to its 2011 annual report. Seventeen percent of ECOT’s expenses are spent as a management fee to Altair Learning Management, and for “curriculum services” to IQ Innovations, which is owned by Altair founder William Lager. Bang for the buck ECOT spokesman Nick Wilson said ECOT gets “good bang for the buck” for the $2.7 million it paid Altair in the 2010-11 school year and the $10.9 million it paid IQ. He said those companies handle the curriculum, online content, technical services, contracts and negotiations and maintain the servers used to run the school. While those companies may make a profit, he said, ECOT as a whole does not. He said ECOT’s board could end its contract with Altair and IQ if it wanted, but said the board does not seek competing bids for those services. Wilson also said a $3,000 online education may not match ECOT’s. “If I needed a car, I could get a $500 car,” Wilson said. “But it’s not the same as a nice car that can get me from Point A to Point B.” He’d rather compare ECOT’s costs and performance to the state’s urban school districts, which spend more than the $10,700 state average. “We spend less than half that and achieve average to above average results,” he said. “That’s how I would view it.” Appealing cost savings Those cost savings are appealing to traditional public schools, too. Mengerink, who heads the county’s Educational Service Center, said he saw districts’ need for a way to add online classes. He also heard the repeated complaints that districts have about charter school funding in Ohio as a whole: The system has districts paying part of the online school’s average $6,337 per student out of their own budgets. Here’s how that works: Districts receive state aid based on their income level. When a student from a district goes to an online school, the state deducts an average of $6,337 from the district, regardless of what it gets per student from the state. “It’s time for the public schools to get involved in this. We ought to be delivering the online program, not some guy in a business.” –Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County Superintendent Robert Mengerink Take the Parma school district, for example. Because of its tax base, the Parma schools receive $2,085 per student, Treasurer Dan Bowman said. But the state sends $6,124 for every Parma student enrolled in a charter school to that school, based on the $5,700 base and special education bonuses. Mengerink said he wanted to find an alternative. The Educational Service Center, a public organization that provides services to districts, was a natural place to do it. “It’s time for the public schools to get involved in this,” he said. “We ought to be delivering the online program, not some guy in a business.” So far, 16 Cuyahoga County districts have signed up to let their students use Mengerink’s program, plus some schools in Muskingum County. Only 27 students have enrolled in the new program while districts adjust to the option, with 10 more students in the process of being added. TRECA Digital Academy, run by a consortium of central Ohio districts, confirms that the basic cost of providing online education is far less than what online charter schools get from the state, but says that other costs bump the true price tag higher. TRECA allows districts to pay $3,600 for each student to use its teaching, curriculum and support services. Lakewood Digital Academy and Lorain Digital Academy, charter schools started by those districts to give students an online choice, use TRECA for their content. But TRECA spends the full $6,300 per student for the about 2,100 students enrolled in TRECA Digital Academy. That’s partly because about 72 percent of them are poor and need support services, which can include home visits by social workers. And officials say running satellite offices around Ohio for enrollment, support and testing greatly increases costs versus having a single site. Even at that cost, TRECA is rated in Academic Watch by the state. School officials say they consider TRECA a school for students likely to drop out, so costs are higher and results lower. “If a school is in this to make money, all they’re going to do is give you a curriculum, the equipment and a little bit of support,” said Ray Funk, TRECA’s chief operating officer. “How good is that for a student? That depends. There’s so much more that you can do to be successful. It all depends on how much support you have to give the child.”	86,988
Shortly after photographs of the well-known Christmas Truce of 1914 discovered their approach into nationwide newspapers in Britain, the army gurus banned the personal use of cameras at the Western entrance. various squaddies endured to take advantage of them illicitly to list lifestyles and dying within the frontline trenches. millions of these images live to tell the tale at the present time, so much by no means released before―Tommy's War is a deeply own and quite revealing portrait of the warfare throughout the lenses and phrases of the warriors who lived it. Not a standard heritage of worldwide warfare I―not easily the army's historical past of battles received and lost―Tommy's War is at the beginning the soldier's tale. popular WWI historian Richard van Emden finds the lifetime of the typical soldier, utilizing own pictures, diaries, letters domestic, and observations of the normal guy and the trivialities of lifestyles within the trenches. In brilliant and intimate element, van Emden brings the background of WWI alive. Including over 250 own and unpublished photos, this large-format booklet supplies a brand new standpoint at the warfare that was once no longer captured by way of the reputable photographers who traversed the Western entrance. mixed with extracts from own diaries and letters written by means of squaddies and civilians in Britain via every year of the struggle until eventually Armistice Day in 1918, Tommy's War is a gorgeous portrayal of humanity, at its top and at its worst. Quick preview of Tommy's War: The Western Front in Soldiers' Words and Photographs PDF Best World War 1 books The good and Holy struggle deals the 1st examine how faith created and lengthy the 1st international conflict. on the one-hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the warfare, historian Philip Jenkins finds the strong non secular dimensions of this modern day campaign, a interval that marked a demanding problem for Western civilization, with results that echoed during the remainder of the 20 th century. A dynamic social heritage commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of worldwide battle IGeneral readers and heritage buffs alike have made bestsellers of books like A historical past of the area in a hundred items. In that culture, this good-looking commemorative quantity offers a special point of view on probably the most pivotal and risky occasions of contemporary heritage. Named one of many Ten top Books of 2013 via The EconomistWorld struggle I altered the panorama of the trendy global in each achievable area. thousands died; empires collapsed; new ideologies and political pursuits arose; poison gasoline, warplanes, tanks, submarines, and different applied sciences seemed. "Total warfare" emerged as a grim, mature fact. The Gallipoli crusade of 1915–16 was once an ill-fated Allied try to shorten the warfare by means of taking away Turkey, making a Balkan alliance opposed to the critical Powers, and securing a sea path to Russia. A failure in all respects, the operation resulted in catastrophe, and the Allied forces suffered a few 390,000 casualties. Additional info for Tommy's War: The Western Front in Soldiers' Words and Photographs The Boches minimize out a brick or at periods in each condominium wall, insert explosives, and produce the whole lot down, in order that usually you could take a seat below the gables as they leisure at the flooring with the total condo and all of the contents flooring to dirt under. The virtue to us of this destruction is that far and wide now there's gasoline, damaged beams and laths and doorways and chairs with which you can quite often preserve substantial fires going. the army virtue to them is lower than not anything. Australians in Albert, at the Somme. For my part, to be really secure, i've got made up our minds to not breathe in any respect. Primitive gasoline mask issued to British infantrymen in accordance with the Germans’ first use of chlorine fuel within the Ypres Salient, April 1915. The losses in Belgium hastened the coming of the 1st Kitchener Divisions. Lord Kitchener had no longer wanted to installation his New military piecemeal yet as one targeted strength. even if, situations dictated that at the least a few divisions will be required abroad previous to initially expected. no longer that those males weren't able to serve. The camera’s compact form, its retractable bellows lens and its sturdy all-metal development made it excellent for the tunic or greatcoat pocket. Kodak was once no longer shy whilst it got here to advertisements its VPK because the ideal digital camera for front: ‘the Soldier’s digicam’ they referred to as it and whereas the associated fee (thirty shillings) used to be much for different ranks to pay, it was once now not completely prohibitive to the dedicated fanatic. Kodak used to be an American corporation, yet Houghtons Ltd, a British competitor, had its variety of retractable cameras, too, considered one of which used to be the ‘Ensignette’. Because the buses lurched progressively on their lengthy trip to Boulogne, the occupants comparable own studies for which editors in England may have offered their very souls. With amusing and in a couple of flavoured phrases they instructed of the battling of the final months from Ypres to Béthune; of bombardments that surprised the senses, blotted out the trenches and shredded neighbors to items ahead of their eyes; of German assaults in mass which faltered and collapsed prior to our rifle fireplace; of hand-to-hand struggles within the blackness of evening during which bayonets slipped so simply into our bodies that squealed for mercy; of the hardships of the trenches, that have been yet miry ditches during which males stood to their waists in dust and grew numb as they gazed throughout a muddle of decaying lifeless on the ever-growing earthworks of the enemy. This afternoon i used to be surprised to obtain a trip from NCOs of the sanitary part. They have been both surprised at my manners and visual appeal. I don’t understand what they'd been resulted in count on. It so occurred I had washed the boots this very morning and hadn’t worn them due to the fact that. There they have been, spotless. The room used to be additionally surprisingly neat and fresh. Resting in billets. Geoffrey Woodroffe (left) and Eric Vine, buddies of John Polgreen within the Artists’ Rifles. All 3 have been commissioned and all survived the struggle. All smiles now, yet now not each billeting family members persisted to welcome British squaddies with open palms.	303,899
In 2014, Orange County celebrated a transportation milestone with transformational impact — the opening of SunRail, Central Florida’s historic commuter rail service! Regional celebrations began in the spring with the grand opening of the new SunRail train station in the City of Winter Park. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs joined Congressman John Mica and Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley at the event and spoke about how this extraordinary, high-capacity transportation system is creating thousands of jobs and bringing billions of dollars in economic benefit to our region. The charming station on Park Avenue at Morse Boulevard will serve Amtrak and SunRail passengers, as well as the nearby Lynx “hub” stop. Later in March, residents and area business owners and operators were invited to the Sand Lake Road Station Preview Celebration. Attendees toured trains and became familiar with the ticketing system, technology and platform features, as well as routes and parking at the Historic Pine Castle Station. Central Floridians, community partners and elected officials from throughout the region celebrated the official grand opening of the new commuter rail system with a historic day-long celebration in May. The free “Whistle Stop Tour,” which was open to the public, began in Debary and ended at the Sand Lake Road Station. Mayor Jacobs was the keynote speaker and host of the historic bell ringing ceremony, which commemorated SunRail’s grand opening. Mayor Jacobs was joined by District 3 Commissioner Pete Clarke, District 4 Commissioner Jennifer Thompson, District 5 Commissioner Ted Edwards and former District 6 Commissioner Tiffany Moore Russell, along with regional elected officials and distinguished community leaders. Free ridership for the first two weeks drew an average of 11,200 riders a day to SunRail, shattering predictions! SunRail will connect Deland in Volusia County to Poinciana in Osceola County when it is fully completed in 2016. Phase 1, which spans 32 miles and comprises 12 stations, connects Debary with Sand Lake Road, near the Orlando International Airport. Construction will begin on Phase 2 next summer and will extend the route north to Deland and south into Poinciana. SunRail runs along a 61-mile system of existing rail freight tracks in a four-county area. It is funded and supported by the Florida Department of Transportation in cooperation with the federal government and Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties, and the City of Orlando.	134,092
Oracle Unified Method (OUM) Oracle's Full Lifecycle Method for Deploying Oracle-Based Business Solutions The Oracle Unified Method (OUM) is Oracle's standards-based method that enables the entire Enterprise Information Technology (IT) lifecycle. OUM provides an implementation approach that is rapid, broadly adaptive, and business-focused. OUM includes a comprehensive project management framework and materials to support Oracle's growing focus on enterprise-level IT strategy, architecture, and governance. Oracle's Global Methods team has packaged OUM to accelerate users IT projects. OUM presents an organized, yet flexible, approach. Its defined, operational framework helps anticipate critical project needs and dependencies. With OUM, users can move efficiently through the IT lifecycle to quickly realize measurable business results.	41,873
This is a Common Sense Media’s Press Release, not editorial coverage. Click here for Larry Magid’s analysis October 8, 2010 Common Sense Media Calls for Industry: “Do Not Track Kids”; Help Parents Protect Kids’ Privacy; No Geolocation without Parental Opt-In Washington, DC – Common Sense Media, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology, today released the results of a nationwide poll of parents and teens revealing that three out of four parents say that social networks aren’t doing a good job of protecting kids’ online privacy. The poll finds that 92 percent of parents are concerned that kids share too much information online, and 85 percent of parents say they’re more concerned about online privacy than they were five years ago. The Zogby International poll also finds that 91 percent of parents think that search engines and social networking sites should not be able to share kids’ physical location with other companies until parents give authorization. “The poll results present a clear divide between the industry’s view of privacy and the opinion of parents and kids. American families are deeply worried about how their personal information is being used by technology and online companies, yet the companies appear to be keeping their heads deep in the sand,” said James Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. “We are all responsible for addressing this enormous challenge: The industry has to listen to what parents are saying, openly acknowledge the problem and accept an “opt-in” policy for kids. Parents and kids have to educate themselves about how to protect their information. Schools should teach all students and their parents about privacy protection. And finally, policymakers have to update privacy policies for the 21st century. For example, we need a ‘Do Not Track Kids’ approach similar to the ‘Do Not Call’ policies that restrict telemarketers.” At a roundtable discussion today about the parent and teen poll with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller, Common Sense Media announced the launch of a comprehensive campaign to help families protect kids’ personal information and reputations online. The Common Sense Privacy Campaign will include the distribution of consumer tips, information, and videos to millions of homes and a new privacy curriculum for teachers and schools around the country. The campaign will challenge technology companies and operators to develop far better policies that make it easier for parents and kids to protect personal information online and will also ensure that parents’ and kids’ voices are being heard in Washington, D.C., through a national awareness and advocacy campaign. According to a recent study by The Wall Street Journal, 50 of the most popular U.S. websites are placing intrusive tracking technologies on visitors’ computers — in some cases, more than 100 tracking tools at a time. Fifty sites popular with U.S. teens and children placed 4,123 “cookies,” “beacons,” and other tracking technologies on their sites — 30 percent more than similar sites aimed at adults. Tracking technology scans in real time what people are doing on a webpage, then instantly assesses location, income, shopping interests, and even medical conditions. Individuals’ profiles are then bought and sold on stock-market-like exchanges that have sprung up in the past 18 months. Congress’ primary goal in creating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998 was to help parents control the information that’s collected from and about their children online and to control how that information is used. But today, extraordinary changes in technology and digital media have made it far more difficult for parents and young people to protect their privacy. The Zogby poll finds that more than 60 percent of parents want Congress to update online privacy laws for children and teens, and 70 percent of parents think schools should educate about online privacy. “Parents want far more education and leadership about online privacy, and they clearly want the industry and the federal government to update privacy policies,” Steyer said. “There are some common sense solutions to these problems, such as ‘opt-in’ policies that require companies to let parents know how information will be used before it’s collected and requiring companies to use short and simple privacy policies instead of confusing and dense policies that take hours to read. The industry should support ‘Do Not Track Kids’ and should provide parents and kids the opportunity to clear their histories with an ‘eraser button.’ Given the extraordinary concerns of parents, Common Sense Media has launched a campaign to educate parents and teachers and push for common sense solutions that will provide parents with the tools they need to protect their kids’ online privacy.” The Common Sense Privacy Campaign sets forth six main goals: 1) “Do Not Track Kids.” 2) The industry standard for all kids’ privacy should be opt-in. 3) Privacy statements should be clear and simple. 4) Parents, teachers, and kids need to be educated about protecting privacy. 5) Industry must innovate to protect kids and families. 6) Government needs to update privacy policies for the 21st century. For more information about the campaign, visit www.commonsense.org/privacy. About the Poll Zogby International conducted the online poll of parents and teens; 2,100 adults were surveyed between Aug. 13 and Aug. 16, 2010, and 401 teenagers (ages 15-18) were surveyed between Aug. 18 and Aug. 20, 2010. Additional key findings from the poll include: – Three quarters of parents (75%) say they would rate the job that social networks are doing to protect children’s online privacy as negative. In addition, a majority of parents (68%) say they’re not at all confident in search engines keeping their private information safe and secure, and 71% of parents say they’re not confident in social networking sites keeping their private information safe and secure. – A vast majority of parents (88%) say they would support a law that required online search engines and social networking services to get users’ permission before they use personal information to market products – a scenario often called allowing users to “opt-in.” A vast majority of teens (85%) say that online search engines and social networking services should be required to get permission before using personal information to market products to them. – Two-thirds of parents (67%) believe that their personal information is not secure and private online. A majority of teens say they don’t feel their personal information is secure and private online or they’re not sure if it is, while 44% say they think such information is secure. – Nearly all parents say they would take more time to read terms and conditions for websites if they were shorter and written in clear language. A vast majority of teens (85%) say they would take more time to read the terms and conditions for websites and other online services if they were shorter and written in clear language. – The vast majority of respondents say that search engines and online social networking sites should not be able to share their physical location with other companies before they have given specific authorization, while a strong majority of teens (81%) say the same. – Most parents (70%) say they think schools should play a role in educating students about protecting their privacy online. A majority of both adults and parents say they think Congress should update laws that relate to online privacy and security for children and teens. – 85% of parents say they’re more concerned about online privacy than they were five years ago, and 69% of parents believe online privacy is a shared responsibility of individuals and online companies. – 79% of teens think their friends share too much personal information online. To view the poll in its entirety and to learn more about the Common Sense Media privacy campaign, contact Marisa Connolly at 415-553-6703 or email@example.com. About Common Sense Media Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology. We exist because our kids are growing up in a culture that profoundly impacts their physical, social, and emotional well-being. We provide families with the advice and media reviews they need in order to make the best choices for their children. Through our education programs and policy efforts, Common Sense Media empowers parents, educators, and young people to become knowledgeable and responsible digital citizens. For more information, go to: www.commonsense.org.	112,217
“It’s easier to correct what we call a ‘verifiable fact,’” Schafer said, “but if you play with something more ambiguous like death panels it’s just a great way for skilled political communicators to take a position that can’t necessarily be refuted because it has no definition.” These factors played a role in overriding the attempts to debunk death panels. The more you wrote about how death panels were false or misleading, the more people kept hearing about, picturing, and thinking about death panels. It unleashed a vicious cycle. Media reports, regardless of their content, can sometimes work to reinforce a falsehood. We in the press, the people who are supposed to apply verification and be rigorous with what we publish and broadcast, can actually work against the process of correcting and informing people. We amplify falsehoods even as we work to combat them. One prescription for handling this kind of situation is, as one researcher quoted in the paper said, to “create negative publicity for the elites who are promoting misinformation, increasing the costs for making false claims in the public sphere.” Meaning: ignore people like Palin when they talk about death panels. But of course ignoring something because it is false is making a judgement, which some journalists seem loathe to do. If the mainstream press did choose to ignore stories like this, it would just enable supporters to claim it’s something the “media elites” don’t want people to know about. Schafer raised another problem with this advice. “There is a practical question of: What political journalist in August of 2009 isn’t going to cover the death panel claim just because they already debunked it?” he said. “It’s tough to say to a journalist, ‘If you’re really trying to serve the public best, then don’t cover this anymore.’ It’s like telling them to sit out the big game.” Taken together, all of these factors have led me to end up in a rather conflicted and frustrated situation. The challenges are clear and well documented. The solutions, however, are not. Correction of the Week “An article on Thursday about technology investments by the actor Ashton Kutcher misspelled in some copies the name of a fashion Web site in his portfolio. It is Fashism, not Fascisms.” - The New York Times	135,044
From 1995 to 1998, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, carried out a qualitative evaluation of the Old Disease, New Challenge program to monitor and evaluate five demonstration strategies. The project was part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) national program Old Disease, New Challenge: Tuberculosis in the 1990s. The evaluation was designed to study all aspects of the model strategies and to examine the nature of the process for individuals, groups, and institutions. Preliminary findings include: - There are factors that facilitate successful collaboration, such as: - Recognizing and understanding that all of the participating organizations have their own institutional culture, goals, and target populations. - Assuring that organizations selected for participation in the coalition represent the community and understand the community's needs. - Some projects needed to pilot-test assumptions and proposed approaches and then make the indicated changes. - Project personnel, especially project coordinators, who were willing to take professional risks to change institutionalized processes and push traditional boundaries to establish new procedures, contributed to project success. - The role of community health workers/outreach workers was an important component of all the projects.	152,826
Walter Simpson (1881 - 1967) Biography & Family History Add details Walter Simpson (1881 - 1967) was born on July 10, 1881. He was born into the Simpson family. He died in September 1967 at 86 years old. Walter Simpson's last known residence is at Oceanside, Nassau County, New York. We were able to locate a death record for Walter Simpson in the United States Social Security Master Death Index (SSDI). What is the SSDI? This genealogy of Walter Simpson's history was created by AncientFaces users like you Share what you know to reach the people who knew them. Some things we would like to know about Walter's genealogy: - Where was Walter born? - Where did Walter die? - Who was Walters family? - What did Walter look like? Add some photos of their life. Family Tree & Genealogy Walter's family tree can be updated by any AncientFaces member. Just click the "Add" or "Edit" links to make changes. You can add or remove people from this genealogy by clicking here. History of Walter Simpson Add details - Given name - Simpson family history - Last Known Residence - Oceanside, Nassau County, New York - Information on this page comes from the following source: U.S. Social Security Death Index Obituary Add details We don't know info on Walter's obituary records. You can add obituary information about Walter Simpson by clicking "Add Details". Post your memories of Walter Simpson and share them with the family who knew them, by clicking on the box below. Anyone connected to Walter will be notified about your post. Any messages you post will appear in the comments below for others to comment on. If you have a story about Walter you would like to share, consider sharing a story. These people named Simpson were added around the same time as Walter Simpson. - Joseph T Simpson - Frieda Simpson - Mary Simpson - Charles Simpson - Regina Simpson - Alan Simpson - Abraham Simpson - John R Simpson - Nila M Simpson - George W Simpson - Louise Simpson - Jean E Simpson - Samuel M Simpson - Esther Simpson - Violet Simpson - Rosemary Simpson - Lena Simpson - George Simpson - Rebecca Simpson - Alfred Herbert Simpson	33,742
Entrepreneurship is often defined as the process of bringing in change (either market or social) through innovation by creating new ventures or within existing organizations. It is often argued that entrepreneurship begins with and ends with innovation. Creativity is a precursor to innovation, which is considered to be a driving force in entrepreneurship. In this course, students will learn how to generate and develop creative ideas through various techniques and sources, and understand how creativity and innovation are linked and connected. Students will also learn how to assess and evaluate creative ideas and turn them into viable, innovative and profitable opportunities in entrepreneurship. This course aims to equip the next generation of leaders in the UAE with an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset and its related core skills. This course will engender in the students a spirit of entrepreneurial behavior by challenging a student’s own perception of self-fit with entrepreneurial activity by placing them within the role of an entrepreneur. Being exposed to entrepreneurial process, students will be able to learn how to develop a business model and launch a new venture. The path to entrepreneurship lies through creativity and innovation. Creativity while the basic ingredient is not sufficient for innovation. Innovation also requires the development, production and implementation of that creative idea. However, the key difference between creativity and innovation is execution. And the process by which creative ideas become useful innovations is called Entrepreneurship. The students will be encouraged to be creative through simple projects that will exercise their minds and make them think in a very different way. They will also learn that creative ideas do not make people successful but it is the other way around. The difference between innovation and invention will also be ingrained again through some simple student assignments. Finally, to understand the essence of innovation they will be taught that it is necessary to examine the main characteristics of entrepreneurs such as opportunistic mind set, formal training to detect new opportunities and a high degree of persistence as they are the driving force of innovation. Entrepreneurship is the driving engine of an economy and Entrepreneurs are its life blood. Entrepreneurs turn problems into opportunities; the bigger the problem the bigger the opportunity. They never accept that the problem is unsolvable. The challenge is in teaching people how to turn problems into opportunities. The students will learn that the path to entrepreneurial success is littered with setbacks and obstacles that can be overcome with a mindset of putting the intentions into action. They will be taught that to be a successful entrepreneur one has to learn how to analyze the key parts of various start up business models. In other words, an entrepreneur is not only a leader or a guide but one who also knows how to handle the challenges of marketing, financing, operations and the like. The course will emphasize that entrepreneurs are developed and not born. They will learn the process of generating ideas and of being creative and innovative. Furthermore they will get drilled the concept or methodology of asking the right question and that the formulation of the problem is more important than its solution. Finally they will be taught through some case studies or real life examples that it is fine to make mistakes in the process as “Mistakes are a cost of doing business" Social Entrepreneurship has been lately embraced by the world of business and interest in it continues to soar. It is still evolving with no clear definition. The question is what differentiates a Social Entrepreneur from a plain old vanilla entrepreneur as all Entrepreneurship at one level is social as it generates jobs and stimulates the economy. If a firm recycles used materials and installs solar panels on its roof, it is socially responsible. In fact a firm does not have to be a Not-for-Profit to be socially responsible. The course will try to make the student understand the different dimensions and set a baseline for understanding social entrepreneurship. The course will focus on problem solving, developing innovative solutions and the emerging needs in the social development sector. Further the course will teach through examples and short case studies on how to develop innovative ventures with exponentially scalable models that can trigger or enable social change in GCC and especially UAE. At the end of the course it is expected that students will realize that Social Entrepreneurs are problem solvers, not idealists. Moreover, they are driven by innovation and not charity. And that they do not believe in getting grants or handouts, rather they use entrepreneurial strategies to effect social change. The course covers the financial aspects of small business entrepreneurship for owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and small nonpublic corporations. The course focuses on: (1) updated financial statement coverage; (2) forecasting definitions and formulas; (3) equipment replacement by using the low cost model; (4) application of operation techniques to examples of small businesses including capital budgeting and working capital management; (5) use of financial statements for horizontal, vertical and ratio analysis; and, (6) basic math formulas for readers with limited mathematical backgrounds. Practical applications will include the time value of money and a computerized spreadsheet primer using Microsoft Excel. Students develop the skills, values, and attitudes needed for success as an entrepreneur whether starting a new venture from scratch, joining or acquiring an existing business, or creating a new venture inside a larger organization. The primary activity is the development of a comprehensive business plan. Topics include an overview of entrepreneurship and small business in UAE; entrepreneurial mindset, characteristics, competencies and ethics; creativity, idea generation and feasibility studies; business plans; part-time and full-time entrepreneurship; location and capacity planning; marketing research for new ventures; financing new ventures; creating a financial plan; legal structures and issues; new venture development team; and risk analysis and management. This course examines the issues and challenges faced by family businesses. Family businesses require governance structures that can accommodate both the business and family relationships. The success of family businesses also depends on successful intergenerational transfer. For continued growth, there may be a need to introduce professional management in the form of practices and professional personnel. The introduction of modern management into family businesses is needed yet this is an area that family businesses have great difficulty with particularly with the introduction of professional managers who are not family members. Entrepreneurial ventures whether they are Home-based businesses (HBB), Family controlled businesses (FCB), SME’s or within large corporations (intra-preneurship) all go through the same challenges of growth. After sustaining a certain level of expansion in the initial stage, they realize that management by personality does not work any more. The transition from a personal to a professional management style becomes a necessity and requires drastic changes in the manner of how the entity was being managed and run in the start-up phase. The students will be exposed to the working and intricacies of each type of venture and will be able to identify their relative strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the course they will be in a good position to measure the merits and demerits of each approach and apply their learning in their chosen careers. The course will draw heavily from real life examples and each type will be debated, dissected and analyzed in detail to enhance their understanding. This course focuses on technology entrepreneurs and their new ventures. It helps the student who is majoring in science, engineering, or other non‐business disciplines to understand key aspects of entrepreneurship and the formation of new technology companies so that they can decide if a technology business path is right for them. Major class topics include learning to identify and evaluate innovation opportunities, assessing an industry, intellectual property strategies, the founding team, business models, and funding a new venture. Students will gain the skills and tools to turn technical ideas into profitable sustainable businesses. International entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship in which global factors like commercial, socio-cultural cum political and economic landscape either play an important role or influence in some fashion the success of a new venture. The new ventures can transcend their land boundaries for instance by either partnering with a local entity or by establishing a strong beachhead in many national markets like GCC or MENA and various other means of creating differentiation. The students will effectively realize that there are three major challenges in going global. The first one pertains to the local environment. GCC for example with its own laws, rules and regulations cannot be a region to focus growth on unless these aspects are well understood. Secondly, mobilization of resources is another unique challenge as the manpower, raw materials and the supply chain may not be in the same place or region. And finally distance from headquarters inspite of the advances in communication technologies sometimes becomes an impediment. The students will be exposed to some international business models and they will acquire the skills to determine which one more closely aligns with the specified objectives of a firm. They will also learn how to identify opportunities that are far away from a firm’s home base and management of contingencies as the venture grows. In today’s dynamic and rapidly changing business environment, the success of any organization depends on the ability of its members at all levels to work concertedly to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. This course covers basic analysis and applications of modern theories and techniques for understanding human behavior in organizational contexts. The course discusses the basic knowledge on the dynamics, determinants, and outcomes of individual and group behavior in organizations. Topics covered include determinants of motivation, individual and group decision making, organizational communication, team dynamics, leadership, power and politics in organizations, and conflict resolution. This course provides a basic knowledge of the key aspects of managing human resources, emphasizing the link between human resource policies and practices and the organization's strategy. Topics covered in the course include HR planning, job (work) analysis, staffing, performance appraisal, employee compensation and benefits, orientation and training, and employee relations. This course covers various activities and techniques used for effective human resource staffing in organizations. Students will conduct job analyses, develop HR plans, and develop recruitment and selection programs using human resource information systems to support these activities. Topics covered include an analysis of objectives, techniques, and procedures for forecasting manpower needs, recruiting candidates, and selecting employees. The course emphasizes understanding basic types of assessment tools and procedures for choosing new employees. Basic concepts in measurement and validity are discussed. Issues relating to organizational entry and socialization may also be covered. This course provides and intensive discussion and application of concepts and tools used for appraising and enhancing human performance in organizations. Topics covered include designing, implementing, and evaluating programs to assess employee job performance, developing training and development programs to improve performance, and linking rewards to performance. The course addresses the ethical issues inherent in appraising and rewarding employees as well as the challenges of developing appropriate practices and techniques. This course provides a systematic study of effective management of compensation and benefits in organizations. Topics covered include strategic compensation planning, components of the total pay mix, job evaluation systems, the compensation structure, governmental regulation of compensation, employee benefits and employee services programs, administering incentive plans, and other significant compensation issues such as variable pay plans, skill and knowledge based pay plans, and linking pay to performance. This course provides students with basic management knowledge. It also improves students' ability to diagnose and solve managerial problems as well as gaining familiarity with new issues in the management area. Topics covered include an overview of the history of management science, ethics, organizational culture, organization structure, human resources and leadership theory. The four functions of management (Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling) are thoroughly examined. This capstone course examines how organizations can analyze their environments and use the insights from this analysis to formulate and implement new strategies. Topics covered include: industry analysis, vertical and horizontal integration, SWOT analysis, strategy formulation at the corporate level, business level, and functional level, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation and control. This is a foundation pre-requisite course for those who do not have a first degree in accounting or business. It is aimed at providing an introduction to fundamental business concepts from a global managing perspective. Students will gain insights into key business activities during different stages of a firm's lifecycle. The course is based on an integrative framework that especially emphasizes the relationships, connections and dependencies among functional areas in different lifecycle situations. The course develops a critical understanding of the nature, behavior and outcomes associated with the economic, social, political and legal systems that govern corporations. This course is designed to examine the strategic challenges faced by senior managers in formulating and administering human resources policies and procedures in different types of organizations. Contemporary issues related to strategic human resources management, human resource planning, job/work analysis, hiring, training, performance management, and compensation will be examined. The course will expose the student's minds to the vagaries of the journey of being an Entrepreneur in a simulated setting. They will learn that Innovators are creative and capable of changing existing business models. Team practice is linked to real-world entrepreneurial projects, which balances theory and practice through business case studies. The students will be tasked to come up with an innovative idea that they will commercialize in a theoretical setting. This will involve developing a business model, a business plan, funding, commercialization and managing growth, via the creation of a comprehensive business pan. This course appeals to individuals who have a desire to start-up new for-profit ventures (mainstream entrepreneurship), corporate employees interested in initiating new projects within organizations (intra-preneurship), and philanthropists with civic innovative mindsets (social entrepreneurship). This course discusses individual and group behavior within organizations and its relation to the social and economics roles of modern organizations. The course covers contemporary issues related to individual and group motivation and performance, organizational culture, the role of leadership, power and politics in organizations, managing organizational change, organizational restructuring, and workforce diversity. This course covers the basic conceptual and practical issues in the areas of recruitment, selection, and retention of staff in modern organizations. Topics covered include developing a staffing strategy, recruiting candidates, and selecting employees. The course emphasizes understanding basic staffing support systems including legal compliance, HR planning, job analysis, and various types of assessment tools used in employee selection This course is designed to introduce students to the basic issues in managing and rewarding employee performance. The course provides an in-depth understanding of performance management and the various tools and techniques that can be used to enhance an employee's contribution to the organization. This course also discusses the role that employee total reward systems play in organizational success and emphasizes the importance of linking rewards to performance. This course provides an overview of major challenges and issues in developing human resources within the UAE and the regional contexts. Issues of cross-cultural HRM will be discussed. The course then provides an in-depth discussion of themes and trends in training and development, individual and adult learning principles, training needs assessment, training evaluation, and management development. This course covers the role of project management in business or governmental organizations. The course is designed to equip students with skills, knowledge, abilities, and behaviors required for effective management of projects over the various phases in the project life cycle from the initial concept to project completion. The course covers key aspects of managing projects starting from understanding of the socio-economic environment in which the project is created and then focusing on technical aspects of project planning, implementation and control. Students in this course will learn how to achieve project goals and objectives within set constraints, such as time and budget. This course addresses the "big picture" questions surrounding the relationships between business ethics and business and society as a whole: Why does an organization exist? Whom does the organization serve? What responsibilities does an organization have to its stakeholders? Is there a moral high ground in business? Does running an ethical business pay off in the long run? Students will learn to address these questions throughout this course. The key to improve productivity in the service sector lies in the effective management of service operations. This course focuses on analyzing and improving service operations in organizations. Topics covered include: service strategy, service quality, service operations, service process design and facility location, service process flow management, managing supply and demand, managing waiting lines, and service capacity planning. The topics will be taught through a mix of quantitative models and qualitative frameworks and concepts. This course explores why effective strategic management leads to quality business performance. The basic concepts and tools of strategic analysis, developing the craft of a well-conceived strategy, and the execution of a strategic plan are covered. Students will be called upon to probe, question and evaluate all aspects of a company's external and internal situation thereby sizing up a company's standing in the marketplace and its ability to compete with rivals. This course covers the basic skills and competencies required to enhance managerial effectiveness. The course introduces students to the main functions and responsibilities of managers and leaders in modern organizations. Topics covered include the major challenges facing managers in today’s organizations, employee behavior and motivation, team dynamics, distinction between management and leadership, effective leadership in today’s organizations, determinants of individual and group decision making, power and politics in organizations, and conflict resolution in organizations. This course emphasizes the importance of quality and excellence in today's organizations. It reviews the history of quality and examines the wide variety of concepts, tools and techniques for managing, controlling and improving, quality. Topics covered include the philosophy and practice of Total Quality Management (TQM), quality certificates such as ISO, Six Sigma, quality awards, quality costs, quality tools and quality assurance. This course emphasizes the importance of organizational excellence (OE) in today's organizations. Topics examined include origins of OE, a variety of frameworks for understanding organizational excellence, current models of organizational excellence such as European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model, and different pillars of OE. This course aims to help participants to develop basic decision-making skills required to successfully manage different aspects of international business in global markets. Among the topics to be covered are the national differences in political economy, culture, and ethics, international business strategies (i.e., localization strategy, global strategy, etc.), headquarter-subsidiary relationships, entry strategies into international markets, global marketing and R&D, global production, outsourcing, and logistics, and global human resource management. This course emphasizes the importance of organizational performance management. Topics examined include concepts of performance measurement and management, principles of performance management, current approaches of performance management such as balanced scorecard and business process engineering (BPE). It also addresses how to use benchmarking in measuring and improving organizational performance; and provides an updated methodology for benchmarking in order to enable organizations to adopt best practices and excel. Management information systems and technologies (MIST) are an integral part of all business activities and careers. This course is designed to introduce students to contemporary information systems and demonstrate how these systems are used throughout organizations. The focus of this course is on the key components of management information systems and technologies - people, processes, software, hardware, data, and communication technologies, and how these components can be integrated and managed to create competitive advantage. Through the knowledge of how MIST provides a competitive advantage, students gain an understanding of how information is used in businesses and how business information technologies enable improvement in quality, speed, and agility. This course also provides an introduction to business information systems and development concepts, business information technology acquisition, and various types of application software that have become prevalent or are emerging in modern organizations and society. This course provides an exposure to the fundamental concepts and models of web-based application development. Students learn the basic programming, program design, data structures, computer concepts, problem solving, and event driven programming. It includes the use of logical and physical structures for both programs and data. It introduces MIS students to business programming applications by providing them with the skills necessary to design and implement programs and web-based user interfaces. This course covers fundamentals of object-oriented program development using top-down design, structured programming and debugging, testing and implementation, and elementary data structures. Java programming language is used as the software tool for students to learn about the fundamentals of programming for business applications. Information Technology (IT) and information systems (IS) are becoming core elements of any business. This course is directly concerned with the role of computers in business systems and different business functions. It takes a structured view of managerial decision making. Everyday examples of finance, marketing, supply chain management and logistics, and human resource management and development are studied using hands-on and learn-by-example model development. The emphasis of this course is the practical implementation of real world model rather than traditional theoretical approach. This course helps students to put theoretical concepts into practical applications. It focuses on the ingredients of student knowledge necessary for success in business administration and to cope with the challenges inherent in the implementation of rapidly advanced information technologies and systems. The course’s active learning approach encourages the student to focus on developing skills in “how” to build a model while summarizing the mathematical logic as to “why” the model is constructed. Microsoft Excel and Access are the main tools used in this course. This course discusses the processes, methods, techniques and tools that organizations use to determine how they should conduct their business, with a particular focus on how computer-based technologies can most effectively contribute to the way business is organized and business processes are managed. The course covers a systematic methodology for analyzing a business problem or opportunity, determining what role, if any, computer-based technologies can play in addressing the business need, articulating business requirements for the technology solution, specifying alternative approaches to acquiring the technology capabilities needed to address the business requirements, and specifying the requirements for the business information systems solution in particular, in-house development, development from third-party providers, or purchased commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) packages. e-Business has changed the way emerging and current businesses operate and compete. This course focuses on the fundamentals of e-business, its architecture, business models, challenges, and promises. It illustrates how business process re-engineering (BPR) can achieve effective e-Business strategies. This course emphasizes the innovative nature of e-business models, which includes B2B, B2C, B2E, B2G and others. It provides an overview of e-Commerce from a managerial perspective. The course introduces students to e-marketplaces, e-procurement, e-business infrastructure, online payment systems, e-Business strategic issues, and the role of ethical and social issues. This course provides the students with an introduction to the core concepts in data and information management. It is centered around the core skills of identifying organizational information requirements, modeling them using conceptual data modeling techniques, converting the conceptual data models into relational data models and verifying its structural characteristics with normalization techniques, and implementing and utilizing a relational database using an industrial-strength database management system. The course covers basic database administration tasks. This course also provides MIS students with fundamental principles and topics of data quality and IT security. In addition to developing database applications, the course helps the students understand how large-scale packaged systems are highly dependent on the use of DBMSs. Building on the transactional database understanding, the course introduces data and information management technologies that support business intelligence. This course discusses the processes, methods, techniques and tools that organizations use to manage their business information systems projects. The course covers a systematic methodology for initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing projects. This course assumes that project management in the modern organization is a complex team-based activity, where various types of technologies (including project management software as well as software to support group collaboration) are an inherent part of the project management process. This course also acknowledges that project management involves both the use of resources from within the firm, as well as contracted from outside the organization. This course aims to develop understanding about the essentials of Business Intelligence (BI), Data Warehousing, Business Analytics, Data Visualization, Business Data Mining and Business Performance Management (BPM) Systems. Through lectures, case studies and class discussions this course develops participants’ ability to identify key decision variables, critical success factors, key performance indicators (KPIs) that are affecting business performance and subsequently monitor the same using business intelligence systems using online analytical process (OLAP) and other performance management (BPM) techniques. This course helps participants to develop a connection between BI and BPM by using the output of business intelligence systems as input for BPM. The idea of using BI and BPM hand-in-hand revolves around the concept that any kind of knowledge created locally (within an organization) is a corporate resource and hence should be managed effectively using appropriate tools, processes, and methodology. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the theoretic and practical issues related to the application of Enterprise Systems within organizations as a strategic initiative. The main focus of this course is to demonstrate how Enterprise Systems integrate information and organizational processes across functional areas with a unified system comprised of a single database and shared reporting tools. It takes a senior management perspective in exploring the acquisition, development and implementation of plans and policies to achieve efficient and effective enterprise systems. The students will gain an appreciation of the scope of enterprise information systems and the motivation for implementing them. This course covers information systems security and risk management at the organizational level. This course conceptualizes, comprehends, and communicates the complex nature of strategic information systems management (SISM). The course will include hands-on experience with local clients so students get a clear idea on how MIS strategy is formulated and implemented. The ultimate goal of this course is to provide students a holistic and in-depth understanding of information systems (IS) role in supporting, shaping, and enabling business strategies and achieving corporate objectives. Information systems are one of the major tools available to business managers for achieving operational excellence, developing new products and services, improving decision making, and achieving competitive advantage. A fundamental question that is answered by this course is “how information systems and technologies are efficiently and effectively utilized in managing the information as a business resource?”. The divide that currently exist between IT and business can be bridged by increasing the IS and IT-knowledge of decision makers. This course provides an understanding of the different types of information systems in business organizations, the role of IT in business decision-making, E-business, IT infrastructure and emerging technologies, business intelligence, MIS ethical and social issues, and enterprise information systems. The focus of this course is management of technology and innovation (MoT+I) which is a powerful tool organizations use to compete in an increasingly challenging global economy. Technology Management is at the intersection of science, engineering, management and behavioral science. Participants will: (1) Understand the dynamics of technological innovation, (2) be familiar with how to formulate technology strategies, (3) know how to implement technology strategies, and (4) understand how to manage ideas in a technological based organization. This course is about information systems strategy and management from a top management perspective. Information technology (IT) is an integral part of most products and services of the post-industrial society of the 21st century and has changed the top management job. Topics include business models and organization forms in the information age, IT as a business enabler, IT and competitive strategy, information for management control, analysis and redesign of business structure and processes, knowledge management and information networks, interorganizational networks, sourcing strategies, interfacing with the IT function, reliability and security, and ethical and policy issues. The course relies extensively on the case method and the students will supplement their analyses with current information obtained from the Web, or directly from the firms under study in the cases. This course develops an understanding about the essentials of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Business Analytics, Data Visualization, Data, Text and Web Mining. Focus will be on use of above technologies in decision support systems and business performance management. The course also covers decision support systems concepts, methodologies, and technologies. Through lectures, case studies and class discussions this course aims to develop participants? ability to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that are affecting business performance and subsequently monitor the same using decision support and business intelligence systems using online analytical process (OLAP) and other performance management (BPM) techniques. This course focuses on the concepts and applications of e-business, its infrastructure, business models, challenges, and promises, particularly to the discipline of business and in general to all other areas. The course contents extend to the several of electronic communications and collaborations, including e-government applications. This course will highlight e-business in general, the opportunities it brings about, as well as its limitations and risks. Examples of various types of e-business will be examined in detail. Traditionally information systems have been introduced into organizations as functionally specialized applications serving the specific needs of individual departments. Enterprise Information Systems, more commonly referred to as ERP systems, provide a more holistic view of the organization, helping eliminate narrower departmental perspectives. Introducing ERP applications has the potential of adding enormously to organizational value, if undertaken properly. This course discusses how these applications can best be applied to realize those organizational benefits and will discuss the associated topics of supply chain management (SCM), human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM). This course provides students with knowledge about the importance of marketing as a basic function in enterprises, which deal with goods, services, and ideas. It clarifies the marketing functions related to the marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion. It also describes the ultimate consumer and industrial buyer and the marketing strategies needed to deal with them. This course covers the different types of marketing enterprises and some other topics such as international marketing and services marketing. This course uses both the qualitative and quantitative methods in presenting and analyzing data. This course provides students with the conceptual and the analytical aspects of marketing research. It is structured from the point of view of the marketing manager, consultant or entrepreneur who uses marketing research to make key business decisions. It covers topics of research design, dissemination of appropriate data, scaling and questionnaire construction, sampling procedure, data collection methods, data analysis and interpretation, and reporting. A study of the concepts, techniques, and models of consumer behavior including the decision making processes and the influence of environmental forces. The study of psychological and social factors that influence buying decisions are discussed as well as the managerial implications for planning executing, and evaluating marketing strategies. Theories of consumer behavior to develop managerial frameworks for the development and launch of new products, segmentation, and brand management This course focuses on the unique challenges of marketing and managing services and delivering quality service to customers. The course is equally applicable to organizations whose core product is service (e.g., banks, transportation companies, hotels, hospitals, educational institutions, professional services, telecommunication, etc.) and to organizations that depend on service excellence for competitive advantage (e.g., high technology manufacturers, automotive, industrial products, etc.). The basic concepts covered in the course include: the difference between marketing services versus products; the key drivers of service quality; the customer’s role in service creation; service design and innovation; technology’s impact on services; managing customer service expectations; and customer service metrics. The course covers different aspects of international marketing activities from the perspective of small and medium size firms as well as multinationals with special emphasis on GCC countries. At the macro level, the course covers the environment of international marketing, institutional aspects, mechanisms, and recent developments that affect marketing activities. At the micro level, the course deals with the development and formulation of the firm international marketing strategy. The objective of this course is to study marketing within the overall corporate system of business policy-making. Strategic Marketing Management is an integration of all marketing elements in a strategic planning framework. It emphasizes areas of strategic importance, especially those that have significant implications and relevance for marketing policy decisions in competitive situations. The course investigates marketing from a managerial perspective, including the critical analysis of the functions of marketing, marketing planning and programming, marketing leadership and organization, and evaluating and adjusting the marketing effort. This course provides students with a senior managerial approach to advanced problems in marketing with primary emphasis on case studies that examine structural complexities facilitated by electronic communication and choice of marketing tools. New knowledge and value propositions are developed using strategic marketing plans and decisions commensurate to changing needs of sophisticated consumers, markets, and multinational corporations. Current trends to translate to corporate proficiency, profitability, and sustainability in a competitive global marketplace are evaluated. This course aims to familiarize students with the nature and behavior of consumer markets. The purpose is to investigate and understand how customers make specific decision and behave in different situations and circumstances. In addition students will be taught the practicalities of experimental consumer behavior research, which is fundamental to both understanding the consumer and assessing the effectiveness of consumer focused marketing interventions. Understanding the nature of contemporary customers is an important issue in maintaining and enhancing profit outcomes of a business. This course focuses on methods and principles of operations and supply chain management in manufacturing and services firms. The course offers basic methods of analysis in planning, organizing and controlling supply chain operations. The course also examines topics such as operations and supply chain strategies, forecasting, location planning, inventory control, MRP, JIT, managing quality, capacity management, and process analysis. This course is an introduction to the application and development of mathematical modeling tools for the analysis of strategic, tactical, and operational supply chain and logistics problems. Students will learn to apply several quantitative tools commonly used in the field of supply chain management, which include linear and integer programming, network models, queuing models, decision analysis, and simulation. This course provides a comprehensive grounding in the differences between strategic and tactical aspects of purchasing, and covers the procurement process and the role of the procurement function within any organization. It addresses the purchasing function's role in fulfilling the organization's operations and competitive strategies, supplier evaluation, selection and development, relationships with suppliers, supplier base management, supply information systems and e-commerce, purchasing services, negotiation, commodity planning, ethics, and cost, price, and value analysis. Applications in manufacturing, services, and government. This course examines the role of transportation and logistics in supply chains, the major modes of transportation, their respective capabilities and limitations, transportation infrastructure, and transportation management practices. The course also examines the role of information technology in logistics and transportation, order processing, inventory and warehousing decisions, network design and facility location, and reverse logistics systems. This course introduces a number of supply chain concepts with an emphasis on issues of a global operating supply chain. Topics include globalization, international trade, identifying and managing global risks, global supplier selection, evaluation and management, global distribution and logistics management, international contracts and documents, and development and maintenance of international buyer-supplier relationships and alliances, and global practices. This capstone course covers a comprehensive range of supply chain and logistics topics and case studies across product, service and government settings. This course builds on the skills and concepts acquired in previous supply chain courses. Topics covered include strategic supply chains, supply chain design, and the role of supply chain management in attaining and sustaining competitive advantage. This course covers the major issues in supply chain management including supply chain performance and strategic alignment, supply chain optimization and network design, inventory and safety stock management, forecasting, aggregate planning, sourcing principles, and supply chain coordination. The course will also provide students with quantitative modeling tools to analyze, model and solve supply chain problems, using appropriate software. لايوجد محتوى عربي لهذه الصفحة يوجد مشكلة في الصفحة التي تحاول الوصول إليها	25,559
“Anna Feeding a Doe” by Jacqueline Perry (5th trial proof). Linocut on rice paper. The ‘plate’ is softer than linoleum and easy to cut. “Anna Feeding a Doe” by Jacqueline Perry, first trial proof. “Anna Feeding a Doe” by Jacqueline Perry, first trial plate Printmaking can be tedious. There are many steps, but it is so darned satisfying to lift the paper off of the plate to see the final outcome. The print is a surprise each time. I can pull twenty prints in a row, and experience twenty surprises. This amazes me. Prayer: Thank you, God, for dull steps that lead me to something more. This entry was posted in Summer Diary and tagged Art , Jacqueline Perry , spiritual practice . Bookmark the permalink	81,121
402 Eight Smooth Steps to eLearning Evaluation 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Thursday, October 30 Data and Measurement In the world of Big Data, organizations are increasingly using data and technology to better understand the value of their investments and efforts. As training professionals, it is imperative that we also use data to communicate the impact of our work. Many learning professionals avoid data and measurement because it seems like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. In this session, you will examine eight smooth steps for involving stakeholders in developing an evaluation framework for your eLearning initiatives. You will discover how this framework can be foundational for creating a common language for stakeholders. You will learn how the use of this framework can minimize the number of implementation issues, and provide a structure for the ongoing assessment of eLearning programs. In this session, you will learn: - The importance of evaluation for eLearning - About an evaluation framework for implementing eLearning - Ways to foster eLearning evaluation - The importance of setting a common language with stakeholders Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers. Experience API Strategist Andy Whitaker is an Experience API (xAPI) strategist at Rustici Software. Andy has been heavily involved with the Experience API from some of the earliest beta stages. His primary responsibilities at Rustici Software are to help people better understand xAPI, and how best to leverage xAPI and Rustici Software’s Watershed LRS in their own organizations. Training and Facilitation Solutions Director Metro Nashville Public Schools Dr. Margie Johnson is the training and facilitation solutions director for the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, where she is leveraging various technology tools and adult-learning theory to empower approximately 10,000 employees. Margie has extensive experience in training and development. Starting out as a middle-school classroom teacher, she has spent the last 12 years providing adult training and development.	304,664
Read, listen or both by using the audio file below. In a recent post I wrote about how valuable it can be to to keep a personal cashflow statement. I described how it could identify places where money is leaking out of your wallet, your checkbook, etc. I also wrote another article about balance sheets. What hasn’t been done ’til now is showing how cash flow statements affect a balance sheet. The idea was touched on in the article about cash flow statements when I talked about spending cash on a gold bar and how that’s still an expenditure or outflow of cash even though the gold bar was kept by the purchaser. Don’t be afraid to go back to those articles and re-read them before you read this. This isn’t an in depth examination of cash flow statements and balance sheets, but a story about improving a property and how cash expenditures, or outflows, can increase the value of an asset on a balance sheet. This story is about improving a real property but the name of the property has been changed to protect the privacy of the property investor. Welcome to Desertville Imagine the money leaks that could develop in a rental property that has 84 units and has a worth of over five million dollars. That’s a lotta potential leaks. For every one of those rental units in that property, there are expenses in the form of repairs, maintenance costs and utility bills. Some of those utility bills are paid through the property manager to the city, such as water, and others are paid by the tenant when the rental unit is occupied and by the property owner when the unit is empty, like electricity and heat in the winter. Another situation arises when the owner of a property offers a rental unit with utilities included. When utilities are included some of the income from rent has to be shaved off and applied to the expense of the utilities of for that rental unit. A cashflow statement offers a way to monitor income streams as they are created and grow. In rent alone there are 84 income streams that need to be applied correctly coming from the property mentioned above. Property managers want people to live in a place they like. They also have a responsibility to people who invest in properties to make them profitable. In the big bad world we live in, if there isn’t a profit margin, no one will invest in properties and people won’t have a place to live. If the overall income of a property isn’t greater than the expenses there isn’t any profit. Fixing The Leaks In The Money Pipeline The 84 unit property is called Desertville. At one point in time Desertville had a hodgepodge of cashflow problems. Some of the units had utilities included and some not. It had a laundry that was an expense because taxes had to be paid on the structure. There were also electric, water and sewer expenses associated with the laundry and it wasn’t bringing enough money in to cover those expenses. The first thing to do was to look at the cashflow statement and see where there was more going out then coming in. When examined, the cashflow statement showed that the utility expenses for the units that had utilities included exceeded the the utility income for those units. More money going out than coming in is a money leak. The money leak was fixed by putting the utilities in the tenants names and making them responsible for the bills. The tenants that used less paid less and those who used more paid more. In the end game the tenants got what they paid for and the owner of the property didn’t lose money. In this case the income and expenses for some utilities were both removed from the cashflow statement. It wasn’t the property manager or the property owner’s problem any longer. Other money leaks were the Internet and cable television bills. These had been offered as part of the rent and there wasn’t any markup on them. The manager of Desertville realized that he could do more than fix these money leaks. The manager acquired a commercial account for the internet and cable. Then, he resold that service to the tenants at a profit and created an income stream. An exception to the pattern of tenants being responsible for their own bills are bills that, if neglected, would put the property owner in a tight spot because of a lien against the property. This can happen with city utilities. In this case the manager kept the water, sewer and garbage bills in Desertville’s name to prevent any potential liens. To assure that the city utilities didn’t become an expense to Desertville, the manager billed separately for them. In this way he collected exactly what was used and didn’t have to worry about shaving off some of the rent income to apply it to the expense of city utilities. Because the income equalled the expense there was no loss in cashflow and the property owner didn’t lose. Because Desertville’s manager monitored rental rates on comparable properties he recognized the demand for one bedroom and studio apartments was increasing and increased the rent on those units which increased income with no increase in associated expenses. That’s profit. The manager of Desertville suggested investing capital in improvements on Desertville. He looked at the potential for higher rents and more rental units that would increase existing income and the value of Desertville as an asset. If the improvements didn’t add enough income to the cashflow statement to exceed the expenses during the owner’s period of ownership, or the expenses weren’t returned to the owner in the increased value of Desertville as an asset by the time it was sold, the manager didn’t recommend them. Desertville had some appearance problems and potentially some coming structural problems. It needed a roof and siding. It had a gravel parking lot and it needed some paint. While the parking lot was basically functional, tracking the dirt from it into the apartments wasn’t making the flooring surfaces last any longer. This lowered the profitability of Desertville because the flooring surfaces had to be replaced more often. The Long Game Because the owner of Desertville considers it a long term investment, he accepted the proposal to replace the roof. This was a large investment in Desertville but a bad roof can cause structural damage that would severely decrease the value of the property when sold. Replacing the siding added value to Desertville as an asset because of aesthetics and by preserving the structure. The same could be said of paving the parking lot. Paving the lot made Desertville more attractive but it also preserved the flooring surfaces by keeping the gravel driveway from being tracked into the units. While the siding and the driveway added to the value of Desertville as an asset on the owner’s balance sheet, neither of these capital improvements would fit with a flip strategy. These are high cost improvements and only work for a long term investor. The immediate impact of the siding and paved lot was more consistent occupancy of rental units. If no one is renting a unit there isn’t any money coming in from it but the underlying expenses associated with it still exist. In addition there are cleaning and repair expenses every time a unit changes renters. Ugly rentals are unoccupied rentals and they cause negative cash flow. A big win was converting the old laundry space into two rental units. This gained the property $9600 in annual income. This conversion also got rid of the expenses associated with the laundry room which operated at a loss. The only reason the laundry conversion was a winner was because the owner wasn’t flipping Desertville. Building out two apartments wasn’t cheap but in the long term plan that the owner had he knew he had time to recoup and profit from his investment in the two rental units. There was a gain on two fronts. The rental income could be directly applied to the expense of the remodel. In addition the remodels added to the value of Desertville as an asset on the owner’s balance sheet. The End Game Except for the increases in rents on single bedroom and studio apartments, all of the decisions made about Desertville were the result of consulting Desertville’s cash flow statement and how it would change Desertville’s balance sheet by increasing Desertville’s value as an asset. These actions wouldn’t have been valid if the owner was trying to flip the property. It takes time to recoup the high cost of major investments unless the property is in a market with values that are increasing at a frightening pace. Major capital improvements in a property are the result of a long term strategy. The increase in rents on studios and single bedroom units were the result of market knowledge. If the rents had been too high the units would’ve sat empty. If too low the maximum rents wouldn’t have been realized and potential income would’ve been lost. All of these choices made Desertville an attractive investment property because it makes money and it’s increasing in value. If you want to benefit from the type of experience that increases a property’s annual income as much as 20.3% the way this property did, contact Kirk Rehfield (Jacobgrant Owner Relations) firstname.lastname@example.org or 208-795-8298.	308,686
Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980, by Charles Murray Government & the Poor Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980. by Charles Murray. Basic Books. 323 pp. $23.95. Charles Murray’s closely argued book is a bold and timely indictment of the past twenty years of American social policy. On trial stands the whole array of federally defined, designed, delivered, controlled, and financed efforts known collectively as the War on Poverty. In demonstrating how and why the most massive governmental intervention in American history failed to erase the “scandalous blemish” of poverty from the midst of the world’s most affluent society, and how, in the final analysis, its main achievement may have been the institutionalization and expansion of what it had set out to destroy, Murray’s book also constitutes a brilliant critique of the liberal vision of the welfare state. It has already attracted much attention and controversy; if it succeeds in arousing the nation to rethink the direction and purpose of our social policy, it will have made a lasting contribution. Central to Murray’s discussion is the fundamental shift that began to take place in the early 1960’s in the “long-standing national consensus about what it means to be poor, who the poor are, and what they are owed by the rest of society.” No longer content with offering “decent provision” to those whose misfortune was not of their own making, a new national consensus, or perhaps more precisely a consensus among the nation’s intellectual elite, saw it as government’s role to assume responsibility for “helping Americans to help themselves.” Once the new consensus was formed, it developed its own dynamic with awesome velocity. In no time, poverty itself began to be blamed on “the system.” Writers like Michael Harrington set out to make a forceful case for the existence of “structural poverty”; poverty, it was said, is embedded within the very nature of capitalism. This meant that the traditional liberal recipe for fighting poverty—economic growth—no longer applied; sweeping changes were needed in the way income was distributed. Calls for such changes found a wide hearing, especially in the wake of the riots of the late 60’s. A medley of groups—the increasingly powerful band of policy experts with their can-do optimism; regiments of a new breed of lawyers purportedly serving the public interest; traditional do-gooders; the media—joined in making their own unique contributions to the newly received wisdom that poverty was not the fault of the individual but of the system, and that only a guaranteed “equality of outcome” would eliminate it. Translation into action quickly followed: a “legislative blitzkrieg” of anti-poverty bills, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, public-housing programs, manpower training, ever-expanding entitlement programs, and so on. Twenty years have gone by since the clarion call to wage war on poverty, and stocktaking is in order. In one respect Murray’s appraisal holds no great surprises, for in recent years there already has formed a broad though somewhat vague realization that this much-heralded domestic crusade has been a failure. The dire consequences have become too tangible and obvious to be ignored. But no one, I think, has chronicled in greater detail and more persuasively the dimensions of the failure, or has documented as carefully the linkage between particular interventionist measures and their direct, if unintended, contrary results. Particularly disturbing is Murray’s devastating analysis of what has happened precisely to those on whose behalf the whole battle was waged in the first place. “The number of people living in poverty,” Murray writes, “stopped declining just as the public-assistance program budgets and the rate of increase in those budgets were highest.” Not only is poverty still with us, but things have gotten worse. The data boggle the mind. Some examples: For a long time the proportion of blacks participating in the labor market had been smaller than that of whites, but before 1965 the gap was slowly decreasing; since the War on Poverty began, the gap has widened disproportionately. In education, in spite of enormous progress made in high-school and college enrollments, the measured educational achievement of young poor black Americans has not only declined, but “as of 1980 the gap in educational achievement between black and white students leaving high school was so great that it threatened to defeat any other attempts to narrow the economic differences separating blacks from whites.” Black violent crime soared in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, and the danger that a black would be a victim of violent crime was much larger in 1972 than it was in 1965. The black family is in shambles; the percentage of infants born to black single women went from 17 in 1950 to 55 in 1980, with teenage mothers contributing disproportionately to the increase. What happened? Murray argues that all the dire results that can be witnessed today can be traced to the changes wrought by the new social policy of the 60’s in the attitudes and behavior of America’s poor. In brief, the policies mandated by the new idea of structurally-caused poverty discouraged self-reliance and rewarded dependence. “Status distinctions among the poor,” Murray writes, had traditionally “begun with the assumption that people are responsible for their actions, and, specifically, responsible for taking care of themselves and their families as best as they could.” Once, however, it was assumed that the “system” was to be blamed when a person was out of work, it was an easy step to “the belief that the system is even to blame when a person neglects spouse and family. . . .” In this manner, status was stripped from people who were holding menial jobs and supporting their families, and a strong incentive was provided for abandoning both job and family. “When large numbers of people begin to behave differently from ways they behaved before,” Murray writes, “my first assumption is that they do so for good reason.” In other words, the poor, in becoming more rather than less dependent on government, were behaving quite rationally. As a consequence of the new mode of government intervention, it simply became “easier to get along without a job. It was easier for a man to have a baby without being responsible for it, for a woman to have a baby without a husband. It was easier to get away with crime.” And so on. From which it follows that, if our intention is to offer the poor a way out of poverty, we must abandon the pattern of the immediate past, which positively encouraged people to fail, and devise policies that will help to restore the traditional emphases on individual effort, self-reliance, and conventional morality. In the final part of his book Murray presents his own ideas for accomplishing this objective. His three major proposals relate to education, civil rights, and social welfare. In education he strongly advocates a turn to a universal voucher system. In the area of civil rights he affirms the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but would repeal every bit of subsequent legislation and overturn the court decisions that require differential treatment according to race. In the area of public welfare his general recipe is for getting government out of it. Aside from support for the “truly needy,” unemployment insurance, and the establishment of a safety net on the local (but not the federal) level, he is inclined to scrap the entire welfare and income-support structure for persons of working age. Aid to Families With Dependent Children, Medicare, food stamps, and the rest, all would have to go. What can be said about these proposals? Murray insists that morality is on his side here, and he may well be right. After all, if these social programs are indeed harmful, who could morally justify their continuation? My problems with Murray are on a different level, having to do with his understanding of the nature of individual and social life. Both in his analysis of what went wrong and in his proposals for a cure, Murray opts for a “rational decision-making” model of human behavior. Disregarding cultural, social, and psychological factors, he insists that the behavior of the poor can be understood on rational economic grounds alone. I doubt, however, whether such a model will go far in explaining the actions of any individual or group. It certainly does not explain those of my own children and students, middle-class all and supposedly endowed with ample portions of rationality. I find it no less difficult to accept that, for instance, a teenage girl gets herself pregnant primarily out of some rational economic calculus of costs and benefits. Murray contends that there are real limits to the ability of any government to help the poor, and this is demonstrably true. But he errs in my opinion—again, both in his analysis and in his policy proposals—by focusing narrowly on just two players, the individual and the government. His political philosophy (which, as far as I can make out, is conservative with strong libertarian overtones) leads him to exclude from the drama of social life all those institutions that throughout history have mediated between the individual and government: the neighborhood, the church, voluntary groupings, and the like. And since, in Murray’s scheme, government is to be removed, this leaves the individual isolated and alone. Are we then to rid ourselves of the ill-conceived Great Society programs, with their extreme notions of “individual rights” which turned out to be so harmful to the fabric of social life, only to replace them with an equally atomistic conception in which individuals will supposedly do better simply because they will be free to maximize their interests in the marketplace? To my mind, the great failure of the War on Poverty derived precisely from its disregard of the natural groupings, the “small platoons,” in Edmund Burke’s felicitous phrase, that are so important to individuals. It is out of a concern for the preservation and enhancement of those groupings that I am considerably less willing than Charles Murray to scrap all social programs. A good case can be made, I think, for the continuation of some, like Head Start. Although the educational achievement of Head Start is not as evident as some would like, it has nonetheless been of considerable value to families and neighborhoods suffering from the social devastation so well described by Murray. It has provided, for many, a strong sense of community and of purpose. Similarly, anyone familiar with the inner workings of the black community cannot fail to be impressed by the enormous vitality of the many self-help arrangements demonstrating enterprise, common sense, and the enduring hold of traditional values. To be sure, some of these activities may have become overly dependent on official America, but they need hardly remain so forever. It has been shown, for example, that the energies of street gangs can be redirected to socially useful ends; public funds can provide incentives for this. Self-help endeavors have never been given a chance, certainly not by the 60’s poverty crusaders. I would argue that we cannot afford to bypass them, since they express better than anything else the desires of actual people living in actual communities. In the coming years we will need more than ever a coherent social policy. The Democratic party continues to dream of a return to the programs of the 60’s, despite the fact that the ideas which inspired those programs have been thoroughly discredited. As for the Republicans, at the moment they seem more preoccupied with budget-cutting than with devising policies that might capture the imagination and the support of the American people. The field is thus open. In the emerging debate, Charles Murray’s Losing Ground will almost certainly become an indispensable point of reference; my own hope is that his analysis of what went wrong will win the widespread credence it deserves, even if his policy proposals need not be taken as the final word on what it is humanly possible to do for the poor.	291,336
These are merely generalizations, and for the most part there are exceptions to all of these, but here it goes: Dynamic speakers are the most common sort you find on the market. The basic design is a voice coil mounted in the center of a flexible cone structure; when the voice coil moves, the entire cone structure vibrates in common and thus, waves of sound are produced. Horn speakers normally use a small voice coil, similar to dynamic drivers, but instead of a moving voice coil mounted to a flexible cone structure, the waves produced by the motion of the voice coil is amplified, megaphone style, out from a rigid horn shape structure. Horn speakers tend to be very high sensitivity/efficiency (requiring extremely small amounts of extremely clean/high quality power). Planar speakers are based on ribbon technologies where a large array of conductive elements are laid out across a superlight membrane (oftentimes mylar) and they are set into motion by magnetic force. They operate in similar ways to electrostatic speakers, but do not require separate power sources to operate. Planar speakers are known for incredible speed, but also for low efficiency/high power draw. I am not 100% clear on the distinction between "true" ribbon and "quasiribbon" planar speakers, as produced by my favorite brand of planars, Magneplanar. I happen to be using a pair of two-way dynamic loudspeakers, the Paradigm Studio/20 stereo loudspeakers; one day, though, I hope to buy a set of true ribbon, "Maggies," assuming I've a sufficiently matched front end and a room that would be appropriate. I repeat, those are mere generalizations, and there are hundreds of thousands of variations on those mentioned above as well as even more types I've not even mentioned. PS I've yet to listen to true ribbon planars, horn speakers, electrostatic headphones or in-ear headphones; I sure would love to, though!	94,377
Innovative solution to data collection in real time. Past News ReleasesRSS Detroit, MI (PRWEB) January 06, 2014 The story of iziSurvey is rather interesting. The whole idea of it came when a former Political Science instructor at University of Kentucky, Professor Ridvan Peshkopia, and a technology entrepreneur and a former Computer Science Professor at St John’s University, New York, Mergim Cahani, met while they were teaching at Universum College in Kosovo, Europe’s newest country. They were soon joined by Alejtin Berisha, College’s CEO and a major figure in the entrepreneurship development in Kosovo and Edi Demaj, an entrepreneur and business executive from Detriot, Michigan. “We wanted to develop a problem solving and a user friendly survey platform for our internal use, which incorporated features not found elsewhere. The software was developed by Phronesis Technologies, a leading software development company. However, after the first version, we saw a big potential for its commercialization” said Mergim Cahani, CEO of iziSurvey. He added, “The market reaction was promising. The feedback from several major companies and universities who tried the initial version of iziSurvey was incredible. That is why we committed our energies and built the very competitive iziSurvey platform. This platform has already collected over half a million survey responses!” iziSurvey is registered and has an office in Metro Detriot, Michigan (US) where the company also received a non-disclosed financial funding from the area, while part of the engineering team still remains in Kosovo. It is a tool that would serve researchers in various academic disciplines, as well as big and small companies involved in the data collection and research. Data gathering is achieved through mobile devices while operating independent of internet connectivity i.e., can work online and offline, whereas survey management, survey creation, detailed reporting and exporting, is done on iziSurvey.com portal. Users can easily design their own survey by using various question types. The user designs the survey through the Survey Management tool found on iziSurvey.com, and then downloads the survey to their device(s) that he/she will use to conduct the survey. Users can then upload data collected from the device to the website, export them to Microsoft Excel format, or view visual analytics and charts. In addition to the common features of a standard survey platform, iziSurvey also offers its unique random digit dialing (RRD) technology for cellphone surveying and, with the help of a headset, makes possible to easily fill the questionnaire on the same device from where the interviewer is calling. Further, in order to minimize the negative effect of answers by distracted respondents (often they pick the first or the last choice from a list of optional responses offered by the questionnaire), iziSurvey offers a randomly reshuffled order of response options for each question in the questionnaire. iziSurvey also supports highly advanced conditional questions. The platform currently supports all Android devices, but is expected to have iPhone, iPad, Windows, and web support in the next couple of months. With over 40 years of team’s industry experience and the growing need for data collection, iziSurvey is on the early stages of becoming a competitive product in the industry. Check out http://izisurvey.com and start collecting data easily.	288,075
Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (born April 5, 1947) is a Filipino politician who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, as the 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga. She was the country's second female president (after Corazón Aquino), and the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal. A professor of economics, Arroyo entered government in 1987, serving as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazón Aquino. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under President Joseph Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket. After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition to the president, who faced impeachment. Estrada was soon forced from office by the EDSA Revolution of 2001, and Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20, 2001. She was elected to a full six-year presidential term in the controversial May 2004 Philippine elections, and was sworn in on June 30, 2004. Following her presidency she was elected to the House of Representatives, making her the second Philippine president - after Jose P. Laurel - to pursue a lower office after their presidency. She was born as María Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal to politician Diosdado Macapagal and his wife, Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal. She is the sister of Dr. Diosdado "Boboy" Macapagal, Jr. & Cielo Macapagal-Salgado. She spent the first years of her life in Lubao, Pampanga with her two older siblings from her father's first marriage. At the age of four, she chose to live with her maternal grandmother in Iligan City. She stayed there for three years, then split her time between Mindanao and Manila until the age of 11. She is fluent in English, Tagalog, Spanish and several other Philippine languages, most importantly, Kapampangan, Ilokano, and Cebuano.	88,801
The bioprocessing and biotechnology industries are major components of global industrialised economies with impacts in medicine, pharmaceuticals, manufacture and the food sector. These industries require a new caliber of technical specialists with both business acumen and scientific knowledge. This MSc offers you the key business information and industrially relevant expertise, together with the science base, to meet this requirement. Leading centres of expertise, including Life Sciences and Warwick Business School, form a multidisiplinary teaching faculty. The course is delivered by lecturers with internationally acknowledged academic, industrial and government expertise. The course is a full time, twelve month taught programme with modular content, based around three strands:- - Business Management - Biotechnology & Molecular Biology The course programme focuses on: - Manufacture of biochemicals, pharmaceuticals, devices and materials - Genetic engineering and the fundamentals of biotechnology - Business management, economics and finance - Marketing management - Commercialisation of products, IP - Food, biotechnology and microbiological processing - Fuels and energy - Industries based on renewable and sustainable resources - Production technologies - Plant design and economic analysis Students will be required to complete nine core modules. They must also select a further three elective modules. Teaching will be by interactive lectures, short question & answer sessions and small group interactive workshops/tutorials. Individual and team learning will be used for case study analysis. All students will be required to undertake a project dissertation. Students will be encouraged to propose their own project title (selection subject to availability of an appropriate supervisor) although a range of potential titles will be offered. Projects will be non-laboratory based and generally undertaken at the University of Warwick under the supervision of an approved tutor. - The fundamentals of biotechnology - Molecular biology and genetic engineering - Biochemical engineering - Bioproduct plant design and economic analysis - Business strategy - Accounting and financial management - Marketing management - Entrepreneurship & commercialisation - Biopharmaceutical product & clinical development (availability dependent on demand) - Microbiomics & metagenomics - Environmental protection, risk assessment and safety - Impact of biotechnology on the use of natural resources - Fundamental principles of drug discovery - E-business: Technology and management - Chemotherapy of infectious disease - Vaccines and gene therapy - Laboratory Skills This MSc is suitable for those looking for a career in biotechnology and related industrial sectors where employees need multidisciplinary knowledge. Graduates work in a wide range of jobs including project management, business development and general managerial positions. Career destinations of our alumni include: - Binding Site Group Ltd - Tata Technologies - Frost & Sullivan - European Medicines Agency - PhD programmes Job titles include Business Analyst, Project Manager, Product Specialist, Regulatory affairs, Medical Writer, Business Development Manager, Research Associate and clinical Project Assistant. Minimum second class Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Engineering or Business Studies (students from an engineering or business background must be a high class student and demonstrate an interest in biological science). English language standard IELTS 6.5. Study: Full time over 12 months. Module options: 9 core modules, 3 elective modules, project dissertation. Module assessments by a combination of written course work, individual/group seminar presentations and a multi-choice or short answer examination. - Clyde Higgs Scholarships, available to UK applicants for three of our taught MSc courses - SLS Excellence Scholarships, a fee reduction of 50% for five excellent students - University of Warwick GREAT Scholarships India, jointly funded by the British Council GREAT campaign and the University of Warwick. - Commonwealth Shared Scholarship - Chevening Scholarships, in addition to usual Chevening Scholarships, the School of Life Sciences is co-funding one Award supporting Latin American and Caribbean students - Bursaries for students from Latin America and the Caribbean Please contact us for more information. This school offers programs in: Last updated October 14, 2016	279,746
CrestSince the club's foundation, Chelsea have had four main crests, though all underwent minor variations. In 1905, Chelsea adopted as their first crest the image of a Chelsea pensioner, which obviously contributed to the "pensioner" nickname, and remained for the next half-century, though it never appeared on the shirts. As part of Ted Drake's modernisation of the club from 1952 onwards, he insisted that the pensioner badge be removed from the match day programme in order to change the club's image and that a new crest be adopted. As a stop-gap, a temporary emblem comprising simply the initials C.F.C. was adopted for one year. In 1953, Chelsea's crest was changed to an upright blue lion looking backwards and holding a staff, which was to endure for the next three decades. This crest was based on elements in the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea with the "lion rampant regardant" taken from the arms of then club president Viscount Chelsea and the staff from the Abbots of Westminster, former Lords of the Manor of Chelsea. It also featured three red roses, to represent England, and two footballs. This was the first club badge to appear on shirts, since the policy of putting the crest on the shirts was only adopted in the early 1960s. In 1986, with Ken Bates now owner of the club, Chelsea's crest was changed again as part of another attempt to modernise and to capitalise on new marketing opportunities. The new badge featured a more naturalistic non-heraldic lion, yellow and not blue, standing over the C.F.C. initials. It lasted for the next 19 years, with some modifications such as the use of different colours. With new ownership, and the club's centenary approaching, combined with demands from fans for the club's traditional badge to be restored, it was decided that the crest should be changed again in 2004. The new crest was officially adopted for the start of the 2005–06 season and marks a return to the older design of the blue heraldic lion holding a staff. As with previous crests, this one has appeared in various colours, including white and gold.	43,642
As per the recent survey, approximately 14 of every 100 U.S. adults aged 18 years and above (that comprises 13.7%) smoke cigarettes regularly. This shows that an estimation of 34.2 million adults in the United States has smoking cigarettes as part of their routine. These numbers are only increasing, which makes it more urgent than ever to open to discuss these problems and raise awareness about the addictive nature of nicotine. Tobacco use is the cause of some of the grave preventable diseases and deaths in the United States. This is because once people start consuming nicotine, they cannot resist it. Many people overlook the addictive nature of nicotine and fall prey to it. So, let us look at what makes nicotine so highly addictive. How Does Nicotine Alter Our Brains? Firstly, after smoking a cigarette, nicotine mixes entirely with the bloodstream. Once it mixes up with the blood, it enters the brain. Once it enters the brain, it interacts with many specific regions in the brain that are responsible for the release of a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that numbs down our sensation to feel pain and pleasures, making us reach a euphoric state of mind, which is practically very difficult to achieve in a healthy state. Just like any addictive drug causes, even cigarettes-induced dopamine makes the brain fall to complacency to repeat the behavior to reproduce the dopamine. It is this dependence for artificial stimulation of satisfaction that, in the long run, leads to addiction. The brain produces dopamine on each puff of cigarettes. So, on an average basis, a person takes roughly 15 puffs of cigarettes. Taking the math slightly ahead, a person can take up to 250-300 puffs of cigarettes from one packet. This means it experiences 250-300 hits of dopamine. Hence, it only means that with continuous consumption of cigarettes, the addictive spell only gets multiplied. Nicotine consists of pharmacokinetic properties. When the body processes them, they contribute further to the addiction. When nicotine-induced smoke enters the lungs, the nicotine mixes in the blood and reaches the brain. Because of this, the nicotine levels have surged with merely 10 seconds of inhalation. However, the critical effects of nicotine also dispel rapidly along with the induced-euphoric feelings. Hence, the brain keeps on demanding more nicotine to maintain a steady level of euphoria. Added Effects of Nicotine Along with these pleasurable effects, nicotine also shoots up the essential aspects associated with cognition. This involves the ability to sustain focus and store information in memory. But with prolonged smoking can cause cognitive fall and expose you to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This is very important to understand that short-term nicotine-induced pleasures have grave long-term consequences that will directly affect your cognitive functioning. Additionally, it has some severe withdrawal symptoms as well. People who are going through withdrawal from nicotine experience severe neurocognitive imbalances that involve difficulty with attention and memory. It is only because of these neurocognitive withdrawal symptoms people fall back to their old habits of smoking. Nicotine also affects various neurotransmitters and their receptors. This leads to many behavioral changes in people subjected to nicotine consumption. For instance, people who smoke have a thing for the feel, smell, and even look of a cigarette. The basic act of buying a cigarette, handling, lighting, and smoking the cigarette all combine for one singular experience of satisfaction and pleasure. Over a long period when no nicotine enters your body, you begin to experience intense unpleasant physical and psychological feelings such as strong cravings for nicotine, anxiety, depression, weight gain, headaches, problems concentrating and focusing, drowsiness, impaired sleeping, and feeling tense, restless, or frustrated. These symptoms are all part of withdrawal symptoms. The degree of these symptoms depends on how long and how intensely you indulged in smoking. These symptoms of nicotine withdrawal show up anywhere from 2 hours to even 2-3 days after your last cigarette. These side effects are a way of your body, responding to the physical dependence on nicotine. The release of these withdrawal symptoms is a sign showing that you should gradually cut down on the amount of nicotine consumption during this slow quitting process with the help of pharmacological and medical assistance. These medicines are prescription-based products that do consist of small doses of nicotine that numbs down the intense withdrawal effects that usually affect you during the quitting process. As we have seen how nicotine can quickly enter your system and enslave you to the addiction, it is crucial to be aware of its dangerously addictive properties. Although it is proven that the initial consumption does not make a person fall to the addiction if one is not mindful about its use, then from being an idle habit, it will soon turn into dependence, eventually tying you down into addiction.	242,615
BACKSTAGE at many of Britain’s summer music festivals, suspicious pills and powders seized from tents are analysed by lab technicians. Usually it is to advise on-site doctors and police on what symptoms to look out for in people who become unwell. But this year, for the first time, festival-goers have been given the chance to get their illegal drugs tested before they take them. At the Secret Garden Party, a Cambridgeshire bash on July 21st-24th, a non-profit organisation called The Loop manned a tent where partygoers could drop off their drugs anonymously, before returning later for the results. As police turned a blind eye, technicians analysed nearly 250 drug samples, mostly of ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine. Or at least, that was what they claimed to be: in reality the bags of “MDMA crystal” being sold for £50 ($66) per gram turned out to be brown sugar; some suspiciously hard, grey pills were made of concrete; and several samples of “cocaine” and “ketamine” were in fact ground-up anti-malaria tablets. Even the real drugs varied dangerously in potency: the strongest ecstasy pills were five times as potent as the weakest. Festival drug-dealers are a particularly dodgy bunch, says Fiona Measham, a professor of criminology at Durham University and co-director of The Loop. Ripping people off in their home town carries the risk that “if they bump into them again they’d get battered. At a festival they can disappear into the crowd.” But does the testing encourage more drug use? It is too early to say, but there is some evidence that it does the opposite. After getting their results back, only half of those at the Secret Garden Party said they would take the drugs; one-quarter said they would throw them away. Of the remainder, some said they would track down the dealer to remonstrate. “Customer satisfaction” may become a higher priority, says Ms Measham. The Loop will next take its tent to Kendal Calling, a festival in the Lake District which begins on July 28th. Five other festivals have made inquiries. Those held on private land, as the Secret Garden Party is, may be more open to the idea than festivals in public places. Last year a plan to bring drug testing to Parklife, a shindig in a park in Manchester, was vetoed by the city council. The programme also represents a test of the new government. In 2013, as home secretary, Theresa May dismissed a proposal to pre-test drugs at a nightclub in Manchester, arguing that “if somebody has purchased something that the state has deemed illegal, it’s not then for the state to go and test it for you.” Yet so far the Home Office has made no criticism of The Loop’s project. That is perhaps the most encouraging result of the weekend. This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Cocaine or concrete?"	83,560
"Latter-day Saints on the Silver Screen" presented a very good overview of its subject, covering 1905 to the present time. Although the brief documentary did not mention any filmmakers or films which were not already mentioned on the ldsfilm.com website, it did provide wider exposure to this topic to television viewers. The credits for this documentary were: Producer/Reporter: Carole Mikita Photographers: KSL News Staff Editor: Bob Brown Graphics: Rita Papadakis Post Production: Lance Hope, Jeff Poulter Promotion: Jane Allen Managing Editor: Con Psarras News Director: Brink Chipman Executive Producer: Russ Crabb Films and filmmakers mentioned during the documentary were: 1905 - "A Trip to Salt Lake City" 2-minute silent short. Filmmaker: Thomas Edison. Spoof of polygamy. Overburdened man with many wives and children trying to get them all a drink of water at the same time. Carole Mikita says in the documentary that this is the earliest movie reference to Mormons. 1917 - A Mormon Maid 1922 - Trapped by the Mormons - England. Mentioned in President Benson's biography as being of concern and a challenge he faced as a missionary. A general reference to occasional Mormon characters in westerns during the 1930's and 40's - portrayed as long-suffering, religious pioneers. 1940 - Brigham Young: Frontiersman. Vincent Price played Joseph Smith. The actor who played Brigham Young (Dean Jagger) later joined the church. Mikita talked about how the Church cooperated with Hollywood in the making of "Brigham Young" to make sure it was more accurate, and she quoted the prophet at the time (Heber J. Grant) as saying, after he left a screening of the film, that he wouldn't change a thing, that this film would make friends. 1950 - Wagon Master. A scene is shown in which a couple of the characters tell the Indians they are Mormons and that pacifies the Indians. 1958 - Blood Arrow. Mormon characters 1969 - Paint Your Wagon. A polygamist is talked into selling one of his two wives. Television: "Picket Fences" (an episode of the regular series) and Siege at Alta View (a made-for-television movie) Church videos - "Together Forever" Kieth Merrill - The Alamo (1987); The Great American Cowboy; Legacy; Testaments Richard Dutcher called a modern-day pioneer - God's Army; Brigham City; The Prophet The Other Side of Heaven The Singles Ward Out of Step The documentary called Out of Step another example of a crossover film: meaning meant for members and non-members alike. They gave a very basic plot synopsis, showed the director talking about how non-members would be able to enjoy the film without getting the feeling that they were being preached at or even being taught about Mormonism, and then said that the film was just starting out so it was too early to say if it would be financially successful or not, although critics have given positive reviews. People who appeared in the documentary: Professor Jim D'Arc - Curator BYU Film Archives Chris Hicks - Feature Editor and former full-time movie reviewer, Deseret News Jeff Simpson - President, Excel Entertainment Group Jeff Simpson specifically mentioned Cinemark when he said the big theater chains take them seriously, especially in the Intermountain West, after the success of God's Army. Larry H. Miller - Investor in The Prophet Gerald Molen - credited as an "Academy Award Winning Producer." Molen said that The Other Side of Heaven is his last film before retiring. Mitch Davis - writer/director of The Other Side of Heaven Brother and Sister Groberg, the actual people whose story is told in The Other Side of Heaven Christopher Gorham - star of The Other Side of Heaven Leigh Von Der Esch - Utah Film Commission Director Ryan Little - Director of Out of Step They also had some quotes and one-liners referring to Mormons from various shows including: "Cheers", "Chapter Two", Star Trek IV, Jeremiah Johnson and others.	148,746
Residential cabling is at the core of all the home technologies you implement - now and in the future. Running the correct wire is crucial. The old wire, which is still being run in many homes being built, does not have enough bandwidth to support today’s technologies. New high-speed Cat 6 telephone wire can transmit information at 100Mbps. Cat 6: - Allows information from the Internet to be downloaded faster - Allows for more efficient and faster communication between networked computers - Minimizes cross-talk and other interference For video signal, RG6 quad shielded coaxial cable has the bandwidth you need for satellite, high-definition television and clearer cable signals. All of the wire should be “home run” to a central hub. Today, there are several options for advanced power centers, which provide the communication, monitoring and control capabilities that allow interaction with your security system, television, water heaters and personal computers.	241,249
This fall there have been several items in the print media and on television about the benefits of late starts for schools. The late start refers to the time of day when classes start. While there is great variation as to when schools start, many begin between 7:15 a.m. and 8 a.m. Some of those proposing late starts would like the school time to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The advocates of the later start cite studies that show that an adolescent's natural time to fall asleep may be around 11 p.m. or later. Thus getting up early enough to get to school by 8 a.m. does not allow for what is needed to avoid sleep deprivation. Sleep time for adolescents is thought to be 9 to 10 hours with anything less causing sleep deprivation. Melatonin is the "sleep" hormone. Some researchers have measured the amount and timing of melatonin being secreted in individuals. It seems that teens begin secreting melatonin later in the evening as they mature and that the secretion slows down later in the morning. So high school students are still in the sleep zone when they are supposed to be at school. Now for the comments coming from "Back in my day " As most of you readers of this column may remember, I am a city-boy. No I did not have to get up to walk uphill three miles to get to school and uphill three miles to get home in snow that was at least two feet deep. However, for time to get to school, we did have to take city transportation which meant one bus to get us part way there, then transfer to a different bus to get the second leg in, plus a few more blocks to walk after getting off the second bus. I don't remember falling asleep on either bus or on the walk to the school. As for sleeping in school, I remember only one class where I had difficulty. It was Miss Hultman's literature class. We often read out loud with Miss Hultman indicating who was the next to read. Of course after reading a few paragraphs and the next person to read had been called out, I generally felt safe in relaxing a bit counting on not being called again to read. I had a large chemistry book that I stood on end and put my arm on that and my head on my arm looking to the side at the book we were reading which happened to be Charles Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities." I probably made a little show of following along by turning a page now and then, but once I dozed a little too much. The chemistry book fell from my desk and landed flat on the floor with a very loud bang and my head hit the desk. More than a few classmates jumped at the sound. Despite that episode, I believe I learned at least a little appreciation of literature. The Book Club to which I belong happens to be rereading "Tale of Two Cities" this month! One of Miss Hultman's favorite poets was Walt Whitman. I can hear her voice in my head even now, saying, "I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear" If you read that line over a couple of times right now, I think you will hear the singing of the words in that composition from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." The advocates of starting later say that teens become more alert later in the day so those early morning classes should not happen, instead starting later so that the students are more alert when taking their classes. Now what are the implications of the later start? One might be that afternoon sports might have to be abandoned or placed as early evening sports. Afternoon jobs may need to become evening jobs. Another alternative might be to shorten the length of the school day, but increase the number of days in the year in which school is in session. By now you may have thought that a remedy for this problem is that an earlier bed-time would fix the problem and we wouldn't have to debate going to a later start. It seems there is evidence to suggest that excluding light in the evening will cause the body to readjust itself to earlier bed-times and early rising. Ben Franklin's "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," is familiar to most people. From an earlier time more than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle put forth that, "It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom." If you like that message, an even shorter statement gives the same message: "The early bird gets the worm." One final bit of research is that the most alert times for teens now seems to be 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. If we really wanted teens to get the most from school, maybe we should have sports during the daylight hours and then send the kids off to school in the evening. Furthermore, if the late start is that beneficial and evening school is not practical, there is one thing that might help just a little bit that would have teens in class a little later on at least one day of the week. Instead of having an early dismissal for teachers' meetings, the teachers' meetings could be held in the early morning and school could start a little later, yet end at the normal time. Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!	83,300
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. What Is It Fear is an emotion, but it is one with a long history in both political theory and politics in the real world. In many versions of social contract theory, it is a fear of the state of nature that leads to government in the first place. From McCarthy to post-9/11 politics, fear has played a leading role in American public discourse. Ken and John examine fear as theme in politics and political philosophy with Corey Robin from the City University of New York, author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea. According to Hobbes, fear is the force that originally motivated humanity to leave the state of nature. By agreeing to form societies, we revoke the power to cause fear and instead give the state a monopoly on inducing this primal emotion. Without limits on its power to create fear among its citizens, the state runs the risk of becoming totalitarian. But without any such power, the state lacks the ability to enforce its laws and protect its citizens. What is the appropriate balance between these two extremes? How can we determine when appeals to our fears are legitimate? Corey Robin joins John and Ken to discuss these difficult questions. In Robin’s view, much of the fear we experience on a day-to-day basis is a direct result of subtle struggles within our communities. The frequently cited accomplishments of American democracy—the abolition of slavery, woman’s suffrage, and the successes of the labor movement—involved certain portions of society gaining power, while the rest of society had something to lose by these changes to the status quo. In this sense, the historical fears of wealthy, white males may have been rational. If the rationality of our fears is not sufficient for their legitimacy, what other element is missing? The trio considers the social basis of justice in classical liberalism, the hopes and fears of the Founding Fathers, and how heightened security measures can paradoxically make us more afraid. Ken notes that the vividness of our imaginations can overshadow our ability to accurately assess the probabilities involved, leading to disproportionate responses and making it especially easy for the media to exploit our fears. Robin analyzes the ways in which the political use of fear has evolved over time, concluding that fear is caused by differences in power and is a perfectly normal state. - Roving Philosophical Report (seek to 5:35): Rina Palta talks with political consultant Jim Ross, whose clients have included San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongosky, about the power of our emotional responses and our ability to retroactively give them rational justifications. The two discuss the historical use of frightening messages in campaign ads, with particular attention to the Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction. According to Ross, fear can be used effectively as a short-term tool for drawing attention to specific political issues. In the long run, however, positive messages that inspire hope are more effective social motivators and therefore are a necessary component of a campaign’s success. - 60-Second Philosopher (seek to 48:25): Ian Shoales uses Orson Welles’s 1938 Halloween adaptation of The War of the Worlds to discuss the role of fear in our daily lives and the unlikely quirks of news media.	34,701
May 9, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to openly support marriage equality. This historic announcement came less than a week after Vice President Joe Biden also announced his support for gay rights. As public opinion begins to turn toward issues of greater equality for all, Obama leads the way. More and more Americans are becoming comfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage and are willing to extend the same rights and privileges to partners of the same gender. This has become evident in Obama's recent repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," as well as the recognition of same-sex marriage in six states across our nation, with more considering the question every day. In addition to his strong support of equal rights for all, here are a few more reasons why I support Obama in 2012: Obama has helped create more than 4.1 million private-sector jobs in his first three years in office. Obama has doubled the funding for federal Pell grants and capped the maximum monthly payment for student loans at 10 percent of an individual's income. Obama brought the war in Iraq to a responsible end and refocused the fight on al-Qaida. Obama has expanded health care access to 32 million more Americans, ending insurance company abuses such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and cancelling coverage when a person gets sick. Finally, as the mother of two young men about to enter the adult working world, I applaud Obama's leadership in ensuring that my sons will be guaranteed equal rights regardless of whom they choose to marry, the status of their health and their educational needs. Please join me in re-electing Obama in 2012. Sandra J. Kimmel, Ohio, Organizing for America. "How President Obama is fighting for you." Columbus: Ohio Democratic Party, 2012.	102,979
TABLE OF CONTENTS Detailed Description of the Collection A Guide to the Stephen Harrigan Papers, 1971-2000 Stephen Harrigan was born on October 5, 1948, and grew up in Oklahoma City, Abilene and Corpus Christi. After receiving a degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin in 1971, Harrigan briefly attended graduate school and worked as a yardman and as an ad writer for the University Co-op. He contributed articles to a number of magazines, including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire and The Texas Observer. He became a regular writer for Texas Monthly shortly after its inception and co-founded and edited Lucille, a journal of poetry, which published 10 issues between 1974 and 1978. Harrigan received a Dobie-Paisano fellowship in 1977, which allowed him to complete his first novel. Aransas, published by Knopf in 1980, tells the story of Jeff Dowling, an alienated young man who comes to terms with himself and the world as he trains two dolphins for a circus in Port Aransas, Texas. The New York Times named the novel one of the notable books of 1980, and reviewers praised its realism and style. His second novel, Jacob's Well, also focused on man's relationship with nature, following the lives of three people who are drawn together to explore an artesian well in Central Texas. The book was named one of the best books of 1984 by The Washington Post and The Dallas Morning News. Harrigan's recent books, until the publication in 2000 of Gates of the Alamo, have been nonfiction. As a freelance writer and later staff writer and editor for Texas Monthly, Harrigan displayed a talent for journalism, contributing interviews and other investigative pieces, but he also focused on the natural environment, writing about rivers, Big Bend, Padre Island and other Texas landmarks. Many of these essays were collected in Harrigan's third book, A Natural State: Essays on Texas (1988), which was recently republished by the University of Texas Press. His 1992 book Water and Light: A Diver's Journey to a Coral Reef combined research on aquatic life with his own experiences scuba diving off a coral reef in the Caribbean. The New York Times Book Review called Water and Light "moving, intelligent ... literary," and praised Harrigan's "remarkable ability to discuss the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of underwater exploration." Harrigan has also published a book of poetry and written screenplays, one of which, The Last of His Tribe, was broadcast on HBO. Harrigan's works are characterized by an intense interest in humans and their relationship to the environment around them. He once wrote of his interest in natural subjects: "I don't know what nature is exactly--whether it is a category that includes human beings or shuts them out--but for me it has always contained that hint of eeriness, the sense that some vital information--common knowledge to all the universe--has been specifically withheld from me. Sometimes, as with the snake, this secrecy has seemed malevolent, but far more often it has been wonderfully tantalizing. For much of my life I have been obsessed with nature, but not in the way a naturalist would be obsessed with it--driven to classify, to define relationships, to comprehend the world's marvelous intricacy. I have simply wanted to feel more fully a part of that intricacy, to see something other than neutral scorn in the eyes of that half-imagined snake." (Introduction to A Natural State, UT Press, 1994) Harrigan lives in Austin with his wife Sue Ellen and three daughters. The collection is composed of 21 boxes of manuscripts, galley proofs, notes, clippings, correspondence, artwork, financial and legal papers, screenplays, photographs and artifacts, 1971 to the present that document Stephen Harrigan's writing career. It has been arranged into six series: Works (1971-2000, n.d.), Correspondence (1976-1991, n.d.), Personal Materials (n.d.), Works by Other Authors, (1971, 1982, 1992-1993, n.d.), Texas Institute of Letters (1982-1983, 1985-1986), and Clippings (1971-1983). The Works series comprises the largest part of the Harrigan collection. It thoroughly documents Harrigan's methodical writing process. Most of the books and articles can be traced from the earliest notes taken by Harrigan to a proof copy or published work. The other series relate generally to his writing career. The materials are arranged in chronological order. Largely absent from the collection are personal papers or correspondence. Series 1: Works, 1971-2000, n.d. Boxes 1-16, 18-31 This series surveys Harrigan's creative works from his work as ad writer at the University Co-op to the publication of his most recent book, Water and Light. It includes manuscript drafts, notes, notebooks, galley proofs, correspondence, magazines, clippings, financial and legal papers, screenplays, photographs and artifacts. In some cases Harrigan added notes and inscriptions describing the materials and providing background information. This series is further divided into six subseries: Early Works, Books, Screenplays, Songs, Contributions to Texas Monthly, and General Works. The first subseries, Early Works, contains notes, clippings, manuscripts, correspondence, artwork, financial papers and forms documenting Harrigan's writing before the publication of his first book. It contains clippings of the ads Harrigan wrote for the University Co-op and materials from Lucille, the journal of poetry that he helped found and edit. Both are introduced by notes written by Harrigan in 1988 giving additional information and background about his job at the Co-op and his association with Lucille. The Co-op clippings are arranged chronologically, and the Lucille files have been grouped by type of material, having lost their original order. Of particular interest in the Lucille files are the three folders of submissions of aspiring poets, some of whom have gone on to literary success, such as Naomi Shihab (Nye), R.S. Gwynn and Vassar Miller. The second subseries, entitled Books, contains research notes, background materials, legal papers, handwritten and typed manuscripts, galley proofs, correspondence, reviews and artwork for four of Harrigan's published books. There are multiple drafts of each book, and the handwritten notes and early drafts of Aransas, Jacob's Well, Water and Light and Gates of the Alamo provide an overview of Harrigan's writing process. His attention to detail and in-depth organization are demonstrated in his research for Water and Light, which includes two boxes of index cards with notes about the sea and the history of diving as well as his personal notes from his trip to Grand Turk Island. The materials are arranged alphabetically by book. Screenplays, the third subseries, contains research notes and multiple drafts of Harrigan's screenplay ISHI, which was filmed for HBO in 1992 as The Last of His Tribe. Many of these drafts were maintained in notebooks (which are stored in the Artifact cases at the end of the collection) and materials found in the pockets of these notebooks have been placed at the back of each folder. The drafts are arranged chronologically, from the earliest draft to the final production script and shooting notes. Also found in the subseries is the script “Moonwalker,” co-written by Harrigan and Lawrence Wright. The fourth subseries, Songs, contains various typed and handwritten drafts of a song written by Harrigan entitled “The Old Three.” The fifth subseries, Contributions to Texas Monthly, contains research materials and notes, manuscript drafts, galley proofs, correspondence, photographs, artwork, and published articles written by Harrigan for Texas Monthly magazine. Harrigan's talent as a journalist is well documented here, showing the broad range of his interests, from an interview with Governor Bill Clements to research on the sculptor Pompio Coppini to essays on the natural wonders of Texas. Some of these articles were later published in Harrigan's third book, A Natural State: Essays on Texas. Also included are a number of complete issues of Texas Monthly in which Harrigan's articles appeared. Within the final subseries are general materials relating to Harrigan's writing career. It includes multiple handwritten and typed drafts on broadcasting, a typed essay on the exploration of Texas, an application for the NASA "Journalist in Space" program, a press release, and a clipping about the author. Also included are handwritten notebooks of Harrigan’s poetry and prose. Series 2: Correspondence, 1976-1991, n.d. Box 16 Within this series is correspondence relating to Harrigan's writing. The letters range from requests for articles from magazines and journals to letters of interest from agents and publishers, "Letters to the Editor" forwarded to Harrigan from Texas Monthly, letters from other writers and friends, fan mail, and correspondence from organizations like the Texas Institute of Letters, of which Harrigan is a former president. The series is arranged chronologically except for one folder of short notes from Lee Goerner, Harrigan's editor at Knopf. Other correspondents of note include John A. Sterling, Wallace Stegner, A.C. Greene, Elmer Kelton and Gunnar M. Hansen. Series 3: Personal Materials, n.d. Boxes 16, 33 Within this series are a few materials relating to Harrigan's personal life. Of particular interest are swimming fins and underwater slate, still imprinted with faint notes from a scuba diving trip. Series 4: Works By Others, 1971, 1982, 1992-1993, n.d. Boxes 16-17, 31-32 This series contains the typescripts of one screenplay and two books by writers other than Harrigan. Arrangement is alphabetical by author. Series 5: Texas Institute of Letters , 1982-1983, 1985-1986 Box 32 This series contains material from Harrigan’s years as an active member of the Texas Institute of letters. The documents include meeting minutes, financial statements, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and programs from Institute events. Series 6: Clippings, 1971-1983) Boxes 32, 34-35 This series includes photocopies of newspaper clippings about Harrigan and his work saved by the author and original clippings of his ads for the University Co-op. His Co-op ads have been preservation photocopied and reside in Series I. Open for research. Stephen Harrigan Papers, Southwestern Writers Collection/Texas State University-San Marcos Donation since 1987. Donors: Stephen Harrigan, Bill Wittliff. Note: Contact the SWWC for information about additional materials from this writer that have not yet been fully processed. Processed by Jennifer B. Patterson, May 1994, Amanda Oates, 2000, Inventory Revised 2005. Books in the Stephen Harrigan Collection have been cataloged separately. See the Jan Reid Collection for correspondence with Harrigan. See also accession nos. 88-052 for photographs of Harrigan by Bill Wittliff, 89-012 for an interview with Harrigan, among others, for the 90th anniversary of TIL, 90-061 for a note by Harrigan tipped into a copy of Raven's Bride, 92-061 for a teleplay by Harrigan for the TV series “Ned Blessing”, 92-073 and 92-093 for clippings about Harrigan by Susan Hanson, and 93-108 for an interview with Harrigan and others by Michael Hall.	190,792
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) offers an incentive for investment in renewable heat in a similar way to FiTs for renewable energy production. The RHI offers premium payments for heat generated by using renewable methods such as anaerobic digestion (AD) and biomethane injection to the gas grid (BtG). The scheme is based on a tariff system with a fixed payment per kWh of renewable heat generated over the lifetime of the tariff. The tariff for BtG is set at 6.5 p/kWh. CSL believes that this tariff will provide an attractive option for plants sized over 300 cubic metres per hour. They will now have a choice of generating electricity or injecting gas to into the grid as both options now give broadly similar returns. "The RHI is the first of its kind in the world. The scheme will help drive around a seven-fold increase in renewable heat over the coming decade, which will help what is currently a fringe option, firmly into the mainstream" Greg Barker, Minister for State for Climate Change	295,804
Directions, Address & Contact Info Visitors to Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge may enjoy a 14 mile self-guided auto tour route with excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. The refuge also has more than seven miles of hiking trails, ranging in length from one-quarter mile to two and a half miles. An observation deck overlooks 3,600-acre Rice Lake, where more than 70,000 ring-necked ducks and other waterfowl can be seen during the fall migration. Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in Aitkin County in east central Minnesota, about 5 miles south of the community of McGregor. Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge36289 State Hwy 65McGregor, MN 55760Phone: 218-768-2402Fax: 218-768-3040RiceLake@fws.gov Points of Interest Visitors should stop by the refuge office, five miles south of McGregor, Minnesota. Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters features educational displays and is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Know Before You Go When visiting Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, it is important to wear appropriate footwear for hiking and to dress for the weather. Consider bringing water, food, binoculars, field guides, a hat, sunscreen and anything else that might make the outdoor experience more enjoyable. Restrooms are provided on the refuge, but no drinking water is available.Ticks are abundant from late May through early July. Mosquitoes and deer flies are abundant from June through August. Insect repellent and other precautions should be taken. Black bears are occasionally seen at Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge. If you encounter a bear on the trail, remain calm. You may be surprised to know that most bears fear people as much as you fear them and will flee when they hear or see you! If you see a bear that does not leave, make some noise and give it an easy escape route. Remember, seeing a black bear is an uncommon, yet memorable experience! Follow Us Online Did you know that Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge holds the Minnesota record for the most waterfowl observed in one location at one time?	269,431
Take a Trip Down Memory Lane With The Computer History Museum The $19 million dollar exhibit covers everything from the abacus to calculators to punch cards to analog computers to today’s (relatively) powerful machines, and it has forays into all different aspects of computing, including programming, gaming, mainframes, supercomputers, graphics and design, memory and storage, networking, mobile computing, the web, and more. There’s even a section on AI and robots. (Are you getting excited yet?) Wozniak's Apple I The museum also includes the history of some of the most important companies in the industry and the emergence of Silicon Valley. Whether you’re a hardcore technophile or just someone with a passing interest in the history of our civilization, this is a place you can get lost in; the pictures of some of the displays alone are enough to elicit wonder in one’s mind. There’s huge bonus, too: You can browse through much of the information online. If and when we make it to the Computer History Museum, the first thing we’re going to do is try and find our first family computer--a massive concrete block of a laptop, which was a hand-me-down from a techie friend on which we kids did nothing but play Nibbles.	54,028
WASHINGTON — Ernst & Young, one of the nation`s Big Six accounting firms, paid the government $400 million Monday to settle federal complaints over audits of a dozen insolvent banks and savings and loans, including four of the most notorious-and costliest-failures of the 1980s. The sum was the second largest ever paid in connection with the collapse of the savings and loan industry, trailing only the more than $1 billion that junk-bond tycoon Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. remitted to resolve federal claims and criminal charges against them. Ernst & Young audited the books of as many as 300 thrifts that failed over the last seven years, according to federal regulators. These included Charles Keating Jr.`s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif., which cost taxpayers $2 billion after it was shut down. Also among the accounting firm`s clients were Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Associaton of Denver; Vernon Savings and Loan Association of Vernon, Texas; and Western Savings Association of Dallas. Reimbursing depositors of these three thrifts cost taxpayers an additional $3.5 billion. The $400 million settlement was split between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which regulates banks, and the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency created to salvage insolvent S&Ls, with roughly two-thirds of the money paid to the FDIC. Regulators said they found evidence of improper auditing by Ernst & Young at roughly 12 institutions. If all of these cases had been brought to trial, the government would have been entitled to more than $1 billion, said Harris Weinstein, chief counsel for the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). In the firm`s work for Western Savings alone, the FDIC had been seeking $560 million, alleging in a 1990 lawsuit that Ernst & Young accountants should have uncovered irregularities that hid the thrift`s losses from regulators, thus allowing it to remain open and lose even more money. But regulators decided to settle their complaints for $400 million to avoid having to take each case to court, which, Weinstein said, could have dragged on for as long as 10 years and cost $150 million in legal fees-with no guarantee of receiving anything. Ernst & Young Chairman Ray Groves also cited the likely huge and drawn-out expense of litigation as the firm`s reason for agreeing to pay. ``Although this is a costly settlement, it is the only realistic solution to an endless stream of lawsuits that would have been even more expensive to defend,`` he said. Ernst & Young offered to negotiate a settlement last March, shortly after a New York law firm, Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, agreed to pay $41 million to the OTS over its legal work for Keating. The government had sought $275 million from the firm and had moved to freeze its assets. With Monday`s settlement, the FDIC has recovered $585 million this year from operators of failed institutions and their outside professional help, and $1.7 billion since 1985. The S&L-regulating OTS has received more than $50 million this year. These sums pale, however, when compared to the taxpayers` overall bill for the bailout, now estimated to be $120 billion-excluding interest. House Banking Committee Chairman Henry Gonzalez (D-Texas) called the settlement fair. ``The American taxpayer should not be made to pay for oversights on the part of some accounting firms.`` Ernst & Young was formed in 1989 through the merger of Arthur Young & Co. and Ernst & Whinney. Based in New York, the firm has 20,000 employees and about 2,000 partners, who are the company`s owners. Under the settlement, these partners are liable for $100 million, while Ernst & Young`s insurance policies, underwritten largely by Lloyd`s of London, are responsible for $300 million. The firm`s 1991 revenue was $2.24 billion, according to Public Accounting Report, an Atlanta newsletter. In addition, one current Ernst & Young partner and two former partners were permanently barred from working for federally insured lenders. Seven others agreed to orders requiring them to get further audit training. One of the former partners, Jack Atchison, became a top executive at Lincoln Savings` parent company, American Continental Corp., only days after overseeing the audit of the thrift`s books in 1987. Lincoln Savings and American Continental were headed by Keating, the Phoenix real estate developer who was convicted of fraud for selling uninsured junk bonds to investors, many of whom were elderly and who lost their savings when the thrift failed. In its investigation of Ernst & Young, federal regulators said accountants often took the word of S&L operators without verification. They also didn`t adequately review real estate appraisals, thus missing instances when these values were purposely exaggerated. Ernst & Young accountants also failed to detect or disclose transactions between thrifts and related entities that allowed S&L operators to hide losses on real estate developments from regulators.	7,906
Mice are cute and all in movies, but seeing one in real life is enough to make you cringe or jump on the nearest piece of furniture. If you have mice in your house, you may wonder how the little rodents got in, along with how to get them out and keep them out! Mice commonly enter homes through cracks and holes in foundations and walls. Other places mice may get inside include exterior vents, pipes and wires that lead outside, gaps in windows and doors, and even plumbing pipes. Sealing these areas of entry is key to preventing mice inside. Mice are a common pest that invades homes from time to time, especially in the winter. Let’s check out how those pesky rodents are getting in and how to get rid of them! How Do Mice Get Into Your House In The first Place? As fall rolls around and temperatures drop, mice are searching for a cozy, warm place to stay for the winter. Unfortunately, your home is the perfect overwintering spot for a mouse. Mice are active year-round, but you will find them in homes more often in the colder months. According to the University of Nebraska, these prolific rodents can have 5 to 6 litters per year, each litter containing 5 to 6 mice. That’s a lot of mice! The main mouse species responsible for all the droppings and ruined grains in your home is the house mouse, Mus musculus. These sneaky mice can squeeze into spaces ¼ inch wide without a problem, so it’s no wonder they slip into our homes. But not to worry, we’ll go over all the ways mice can get into your home so you can put a stop to the mouse invasion for good! Let’s check them out… Mice Can Get In Through Cracks & Holes In Foundation Have you ever noticed concrete slab floors often have cracks in them? It’s not because the work was done badly. At least… most of the time. What causes those cracks is the settling of the ground after construction has disturbed it. Soils will fill with water, swell, then lose water and shrink. Roots will grow, expand, die off, and shrink again. This constant growing and shrinking of the soil cause the floor to move. Over time, cracks form in the concrete, in your foundation, and sometimes in the walls of your home. While this is normal, it’s also something you need to keep an eye out for and promptly fix. Mice will take advantage of those cracks in no time. The especially vulnerable areas will be the cracks behind bushes or other landscaping plants that might obscure the opening. They might also be beneath your porch or behind stairs. Mice Can Enter Your Attic Via Cable Wires or Vines Your attic is a weak spot in your home because it is typically unoccupied. You don’t know if there is a damaged roofing tile or hole in the wall until you hear the pitter-patter of little mice paws up there. But how do mice get all the way up in the attic? Mice are very acrobatic and can even climb rough vertical surfaces and wire cables without difficulty. If you have cables leading to the roof of your house, close tree branches, or strong vines creeping up the wall, you may provide mice with a route directly into your home. Once the little rodents climb up to the attic, they can squeeze through damaged roofing tiles, cracks, holes, pretty much anywhere they can find entry. Tile and shake shingles are more likely to give mice an opening than some other types of roofing materials, especially if they are not grouted properly. Mice Can Get In Through Exterior Vents The cool thing about homes is a lot of stuff keeps them running smoothly. Things we do not even have to think about. For example, our dryers shoot hot air outside through vents instead of spitting hot air into the house. Our chimneys, bathrooms, attics, kitchens, and foundations often have vents leading outside as well. Vents help release air to the outside and keep air moving inside the house. They also help reduce humidity and moisture buildup in certain areas, like basements and crawl spaces. The point is, there are many openings in our home we might not think about. Uncovered exterior vents are the perfect little entryway for a mouse-sized rodent. Most times, the air blowing out of the vents is warm, attracting mice even more. Mice can easily slip through vents that are not screened or covered properly. Don’t forget about your attic ridge vents or soffit vents as well. Mice Can Get In Through Your Piping & Sewer System When you turn on the sink to wash your hands, do you ever take the time to think about where the water goes? Probably not. It just goes down the drain and goes away! Well, eventually, the water has to lead somewhere, whether it be outside or into the sewers. Some water, like accumulated humidity from an air conditioning unit, will be piped outside and into grass or rocks. Other water, like from your sink or toilet, is piped into the sewer system, as it needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment or repurposed. If mice are desperate enough or curious enough, they may sneak their way into your home through the plumbing. They can crawl through the bathtub and sink drains, eventually making their way into the walls, basement, or attic. This is where you’re likely to hear one of the specific sounds and noises that mice make. This is more likely to happen in weekend cabins that may be undisturbed for a few days out of the week. As long as there is a rough surface to grab onto, mice will climb and claw their way through the pipes. Mice Can Squeeze Through Electric Line Openings Just like the vents and plumbing in our home, we can easily overlook wiring holes as a potential mouse entry point. Any area where cable wires run from outside to inside is a potential entry point. The space around the wiring may look small, but mice can fit through the smallest of spaces – ¼ inch! So be on the lookout for these types of openings. Mice Will Fit Through Gaps In Doors & Windows It’s nearly impossible to seal every single hole, gap, or crack in your home. But one of the big ones you can look for is the gaps in your doors and windows. Your doors may look solidly closed, but if the hinges are slightly crooked, mice can slip through the bottom or sides of the door with little trouble. You can check for this using a flashlight on one side and shutting off the lights on the other side of the door. Old wooden doors that are chipped at the bottom are vulnerable to chewing as well, which can widen the gap enough for a sneaky rodent to slip through. Windows can be a vulnerable area for critter entry too. Just like doors, windows can sit slightly crooked in the frame, giving mice a way inside. Mice can easily chew door and window screens made of lightweight plastic mesh, giving them easy access to your home. If there are already holes or rips in the screens, it makes chewing through it much easier. Mice Will Use Your Fireplace To Enter Your Home Move over Santa. You’re not the only one in town using the chimney to get in the house! Mice have been known to enter homes via the fireplace when it is not in use. Some fireplaces are more likely to allow mice entry than others. Not all fireplaces are the old-fashioned brick-and-mortar chimney style. Unfortunately, mice can gain entry to your home using almost any type of fireplace. According to the University of Nebraska, pre-constructed fireplaces that are not brick and mortar are the most vulnerable to mice. This is because there is a hollow space left between the siding and the fireplace. If a mouse can find their way inside, it will have free access to the rest of your home… Brick and mortar fireplaces also pose a problem for homeowners looking for a mouse-free house. The rough texture of the bricks can give mice enough of a grip to crawl up and down the chimney. How To Get Mice Out Of Your House Now that you know how the mice are getting inside, it’s time to do something about the actual mouse in your house. You can attempt to take care of the problem yourself, or you can hire a local professional to remove the mouse. If you decide to tackle the problem on your own, there are a few things you can do to make the process easier for yourself. Let’s check out how to get that mouse out of your house. Locate The Mouse Hot Spots The first step in getting a mouse out of your house is to figure out where it hangs out the most. This information will be invaluable in getting pesky rodents out of your home. Some of the most common areas that mice like to hang out include: - Along kitchen baseboards - On kitchen counters - In cupboards and drawers - Above drop ceilings - Near large appliances - Hot water tank - Furnace room If mice are invading in the wintertime, your best bet is to check areas that provide warmth such as near large appliances and in furnace rooms. At any other time of the year, you can find mice just about anywhere. To figure out where the mice are roaming inside your home, look for evidence of mouse activity. Check for droppings, crumbs, holes in food bags, or food with little nibbles taken out of it. Once you establish the main areas where the mouse (or mice) are moving around in your home, you can move to the next step! Set Out Traps To Catch Mice Mice that have made their way inside your home are not likely to leave on their own. If they have a cozy place to sleep and a bit of food and water, they have everything they need to survive. Plus, if you don’t have cats, there are no predators in your home. Having mice in the home differs from having a squirrel, raccoon, opossum, or bat. These animals will leave on their own to forage for food. Mice do not need to leave your home to find food. An adult mouse only needs around 3 grams of food per day to survive. So, a few little crumbs dropped on the floor is enough to keep a mouse fed. If they keep finding them, why would they ever leave the safety of your home? For this reason, using mouse traps is about the only way you can get mice out of your home. The only exception is during the summer. Mice may leave on their own during this season because it is warm outside and food is plentiful. There are two major categories of traps you can use for mice: the ‘catch and release’ kind and the ‘catch and dispose of’ kind. For the catch and dispose of kind, you can use something like the Kat Sense Mouse Traps. These are like the old-fashioned snap traps, but they have been redesigned to be more effective and humane. Once the mouse is caught, you can dispose of it by releasing the snap while holding the trap over your trash can. If you would rather use a catch and release product, Gerossi’s Humane Catch and Release Mouse Traps are a good choice. This product comes with a pack of two, so you can place them in different hot spots. So, which one is better? Catch and release or catch and dispose? It’s all about what you are comfortable with. Both traps can be quite successful in getting rid of those pesky mice. However, the main point to take away here is that no matter what trap you use, if you do not seal all entry points to your home, another mouse is likely to move in. Note: With catch and release traps, be sure to set the mouse loose near your home. Relocating mice far from their original home will not help the mouse and they likely cannot adjust or survive. If you’d like to learn more about their habits, take a look at our guide on where mice go and live during the day! What About Glue Traps & Rodenticides? Sticky boards and glue traps are products that will catch mice and cause their paws to stick to the board. Rodenticides are baits laced with anticoagulants that will cause a mouse to perish. Both techniques are not recommended to get mice out of your home unless you’ve consulted with a professional about your specific situation. Glue traps are not humane and the mouse will take a long time to perish via starvation. They can also catch non-target species like lizards, spiders, other small mammals, and birds. Rodenticides are also not humane because they take a long time to work. The mouse will ingest the bait and then go back to its nest before perishing. If their nest is inside your walls, the mouse can cause an unpleasant odor. It’s best to stick with quick snap traps or catch and release traps. You can also place certain scents that mice hate in the potential areas they enter to help them avoid ever entering in the first place! How To Prevent Mice From Reentering Your House No matter which method you use to get mice out of your home, they will keep coming back unless you seal all the little holes and cracks they are getting through. But sealing holes is only one part of preventing mice from invading your home! Seal ALL Potential Mouse Entrances This step may sound obvious, but as we said before, there are some openings in your home you may not be aware of. For a quick reminder, here are all the openings where mice may get inside: - Cracks & holes in the foundation - Damaged roofing tile - Chimney openings - Exterior vents - Cable wire entires - Plumbing pipes - Gaps in doors & windows For many of these openings, you can use something like PS Direct Hardware Cloth. This product is 36 inches X 10 feet per roll and the openings are only ⅛ inch. Definitely small enough to keep mice out! Use the mesh to cover chimney openings, exterior vents, cracks, holes, and drain pipes. For the areas around plumbing pipe and cable wire, shove the mesh into any open space around the pipes or wires. It does not need to fit perfectly around the pipe or wire, it just needs to block mice from getting through. For broken or damaged roofing tiles, you will want to replace them. Using wood, plastic, or rubber will not keep mice out, as those troublesome rodents can chew through just about anything. Similarly, using caulking to fill holes and cracks will not keep mice out. They will chew through it and keep sneaking inside. If you have more questions about using hardware cloth, take a look at our article that explains whether or not mice can chew through stainless steel mesh. Sealing your home is an excellent solution to your mouse problem. However, sealing every hole may be impossible, especially in older homes. One way to reduce the presence of mice in your home is to make your yard less attractive to mice. Mice do not have a large home range, so if they’re getting inside, they’re probably living very near your home. Brush piles, unruly stacks of wood, unused boards, and building materials are all possible nesting locations for mice. They like areas that are covered, warm, and safe from predators. Try to keep your bushes trimmed so they are not touching the ground. Stack wood neatly and, if possible, off the ground. Discard unused boards or other materials. Trim vines or tree branches that grow close to your home. Bird feeders are another mouse attractant. Mice will nibble on seeds, including birdseed. Do not worry, you will not have to take down your bird feeder to keep the mice away. You can use something like Pranovo’s Bird Seed Catcher Tray. It hangs directly from your existing bird feeder and catches all the falling seeds. This will eliminate birdseed that falls to the ground, thus keeping mice and other critters away. Pet food and water dishes are other mouse attractants. Try to feed your pets indoors or pick up their food dishes each night to avoid attracting mice. If you are finding mice in your vehicle instead of your home, you can check out our step-by-step guide, on getting mice out of your car here! Wrapping Things Up For how small they are, mice can cause a lot of headaches and damage! The little rodents might be cute on TV, but seeing one in real life inside your home is not. There are a few reasons mice are in your home: warmth, food, shelter, nesting. The good news is, there are ways to get them out and keep them out for good. Areas like your foundation, doors, windows, attics, chimneys, exterior vents, piping, and cable line entrances are all vulnerable areas. Mice can slip through the smallest of openings – ¼ inch. You can use mouse traps to remove mice from your home, but they will keep coming back if your home is not sealed properly. Be sure to use metal or concrete to block all your openings so that mice cannot chew through the sealant. Using these techniques works well with a mouse here and there, but it’s not meant to work with a full mouse infestation. If you find your home overwhelmed with mice, you can always reach out to a professional. Our nationwide pest control finder can help you get in touch with a wildlife control professional near you! Hansen, S. C., Stolter, C., & Jacob, J. (2015, December). The smell to repel: The effect of odors on the feeding behavior of female rodents. Crop Protection, 78, 270-276. Morris, C. F., McLean, D., Engleson, J. A., Fuerst, E. P., Burgos, F., & Coburn, E. (2012, February 29). Some observations on the granivorous feeding behavior preferences of the house mouse (Mus musculus L.). Mammalia, 76(2). Singleton, G. R., Tann, C. R., & Krebs, C. J. (2007, March 15). Landscape ecology of house mouse outbreaks in south-eastern Australia. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44(3), 644-652. Sked, S., Abbar, S., Cooper, R., Corrigan, R., Pan, X., Ranabhat, S., & Wang, C. (2021, March 01). Monitoring and Controlling House Mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, Infestations in Low-Income Multi-Family Dwellings. Animals, 11(3), 648. Zack is a Nature & Wildlife specialist based in Upstate, NY, and is the founder of his Tree Journey and Pest Pointers brands. He has a vast experience with nature while living and growing up on 50+ acres of fields, woodlands, and a freshwater bass pond. Zack has encountered many pest situations over the years and has spent his time maintaining and planting over 35 species of trees since his youth with his family on their property. Download My Free E-Book! Take a look at my guide on Pest Proofing Your Home In Under a Day! I get into the nitty-gritty on the most common types of pests you’ll see on your property including BOTH insects and wildlife, along with the specific signs to look for regarding any pest you have questions about.	159,903
Q. How do I search PRISM? Answered By: Kathryn Ruddock Last Updated: Dec 12, 2017 Views: 19 The basic search box is provided at the center of the PRISM homepage and top of the sidebar on all other PRISM pages. Entering terms into this search box will perform a full-text search unless syntax is used to perform a more specific query. Hit return or the magnifying glass icon to execute the search. The magnifying glass icon will take you to a page where additional search features are available.This interface performs complex queries using Filters. A drop-down menu allows for setting the search in "All of PRISM" or just one community. Use other drop-down menus to set your search terms in specific fields. Use the plus or minus to add or subtract the number of filters. Click Go when using only the top search box. Click Apply to apply filters.	256,689
Teaching, Research, and Outreach By Sanford (Sandy) Berg at the University of Florida The five write-ups below survey my views about teaching, research, and outreach based on my own professional evolution. As a graduate student at Yale University, I could not have imagined my good fortune in finding a university position that would open so many doors. There are still some years before I become less active as a teacher, researcher, and workshop organizer. So the notes here do not represent a “final chapter;” however, assembling the ideas has provided me with some fresh perspectives on what I have most enjoyed since I came to the University of Florida in 1971. The sections may not be of interest to anyone else. Nevertheless, I have attempted to describe my passion for teaching, my love of economics as a policy science, how my research has complemented classroom activities, managerial economics as a component of professional education, and observations on mentoring outside the classroom. It is a real privilege to have such flexibility that allowed me to explore so many interesting (and useful) ideas over the years. In return, I have tried to shape the Public Utility Research Center into an institution whose impact will continue long after I can no longer contribute to its programs. - My Teaching Philosophy and Objectives - Teaching and Scholarly Pursuits: the Policy Sciences at UF - Integrating Research into Classroom Teaching - Observations on Graduate Managerial Economics - Overview of Mentoring Resources of Interest - Infrastructure Policy: Basic Design Options - The Manager’s Non-Revenue Water Handbook - Ways to improve water services by making utilities more accountable to their users: A review Mike Muller, Robin Simpson, and Meike van Ginneken prepared a World Bank Water Sector Board Working Note that “aims to help those who work in and with water utilities, as well as organized users, regulators, and policymakers to improve the quality of water services by making service providers more accountable to the people they serve. Traditionally, users relied on politicians to maintain oversight of budgets and compliance with rules and to intervene on their behalf when services failed. This institutionalized a “long route” of accountability from user to political representative to service provider. Modern approaches to public management seek to hold service providers more directly accountable to their users for the outcomes of their work. Providers are expected to ensure that water flows safely and reliably from taps, that blocked drains are cleared, and that services are accessible and affordable to all. Accountability in this context is about establishing a direct “short route” between users and service providers. This review identifies a range of practical tools that can help to do this. It considers where they have been used, where they have succeeded and, as important, where they have failed, and draws lessons from this experience.” - The Manager’s Non-Revenue Water Handbook: A Guide to Understanding Water Losses This report leads utility managers through stages of addressing non-revenue water – first, understanding and qualifying it, and then developing a strategy to address it. - Water Infrastructure: Comprehensive Asset Management Has Potential to Help Utilities Better Identify Needs and Plan Future Investments This report discusses (1) the benefits and challenges for water utilities in implementing comprehensive asset management and (2) the federal government’s potential role in encouraging utilities to use it. - Water Tariffs & Subsidies in South Asia: Understanding the Basics This report notes the objectives of water tariffs, describes the main types of tariff structures around the world and their pros and cons, and examines the use of pricing structure to deliver subsidies. - Benchmarking for Regulatory Purposes This report summarizes the results of primary and secondary research with regulators and electric utilities to explore the use of benchmarks across the electric industry, both in Canada and abroad. It also provides summary findings, conclusions, and recommendations for the implementation of regulatory benchmarks in the future. - Meeting the Water Reform Challenge Governments around the world face significant challenges in managing their water resources effectively. Building on the water challenges identified by the OECD Environment Outlook to 2050, this report examines three fundamental areas that need to be addressed whatever reform agendas are pursued by governments: financing of the water sector; the governance and institutional arrangements that are in place; and coherence between water policies and policies in place in other sectors of the economy. The report provides governments with practical advice and policy tools to pursue urgent reform in their water sectors. - Urban Water and Sanitation Poverty in Tanzania: Evidence from the Field and Recommendations for Successful Combat Strategies Urban water and sanitation poverty in Tanzania is striking. Recent data suggests that 74% of the urban population in Tanzania’s nineteen regional cities and Dar es Salaam lives in so called Low-Income Areas (LIAs). Only an estimated 23% of those have access to reliable water supply according to the national definition of “access” (page 3). As Tanzania has not only one of the highest birth rates, but also one of the highest urbanization rates in the Sub-Saharan Africa (5%-6%), urban water and sanitation poverty is likely to become worse for the majority of the population. This paper gives an overview of data collected through a recent Baseline Survey in Tanzania and makes recommendations for combating urban water and sanitation poverty based on lessons learned from years of work in the country by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). - Africa’s Power Infrastructure This study is a product of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project designed to expand the world’s knowledge of physical infrastructure in Africa. The AICD provides a baseline against which future improvements in infrastructure services can be measured, making it possible to monitor the results achieved from donor support. It also offers a more solid empirical foundation for prioritizing investments and designing policy reforms in the infrastructure sectors in Africa. - Water Supply Networks and Pipelines: The Hidden Costs of Resorting to Intermittent Supplies Intermittent supplies through municipal piped water networks can be due to a lack of hydraulic capacity or severe deterioration in the network, but they can also be a result of rationing imposed as a last resort during water shortages. Bambos Charalambous explains the hidden costs of intermittent supplies, and underlines the contribution well-maintained networks that allow losses to be minimized can make when there are pressures on resources. This paper was published in the International Water Association’s Water21 December 2011 issue. - Identifying the Potential for Results-Based Financing for Sanitation This Working Paper is one in a series of knowledge products designed to showcase project findings, assessments, and lessons learned through WSP’s Scaling Up Rural Sanitation initiative. - Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management The site contains a Toolbox for Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management. There are tools for capacity development in the area of water supply; the material is designed for capacity building. The site contains tutorials on the benefits and costs of improving performance in the water and sanitation sector, demonstrating that integrated water resource management (including water use for irrigation) is crucial for long term sustainability. - Monitoring Performance of Electric Utilities: Indicators and Benchmarking in Sub-Saharan Africa (2009) This study presents the results of a major data collection and presentation effort by a World Bank team. The objective was to collect data for the selected electricity sector indicators from all sources available and present them on the web in a form that would be useful for all types of potential audiences: utility managers and specialists, policy makers, energy sector practitioners, researchers and wider public. The resulting document provides a valuable set of data for those wishing to compare performance in the region. - Emerging PPP trends in the water & sanitation sector This paper presents an overview of emerging shifts in approaches to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the water and sanitation sector. Based on interviews with 21 professionals who are actively involved in the field, the analysis focused on four areas: contracts, regulation, finance, and stakeholder engagement. While there are obvious limitations to using interviews as a methodology, the aim was to determine experts’ perceptions of where the trends in PPPs are headed. - The Operation and Maintenance Network (OMN) OMN aims to improve information and expertise exchange on operation and maintenance of drinking water supply and sanitation systems. Its tools, knowledge and other services are focused on the situation in low and middle-income countries. - Water Operators Partnerships: Africa Utility Performance Assessment This document provides a synthesis of the self-assessment and benchmarking exercise carried out among more than 130 African utilities engaged in water supply and sanitation services. Charts and tables provide performance indicators covering technical and financial performance, human resources, customer services, affordability and other areas. These assessments and associated regional workshops were critical steps in the development of the Water Operators Partnerships program for Africa (WOP-Africa). - Water Utility Benchmarking: Measurement, Methodologies, and Performance Incentives Dr. Berg’s book, “Water Utility Benchmarking: Measurement, Methodologies, and Performance Incentives” has been published by the International Water Association. The book integrates and extends results from several funded projects for the World Bank (IBNET) and the Inter-American Development Bank (Benchmarking Study of Central American Water Utilities). Performance assessment represents a challenge for managers, regulators, and policymakers. The framework is also relevant for electricity distribution company benchmarking. To order the book, contact IWA Publishing. - Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) This is an innovative knowledge program to improve public understanding of Africa’s infrastructure situation. By rigorously evaluating past infrastructure policy reforms, the AICD assists policymakers in setting priorities for current infrastructure investments and provides a baseline for monitoring progress. The AICD has undertaken unprecedented data collection and analysis on the status of the main network infrastructures, including energy, information and communication technologies, irrigation, transport, and water and sanitation. The analysis encompasses public expenditure trends, future investment needs and sector performance reviews. The AICD is being implemented by the World Bank on behalf of a steering committee chaired by the African Union Commission, and comprising the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the African Development Bank, Africa’s regional economic communities, and donors investing in African infrastructure. - The Regulation of Water and Sanitation Services in DCs Water and sanitation services involve externalities and natural monopoly characteristics. Economic regulation of these services includes the regulation of tariffs, quality of service provision, competition and consumer protection. There are a whole host of institutional models for carrying out such regulation: self-regulation, regulation by contract, and regulation by agency. In addition, hybrid models combine these elements and add expert panels and/or user participation. Each of these systems has its advantages and limitations This work summarizes existing theoretical literature on regulation and compares the French and Anglo-Saxon approaches to regulation. In addition, it reviews aims to help professionals in the water sector resolve concrete issues facing decision-makers in developing countries, including access for the poor. - Promoting Water Management Efficiency In March 2010, PURC Director of Water Studies Dr. Sandy Berg delivered this presentation, via video to the 15th International African Water Association Congress in Kampala, Uganda. - Financing On-Site Sanitation for the Poor: A Six Country Comparative Review and Analysis Public investments of varying forms enable an absolute increase in the number of poor people gaining access to sanitation, varying from 20 to 70 percent, according to a study of six cases in Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Mozambique, Sénégal, and Vietnam. This research seeks to identify the best-performing approaches and the relevant factors and issues to consider in designing a sanitation financing strategy. The report offers guidance to sector professionals developing on-site sanitation projects and programs, which play the leading role in providing access to sanitation. - Africa’s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation This study is part of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project designed to expand the world’s knowledge of physical infrastructure in Africa. - Sustainable Community Management of Urban Water and Sanitation Schemes (A Training Manual) The Water and Sanitation Program published a practical course manual for trainers of urban communities in Tanzania (and elsewhere) to improve water supply and sanitation management practices. The seven modules are meant to equip communities with the tools to eliminate or reduce the major constraints in managing infrastructure and providing services. The manual also clarifies the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. This manual covers technical issues such as operations and maintenance activities, with a strong focus on institutional, managerial, and financial issues. The material is especially relevant for communities who have a relationship with the main water services provider and who are committed to hiring an Operations Manager. - Consumer Participation in Infrastructure Regulation: Evidence from the East Asia and Pacific Region by Elisa Muzzini This paper draws on results of a survey questionnaire conducted among 45 infrastructure regulators in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. It finds that EAP regulators have successfully begun to involve consumers in the regulatory process. - Tariff Setting Guidelines: A Reduced Discretion Approach for Regulators of Water and Sanitation Services by Chris Shugart and Ian Alexander The objective of the project ‘Tariff Setting Guidelines – A Reduced Discretion Approach’ is to prepare a set of sound, well-specified guidelines that can be used by regulators to improve the predictability and transparency of the tariff-setting and adjustment process and thus reduce uncertainty. The guidelines are primarily conceived to be used in concession-type contracts or in regulatory licenses, and the project focuses on the regulation of companies providing WSS; nonetheless, the logic, and in many cases the specific guidelines proposed, have wider applicability for other sectors and other contract types. - The World Bank Infrastructure and Law This website is designed for government officials, lawyers and project managers who are involved in the planning, design and legal structuring of infrastructure projects, especially projects with private sector participation. - Infrastructure Benchmarking: A comprehensive bibliography of Data Envelopment Analysis with more than 4000 journal articles is now published. - African Water Utilities: Regional Comparative Creditworthiness Assessment Report This study examines how to mobilize additional funding for developing the water sector and ensuring that these investments result in sustainable service delivery. The report contains steps for conducting credit ratings so as to develop a better understanding of the credit worthiness water utilities in Africa. The findings from a sample study are presented in this regional report. The analysis is based on data sourced from seven participating water utilities across five African countries – Burkina Faso, Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda. The data is then used to calculate proxies for industry statistics. - Charting Our Water Future This study focuses on water resource management issues, but the links to water utility issues are clear. Numerous cases provide examples illustrating how inter-agency conflicts might be resolved, ways the private sector can contribute to improving sector performance, and evidence-based approaches to institutional reform. - Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities This book by Philippe Marin on provides a review of experiences in developing countries. He provides an overview of PPPs, including evidence on how private participation affects access, service quality, operational efficiency, and tariffs. Implications for coverage, water losses, and collections are also discussed. The author then presents lessons for the next generation PPPs in the water sector. The volume is nearly 200 pages long, and a comprehensive bibliography provides additional references. - Two reports jointly produced by the African Development Bank, PPIAF and the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) provide useful cases from Africa: - Water Utilities in Africa: Case studies of Transformation and Market Access This report presents case studies from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia on the qualities and attributes that signal the readiness of utilities to access commercial finance. Each case study incorporates an assessment of the local financial market environment as well as attempts that have been undertaken by the utility to access those markets. - How Can Reforming African Water Utilities Tap Local Financial Markets? This overview accompanies the above publication and gives a summary of key lessons and recommendations that emerged from the case studies. - Water Services for the Urban Poor – The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has issued a new Guide for improving Water Supply and Sanitation Services to the Urban Poor. The Guide identifies obstacles to reaching the poor, and proposes six action areas: - Give the Poor a Voice - Neutralize Vested Interests (water vendors, organized crime, public officials, and utility staff) - Eliminate Administrative and Legal Barriers (address land ownership/tenure issues) - Strengthen Capacity, Autonomy, and Accountability of Service Providers and Provide Incentives to Serve the Poor - Adopt Appropriate Financial Policies (Promote financial sustainability and cost containment strategies) - Overcome Physical and Technical Barriers (water resource management and growth management) The report includes a compilation of 19 case studies from 12 countries as well as consultations with urban poor communities to analyze similar barriers and propose solutions. - Improving Water Utility Services through Delegated Management This case study provides lessons from utility and small scale providers in the informal settlement of Nyalenda in Kisumu, Kenya. Utility partnerships with small-scale providers are becoming increasingly important as mechanisms for serving the poor. The Field Note discusses the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders (the state, the utility provider, citizens/clients, and local providers). - Taylor, Robert P., Chandrasekar Govindarajalu. 2008. Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond. This new book examines the strengths and limitations of energy efficiency programs in developing countries and economies in transition with emphasis on practical lessons from recent experience. - Bogetic, Zeljko, and J. Fedderke. 2006. International Benchmarking of Infrastructure Performance in the Southern African Customs Union Countries. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3987. This paper provides a first, systematic benchmarking of infrastructure performance in the SACU countries in four major sectors. - Benchmarking Data of the Electricity Distribution Sector in the Latin American and Caribbean Region, 1995-2005. This web site enables users to conduct cross-country and cross-utility comparisons. - Gratwick, Katharine Nawaal and Anton Eberhard. 2007. An Analysis of Independent Power Projects in Africa: Understanding Development and Investment Outcomes. University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business, MIR Working Paper. This document provide a valuable overview of IPPs. - Visit the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility website and read summaries of several recent publications including, Recent Trends in Private Activity in Infrastructure: What the Shift Away From Risk Means for Policy, Does the Private Sector Deliver on Its Promises? Evidence from a Global Study in Water & Electricity, and The Role of Developing Country Firms in Infrastructure: New Data Confirm the Emergence of a New Class of Investor (Updated with 2005 and 2006 Data) - Studies on Infrastructure seem to be available on a monthly basis. Two recent policy research working papers on regulation and sector performance are available, one for Latin America and another for Southern Africa: - This helpful resource is a report by the Independent Evaluation Group: The Welfare Impact of Rural Electrification: A Reassessment of the Costs and Benefits. - Another helpful resource on the power sector is the report, Reforming Power Markets in Developing Countries: What Have We Learned? by John E. Besant-Jones. The paper is a sourcebook of some 240 references that study international experiences in power market reforms. The author will be a featured presenter at the 24th PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy in June. - OARE, Online Access to Research in the Environment, enables developing nations to gain free access to its large collections of environmental science literature. AGORA, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture, offers online access to its digital collection at a reduced-cost or no cost to developing nations. - As state-owned utilities gain experience with benchmarking and improve their performance, they may seek the endorsement of regulators for the issuance of bonds. The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) has announced a three-year pilot, the Sub-National Development Technical Assistance Program (PPIAF-SND), to help sub-national entities improve their creditworthiness so they can access market-based financing on their own account without sovereign guarantees. The goal of this new program is to help mobilize local capital for improvements in infrastructure services and promote the development of local financial markets. - The volume, Handbook for Evaluating Infrastructure Regulatory Systems (Brown, Stern, and Tenenbaum, World Bank, 2006), provides an overview of why, what, and how to evaluate regulatory systems; discusses the rationale for regulatory evaluations and describes various forms of regulation; compares the dominant styles of evaluation, emphasizing the importance of analyzing regulation systems against sector-based outcomes; presents the case for using the independent regulator as the benchmark for performing the most credible and effective evaluations; details elements of different hybrid or transitional regulatory systems when “best practice” regulatory systems are not feasible; describes how to assess the impact of regulation on sector outcomes and provides tools to identify these impacts; offers guidance on conducting quick, mid-level, and in-depth evaluations of regulatory systems. In the Spring Semester of 2007, University of Florida undergraduate student teams in the course, Public Utility Economics: International Infrastructure, examined issues in infrastructure industries, such as the political economy of regulation, market structure and competition, performance benchmarking, service to the poor, cost analysis, and environmental impacts.	7,657
One of our favourite art critics, Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, reviews one of our favourite writers, Maria Golia, who has just published a book on the history of Egyptian photography, and finds that Photography and Egypt: ..does not even try to jam its subject into an elegant or orderly art-historical narrative. Rather, it traces the development of photography in Egypt over the last 170 years through a chaotic and unruly field of social, political and economic contexts. Golia does not view the medium in isolation, nor does she focus solely on its aesthetic attributes or technological advancements. Instead she considers photography as a dynamic practice whose means and ends cannot be disentangled from the overlapping twists and turns of the country’s history. Golia also points out how Egypt is connected to the earliest beginnings of photography, and is one of the most photographed landscapes ever. We have been waiting expectantly for this book to come out--how can we get a copy?	288,316
UnionsWA and Cancer Council WA have issued an urgent warning today for over 300,000 West Australians who work outdoors every day to protect themselves from cancer-causing UV and the risk of heat-related stress by protecting themselves with clothing, hats, sunglasses, shade and sunscreen year-round. Owen Whittle, Assistant Secretary, UnionsWA said: “During a typical working day, around one in five Australians are exposed to significant levels of sunlight. “In WA our biggest sectors are those that pose the greatest risk for UV and heat exposure – the agricultural, forestry and fishing, construction, mining and transportation industries. “In these sectors exposure to UV is typically as high as sixty and seventy percent of the working day. “Occupational exposure to sunlight is a major factor for skin cancer and it adds up over a lifetime. “Exposure to sunlight is a work issue for many people because they work five days a week and their working hours are mostly daylight hours. “Heat as such doesn’t cause cancer but does contribute to fatigue which heightens the risk of workplace accidents – another good reason to slip, slop, slap, seek and slide. “Sun protection, regular breaks and drinking water are important for fatigue prevention. “In very extreme conditions of heat, it is important for all working people to know that if they have a reasonable fear of serious or imminent harm, they have a right to stop work entirely. “Everyone should look out for everyone else in extreme heat and sunlight conditions.” Cancer Council WA SunSmart Manager, Mark Strickland said: “It is estimated that around 200 melanomas and 34,000 non-melanoma skin cancers per year are caused by occupational exposures in Australia. “UV radiation damages the DNA in skin cells and this can lead to skin cancer. “For the general public we recommend sun protection be used when the UV index reaches 3 or more. “However, for outdoor workers, we recommend sun protection be used all the time, because outdoor workers get so much sun exposure. “In Western Australia, we reach levels well above three during most days of the year across the state, so you can see that it’s vital that outdoor workers remember to ‘Slip Slop Slap Seek Slide’ as part of their daily routine to reduce their risk of skin cancer. “There are three main types of skin cancer; squamous cell carcinomas, basal cell carcinomas, and melanomas. Squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas are the most common types. Melanoma is rarer but more dangerous. All types of skin cancer require treatment. “Recent studies have found that risk of squamous cell carcinoma among outdoor workers is nearly double that of indoor workers, while risk of basal cell carcinoma is increased by almost 1.5 times. “We know from The Australian Work Exposures Study that 22 per cent of Australian workers are exposed to solar UV radiation at work. “Although sun protection was used by 95 per cent of Australian outdoors workers, only 8.7 per cent were classified as fully protected by using a hat, sunscreen, clothing and shade for more than half the outdoor working time – so this is a big concern. For best protection, Cancer Council recommends a combination of sun protection measures: - Slip on some sun-protective clothing that covers as much skin as possible. - Slopon broad spectrum, water resistant SPF30 (or higher) sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun. - Slap on a hat – broad brim or legionnaire style to protect your face, head, neck and ears. - Slideon some sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards. Cancer Council’s UV resources are available online here. Cancer Council WA Work Settings (research summaries) available online here.	30,448
As Hurricane Irene gets closer to making landfall in North Carolina, Eastern Canada is bracing for her arrival on late Sunday. The storm will likely be interacting with a front at that time . . . based on current information gale force winds are probably for many maritime, Newfoundland and Labrador waters, the Canadian Hurricane Centre confirmed on Friday morning. Residents of Nova Scotia have been advised to prepare for the weekend storm. Monitor weather and hurricane forecasts. Restock 72-hour emergency kits. Review family emergency plans. Prepare your home, the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office said in a statement. Such kits should have a sufficient amount of food and water, flashlights, batteries and a crank or solar-powered radio. New Brunswick is expected to receive a heavy dose of rain Sunday night, with 120 millimeters in the north and another 80 millimeters in the south, according to Canadian Hurricane Centre meteorologist Jean-Marc Couturier. People at this point should really seriously get ready, get prepared for power outages, and what we like to tell people is you can be autonomous for three days, Couturier told CBC News. On Friday morning, the country's leading airline Air Canada advised its passengers that flights to and from areas including Nassau, U.S. North East and U.S. South East may be postponed or cancelled due to the hurricane. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs also warned Canadians to avoid all non-essential trips to the U.S. East Coast. While Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has yet to comment on Irene, U.S. President Barack Obama addressed East Coast residents on Friday, emphasizing on the need to prepare for the worst. I cannot stress this highly enough: if you are in the projected path of this hurricane you need to take precautions now. Don't wait, don't delay. We all hope for the best but we have to be prepared for the worst, all of us have to take this storm seriously . . . all indications point to this being a historic hurricane, said Obama. Hurricane Irene, demoted from a Category 3 to Category 2 storm overnight, is expected to hit North Carolina on Saturday.	149,369
I'm fascinated with the power and reach of social networking. Every day I find something new – another clever idea of capitalizing on the power of all of these connected people who are online daily making new connections, sharing content, collaborating… It truly is a new world of interacting with others, and in many ways makes our huge world of seven billion residents feel a little smaller and much friendlier. One of the social networking areas that's captured my attention recently is crowdfunding, an offshoot of crowdsourcing. Oxford Dictionaries even has an official definition of crowdfunding: The practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet Crowdfunding is being used successfully by many types of people and groups for a broad range of projects and causes including creative projects, entrepreneurial products or technologies, artists, bands, or independent filmmakers seeking support, humanitarian aid, political campaigns, charities, and microlending. Crowdfunding creative projects I'm fascinated with three-year old Kickstarter – a platform that enables potential entrepreneurs with a creative idea to float the idea within the Kickstarter community to see if the people like the idea enough to fund it; lowering the barrier to entry dramatically. When you think about it, what an inexpensive (as in free) means to do market research and build your customer base, in one fell swoop. The Kickstarter project funding categories are broad and range from art, to food, to publishing, technology, and theater. The average project is raising under $10,000, but take a look at the Most Funded page for a list of successfully funded projects and how much they received (one of them was 15,454% funded for a total of $77,271 pledged!) Only 44% of the projects meet their financing goal, and a project that doesn't meet its goal receives no money — that is, if the project doesn't meet its funding goal, the supporters get their money back, so it's a no-risk funding situation. But if you look at Kickstarter's FAQs, it does talk about accountability, and how they do not take responsibility for the project creator completing the project after the money is handed over. It's up to the donor to check out the project and creator thoroughly. The FAQ points out that "Because projects are usually funded by the friends, fans, and communities around its creator, there are powerful social forces that keep creators accountable." According to the website, more than $200 million for 20,000 projects has been raised. Kickstarter takes a cut, 5%, but only if the project is fully funded. In contrast to traditional venture capital funding, the project owners keep 100% ownership of their work. Like all truly integrated social networking applications, Kickstarter is tied into all of the major social media channels, giving the project owners an easy way to promote their projects through their online and offline communities. So what do investors get for their most popular pledge of $25 or average pledge of $70? There's no tax write-off or ownership of the project, but the project creators offer rewards, related to the project itself. According to Kickstarter, here are the four most popular types of rewards with examples: - Copies of the item: The album, the DVD, a print from the show. These items should be priced what they would cost in a retail environment. - Creative collaborations: A backer appears as a hero in the comic, everyone gets painted into the mural, two backers do the handclaps for track 3. - Creative experiences: A visit to the set, a phone call from the author, dinner with the cast, a concert in your backyard. - Creative mementos: Polaroids sent from location, thanks in the credits, meaningful tokens that tell a story. Projects with creative and tangible products are the most likely ones to get funded. Stay tuned for part 2 to find out about how non-US residents can crowdfund their creative projects. Holly Nielsen is the Social Media Manager and webmaster for the Human Ability and Accessibility Center, IBM Research. Located in sunny Northern California, Holly manages the IBM Accessibility social media program and the www.ibm.com/able website. She is passionate about accessibility and social networking, and frequently blogs about social networking trends and assorted topics that spark her interest. You can follow her on Twitter, @hollynielsen. Holly is an IBM Redbooks Thought Leader	76,898
The premier of the Northwest Territories suggests the Alberta government should consider looking North rather than west for a pipeline route to Asian markets. Premier Bob McLeod told CBC Radio’s The House on Saturday, “If we can’t go south, if we can’t go to Asia, if we can’t go to the United States, if we can’t go east, then we have to look at all of our options, which could include a northern route.” But, an aboriginal business leader in the Northwest Territories said that plan is full of holes. The $5.5-billion Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project, which would transport raw Alberta bitumen to a west-coast port at Kitimat, B.C., is facing major backlash from B.C. Premier Christy Clark, First Nations whose territory the pipeline would cross and, according to recent polls, more than half of British Columbians. The issue hit a breaking point at last week’s premiers meeting in Nova Scotia where Clark said British Columbians need a bigger piece of the revenue pie before she’ll consider signing anything. Alberta Premier Alison Redford maintains her province will not split any of its resource royalties or tax revenue with B.C. And, while McLeod says the resource-rich NWT would be a willing partner, Fred Carmichael of the Northwest Territories-based Aboriginal Pipeline Group says a northern oil route would face similar battles from environmentalists and aboriginal groups. Carmichael’s aboriginal-owned business represents the Inuvialuit, Sahtu, and Gwich’in people. The group has a one-third stake in the proposed Mackenzie Natural Gas Pipeline, which just concluded a six-year review process approving the owners to build a pipeline to transport natural gas south from the Beaufort Sea to pipelines in Alberta. But, it was not an easy road from initial exploration that began in the 1970s, to approval given by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet in 2011. “They think there’s a battle with the Gateway pipe?” Carmichael told Postmedia News on Saturday. “I tell you, there’d be one big battle here.” Carmichael was instrumental in negotiating the aboriginal seat at the Pipeline’s table with ConocoPhillips, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Imperial Oil. But he said he would not support a pipeline carrying raw bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to northern waters. “We’re a partner in clean energy for one specific project — the Mackenzie gas project — there’s too much of an issue around the country on the tarsands. Right across the globe, you might say.” McLeod told CBC “in the Northwest Territories, aboriginal governments are our partners.” Carmichael is not convinced. “Anybody who sticks their head in the sand and says ‘the aboriginal people won’t oppose that,’ well, (aboriginal people are) already raising hell about the (oilsands) and the fact that they feel that its polluting their waters ... so, you can imagine what would happen if we say we’re just going to move it North.” There is also the issue of bringing tankers around Alaska and the Yukon Territory into the ice-filled waters of the Beaufort Sea. “They’re already concerned about the ice situation melting faster than they expected,” said Carmichael. “We have the whales and polar bears. It’ll be such a mess to even think about going there.” However, McLeod said a deal with Alberta would be good for the whole country, as well as his own resource-rich territory. “For Canada to become an energy superpower, the resources in the northern territories, particularly the Northwest Territories, have to be developed and we’re not in a position where we can have our natural resources stranded for another 40 years as it has been for the past 40 years.”	308,744
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. All Commentaries on John 3:27 Go To John 3 Cyril of Alexandria Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to Whom thou barest witness, behold, the Same baptizeth, and all men come to Him. John answered and said, The disciples bitten by the words of the Pharisees, and looking to the very nature of the thing, were not able to convict them as liars, but were reasonably at a loss, and being ignorant of the great dignity of our Saviour, are exceedingly startled at John's shortcoming, and mingling words of love with reverence and admiration, they desire to learn, why He That was borne witness to by his voice, prevents him in honour, outstrips him in grace, and in baptizing takes in His net, not a portion of the whole Jewish multitude, but even all of them. And they made the inquiry as it seems not without the Will of God: for hence the Baptist invites them to an accurate and long explanation respecting the Saviour, and introduces the clearest distinction between the baptisms.	66,262
You must have Credits on your Balance to download this sample Pages 5 (1255 words) Student’s name: Professor’s name: Module title: Module ID: Submission date: How does Marx's interpretation of history affect his political ideology? The present paper concentrates upon exploring the impact of Marx’s interpretation of history during his early career years on the establishment of his political ideology in the future life to go… Though earlier works created by Marx seem to be advocating the scientific and technological development by taking it to be beneficial for the growth of human societies through his political ideology (156-7); nevertheless, his later works looks opposing the same partly because of the increase in exploitation of proletariat by bourgeoisie in the wake of industrial developments taking place in society (324). Somehow, instead of censuring the development, Marx aims to defy the evils the development had brought along with it. Since the political, social, economic, cultural and religious environment under which man is brought up and experiences the socialization process leaves an indelible imprints on his ideological thoughtfulness, the initial era cognitive development and thoughts keep on influencing his outlook and opinion on the one side, and regulating his actions and behavior on the other; the same is equally applied to the set of political and socioeconomic beliefs maintained by this distinguished philosopher and Father of Socialism i.e. Karl Marx (1817-1883). ... Not exactly what you need?	73,781
Image: The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)January 7th, 2014 in Astronomy & Space / Astronomy Credit: ESA, NASA, HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Three thousand light years from Earth, the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is a sight that draws in the human eye. In this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, numerous bubbles are visible – shapes generated by the ejection of glowing gas as the star at its centre approaches the end of its life. While large stars die in supernova explosions, average Sun-like stars form planetary nebulas as they exhaust their fuel supplies and slowly expire. The name 'planetary nebula' arose because the round shape, sculpted as layers of material are ejected, looked a little like a planet in small telescopes. The Cat's Eye Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1786, and remains an interesting target for ground-based astronomers. Amateurs can see the magnitude 8.1 blob in the sky well enough to resolve the Cat's Eye shape, while large telescopes have identified a wider halo extending into space. This image was published on the ESA Portal in 2004, but the Hubble Space Telescope first revealed the nebula's intricate structure in 1994. Observations of its intricate concentric gas shells and unusual shock-induced knots of gas suggest that the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1500 year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells that each contain as much mass as all of the planets in our Solar System combined. Provided by European Space Agency "Image: The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)." January 7th, 2014. http://phys.org/news/2014-01-image-cat-eye-nebula-ngc.html	118,533
The Atlantik Wall In Normandy Stp255 Fort Roule Map 1210E The Fort du Roule, a classic "French" star fort built in the nineteenth century, sits atop a rock spur which dominates Cherbourg from the south. In 1944 the Germans had turned the fort into a formidable strong point. Coastal artillery, facing the harbour, was mounted in the lower level under the cliff edge. The upper ramparts were studded with concrete machine-gun and mortar emplacements and protected by an antitank ditch. Below this upper level were a series of galleries and underground passages linking the four Casemates which housed 105mm guns. The guns were unusual in as much as they came from S-Boates. Cherbourg was a S-Boate base and the guns were soon transferred from the German Army to the German Navy. The Casemates were of the type 671 and this is the only site that had this combination of guns and bunkers. The FCP is a non standard design, although one other was built at Garde de Guerin near St Malo.. The tunnels were not completed by D-day, but on the top of Fort Roule the Germanís constructed or planned type L411a, L434, 501 & 607 type bunkers. This upper part of the site is still owned by the military and is out of bounds. The lower tunnels were used during the occupation to store torpedo's for the "S" Boates, and was Known as Stp255 The tunnels have now been turned into a museum, but not for "Bunker Enthusiasts" it is more like Disneyworld and does not really tell the history of the site. Visit Azeville where the story is told much better. Stp255 R671/SK x 4 - Fire Control Post/SK 105mm SK C/32 C/36 Manned by ?/MAA260 External Defences L413a - L2 x 3 - R630 x 2 - R634 - R646 - R622 - R607 - L411a - Vf58c x 3 - Cable Pit - 37mm Flak36 x 3 All photographs are the copyright of Hand Maid Tours, please ask before you use them.	145,271
Abortion is the termination of pregnancy by removing or causing the baby inside to die. It has been a grave issue around the world for its moral and some other reasons. Most common opinion on abortion is that it is a cruel process of taking away the life from an unborn baby that was formed because of the parents’ mistake. I hate to see the word mistake and pregnant together. Being pregnant should not be something people should be ashamed of, since it is a process of a new life being born. But now days as more and more unmarried people who does not want a baby become pregnant, its value has crashed incredibly. There seem to be more people who are worried about being pregnant rather than wanting to be pregnant. Now there is abortion to get rid of the babies that were not supposed to have formed. How respectful is that to the baby. I have been against abortion and still am against the abortion, but what made me think that it might not be all negative was the book freakonomics. In that book, the speaker states abortion as the main reason of the decrease in recent crime rate. This fact shocked me and made me think of abortion in a different perception. I only thought of the babies that will be killed and how their lives are getting lost even before they are born but have never thought of the babies that are actually born. When a baby is born because the mother failed to get an abortion she wanted to get, then there isn’t a great chance of that baby being taken care of properly by the mother. Children who have not gotten enough love and care from his or her parents are likely to become an outsider of the society and even worse, become a criminal. But just because these kids have high possibility of becoming a not very helpful part of the society doesn’t mean that they are worthless lives that should not be born. If the government finds a system to take care of those kids with love and support, people will feel less worried about becoming pregnant since they have a place to take care of their kids that they do not want. If they were irresponsible enough to have an unwanted baby in the first place, there is not much doubt that they will see that system as a day care center of some kind. There does not seem to be a proper solution for this issue about abortion, but it is something that needs to be solved. For now, abortion can seem to be helping the society in a way since the unwanted children that might cause trouble later will not be born, but is very wrong morally. I think the best way to solve this problem is for the people to, in the first place, not make the babies that they will later decide to erase. They should know, if they are the ones who made the babies, that they have a grand responsibility of taking care of the children and also the children’s lives.	186,626
... At the heart of the system is sound -- a 190-decibel [pulse/wave?] that fluctuates some 100 times per second. That expansion and compression creates pockets of cold and warm [gas, then the heat gets vented out of the system]. I could do with listening to some of that this summer. Though according to Wikipedia: "eardrums pop at 190 to 198 dB", so it's probably not such a good idea. Apparently, "the Penn State thermoacoustic chiller uses helium gas instead of chemical refrigerants".	158,448
It is one of the most tantalising ever official accounts of an encounter with a UFO – deemed so credible it even convinced the government minister who investigated it. Now, for the first time, the sighting of a flying saucer by an RAF fighter pilot and the subsequent high level inquiry it prompted can be revealed. The sighting occurred in 30 July 1952, when Flight Sergeant Roland Hughes was on a training flight over West Germany in a de Havilland Vampire FB9. As he was returning to base, he reported being intercepted by a "gleaming silver, metallic disc" which flew alongside his aircraft before speeding off. The mystery object was also detected by RAF radars on the ground, which recorded it travelling at speeds far in excess of any known aircraft. Hughes reported the sighting to his senior officers who sent him to see Duncan Sandys, the then aviation minister, to brief him personally. Following the meeting, Sandys went on to tell senior civil servants he was convinced by the airman's story. The UFO sighting is not only one of the most detailed by a serving member of the armed forces but also shows how seriously such reports were taken by the authorities. British governments have historically downplayed the suggestion that such sightings have been investigated. The existence of the sighting has emerged in papers released by the Churchill Archive, at Cambridge University. The centre contains the papers of Sir Winston Churchill, as well as Sandys, who married the former prime minister's daughter, Diana. In one document – written a few days after the interview with the 23-year-old Hughes – Sandys tells the government's chief scientist, Lord Cherwell, about the meeting and states that he found the airman's account and the supporting evidence from radar "convincing". The sighting came shortly after a number of similar "flying saucer" reports from US airmen and Sandys added: "I have no doubt at all that (Hughes) saw a phenomenon similar to that described by numerous observers in the United States." Lord Cherwell had dismissed the US sightings as "mass psychology", but in his memo Sandys takes him to task for this attitude and makes clear his position on the existence of UFOs. The minister, who was later promoted to Defence Secretary, went on: "Until some satisfactory scientific explanation can be provided, it would be most unwise to accept without further question the view that 'flying saucers' can be dismissed as 'a mild form of hysteria'." Sandys also wrote that there was "ample evidence of some unfamiliar and unexplained phenomenon". The documents are among thousands released by the archive in recent years. Their disclosures were uncovered by David Clarke, a Sheffield Hallam University academic, while he was conducting research for a new edition of a book he has written on UFO sightings for the National Archives. By chance, shortly after his discovery, Dr Clarke was contacted by the fighter pilot's son, who had read the earlier edition and wanted to share information about his father's sighting. Roland Hughes had died in 2009, aged 79, but had recounted his version of events to his son, Brian, who passed on the account to Dr Clarke, as well as his father's log book, in which he had noted the sighting and subsequent meeting with Sandys. The incident will now feature in the latest edition of the book, to be released in September, following the release this summer of more government UFO files from the National Archives. In the airman's account, relayed via his son, he was in one of four aircraft from No. 20 Squadron, of the RAF's 2nd Tactical Air Force, returning to RAF Oldenburg, in northern West Germany, flying in formation at high altitude in clear visibility. He reported seeing a sudden flash of "silver light" in they sky high above him which rapidly descended towards him until he could see that it was a "gleaming silver-metallic disc". The airman said its surface was shiny, "like tin foil", and "without a single crease or crinkle in it". He could see, with "astonishing clarity", the aircraft's "highly reflective and absolutely seamless metallic-looking surface". He estimated its size at 100ft across – "about the wingspan of a Lancaster bomber". It flew alongside him for several seconds before flying off at great speed. None of the other three pilots saw the object – it is thought because they were all executing a "banking turn" at the time and would not have been looking in the right direction – but radar on the ground had picked it up. Six days later, Hughes – who later worked as a commercial airline pilot – was sent to RAF Fassberg, another base in northern West Germany, to give his account to senior RAF officers and Sandys himself, who was visiting. The minister's first question to Hughes was how many beers he had had the night before. After the sighting, Hughes – who was known as Sam, after a character created by Stanley Holloway, the actor and comedian – was nicknamed "Saucer Sam" by colleagues, who painted a cartoon of a flying saucer on his jet. Brian Hughes, 45, a Ministry of Defence civil servant based at Bovington Camp, in Dorset, said: "We knew about the sighting in the family when we were growing up but my father didn't talk about it a lot. We learned about it more from prompting him. "He was very matter-of-fact about what he saw, just describing the details. He never did any research into UFO or flying saucers and didn't have any interest in the supernatural of science fiction. "If it was someone other than my father who had told this story, I would be sceptical. He once said to me 'People think you're mad if you say you've seen a flying saucer – I've only ever seen one once; I've never seen one since.'" Dr Clarke, who is sceptic on UFO issues, said: "There is absolutely no doubt that something was seen by Hughes. He is not making this up. But the only honest position to take is that we don't know what it was. But there could be some sort of scientific explanation, before you start jumping to conclusions about alien visitors."	116,953
oa South African Journal of Cultural History - Die duiwel in die volksgeloof van die Afrikaanssprekende Beliefs about the Devil cannot be regarded as superstitions because the Devil is a very real figure in Christian religion. If people ascribe unrealistic and improbable characteristics to the Devil, these are referred to as folk beliefs. Afrikaans folk beliefs about the Devil and his works are illustrated primarily by the many references to this character in everyday language, folksongs. stories and jokes. In earlier years a very broad section of the population still believed firmly in certain features of the Devil which have today faded to mere humorous references. As far as his appearance is concerned. there are certain characteristics which remain embedded in folk beliefs because this is how he is almost consistently represented, namely with goat horns. goat hooves, an arrow-tipped tail and a trident. Article metrics loading...	246,584
The Taliban's home city of Kandahar is a volatile and dangerous place. In the midst of the ongoing conflict there, Rangina Hamidi, an Afghan-American woman, has started a business that provides local women with jobs creating embroidery. Earning their own money empowers these women, raising them out of poverty, improving their self-esteem, and enabling them to make independent financial decisions. Sushma, a 24-year-old single mother of four from a remote village in Nepal, was taken to India and sold to a brothel for $250. Unlike most victims of sexual slavery, however, Sushma managed to escape her captors and return home. In this film we meet some of the women trying to staunch the flow of an estimated 12,000 young women who are trafficked across the open Indian border every year, and follow Sushma as she sets out to find the man who lured her to Kolkata. Rape is a weapon that costs nothing, but it can cause as much damage as a bomb. We travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to interview Dr. Denis Mukwege, one of the few doctors in the country willing to treat rape survivors, to discover the truth behind one of the world's greatest unreported evils. Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, targeted violence against women in Afghanistan is back at an alarming level. Women of all ages are enduring brutal physical and sexual abuse in their own homes. A few lucky ones find their way to one of only six shelters in the country. We visited one of them. In the Islamic state of Mauritania, women who have been raped often end up in prison. About 60 percent of women who come forward with allegations of sexual violence are accused of Zina, or a crime against morality. It is therefore unsurprising that most choose to remain silent. Fatima M'Baye, the first female lawyer in Mauritania, is part of the movement to blunt the harsher aspects of Sharia, and also help women overturn their convictions. The Mid-Magdalena region of Colombia is one of the most macho parts of Latin America, a place where violence against women is a casual part of everyday life. But change is coming. One of the "change-makers" is Judge Esperanza Gonzalez, a woman in her late 40s who is seeking to bring justice for females both inside her courtroom and out. In Iran there are different entrances and sections for men and women on public buses: women sit at the back, men at the front. Except on Farahnaz Shiri's bus. She's the first female bus driver in Tehran, and everything on her bus is vice-versa. She is the governor and the only lawmaker of her own little society. But what do her passenger's think? Food security is a pressing issue for millions of people worldwide. But one South African project demonstrates that, with a little guidance, local people can often produce their own food in a healthy, environmentally sound way, with additional benefits like economic growth and empowerment of the community. It's more than eight years since the Taliban ruled Herat but, for many women here, life has barely changed, with forced marriage, domestic violence, and rape still commonplace. Now a fledgling women's rights movement is determined to change that legacy. In the 1960s, a small group of Malian women cloth dyers reinvigorated the craft of hand-dyed cloth using a fabric called bazin. Now, thanks to microcredit programs introduced in the mid-1980s, bazin production has flourished into a lucrative enterprise dominated by women. Their artistic creativity has become a force for alleviating poverty and affirming identity in West Africa. Life isn't easy for Haitian migrants living in the Dominican Republic. Mostly women and mostly undocumented, they are easy targets for trafficking and exploitation, and face the constant fear of deportation. But, given a digital camera to record their stories of hope and struggle, some of the woman have begun to find a stronger voice for themselves. Midwives in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, represent the front line in a nationwide battle to improve the lives of women. They are helping to reduce domestic violence and improve education, while also working hard to maintain a maternal mortality rate of close to zero.	61,665
"Dental Public Health is the science and art of preventing and controlling dental diseases and promoting dental health through organized community efforts. It is that form of dental practice which serves the community as a patient rather that the individual. It is concerned with the dental health education of the public, with applied dental research, and with the administration of group dental care programs as well as the prevention and control of dental diseases on a community basis" (American Dental Association, 1976). The Department of Community Dentistry at Case Western Reserve University offers both pre- and post-doctoral training in dental public health. More information about the pre-doctoral training can be found here. The advanced education/residency program has three different tracks to meet various candidates' needs: one-year full-time or two-year part-time for dentists with a master's degree in public health (MPH) and a two-year full-time program for dentists without an MPH or equivalent. During the first year, students in the two-year fulltime program will primarily be working towards the accredited MPH program at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. During the second year, these students will be primarily engaged in the dental public health residency activities at the School of Dental Medicine and will also be completing any pending requirements of the MPH. Those successfully completing the advanced education program will be educationally qualified to take the examination of the American Board for Dental Public Health (ABDPH). The Commission on Dental Accreditation has granted the accreditation status of “approval without reporting requirements” to the dental public health residency program at CWRU. The program is administered by an experienced program director and faculty members. The training program will be tailored to meet each individual resident’s career goals and it will include didactic instruction, acquisition of research skills, and field experiences including community-oriented primary care. The primary training site is the School of Dental Medicine at CWRU, with extramural sites in other parts of Ohio. The field experience sites include the Greater Cleveland Free Medical Clinic, Akron Community Health Resources, Inc., among others. The didactic instruction for the residency program will encompass competencies of the American Board for Dental Public Health. Training will also include concepts such as population health, cultural competency, and health literacy. The field experience sites have been carefully chosen to increase residents’ cultural sensitivity and understanding of minority groups. Trainees will have numerous opportunities to work with underserved populations such as the indigent, refugees, and minorities. The city of Cleveland is a vibrant location for health care, primarily provided through the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. The Department of Community Dentistry’s faculty members have expertise in dental public health, epidemiology, health services research, and behavioral sciences. Areas of research in the department include disparities in oral health, access to care, and survey research. Residents will have access to numerous learning opportunities that are available at CWRU, the premier research institution in Northeast Ohio. The residency program has excellent collaborations with the component schools/departments/centers at Case Western Reserve University: the School of Medicine’s Departments of Family Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Prevention Research Center, School of Social Work, etc. Residents will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the experiential learning of dental students that is also referred to as A Cornerstone Experience (ACE). One such ACE, the Healthy Smiles Sealant Program, offers an excellent service learning program to the first year dental students and is offered by the Department of Community Dentistry. In this ACE, first-year dental students place pit-and-fissure sealants on the teeth of needy children in Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Residents also have the opportunity to assist with the second-year ACE: Family First, which incorporates the care of families, inter-professional interactions, risk assessment, and small group learning into students' clinical experiences with the family they are caring for. Following is the list of the primary faculty members affiliated with the advanced education program in dental public health at Case Western Reserve University and their areas of expertise: \|Catherine Demko, PhD\|\|Epidemiology\| \|Scott Frank, MD, MS (MPH Program Director)\|\|Public Health\| \|James Houston, DDS\|\|General Dentist\| \|James Lalumandier, DDS, MPH (Diplomate, ABDPH)\|\|Dental Public Health\| \|Suchitra Nelson, PhD\|\|Epidemiology\| \|Sena Narendran, BDS, DDPH RCS, MSc (Residency Director & Diplomate, ABDPH)\|\|Dental Public Health & Epidemiology\| \|Kristin Victoroff, DDS, PhD\|\|Behavioral Sciences\| \|Kristin Williams, DDS, MPH\|\|Dental Public Health\|	302,186
Photo: Courtesy John Smith/Corbis; Audio: Courtesy Museum of Electronic Sounds Photo: Courtesy Dan Forbes; Audio: Courtesy Museum of Electronic Sounds Photo: Courtesy Ted Foxx/Alamy; Audio: Courtesy Museum of Electronic Sounds Photo: Courtesy Nokia; Audio: Courtesy Museum of Electronic Sounds Photo: Courtesy Lawrence Manning/Corbis; Audio: Courtesy Museum of Electronic Sounds A generation of electronics is going extinct, and its death rattle sounds like a rotary phone. Or the static of a cathode-ray-tube TV. Or the banshee screech of a dot-matrix printer. For many of us, those sounds can elicit waves of nostalgia, yet as new technology becomes sleek and silent, we’re in danger of losing those sense memories. Thankfully, three friends are taking steps to preserve the soundtrack of bygone eras. Welcome to the Museum of Endangered Sounds. Since April, the digital archive—at SaveTheSounds.info—has been collecting noises from obsolete tech like floppy-disc drives and Speak & Spell toys. “We highlight sound as a trigger effect,” says Phil Hadad, 28, a museum cofounder. You hear it and you’re transported back to your formative years. For Hadad and his fellow archivists—Marybeth Ledesma, 24, and Greg Elwood, 27—those mnemonic bytes might be the warm descending bleeps from a Nokia ringtone or that unforgettable jagged warble of a 56K modem. (“It reminds me of wanting to throw my computer out the window,” Ledesma says.) The three operate under the collective nom de plume of Brendan Chilcutt, a futurist geek with an overbite and eight gerbils who welcomes suggestions via tweet and email. Because who else will school Gen Y’s offspring in the ways of Encarta Mind Maze and the ZX Spectrum? If their project catches on, someday we’ll all be nonagenarians on a front porch somewhere, idly whistling Brian Eno’s startup music for Windows 95. Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article. Video: Alexa Inkeles	303,988
Thanksgiving is a time for people to celebrate blessings made throughout the year. It’s the perfect time for friends and family to reconnect over a bountiful meal that typically consists of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and endless amounts of pie. There’s nothing better than good food and great company, and Thanksgiving is a time where both come together. If you’re ready to be the master chef and take over as the host of the Thanksgiving party, you’re going to need to be prepared. Throwing a party is hard work. Below, we’ll go over all there is to know about preparing for the big feast. From setting the table to cooking the turkey, we have all the answers you’re looking for. Cooking the Turkey With the holidays approaching, you’re going to need to start planning your meals. The turkey is the centerpiece of every Thanksgiving meal, so there’s no wonder so much stress revolves around cooking it. If you don’t want to disappoint all of your dinner guests, you’re going to have to do your homework and learn how to cook this bird. Here are some helpful tips on cooking a turkey: - Allocate 1.5 lbs of turkey per person, so if you have 15 guests coming, buy a 22.5 lb turkey - Give yourself enough time to thaw your turkey out in the fridge, typically 1 day for every 5 pounds - Don’t wash your turkey in the sink, it’s the dirtiest place in the house—most bacteria will die as it bakes in the oven - Cook your stuffing and turkey separately, then add the stuffing once the turkey finishes cooking - Test the temperature of the turkey, once it reaches 165F, you should be good to go Preparing the Sides Once the turkey is in the oven cooking, it’s time to prepare the sides. Thanksgiving Day will be hectic, especially if your guests are already at your house and you’re trying to entertain them as well. This means you should do your best to prepare any sides the day before. Sure, sides like rolls and cranberry sauce can be made the day of, but more elaborate dishes like stuffing, casseroles, and pies can be more demanding. Some popular Thanksgiving dinner sides include: - Roasted vegetables, with superfoods like carrots, potatoes, Brussel sprouts, yams, and green beans - Mashed potatoes - Gravy and cranberry sauce - Candied yams Setting the Table Once all of your food is ready, it’s time to set the table, which can also be done the day before to save you some time on Thanksgiving Day. When setting the table, you want it to be festive. Make sure you light some candles, buy some Thanksgiving flowers, and place festive decorations around your table and home. Then, make sure you iron your tablecloth, wash all of your china and set a dinner plate, side plate, bowls, glasses, and silverware. Don’t forget the napkins, either! With all that food, a tiny mess is bound to happen. Get the Drinks While the food steals the show when it comes to Thanksgiving, you can’t leave the drinks behind. When preparing for your first Thanksgiving party, you want to make sure you have a vast assortment of drinks for your guests to choose from. Water is always a staple, but make sure you get the party started with some wine, beers, and alcohol for mixed drinks. If you’re crunched for time, you can order an alcohol delivery service. Or, you can also ask your guests to bring a bottle as well to make sure the celebrations last throughout the night. The best thing about having wine and other beverages available is that your guests won’t mind if your dinner comes a little later than expected. Time flies when having fun, especially when tasty appetizers are around, so make sure you have your wine cabinet locked and loaded. Don’t Forget Dessert! No Thanksgiving party is complete without dessert. While you’ll be cooking the main course, don’t feel shy asking your friends and relatives to bring a dessert. After all, Thanksgiving is all about giving, so they’ll be glad to help you out on this great holiday. Some tasty desserts to consider include: - Apple pie - Pumpkin pie - Pecan chocolate pie - Maple cookies - Pumpkin spice brownies or cookies - Rice pudding - Blackberry cobbler Getting the Party Started It’s easy to tell yourself you have everything under control when it’s time to cook for dozens of people. But in reality, it can be extremely stressful, especially if it’s your first time hosting a Thanksgiving party. However, with this guide handy, you’ll be able to tackle any dish that comes your way and surprise your guests with your party-throwing abilities.	245,596
They say a smile is worth a thousand words. The tooth fairies in the chewing gum industry are exploring ways to make that smile worth even more. We tackle one of the most topical areas in the field: tooth mineralization, better known as tooth decay prevention. According to Dr. Doris Tancredi, director of health & wellness for global gum & candy at Mondelez International : “Chewing gum has more approved EFSA [European Food Safety Authority] claims than any other food product.” Most of these claims are in dental health. In Europe for example, EFSA, considered one of the most stringent authorities globally, has authorized health claims for sugar-free gum, such as “helps to maintain tooth mineralization , neutralizes plaque acids and reduces oral dryness. ” Natural functionality of sugar-free gum 1. Helps neutralize plaque acids 2. Helps maintain tooth mineralization 3. Reduces oral dryness 4. SFG with carbamide neutralizes plaque acids more effectively 5. Xylitol-sweetened (100%) gum reduces the risk of caries in children 6. SFG with fluoride increases resistance of enamel to acid attacks and increases the rate of remineralization. This means sugar-free gum is in itself functional. “Saliva is nature’s mechanism to protect your teeth – it’s an incredible biological system Mother Nature has created,” said Tancredi. Stimulated saliva is saturated with calcium, phosphate and buffers, which help balance pH levels to prevent tooth demineralization and promote remineralization. Tancredi said that gum should be chewed after every meal, snack or carbohydrate-containing beverage to stimulate saliva. Enhanced mineralization – Recaldent Other ingredients can also be added to gum to potentially enhance its dental health functional properties. Xylitol has a claim for decreasing mineralization, but there is no EFSA claim to positively remineralize teeth through added ingredients. However, Tancredi believes it’s the next big thing. “I think the next great area is enhanced mineralization and the primary ingredient with the most peer-reviewed publications to do that is Recaldent.” Mondelez International has exclusive rights for Recaldent in gum and candy, which it uses for Trident Xtra Care in the US, Canada and Mexico, under the Trident Total brand in Colombia and Brazil, under Beldent in Argentina - and in Thailand and Japan under the brand name Recaldent. Mondelez says this gum is performing well as the overall category suffers. Recaldent is derived from cow milk protein and has the technical name casein phosphopeptides amorphous calcium phosphate, or CPP-ACP. Mondelez is keeping the gum production process using Recaldent under wraps, but says the ingredient goes into the non-soluble gum base rather than the coating. Tancredi said that the dose varied depending on the market – but was fully released after around 10 minutes of chewing. “It’s very expensive to make,” she said, making it difficult to bring to emerging markets that command lower retail price points. A recent study by Colombian researchers questioned whether CPP-ACP gums and xylitol gums could prevent dental caries and gingivitis after conducting a clinical trial. However, Tancredi queried the study’s methods, including selection of sample size and length of the trial period. See HERE. A New York consumer has also probed Mondelez’s claims that Recaldent rebuilds teeth by launching a class action lawsuit. However, this was dismissed by the New York Supreme Court in March 2011. Xylitol decreases demineralization, says EFSA Mondelez’s Recaldent gums compete with Wrigley Orbit Professional gum, which is sweetened with xylitol. Xyltiol has been touted as the stand out ingredient for dental health in gums, according to a review by Wrigley. EFSA has authorized a health claim for “decreasing tooth demineralization” for food and drinks containing intense sweeteners (polyols) such as xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol and others, which includes xylitol gums. Wrigley: More evidence needed for enhanced mineralization However, Wrigley has itself doubted the positive tooth mineralization effect of multiple ingredients, including xylitol and CPP-ACP. “Chewing sugar-free gum alone provides a proven remineralization and anti-caries benefit,” Wrigley scientists said in a review last year. “However, against this background level of enhanced remineralization provided by the action of gum-stimulated saliva flow, it has proven challenging to provide unequivocal and consistent evidence for a statistically significant and clinically relevant superior effect for gum with specific active agents providing an anticaries effect.” Tancredi said the review highlighted that longer term studies were needed. She added that: “By far, the largest number of studies demonstrating a short term remineralization effect supports Recaldent’s efficacy, and there are published reviews to support this.” Chewing gums containing xylitol also have an EFSA claim for reducing dental plaque, but only when the gum is 100% sweetened with the ingredient. The claim applies when 2-3g pieces are chewed at least 3 times per day after meals. Fluoride, peroxide and carbamide Fluoride is another option which has been approved for use in some countries. In Europe, sugar-free gums with fluoride have an EFSA health claim for increasing resistance of enamel to acid attacks and increasing the rate of remineralization. However, Wrigley said that despite this claim “published clinical studies have usually required that study participants use a fluoride-free dentifrice [toothpaste], limiting the real-world relevance of this effect”. Mondelez is also looking at peroxide as a teeth whitening ingredient, which has never been used in gum before. Last year it filed a patent for a method using encapsulated solid peroxide within the gum base. Carbamide is another ingredient that has an EFSA health claim in gum. The claim says that sugar-free gums containing carbamide neutralize plaque acids more effectively than sugar-free chewing gums without the ingredient.	193,283
Rapid advances in cancer treatment such as precision radiation therapy have helped target diseased cells while leaving healthy tissue untouched The word ‘cancer’ may still invoke fear, but the disease is a long way from being the death sentence it once was. These days, with rapid advancements in technology, treatment for cancer has become far more precise – this means, tumour cells alone are attacked and healthy tissue nearby as well as critical organs are spared. Precision radiation therapy, in which a high-energy radiation beam is targeted at diseased cells, is one of the advanced cancer treatments, and doctors say it is enormously beneficial for patients. “The goal of cancer treatment now is organ preservation. A curative dose of radiation is directed at the tumour, but technology is helping us prevent inflicting damage upon neighbouring tissue. Earlier, this precision was not there and a lot of healthy tissue was damaged in the process. Today, we are able to actively cure stage 1 and 2 of breast cancer, head and neck cancer and cervical cancer. We are also able to conserve these organ,” said S. Alex A. Prasad, secretary of the Association of Radiation Oncologists of India (AROI), Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Take a tumour in the lungs for instance. “A high dose of radiation is used to ablate (destroy) the tumour, but the organs at risk here include the heart and trachea. With pancreatic cancer, the stomach, kidneys and liver are at risk. If radiation therapy cures the cancer but there is damage to the kidneys, it is not acceptable. But technological advances are helping us minimise damage to these organs,” he explained. This is the idea behind precision radiation therapy, said L. Padmanabhan, consultant, clinical and radiation oncology, Billroth Hospitals. “Earlier, cancer treatment was empirical and two-dimensional. The tumour was considered to be either rectangular or square and treatment was directed accordingly. But tumours generally have irregular shapes. With developments in imaging science, we can now study the tumour in detail. CT/MRI slice scans give us the tumour’s volume, and we can then plan the type of radiation to be given,” he said. Radiation oncology has come a long way from superficial X-ray machines to linear accelerators, he said. Some of the techniques today include Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, High Dose Rate Brachytherapy, Image Guided Radiotherapy, Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Radiotherapy. “These techniques help in delivering precise or optimal doses of radiation to the tumour to kill the cell, and in turn cure or control the disease,” he said. Dr. Prasad said radiosurgery was the most popular treatment now, and involved using radiation instead of a knife for precise treatment at the micro-millimetre level. Ramesh S. Billimagga, president of AROI said proton therapy, in which a beam of protons is used to irradiate diseased tissue, was also coming up in several parts if the country. “We have a lot more to do to make treatment accessible and affordable. Knowledge about cancer is concentrated in urban areas and needs to spread in rural areas,” he said.	286,406
You are using Internet Explorer 8 to view this site. IE8 is a 6-year-old browser that does not display modern web sites properly. Please upgrade to a newer browser to make best use of this site. Contact your local library branch if you require assistance. For more information, see this FAQ page. Explore the philosophy, practices, and scriptures of one of the world's major religions. Herman explains in plain English the fundamental concepts of Taoism, explores in depth the origins and multiple interpretations of the religion, and goes into detail about what it means to be a Taoist.	179,352
The so-called "Frankenstorm" hurricane Sandy that rocked the American East Coast this week leaving homes destroyed and millions powerless may have more in common with Frankenstein than the mainstream media has let on. Namely, by using tactical chemtrails, chemdumps, and HAARP technology, it is quite evident that hurricane Sandy was souped up and steered (if not entirely created) by man. Have a look at these videos to see exactly how HAARP and chemtrails were used to cause hurricane Sandy to increase in power and change direction: Full moon tides, a building tropical storm, and a colliding cold front mixed with massive chemtrail spraying and off-the-chart HAARP readings certainly combined to create "The Perfect Storm" just a week before the US elections! It reminds me of the Haiti Earthquake Caused by HAARP which serendipitously happened to hit just weeks before their elections. In the first video above you can see how the storm was clearly losing power and veering Eastwards when suddenly a mass of long chemtrails and condensed chemdumps along the coastline combined with infrasonic undulations from HAARP technology pumped it up and helped steer it towards land. HAARP Status, the real-time sensor network set-up to detect HAARP waves over America, just before and during hurricane Sandy showed the highest readings they have ever recorded with peak intensity going off the charts right at the New England coastline!	211,169
Don’t kill me- says your document! Whether you are writing a user’s guide, online help, or an installation guide, you always strive to convey a meaningful message to your intended audience. However, the message often gets diluted and becomes meaningless due to a number of reasons. Of course, a writer may not put enough efforts in making a message meaningful but most of the time several external factors contribute in killing the effectiveness of a document. Let’s look at the top three factors that kill a good document: 1. Time Constraints People want to get things done yesterday. Seriously, do you expect a writer to woosh a magic wand and generate a document out of nowhere? I have had memories of the almighty project manager, stubborn developers, and agile marketing people who pushed all the buttons they could push to make things happen at the last moment. Documentation, unfortunately, always gets pushed to the last moment. You get what you put in. Less time means that a writer will have to cut corners, there will still be typos in the document and the effectiveness of the document will be severely compromised. Just like a cake, a document needs time to get baked. Half baked cakes and documents prepared in hurry have one common factor: they stink! 2. Lack of Corporate Standards Styles Guides and Marketing Communication standards exists for a reason. They bring uniformity to the document and chapters of an online help developed by several writers seem consistent. Just as different people speak in a different way, different people also write in a different way. A style guide acts as a catalyst and brings uniformity to the documentation. It really doesn’t matters if you choose Microsoft Manual of Style, Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, Read me First or an in-house developed style guide. What matters is that you follow a standard. 3. Insufficient Information Technical Writers are information solution providers. They take complex information as an input and generate easy to read documents as an output. However, if the input is insufficient then the quality of output cannot be good. I know few unfortunate writers who worked in Agile teams where there were no string of information passed to the writer and yet S/He was responsible for generating the documentation. There is no functional specification, there is no example code and the developer has no time to talk. Well… even the software dialog you have to document doesn’t appears in the software build. Sounds familiar? I have gone through similar instances where there was no or insufficient information available and I was responsible to develop an ‘effective’ document. I created my own cheat-sheet and methods to compensate for the lack of information. For example, I put a notification on a code repository where developers were checking their code. Whenever they used to check in code for modules which I was watching (and documenting), I used to get an email notification and I could guess the areas of change (new screenshots for new features, yay!). I was lucky and this trick worked but how many times can we be ‘lucky’? What do you think are the factors that destroy effectiveness of a document? Can we do anything to make documents effective even without the availability of required time and information? Leave a comment and let me know.	34,636
HAMILTON TWP., N.J. (WPVI) --Police in Hamilton Township are trying to track down the vandals who destroyed a statue of a Roman goddess. The 800 pound figure was toppled from its perch outside the Italian American Heritage Center in Hamilton, breaking into pieces. "It's concrete. It doesn't have rods in it and the way it hit, it just snapped it in half and then broke the arms and hands off," John Scarpati said. It happened the Friday before last, one day it was erected, and it's not the first time vandals have hit this Italian American club. Not long ago, someone defaced the statue of Christopher Columbus that stands at the corner of the property. "Last year, we had a new Columbus statue, they painted the face black and then they wrote the F word and some other logos," Scarpati said. Members are wondering why vandals would target the center and damage the statues that were placed to beautify the property and commemorate their Italian heritage. "We're trying to be proud of our heritage and we are trying to show it and they are just tearing us down," Sally Van Fleet of the Italian American Heritage Center said. The damaged statue is part of a unique collection of religious figures that also includes Roman centurion statues Scarpetta got from a storage place in Atlantic City. Police tell Action News they've checked security cameras in the area for leads, but without success. Volunteers are now installing their own camera system at the center. "It's cowardice. They can't stand to see somebody have something great in the community," Scarpati said. The broken statue is now being kept behind the building and is being replaced with another figure. The Italian American Heritage Center is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.	160,829
1 Who s carrying the can? A report into youth services gaps in Victoria Every young Person Every Chance 2 Youth Support Services: Who s Carrying the Can? 3 2006 Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria Inc. (YACVic) Authors: Jen Rose, YACVic and Carolyn Atkins, VCOSS Graphic Design and Layout: Marcia Leonard, VCOSS This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealings as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, non profit organisations have permission to reproduce part of the book not exceeding 10% of any section as long as credit is given to VCOSS and no charge is made by any such organisation with respect to any use made of the material. Copies of this publication are available from VCOSS Level 8, 128 Exhibition Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 T F E YACVic Level 2, 172 Flinders St Melbourne, VIC 3000 T F E 4 Contents Acknowledgements About YACVic and VCOSS Summary of recommendations V VI VII 1 Building a service system VII 2 Strengthening services VII Introduction 1 Background 2 Some terms explained 5 Young people 5 Generalist youth support services 5 Youth work 6 What do youth workers do? 6 Adolescence and young adulthood: the importance of support 7 Brain development during adolescence 7 Increased risk taking behaviour 8 Emotional vulnerability 8 Increased stress 8 Substance use 8 Mental health 9 The essential role of generalist youth support services 9 Who s carrying the can? project methodology 11 What youth service providers had to say 13 Lack of care along the service continuum 13 A reduction in available support services 14 Increasing waiting lists 14 The need for more flexible support models 15 Difficulty in providing follow up support 15 Cohorts of young people missing out 15 Gaps in more specialised supports 16 Youth friendly referral system 17 Issues compounded on the urban fringe 18 Rural and regional communities 19 Funding and service sustainability problems 21 The impact on young people 21 The impact on youth service providers 23 Key findings and recommendations 25 1 Building a service system 25 2 Strengthening services 31 Appendices 35 Endnotes 38 Explaining the gaps - voices from the sector 10 III 6 Acknowledgements YACVic and VCOSS wish to sincerely thank the following people and agencies who participated and generously shared their time, stories and contributions as to ways forward for the Who s Carrying the Can? project and campaign, and the development of this report: All the youth service providers who completed a Youth Service Gaps: Who s Carrying the Can? Youth Service Provider Survey. All School Focused Youth Service co-ordinators who completed a Youth Service Gaps: Who s Carrying the Can? School Focused Youth Services feedback form'. The Regional Youth Affairs Networks, for their contributions to the project and campaign and the Regional Youth Affairs Network Convenors for facilitating responses to drafts of this report. Representatives from the: - Office for Youth, Department for Victorian Communities; - Juvenile Justice and Youth Services, Office for Children, Department of Human Services; and - Mental Health Branch, Metropolitan Health and Aged Care Services, Department of Human Services. Acknowledgements V 7 About YACVic and VCOSS Youth Affairs Council of Victoria The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) is the peak body representing the youth sector. YACVic provides a means through which the youth sector and young people voice their opinions and concerns in regards to policy issues affecting them. YACVic works with and makes representations to government and serves as an advocate for the interests of young people, workers with young people and organisations that provide direct services to young people. YACVic also promotes and supports the participation of young people in debate and policy development areas that most affect them. YACVic s resources are primarily directed towards policy analysis and development, research and consultation and to meeting the information, networking, education and training needs of our constituency. Victorian Council of social service The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) is the peak body of the social and community sector in Victoria. VCOSS works to ensure that all Victorians have access to and a fair share of the community s resources and services, through advocating for the development of a sustainable, fair and equitable society. VCOSS members reflect a wide diversity, with members ranging from large charities, sector peak organisations, small community services, advocacy groups and individuals in social policy debates. The strategic objectives of VCOSS are to: 1. Advocate for good quality of life outcomes for all. 2. Build a strong sector to create social change. 3. Create a strong public presence for social justice and equity outcomes. 4. Sustain just and equitable outcomes through collaboration VI Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 8 Summary of recommendations 1 Building a service system a The need for a Victorian youth services system Recommendation: That the Victorian Government develop and invest in a locally-based, integrated and comprehensive youth services system in Victoria, that is structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum. b Understanding service gaps and making informed program and service investment Recommendation: That a project be undertaken to develop a framework for a strong youth services system, identify best models of service delivery, and where the youth service gaps are in Victoria. c Investing in services 1 Recommendation: That the Victorian Government dedicate new resources to creating more generalist youth support positions and services in Victoria, and that these be delivered within flexible funding models that allow for a range of support responses to young people. d The importance of local planning Recommendation: That local planning process and structures be resourced at the local government level across Victoria. 2 Strengthening services a Early intervention in mental health Recommendation: That the development of a youth services system structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum include targeted resources to provide mental health support at the early intervention and secondary levels of the service system. b Improving collaboration Recommendation: That mechanisms be established to improve collaboration across the youth and community sectors and across Government departments. Specifically, the objective of these mechanisms would be: 1. to develop and strengthen the integration of youth specific services provided by the youth and community sector. Summary of recommendations VII 9 2. to develop clear strategies and measures to improve collaboration across government departments and between levels of government regarding youth support services. c Investing in Sector Sustainability Recommendation: That Government improve its investment in the development and sustainability of the youth and broader community sector, specifically in the areas of workforce development, training, and ensuring adequate resourcing of services to ensure appropriate and timely support can be available for young people. VIII Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 10 Introduction If our answer to young people is that Sorry, we can t help you, we are failing in our duty of care and commitment to young people. Youth service provider, Melbourne. There is always the someone scenario, eg someone should do something about these kids, someone needs to provide these kids with opportunities, someone should get these kids off the streets, someone should teach these kids that they have responsibilities as well as rights who is this someone? Youth service provider, rural Victoria The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) have undertaken to work in partnership to collate a range of evidence and information around the gaps in generalist youth support services in Victoria and their impact on both young people and existing youth and community sector service providers. The collection of evidence exploring youth service gaps began in 2005 through the work of the Western Regional Youth Affairs Network, other Regional Youth Affairs Networks (RYANs) and stakeholders, youth service providers and the Office for Youth. In 2006 VCOSS and YACVic conducted the Youth support services: Who s carrying the can? project and campaign. The project and campaign involved the collection of evidence from the youth and community sectors through surveys and community forums. These mechanisms enabled youth service providers to share their knowledge of the gaps in youth support services in their region, the impact these gaps had on young people, and the impact they had on existing services. The recommendations in this report stem from the findings of the project and campaign, from the broad work of both VCOSS and YACVic and from the work undertaken by a range of other youth services, organisations and local government networks around the need to better support and promote the wellbeing of young people in Victoria. Other research, including academic research, local government reports, program evaluations and community sector research has also influenced the development of the recommendations outlined in this report. The recommendations made are focused at a state-wide level. Introduction 1 11 Background A number of key Victorian Government policy frameworks provide a context for discussions regarding priorities and ways forward to support and promote the wellbeing of young people in Victoria. These include: Growing Victoria Together, A Fairer Victoria and Future Directions: An Action Agenda for Young Victorians. Growing Victoria Together: A Vision for Victoria to 2010 and Beyond (GVT) outlines the Victorian Government s overarching strategic directions, incorporating a triple bottom line model across key government functions. The Government s vision is that by 2010 Victoria will have become an even better place to live and work, with a thriving economy, quality health and education, a healthy environment, caring communities and a vibrant democracy. Growing Victoria Together also shows how we ll measure progress towards achieving our visions and goals. We will use Growing Victoria Together as a framework for community discussion about how to achieve our vision and goals. Premier of Victoria, May 2005 GVT provides the platform for working towards a more sustainable Victoria, providing clear measures and targets, and encompasses a broader vision of the capacity and productivity of Victoria. 2 There are ten goals within GVT that underpin what the Victorian Government seeks to achieve for Victoria across five themes: 3 1. Thriving economy More quality jobs and thriving, innovative industries across Victoria Growing and linking all of Victoria 2 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 12 Quality health and education High quality, accessible health and community services High quality education and training for lifelong learning Healthy environment Protecting the environment for future generations Efficient use of natural resources Caring communities Building friendly, confident and safe communities A fairer society that reduces disadvantage and respects diversity Vibrant democracy Greater public participation and more accountable government Sound financial management A Fairer Victoria (AFV) forms the priority action areas of the Victorian Government s social policy statement. 4 While its Economic Statement focused on economic sustainability, the focus of AFV is on social sustainability. It serves as a ten year plan to reduce disadvantage and create new opportunities for all in Victoria. Through the actions outlined in A Fairer Victoria, we aim to put in place an effective, long-term approach to making sure that all Victorians whoever they are and wherever they live can contribute to the challenge of building a fair and prosperous Victoria. Deputy Premier of Victoria, Future Directions builds on the Victorian Government s overarching strategy, Growing Victoria Together. 5 It is also intended to support the Victorian Government s social policy action plan, A Fairer Victoria, which seeks to create opportunity and address disadvantage throughout the State. Future Directions outlines a list of 40 actions that the Government has invested in, so as to achieve five key objectives. These objectives are to increase the number of young people who: Contribute more to their communities and want to make a difference Make a successful transition from school to a job they like Know how to access information, support and services they need Lead healthy, active and culturally diverse lifestyles, and Live in a secure environment and choose safe behaviours. These objectives are concerned with some of the central elements of young people s wellbeing. Other key factors include positive health and wellbeing, opportunities for ongoing learning and development, employment and recreational opportunities, and access to transport. To better support and promote the wellbeing of young people, an integrated system along the continuum of prevention early intervention secondary tertiary is required. Such a model provides a sound framework on which to base the provision of integrated services and ensure timely interventions as young people transitioned from adolescence to adulthood This model is similar to the approach evident in public health, which recognises that wellbeing ranges from adequate functioning to those at risk, and encapsulates services across the universal, secondary and tertiary service system: 6 Primary or universal services are those that are directed to the whole target population all young people. Secondary or selected services are those that are directed to clients who have a particular issue or concern and need assistance to resolve this. Tertiary or targeted services are those where the issue, problem or concern is one that requires intensive and often ongoing intervention. People may seek out the service or be subject to statutory intervention due to the nature of the problem or level of risk. Generalist youth support services play a pivotal early intervention and prevention role in promoting the wellbeing of young people. They also play an important support role for young people receiving tertiary level services. There has never been in Victoria a youth services system as such, resulting in gaps in the accessibility of crucial youth support services. These gaps have been exacerbated over the past few years following Victorian Government policy shifts from universal and secondary youth services to tertiary services, for example, the redirection of the funding for the Youth Services Grants to Family Mediation Services. Although crisis-based services at the tertiary end of service delivery are essential and continue to be under-resourced, VCOSS and YACVic advocate that crisis-based services should not be made a priority at the expense of preventative and early intervention services at the primary and secondary level. Background 3 13 Research shows that the greatest level of need for young people requiring support is at the early intervention and secondary level. 7 In refocusing generalist programs to target a specific group of young people who are at risk, the Victorian Government is isolating the needs of those young people who access generalist early intervention casework and counselling. Adequate funding across the early intervention, secondary and tertiary level of services is essential to ensuring an effective service system that is able to support young Victorians. For the Victorian Government to fulfil its stated commitment to early intervention, to ensuring a more integrated service system, to services being available in a timely fashion, and, equally importantly, to ensuring that young people have the chance to reach their full potential, 8 it needs to increase investment to ensure that generalist youth support services are available across Victoria. Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 14 Some terms explained Young People For the purposes of this report young people are defined as people between the ages of 12 to 25 years. Most youth services in Victoria offer services to this broader age range. It should be noted, however, that the Department of Human Services definition of a child is 0 to 18 years and that very few of their programs are targeted at those over the age of 18. Also, within this report, VCOSS and YACVic highlight concerns reported by youth service providers that the support needs of children aged between 8 and 12 years are not being met. Whilst this group sits outside the definition of young people, it is important that the support needs of this earlier age bracket be met as part of an early intervention approach to young people s health and wellbeing. 9 Generalist youth support services Generalist youth support services are youth specific, universally available and flexible in approach. In this report reference is made to two levels of generalist youth support primary/early intervention and secondary intervention. Primary/early intervention: Services that provide skill development and case management, holiday programs, life skills, drop in programs, homework programs, recreation and leisure events and arts programs, programs that support young people s participation and civic engagement, the development of leadership skills and that enhance young people s protective factors. Secondary intervention: Services targeted to young people who are more at risk of family breakdown, early school leaving, bullying, and mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety that are not experienced at an acute level. These programs may include family mediation, counselling, advocacy and case work. Most typically these services provide short to medium term interventions (generally 3 months 6 months) and will refer on for more intensive or specialised support if needed. Youth workers work with young people at both an early intervention and secondary support level. People with other specialist skills also deliver secondary support to young people, such as psychologists, social workers or family mediators. The diagram on the following page illustrates the prevention - early intervention - secondary - tertiary service continuum. In this diagram, generalist youth services fall within the primary/early intervention and secondary levels of the spectrum. Some terms explained 5 15 Youth Work The main purpose of youth work is supporting the personal and social development of young people and their social inclusion. Youth work is a process of intervention to assist young women and men to transition from childhood to full and effective participation in society. The role is educational and developmental but may include aspects of protection. It also involves a commitment to social change, and principles of equity and social justice. 10 What do Youth Workers do? Youth workers provide formal or informal services for young people, in groups or as individuals. These include advocacy, community development, referral, social education, health education, rehabilitation, participation programs, skills development (such as leadership skills) rescue and correctional services. Youth service providers also provide important advice to other organisations, agencies and different levels of government on the needs of young people. Youth workers work directly with young people as their primary clients. They can act as managers of premises and services for government and non-government agencies. They also work in areas of social policy formation, systemic advocacy, coordination and implementation, as well as in professional education, training and research. They also work to facilitate and advocate for stronger links between young people and their communities, for the voices of young people to be heard and to enhance young people s civic engagement. In Victoria, youth workers work in a variety of settings with young people. These include (but are not limited to) local governments, youth services and centres, family services, recreational services, schools, juvenile justice centres, community health centres and churches. In addition to this type of generalist youth service provision, youth workers also work in secondary and tertiary services such as residential care units, homelessness services, drug and alcohol services, mental health services and employment assistance services. Figure1: Framework for understanding services Source: Better outcomes for disengaged young people, presentation for local government Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2005 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 16 Adolescence and young adulthood: the importance of support Adolescence and young adulthood are critical stages for emotional, social and physical growth and development, including brain development. In this report, adolescence is defined as 12 to 17 years of age, and young adulthood from 18 to 25 years of age. Adolescence is a critical phase of development, during which young people undergo profound personal and physiological change. The range of experiences that young people have as adolescents not only impacts on them at that time of their lives, but can profoundly impact on their futures. It is a time during which young people can be particularly vulnerable and require appropriate support to ensure that they have every chance to reach their potential, and to assist their development into healthy adults who can make a valuable contribution to society. Brain development during adolescence The work of Dr Jack Schonkoff on the development of the brain during the early years of childhood is well known and has provided important information which has influenced the development of the Victorian Government s policy to invest in ensuring all Victorian children have every chance and get the best start in life. In addressing the Putting children first: Their future, our future forum, The Hon. Sherryl Garbutt, Minister for Children and Minister for Community Services, highlighted the influence of Dr Schonkoff s work in the development of the Government s policy approach and investment in early childhood: Our agenda has been informed by experts and underpinned by the sort of research that Dr Shonkoff and others such as Professor Frank Oberklaid will share with you throughout the course of today s forum. Consistent with another key theme of Dr Shonkoff, the Government has recognized the nexus between investing in our children and the long term prosperity of our community. 11 What is less well known is that during adolescence the brain continues to undergo key development stages, with significant connections or wiring-up occurring. Significant connections and remodelling occur in the frontal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for a range of functions including coordinating behaviour, impulse control, decision making, judgement, planning and other higher order cognitive functions. Much of this remodelling is influenced by a young person s experiences. This highlights the importance of young people being able to access supports when there are issues that may negatively impact on this development process. A young person s capacity to remain in education and training, their access to opportunities for recreation and creative pursuits are clearly linked to the development of their brains and will impact on their futures in the long term. Adolescence and young adulthood 7 17 Increased risk taking behaviour Young people are particularly vulnerable in a number of ways while their brain is still developing in adolescence. A crucial stage of brain development occurring at this point is the development of the frontal lobes, the area of the brain that helps us plan, consider, control impulses, make wise judgements. 12 This means that adolescents can be more prone to making impulsive decisions, to not necessarily thinking through the longer-term consequences of their actions and to risk-taking behaviours. Emotional vulnerability At this time of brain development too, adolescents brains show more activity in the emotional parts of the brain (the limbic system) than they do in the frontal lobes and prefrontal cortex (those parts responsible for planning and impulse control). 13 This explains why adolescence can be a particularly challenging time emotionally, during which young people can be particularly vulnerable to depression and anxiety. Andrew Fuller explains that: Between late childhood and early adolescence there is a fall from grace with the number of reports of feeling very happy dropping by 50% 14 (Larson and Richards, 1994). Even when engaged in the same activities, adolescents find them less pleasurable than adults. They experience an increase in negative feelings, depressed mood and mood ranges than younger and older people. Increased stress Adolescence is typically a time of increased stress for many young people. During adolescence, many young people experience more negative life experiences (friendship changes, alterations in romantic liaisons, school work) that they terd to view more negatively and have less control over. 15 It is important that young people have access to generalist youth support services through which they can access assistance in dealing with the increased stress they may be experiencing. Substance use Adolescence can be a time when young people experiment with alcohol and drugs, alongside a range of other testing out behaviour. This is not surprising given the greater propensity to risk taking, the typical rise in emotional dissatisfaction and the commonly experienced increased stress levels. ORYGEN Youth Health highlights just how vulnerable young people are to substance use disorders: In the age group, substance use disorders were the most prevalent, affecting about 1 in 5 males and 1 in 10 females. Alcohol dependence was the most prevalent substance use disorder, affecting 12% of males and 4% of females. 16 Substance abuse during adolescence can impact on physical health including brain development, on mental health and on emotional wellbeing. Further, early onset alcohol use strongly predicts later alcohol abuse and dependence Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 18 Mental Health Adolescence and young adulthood is the key period for the onset of a range of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders and psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. 18 ORYGEN Youth Health notes that: Over 75% of all serious mental health problems commence before the age of 25 years.mental disorders and related substance abuse disorders account for a staggering 60% of the total nonfatal burden of disease for the age group years and are therefore the single most important health issue affecting young people. 19 Research evidence highlights that an early intervention response to a young person experiencing a mental health disorder is the most effective means to recovery and reduced risk of relapse. 20 Such an approach is reinforced in the recent report prepared by Boston Consulting for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Improving mental health outcomes in Victoria: The next wave of reform. This report highlights three key issues in the services delivered in the mental health system in Victoria, one of which is: Limited investment in prevention and early intervention, with many children and young people in particular not receiving support designed to forestall or avoid the escalation of mental illness. 21 The Boston Consulting Group highlights that the limited investment at this level of service intervention occurs in Victoria despite emerging evidence from studies around the world that effective early intervention for children and youth can deliver significant social benefits, including a reduction in suicide and crime rates, as well as a strong economic return on investment. 22 A lack of generalist youth support services hampers young people accessing timely assistance and increases demands on tertiary services. Over recent years there has been a move to increased targeting of services and to prioritising resourcing of tertiary or crisis-based services. As a result, many young people have no access to any early intervention support services. Delays in help-seeking and major gaps in the continuum of care continue to exist as a result of under-resourcing and/or poor coordination of services. 23 This results in many young people not being able to access support when they need it. Future Directions: An Action Agenda for Young Victorians states that the Victorian Government has identified that this situation is a major concern to young people: Young people care deeply about their mental health and wellbeing and are concerned about the rising rates of anxiety and depression among their peers. They want greater access to support at early stages to prevent issues escalating and to be equipped to manage their own situations. 24 Locally-based, youth-specific early intervention mental health services are key to supporting and promoting the wellbeing of young people and to reducing the onset of tertiary mental health issues. The essential role of generalist youth support services Generalist youth support services play a pivotal role in supporting young people across this range of important issues at the early intervention and secondary support level. Currently, large gaps exist in the availability of these support services for young people. This means that many young people do not have every chance to fulfil their potential. Further, these service gaps place increased stress and demand on existing youth services and workers. Unmet need is still too high. 25 Improved coordination across service providers is also critical in supporting and promoting the health and wellbeing of young people. Ensuring strong coordination across the planning, development and delivery of support is important in developing a youth services system. Adolescence and young adulthood 19 Explaining the gaps - voices from the sector The following quotes were collected from surveys completed by youth service providers as part of the Who s Carrying the Can? project. They illustrate the gaps in generalist youth support services in Victoria. Young people are falling through the cracks. It appears that when a young person is at a critical point, if there is not adequate support then their situation escalates and it is only at this extreme end of need that a young person is eligible to receive support. Issues young people are experiencing escalate due to lack of service intervention, resulting in them leaving school/home and being disconnected from family and friends. Young people need a quick response to intervene during the time of crisis. Waiting lists and difficult referral processes are not conducive to meeting the needs of young people. We are maintaining young people in a holding pattern until they are able to access other options/service (if they exist)- often no timely solutions are found. Due to lack of services clients are presenting with more complex issues, which means they receive support from the service for a lot longer, which adds to the waiting list. Young people are experiencing problems at school, such as bullying, self-harming, attendance issues, and problematic behaviour. [There is] a lack of capacity of services to provide external counselling that would support schools and young people deal with such issues. 10 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 20 Who s carrying the can? project methodology In 2005, a campaign around gaps in generalist youth support services started to take shape. The concerns were brought to the attention of YACVic and the Office for Youth, Department for Victorian Communities through the Regional Youth Affairs Network (RYAN) structure, with several RYANs reporting a lack of generalist youth services in their area. The Western Regional Youth Affairs Network and other RYANs collected case studies to provide evidence of gaps in youth support services, which were collated by the Office for Youth. Stakeholder meetings were hosted between the Office for Youth, the RYAN convenors, YACVic, local government youth services and mental health services, such as ORYGEN Youth Health and the Centre for Adolescent Health, to discuss the issues of service gaps and ways forward. Alongside this, a number of VCOSS member organisations that provide youth services highlighted the impacts on young people of a lack of generalist youth services. At the 2005 VCOSS Congress, Georgie Ferrari, Chief Executive Officer, YACVic, Tracey Carson, Youth Planner, Hobsons Bay City Council, and a young person who had experienced difficulty accessing services, presented on the evidence collected, posing the question Who s carrying the can when it comes to youth support services?, thus launching the Who s carrying the can? project and campaign. In early 2006, VCOSS and YACVic agreed to undertake a joint project to document the impacts of a lack of generalist youth services. In April 2006, YACVic and VCOSS broadly released a survey through the youth and community sectors asking youth service providers to share their knowledge and experiences of gaps in youth service provision in Victoria in order to collect evidence of these issues. The survey asked youth service providers to: Describe the gaps in youth service provision in their region. Consider whether there had been a reduction in the availability of youth support services in their region over time. Describe how existing gaps impacted on their service or agency. Describe how these gaps in youth services impact on young people. Twenty six different youth service providers from across Victoria provided their responses through this survey. A copy of the survey is attached as Appendix 1. YACVic and VCOSS also requested responses from School Focused Youth Service (SFYS) Coordinators, by targeting them with a specific set of questions. School Focused Youth Services are a joint initiative between Who's carrying the can? project methodology 11 21 the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Department of Human Services (DHS), and coordinate preventative and early intervention strategies for young people, to be delivered through school and community clusters. The SFYS program is designed to support effective links between the primary prevention work done by school-based support services within the education sector and the early intervention provided by the community sector. 26 The service is state-wide. School Focused Youth Service Coordinators were targeted because they have a specific knowledge of the work done by school based support services and those provided by the youth and community sector. This means that they are in a unique position to provide insights into where the gaps in generalist support services for young people lie in their region. A copy of the request for information and questions sent to SFYS Coordinators is attached as Appendix 2. The responses received through the surveys of both youth services and the School Focused Youth Services were confidential. As such, no service providers are identified in this report and the authors of quotes included in this report are only identified as service providers from either metropolitan Melbourne, the urban fringe or rural or regional Victoria. YACVic and VCOSS also hosted two Who s Carrying the Can? forums, one in Richmond on 4 May 2006 and the second in Benalla on 17 May The forums brought together youth service providers and state and local government representatives to identify service gaps and possible solutions. The objectives of the forums were to: Further develop an evidence base of the gaps in youth support services. Highlight the impact of the lack of funded support roles on existing services and young people s wellbeing. Identify solutions to address current youth support service needs. The forums were well attended, with 52 people from a range of services participating in the Melbourne forum and 32 people participated in the Benalla forum. Two rounds of structured group discussions were hosted in each forum, with the groups being determined by geographic region. In the initial discussion, participants were asked to identify: the main service gaps in their region for young people, whether these were gaps that had always existed or if service gaps had increased over time, and any compounding issues that make service provision/access difficult, such as poor public transport, high levels of unemployment etc In the second discussion the same groups considered what needed to happen to improve service responses to young people. They were asked: Are more services needed or is it a case of better integration and collaboration of current services? What are some solutions to the service gaps in your area? How could these initiatives be funded? Who should fund them? 12 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 22 What youth service providers had to say Following is an overview of the key issues reported to VCOSS and YACVic by youth service providers through the surveys and forum discussions. They describe a range of gaps in current youth support services and how these gaps undermine every young person having every chance to reach their potential. Lack of care along the service continuum All service providers highlighted the lack of youth support services along the prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum (the service continuum), and the need for more early intervention and secondary level support for young people: Young people often completely miss out on services due to large gaps, particularly in the event that they require individual support, and /or don t have access to transport. Youth service provider, rural Victoria The most commonly reported gap in youth support services was in the availability of psycho-social counselling services and early intervention to secondary level mental health support services. One School Focused Youth Service Coordinator described in detail the gaps on the support service spectrum from a mental health perspective: There is an identified gap in services for those young people who are experiencing early signs of mental health issues or behaviours. These young people have almost no services available to them until they reach crisis point. This service gap has been identified by schools, CAHMS, PMHT and many other youth agencies. 27 CAHMS are often unable to take on many referrals due to their specific criteria and have huge waiting lists. The PMHT deals with anxiety and depression and offers a secondary consult services and providers a limited shared service model with GPs. This however is not available in all areas of this region. School personnel are not highly skilled to identify at risk behaviours or have the expertise to deal with these young people who present with some serious issues. The role of Student Services or Welfare Workers is to refer on to other agencies for more professional assistance and support, but they are extremely limited as to where they can refer to. Another service provider described the limited support services available in their region: There is a general lack of counselling support available in the region. There is limited fee for service counselling available, however this is not What youth service providers had to say 13 23 accessible to most young people as it is far too expensive and often requires considerable distance to travel to access it. Some services provide a visiting service but again this is limited and there is a huge waiting list or backlog. There are limited services provided by the school support centre, but schools find it difficult to access the psychologist/welfare officer as required. Other youth counselling services are provided through district health services, but these are very limited. Youth service providers described the importance of locally accessible, early intervention supports: Early intervention services and strategies are ineffective if young people do not have ready access to them. A young person is unlikely to make a huge effort when experiencing emotional or multi health issues to commute long distances at their expense to access a service or worker with whom they have not developed a connection and level of trust with. Generalist youth support workers provide a very important link between young people and more specialised supports they need often operating as the conduit through which that young person accesses the service. A lack of generalist youth support services means that young people are less likely to access existing more specialised support when they need it. A community legal service for young people explains how this happened to them following the de-funding of two generalist youth support staff whom the service was collocated with: Since the defunding, the linkage between young children and the legal service for kids in trouble has been lost and the legal service has found that it is seeing less young people than it used to. This is because young people often need a relationship of trust with a youth worker before they will link in with the other services. This is why the relationship with the (generalist support) staff was critical. It also was a one stop shop and so we would see the young people pretty much immediately upon referral to us. A reduction in available support services Many youth service providers highlighted that there had been a reduction in the availability of youth support services in their region. One youth service located on the urban fringe of Melbourne reported that: Reduction in staff has resulted in only basic service delivery with little new initiatives taken up and a drop in community development and program delivery. Increasing waiting lists Many youth support services reported increasing waiting lists not only for their own services, but also for more specialist services they refer young people to. One service reported that: Our waiting list has expanded from four weeks to three months. 14 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 24 Another service described how waiting lists at peak periods cause clients to wait for up to two months for support particularly accommodation. The need for more flexible support models In my role we are constantly encouraging schools to refer young people and ask for support from agencies. Yet, when they ask for assistance they are constantly knocked back because the young person does not fit into the criteria for receiving support eg not homeless, drugs not involved or they are not being abused. These are very specific criteria and eliminate the majority of young people the schools want help with! School Focused Youth Service provider, regional Victoria If young people are not in a target group and require support outside the school system, there is little on offer. Youth service provider, rural Victoria Many youth service providers described their frustrations at not being able to provide adequate service responses to young people due to constraints on the amount of time they could work with an individual young person. These restraints were due both to resource limitations and to inflexible funding agreements that prescribed limited intervention timeframes and rigid service provision targets. As one youth service provider explained: Staff feel unable to provide the level of care that they would like, due to time constraints. Another described how this could compromise work practice: There is pressure to meet targets and time and numbers the quality of engagement is sacrificed. Another service reported the impact that this had on staff morale: The agency works hard to look after staff although they often have high case loads and feel unable to provide the level of care that they would like to due to time constraints. Difficulty in providing follow up support Youth service providers also reported that resource limitations made it very difficult for them to follow up with young people they had provided services to. One service described a typical situation: After completion of time with service there is limited capacity to follow up after young people have been discharged. Cohorts of young people missing out Need for support responses for young people between the ages of 8 to 12 years and 18 to 25 years Many youth services reported concerns that young people aged 8 to 12 and aged 18 to 25 were missing out on access to support services. Ensuring young people aged 8 to 12 receive support is essential as an early intervention strategy. Equally as important is the need for young people aged 18 to 25 to be able to access appropriate, locally-based, youth specific service responses. As the Victorian Government s new youth agenda, Future directions: An action agenda for young Victorians notes: Today s young people are reaching significant life milestones at a later age, so the period of youth is extending. They face new difficulties in making previously simple life transitions such as moving from education and training to the workforce. 28 A youth service provider expressed their concerns around service gaps for young people in their early 20s: Young people between the ages of 22 to 25 are finding it difficult to access services because of eligibility criteria, for eg JPET can t work with young people over the age of 21 years. There are limited funds available if a young person over 15 who falls out of mainstream schooling due to issues such as behavioural, social, health and wellbeing issues. Another service provider highlighted the potential long term effects of a lack of appropriate services for this older age bracket, describing: Young people reporting concerns and exhibiting anxiety in relation to lack of services for 18 to 25 What youth service providers had to say 15 25 year olds. Young people becoming more isolated and resistant to services as adults. One youth service provider described the importance of supports to young people aged under 12 years and their families: There is no agency working with families with children under 12 years. A result of this is that young people in Years 5 & 6 who are identifiably at risk of failing to make a satisfactory transition to secondary school or who are exhibiting social or emotional difficulties are unable to access a local support or early intervention service. Another School Focused Youth Service Coordinator highlighted a similar issue, noting that older children are not receiving support when they need it, particularly early on: Primary aged children aged between seven and ten years of age are not being serviced. Gaps in more specialised supports Homelessness supports Youth service providers from around the state reported concern with a lack of homelessness assistance support for young people. A lack of accommodation options for young people was sited as a common concern with one School Focused Youth Service Coordinator describing the impact of this on young people:... they are forced to accept accommodation often far removed from school and social context which increases their vulnerability. A School Focused Youth Service provider in regional Victoria put this issue in the context of the lack of affordable housing for young people. Access to affordable housing can be even harder to come by in some rural and regional communities. There is a lack of transitional housing available to young people. In addition to this there is a total lack of affordable housing and there is a long waiting list for public housing. Mental health supports Youth service providers from across Victoria reported a lack of availability of early intervention and secondary intervention mental health supports for young people. For those services that did exist, youth service providers reported long waiting lists. Examples of this have been provided in the Lack of care along the continuum section of this report on page 13. Supports for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds Several services reported concerns about a lack of appropriate supports for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. One service provider described the way in which often basic needs needed to be met for refugee or newly arrived young people before they were able to access more specialised supports they may need: 16 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 26 Refugee young people also have issues in terms of basic needs being met (housing, food, health, education) which hampers them seeking and gaining access to this service. A School Focused Youth Service coordinator from a region with high numbers of refugee and newly arrived families identified that there were not enough good quality counselling and therapy for young people who have experiences trauma/loss/grief. A lack of culturally sensitive services can mean that young people receive an inadequate service response. As one youth service provider noted: Referrals for D&A and mental health are mostly made to mainstream services who are not currently meeting the needs of CALD communities. Some areas with growing communities of recently arrived and refugee families report inadequate levels of culturally appropriate services available for young people. One service on the urban fringe stated that: There is a need to increase the cultural sensitivity of many of the services. As more newly arrived and refugee young people become part of the community there is a strong need to ensure they are able to access all available services and programs. Another SFYS provider reported that in their regional community, a lack of services meant that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds were unable to stay in the area: There is not enough access to English language services. The result in this is that often there people leave and go back to Melbourne where they can access relevant services better. Supports for young people with a disability At both forums the lack of support services for young people with a disability were raised as a concern. Forum participants identified several areas in which service gaps were a particular problem, including: Support to access opportunities for recreational activities; Youth specific disability support services; Concerns regarding young people losing funding to assist in accessing support services after the age of 18; Support to move out of the family home and to access suitable housing; For those living with family, more flexible support packages and respite services; Supports in education; Supports in accessing aids and equipment; Support to access transport and travel options; A lack of accessible information available to young people with a disability and the need for the development of intervention in alternative frameworks and the development of different communication strategies. Service providers also identified the need to ensure that generalist and mainstream youth services are accessible to young people with a disability and that services receive the required resources to ensure their accessibility. Supports for Victorian Aboriginal young people 29 Forum participants also raised concerns about the accessibility of existing youth support services for Aboriginal young people at all levels of the service continuum. There are very large service gaps for Aboriginal young people. This includes prevention programs such as cultural and recreational programs, through to more specialised secondary supports such as homelessness supports or mental health supports. Service providers commented on the critical need for Aboriginal specific, culturally sensitive services for adolescents and young adults, which they reported as being scarce. Participants also commented on the need for generalist (mainstream) youth support services to ensure they were accessible to Aboriginal young people and their families through ensuring culturally sensitive practice. These services need further resources to improve their accessibility. Youth friendly referral system Youth service providers typically reported a lack of more specialist support services to refer young people to when they needed specific assistance. However, a lack of services was not the only factor making referral difficult. Service gaps and a lack of service system in the youth sector means that referral processes are frequently described as not being youth friendly with young people and youth workers struggling to navigate the system. This was described as having the consequence of exacerbating young people s vulnerability at a difficult time. The impact this can What youth service providers had to say 17 27 have on young people is described by a youth service provider: The system is very unclear for young people to negotiate there way through. They are not necessarily clear why they might be eligible for one service and not another and may feel rejected by this. The delays in responses can also mean that young people disengage from help seeking due to feeling like it is too hard. The strict criteria mean that a young person may go through a lengthy assessment process only to find out that they will be referred elsewhere. One youth service provider described the way this impacted on staff s use of time: Staff spend much time and energy guiding people through the system and not always able to refer appropriately... We need a youth friendly referral system. Another described the frustration this caused: There can be difficulties in finding an appropriate support service following an episode of care with our service, leaving staff feeling that their hard work may not be followed through on. A lack of clear referral options and processes was not just of concern to youth service providers. It impedes the capacity of other agencies or individuals coming into contact with young people, such as the police, to link them in with appropriate supports. As one police officer reported in response to the survey: Not having a comprehensive referral program for young people who have come into contact with police, means they have very few positive options to explore. This effects future decisions to be made when young people are at crisis point and give police few pro active alternatives to offer young people. Issues compounded on the urban fringe Youth support service gaps are often compounded in communities on the urban fringe, or the interface between rural and urban areas. Issues of geographic isolation, population growth without adequate infrastructure, poor public transport networks and the emergence of new communities with specific needs are all issues commonly experienced in urban fringe communities which impact on the availability of support services to young people. As one youth service provider on the urban fringe explains: We are an Interface Council thus we are experiencing unique issues in youth service provision in our region. Most youth agencies that service young people in our region are located outside of our municipality. Young people are having to commute to access services in a community that is transport challenged. Most of these services do not offer outreach to young people in our region which are rurally situated. Another service from the urban fringe described the compounding effect of infrastructure and service gaps in their area: Our area has seen massive growth in recent years, that has been matched by available services. For services that are in the area access is an issue as public transport is poor in our area. Some main gaps include: mental health services, counselling, alternative education, generalist services, housing (especially emergency), day programs. The lack of specialist services was commonly reported as being of particular concern in urban fringe communities: One urban fringe service provider stated that: In the North East there is a massive gap in emergency accommodation in general but specifically in crisis accommodation for young people. Currently there is NO crisis accommodation throughout the LGAs of Whittlesea, Nillumbik and Banyule. Geographically this is a huge area. The nearest crisis accommodation for someone say from Hurstbridge is in Reservoir or Brunswick. This effectively removes and isolates young people from their local area and any supports they may have, especially school, friends, medical services and other community services. The same service provider reported: No appropriate crisis accommodation specifically for CALD young people especially CALD young women who find it difficult to be housed with mixed gender. Significant public transport gaps compound the problems young people have in accessing services on the urban fringe. As one youth service provider explained: Young people cannot get to services that are available due to transport issues. 18 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 28 Rural and regional communities A lack of counselling services The issue of access to generalist youth counselling is compounded for some rural and regional communities by geographic isolation. Some communities stated that there was no counsellor available to young people in their community at all. For example, one regional youth service provider explained that: There are no generalist youth workers in most of the region. Some service providers reported that generalist youth support services had been lost in their regions. One regional survey response reported that: In two rural communities outreach youth support services have been lost. This involved 0.8 worker in one shire and 0.4 worker in another shire. The 0.4 worker funding was reallocated to placement prevention across the wider region. The 0.8 worker funding went in a youth participation program following changes to the DVC Youth Support Grants. Another rural service provider described the gaps in support for young people on a range of issues of critical importance to young people s wellbeing: There is no case management of general youth worker positions for young people who do not have homelessness as an issue. There are limited youth focused programs especially for sexual health, pregnancy and drug and alcohol issues. A number of service providers noted their frustration at not being able to refer young people to the more specialised support they needed, a problem made more difficult by geographic isolation. I would like to be able to refer complex clients to more appropriate services but due to them being under staffed or stretched to the limit they request that I deal with clients and they have used the excuse that I am closer geographically to the client therefore I am best placed to meet the client s needs. Down time in travel seems to be expensive on agency staff time. Regional youth service provider Young people missing out on opportunities Service providers in rural and regional Victoria described the frustration of young people missing out on opportunities and important services because of a lack of transport options and a lack of funding to be able to arrange for alternative transport options. For example: Schools are constantly frustrated with their inability, and the inability of agencies, to transport young people to places and services that would connect them to something that interests them eg a different school, a different sport or interest group, a specific service. For example, a 14 year old drove himself to an appointment (in another town 45kms away) the other day because he didn t want to get into trouble for missing it and his family let him down. Maintaining privacy Maintaining privacy can be difficult for a young person wanting to access support in a small community. One service provider describes the difficulties experienced by young people wanting to access health care: Young people have a lot of hurdles to jump in country areas (eg medial receptionists who know their family, being known at the local chemist) to access health services. Privacy is a real concern for many young people who want to access health services. Youth service provider, rural Victoria Another youth service provider commented that in a rural setting: Everybody knows everyone so you walk through the door of a service and everyone knows. Youth service provider, rural Victoria Lack of access to youth friendly health services Access to health services in rural and regional Victoria was of particular concern in communities that experienced high levels of sexual risk taking behaviour and teenage pregnancy. What youth service providers had to say 19 29 Lack of access to peer support programs Access to peer support programs can be more difficult for young people in rural and regional Victoria. This is due to a range of reasons, including service availability and poor transport links. One youth service provider explains that: Marginal support groups such as same-sex attraction don t exist in any of the towns in our network. If young people were to access this sort of support they would have to have transport and it would be at least a 40 minute drive. Youth service provider, rural Victoria Insufficient outreach resources The majority of youth service providers in rural and regional Victoria who responded to the survey or participated in a forum raised a concern that outreach services were insufficiently resourced and that more were urgently needed. Outreach models are an essential means of ensuring the availability of services to geographically isolated young people. In some cases, the costs of working in an outreach model were not recognised in service funding models. The increasing cost of petrol also means that these costs are rising. One School Focused Youth Service Coordinator based in rural Victoria described the impact of distance and geographic isolation on the capacity of agencies to do outreach: Many regionally delivered services are based 300kms or more from remote communities. Frequency of visits and response times are often an issue. The Shire is 20,000 square kilometres, so existing resources are spread thinly. Another reported that: There is a critical shortage of outreach youth support services in rural towns and communities. The contributes to family disconnection and young people disengaging from education. Lack of local recreational activities Where young people are geographically isolated, it is particularly important that locally available activities and recreational opportunities exist. Existing youth service providers in rural and regional Victoria reported that these opportunities were not readily available and that this had the consequence of isolating young people from involvement in their community. One service provider described a reduction in recreational programs: Outreach services in the form of recreation has been reduced from weekly activities to school holiday programs. 20 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 30 Pressures on existing services Existing services in rural and regional Victoria reported specific pressures from the community to be all things to young people stemming from a lack of services on the ground. As one School Focused Youth Service provider described: we are the only youth agency in the network. There has been a recent youth suicide and we are being contacted - yet we cannot provide generalist support or counselling. How are we then seen by the public? Do you provide support for youth or not? Existing services reported the same pressures on staff as commonly reported elsewhere. For example, having to respond to young people with increasingly complex needs without the resources or necessarily the expertise to do so. This had the same impact reported elsewhere, of increasing staff turnover. These problems were compounded though by difficulties in recruiting new staff in geographically isolated areas. As a School Focused Youth Service Coordinator in a rural area described: There is a lack of peer support for workers and staff burn out is high which causes high turn over. Agencies and organisations can t retain staff and recruiting and attracting adequate staff in rural areas is a problem. Difficulties in providing a local response Local service responses help ensure that a young person is not dislocated from any existing support mechanisms they may have established in their community. The importance of providing a local response to a young person needing assistance is undermined by a lack of local services. Service providers in rural and regional Victoria reported this as a key concern. One service provider explained that: Our placement protection services that work across a rural region, are clearly noticing that many young people in rural towns are being referred (by Child Protection) to placement protection, due to a lack of locally based youth services. Many of these cases would normally link to a locally based youth support service if it were available. Service providers in rural and regional Victoria also reported particular difficulties in ensuring young people could access a range of services locally. Whilst the provision of outreach services is a means of improving accessibility of support services to young people, many youth services providers advocate for the establishment of a one stop shop service delivery model as well. This model would see the collocation of a number of services, such as general health, counselling, recreational programs, homelessness supports, and Centrelink, on the one site. This model not only assists with the delivery of a range of services without high infrastructure investment, but it can also improve the accessibility of support by offering greater privacy to young people accessing the centre. Collocation of a range of services means that the reason for a young person s visit is not exposed. Funding and service sustainability problems Youth service providers also reported that in some cases they were needing to spend valuable time that would usually be allocated to direct service delivery seeking additional funding through fundraising in order to sustain the service. As one youth service provider commented: In seeking additional funding, the submission process is timely and there is no guarantee of success - this takes staff time and energy. The impact on young people The impacts of a lack of generalist support services on young people are varied and can be very serious. One youth service provider described a host of impacts that a lack of support services was having on young people in their region: Limited access to activities/recreation; Lack of involvement in community; Lack of access to youth specific counselling; Waiting lists for other services; Inability of specialist services to remain involved or become involved; Increased notification to child protection as community supports not able to mitigate risk; Young people coming to attention of service sector later and with a more chronic situation. Another youth service provider described the various impacts they saw as a consequence of a lack of generalist counselling support: The lack of youth counselling impacts on young people in many ways: they may leave home early, they may continue to live in a dysfunctional home, they may turn to alcohol or other drugs, What youth service providers had to say 21 31 there are less opportunities for them to be supported to create positive change in their lives, they may have a reduced ability to participate in everyday life (education, employment, relationships) which then has lots of implications for health, well-being, self-esteem etc. It also impacts upon the community as a whole when there are young people who cannot access the support they need. Another youth service provider described the way in which a lack of support services can make a young person feel an increase sense of isolation at an already vulnerable time: The biggest impact would have to be their disengagement with their school first, then the community itself. They don t feel there is support for their problem and therefore that their problem much not be very common. Youth service provider, regional Victoria Generalist youth support services play a very important role in referring young people to services and advocating on their behalf to assist them to receive the assistance they need. One youth service provider described how the lack of generalist youth support services was reducing young people s access to existing services: Since losing generalist worker positions a few years ago, young people have difficulty plugging into the services which are available. Youth service provider, rural Victoria When a young person cannot access a timely, appropriate support response, their situation can escalate having very serious consequences. As one youth service provider explained: Their problems get out of hand, their level of stress increases, they resort to criminal activity to get them out of debt, they feel isolated where there are family issues and may self medicate with drugs or alcohol, they get into bad peer groups and some suicide. A School Focused Youth Service Provider described the impacts of youth service gaps on young people s capacity to access education: Young people not being guided in to educational pathways that are appropriate for them, not being able to attend school due to lack of money to pay fees, A police officer who participated in a forum described how a lack of support can lead to re-offending: Many young people are re-offending due to a lack of support service or non-existent referral program. Another School Focused Youth Service Coordinator described the impact that youth support service gaps had on young people specifically in rural and regional communities: There is a high level of drug and alcohol abuse. Young people feel disconnected from society and not at all supported.there is an increasing incidence of anxiety and depression amongst young people and youth suicide rates are high. Many young people leave rural areas due to the lack of opportunities and services. 22 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 32 The impact on youth service providers Service gaps were reported as having a range of impacts on existing services, including: Increasing waiting lists; Service providers doing crisis driven work rather that effective early intervention; Causing a reduction in the capacity of services to work in effective partnerships and to be innovative in service delivery; High staff turnover. Significant concerns were raised regarding how service gaps mean many young people are receiving an inadequate level of support. This is evidenced in this statement from a youth service provider: Already over stretched services are working beyond their capacity to pick up high risk young people who are falling through the gaps. These young people may not be in their service provision criteria. A lack of availability of services that offer generalist psycho-social counselling support to young people means that youth workers and support staff in schools are forced to provide assistance to young people who require a more specialised support than they are trained to provide. This places both the young person and the worker/teacher in a risk situation, as one youth service provider described: School welfare and support staff are constantly called upon to assist with many issues that are often outside the teacher/workers area of expertise. Another service provider described the link between increased pressure on existing youth support staff in schools and agencies and the lack of timely mental health intervention: Schools and agencies are often confronted by long waiting times for specialist assistance especially re mental health intervention. They are therefore at times pushed beyond their level of comfort or competence in supporting young people with highly complex needs. In describing the impacts that youth support service gaps have on existing youth support services in their region, one School Focused Youth Service coordinator reported that: All staff report being over burdened with cases that are outside of their role. Youth development workers are often expected to take on a counsellorcase manager role. The issue of staff being expected to take on responsibilities outside their role was also highlighted for support staff in schools: School welfare and support staff are constantly called upon to assist with many issues that are not directly related to the student s school life and are often outside the teacher/workers area of expertise. School Focused Youth Service Coordinator, regional Victoria Several survey respondents highlighted the impact that stretched resources had on the capacity of services to be innovative in practice: What youth service providers had to say 23 33 It is clear that the capacity of agencies in partnerships with schools to develop new initiatives is hampered by the pressure to just keep their heads above water in terms of meeting current demand. This limits their availability for innovation. One School Focused Youth Service Coordinator highlighted the lack of support for existing services and workers, and the impact this had on staff retention rates: The major impact is he increased burden placed on existing services due to limited resources. There is a lack of peer support for workers and peer support for workers and staff burn out is high which causes high turn over. Agencies and organisations can t retain staff and recruiting and attracting adequate staff in rural areas is a problem. Another service provider described the compounding effect on remaining staff of high staff turnover: High staff turnover means an empty position for a long time and other staff have a higher workload. 24 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 34 Key findings and recommendations The following findings and recommendations have been developed from the collation of the evidence collected through the surveys and forums, the consideration of broader evidence and research and following a process of consultation with members of the Office for Youth, the Office for Children and the Mental Health Branch of the Department of Human Services. Drafts of the findings were released to the Regional Youth Affairs Networks for feedback, before being finalised. The key findings and recommendations are listed under two broad headings: Building a service system and Strengthening services. YACVic and VCOSS recommend that measures to build a service system and to strengthen services occur simultaneously. For example, further examination of service needs and gaps should not be a precursor to service investment. 1 BUILDING A SERVICE SYSTEM Section one of the recommendations outlines the need for a youth services system to be developed, the need for a framework to shape the development of that system; the need for investment in more generalist youth support services; and the value of local planning exercises. a The need for a Victorian youth services system Finding: In Victoria, there is currently no formal integrated, comprehensive youth services system. While there are many highly effective youth services across the State, there is no coherent framework incorporating clear principles and measures. This results in inconsistency of service delivery and access to support for young people, and means that the needs of young people are not appropriately or adequately addressed nor do young people have every chance to reach their potential. The lack of a generalist youth services system in Victoria results in gaps in service responses that support the wellbeing of young people. This means that young people often do not receive the support they need when they need it. The lack of an integrated youth services system that exists along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum (the service continuum) has a range of impacts on both young people and services, including: a lack of timely and sustained supports for young people; a lack of support services to work with young people and their families, as an essential means Key findings and recommendations 25 35 of strengthening young people s wellbeing; an increased level of risk experienced by the young person, which in turn increases their risk of disengagement from education and training, employment, and community life; a greater likelihood of developing an acute mental illness and experiencing a relapse; undue pressure on existing services to find funding for their core work from a range of sources, exposing services to project / program vulnerability; and excessive reporting requirements and difficulties in measuring and evaluating services in an effective and relevant way. Middle childhood through to adolescence and adulthood is a time of significant change, both emotionally and physically. 30 When this is combined with external factors, such as relationships with family members, peers and school, and factors such as domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse, there are clear risks to young people s wellbeing. For young people to reach their full potential, it is critical that supports are in place at each level family, community, school, peers, community services etc, and that these services are available in a timely and sustained way. One of the factors that has been identified as critical for healthy development and wellbeing is a coherent, supportive, locally-based and responsive service system. 31 In developing a generalist youth services system for Victoria, it is important to note that this does not mean that a one size fits all model of service delivery would be appropriate. Locally focussed, flexible service models along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary continuum are required to best meet the diverse needs of young people across Victoria. The specific needs of young people and the differing structures and types of existing youth services in all communities are diverse and need to be considered in service development and provision. In developing a generalist youth services system, it is also critical to ensure that planning and resources are included to enable collaboration and partnerships at the local level which focus on improved linkages across service planning and delivery. Further, particular focus should be directed at young people living in rural and regional areas, urban fringe areas (Interface Council areas), and in communities that have higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. Recommendation: That the Victorian Government develop and invest in a locallybased, integrated and comprehensive youth services system in Victoria, that is structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum. The development of a youth services system structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum (the service continuum) would assist in ensuring that all young people have every chance to reach their full potential. The service continuum is illustrated in detail on page 6 of this report. Clear principles should guide the development of policy and the delivery of services. A core principle should be that of equity in service provision 26 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 36 for all young people, with equity encompassing the elements of affordability, accessibility (including proximity), inclusivity, and timeliness. In developing a generalist youth services system, it is critical to ensure that planning and resources are included to enable collaboration and partnerships at the local level which focus on improved linkages across service planning and delivery. The Best Start initiative provides a sound model for such an approach. The focus within Best Start on providing local, flexible, early intervention responses through an integrated approach should underpin the development of a Victorian Government youth services system framework to support and promote the wellbeing of young people in Victoria. It is important to note that while the Best Start initiative built on existing service networks to improve service integration, further investment is required in generalist youth support services (as outlined in recommendation 1c) in order to strengthen the capacity of the youth services system to operate in an integrated way. It is critical that this service investment is made in order to make possible an integrated service system that better supports and promotes the wellbeing of young people. The Victorian Government has significantly invested in children and families through a range of early years initiatives. The aims of these initiatives to improve the health, development, learning and wellbeing of children are equally as relevant to young people as they are to children. These could be built upon and extended to ensure their relevance to young people, such as to include a focus on accessing and staying engaged in education, employment and training opportunities and building connectedness with their communities. Extending the investment in the early years to young people through the development of a youth services system structured along the service continuum would have a range of positive outcomes. Such a step would deliver a more consistent model of assistance and care that supports and promotes the wellbeing of older children and young people, a model which extends as they transition into adolescence and into adulthood. Such a step would also recognise the significant brain development that continues during adolescence. Similar to the early years, adolescence is a period where significant connections or wiring-up occurs in the brain. During adolescence 17 per cent of brain cell connections are made. Significant connections and remodelling occur in the frontal lobe, the area of the brain responsible a range of functions including coordinating behaviour, impulse control, decision making, planning and other higher order cognitive functions. 32 Much of this remodelling is influenced by a young person s experiences. The development of a youth services system structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum would assist in ensuring a whole of government response to supporting and promoting the wellbeing of young people. This in tern helps ensure positive, nurturing experiences which promote young people s wellbeing. A range of factors influence young people s well-being, including their access to: opportunities for ongoing learning and development; employment and recreation opportunities; mental health and other generalist counseling; access to support for families in their role as the primary source of support for young people; transport; housing; community health services and more specialised support, such as drug and alcohol support or homelessness support. In this context a whole of government approach is required to ensure better outcomes for young people. Within a locally-based and comprehensive youth services system, it is important to have a focus on Aboriginal young people. To enable this, policy and service responses need be strengthened to better support the wellbeing of Aboriginal young people. Central to this would be ensuring the accessibility of a range of services provided by both Aboriginalcontrolled organisations and generalist or mainstream organisations, and having specific services for Aboriginal young people as required. 33 Two steps are required for this to occur. Firstly, the capacity of Aboriginal-controlled organisations needs to be further strengthen to ensure they can remain responsive to the needs of their community. Secondly, generalist organisations should provide culturally sensitive practice to the Victorian Aboriginal community and be accountable for doing so. A comprehensive youth services system needs also to provide a service response that meets the diverse needs of young people with a disability in order to ensure their access to youth support services. Key findings and recommendations 27 37 Targeting need and ensuring effective evaluation A youth services system for Victoria structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum would better support the needs of all young people in Victoria. In the initial stages of developing and strengthening a youth services system, programs should be focused in areas where there are high concentrations of young people, such as the growth areas on the urban fringe (Interface Council areas) and in rural and regional areas. The Interface Council areas have published a report, Staying Connected, which provides an overview of the key steps required to address service gaps for young people living in urban fringe areas. 34 VCOSS and YACVic endorse the recommendations contained in Staying Connected, and view these recommendations as forming part of an integrated youth services system structured along the service continuum, which includes generalist youth services This focusing of service provision could provide the site for demonstration projects for the comprehensive youth services system, being viewed as the first stage in the service system roll-out process. It is critical that these demonstration projects contain a dedicated funding component for an evaluative action research model to enable the collation of evidence and learnings around the effectiveness of the model as measured against the key aims of improving health, development, learning and wellbeing of young people in Victoria. b Understanding service gaps and making informed program and service investment Finding: Evidence collected by YACVic and VCOSS highlights large gaps in generalist youth support services for young people in Victoria. This evidence draws on the direct service experiences of youth and broader community sector service providers in Victoria. There is clearly an urgent need to put in place universal and early intervention support services for young people at the primary and secondary level of the service system. In doing so, it is important to develop a clear framework and an understanding of both the best service delivery models and the areas in Victoria where the service gaps are greatest. Recommendation: That a project be undertaken to develop a framework for a strong youth services system, identify best models of service delivery and where the youth service gaps are in Victoria. A strategic framework and implementation plan for a strong youth services system, structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum, is required to drive whole of government and inter-government reforms and facilitate improved integration from the policy level through to the program delivery level. Such a framework should be based on a clear vision of how young people s wellbeing can be supported 28 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 38 and improved through whole of government ie. across-government and across-departments initiatives and approaches. The development of a framework for a strong youth services system, along with an increased investment in youth support services, would complement and assist the achievement of the Victorian Government s objectives in both Future Directions and A Fairer Victoria. These objectives are achievable through the delivery of effective, locally-based, accessible, integrated youth support services. These services are essential to ensuring that the outcomes identified are achieved for all young people and that the opportunities they offer are equitably accessible. It is important to note that while Future Directions provides a vision with some specific actions, there are no key milestones to monitor progress. Any framework and implementation plan should spell out the next steps across all government policy and programs, and include localised decision making regarding the types of infrastructure and programs delivered at a local level. Equally important is both a better linking across government across divisions within departments, between separate but related departments, and across the three tiers of government, federal, state and local; and improved evaluation. The development of a framework for a strong youth services system would provide a structure through which the key objectives of Future Directions could be monitored and indicators of the success of those objectives being met could be measured. In developing a strong youth services system, the project should also focus on five priority areas: determining where the service gaps lie both geographically and socio-economically; determining the capacity and sustainability of existing youth services; identifying the types of interventions and supports required in these areas; identifying evidence based best models of service delivery, and mechanisms by which these could be shared across youth and broader community service organisations in Victoria; and resourcing and requiring the development of integrated Youth Plans for each local government area that explicitly engage community sector organisations. Through focusing on these five priority areas, clarification will be provided around where the Government should focus investment to best support the wellbeing of young people. The research for the project should build upon existing programs that map service delivery gaps, and take into consideration existing networks that are in a position to identify service needs, such as (but not limited to) Regional Youth Affairs Networks, Local Learning and Employment Networks, School Focused Youth Services, Primary Care Partnerships, and Family Reconciliation and Mediation Programs. The identification of agencies and programs that are best placed to identify local youth service needs should directly involve local services, as the best placed agencies and programs will differ between communities. Any framework should also incorporate a strong evaluation component. It is important to link future policy and program development and implementation to an analysis of outcomes to date. Improved evaluation is urgently required. An action or learning based methodology is the most effective and should be funded as part of ongoing policy and program development. Alongside improved evaluation, Victoria needs to develop its own evidence and research base regarding what is most effective, in addition to drawing on international evidence. A shift has developed to relying solely on international evidence and not resourcing our own academic and practice-learning. The project would inform the development of a strong youth services system in Victoria, through which the most effective investment by the Victorian Government can be identified and service gaps addressed. Such a project would complement the valuable evidence base collected by VCOSS and YACVic through the Who s Carrying the Can? project. The project should be undertaken in collaboration with the community sector. It would be optimal if the research was conducted by an external party and that the process delivered a proposal or range of recommendations agreed with by the youth and broader community sector. c Investing in services 35 Finding: Essential to the development of a youth services system and a framework for a strong youth services system is investment in generalist youth support services. The development of a services framework should not be a precursor to service investment. Substantial evidence exists highlighting the serious gaps in generalist youth support services. These gaps mean that young Key findings and recommendations 29 39 people miss out on support when they need it. Investment in generalist youth support services needs to happen as a matter of urgency to better ensure that every young person has every chance to reach their potential. Generalist youth support services place a central role in assisting young people to make important transitions in their lives. VCOSS and YACVic acknowledge and support the Victorian Government s announcement of funding for Youth Transition Workers focussed on supporting young people disengaged from education and training as outlined in A Fairer Victoria: Progress and Next Steps. While these are key points of transition for young people, young people experience many different transitions, and for marginalised young people these transitions may involve a range of complex circumstances that impinge on their ability to navigate through this important life phase. Examples include shifting in and out of accommodation arrangements, family conflict and/or abuse, mental health issues or substance abuse. Generalist youth support services are crucial in supporting young people through these transitions. Recommendation: That the Victorian Government dedicate new resources to creating more generalist youth support positions and services in Victoria, and that these be delivered within flexible funding models that allow for a range of support responses to young people. d The importance of local planning Finding: Local area planning processes and structures would improve the service response to the needs of young people. Such planning would help ensure improved infrastructure, continuum of care, and a more robust and integrated service system that can better ensure that every young person has every chance to reach their potential. Recommendation: That local planning processes and structures be resourced at the local government level across Victoria. Local planning processes and structures would improve service responses, enhance community capacity building and deliver better outcomes for young people. The recent report Improving mental health outcomes in Victoria: The next wave of reform notes the significant social and economic gains that could be achieved through the development of strategic 30 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 40 responses at the local level. 36 Such benefits would be furthered enhanced by improved collaboration and planning at the local level across youth services. To be most effective, local planning exercises need to involve the community sector, local government, state government and relevant Commonwealth agencies, schools and young people themselves, assisted by youth workers to develop their capacity to contribute to planning. Local planning exercises would need to build upon existing planning processes. 2 Strengthening services Section two outlines recommendations regarding the importance of providing mental health support at the early intervention and secondary intervention level as part of the youth service system; measures to improve collaboration of existing services; and measures to improve sector sustainability. a Early intervention in mental health Finding: In Victoria, depression among young people is one of the most frequently reported mental health problems. 37 The overwhelming majority of demand for mental health support is at the early and secondary intervention end of the service continuum. Large gaps exist in the availability of these services, denying many young people access to timely and appropriate support. This serves to significantly undermine the potential for early intervention and relapse prevention. 38 Mental health services should form a key part of generalist youth services, as generalist youth services play a pivotal role in reducing the onset of tertiary mental health issues by providing timely support for young people presenting with primary and secondary mental health issues. As noted in the recent report prepared by Boston Consulting for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Improving mental health outcomes in Victoria: The next wave of reform, services at this level (referred to as Tier 1 services) can deliver significant economic and social outcomes. 39 This report also notes that services at this primary care level are more cost effective. noted in The next wave of reform, social and economic gains would be evident from investment across the three Tiers. 40 Further, such earlier investment may alleviate some of the pressures on the tertiary services, however this will not occur immediately. The Federal Government has placed a focus on early intervention in mental health through the establishment of headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation. headspace will offer brokerage funding through the youth services development fund to Communities of youth services. These will be a consortium of services including generalist youth support services and mental health service providers. They will need to demonstrate that they have well-established relationships with other services. headspace, therefore, is a program that builds on existing services and can only be effective where there are adequate services on the ground. In order for Victoria to benefit from the Headspace program, the mental health response of the generalist youth support services in Victoria needs to be strengthened. Recommendation: That the development of a youth services system structured along a prevention early intervention secondary tertiary service continuum include targeted resources to provide mental health support at the early intervention and secondary levels of the service system. The mental health initiative of the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) is well placed to ensure that this resource and program commitment is made. Such a step would be in line with the following three key elements that were addressed in the National Mental Health Action Plan that was recently finalised: a renewed focus on promotion, prevention and early detection and intervention; getting the balance right between hospital care, community and primary care and the best type of accommodation for people who are unable to manage on their own; improving and integrating the care system to enable the right care to be accessed at the right time. 41 Importantly, any investment in early intervention/ primary and secondary support should not be made at the expense of tertiary services, and vice versa. As Key findings and recommendations 31 41 b Improving collaboration Finding: Currently many services within the youth sector have established very effective models of collaboration. However this collaboration needs to be extended and strengthened to better support young people and improve service responses. Building networks and improving collaboration between agencies to enable improved service linkages and integration is dependant on both resources and cultural change. A clear barrier to the collaboration of youth and broader community sector services and a factor in youth service gaps is a lack of collaboration between levels of governments and across government departments. As one youth service provider explained in their survey response: We need to move away from the planning of youth services being done in isolation across the range of departments ie in Federal, State and Local government. There is a clear lack of coordination and planning between all levels of government, this results in fragmented youth services within communities and this particularly impacts on smaller rural communities. Recommendation: That mechanisms be established to improve collaboration across the youth and community sectors and across government departments. Specifically, the objective of these mechanisms would be: 1. to develop and strengthen the integration of youth specific services provided by the youth and community services sector. 2. to develop clear strategies and measures to improve collaboration across government departments and between levels of government regarding youth support services. Resources are required to build sustainable networks and improve collaboration between agencies. Such collaboration enables improved service linkages and integration of services both in the youth sector and other relevant sectors including: youth specific supported accommodation assistance program (SAAP) services and family support services. Any resources allocated should build upon the collaborative networks already existing in youth services, such as the School Focused Youth Service. c Investing in sector sustainability Finding: An increased focus is required on supporting a sustainable youth and broader community sector. A key element of a strong youth service system in Victoria is an adequately trained, renumerated and supported workforce. Those working in generalist youth support services report that young people are presenting with increasingly complex needs and as such it is increasingly important that the training, development and support needs of youth service providers be met. 32 Youth support services: who s carrying the can? 42 Opportunities for workforce development, professional training and the potential establishment of a professional association for youth workers are all important means of developing a sustainable sector. Recommendation: That the Victorian Government increase its investment in the development and sustainability of the youth and broader community sector, specifically in the areas of workforce development and training, and ensuring adequate resourcing of services to ensure appropriate and timely support can be available for young people. Inadequately funded services face a range of barriers to the support and provision of development opportunities for their employees. The Victorian Government needs to ensure services are adequately funded, and that the support and professional development needs of workers are considered in the funding of services. Further, funding models need to include a transparent unit costing for services. Key findings and recommendations 33 What we heard A summary of feedback on the Social Housing in NSW Discussion Paper May 2015 2 What we heard Summary feedback on the Social Housing in NSW Discussion Paper www.facs.nsw.gov.au Contents At Our Kids Are Worth It Strategy for Children and Youth Our Kids Are Worth It Strategy for Children and Youth Contents 1. Executive Summary....................................... 5 Where We Want to Go.................................... Social Exclusion Task Force Think Family: Improving the life chances of families at risk Social Exclusion Task Force Ministerial Foreword Ministerial Foreword For over ten years now, the Social Exclusion 1 MY VOICE HAS TO BE HEARD Research on outcomes for young people leaving care in North Dublin empowering people in care MY VOICE HAS TO BE HEARD Research on outcomes for young people leaving care in North HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES WHITE PAPER Caring for each other, Caring for ourselves Public consultation Welcome to the White Paper from Health and Social Services. We hope you enjoy reading it, and look forward VICTORIA S VULNERABLE CHILDREN OUR SHARED RESPONSIBILITY Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in another format please telephone the Industry, Workforce and Transformation Branch, JANUARY 2007 looked after children & young people: Working together to build improvement in the educational outcomes of Scotland s looked after children & young people. looked after children & young people: Education The Need for Social Work Intervention THE NEED FOR SOCIAL WORK INTERVENTION A DISCUSSION PAPER FOR THE SCOTTISH 21 st CENTURY SOCIAL WORK REVIEW Don Brand, Trish Reith and Daphne Statham (Consultants) Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review changing lives Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review lives changing Scottish Executive, Edinburgh 2006 Crown copyright 2006 ISBN: 0-7559-4824-6 Scottish Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families Department of Health Department for Education and Employment Home Office Department of Health Department for Education and Employment Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs together with the National Framework Implementation Working Group An outline of National Standards for Out of home Care A Priority Future in mind Promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people s mental health and wellbeing NHS England Publication Gateway Ref. No 02939 The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) was established Provided there s Transport: Transport as a barrier to accessing health care in NSW The Council of Social Service of New South Wales (NCOSS) is the peak body for the social and community services sector SUPPORTING HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL TRANSITIONS TO ADULTHOOD: A PLAN TO PREVENT AND REDUCE YOUTH HOMELESSNESS It is hard to get your feet firmly planted when all you can think about is where will I sleep Social Exclusion Task Force Reaching Out: Think Family Analysis and themes from the Families At Risk Review Ministerial Foreword Ministerial Foreword Families are the bedrock of our society. They can provide Taking Young People Seriously Consulting Young People about their Ideas and Opinions A Handbook for Organisations Working with Young People This handbook was written by the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria Out-of-Home Care Education Commitment A Partnering Agreement between the Department of Human Services Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Independent Pupils missing out on education Low aspirations, little access, limited achievement This report examines the experiences of children and young people who are not in full-time education at school. Inspectors A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social Services FINAL REPORT February 2015 ISBN number: 978-1-925007-78-7 Commonwealth Community Health Needs Assessment An introductory guide for the family health nurse in Europe Part 1: A pack for practitioners Part 2: A pack for trainers EUR/01/5019306 ABSTRACT Governments across the Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice: for 0 to 25 years Statutory guidance for organisations who work with and support children and young people with SEN October 2013 Contents 1 Introduction Guidance on partnership working between allied health professions and education INCLUDED HEALTHY WORKING TOGETHER CONFIDENT Guidance on partnership working between allied health professions and education Consumers, the health system and health literacy: Taking action to improve safety and quality Consultation Paper June 2013 Commonwealth of Australia 2013 This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in ending child poverty: making it happen Contents Ministerial foreword 3 1 Introduction and summary 5 2 The 2020 vision 11 3 Driving progress against the vision 18 4 Tackling child poverty in local communities	128,301
With more than 500 illustrations, this book is perfect for craftsmen who want to set up a blacksmith shop, and for lovers of history and craft alike. This book describes and illustrates the equipment and techniques developed in more than six thousand years of working iron by hand.Indeed, this unique book covers every aspect of a fascinating and little-known art, the fundamental craft on which the civilization of the Iron Age was built. Back to top Rent Art of Blacksmithing 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Alex W. Bealer. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Castle Books.	187,710
How do I know which vaccines my kids need? Q: I've heard so much lately about new vaccines coming on the market, but I'm reluctant to get my son any shots that he doesn't really need. How do I know which ones he should get? A: To protect them from a number of potentially serious diseases, kids should receive all the vaccinations recommended for them by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other immunization authorities. Some parents choose not to vaccinate or only partially vaccinate their children -- sometimes for safety concerns and other times for financial reasons. But new vaccines are licensed and recommended only after being thoroughly studied. And safety monitoring continues even after a vaccine has been approved. If cost is an issue, kids can receive inexpensive or free vaccines through local public health clinics or community health centers. Prior to the start of school, state regulations differ regarding which vaccines are required and some allow exemptions from the requirements.	131,878
- Brohede, Samuel, 1977-, et al. Validation of Odin/OSIRIS stratospheric NO2 profiles Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227. ; 112:D07310 - This paper presents the validation study of stratospheric NO2 profiles retrieved from Odin/OSIRIS measurements of limb-scattered sunlight (version 2.4). The Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imager System (OSIRIS) NO2 data set is compared to coincident solar occultation measurements by the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE), Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II, SAGE III, and Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) III during the 2002–2004 period. Comparisons with seven Systeme d'Analyse par Observation Zenithal (SAOZ) balloon measurements are also presented. All comparisons show good agreement, with differences, both random and systematic, of less than 20% between 25 km and 35 km. Inconsistencies with SAGE III below 25 km are found to be caused primarily by diurnal effects from varying NO2 concentrations along the SAGE III line-of-sight. On the basis of the differences, the OSIRIS random uncertainty is estimated to be 16% between 15 km and 25 km, 6% between 25 km and 35 km, and 9% between 35 km and 40 km. The estimated systematic uncertainty is about 22% between 15 and 25 km, 11–21% between 25 km and 35 km, and 11–31% between 35 km and 40 km. The uncertainties for AM (sunrise) profiles are generally largest and systematic deviations are found to be larger at equatorial latitudes. The results of this validation study show that the OSIRIS NO2 profiles are well behaved, with reasonable uncertainty estimates between 15 km and 40 km. This unique NO2 data set, with more than hemispheric coverage and high vertical resolution will be of particular interest for studies of nitrogen chemistry in the middle atmosphere, which is closely linked to ozone depletion.	228,731
Flowers HD Wallpapers 10,000 - 50,000 downloadsAdd this app to your lists + By Liliya Fedosenko A collection of high-quality images of flowers HD Wallpapers. More than 40 stunning high-resolution images for your Android device. The application allows you to choose any wallpaper and set it to your device in one touch. - Only HD Wallpapers - Only handpicked images - Original, high quality, convenient! Comment, it will allow us to improve the app for you! Flowers have captured human imagination since ancient times primarily because they are beautiful (mostly) and produce various kinds of pleasing smells (with a few exceptions). Different flowers are associated with different symbolism and are used for different purposes. Given below are some little known and strange fact about some rare and common flowers. There are more than 2,50,000 species of flowering plants in the world. Titan Arum are the world’s largest flower and is almost 10 feet in height. Due to its horrible smell of rotten flesh, it is also known as corpse flower. Ancient Egyptians considered lotus a sacred flower and used them in burial rituals The fossil of world’s oldest known flower was discovered by scientists in 2002, in Northeast China. The flower belonging to the genus Archaefructus bloomed around 125 million years ago and resembled a water lily. In earlier times the juice from bluebell flowers was used to make glue. Foxglove is a kind of pink tubular flower which derived its name from old English belief that foxes slipped into these flowers to sneak up on their prey! Dandelions look like weeds, but the flowers and leaves are a good source of vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and potassium. As the name suggests, Moon flowers bloom only at night closing during the day. The Agave, also known as the century plant spends many years without growing any flowers, after which it grows one single bloom and dies. Bamboos produce flowers once every few years. And when they do, all flowers of the same species bloom at exactly the same time. Interflora is the world’s largest and most recognized flower delivery service, supported by a network of 50,000 florists worldwide, delivering to approximately 150 countries. These pictures are high resolution (HD Wallpapers) look great on android devices with any screen resolution (480x854, 960x540, 1280x720, 480x800, 1280x800, 480x320)	238,506
1-20 ton gas/oil fired boiler Capacity: 1-20 ton/h Pressure: 0.7-2 Mpa Fuel: Nature gas, coke oven gas, biogas, methanol, liquid propane gas, diesel, heavy oil, light oil, crude oil, etc. Industries: Heat supplying, chemical, food, textile, printing and dyeing, cigarettes and tobacco, fodder, pharmacy, building materials, brewery, rubber, hospital etc. 7-70 MW gas/oil fired hot water boiler Capacity: 7-70 MW Pressure: 1.0-1.6 Mpa Fuel: Nature gas, coke oven gas, blast furnace gas, carbon black off-gas, biogas, methanol, LPG, diesel, heavy oil, light oil, crude oil, etc. Industries: Heat supplying, hospital, colleges and universities. 2.8-29mw coal fired boiler Pressure: 1.0-1.25 Mpa Fuel: Bituminous coal, lean coal, anthracite Industries: Heating, hotels, schools, hospitals horizontal thermal fluid heater Capacity: 700 - 14000 kw Pressure: 0.8 - 1.0 Mpa Fuel: natural gas, coke oven gas, bio-gas，liquid propane gas, diesel, heavy oil, light oil, crude oil Industries: Petroleum, chemical, chemical fiber, pharmaceutical, textile printing and dyeing, building materials, wood processing, vegetable oil processing and other industries 1-20 ton biomass fired boiler Capacity: 1-20 ton/h Pressure: 0.7-2.5 Mpa Fuel: Biomass particles Industries: Heating, chemical, food, tobacco, textile, printing and dyeing, feed, medicine, building material, wine, rubber, hospital Wood Waste Boiler Survey - Access WA.gov wood waste (hogged fuel).a In the past few years, wood waste boilers have Roughly 3.3 million tons of wood are combusted each year in the state of Washington. Puget Sound. Air Pollution Control Authority. Wood Waste Boiler Survey. 3 Wood Waste Combustion In Boilers - EPA The burning of wood waste in boilers is mostly confined to those industries where evaporation; (2) distillation and burning of volatile matter; and (3) burning of fixed . collectors without flyash reinjection was revised to 2.6 lb/ton to reflect that Lyme Green Heat \| Wood Pellet Heat Made Simple Wood pellets utilize millions of tons of wood waste and put them to work. suction system and operation of modern pellet boilers is nearly maintenance-free. Pellets require only half as much space as cordwood and a 3-ton storage bin is Biomass Heating Systems \| Hurst Boiler, Inc. There are different approaches to biomass boiler systems that we have dealt with in the It replaced three fuel oil fired boilers, which are kept in place as backup or about 50-60 tons, which is also larger than we would likely require today. Biomass Energy - Focus on Wood Waste Abundant sources of wood waste in many areas can supply federal facilities with clean, Page 3 The boilers are fueled by 50,000 tons of green wood chips. Where Wood Works: Strategies for Heating with Woody Biomass - NREL ted to providing biomass to help meet future needs for energy . pitfalls and potential of wood-fuel applications. The Basic Technologies. Page 3 . boiler, which consumes approximately 7,000 tons ing the steam from the wood-chip boilers. Primer on Wood Biomass for Energy - Forest Products Laboratory Advantages of Wood Biomass. Environmental supply of wood fuel (~1,360 green kg (~1.5 green tons) per hour per and $250,000 to $500,000 for a 1.5 to 3 MW (5 to 10 million . dition to providing energy for a 9.0 MWth heat boiler. This. Biomass Boiler Reduces Natural Gas Consumption at Food demonstrated an innovative biomass boiler at Frito-Lay&39;s Topeka,. Kansas, food The boiler consumes approximately 35,000 tons of wood waste and TDF per year. Years 23: Performance assessment, including documenting the project&39;s The use of urban wood waste as an energy resource - IOPscience have been proposed for the energy use of wood waste: heat and electrical 24 544 ha, the parks, boulevards and squares area 2493 ha . estimates, it is technically possible to use up to 800 million tons of wood biomass annually in Russia fuel boiler, ash removal equipment, chimneys equipped with a combustion Frequently Asked Questions - National Association of Conservation How do different crops being used for biomass (pine, maidencane, sugar- cane 3. How much energy is generated per ton of wood? A general estimate is A boiler is a vessel or tank where fuel is combusted to produce hot water or steam. Kettle Falls Biomass Generating Station - Avista to efficiently burn their wood waste for kilns or energy generation,. Avista has diversified its the wood slash weighed 1,203 tons (2,406,000 pounds), more than twice what was . boiler and burned, creating heat. The boiler walls 3%. 9%. 15%. 2016. 2020. RENEW. ABLE STANDARDS REQUIREM. ENT. RENEWABLE Biomass is any organic matter-wood, crops, seaweed, animal wastes-that can be We use four types of biomass today: 1) wood and agricultural products; 2) solid waste; 3) A ton (2,000 pounds) of garbage contains about as much heat energy, do except that garbage-not coal-is the fuel used to fire an industrial boiler. Wood Chip Heating book7.indd - Biomass Energy Resource Center chips and other biomass fuels, and Chapter Three, which lists in detail the .. dry, so they include more wood and less water per ton of biomass. rooms, because wood boilers are larger and the fuel- handling equipment takes up Assessment of Outdoor Wood-fired Boilers - National Association of Mar 1, 2006 iii. Assessment of. Outdoor Wood-fired Boilers. Project Manager .. OWBs could contribute almost 900,000 tons of particulate matter by . states have found that users sometimes fuel OWBs with yard waste, packing materials,. Emissions from Burning Wood Fuels Derived from - nescaum Jul 1, 2006 iii. Emissions from Burning Wood. Fuels Derived from Construction .. Several wood boilers are permitted and in operation to combust C&D wood. . 5 This figure assumes that it takes 10,000 tons of waste wood to fuel one Biomass - Longwood University The $14 million facility located on campus contains two biomass boilers (one new The new heating plant was designed to contain three boilers but due to to burn 34,000 tons of sawdust/year; Utilize 20-40 tons of sawdust/day (approx. Waste-to-Energy: Boiler MACT&39;s Effect on Spent Railway Ties and Aug 10, 2015 Under EPA&39;s Boiler MACT, treated wood, including railway ties, will not costs steel ties.3 In the past, the spent wood railway ties were used as fuel . per tie (approximately $112 per ton) at an annual cost of $160,000,000. Waste to Energy - Babcock & Wilcox Approximately 2/3 of household waste is categorized as biomass. In Europe, 50 million tons of waste is converted into valuable energy through WtE technology, B&W provides two boiler options when using waste as a combustion fuel. The Benefits of Wood Ash from a Wood Boiler or - Tarm Biomass May 12, 2015 Tarm Biomass® recently attended the third New Hampshire Boiler What about a wood pellet boiler burning 80 tons of wood pellets in a year? Evaluating Wood Fuel for Greenhouse Heat - UConn IPM - University Cordwood, pellets and chips are sources of biomass that are most readily Green or fresh cut hardwood weighs about two tons per cord and contains I frequently get is How much land does it take to supply a wood fired boiler? Page 3	307,172
The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems, by Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (1737–1802), is arguably the widest-ranging account of religious philosophies ever written in pre-modern Tibet. Like most Tibetan texts on philosophical systems, this work covers the major schools of India, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, but then goes on to discuss in detail the entire range of Tibetan traditions as well, with separate chapters on the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyü, Shijé, Sakya, Jonang, Geluk, and Bön schools. Not resting there, Thuken goes on to describe the major traditions of China—Confucian, Daoist, and the multiple varieties of Buddhist—as well as those of Mongolia, Khotan, and even Shambhala. The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems is unusual, too, in its concern not just to describe and analyze doctrines, but to trace the historical development of the various traditions. The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems is an eloquent and erudite presentation exploring the religious history and philosophical systems of an array of Asian Cultures—and offering evidence that the serious and sympathetic study of the history of religions has not been a monopoly of Western scholarship. The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems “An impressive translation of a fascinating and vitally important book. Its broad scope and keen observation makes it an invaluable resource.”—Guy Newland, Central Michigan University, author of Introduction to Emptiness	67,364
Addition - pointwise addition: image + image (or constant) Subtraction - pointwise subtraction: image - image (or constant) Multiplication - pointwise multiplication: images * image (or constant) Division - pointwise division: images / image (or constant) Blending - pointwise linear combination of two images Logical AND/NAND - pointwise logical ANDing/NANDing of two binary images Logical OR/NOR - pointwise logical ORing/NORing of two binary images Logical XOR/XNOR - pointwise logical XORing/XNORing of two binary images Invert/Logical NOT - pointwise inversion of a binary image Bitshift Operators - pointwise scaling of an image Image arithmetic applies one of the standard arithmetic operations or a logical operator to two or more images. The operators are applied in a pixel-by-pixel fashion which means that the value of a pixel in the output image depends only on the values of the corresponding pixels in the input images. Hence, the images normally have to be of the same size. One of the input images may be a constant value, for example when adding a constant offset to an image. Although image arithmetic is the most simple form of image processing, there is a wide range of applications. A main advantage of arithmetic operators is that the process is very simple and therefore fast. In many applications the processed images are taken from the same scene at different points of time, as, for example, in reduction of random noise by adding successive images of the same scene or motion detection by subtracting two successive images. Logical operators are often used to combine two (mostly binary) images. In the case of integer images, the logical operator is normally applied in a bitwise fashion. Then we can, for example, use a binary mask to select a particular region of an image. ©2003 R. Fisher, S. Perkins, A. Walker and E. Wolfart.	43,001
Can areola's be made smaller after a breast augmentation? Absolutely. The procedure is an areolar reduction. This can be done with an incision around the entire areola and generally heals well as the contrast between the darker skin of the areola and the lighter breast skin camouflages the scar well. Seek out a board certified plastic surgeon to evaluate you and explain your options. I hope this was helpful and good luck. R.W. Kessler, MD First of all, a couple of definitions: the areola is the pigmented skin that surrounds the nipple. Most surgeons pronounce this uh-REE-oh-la, but are-ee-OH-la is also used. Areolar skin has not only a different color but usually a different texture compared to the surrounding breast's skin, and both features help to conceal scars placed at the areolar border. The term nipple refers to the projecting tissue at the center of the areola, which contains the openings of the lactiferous (milk) ducts. These two structures comprise what plastic surgeons refer to as the nipple/areola complex. A youthful, aesthetically ideal breast has an areolar diameter of about 38-42mm (about one and a half inches). Some breasts have large areolas from the time that they develop during puberty, and some enlarge later in life with pregnancy and lactation. A large areola tends to make a breast look matronly even if it is not droopy. Areolar diameter can definitely be reduced, and this can be performed as a stand-alone procedure or as part of a larger cosmetic breast procedure such as a lift, reduction or augmentation. The surgical technique involves removing the excess areolar skin, in the form of a donut-shaped skin excision. A circular incision is made around the areola at the desired diameter of about 40mm, then a second circular incision is made at the outer border of the large areola. The epidermis is shaved off between the two incisions, leaving the dermis behind. A purse-string suture is then placed in the dermis at the outer incision that allows the surgeon to reduce the outer diameter to 42-44mm by cinching together the two ends of the suture. The suture acts as a drawstring to reduce the outer diameter, and allows closure of the areola with reduced tension on the healing incision. The purse-string suture is critical for maintaining areolar shape and size. Without the purse-string suture, areolas will almost always enlarge over time. When that suture is tied, the skin of the outer portion of the areola is gathered somewhat, as the circumference of the outer incision is much larger than that of the inner incision. The gathered or pleated appearance of the outer margin of the areola gradually flattens out over time; this generally take a few months. Occasionally I see a patient purely for areolar reduction, but the majority of patients I see have their areolas reduced as part of a mastopexy (breast lift), augmentation mastopexy (breast lift plus implant placement), or breast reduction procedure. The circumareolar scar (scar all the way around the areola) usually heals very well and is camouflaged by the color difference between areolar skin and breast skin, but if you are going to have a scar around the areola you might as well do something to improve breast shape and/or size at the same time. Keep in mind however that most breast lift and reduction procedures require a vertical scar from the bottom of the areola to the inframammary fold (crease below the breast), and in some cases a scar in the inframammary fold as well. A word of caution: many surgeons perform what they call a circumareolar (or donut or Benelli) mastopexy. In my opinion there is absolutely no such thing as a circumareolar mastopexy. Removing skin around the areola may enable a surgeon to elevate the position of the nipple/areola complex perhaps 1-2 cm on the breast mound, but it DOES NOT lift the breast itself. In most cases, unfortunately, it serves to distort the shape of the breasts, making them appear flattened at the top. If the breast needs to be lifted, it absolutely requires some internal rearrangement of breast tissue to create a projecting, aesthetically ideal and lasting result - which in turn requires that vertical incision and vertical surgical scar below the areola (and sometimes in the inframammary fold as well). M.M. Law, MD Thank you for your question. Yes the areola can be reduced after a breast augmentation. Often it can be done under local anesthesia.	205,763
As a nation, we know that our own choices and behaviors - including physical inactivity - have contributed to rising rates of chronic disease and obesity. It seems easy enough to encourage individuals and families to engage in more physical activity. But the reality is that in many communities across the nation, making healthy choices such as getting active is not only difficult; sometimes it's not even option. "It's not that hard," we might say. "Just go out and take a walk around your neighborhood." But what if that neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks, and is cut off from other parts of the community? What if residents in that neighborhood feel unsafe when walking around because of poor lighting or other issues? What if children can't play because of lack of space? Confronting our nation's health crisis requires that we support individuals and communtiies in making better choices, and that we work together to address the underlying conditions and other factors - stress, poverty, social isolation, and neighborhood safety - that contribute to declining health and well-being. This is especially important for those living in communities with limited access to the tools and resources needed to attain and maintain a healthier lifestyle. We need to make the healthy choice the easy choice by ensuring that our communities have adequate opportunities for children, families and adults to engage in healthy behaviors in all of the places where they live, work, learn, and play. The Y, along with many other national and local organizations, is part of a growing "healthier communities" movement around the nation, bringing together community leaders and advocates to transform environments and to ensure that healthy opportunities are available to all - no matter where they live. These collaborative efforts are making getting fit by active transportation easier by creating streets that are safe for all users whether they walk, bike or drive. They are making it easier for kids to walk to school by providing walking school buses and designated walk-to-school days. They are building or repairing parks or playgrounds, thereby providing opportunities for kids and families to play together. They are connecting communtiies by building walking and bike paths. They are ensuring that town and city plans address community design to ensure they support physical activity - and so much more. A healthier community is a stronger community, leading not only to improved chronic disease and obesity rates, but often an improved economy. Imagine a neighborhood where businesses that struggled suddenly thrive after new street lighting makes it possible to shop at night. Imagine children playing in a new park. Imagine a new bustling town businesses district that is connected to residential neighborhoods through pedestrian and bike trails. The possibilities are limitless, but it will take all parts of a community working together to achieve the goal of healthy communities where opportunities for physical activity benefit everyone. What kind of barriers to physical activity might communities face? What are some things that communities can do together to overcome those barriers? Who might need to work together to help support physical activity in these communities? What ares ome of the benefits, outside of improved physical health, that healthier communities can lead to?	122,744
The Institute for Middle East Understanding offers journalists and editors quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources — both in the U.S. and in the Middle East. Read our Background Briefings. Contact us for story assistance. Sign up for e-briefings. Journalists & Editors: Sign up for e-mail briefings here. As Christmas approaches, Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, are busy decorating the city and preparing the holiday festivities. Like Christians the world over, the city of Bethlehem, which suffers under Israeli military occupation, is in the hearts and minds of Palestinians everywhere at Christmas time. A Palestinian girl lights a candle in the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, just ahead of Christmas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman) Bethlehem and its holy sites are part of a larger heritage shared by all Palestinians, Muslims, Christians, and non-believers alike. In January, 2011 Palestinians submitted an application to have the Church of the Nativity (built 1,700 years ago on what is considered to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ) designated a World Heritage site. With Palestine's recent admission as a member to UNESCO, such a move has a higher chance of success, helping to preserve this historic church for Palestinians and Christians around the world, indeed for all of humanity. Economically, Bethlehem relies upon religious tourism for much of its income. However, Israel has largely monopolized the industry by arranging tours of religious sites and controlling the movement of tourists in and out of Bethlehem, denying many struggling Palestinian businesses much-needed access to foreign consumers. Graffiti on Israel's wall in the West Bank town of Bethlehem reads, "Merry Christmas from Bethlehem Ghetto." The wall (deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice) that Israel has built runs extremely close to the city center, obstructing the movement of people, trade, and commerce. As a result, the city center has actually shrunken in size. Bethlehem's sister city, Jerusalem, which lies just a few miles away, is now inaccessible except for the few who can obtain travel permits from Israel. Israel's nearly 45-year-old military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, makes a normal life virtually impossible for Palestinians living there, including those in Bethlehem. Nevertheless, it's not all bad news. About 1 million Christian pilgrims still come to Bethlehem every year, making it one of the most visited religious sites in the region. A promotional video highlighting the Shepherds' Nights festival held in Beit Sahour (Bethlehem) This year the neighboring town of Beit Sahour will host a three-day music and dance festival entitled Shepherds' Nights to celebrate the holy day. The festival closes out on Christmas Eve with a candle-lit procession and dance performance by al-Funoun al-Sha'biyeh, the popular and respected dance troupe founded in 1979, that has toured the U.S. at least five times. Pilgrims sit near the altar of the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site where Jesus was born in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Youth in Santa Claus suits light candles on a Christmas tree fashioned from barbed wire and decorated with cards bearing major milestones in the Israeli occupation of Palestine in an effort to educate Christmastime tourists visiting Bethlehem's Manger Square. Internationals light candles on a Christmas tree fashioned from barbed wire in an effort to educate Christmastime tourists visiting Bethlehem's Manger Square.	211,760
NEW YORK (Jan. 10) The Vatican’s announcement that the pope would likely meet Austrian President Kurt Waldheim during a papal visit to Austria violated agreements Jewish leaders thought had been worked out during their previous meetings with Catholic officials, according to Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress. As a result, a letter sent Thursday to the Vatican and signed by members of the International Jewish Committee on Interfaith Consultations was “the most sharply worded protest ever sent to the Vatican by IJCIC,” said Steinberg. “The announcement on Vatican Radio dealt a double blow, especially to those who supported the meetings with the pope in Miami” last September said Steinberg. “We object not only to the substance of the announcement, but we thought there was a procedure in place whereby we would receive some consultation or warning, as the agreement said, ‘to avoid future misunderstandings,’ “he said. WJC is one of five constituent organizations of IJCIC, whose other members are the Israel Interfaith Association, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith International and the Synagogue Council of America. The group’s letter, directed to Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, president of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, warns further meetings between the pope and Waldheim “could have the most serious implications for Vatican-Jewish relations.” MAUTHAUSEN VISIT UNCONFIRMED The letter also objects to reports, “not corroborated,” that Waldheim would accompany the pope on a visit to the Mauthausen concentration camp. (The Vatican has denied those reports, according to a story Friday in The New York Times. But the paper quoted Vatican officials as saying that the pope and Waldheim are likely to meet as many as three times in keeping with protocol.) The IJCIC letter stops short of requesting a meeting between Jewish officials and Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Vatican secretary of state, despite previous agreements that Jewish groups could seek such meetings “to avoid future misunderstandings.” “We felt we’d been down that road before and accomplished nothing,” explained Steinberg. Instead, the letter asks for a response from Willebrands in light of evidence that has surfaced about Waldheim’s activities as an intelligence officer in the German army during World War II. An international commission is currently investigating charges, brought by the WJC and other groups, that Waldheim was personally involved in atrocities against Jews and Yugoslav partisans in the Balkans during his army service. The Austrian president has acknowledged that he served in the German army, but has denied any knowledge of the atrocities. Waldheim met with the pope at the Vatican last June in a move that outraged Jewish leaders and triggered a major setback in efforts to improve Catholic-Jewish relations. Jewish leaders discussed their dismay in meetings with the pope and Catholic officials outside Rome on Sept. 1, and again with the pope during his visit to Miami on Sept. 11. American Jewish leaders continued late last week to protest a second meeting between the pope and Waldheim. Said Jerome Chanes, associate national affairs director of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, “We continue to make clear that Catholic-Jewish relations in America are cordial. But it is Vatican-Jewish relations that are inherently problematic. This is another of the unpleasant surprises that have been visited upon us by this present Vatican administration.”	166,472
Camera tricks on future cars Car manufacturers like Nissan and Land Rover are looking at ways to make your car safer using cutting-edge camera technology to eliminate blind spots. See All Wheels Bet you can't get this car dirty Crash: Electric cars put to the test Cars that scream America Tesla brings right-hand drive cars to U.K. Mitsubishi Mirage: Bad at any price Volvo S60 packs a punch See All CNNMoney Original Shows Supe your Beamer for $16K TASER CEO: Huge interest in our cams after Ferguson App downloads slowing down Buying comic books as an investment Ukraine's booming wedding business Russia closes flagship Moscow McDonald's	243,662
"I think on both the NBA totem pole and in New York professional sports, the Nets don't exactly rank very well in terms of brand value or brand awareness, so Barclays won't really make it worse for them."But maybe those following the Barclays Center will remember some choice bits, such as from today's New York Times, Barclays C.E.O. Resigns as Bank Frames a Defense: When Barclays bank manipulated key interest rates to bolster profits during the 2008 financial crisis, senior executives said they were following a common practice that regulators implicitly approved, according to documents released by the bank and authorities."Dirty-clean, rather than clean-clean" ...Even as [top executives] resigned, Barclays published documents indicating that some executives thought they were responding to an implied directive from the Bank of England, Britain’s central bank. Investigators disagree, saying that Barclays "never explicitly told regulators that it was reporting false interest rates that amounted to manipulation," and the bank has been charted with helping other banks do the same thing. At one point, a trader called a colleague a “superstar” for furthering the illicit actions. Another employee even acknowledged that the bank was submitting “patently false” rate information.In other words, everyone does it. So few people will care. In one call on April 2008, a Barclays manager acknowledged to the Financial Services Authority that the bank was understating its Libor submissions. “So, to the extent that, um, the Libors have been understated, are we guilty of being part of the pack? You could say we are,” the Barclays manager said, according to regulatory documents. ...Or, as one Barclays official told the British Bankers Associations, the organization that oversees Libor, “we’re clean but we’re dirty-clean, rather than clean-clean.” And, c'mon, the Nets re-signed Deron Williams.	221,165
Yesterday I contacted the Ballast Trust regarding a photograph taken by the late Dan McDonald that appears on page 33 of Robert Simper's excellent book, 'Scottish Sail - A Forgotten Era', ISBN 071536703X. They located the image, a glass plate negative, and have added it to their Flickr site as can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballasttrust/4909702307/ The description in the book tells us that the two vessels in the centre are the Advance and Jessie of Stornoway and that the Jessie, of 30 tons, was built at Fraserburgh in 1850 whilst the Advance was built in 1884. Given this information, the date on the image, which appears to read '1866', would have to be 1886? My previous research, as seen here , places the Jessie in my family's hands from at least 1876 and the fact that her Crew Agreements cease in 1897, the year that they bought the Crest, leads me to believe that she was theirs for the whole of the period 1876-1897. Corroboration is to be found in this obituary from the Stornoway Gazette of 1922. I am absolutely delighted to be able to share with you an evocative image (albeit somewhat indistinct!) of one of my ancestors' ships taken at the time that they were sailing her in plying the coastal trade of the West coast of Scotland. Note: The fishing fleet is a mixture typical of the time, including vessels from both the East coast and the Clyde. Fàilte! (Welcome!)This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis. My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors. My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs... ©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved	261,044
"I love all of the information I learn about schizophrenia and about different therapies and medication. I like learning about cognitive tests and implications of them. The work is enjoyable, interesting, and doesn’t get boring because there is so much to do always. Also, I love the people and the environment." Dr. Gretchen Haas, Ph.D. and Dr. Leslie Horton, Ph.D. Dr. Leslie Horton Area of Research: Clinical psychology, developmental psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience Description of Research: Directed research students will be involved in two studies seeking to understand the development of neurocognitive and social cognitive abilities in children and adolescents ages 5 to 19 who are at risk for psychiatric disorder (i.e. those who have a first-degree relative with schizophrenia) compared with the abilities of typically developing children using a battery of questionnaires, clinical interviews, and computer-based tasks. One study investigates the neurocognitive and social cognitive abilities in at risk children ages 5 to 19, and the other study investigates stress sensitivity, social cognition, and social behavior in at risk adolescents ages 14 to 17. This research should inform our understanding of the cognitive and neurobiologic substrates of developmental dysmaturation and social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Duties of Students: Research assistants will have the opportunity to be trained in administering a battery of neurocognitive tests and other laboratory measures, such a task in which participants perform a public speaking task while having their heart rate responses monitored. Other responsibilities may include recruiting research participants, attending weekly lab meetings, coding audio- or videotapes of research participants engaged in lab tasks, participating in data entry and analysis, and conducting background research in schizophrenia and its associated neurocognitive deficits. In some cases, with experience, this may include contributing to grant applications and manuscripts. In addition to meeting the departmental requirements for PSY 1903 Directed Research, we are seeking students who: - Are able to commit to at least 2 semesters (1-3 credits each semester) - Are current Freshman, Sophomores or Juniors - Have strong interpersonal and communication skills - Have an interest in pursuing careers in neuroscience, psychology, or psychiatry - May have a specific interest in neurocognition and behavior in schizophrenia Terms offered: fall, spring and summer Number of Students: 1 or 2	221,888
Tom Clarke reports on the 3-D printing revolution that could save lives. How Investors Can Join the 3-D Printing Revolution Creating a solid, three-dimensional object from a printer sounds like science fiction but it’s very real. 3-D printing has created prosthetic legs, racing-car parts, customized mobile phones and more. “These were experimental technologies for decades and now they’re commercial,” says Josh Brown, vice president of Fusion Analytics. “And the applications essentially cut across every vertical from health care to defense to aerospace to manufacturing to oil and gas. There is nothing that’s not going to benefit from some of these newly commercialized 3-D technologies.” Investors can benefit too. There are three publicly traded 3-D technology companies: 3D Systems (DDD), Stratasys (SSYS) and Proto Labs (PRLB) and all are trading at record highs. 3D Printed Robot	188,847
I think one of the hardest things to live with is guilt. I also think that our bodies respond to food based on how we feel about eating it as well. Do you ever decide to eat something and then while you are eating it say "oh I shouldn't be..." Or maybe you get through eating it and then beat yourself up for it for hours later. Maybe you even go to the gym to "work it off" or make up for it by skipping a few meals. Creating a new relationship to food and food habits is, in my mind, essential to living a life you love. Everyone has to eat, everyone has a relationship to food and how you eat reflects how you live. My belief is when we respect it, love it, choose it wisely, taste it, enjoy it, listen to our body and respond to when it is hungry and stop when we are satisfied we can live without the guilt and add much more pleasure. I think there truly are no foods that you have to deprive yourself of and when you balance it with powerful, healing, good quality foods. With good food in your body your cravings for over indulging in sweets, processed food, fatty foods will diminish. Finding balance and pleasure is worth working on because living with guilt is a high price to pay. Today I suggest you pay attention to your self, what you are thinking about when you are eating, how you feel afterwards, did you stop when you had enough or did you keep going mindlessly? Did you even taste the food you so wanted to have? The purpose of making changes is to add more pleasure to your life! Eat when you are hungry. Choose food that you really want to eat. Taste every bite, eat slowly and enjoy it. Stop when you are satisfied not full. Give thanks for it when you are done. Love food and it will love you back! Enjoy every meal you have today and if you find that voice of guilt creeping in make a new choice!	186,691
For three years we have worked on mangrove conservation in these six countries, also known as the PRCM region. Mangrove Charter for West Africa Together with partner IUCN, Wetlands International Africa organised wide consultations. These resulted in the regional Mangrove Charter for West Africa and national action plans for the conservation and sustainable management of mangrove forests in each of the six countries. Through the charter, national conservation policies of each country are harmonised with the other countries. The Action Plans are country-specific detailling activities to be undertaken by these same governments. These activities include large scale restoration and sustainable use work to be executed in every country. Other West African countries that have mangroves in common and are interested by the Charter may join later. This could facilitate large-scale restoration/conservation and wise use of this vital ecosystem resources. Introducing sustainable practices The mangrove forests of the six countries are being degraded due to unsustainable human economic activities. In order to make sure that these mangrove forests last for the generations to come, we introduced sustainable production techniques for these economic activities that cause all this damage. These are the three main damaging activities, plus the sustainable practices we introduced: 1. Fish smoking The most harmful impact on the mangrove stems from the activities of the smoked fish sector. The fish is intended for the sub-regional market, driven by traders capable of mobilising huge financial resources to operate several artisanal fishing fleets. This type of fish smoking requires large quantities of wood to achieve a longer conservation period. In order to diminish the cutting of mangrove trees for firewoord, we introduced more efficient fish smoking ovens. These improved ovens need 6 (!) times less fire wood per kilo of smoked fish. Cooked salt, which requires large quantities of mangrove wood, is a lucrative traditional activity. It is another well organized sector in the three southern countries. Despite the dissemination of the solar salt technique in Guinea and the competition of Senegalese salt, production remains significant and therefore firewood needs are still very high. We introduced solar salt production technique which does not require any mangrove fire wood at all. Putting salt sea water on a plastic container in the direct sunlight, the water evaporates leaving behind a salt whose purity far outreaches traditional cooked salt. This makes it fit for export to Europe. 3. Oyster fishing Oysters grwo on the roots of the mangrove trees in abundant quantities throughout West Africa's coast. Harvesting is mostly done by women, which as unsustainable practice, cut the entire root or branch to take the oysters attached to it home or to the market place. As sustainble alternative our partners also introduced a new technique: in the same water, just in front of the mangroves, strings are hung, to which the oysters can connect and grow. When harvesting, the mangroves stay intact as the strings make it easier to take off the oysters. Replication in the region All these sustainable production techniques are replicated in neighbouring villages to our introudction sites, or in other parts of the six countries by other organisations, such as the national governments that implement their Action Plan (see above) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Programme (FAO). This action is funded by the MAVA Foundation	165,873
San Diego It's illegal for a child under 16 to work in Mexico. Doubtless, the law was passed to prevent the exploitation of children and to keep kids in school. But sometimes the law denies children from impoverished homes a chance to help their families. "When I was 10," recalls 13-year-old Angel Delgado Hernandes, who lives with his mother and three sisters in the Colonia Postal section of Tijuana, "I needed to make money to help support my family. So I went out to find work." In his search for work, Delgado walked into a Ley supermarket within sight of Tijuana International Airport in Otay. "They told me they couldn't hire me because I was too young," he recalls. "But they also told me about the program." The program he speaks of is an agreement between large Mexican supermarket chains -- Ley, Calimax, Commercial Mexicana, Gigante, and others -- and the Mexican child-protection agency known by its Spanish acronym, DIF -- pronounced "deef" -- that stands for Desarallo Integral de la Familia, or integral development of the family, Jorge Bedoya, a DIF official in Tijuana explains. "It's a national program, because in Mexico, there are a lot of kids working to help out their families. They made a contract between the government and these big supermarket chains so that these children would not be left unprotected. The deal was that social services, DIF, would give classes to these children to teach the kids values and instruct them on their rights as workers. And the part of the markets would be to limit the times that these kids would be there, so that they would have time to go to school. And each market must have a person who is specifically in charge of these children, who makes sure that they have their rights respected and that they don't work overtime and that they are fulfilling their other duties, like their schools and their homes." Their duty at the stores is to bag groceries for the customers coming through the checkout line. But, so as not to violate the child-labor laws, the empacadores, as the children are known, are not employees and not paid by the supermarkets. They work strictly for tips. "The government doesn't refer to it as work," Bedoya explains, "because that is illegal. It is illegal for a child to work in Mexico. So it is kind of a gray area, because if these kids do not work, then their family probably will not eat. So we call it an activity. "In the supermarket," he continues, "there is no chain of command with the children, so they are basically autonomous. They do have a person, employed by the store, looking after them. But the manager of the supermarket can't tell the kids, 'Okay, go sweep that aisle,' because these kids are in a certain way apart from the supermarket. They are not part of the work structure of the supermarket." At the Otay Ley, on a Friday morning around 9:30, a dozen kids, evenly split by gender, averaging 12 years of age, stand at the checkstands. The boys wear navy blue slacks, white shirts, and solid blue ties. The girls wear navy blue pleated skirts and white blouses. Both boys and girls wear blue berets. Ley has 22 checkstands, but only 6 are open at this early hour. So two empacadores man each stand, taking turns packing the groceries. The customers, after paying their grocery bills, hand a few pesos to the children. "The clients have responded well to the program," says David Zarate, who supervises the empacadores program for all 12 Ley stores in Ensenada, Tijuana, and Mexicali. "They understand the reason for having them here, and they treat the kids well. Also, we put up signs that you see as you walk into the store that explain why the kids in the blue berets are here and that they work solely for your tips." One would think a pack of 10- to 14-year-olds away from their parents' supervision could be disastrous from a store-management perspective. But Zarate says he hasn't seen many problems with the children in his stores. "We've had a few," he says, "but nothing major. And we don't fire the kids if there's a problem. We suspend them for an hour." Delgado admits to getting distracted by a friend while working from time to time. "And sometimes the customers get mad if I'm a little distracted...or if they don't like the way I packed a bag. But most of the time they treat me well." According to Zarate, Ley doesn't receive any tax breaks or incentives from the government for taking part in the program. "We were told about the program in 1994, and we voluntarily decided to be part of it," he says. "We feel very good about the program and about providing a way to help these kids." Zarate concedes that the store benefits financially because "We would have to hire people to do the work the children are doing." But that benefit is offset by the fact that Ley pays an employee in each store to be devoted solely to coordinating the empacadores and pays Zarate himself to coordinate the whole program. Six mornings a week, Delgado takes a five-peso taxi ride from his home a couple of miles away to start work on time at 8:00 a.m. He works until noon, then returns home for lunch before heading to school. The four-hour shift is the maximum allowed by DIF. How much money he makes in one shift, he says, "depends a lot on the day. I average about 40 pesos [about $4.50] a day. But Saturdays and Sundays are better than weekdays. On a good Saturday or Sunday I can make 150 pesos [$16.50]. And on the 15th and 30th of the month I know it's going to be a good day because everybody has just gotten paid." With a broad grin, he boasts that, after three years bagging groceries, he can spot the good tippers as they walk up to the register. He says he gives "the major part" of the money he makes to his mother and keeps the rest to spend on school supplies.	32,413
University of Kansas alumnus Dan Vallero has been invited appear on the Today Show to talk about recycling and waste diversion in America as part of the program’s Earth Day coverage Monday, April 22. Vallero, who earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from KU in 1996, is an internationally recognized expert in environmental science and engineering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Duke University, teaching courses in ethics, sustainable design and green engineering. Vallero is the author of 11 engineering textbooks, including "Waste: A Handbook for Management." His latest book addresses the causes and contributing factors to environmental disasters. In 2008, Vallero was keynote speaker at the KU’s Engineering Expo where he talked about environmental issues engineers need to consider when designing green projects and products. His Today Show interview is also expected to touch on applying product life cycles to waste management and the economic plusses of recycling and waste diversion.	24,951
We all love heroes and heroines, but these goody two-shoe characters are being put in a corner. I’m putting the spotlight on their equally hot cousins. Today we are delving into what made me fall in love with the romance genre and spurred my quest to become a romance writer. What are Anti-heroes? Anti-heroes according to literarydevices.net are: A literary device used by writers for a prominent character in a play or book that has characteristics opposite to that of a conventional hero. The protagonist is generally admired for his bravery, strength, charm, ingenuity etc. while an anti-hero is typically clumsy, unsolicited, and unskilled and has both good and bad qualities. - a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes. Neither one of these live up to the panty- melting characters that have graced the screen and literature world. Below are seven in depth profiles of the heroes devious cousins. Anti-hero: Edward Lewis Richard Gere played corporate raider Edward Lewis. Edward’s job was to literally rape and pillage troubled companies for profit. If that didn’t help his bad boy status, his best friend was a self-absorbed prick. When Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) comes into his life, she becomes nothing more than another one of his many employees. But Vivian peels back the cynicism to reveal a kind heart inside this bad boy. He changes his pillaging ways and even tries to conquer his fear of heights to the get girl. When Vivian ‘saves him right back’ the bad boy is redeemed. Anti-hero: Pat Solitano. When Pat Solitano( Bradley Cooper) enters the screen he’s a text book anti-hero. He’s clumsy, neurotic, and selfish. His story begins with him freshly out of a mental institution. It doesn’t look like he has romantic bone in his body. He spends two thirds of the movie obsessing about his ex-wife, who clearly wants nothing to do with him. But underneath this mental movie is a sweet love story. But when Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) beats his crazy with her own, he wises up and ends the unrequited obsession. When he reveals his true feelings for Tiffany, Pat’s redeemed. Anti-hero: Joe Fox This 1998 classic was single handedly my inspiration for becoming a writer. Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) was an absolute jerk in the movie. He pushed Kathleen Kelly ( Meg Ryan) to close her family business. Antagonizes her in public. But the worst one is when he finds out she’s the girl he’s been e-mailing. He pranks her, allowing her to think the man of her dreams is a faker. So how does this grouch redeem himself? Once Kathleen’s business is kaput she falls into a depression. Joe takes care of her, despite the fact that Kathleen calls him every name in the book. When Joe reveals he’s her dream man, Kathleen sighs with relief and says “I wanted it to be you.” I did too. Anti-hero: Mr. Grey Love isn’t always sweet and pretty. This office romance is a dark one. Mr. Grey (James Spader) is a full blown sadist. He makes Christian Grey look like a cuddly kitten. Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a shy woman, perfect fodder for domineering Mr. Grey who her spanks her when she makes typos. But Lee is a woman who likes to cut herself when she’s emotionally overwhelmed. Mr. Grey’s strict nature and unconventional attitude provide her a safe environment where she can experience pain without the consequences. Her pushes to the limit, thinking she can’t possibly love his perverse mind. To prove she loves him Lee sits at his desk for days without food or water. In the end he rewards her undying devotion. He marries her, thereby giving her a life where she safely deal with the world. - He’s Just Not that Into You When Justin Long’s character says “you’re not the exception, you’re the rule.” Who didn’t want to jump through the screen and strangle him? Alex (Justin Long) is your boy next door. Everyone likes and respects him. He’s also the cynic that’ll every ruin every romantic dream you have. That’s what he does to Gigi Haim. For two thirds of the move, Alex exposes her to the harsh truths of how men feel about her. Poor Gigi is a sweet bubbly girl, but men don’t call her after the second date. When Gigi comes on to him, Alex shuts her down, breaking the poor girl’s heart. But when Gigi stops coming around, Alex realizes he’s fallen for her. The jerk rushes to Gigi’s apartment and he’s happy to discover his cynicism never rubbed off on Gigi. Anti-hero: Bennett Ryan My favorite modern literary equivalent is Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren This dynamic duo created a story that set the interwebs on fire. Bennet Ryan makes Edward Lewis look like a teddy bear. He’s ruthless, and his acerbic mouth is no match for any woman. Until he meet Chloe Mills. A sexy independent woman, who’s not afraid to tell Bennett off. The only problem is she’s his assistant. As they enter a secret love affair Bennett tries to keep a cold distance between them, but the more he gets to know Chloe, he realizes he’ll have to shed his bastard attitude and give Chloe the respect she deserves if he wants her in his life and his bed. Classic literary equivalent Anti-heroine: Scarlett O’Hara In this case our protagonist is an anti-heroine. Bad girls can be just as sexy as their male counterparts. Scarlett O’hara is desperately in love with Ashly Wilkes. Unfortunately the man only has eyes for one woman. His wife. Scarlett spends three fourths of the book pinning for Wilkes all the while marrying men for the money to rebuild her precious family plantation. When she marries Rhett Butler she realizes once it’s too late that he’s the truth love of her life. When Rhett turns her down, Scarlett’s unwavering optimism prompts one of the most famous quotes in history. “Tomorrow is another day”. What are some of your favorite anti-heroes?	33,933
A century ago, Americans didn’t have to worry about going organic. It was de rigueur, with no processed, genetically modified or chemically laced foods to cause concern. Everything on the menu was natural. So, how does your organic holiday table measure up against a typical farmstead menu from 1900? “At Christmas, meats were often pulled from the smoker because hunting for fresh game was more difficult in the snow and cold,” says George Gross, director of Delaware Valley College’s Roth Living Farm Museum in North Wales, Pennsylvania. “Or one of the youngest children might be asked to kill a goose or one of the farm’s chickens that had stopped laying eggs.” You wouldn’t find ham or pork on the menu, as they were “daily breakfast staples and were not considered fancy,” Gross says. All kitchen preparations fell to the women. (Has anything changed in your home?) Wives and daughters would clean and dress their holiday deer or rabbit, while boiling and feathering a Christmas chicken or goose. (Feathers were saved for pillows.) Meats were roasted on an open hearth or the oven of a wood stove. Stovetop cooking featured vegetables from the family root cellar: turnips, parsnips, squash and potatoes, most of which were mashed with fresh butter and cream from family cows. Fresh bread was baked earlier in the day. Desserts were simple, usually a tart made from canned fruit preserved earlier and pie crust rolled and baked that day. As for beverages, families started preparing homemade root beer several weeks before Christmas. “Folks believed that root beer was an excellent drink for them, thinking the roots killed bacteria in the drinking water, thus making it safer to drink than water,” Gross says. “They hadn’t realized that it was the boiling process that was doing the trick. Had they wanted to drink safer water, they only needed to boil it.” It took a full day—sometimes longer—to clean, boil and store the assorted roots used for this holiday drink, followed by two weeks of fermenting. Women would break out their best dinnerware, flatware and glassware, lighting candles for illumination—not atmosphere. And with no refrigeration, meals were carefully planned for only one supper, with no holiday leftovers to enjoy the next day. If you have a chance to visit Pennsylvania, be sure to stop by the Roth Museum, where Gross tends its 140 acres, a dairy cow, two dairy goats, six sheep and three horses. Depending on the season, you can view sheep-shearing, milking, plowing and planting demonstrations, and antique equipment displays, as well as participate in hands-on activities. Click here for a list of seasonal events. As for this weekend, enjoy your much-more-modern Christmas dinner!	109,996
One of our first tasks when we began our 1832-1868 project was to compile a full list of the MPs elected during this period whose biographies we would research. With invaluable assistance from Stephen Lees, who co-edited the later Who’s Who of British Members of Parliament volumes with Michael Stenton, we arrived at a total of 2,589 MPs, including a handful not featured in the 1832-1885 Who’s Who volume. Well over half of these biographies have now been written and can be accessed in draft form on our preview site. However, we always suspected that as our research progressed, we might find another MP or two who, for some reason, had been omitted from our original list. Our MP of the Month, John Moyer Heathcote, is one such new addition, which brings our total number of MPs to 2,590. Heathcote, a local Liberal landowner, was returned for Huntingdonshire at the general election in April 1857. James Rust, who had represented this double member county as a Conservative since 1855, topped the poll with 1,192 votes. His Conservative running-mate, Edward Fellowes, received 1,106 votes, as did Heathcote. After checking the poll books three times, the high sheriff made a double return for the second seat, declaring both Fellowes and Heathcote elected. Following the presentation of three election petitions, an election committee undertook a scrutiny of the poll. It struck off the votes of two disqualified voters and two others who had voted twice on the basis of the same qualification, and added the vote of one duly qualified voter. On 31 July 1857 it declared Heathcote not elected and Fellowes elected. The official record was amended three days later by the clerk of the crown, who erased Heathcote’s name from the return, replacing it with that of Fellowes. Technically, therefore, Heathcote was never an MP, since his return was invalidated and his only subsequent attempt to win a seat ended in failure. This makes him almost unique in our period – the only other individual we have found who falls into the same category is John Scandrett Harford, whose name was expunged from the parliamentary record following an election petition in 1841, when he had been elected for the Cardigan Boroughs on a double return. Like Heathcote, Harford’s subsequent attempt to enter Parliament ended in defeat. Although his parliamentary career was non-existent, Heathcote’s biography can still shed valuable light on the politics of this period. He was the first Liberal to contest Huntingdonshire for two decades, challenging what the Daily News described as ‘the compact alliance of conservative family interests, which is paramount in this county’. While the Whigs and the Conservatives had shared the representation without a contest in 1832 and 1835, the Conservatives had made a successful bid for both seats in 1837. The subsequent prominence of agricultural protection as an election issue meant that a Liberal challenge in this predominantly agricultural constituency was fruitless, especially given that many of its leading landowners were Conservatives. Heathcote considered standing for a vacancy in August 1855, but with an early dissolution of Parliament anticipated, he decided to wait for the next general election. Although the Conservatives had monopolised the county’s representation for twenty years, the latent strength of Liberalism was demonstrated by the fact that Heathcote tied with Fellowes for the second seat in 1857. Despite the disappointment of losing the seat on petition, Heathcote stood again in 1859, when he faced two Conservative opponents, Fellowes and Lord Robert Montagu, brother of the Duke of Manchester, a major local landowner who had previously sat as the constituency’s MP. There was considerable excitement at the hustings due to the appearance of Lord John Russell, who owned property in the county. Russell had plumped for Heathcote in 1857, and after casting his vote had spoken briefly from the window of Heathcote’s committee room. Now, however, he abandoned ‘the reserve usually practised by statesmen of his standing’ in order to propose Heathcote as a candidate. His intervention was spurred on not only by ‘personal friendship’, but also the belief that this was a timely opportunity for ‘a last appeal to the still undecided constituencies’. Russell began his hustings speech in support of Heathcote by referring to his own service as Huntingdonshire’s MP over thirty years earlier. With its representation dominated ever since by the Conservatives, he compared its MPs to men waiting on a railway platform, ‘looking vacantly at the trains going by’ and ‘declining to take part in any progress whatever’. The issue of parliamentary reform, on which he had defeated the Derby ministry a few weeks earlier, was clearly at the forefront of Russell’s mind. He denied that those who had joined him in opposing the Conservative ministry’s reform bill were motivated by faction and emphasised his own differences from John Bright’s more radical view of reform. He also criticised Derby’s government for its ‘lame and impotent measures’ and its incompetence in both domestic and foreign policy. Alluding to landlord influence in Huntingdonshire, he urged that ‘the real opinion of the electors’ on these national questions should decide Heathcote’s fate. Despite Russell’s endorsement, Heathcote finished third in the poll, almost 250 votes short of Montagu. He did not make a further attempt at the seat, and the Conservatives were spared a contest in 1865. Heathcote did, however, continue to play an important role in local administration as a magistrate and chairman of the Huntingdon board of guardians. In 1876 he published Reminiscences of fen and mere, a local history illustrated largely by his own sketches. He died in March 1892 at the age of 91. His estates passed to his eldest son, John Moyer Heathcote (1834-1912), a talented real tennis player who also made a major contribution to the development of lawn tennis, being the first to suggest covering the ball with flannel.	2,050
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is drawing attention to a Republican call for offshore oil drilling. House Republicans brought Gingrich to the Capitol on Wednesday, partly to revive media coverage of their speech-making protest in the chamber, now in its fourth day. The rest of Congress is gone for August recess, but several Republican House members have been speaking on the floor of the closed-down chamber, calling for a special session to vote on drilling and energy. Gingrich did attract more camera crews, and he used the opportunity to point to what may be the GOP's next strategy: If Democrats refuse to hold a separate vote on oil drilling, Republicans could try to block the votes needed to keep government running past September 30. Watch Gingrich return to the Capitol » "Are [Democrats] really prepared to close the government in order to stop drilling?" Gingrich asked. "Because I think the country will find that to be a suicidal strategy." The precise maneuvering of a shutdown threat is complicated, but it revolves around the fact that key government spending bills expire when the fiscal year ends September 30 and Congress must vote next month to keep the government operating. One of those spending bills, for the Department of the Interior, contains the hot-button provision banning offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf. If that bill expires, as it is set to do at the end of September, then so does the drilling ban. Republicans believe a majority of the House opposes the ban, and thus a vote on whether to keep government running could also become a vote on whether to allow offshore drilling. Watch House Republicans demand a vote » The parliamentary possibilities are numerous. But Republican House Leader John Boehner's office thinks the votes are there, on both sides of the Capitol, to support drilling and energy expansion. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith confirmed there are many options on the table for September, including a shutdown threat. "If Democrats want to block what a majority of the House and Senate want, they can proceed with a strategy that would in effect shut down the government," Smith said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office responded quickly with a statement from spokesman Nadeam Elshami. "Democrats will not shut down the government," he wrote, "but it is not surprising Newt Gingrich would raise that threat since he and the Republican Party shut down the government in the 1990s." Gingrich's political game of chicken with then-President Bill Clinton led to two government shutdowns in late 1995 and early 1996. The moves backfired, and polls showed more Americans blamed Gingrich. But he defends his decisions. "We shut the federal government down, for a brief period, in order to get a balanced budget," he told CNN Radio. "That was a deliberate systematic strategy." Now the strategy seems to be an all-out effort to heap pressure on Pelosi, who opposes offshore oil drilling and has so far not scheduled a vote. iReport.com: Is drilling the best option? Democrats call the floor speeches and photo opportunities a "hoax." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sent out a statement saying, "Republicans are doing nothing but pushing the failed Johnny-one-note policies of the past." But Republicans keep adding pressure. After three days of speaking under shadows in the unlit House chamber, the GOP congressmen found themselves facing six television cameras and at least three dozen reporters when Gingrich joined them Wednesday. The equivalent news conference Tuesday morning attracted a single camera and approximately 10 journalists. Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam would not say how long he and his GOP mates will hold the floor. But there is a clear sense of political momentum, as well as a lot of rah-rah, among Republicans rotating in and out of the chamber. "The energy level is high," Putnam said, "and I think we've got a lot of energy left in us, don't we?" About 15 Republicans behind him cheered. Gingrich pushed a broader view. "I think the energy level has shifted between the two parties in the last couple weeks," he said, "and my hunch is there are a lot of Democrats back home who are tap dancing."	216,752
Community Submission - Author: Tanwa Arpornthip A staking pool allows multiple stakeholders (or bagholders ) to combine their computational resources as a way to increase their chances of being rewarded. In other words, they unite their staking power in the process of verifying and validating new blocks , so they have a higher probability of earning the block rewards The overall idea of the staking pool model is quite similar to the traditional mining pool, which involves the pooling of hash rate in a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain. However, the staking pool setup is only available on blockchains that employ the Proof of Stake (PoS) model or, in non-POS systems through protocol design features. Typically, a staking pool is managed by a pool operator and the stakeholders that decide to join the pool have to lock their coins in a specific blockchain address (or wallet). While some pools require users to stake their coins with a third party, there are many other alternatives that allow stakeholders to contribute with their staking power while still holding their coins in a personal wallet . For instance, the so-called cold staking pools enable a more secure model, as users can participate in the staking process while keeping their funds on a hardware wallet. Compared to solo staking, a staking pool will give smaller rewards because each successful block forging (validation) will split the rewards among the many participants of the pool. In addition, most pools will charge fees, which will reduce even more the final payout. On the other hand, staking pools provide more predictable and frequent staking rewards. Other than that, they allow stakeholders to make a passive income without having to worry about the technical implementation and maintenance of setting up and running a validating node.	32,733
LEGO Star Wars features many characters, but they can be generally categorized under the following types: Jedi - The characters who are skilled in the ways of the Force and in the art of the lightsaber. They can double jump, and they can deflect blaster shots with their lightsabers (by pressing the Attack Button just as a projectile is about to hit them). Jedi, whether light or dark, can use the Force to construct platforms, flip switches, and manipulate other objects in various ways. However, certain objects can only be manipulated by Dark Jedi. Some examples of Jedi are Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul. Blaster-Type - The characters who use blasters or bowcasters. Besides being able to hit enemies from a distance, they can shoot target switches to open some doors. Most blaster-type characters also carry grappling hooks, which they can use to climb up to high areas (by pressing the Use Button when standing at grappling points, the spots marked by red circles). Some examples of blaster-type characters are Queen Amidala, Captain Panaka, and Chewbacca. Astromech Droids - The robots designed for use with starfighters. They can activate astromech panels to open some doors. They can also temporarily disable most battle droids with their probes, and they can hover over short distances. Examples of astromech droids include R2-D2 and R4-P17. Droids - The robots designed for use as diplomatic aids. They can activate protocol panels to open some doors. Examples of protocol droids include C-3PO and TC-14. Kids - The characters who are supposed to be children but look as big as adults due to the freakish proportions that characterize LEGO people. They can enter vents to reach places that other characters may not be able to reach. Examples of kids include Young Anakin Skywalker and Young Boba Fett. High Jumpers - The characters who can double jump higher than others. Examples of high jumpers include Jar Jar Binks and General Grievous. Stud - The small circular piece that should be familiar to all LEGO fans. In this game, studs serve as money and can be used to purchase additional playable characters and other bonuses at Dexter's Diner. Silver studs are worth 10, gold ones are worth 100, and blue ones are worth 1000. Collecting studs will also increase the Jedi Meter, which resembles a bar of studs. Fill up the Jedi Meter in a chapter to earn a portion of the superkit vehicle. A big, fat, red heart. This is used to fill up the life meter. Run out of hearts, and your character will blow up and lose some studs. Fortunately, you can continue as much as you like. Canister - A white capsule that holds a portion of a minikit vehicle. Each chapter contains ten canisters. Collect all ten of them to complete the vehicle for that chapter. Professor Layton and the Last Specter X360 Forza Motorsport 4 Wii Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny NDS Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns PS3 Dark Souls PC Dark Souls (Prepare to Die Edition) X360 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Web War Commander PS3 Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 X360 Trials Evolution	143,748
The 802.9 Working Group of the IEEE 802 networking committee developed standards for integrated voice and data access over existing Category 3 twisted-pair network cable installations. Its major standard was usually known as isoEthernet. IsoEthernet combines 10 megabits per second Ethernet and 96 64-kilobits per second ISDN "B" channels. It was originally developed to provide data and voice/video over the same wire without degradation by fixing the amount of bandwidth assigned to the Ethernet and B-channel sides. There was some vendor support for isoEthernet, but it lost in the marketplace due to the rapid adoption of Fast Ethernet and the working group was disbanded. - IEEE Std 802-1990: IEEE Standards for Local and Metropolitan Networks: Overview and Architecture New York:1990 \|This article related to telecommunications is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.\|	250,195
- September 13, 2011 - 9:49 am - Karin Murray Where to begin? Application tips and hints You’ve decided that it’s time to apply to a university to earn that degree or certificate that you’ve been thinking about for a time now. You’ve even found the perfect university home for yourself – the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at Loyola University Chicago. You’ve told your family and friends about your goal and they are 100% behind you. Now what? When applying to college, many students feel overwhelmed. That’s where I come in. As your Enrollment Advisor, I’m here to help guide you through the application and admission process. We may have already met while you were searching for your perfect program to enroll in; or, we may only begin working together once you begin the application process. Every student’s needs are different but here are some helpful tips that everyone can use once they decide to apply to the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS). First things first, fill out and submit the online application at https://scpsapp.luc.edu/gradapp/login.htm. This officially opens your application to the school and let’s us know of your intended program and start date. For most programs, while filling out your application, you’ll be asked to attach a statement of purpose. This statement is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the admissions comittee. For more information about writing your statement of purpose, see my previous blog post - http://blogs.luc.edu/scps/2011/03/17/writing-your-statement-of-purpose/. Next up, transcripts! Depending on your program of interest, SCPS requires official transcripts from previous college course-work, previous degrees, and/or high school. To check out which transcripts are needed for your program, visit http://www.luc.edu/scps/apply.shtml. All transcripts should be sumitted to: Graduate & Professional Enrollment Management 820 N. Michigan Ave., suite 800 Chicago, IL 60611 Some programs may require letters of recommendation or placement exams. Read through the application steps for your program at http://www.luc.edu/scps/apply.shtml or email me at firstname.lastname@example.org if you are unsure about these steps. If you are interested in SCPS scholarships and/or student loans or grants, visit http://www.luc.edu/scps/financialassistance.shtml. By starting the financial aid application process early, you will help ensure that you will be able to start your program in your selected term with the funding that you need. Finally, once you have submitted all your required materials, sit back and relax! This is sometimes the most difficult step of all. Applications are reviewed within 2 weeks of completion and students are then contacted about their admission decision. If accepted, you will be contacted by your Academic Advisor who will then let you know everything you need to know about starting courses in SCPS. Most importantly, remember that I’m here to assist at any and every step of the way. Congratulations on your decision to apply to Loyola University Chicago!	286,718
"This is a very important finding in the economic context in which we are now living," Takanishi said. "At at time when many of the basic essential services to children, particularly in health and education, are being reduced because of economic circumstances, it's important to note there is a relationship between state investments in children and their overall well-being." Terry Haven, who conducts similar research on child well-being for the nonprofit Voices for Utah Children, said the study was a call to action. "It's important to look at data to see how kids are doing so we know where to put our money," she said. "As we head toward another tough budget year we ought to be talking about children and families and what they need." Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayer's Association concluded the opposite. "What this study says about Utah is, first and foremost, that it is possible to have a good educational system and provide an environment that foster's child well-being without breaking the bank," he said. "We have more kids than any other state in the nation, but, at the same time, we are very tax payer friendly." State rankings on child well-being 1) New Jersey 3) New Hampshire 50) New Mexico - Lost recording of an interview with 1867... - National Weather Service radar mistakes swans... - Passerby was mistakenly used as translator in... - Utah husband wins 'Most Memorable Moment'... - Boulder slams into Rockville home, killing two - Many Mormon missionaries who return home... - Charges filed against 'fixer' in ongoing... - Young adults are faced with risky decision to... - Pay increase for Gov. Herbert, other... 67 - Legal analysis supports Utah's law on... 37 - Do Utah high school students need four... 30 - Supervolcano hidden in plain sight in... 19 - Rare snowstorm traps I-15 motorists... 14 - Young adults are faced with risky... 14 - John Swallow lost computer hard drive... 12 - Better than a raise: The smallest thing... 11	181,144
Recently, an Albany friend lost her mom to cancer. She expressed to me how alone she suddenly felt. I was able to empathize because I remembered feeling the same way when my mom died. My alone feeling came from the sudden realization that my mother loved me unconditionally, as most mothers do, and now there was no one to fill the void caused by her death. Furthermore, I realized how my identity and sense of self were shaped in large measure by the relationship I had with my mom. This, I believe, is true of all women.My friend’s other lament was that her loss meant that she could no longer seek her mother’s advice and guidance which she valued. Relying upon a lesson I had learned from Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morris, I assured her that she would be able to continue. Mothers, Ms. Morrison contends, continue to be a reliable source of advice and guidance even after death. After all, they give to daughters their identity and a set of values, beliefs, and principles that don’t die with them. This perspective has served me well. My mother, through her history, life experiences and values, continues to influence the decisions I make and the way I live my life. Born into a segregated South, she prized family, political and social freedom, and compassion and respect for others, above all else. All my decisions about life flow from those core values she left me. It was she who taught me to respect all kinds of families, stand up for what I believe, oppose mass incarceration, reject violence and war, and show compassion for the poor and alienated. On Mothers’ Day I will give special praise to my mom for her continued guidance. Hopefully Capital District residents will do the same for their mothers as they walk through the colorful tulips in Washington Park and celebrate the crowning of the Tulip Festival Mother of the Year. But, I will also remember a group of mothers who are forgotten by our community – incarcerated mothers. More than 75% of women confined in our jails and prisons are mothers of minor children. On any given day in America, 1.5 million children, (2% of all minor children) have a parent in prison. Regardless of what incarcerated women may have done, they are without the children they love. In turn, their children are without their mothers. Perhaps they, too, feel the same aloneness that my friend and I felt when we lost our mothers.	105,373
Our Nebraska Game & Parks Commission fisheries biologists are finishing up their fall fish sampling around the state. I am starting to hear a few stories about what they sampled, will be getting data summaries and starting to put together next year’s Fishing Forecast in the coming weeks. Once again let me post a disclaimer before I show you the pictures: When pointy-headed fisheries biologists sample fish populations they are NOT trying to capture the biggest fish in a population. They ARE trying to collect a representative sample of all sizes of fish in a population. However, when sampling thousands of fish, you better believe we see a few nice ones. . . . Now some of you are grumbling that you have seen these pictures already, even know where those fish were sampled. Sorry, just trying to spread the word even more. For those of you who have not seen them and know not where those fish were sampled, I will give you a couple of clues: All of those were in southeast Nebraska, and if you will join the Nebraska Fishing FaceBook group, you will know! Those fish and a whole lot more are still out there swimming! One quick news update I need to post too: Rainbow trout stocked at Crystal Springs LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission stocked 900 rainbow trout at Crystal Springs Park in Fairbury on Nov. 6. The stocking by the Grove Trout Rearing Station in Royal had been delayed by the presence of fish-eating cormorants, which have since left the area. To locate past stockings, visit Game and Parks’ fish stocking database at outdoornebraska.gov/fishstockingprogram. Thank goodness the cormorants moved along!	85,431
Section II: Living in China continued—Dating, Sex, and Relationships As China continues to rise as an international economic power with the fastest growing middle class in the world, one notable byproduct of this rapid Westernization has been a significant increase in public tolerance and even acceptance of homosexuality. Prior to 1997, homosexuals were routinely harassed and even arrested for “hooliganism,” and it wasn’t until 2001 that the Chinese Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CCMD, the Chinese version of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV, [Freund, 2001]). In fact, one American psychologist currently living and working in Beijing notes that, in the absence of Christian right-wing special interest groups that exert a great deal of political influence in the West, homosexuals may actually enjoy a greater freedom in China than they do in their respective Western countries. Related, this position is supported by the fact that during the last three People’s Congress meetings in Beijing, legislation has been proposed that would legalize same-sex relationships (Moore, 2007). This legislative sentiment, at least among some Chinese government leaders, exists in stark contrast to the current sociopolitical climate in, for example, the United States where tolerance of homosexuality has more or less evolved into a pragmatic sociopolitical compromise of “don’t ask-don’t tell,” and where more than 40 states now have constitutional bans or laws against same-sex marriages (McKinley and Goodstein, 2008). Nevertheless, and despite some anecdotal evidence that suggests an ever increasing open acceptance of homosexuality in China, what little empirical research evidence there is indicates the presence of mixed feelings, at best, on the part of the Chinese public-at-large. A 2008 study conducted by renowned Chinese sexologist Prof. Li Yinhe reveals that 70 percent of the 400 respondents surveyed believe that homosexuality is either "a little wrong" or "completely wrong" (30 and 40 percent, respectively). When asked what they would do if they learned that their child's school teacher is gay, more than half indicated that they would ask that the teacher be changed or fired. Conversely, and in apparent contradiction, 91 percent of the same respondents indicated that homosexuals should have the same employment rights as heterosexuals (Li, 2008). Having lived and worked in China since 2003, and after numerous conversations on this very topic with Chinese colleagues as well as hundreds of students, my personal impression is that the Chinese do in fact maintain something of a dichotomous stance in regard to homosexuality. On one hand, and as a matter of principle, they feel strongly that homosexuals should enjoy the same civil rights as anyone else while, on the other hand and in the absence of any acquired religious prohibitions against it, they personally regard it as a disruption to the traditional family unit. For example, when I asked my class composed mostly of overseas Chinese medical students how they felt about same-sex marriages in China, almost three-fourths indicated that they supported it as a matter of individual rights. When the same class was asked if they would approve of their own child marrying an individual of the same sex, not a single one of the 48 students in attendance raised his or her hand. When this discrepancy was explored qualitatively, what they shared was a pervasive concern over the foreseeable absence of grandchildren and the dissolution of the family line, especially in the context of China's single child policy. Thus, for most Chinese, it is felt that having a homosexual child would offer far less security in their old age and this seems to account for the majority of bias against homosexuality in China. The Internet appears to have played a major role in the emergence of the gay community in China. As far back as 2001, it was estimated that there were some 250 gay-oriented websites based in China and that number has probably more than doubled since then (Freund, 2001). Whereas traditional media in China have been slow to air information or programs devoted to homosexuality, the Internet has provided a much more open and accessible venue. In 2007, the Chinese website phoenixtv.com launched a weekly hour-long Internet TV show called "Tongxing Xianglian" or "Connecting Homosexuals," which was described by its producer as the country's first show to focus on gay issues and the first with an openly homosexual host, AIDS activist Didier Zheng. Increased tolerance among China's government leadership is also evidenced by the fact that a public university in Guangdong province, Sun Yat Sen University, officially recognized the first gay student organization known as the Rainbow Group in 2006 (Aibai, 2006) and, China witnessed its first Gay Pride March on December 13, 2008 in Hong Kong with an estimated 1200 supporters in attendance (Collett, 2008). Finally, in 2006, a national gay hotline was placed into service to provide support and help to China's gay community. The national hotline is manned for several hours per day, seven days a week, and is available at 800-988-1929. The three international cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have all experienced an enormous burgeoning of the gay scene over the past few years. Each of these cities has several exclusive gay bars while other primarily straight bars seem to attract a predominantly gay population on certain nights. Another interesting manifestation of China's increasing tolerance of homosexuality is the emergence of gay tourism. In recent years, travel companies have begun offering tour packages to China's gay visitors, the first of which was Go Pink China. Accompanied by gay English-speaking guides, Go Pink offers its mostly Western clients destination tours to Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an and custom adventure trips to the Silk Road, Yunnan, and Sichuan, among other places (Moxley, 2008). Gay foreign teachers in China, especially those living and working in the three aforementioned international cities, should not have any difficulty learning about the various gay venues in each of those cities: A cursory search on the Internet will immediately disclose their names and whereabouts. However, keep in mind that most of these bars are frequented almost exclusively by Chinese patrons. In addition, while it is true that the Chinese-at-large are not, as a rule, influenced or encumbered by strong Judeo-Christian prohibitions against homosexuality, most of your Western colleagues are—so a great deal of discretion should be exercised, especially by those who are working at private English language schools. Finally, while it is true that homosexuality is not illegal in China, paying for sex is. Do not pay for sex under any circumstances or you may be subjecting yourself to blackmail or worse. As foreign guests in China, we do need to respect and obey the laws at all times. Having just written that, anecdotal evidence suggests one might actually find a higher per capita percentage of homosexuals, both domestic and foreign, in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou owing to the fact that tolerance and acceptance of gay people are disproportionately greatest in these more Westernized areas—as is the case, for example, in San Francisco and New York's Greenwich Village, as these areas emerged as "safe havens" for homosexuals when, historically, discrimination and social ostracism were rampant. Official government statistics place the national per capita rate of homosexuals on the mainland at 2 to 3 percent (Xinhua, 2005), a figure that is close to the estimated rate of 3 to 4 percent worldwide based on more than a dozen studies conducted in the United States and Europe (Laumann et al., 1994; Mosher et al., 2005). At least one report from a gay foreign teacher in Beijing suggests that the prevalence of homosexual men there is probably much higher than the international norm.	295,183
WATERVILLE — Two area schools have been added to the list of those failing to meet federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Act while several others have shown signs of improvement. Madison Junior High School in Madison and Warsaw Middle School in Pittsfield failed to meet federal standards over the last two years, according to a report released by the Maine Department of Education on Thursday. The report comes in the midst of state efforts to secure a waiver for the No Child Left Behind Act on grounds that the national system doesn’t accurately measure school success. “Every year there are more schools on the failing list because every year the bar rises,” said Kristen Gilbert, the principal at Warsaw. “I’m not promoting lowering the bar. I think all kids can achieve, it just takes some longer to get there.” At the same time, a number of schools that did not make federal standards last year were able to make them this year, including Canaan Elementary School, which met the federal standards for the first time in three years. Other improved area schools are Albion Elementary School, Belgrade Central School, China Middle School, China Primary School and Mill Stream Elementary in Norridgewock. “I’m very pleased with our efforts to make annual yearly progress,” said Steve Swindells, the principal at Canaan. “It’s something we worked really hard for here.” At the same time, Swindells, who has been a principal at Canaan for the last 12 years and has worked in the district for the last 40, agreed that the federal standards are nearly impossible to meet. “The test requirements are virtually impossible,” he said. “The schools are trying to hit a moving target because every year they have to score 10 percent higher. It is even harder to improve for schools that scored high to begin with.” This year’s report is based on testing from the 2011-2012 school year and shows that 245 out of 584 schools in the state met the requirements in both reading and math. Under federal law, schools are required each year to meet state testing targets as a measure of yearly progress. This means that schools whose performance remains the same or improves by a smaller amount will not meet progress requirements. In Maine, testing is held during the first three weeks of October every year. Bonnie Levesque, the principal at Madison, said that students had extra preparation going into this year’s tests. She said the school is also working on improving its math program, which was the area that caused it the most trouble in their progress report. “We have formed a team of parents and teachers to work on professional development,” she said. “We are also going to have a math night later this month and again in the spring.” The state targets for this year were that 75 percent of students in schools with grades three through eight are proficient in reading and 70 percent in math. At the high school level, the state required 78 percent of students be proficient in reading and 66 percent in math. Swindells said that last year the state froze the target testing goals because so many schools were not making progress. In Warsaw, the school is implementing a new expeditionary-based learning system that Gilbert says has been proven to raise student achievement. Expeditionary learning is a school reform model chartered by the nonprofit Outward Bound. Students conduct field work and make presentations to the community as a way of learning. They might study samples of river water from a nearby ecosystem and then present to the town board on the health of their drinking water or they might spend time learning about the food chain by working in gardens. Gilbert said she is confident that over time the new curriculum will lead to increased student achievement. “Research has shown that over 2 to 5 years you can see a turnaround on test scores,” she said. “Students of expeditionary learning tend to outperform the state average no matter what test gets thrown at them.” This year the number of schools that made progress in the state increased, but more schools were also noted as not having met standards for two years or more according to the report. According to the state department, the results were to be expected because of the federal system’s reliance on testing and a rise in achievement targets. Maine is one of 45 states that have requested waivers from the federal requirements. However, the state department did acknowledge a slow rate of progress among many schools, according to education commissioner Stephen Bowen. “Our schools are not doing worse this year than last year, but you wouldn’t know that from the way the federal AYP lists are calculated,” Bowen said. “This is why we, like most other states, have requested flexibility to do accountability differently. We expect to hear back shortly, and we think positively, from the U.S. Department of Education.” “I think it is a good thing the state is requesting the waiver,” said Gilbert. “I support accountability but I think that under the current No Child Left Behind Act there is no school that’s not going to be failing.” “For the last two years I’ve had to send letters home to parents saying their child’s school is failing,” said Swindells. “It’s really disheartening. It was a highlight of my year already to send a letter home saying we were no longer a failing school.” Rachel Ohm — 612-2368 Schools meeting federal requirements this year that didn’t last year: Canaan Elementary School, Albion Elementary School, Belgrade Central School, China Middle School, China Primary School and Mill Stream Elementary in Norridgewock. The complete report for 2012-2013 can be viewed at www.maine.gov/education/pressreleases/ayp.	275,128
Barometers contain mercury. Mercury is a naturally occurring, highly toxic, heavy metal that moves between water, air, and soil as a result of natural and human activities. It is a persistent and bioaccumulative toxin (PBT), which means that it accumulates in animals and people, becoming more concentrated as it moves up the food chain, causing harm to people and the environment. Mercury should not be discarded in the trash, flushed down the toilet, or left on the side of a road. All mercury containing products should be disposed of as a hazardous waste. Cleaning Up a Mercury Spill - Do not vacuum! - Make sure the spill area is adequately ventilated. - Wear rubber gloves to prevent skin contact. Keep hands away from your face — especially eyes, nose, and mouth. - Isolate the spill immediately. If it is on a raised surface, contain it so that mercury doesn’t roll onto the floor. Divert spilled mercury from drains, cracks, and crevices. - Carefully pick up broken glass. Wrap or fold in a paper towel or tissue and place in a leak-proof plastic bag. - Working from the outside of the spill area toward the center, push small mercury beads together with a card, stiff paper, or squeegee to form larger droplets. Use an eyedropper or two stiff pieces of paper to pick up droplets and place into a leak-proof plastic bag. - Use the sticky side of duct or masking tape (two inches or wider) to pick up remaining glass and mercury droplets. Pay special attention to cracks or crevices in tile or wood floors. Place the glass, mercury, and tape into the same leak-proof bag. - Using a flashlight, look all around the area of the spill. The light will reflect off the mercury beads, making it easier to see them. Pick up any droplets using the procedure above. - When finished, carefully remove the rubber gloves and place them in the leak-proof plastic bag. - Place all mercury-containing clean-up debris (gloves, tape, mercury, etc. contained in a leak-proof plastic bag) into another leak-proof plastic bag, twist or snap shut, and seal the opening with tape. - Take the bag to a free Household Hazardous Waste collection facility or collection event. Free Household Hazardous Waste Disposal If you are a resident of Clark County or one of its cities, you may dispose of unwanted household hazardous waste products at any of the following HHW collection programs. Business-generated hazardous waste will not be accepted. Eligible senior and citizens with disabilities who are unable to transport HHW to a collection site or event may call (360) 397-6118 ext. 4352 to see if they qualify for a free home pick up. Fixed Collection Facilities - Central Transfer and Recycling Center - Brush Prairie - West Van Materials Recovery Center - Vancouver - Washougal Transfer Station - Washougal Satellite Collection Events	193,259
Summary: How political power is being harnessed by Microsoft to colonise and remotely control Vietnam with proprietary software Bill Gates’ foundation was lobbying Vietnam to derail its migration to ODF and to free/libre software. It was rather distasteful. Last year we also showed the special relationship between Clinton and Gates. “Officials with Vietnam’s ministry of Information and Communications attended the signing ceremony with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Malcolm de Silva, country manager for Microsoft Vietnam,” says this new report. So Clinton is playing politics to serve her client, Microsoft. At whose expense? The Vietnamese people and their liberty, which is a sensitive subject following the war in Vietnam. “Under the agreement,” says the article, “Microsoft will help Vietnam develop its information technology workforce, a step toward Vietnam’s goal of expanding the ICT sector so that it accounts for 20 percent of Vietnam’s GDP.” How appalling. That is why we need Cablegate/Wikileaks. It helps us see how Clinton, for example, works for commerce rather than act as a politician elected to serve the people (yes, as opposed to corporations). For quite a while Vietnam made it official that its government would get off Microsoft, but the United States government, Gates Foundation, and Microsoft just cannot leave Vietnam alone. The same tactics are being used in south America and Russia. Microsoft tries to impose the use of Office (main cash cow, but it depends on Windows monoculture) and politics is the tactic. As one recent article puts it: Most people live under the misconception that Windows is the flagship product of Microsoft. It is not. Microsoft’s flagship product, in reality, is Microsoft Office; their ubiquitous productivity suite which can be found on over 90 per cent of all computers on the planet. This includes the Mac platform whose fiercely loyal users grudgingly make use of Microsoft Office for Mac while Apple’s native office suite, iWork, gathers a lot of dust. Part of the reason for Microsoft monoculture is not at all technical. Microsoft acts like a political movement, so while the ‘Microsoft press’ concentrates on technical aspects, Techrights will not ignore the role of politics. Those who shy away from it overlook the explanation for many decisions. █	73,972
In our society where it’s value to push forward to try to get ahead at all times, being happy for what we have can often be construed as laziness. Keeping a positive attitude, and even happiness, might seem out of place where big success hasn’t been achieved yet. The thinking is that once we are satisfied and content, we won’t work hard to get ahead. Instead, we’ll get stuck in place. The message: always keeping driving forward to achieve more and more. There is always more money to be made, a better house to buy, a flashier car to drive, more muscles to build or weight to lose, etc. Personally, while I do take that approach quite often, I’ve come to believe that sometimes we just have to just step back and take stock of what we have. While doing that, look for the positives and for the things we can appreciate having. In short, for many of us, there is much for which we can be thankful. I’ve been thinking about this, as I keep driving forward toward the never ending quest and thirst for achievement. Sometimes, it seems, we need to stop and smell the roses as they say. Additionally, we might even stop and realize how lucky we might actually be. - Think you have a long way to go toward retirement? Well, there are plenty of people who don’t have a sufficient emergency fund, let alone funds for retirement! - Worried about not getting ahead in your career? There are tons of people who have fallen into the category of the long-term unemployed, and haven’t been able to find work for a long time. - Upset that you’re living in a modest home, while your friends are living in nice homes that they bought? Well, there are plenty of people who lost their homes to foreclosure and have had their lives turned upside down. - Frustrated that you still have work ahead of you to get out of debt? Well, there are people with families that declare bankruptcy and have trouble putting food on the table. You get the idea. What I’m getting at, as you see, is that I’ve been thinking that it’s a good time for me to stop and reflect on what I do have, as opposed to what I’m working toward or what I want. It’s humbling, in a way, to get out of our own ego and truly stop and think about the good things that we really do have. Thinking of the personal finance hierarchy of needs, I’m thankful to have the base level covered: food, shelter, and medical care when needed. I’m at varying stages with the next levels up, which is something to be thankful for as well. So what if the top of the pyramid is many years away? Things are good now in many ways. For many of us, when it comes to our money, there is probably at least one thing we can be truly thankful for. Right? My Questions for You: Do you take enough time to reflect on what you’re thankful for when it comes to your finances? What are the things you’re most thankful for these days? Please feel free to share whether money-related or otherwise.	182,256
Teachers found at risk for hearing loss The sounds ringing through school hallways from day to day don’t always dissipate with the tide of students after the closing bell. New research indicates that many teachers are left with those sounds ringing in their ears long after they’ve wiped the board clean and retired for the night. While it may seem surprising, teachers do have a particularly high level of exposure to loud sounds, mainly those that come from working with children. Imagine the headaches you get from dealing with your own children. Now think about how the noise level would compare if, instead of just the few kids of your own, you had a revolving group of 25 crowding in one room of your house. All. Day. Long. According to a September report from EPIC Hearing Healthcare, 15 percent of teachers report a diagnosed hearing loss, compared to 12 percent of workers nationwide. That might not seem like a huge difference, but EPIC also found teachers between the ages of 18 and 44 reported a significantly higher rate of diagnosed hearing problems (26 percent) than the national average (17 percent). That 9 percent difference, EPIC says, is evidence that the work environment is a major contributing factor to teachers’ hearing problems. Founded in 1997, California-based EPIC is the largest provider of hearing benefits in the nation, having molded its Hearing Service Plans the way traditional supplemental dental and vision benefits are designed. EPIC’s teacher survey revealed an oft-overlooked problem in our nation’s schools. While we concentrate all of our worry on our children’s hearing loss, we’ve forgotten completely about the teachers. EPIC’s survey found that only 19 percent of teachers were offered hearing insurance through their employers, although 60 percent were concerned about developing hearing loss. Furthermore, the survey found that 27 percent of surveyed teachers suspected they had a hearing loss and yet had not sought treatment for a variety of reasons. Of the teachers with suspected but untreated hearing loss, more than half admitted to asking people to frequently repeat themselves, one-third frequently misunderstood what was said and one-fourth reported feeling stressed or tired from the strain of listening or talking for an extended period of time. Perhaps even more concerning is why these teachers have not visited a hearing health practitioner to have their hearing assessed. More than half of teachers surveyed said they would be concerned if their employer suspected them of having hearing loss. Another factor could be the cost. Since only 19 percent of teachers were offered hearing insurance, the cost of hearing aids or check-ups might not be covered under their umbrella health insurance plan. These findings reinforce those of a 2007 study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the Department of Health and Human Services. The vast majority of teachers surveyed reported excessive noise in their classrooms (93.5 percent) and “auditory symptoms” (65 percent). A survey of classrooms found that noise levels exceeding the generally considered safe level of 85 decibels were common across all levels of education. Access to hearing health insurance Hearing insurance is not a benefit that is always covered under an overall health plan and there aren’t as many choices for supplemental hearing insurance as there are for dental or vision. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 20 states mandate insurance coverage for hearing health, but 17 of those states only mandate coverage for children. Three states require insurance companies to cover hearing aids for all individuals regardless of age. Arkansas state law calls for hearing aid coverage of at least $1,400 per ear every three years. New Hampshire law requires coverage of at least $1,500 per ear every five years. Rhode Island requires only $700 per ear every three years. With 30 million people over the age of 12 living with hearing loss, and only 16 percent of adults aged 20-69 who could benefit from hearing aids actually using them, there is a lot of potential growth in the hearing insurance market. “We’re finding increasing interest from retired teachers associations in hearing insurance, especially as they are better educated on their members’ higher risk, both from age and their profession,” Ernest Stobel, president of E.J.S. Insurance Services, Inc., an insurance brokerage firm, told EPIC. “Because of this, we’re positioning hearing insurance as an equal player with dental and vision as important voluntary benefits to promote overall wellness.”	307,228
For a more detailed summary of the terminology used by Microsoft to describe the types of patches and their ranking of importance see Knowledgebase article 824684 - Description of the Standard Terminology That is Used to Describe Microsoft Software Updates. Service Packs are ALWAYS cumulative - that is, it is only necessary that you apply the most recently released one for your Operating System - all revisions which existed in previous Service Packs are included in the latest release. Hotfixes and Rollups are NOT cumulative and must be individually applied to a system - the order in which they are applied is also important. A Service Pack, Hotfix or Rollup will automatically update all necessary files on the system - it is not necessary for you to manually copy, rename or delete any system files during their application. After the update completes, a shutdown and restart will occur to finalise the file replacements. This is required to allow NT to replace files that were in use or otherwise locked whilst the system is running. \|Title\|\|Date Released\|\|Support Ceased\| \|Windows NT 4.0 OS (Build 1381)\|\|29 July 1996\|\|31 December 2004 - See Note Below\| \|Service Pack 1\|\|16 October 1996\|\|14 March 1997\| \|Service Pack 2\|\|14 December 1996\|\|15 August 1997\| \|Service Pack 3\|\|15 May 1997\|\|25 January 1999\| \|Service Pack 4\|\|25 October 1998\|\|4 August 1999\| \|Service Pack 5\|\|4 May 1999\|\|30 February 2000\| \|Service Pack 6a\|\|30 November 1999\|\|30 June 2004 - See Note Below\| \|Post SP6a Security Rollup (SRP)\|\|26 July 2001\|\|30 June 2004 - See Note Below\| Note: SECURITY ONLY hotfix support extended to 31 December 2004 for all versions EXCEPT Workstation. All support for Workstation ended on 30 Jun 2004. For further information, see these notes. The current revision level for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server is Service Pack 6a. To see what problems have been addressed in this and previous service packs, look at the following Knowledgebase articles: \|Service Pack\|\|Issues Addressed\| \|Service Pack 1\|\|9\| \|Service Pack 2\|\|142\| \|Service Pack 3\|\|181\| \|Service Pack 4\|\|713\| \|Service Pack 5\|\|239\| \|Service Pack 6/6a\|\|278\| \|Post SP6a SRP\|\|53\| To verify your current Service Pack level do the following: After Service Pack 6a is applied, you can then make your way through the list of hotfixes presented in the table below. My suggestion is to stick to the order presented unless you have good reasons for changing it. Most of the hotfixes are SECURITY related. If you have doubts about a vulnerability consult the relevant Security Bulletin from Microsoft (also a "clickable" link in the table) for details. WARNING: If you add software to your system: Failure to follow correct procedure may result in STOP errors. To avoid this situation reapply the required Service Pack, Hotfixes and / or Rollups immediately after the original files have been copied from the NT 4.0 master CD and BEFORE the system is rebooted. If in doubt, ask for guidance. A good file tracking application like FileImg from the Windows NT 4.0 Resource kit can simplify matters by making it clear whether anything on the base OS install has been modified or regressed. If you want to check which hotfixes are installed on a system I recommend "PSInfo", part of the PSTools package from SysInternals. Secunia run an excellent web site that tracks known vulnerbilities in computer software (including Operating Systems), their seriousness, and patches to correct the problems. Here are the links for Windows NT4.0: Colour coding is used to signify the level of danger an unpatched system may encounter as follows: \|RED\|\|DANGER\|\|NO PATCH EXISTS FOR THIS ISSUE.\| Notes may detail means by which the vulnerability can be lessened or negated. \|Pink\|\|CRITICAL\|\|It is VITAL that this patch be installed to ensure system safety.\| \|Light Grey\|\|Required\|\|Patch is STRONGLY recommended.\| \|Light Yellow\|\|Optional\|\|This patch may be important, but is only required in specific circumstances as detailed in the Notes.\| You can download the required patch from the Microsoft servers using the supplied link on the relevant Knowledgebase page. Hotfixes that have been obsoleted by more recent patches are NOT mentioned in this list, and do not have to be applied. Please read the notes relating to the Service Pack or Hotfix before applying it to your system. In some cases, failure to follow the correct procedure when applying a patch may lead to an unbootable system. \|Article Number\|\|Title\|\|Security Bulletin\|\|Notes\| \|242294\|\|MS99-041: Security Descriptor Allows Priviledge Elevation on Remote Computers\|\|MS99-041\|\|None\| \|244599\|\|Fixes Required in TCSEC C2 Security Evaluation Configuration for Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a\|\|None\|\|Apply Service Pack 6a First\| \|246009\|\|Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Available\|\|None\|\|None\| \|258437\|\|FIX: GetEffectiveRightsFromAcl() Fails in Service Pack 6\|\|None\|\|Apply Service Pack 6a First\| \|272386\|\|Upgrade Prompt for Windows Media Player Appears Continually\|\|None\|\|Only Required if Media Player V6.4 Installed - Manual Registry Patch\| \|299444\|\|Post Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (SRP)\|\|Additional Information Below\|\|Requires Service Pack 6a First - Caution: See KB Articles 305462, 305929, 307866, 318420 and 326248 Before Applying\| \|300987\|\|Windows NT 4.0 Winbond Super I/O Floppy Disk Controller May Not Report Data Underrun or Overrun Condition Correctly\|\|None\|\|Only Required for Hardware Specified\| \|304158\|\|Patch for "HyperTerminal Buffer Overflow" Vulnerability in Windows NT 4.0\|\|MS00-079\|\|Only Required if HyperTerminal Accessory is Installed\| \|307866\|\|You Cannot Log On to the Computer After You Run a Repair Process if SRP is Installed\|\|None\|\|Caution: Ensure This Hotfix Applied After Security Rollup 299444\| \|314147\|\|MS02-006: An Unchecked Buffer in the SNMP Service May Allow Code to Run\|\|MS02-006\|\|Only Required if SNMP Service is Installed\| \|318138\|\|MS02-029: Unchecked Buffer in Remote Access Service Phonebook Allows Code to Run\|\|MS02-029\|\|None\| \|320206\|\|MS02-024: Authentication Flaw in Windows Debugger Can Cause Elevated Privileges\|\|MS02-024\|\|None\| \|320920\|\|MS02-032: Windows Media Player Rollup Available\|\|MS02-032\|\|Only Required if Media Player V6.4 Installed - This Patch Supersedes and Totally Replaces 308567, 320944, 321678\| Manual Registry Patches Required - See KB Articles 272386 and 320944 for further details \|323172\|\|Flaw in Certificate Enrolment Control May Cause Digital Certificates to be Deleted\|\|MS02-048\|\|None\| \|323255\|\|MS02-055: Unchecked Buffer in Windows Help Facility May Allow Attacker to Run Code\|\|MS02-055\|\|Only Required if Hypertext Help Facility Installed\| \|326830\|\|MS02-045: Unchecked Buffer in Network Share Provider May Lead to Denial-of-Service\|\|MS02-045\|\|None\| \|331953\|\|MS03-010: Flaw in RPC Endpoint Mapper Could Allow Denial of Service Attacks\|\|MS03-010\|\|Caution: No Available Patch for NT 4.0 - Ensure Port 135 is blocked by Firewall\| \|810833\|\|Unchecked Buffer in the Locator Service Might Permit Code to Run\|\|MS03-001\|\|None\| \|814078\|\|MS03-008: Flaw in Windows Script Engine May Allow Code to Run\|\|MS03-008\|\|Only Required if Microsoft Java Virtual Machine Installed\| \|815021\|\|MS03-007: Unchecked Buffer in Windows Component May Cause Web Server Compromise (ntdll.dll)\|\|MS03-007\|\|None\| \|817606\|\|MS03-024: Buffer Overrun in Windows Could Lead to Data Corruption\|\|MS03-024\|\|None\| \|819696\|\|MS03-030: Unchecked Buffer in DirectX Could Enable System Compromise\|\|MS03-030\|\|Only Required if Media Player V6.4 or Internet Explorer V6.0 (SP1) Installed\| \|823559\|\|MS03-023: Buffer Overrun in the HTML Converter Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS03-023\|\|Only Required if HTML Authoring Software (eg: Office) Installed\| \|823803\|\|MS03-029: A Flaw in a Windows Function Might Allow Denial of Service\|\|MS03-029\|\|Caution: See KB Article 825501 Before Applying - This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 1)\| \|824105\|\|MS03-034: Flaw in NetBIOS Could Lead to Information Disclosure\|\|MS03-034\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 1)\| \|828035\|\|MS03-043: Buffer Overrun in Messenger Service Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS03-043\|\|Caution: See KB Article 831579 Before Applying\| \|828741\|\|MS04-012: Cumulative Update for Microsoft RPC/DCOM\|\|MS04-012\|\|Danger: Known Security Exploit - Ensure this Hotfix is Applied. This Patch Supersedes and Totally Replaces 823980 (MS03-026) and 824146 (MS03-039)\| \|832353\|\|FIX: Some URL Script Commands Do Not Work After You Apply Windows Media Update From Knowledgebase Article 828026\|\|None\|\|Only Required if Media Player V6.4 Installed. This Patch Supersedes and Totally Replaces 828026\| See 828026 for Important Information on Setting Registry Controls \|835732\|\|MS04-011: Security Update for Microsoft Windows\|\|MS04-011\|\|Danger: Critical Security Status - Ensure this Hotfix is Applied. This Patch Supersedes and Totally Replaces 329115 (MS02-050), 328310 (MS02-071), 811493 (MS03-013), 823182 (MS03-041), 824141 (MS03-045) and 828028 (MS04-007)\| Caution: See KB Article 841180 and 841384 Before Applying \|840987\|\|MS04-032: Security Update for Microsoft Windows\|\|MS04-032\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|841356\|\|MS04-037: Vulnerability in Windows Shell Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS04-037\|\|This Patch Supersedes and Totally Replaces 839645 (MS04-024)\| \|841533\|\|MS04-031: Vulnerability in NetDDE Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS04-031\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|841872\|\|MS04-020: A Vulnerability in POSIX Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS04-020\|\|None\| \|870763\|\|MS04-045: Vulnerability in WINS Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS04-045\|\|Only Required for Server System Providing WINS\| \|873339\|\|MS04-043: Vulnerability in HyperTerminal Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS04-043\|\|Only Required if HyperTerminal Accessory is Installed - This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|873350\|\|MS04-029: Vulnerability in RPC Runtime Library Could Allow Information Disclosure and Denial of Service\|\|MS04-029\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|883935\|\|MS04-036: Vulnerability in NNTP Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS04-036\|\|Only Required for Server System Providing NNTP Service\| \|885249\|\|MS04-042: A Vulnerability in DHCP Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Denial of Service\|\|MS04-042\|\|Only Required for Server System Providing DHCP Service\| \|885250\|\|MS05-011: Vulnerability in Server Message Block Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS05-011\|\|Caution: No Available Patch for NT 4.0 - Primary Threat would be from SMB traffic within the LAN\| \|885834\|\|MS05-010: Vulnerability in the License Logging Service Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS05-010\|\|Only Required on a Server System Running Licensing Service\| \|885835\|\|MS04-044: Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel and LSASS Could Allow Elevation of Privilege\|\|MS04-044\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|885836\|\|MS04-041: A Vulnerability in WordPad Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS04-041\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|890175\|\|MS05-001: Vulnerability in HTML Help Could Allow Code Execution\|\|MS05-001\|\|Only Required if Internet Explorer V6.0 or above is Installed\| Caution: See KB Articles 892641 and 892675 Before Applying \|891711\|\|MS05-002: Vulnerability in Cursor and Icon Format Handling Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS05-002\|\|This Patch Refuses to Apply on a Workstation System (See Note 2)\| \|912919\|\|MS06-001: Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS06-001\|\|Caution: No Available Patch for NT 4.0 - Files of Type .wmf should be handled with care\| \|921883\|\|MS06-040: Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution\|\|MS06-040\|\|Caution: No Available Patch for NT 4.0 - Ensure TCP Ports 139 and 445 are blocked by Firewall\| To attempt to shorten it's life still further, by denying users access to essential security patches, is unconscionable. It could be argued that it is essential that these hotfixes be applied if at all possible, to lessen any security risks exposed by the "holes" in the OS. It could be further argued that Microsoft, in taking the deliberate step of refusing to offer these patches for Workstation, is attempting to convince customers that the OS is now "unsafe" and should be upgraded. I also believe the timing of these hotfixes is extremely questionable. How convenient it is that such a major raft of serious security flaws are found only 3 months after support has ended. I consider this further compelling evidence of a deliberate campaign to end Windows NT 4.0 whilst it is still a useful and active participant in general computing. The reality is that the security hotfixes released after 30 June 2004, and that are supposedly "NT4 Server only", are able to be used on Workstation equally as well. To adjust the patches for use, expand the contents of the downloaded .exe file (using a programme like WinZip) into a convenient folder. Make sure that all the content of the patch is grouped together in this one place. Manually edit the included hotfix.inf file in the package as described here: ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This technique was first announced in October 2004 by Reed Darsey at www.networksecurityarchive.org. I have since independently verified it's accuracy, using Microsoft supplied "Workstation enabled" patches for the items referred to in Knowledgebase articles 823803 and 824105. WARNING: Microsoft are inconsistent in their creation of "back out" folders. In some instances, uninstall information is placed in a folder in "\Program Files\Uninstall Information" instead. If you are satisfied that the changes made to your system by Hotfixes and/or Service Packs are stable, and you no longer require the ability to be able to "back out" of the changes, you can remove this uninstall information. This will often free considerable amounts of space in the boot partition. You may simply delete the corresponding $NTUninstall --- $ folder and all it's contents. The Hotfix / Service Pack also adds an entry in the "Add/Remove Programs" applet of Control Panel. In the interests of not causing future confusion, it is advisable that the uninstall entry be removed from the list, since deletion of the $NTUninstall --- $ folder has rendered the uninstall from Control Panel impossible. To remove the redundant entries (they take the form of Qxxxxxx or KBxxxxxx) from the "Add/Remove Programs" section of Control Panel, manual editing of the Registry is required. If you unfamiliar with this process, or unsure of what you are doing, seek out experienced assistance. Incorrectly editing the Registry can irreparably damage an NT installation. Open the registry with RegEdit.exe. Navigate to the key: Under this key you will find a subkey in the form Qxxxxxx or KBxxxxxx for each Hotfix / Service Pack applied. Delete the appropriate subkey for the hotfix that had it's "back out" folder deleted. WARNING: Service Packs / Hotfixes / Rollups also add an entry to the registry key: DO NOT alter this entry in any fashion. These keys list what Hotfixes have been applied. (Programmes like Systems Internals "PSInfo" use this information) For more information on how a patch is applied using Hotfix.exe and Update.exe see the following Microsoft Knowledgebase articles:	16,371

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