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Welcome to Cathcart Elementary Welcome to Cathcart Elementary school. At Cathcart, our mission is to work together to help every student become the best they can be in a safe, friendly, and fun community. We value what every student and every family brings to our learning community. We believe that all students can learn, and at Cathcart we foster learning and success for every student. We encourage you to take an active role in your child’s education by working with us in a partnership. Working as a team will allow us to provide the best education for every student. This handbook will provide you important information about our school and how you can help. We encourage you to read it, and then keep it on hand as a ready reference. We look forward to a great year with you and your child.
Evidence for Learning Evidence for Learning helps great practice become common practice in education. Incubated by SVA, Evidence for Learning has been developed to help educators increase learning outcomes for their students, by improving the availability and use of evidence on great teaching practice. This is achieved by: - Building evidence through the Learning Impact Fund - Sharing evidence through the Teaching & Learning Toolkit - Encouraging the use of evidence through building a community committed to developing an evaluative culture in schools SVA works with Evidence for Learning to promote wider adoption of evidence based practice throughout the Australian education system. This includes advocating for government support for an independent evidence body that will provide services to all Australian schools and educators. Growth and advocacy Drawing on knowledge about international best practice and insights from the Evidence for Learning pilot, SVA has been advocating for a nationally funded independent evidence provider. This would help ensure all teachers across Australia have access to the information they need when making decisions about their teaching practice; as well as direct the growing education spend towards high-impact teaching practices. We have been running an intensive campaign involving direct government engagement, coalition building and leading public debate – in order to build support for a new Australian education evidence broker. In FY17 and FY18 the campaign passed significant milestones: - More than 12,300 educators accessed the Teaching & Learning Toolkit four or more times in a year - The Productivity Commission Inquiry into the Education Evidence Base adopted many of the recommendations from SVA’s submissions - The announcement of the Gonski 2.0 review explicitly recommended a national research and evidence institute. This means we are edging ever closer to seeing a small but ambitious pilot program become a significant national reform that will help ensure all children in Australia, regardless of background, receive a great education. These milestone developments have only been possible because of the generous and visionary philanthropic support of the Commonwealth Bank, who are funding the Evidence for Learning pilot, and the Berg Family Foundation who are funding teacher engagement.
Neil Armstrong’s Dyna-Soar abort training aircraft being restored for Moon landing anniversary A piece of Neil Armstrong’s pre-astronaut space history is being restored in preparation for next July’s 50-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The Armstrong Air and Space Museum in the astronaut’s hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio, is restoring the Douglas F5D Skylancer aircraft that he flew as part of his training for the Dyna-Soar project, which was cancelled in December of 1963. Armstrong had been named to NASA astronaut group three in October of that year. The Skylancer has been on outdoor display in front of the museum since its opening in 1972. Naturally, the years and the elements have caught up with the aircraft, which has been repainted only twice in the 46 years it has been on display. On longtime loan from NASA since its arrival at the museum, last year ownership was transferred to the Ohio History Connection—the operator of the museum—so the Skylancer could remain a permanent part of the facility. Funds from the non-profit Ohio History Connection were raised last year to restore the Skylancer in time for the 50th anniversary of Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Restoration is being performed by the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), a regional art conservation center based in Cleveland, Ohio. The project is being carried out in two parts, with the aircraft’s exterior being restored by Thomarios in Copley, Ohio, while the aircraft’s cockpit is restored by ICA’s Mark Erdmann, a specialist in restoring fine metalwork. Thomarios has a history of restoration work on vintage aircraft and spacecraft, including the restoration of the giant Saturn V rocket that is on display at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Erdmann is restoring the cockpit interior as part of the plan to construct a new exhibit that showcases the aircraft’s cockpit. The plan is for the aircraft itself to return to its outdoor concrete display stand, but the cockpit interior will be displayed separately inside the museum where visitors can get a closeup look at the various instrument panels and the ejection seat. “I spent three days sitting in the cockpit with my tools, pulling one by one the instruments and gauges out,” Erdmann told Spaceflight Insider. “I tried to be as careful as I could. The ejection seat was already out. I sat in there on a stool.” The F5D Skylancer was an all-weather fighter interceptor developed by the Navy. Only four experimental aircraft were ever built. The Navy decided the aircraft design was too similar to the Vought F8U Crusader, so the Skylancer never went into production. NASA obtained two of the remaining aircraft for experimental purposes. The aircraft identified as F5D Skylancer NASA 802 was used in connection with training for the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar project. Dyna-Soar (Dynamic Soarer) was an Air Force program to develop a spaceplane that could be launched into orbit atop a Titan II or Titan III missile to conduct various military space missions, such as reconnaissance, bombing, satellite maintenance, and enemy satellite interception. When re-entering the atmosphere, Dyna-Soar could use the lift from its wings to redirect its glide angle to a number of possible landing sites, depending on the mission and the location. Launching Dyna-Soar atop a Titan missile made an abort system essential, in case of an explosion on the pad or early in the ascent. Armstrong recognized that the planned ejection seat and parachute method for Dyna-Soar was problematic. If an anomaly occurred on the pad, the ejection system would shoot the pilot out only a hundred or so feet above the ground, leaving barely enough time for a parachute to successfully open and save the pilot from impact. Instead, Armstrong argued Dyna-Soar must have an abort system and procedure that carried the vehicle away from the rocket. The plan was that Dyna-Soar would have a small rocket that kicked it away from the Titan booster. Dyna-Soar would then climb, complete a roll, and glide to a landing at an airstrip near the launchpad. But the procedure needed to be tested. It was Armstrong who recognized that the F5D Skylancer had a wing platform very similar to what was projected for Dyna-Soar, and so he went about preparing a set of abort procedure tests using the Skylancer as the training aircraft. Armstrong went to Cape Canaveral, figured out the layout and measured the distance from the launchpad to the airstrip. He then laid out a similar course on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Armstrong flew the Skylancer about 200 feet (61 meters) above the desert floor at a speed of 575 mph (925 kph), then pulled the aircraft into a steep vertical climb up to about 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) where he rolled the plane over on its back, brought it around upright, then glided it down to the part of the lake bed he had outlined like the landing strip at Cape Canaveral. Armstrong was named a NASA astronaut shortly after these tests, and the Dyna-Soar project was cancelled just two months later. The Skylancer was used for a number of other tests until it was retired by NASA in 1970, and ultimately put on loan to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in 1972. The restoration on the aircraft is expected to be completed sometime by Summer 2018. The more detailed and intricate restoration of the cockpit will take much longer, but is expected to be ready for incorporation into its new display in time for the 50-year anniversary in July 2019. Michael Cole is a life-long space flight enthusiast and author of some 36 educational books on space flight and astronomy for Enslow Publishers. He lives in Findlay, Ohio, not far from Neil Armstrong’s birthplace of Wapakoneta. His interest in space, and his background in journalism and public relations suit him for his focus on research and development activities at NASA Glenn Research Center, and its Plum Brook Station testing facility, both in northeastern Ohio. Cole reached out to SpaceFlight Insider and asked to join SFI as the first member of the organization’s “Team Glenn.”
Hiking on Maui Maui’s hiking trails allow you to experience the beauty of the Valley Isle. For an easy hike, visit historic Iao Valley State Park. This paved trail offers fantastic valley views. For a more difficult hike try the Pipiwai trail to 120-metre Waimoku Falls in the lush Kipahulu section of Haleakala National Park. Visit the Kipahulu Visitor’s Center for more information. Or you can hike around the scenic summit of Haleakala, Maui’s highest peak. Take the Halemauu Trail or the Keeneheehee (sliding sands) trail down from the crater and see volcanic landscapes, mountainous wilderness and rare endemic plants like the ahinahina (silversword). Visit the Haleakala Visitor’s Center for more information on guided and self-guided hikes. More information: (808) 572-4400; http://www.nps.gov/hale When hiking on Maui, be sure to be prepared with these essentials: - Good hiking shoes with tread - Light pants to keep cool or shorts (but beware that you may get scratches from branches) - Light shirt to keep cool - Light rain jacket and mosquito repellent (especially if you are going into rainforests or valleys) - Backpack with enough water, lunch and sunscreen (depending on length and intensity of hike) - Mobile phone For longer, tougher hikes you may want to also include: - Work gloves - First Aid Kit - Additional water and food For safety reasons, DO NOT hike alone if at all possible, but if you must, make sure to tell someone where you are going. DO NOT drink water from freshwater ponds or streams you may encounter during your hike. Avoid entering streams or ponds with open cuts. Stick to the trail and follow trail head markers to avoid getting lost. With a little preparation, your Maui hike will reap unforgettable rewards.
GERMAN PAVILION TO MARKET RENEWABLE ENERGY KNOW-HOW &amp; PRODUCTS AT AFRICA ENERGY INDABA 2012 The German Ministry of Economics and Technology will provide a German pavilion to specifically promote the participation of German companies in the Africa Energy Indaba 2012. The German pavilion will include a large official information stand — which is usually staffed by consultants contracted by the German government — as well as stands of participating German companies from which German renewable energy know-how and products will be marketed. However, the German pavilion will not only focus on selling German services and products, but also on finding suitable South African and African partners. The German government promotes the participation of German companies in select international trade fairs and exhibitions around the world by appointing a company to organise a pavilion which hosts participating German companies. Such German pavilions are organised at approximately 250 events per year. Within this framework, there is a special programme focusing on renewable energy. In 2012, 10 select international events will form part of this special programme. According to Pieter Bouwer of the Afrika-Verein der deutschen Wirtschaft (German-African Business Association), “Africa Energy Indaba 2012 is one of these select events and the only African event to be included in the special programme for renewable energy. South Africa has great potential regarding renewable energy, as well as substantial energy demand. Germany has substantial experience in this field and world-class know-how and products. Therefore, there should be enormous scope for closer cooperation between Germany and South Africa and the rest of Africa in this field,” he says. Brian Statham, Chairman of the AEI added, “The widespread use of renewable technologies is in its infancy in South Africa and this is the perfect time for South African and German interests to combine forces in this developing market. Furthermore, renewable technologies lend themselves to off-grid applications which can make a significant contribution to relieving the energy poverty that is endemic in rural Africa.” Germany is working around the clock to become the world’s first industrial power to use 100 percent renewable energy. In fact Germany could very well accomplish this goal by 2050. The share of electricity produced from renewable energy in Germany has accelerated from 6.3 percent of the national total in 2000 to about 17 percent in 2010. In that year, investments in Germany’s renewable energies sector totalled 26 billion Euros. According to official figures, about 370 000 people in Germany were employed in small and medium sized companies in the renewable sector in 2010. This is an increase of around 8 percent compared to 2009 where around 339, 500 jobs were created and filled. Close to two-thirds of these jobs can be attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act. The German Renewable Energy Sources Act was designed to encourage cost reductions based on improved energy efficiency plans. The Act was enforced in 2000 and has seen a considerable boost in renewable energies in Germany. In 2010, nearly 17% of Germany’s electricity supply was produced from renewable energy sources — more than the 2010 contribution of gas fired power plants. On August 31, 2011 the German Federal Cabinet adopted the Adaptation Action plan to show their support to the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change. By 2030, as much as 50 percent of Germany’s electricity should be coming from renewable energy sources. That’s about the same time Germany and the entire European continent plan to have the interconnected smart grid in operation. Germany has been at the forefront of renewable energy technologies for years now and is well positioned to become the first country to switch to green power completely. For more information on German renewable energy technologies and know-how visit the German pavilion at the Africa Energy Indaba 2012. 20 September 2011 Prepared by: Siyenza Management 011 463 9184 On behalf of: Africa Energy Indaba 2012 011 463 9184 About Africa Energy Indaba 2012 The Africa Energy Indaba takes place from February 21 to 23 2012 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg. The event brings together stakeholders from the global energy industry and the financial community, including energy providers, engineers, financial service providers, economists, government representatives and media. Visit www.energyindaba.co.za About the World Energy Council www.worldenergy.org About the South Africa National Energy Association www.sanea.org.za
Transparency: Which Countries Are the Happiest? For decades, the World Database of Happiness has tracked down how happy people are—not at all happy, not very happy, quite happy, or very happy. As it turns out, most of us are mostly happy, even when things aren't going so well. Here is a look at how happy people said they were (on average) over the last 30 years. A collaboration between GOOD and OPEN. Think this is good?1 person thinks this is good0 people think this is good
US 3923472 A A process and system for filtering oil from a liquid containing oil by passing the liquid through a filter containing melt-spun thermoplastic synthetic fibers for absorbing the oil. When the fibers become saturated with oil, they are heated at an elevated temperature until they become liquid. The resultant liquid is then drawn from the filter for use as fuel. Description (OCR text may contain errors) United States Patent [1 1 Martinez et al. 1 Dec. 2, 1975 1 FUEL MADE FROM THERMOPLASTIC FIBERS AND OIL Inventors: Boni Philip Martinez, Wilmington, Del.; Millard David Zeisberg, Elkton, Md. Assignee: E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del. 22 Filed: Oct. 5, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 403,863 US. Cl. 44/50; 44/62; 44/71; 44/80; 210/23; 2l0/DIG. 21 Int. Cl. ClOL 1/00 Field of Search 44/50, 62, 71, 80; 210/23, 210/DIG. 21 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,667,608 6/1972 Burroughs et al. ZlO/DlG. 21 3,750,600 8/1973 Ohsol et al llO/l R FOREIGN PATENTS 01R APPLICATIONS 10/1972 Netherlands 44/50 Primary Examiner Delbert E. Gantz Assistant Examinerl. Vaughn ABSTRACT 8 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure U.S, Patent 1366.2,1975 3,923,472 STEAM FUEL MADE FROM THERMOPLASTIC FIBERS AND OIL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns the use of synthetic fibers for absorbing oil. Specifically, the invention is a process and system for converting melt-spun synthetic fibers containing absorbed oil into a liquid suitable for use as a fuel. I I The use of synthetic polymeric fibers to absorb oil is well known. Much effort has been directed to the clean-up of oil spills from the surface of water, and the use of synthetic polymeric materials for this purpose has been illustrated. Disposal of the oil-bearing synthetic polymeric material receives little attention, al- though some of the patents do suggest that oil may be removed by squeezing the polymeric material. Efficiency of oil pick-up by the synthetic material decreases after an initial use, and it has often been found expedient to discard the material rather tha n attempting to reuse it. v Synthetic fibers have'also been used as filters to remove small amounts of oil from oil-water mixtures. In these cases too, the filter is usually discarded rather than being cleaned and reused. Disposal of the oil-bearing synthetic materials has been a continuing problem, particularly in the case of large oil spills as, for example, from an oil tanker. Ecological considerations require that the oil-polymeric material mixture be disposed of in some way which is not harmful to the environment. Thus far, no satisfactory way has been developed. It is the purpose of this invention to describe a process for the disposal of oilbearing synthetic polymeric material which converts such material to a liquid suitable for use as a fuel. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A process for converting melt-spun synthetic fibers containing absorbed oil into a liquid suitable for fuel, said process comprising: absorbing oil by said fibers until said fibers become saturated with oil and then heating the oil saturated fibers to a temperature of from about 110 to about 150C. until said saturated fibers change to a liquid state. This invention also includes a system for separating oil from water in an oil-water mixture and disposing of said oil, said system comprising: a source of said oil- Water mixture; a filter containing synthetic fiber filter material capable of absorbing oil from said oil-water mixture; heating means associated with said filter for raising the temperature of said filter material to convert fibers saturated with oil into a liquid oil-fiber mixture, said filter having separate outlets, one for filtered water, the other for said liquid oil-fiber mixture; means for pumping said oil-water mixture from said source to said filter and for pumping filtered water from said filter; and means for pumping said liquid oil-fiber mixture from said filter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A schematic flow diagram of the system encompassing the process of this invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawing schematically illustrates a system utilizing'one' embodiment of the present'invention. A mixture of oil and water from a settling basin 10 is directed through valves 2, 4' and 6 by pump'3 into two filter boxes 12-, 14. The filter boxes are arranged so' that one is on line while the other is on a stand-by basis. For example, the oilwater mixture passes through the filter box 12 and the oil'is absorbed by synthetic fibers (less than denier per filament) in the filter box and retained, while essentially oil-free water is returned to the stream 16 through pipe 13 attached to one outlet of filter 12. When the first filter 12 becomes saturated with oil, the oil-water stream is directed into the second filter box 14 by means of the valves 4, 6, i.e., by closing valve 4 and opening valve 6. After removal of the oilsaturated filter '12 from service, the entire filter is he'ated'with steam by means of steam coil 18 in filter box 12 to convert-the fiber-oil mixture into a liquid. Advantageously," the temperature may be maintained on the liquid to insure that it will remain pumpable. This liquid'is then pumped by pump 20 through pipe 15 from the other outlet of filter 12 to a boiler where it is used to generate steam. The procedure is repeated using steam coil 18 to heat filter 14 when it becomes saturated with oil. Synthetic fibers will absorb many times their own weight of oil, depending on type and composition. Typical numbers are 30-35 for polyester and 10-170 for polyolefins. The oil polymeric material mixture may be converted to a liquid by heating at atmospheric pressure or above, using temperatures in the range from 1 10300C. The process may be used with a wide variety of oils, including crude oil, fuel oil, used motor oil and light oils such as textile finishes. The process also may be useful in the disposal of waste synthetic fibers. A' similar process can be envisioned for collection of oil from oil spills at sea. In this case, the fibers, after absorption of oil, would be transferred to a holding tank on board ship. Heating the oil-fiber mixture would convert the mass to a liquid where it could either be used as fuel on board ship or transported back to shore and pumped into a tank for subsequent use. Fibers useful in the practice of this invention include polyamides, polyesters and polyolefins. Fibers are the preferred form because of the large surface area for oil absorption. Fibers have significant advantages over other shaped articles both in efficiency of oil absorption and in ease of dissolving to form a liquid. The absorption efficiency is related to the large surface area and to good packing in the filters. It is surprising that fibers dissolve much more easily in oil than do shredded or comminuted therrnoplastics, generally dissolving in less than 30 minutes at temperatures of 200C. or less. No catalyst is required to hasten the solution. This is particularly surprising in view of the known crystallinity of drawn fibers, which would predict that they should dissolve less easily than more amorphous plastic materials. I EXAMPLE I Fibers of spun-bonded polyethylene (Tyvek) at about 1 weight percent begin to dissolve in motor oil at C. and are completely dissolved at C. EXAMPLE ll 97 grams of No. 6 fuel oil 'were heated in a beaker, and as the temperature passed 150C, 48 grams of polyester fiber 6 dpf /2 inch cut were added slowly until after 15 minutes, at 210C, the combination of oil and fibers was in a liquid state with no solids observable at which time the beaker was removed from the heat source. Next morning at room temperature, it was unexpectedly observed that the fibers had not precipitated, the combination being still a liquid with a viscosity apparently only slightly greater then that of No. 6 fuel oil alone. Therefore, the combination of No. 6 fuel oil and polyester fibers at this concentration is pumpable at room temperature. EXAMPLE III To 600 ml. of water in a 1000 ml. beaker, approximately 150 ml. of S.A.E. 20 motor oil were added and vigorously agitated together at room temperature. About l grams of 1.5 dpf polyester fibers 1 /2 inch cut were added and stirred thoroughly in the oil-water combination. The fibers were removed, and it was observed that less than half of the oil remained in the beaker. Water was decanted from the fibers containing absorbed oil, and then the fiber mass was melted down in about 10 minutes with aBunsen burner. After retention at room temperature overnight, it was surprising and unexpected to observe that the fibers had not precipitated from the oil. EXAMPLE IV To 50 grams of No. 6 fuel oil in a beaker were added 10 grams of spunbonded polyethylene and the combination became all liquid at only 120C. after heating for 1 4 oil at these concentrations will need to be at least about 120C. What is claimed is: 1. A process for removing oil from the surface'of water and for converting thermoplastic synthetic fibers into a liquid suitable for fuel, said process comprising: placing said fibers on said surface and absorbing oil by said fibers until said fibers become saturated with oil and then heating the oil saturated fibers to a temperature sufficient to change said saturated fibers to a liquid state. 2. The process as defined in claim 1, including the additional step of maintaining said liquid at about said temperature while pumping it for disposal. 3. The process as defined in claim 2, said fibers being polyethylene and about 16 weight percent of the fibers saturated with oil mixture, said oil being No. 6 fuel oil, said temperature being about 120C. 4. The process as defined in claim 1, said fibers being polyethylene and one weight percent of the fibers saturated with oil mixture, said oil being motor oil, said temperature being from about to about 130C. 5. A process for filtering with and converting thermoplastic synthetic fibers into a liquid suitable for fuel, said process comprising: passing an oil-bearing liquid mixture through said fibers until said fibers become saturated with oil and then heating the oil saturated fibers to a temperature sufficient to change said saturated fibers to a liquid state. 6. The process as defined in claim 5, including the additional step of maintaining said liquid at about said temperature while pumping it for disposal. 7. The process as defined in claim 6, said fibers being polyethylene and about 16 weight percent of the'fibers saturated with oil mixture, said oil being No. 6 fuel oil, said temperature being about C. 8. The process as defined in claim 5, said fibers being polyethylene and one weight percent of the fibers saturated with oil mixture, said oil being motor oil, said temperature being from about 1 10 to about C.
US 6799723 B2 An automated voting system comprising single or multiple voting stations for controlling and being a voting station simultaneously. The voting system includes an integrated pointing device with graphical user interface for displaying the ballots. The voting stations may or may not be interconnected and indeed may operate as a single unit as a complete polling station. The voting system will track the number of votes and continuously display the number of votes cast on a counter system as it clearly displays the voter intent. The automated voting system also provides security for the voter and the system both internal and external. The external security system may be controlled by the polling authorities while the internal security system operates independently. The automated voting system is also capable of providing multiple ballot styles in one or more voting units and provides a touch electronic keyboard for write-in candidates. The automated voting system will also print on separate printers the tally results at the polling place and/or transmit the tally to a central collection position. The automated voting system also allows the voter to void the ballot prior to casting of the vote and then permit re-establishment of the voting unit. 1. An automated voting system comprising: a) at least one automated voting device; b) said voting device having an integrated computer program using an integrated pointing device; c) said voting device having at least one counter for counting votes; d) said voting device having a graphical user interface for displaying information and ballots; e) said voting device interconnected to other said voting devices; f) said integrated computer program allowing a selection of one of said voting devices to control remaining said interconnected voting devices; g) said votes stored in multiple places in said voting device for retrieval; and, h) test programs to verify the accuracy of said voting system pre and post election. 2. The automated voting device of 3. The automated voting device of 4. The automated voting device of 5. The automated voting device of 6. The automated voting system of 7. The automated voting system of 8. The automated voting device of 9. The automated voting device of 10. The automated voting device of 11. The automated voting device of 12. The automated voting system of 13. The automated voting system of 14. The automated voting system of This invention relates to Automated Voting Systems and more particularly to a system for verifying registered voters and collecting and tabulating votes from a single or a plurality of voting mechanisms. As is well known, and has been set forth by the political pundits and the electorate, voter privacy and the requirement of security i.e. that the ballots all be verified and be counted accurately with no ballots which have not been correctly filled out to be counted. One method is providing security at the voting site with voter poll watchers. This has been the traditional method of providing for the accuracy and authenticity of the vote and the voting results. The use of authorized voting personnel to verify each voters name and verify that they are the person whom they represent to be from a master list of registered voters and providing a paper ballot to the voter has worked well in the past. However, this procedure is slow by today's standards and there is the potential for inaccurate counting and/or having ballots which have not been properly filled out counted. Verification systems must maintain the privacy of the voter so that names are not associated with the ballots once the ballots have been issued to the voters or voted by voter. Another method of casting ballots is the use of mechanical devices to present the voters selection, after verification i.e. a ballot form adjacent the mechanical levers. Another method of casting ballots is for the voter to punch holes in a computer card where each hole represents a certain candidate or issue on the ballot. The cards are then machine read and votes tabulated. These methods have disadvantages and they may be potentially inaccurate, i.e. the vote may not be registered in the case of the mechanical lever for some mechanical reason or the cards with the punched holes provide no way for a voter to change their minds. With the requirement in some voting districts that the ballots including any local issues be in a different language i.e. Spanish or some other language. An automated system which will automatically on command present the ballots in the required language would be useful. Several automated voting systems have been used wherein computers have aided in the gathering and counting of the votes. Two U.S. patents which describe automated voting systems are U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,665 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,528. These patents describe systems wherein there is either a number of precinct or local stations voting work stations for tabulating the votes and a central work station for controlling the programming and tabulating at the precinct stations. This invention overcomes many of the problems associated with the traditional methods of voting including prior electronic voting systems while maintaining all the advantages of the prior systems. This invention includes the vote entry station, which incorporates an integrated computer program with an integrated pointing device with graphical user interface for displaying the ballots or issues on a screen. The vote entry station incorporates all requisite functions and is unitary and self standing. The programmed vote entry station has an electronic keypad/keyboard for display and entry of write-in candidates. It also permits the voting for more than one write-in candidate, if allowed. In addition, the program protects from overvotes while allowing voters to change their vote prior to casting. The program contained in the voting device at the vote entry station, either a single unit or multiple units permits tracking the number of votes cast by each unit and the entry station displays the count. Advantages of this system also include the fact that the voting entry stations are capable of being programmed by one or more election workers to provide all voter entry stations with multiple ballot screens and styles. The voter can select the language to be displayed on the ballots. The vote entry station is activated by at least one activation code entered by the election workers to prevent fraud. There may also be an election unit in data communication with the vote entry station to provide information and verification of such things as the voter authorization code, verification of the voter registration data. This unit may also be programmed to verify voter signature, voter fingerprints, voter voice print, voter eye print and can also update voter history. Advantages of this voter system include the ability to have an automated voting system which comprises either a single voting device which will perform all of the functions described above or utilizing the identical voting device as a host or control unit so that various voting stations may be controlled from one unit. The voting system is controlled by authorization codes which verify voter approval, utilizes election security cards to verify and activate the operation of the voter system equipment. The equipment is not operable except by the use of the proper election security card which usually is provided in sealed envelopes by the election authority. Each individual one of these vote entry stations provides for data communication between the stations and between the stations and any central vote collection storage unit. In addition, this election device provides for the automatic printing or separate printer on hard copy of test results to verify the accuracy and of the final tabulation of the votes. FIG. 1—is a flow chart of the total voting system. FIG. 2—is a flow diagram of the start-up of the voting system. FIG. 3—is a flow diagram of the election and precinct setup. FIG. 4—is a flow chart showing the summary of the voting with and without a poll worker station. FIG. 5—is a depiction of the second page of a ballot. FIG. 6—is a flow chart of the voting procedure with this invention. The voting system uses either single or multiple voting stations, each station having at least one voting device which may be stored in a transport case. Each transport case or unit will have numbered seals that will be checked out to particular precincts for use with voting stations. Once the poll workers arrive at the polling place with the voting stations they will remove the voting unit or units from the transport cases and place the voting stations or units inside each voting booth. The voting station comprises a computer with program graphical unit including a user interface for displaying ballots and other information the requisite computer programs for recording are within the unit. Each voting station may have its own power source or there may be a single source for several stations and each voting station requires at least one election security card which is normally provided by the election authority in a sealed security envelope. Poll workers must insert the election security card in each voting device to permit operation. Once the power has been connected to the voting station and the election security cards installed the power may be turned on for each voting station. When the voting stations or devices are turned on the units will work for a short period of time then displays the number of devices that are being connected in the precinct for confirmation. Once this question is answered, the units will complete the set up automatically. FIG. 2 is the flow chart for starting the voting system including one or more voter stations this includes checking for connected machine 13, and establish storage redundancy, 15. The screen will next read “press here” to continue as host. One voting station should then be designated as the host unit or as the poll official station to control all the voting stations. The host unit will then display on the screen the date and election being held at that time and in this jurisdiction. This display will give the poll worker an opportunity to say whether or not this information is correct. Once the host unit is selected and in charge the flow chart of FIG. 3 illustrates the steps necessary to verify and start up the voting station or stations. The poll worker on the host unit has before it on the screen the presentation to enter the precinct code and password 22. This precinct code and password are provided in a secured envelope by the election authority. When the precinct number and password are entered, the precinct name and active ballot styles will appear in the proper boxes on the screen. The poll worker will confirm this information with the information in the security envelope. If the information agrees it will be accepted on the screen. Then the next step is 23 i.e. to secure the voting devices for poll workers assigned to work in the given precinct or polling place. The name, initials and numeric password (up to six digits) will be entered into the system. Each poll worker will enter his or her name, initials and the numeric password which may be any number the poll worker chooses. Now only these people are authorized to operate these devices. An internal operations log is maintained in the program for election validation if required. Before taking any election votes the poll workers can vote a series of pre-selected ballot configurations. These pre-election tests will verify that the voting devices are tabulating properly. At the conclusion of the pre-test the results of the pre-test are printed out and the poll workers may compare them to the pre-set documentation provided by the election authority in the security envelope. If the numbers do not match, the program resets to zero, and the test is repeated. In all cases the program resets the counter to zero before voting begins. After voting has begun and shut down occurs, any vote is maintained upon restarting. The poll workers will then move to the next step in the set up process and activate the printer which will automatically print out the zero report. The zero report will be signed and the pre-election report may be signed by the poll workers and placed in a container specified by the election office. At this point, the poll workers will turn off the printer if correct the poll workers then secure numbered seals also provided by the election authority to the back-lock mechanism on each voting station. The poll workers will record on an affidavit provided by the election authority the numbers from the seals and the devices to which each was secured, and we are now ready to begin live elections. In addition, if required, the poll official station can be programmed to verify fingerprints, voiceprints, eyeprint information, capture fingerprint, voiceprint or eyeprint information. Once the voter has been authorized the voter will be assigned to a voting booth where normally the openings of the voting booth are turned away from the poll workers station. In the voting booth the poll worker will activate a ballot on the voting device for the individual by keying in an authorization code. In the case of split precincts, a ballot style choice and an authorization code both would be required. Flow chart of FIG. 4 shows the flow chart for voting both with and without a poll worker station. When accept is pressed, the first page of the actual ballot will appear on the screen. If reject is pressed the ballot is rejected and the poll worker must reconfirm the voters ballot style by pressing the correct ballot style and rekeying the authorization code. The identical picture is displayed again for the voter to choose and after accepting the voter can now begin voting. The graphical interface as depicted on the screen of this invention provides continued assistance during the entire voting process. The first screen will normally provide instructions in the use of this system and subsequent screen will lead voters through each race and page. FIG. 5 is an illustration representing page two of four ballot pages or screens. The flow chart in FIG. 6 shows some of the choices that may be displayed and permitted, such as multilingual where the voter selects the language. Other choices may be programmed in or not depending upon the original request for programming. The voter is in complete control of the ballots and the speed with which the pages are turned. The voter may touch previous page to return the ballot to check and/or change a vote or to review the ballot at the end. At this point the screen shows “touch here” to cast ballot now. This is the final step. Prior to casting the ballot the voter may touch review to page through their ballot choices and make changes or they can cast the ballot at any time. When “here” is touched the voting is completed and the selections of voter are recorded. However, if the voter touches “void ballot” a screen will appear telling the voter to notify the poll worker. The poll worker will then reauthorize by keying in the proper authorization code and touch release. The voter may then begin the voting process again. At the end of the day two poll workers will be required to close the poll. The closing procedures are begun on the same screen as the voter authorization was begun. One poll worker records on separate records provided by election authority the number of votes cast recorded on each voting device by the public counter. Poll worker will enter his/her authorization code on the keypad of voting device number one i.e. the “host voting device” and then touch activate. The poll workers must not activate a ballot style when closing the polls. At this time casting votes is completed for that election. The poll workers will then turn on the printer power switch. A second poll worker will then key in an authorization code, touch “here to close” which will close out the use of the voting devices or stations. The total ballots cast for each voting device will appear on the screen with grand totals for uses of the voting machines and the ballot styles. These totals must agree as well with the totals of the public counter on each device. If these totals match a poll worker will touch yes. When the results are accepted i.e. the totals match they will automatically be printed out by the printer. The poll workers will then verify that the printed results match the screen totals or results and then sign a certification sheet to that effect. At this time a post election test which is the same as the pre-election test may be run. The post election test will be run if required by the election authority however it would always behoove the poll workers to ensure authenticity by running the post election test. After the post election test confirms that the unit was working all the time there may be an electronic transmission of the election reports to any location. It would be necessary to follow to the instructions for uploading election data via modem to a communications server. The election devices or the voting stations should then be turned off. This may be accomplished automatically or by pressing the start icon and the normal procedures for shut down of the computer. The poll workers remove the security cards from each voting device and place them in the security envelope along with the printed results. At this time if the election authorities have so deemed, poll workers may post the printed results from the precinct and may transfer the results from the printouts to sheets provided by the election authority. Any results sheets could be posted on the door of the polling place or elsewhere as required by law. Having described the preferred embodiment, other features of the present invention will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art, as will numerous modifications and alternations in the embodiments of the invention illustrated, all of which may be achieved without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Citas de patentes
Youth attend ag workshop Five Future Farmers and agricultural customers of Gothenburg State Bank attended an annual Ag and Beyond workshop on Dec. 3. Local attendees were sponsored by Gothenburg State Bank. The workshop was sponsored by the Nebraska Bankers Association and conducted by David Kohl. Kohl, a nationally known speaker who specializes in ag economics and finance, was professor of agricultural finance and small business management and entrepreneurship in the department of agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Tech University from 1978-2003. Gothenburg State Bank supports the program every year by sending agricultural customers. The students were said to have found the workshop beneficial. Kohl said he was glad to see the “next generation” in attendance. He involved the students in his talk and presented lessons on what they need to expect after they graduate from high school. - Control drives abusers, fear keeps victims from leaving - Space issues driving surgical expansion at GMH - Seven in race for two council seats - Irish explode offensively in win over Brady boys - CPNRD gains acreage by Darr - Local salt suppliers keep up with demand for salt - Gothenburg’s share of ACE grants is $1,747 - You win some, you lose some
The best way to loose excess weight, is to eat only when you are hungry, and not to eat, when you are not hungry. When you are hungry, that is a signal from your body, that your body needs more calories and nutrients. Hunger is the best cook. The test buds of your tongue, become more sensitive to flavours, when your are hungry, which means you will enjoy your food more. When eating only when you are hungry, that is the time when there are maximum amount of digestive juices produced in your body. Do not eat according to the clock on the wall. Eat according to the clock build inside your body, which is your hunger. When you eat only when you are hungry, you will not deprive yourself of food, and you will not starve, but you will give your body pleasure, by satisfiying its hunger with food. If you eat when you are not hungry, you are putting more calories in your body, which your body does not need. When you eat only when you are hungry, you will give your body only the calories it needs, at the time it needs them. Make the size of your meal portions to be the size of your fist. And yes, you can be satisfied with portions the size of your fist. When a baby is born, the size of its stomach is approximately the size of its fist. But the stomach has the abillity to stretch many times its own initial size, just by overeating. If you do what is written above, there is a great chance, that you will become normal weight in a few months time. Proverbs 25:16, 27:7
Bond ETFs are hurt in the short run when interest rates rise / Thinkstock USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at email@example.com. Q: Are bonds no longer a good tool for diversification? A: Bonds are supposed to be the safe part of most investors' portfolios. But with Treasury yields bumping around all-time lows, investors remain worry that bonds' perceived safety is a mirage. You've most likely heard the drill: As your appetite for risk falls, usually as you approach retirement, add to the bond portion of your portfolio. A general rule of thumb is that the percentage of your portfolio in bonds should be roughly equal to your age. But some fear, and have been fearing for quite some time now, that this time-honored advice to use bonds for security is outdated. With the Federal Reserve loading up on Treasuries, interest rates have been held down. When the Fed eventually tapers, bond bears fear that yields will spike and crush bond prices. So goes the idea that bonds offer security. But is this risk enough to get investors to drop bonds? Absolutely not. Remember, first of all, that even a brutal bond bear market is nothing relative to the drops other asset classes can suffer. The worst year on record for long-term government bonds was a 15% decline in 2009. Painful? Yes. But nowhere near the 43% loss in 1931 or 37% decline in 2008 in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Remember, too, that most bond investors know to either buy securities with different maturity dates or buy a mutual fund that does it for you. Treasuries with short-term maturities are much less risky than long-term treasuries. The worst year for one-month Treasuries since 1970 was a decline of 3.7%. Copyright 2014 USATODAY.com Read the original story: Are bonds still a good diversification tool?
Global Bioenergies and Synthos announce direct biological pathway for butadiene; program entering development phase 6 December 2012 Global Bioenergies, a France-based industrial biology company developing sustainable routes to light olefins, and Synthos, a European leader in the rubber industry, announced the discovery of a direct biological pathway to convert renewable resources into butadiene, a light olefin core to the petrochemical industry. (Earlier post.) Presently, 10 million tons of butadiene are produced each year from oil, representing a market exceeding $20 billion. 7 million tons are used to manufacture rubbers; 3 million tons are used to manufacture nylon, plastics and latexes. In July 2011, Global Bioenergies entered into a strategic partnership with Synthos, a $1.2-billion revenues rubber manufacturer with the aim of developing a process to convert renewable feedstock into butadiene. The first phase of the partnership was dedicated to the discovery of metabolic pathways to convert renewable resources into butadiene through a direct, gaseous fermentation process. This discovery phase has now been successfully accomplished—the first direct biological route to butadiene has been experimentally proven. Several patents have been filed to protect these biological assets. The success of this first phase triggered a €1.5-million (US$1.95-million) milestone payment to Global Bioenergies. The butadiene program now enters the development phase, for which Synthos will contribute several million euros in total through yearly fees. After isobutene in 2010, and more recently propylene, butadiene is now the third molecule for which we obtained an experimental validation. We are resolutely building a pipeline of direct, gaseous fermentation processes to convert renewable feedstock into various light olefins.—Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies Global Bioenergies shall receive royalty payments from Synthos on bio-sourced butadiene used for the manufacturing of rubber. Global Bioenergies retains the exclusive rights for non-rubber applications, such as nylon, plastics and latexes, representing an existing market exceeding $6 billion. TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Global Bioenergies and Synthos announce direct biological pathway for butadiene; program entering development phase:
A 7-day training programme to raise awareness of the youth on the impact of climate change in the Arctic takes place this summer in Svalbard, Norway aboard the ship M/v "Antarctic Dream". Organized by the British Council, the training programme will be attended by twenty young people from across Europe and Canada who are active in climate change projects. The programme will be facilitated by experts from GRID-Arendal. GRID-Arendal will share its scientific and social expertise in the areas of climate change, polar environments, green economy and sustainable tourism while utilizing the amazing training environment of Svalbard. During the excursion participants will learn about polar climate-related issues, sustainable tourism and undergo capacity building in communicating climate change and developing and managing projects for implementation in their countries when they return. At the same time they will see and experience the full beauty and drama of Svalbard and the polar Arctic region. Se video from the excursion created 7 July 2011:
52 Library Card Uses Learn how to use a database or computerized catalog: Number 45 in a series of uses for your library card. The GRRL Catalog If you spend just a little time exploring the library catalog you will see features to help you make best use of the library's resources. Access your current account by entering your card number and PIN. Your account information includes a list of items checked out, and your list of item hold requests. Checked Out: Your list of items out includes the due date for each item. You can click the "Due Date" to quickly organize the list and show you which items must be returned soonest. Beside each item is a box. You can extend your loan period by clicking in the box and then clicking the Renew button. (Items on which other patrons have placed holds cannot be renewed.) Holds: Your Holds list tells you which items are ready to be picked up, and which items are not yet available. You can cancel the request or change the status of a request. This feature is particularly useful if you don't want items to arrive at the library, perhaps because you already have books to read or you are leaving for a vacation. You can click the box beside individual holds, or click the box in the line above your requests to affect your entire list, and then click "Change Status" to delay your holds. This process is simply reversed at your convenience. Library databases are electronic sources of articles, papers, and information created for the web, organized within broad general categories. The library provides numerous databases, including options for business information, health information, literature, automotive repair, environmental issues, and academic resources to assist students at various age levels. Feel free to talk with staff to find out which databases may be most suited to your information needs, and for tips on how to get good results for your information searches.
You are here Safeguards for a digitally connected home Most people know how to spot danger on the streets in the physical world but, in the 21st century, parents need new tools to guard youngsters against the potential threats in cyberspace. Given the tidal wave of gadgets, apps and Web sites flooding homes, schools and general life, any parent would be hard pressed to find a way to avoid technology today. And why should they? Thanks to the Internet, information has never been more accessible. Opportunities abound for those with access to its vast stores of digital knowledge. However, the same technology that allows our children to reach out to new sources of knowledge and cultural experiences are also leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and harm. Online phonography, cyber-bullying, cyberstalking, identity theft, hacking and online gambling are corrupting spots on the online landscape. A London School of Economics study found that nine out of ten children between the ages of eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet, in most cases, unintentionally. Mankind’s vices have found a new virtual home. That virtual home now extends into real homes via the devices we give our children to learn and to play. User comments posted on this website are the sole views and opinions of the comment writer and are not representative of Guardian Media Limited or its staff. Guardian Media Limited accepts no liability and will not be held accountable for user comments. Please help us keep out site clean from inappropriate comments by using the flag option. Guardian Media Limited reserves the right to remove, to edit or to censor any comments. Any content which is considered unsuitable, unlawful or offensive, includes personal details, advertises or promotes products, services or websites or repeats previous comments will be removed.
The Tsongas Industrial History Center invites educators from across the U.S. to Lowell, Massachusetts, to apply to “Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution”, a week long summer workshop funded by the We the People program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This workshop is free of charge and all participants receive a $500.00 stipend for food and lodging plus a travel subsidy. Housing will be available at Lowell’s Doubletree Hotel. The Inventing America workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park. In addition to Lowell’s landmark resources, we will use drama, hands–on simulations, historical fiction, and field studies at Old Sturbridge Village, Walden Pond, and Concord, MA museums to bring history to life. Who: K-12 teachers (public & private), administrators, and other school personnel When: June 22-June 27; July 13-July 18; and July 27-August 1, 2008 (choose one week) Where: Tsongas Industrial History Center at the historic Boott Cotton Mills, Lowell, MA. The Tsongas Center is a partnership of Lowell National Historical Park and UMass Lowell’s Graduate School of Education. CEUs/PDPs and graduate credit available through UMass Lowell. Tsongas Industrial History Center Boott Cotton Mills 115 John St. Lowell, MA 01852 Send comments and questions to H-Net Webstaff. H-Net reproduces announcements that have been submitted to us as a free service to the academic community. If you are interested in an announcement listed here, please contact the organizers or patrons directly. Though we strive to provide accurate information, H-Net cannot accept responsibility for the text of announcements appearing in this service. (Administration)
Alex J. Kay. Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2006. 242 pp. $75.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84545-186-8. Reviewed by Adam Brown Published on H-Genocide (December, 2008) Commissioned by Elisa G. von Joeden-Forgey Beside the Twisted Road In his study Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder, Alex J. Kay aptly characterizes Nazi Germany’s occupation of parts of the Soviet Union as "organized chaos." Immediately noting the "administrative chaos, interagency competition and wide-ranging policy disputes" of the Third Reich, much of Kay’s detailed analysis, which draws on an impressive amount of primary source material, leads to the conclusion that "German occupation policy in the Soviet Union was built from the beginning on shaky foundations due to a fundamental disagreement regarding the practical approach to policy implementation" (pp. 1, 208). However, Kay also demonstrates that "collaboration and cooperation between the economic and political planners were more systematic, sustained and extensive than has hitherto been thought" (p. 206). This encapsulates one of the major valuable insights offered by this work, adding to a field that has attracted increasing attention in recent years. As Kay points out, several scholarly publications have already engaged with the initially overlooked issue of Nazi planning for the occupation; however, the present volume provides the first substantial comparative analysis of the undertakings of political and economic planners, highlighting the conformity and conflicts between them. Of course, the unexpected turns that Germany’s war in "the East" took, and the resultant failure of Adolf Hitler’s Blitzkrieg, ensured that the Nazis’ plans to establish a civil political administration were only realized temporarily and in a relatively small area. Nonetheless, Kay demonstrates that the political and economic planning for the envisioned comprehensive occupation of the Soviet Union is of crucial importance, revealing much about how the Nazi regime functioned. In succinct, chronologically and thematically structured chapters, Kay maps out the strategic and ideological motives for the invasion; key institutions and individual players involved (such as the previously marginalized figure of Alfred Rosenberg); and the wider population policy dependent on the ideological aims of the SS, particularly in relation to the ideas of Neuordnung and Hungerpolitik. Kay makes a compelling case for the disorganization and deficiencies of the institutions involved being the result not of any lack of detailed planning, but (combined with the fact that major military activity never ceased) of a lack of coordination and efficient implementation of the policies set out: "In this sense, perhaps the roots of the anarchy witnessed in German occupation policy can be found in the planning phase" (p. 2). The importance of economic motives for the invasion can be seen in the Nazi leadership’s anxiety over a potential repeat of Germany’s downfall in World War I, namely, in terms of the military catastrophe of a war on two fronts and the dire lack of resources on German soil sparked by a war of attrition. As Kay points out: "Memories of the First World War, more specifically what the Nazis saw as the decisive effect of the British naval blockade on the supply of food to the German home front and consequently on the population’s morale, strength of resistance and belief in ultimate victory, were particularly influential in shaping the mentality, and subsequently in formulating the policies, of the Nazi leadership in this matter" (p. 40). Kay states early in his book that along with "the racial-ideological motivations which doubtless existed, there were also military and economic considerations which played a major role in the decision to invade," and even goes so far as to claim in his conclusion that "economic gain was the key motivation for waging war against the Soviet Union in mid-1941" (pp. 26, 200). While strategic considerations such as this certainly played an important role, one gets the sense at several points throughout Kay’s study, including in the above quotations, that the crucial influence of ideology is somewhat underplayed. Kay touches on the fact that strategic and ideological factors were intrinsically connected in such concepts as Lebensraum, noting that "ideological motives combined with strategic and economic motivations" (p. 51). However, the argument that the importance of "living space" to Hitler’s thinking, which is evidenced in many of his public pronouncements over a number of years, was sharply preceded by "agricultural-economic and wider strategic arguments" for invading the Soviet Union and only gained serious weight in the final months of 1940, is a point of contention that unfortunately elicits limited discussion (p. 27). Jürgen Förster has shown the intertwined nature of Hitler’s ideological and strategic goals to be highly complex: "In the summer of 1940 Hitler linked the realization of his twenty-year-old living-space programme--which united expansion towards the east, annihilation of Bolshevism, and extermination of Jewry--with the strategic necessity of securing the German sphere of power against the growing challenge of the Anglo-American naval powers." This strong intersection between ideology and strategy sometimes seems to elude Kay’s discussion of economic and political planning. This is not a major criticism of Kay’s thesis, only a point that perhaps deserves further elaboration. Kay also makes a useful contribution to existing discussions of the Hungerpolitik, or "starvation strategy," which involved the planned forced removal of vast amounts of food, particularly grain, from the Soviet population, who would subsequently starve, in the so-called deficit territories. In short, "the notion of winning over the Soviet population would find no place in Nazi Germany’s Hungerpolitik" (p. 57). The other major concept Kay explores Neuordnung, entails the German occupiers’ political and demographic restructuring of the Soviet Union. In a three-tiered process that mirrored Nazi Germany’s earlier invasion of Poland, which Christopher Browning has summed up as "ethnic cleansing," Kay reveals with precision that the population policy comprised the murder of "undesirables," the expulsion of large numbers of Soviet civilians further eastward, and the resettlement of people of an "Aryan" persuasion into the occupied territories (p. 96). It is evident that any course of action that was to be undertaken by the Nazi occupiers grew increasingly genocidal in nature over time, both in theory and practice. In terms of the persecution of Soviet Jews, which is admittedly far from the central focus of this book, Kay’s interpretation of Nazi planning and the events that transpired is clearly situated along a functionalist or structuralist reading of the evolution of the Holocaust. His analysis of the (in some cases belated) economic and political preparations for the German occupation of "the East," even those that were not implemented, have a significant place in the historiographical debate. The functionalist perspective adhered to by Kay views the radicalization of anti-Jewish measures more as a response to circumstances, encapsulated by the common metaphor of a "twisted road" leading to Auschwitz. Functionalist historians portray the Third Reich as "a maze of competing power groups, rival bureaucracies, forceful personalities, and diametrically opposed interests engaged in ceaseless clashes with each other," and characterize Hitler as a "brooding and sometimes distant leader." Curiously, the role of the Führer rarely assumes such a guise in Kay’s narrative, which shows that there were "concrete plans, concepts and intentions on the part of Adolf Hitler" (p. 2). In opposition to the functionalist perspective, intentionalists argue that the extermination of Soviet and European Jewry was the result of long-term planning and that Hitler was a prime instigator of Nazi policy toward the Jews. In his chapter on "Population Policy," Kay gives only very cursory attention to the intentionalist perspective, which has vast implications for his overall argument. After surveying the various nuances within the functionalist interpretations of the "decision" to murder all Soviet Jews, Kay writes: "Indeed, it could well be the case that the Nazi Leadership had the intention already prior to the invasion to wipe out Soviet Jewry in its entirety, but did not issue an explicit order to this effect due to its own uncertainty as to how feasible this would prove to be in practice" (p. 108, Kay’s emphasis). While I do not intend to advocate an intentionalist position here, this issue arguably warrants more detailed reflection. Recent scholarship on the evolution of the Holocaust has moved away from depicting the intentionalist and functionalist arguments as polarized opposites, generally incorporating elements of both perspectives. Much research in the past several years, particularly in relation to the active role of the Wehrmacht, has stressed that Nazi leaders and military officers conceived the waras one that would be characterized by unprecedented brutality, while qualifying the functionalist emphasis on the persecution of the Jews being solely a response to circumstances. The crucial role of ideology has been exposed in discussions of events even prior to mid-1941, namely in the occupation of Poland. While Kay rightly points out that "the invasion of the Soviet Union was no purely ideological impulse on the part of Hitler," his view that "a more calculated agenda with agricultural-economic considerations" rested "at its core" could have been strengthened by a more in-depth engagement with the ideological facets of the invasion (p. 6). For example, Kay’s assertion that "pursuing the 'starvation policy' [of Hungerpolitik] was in the interests of the Wehrmacht" due to their own imminent need for resources perhaps overlooks the possibility that such an arguably genocidal project might have inspired a greater measure of ideological agreement within the army as well (p. 132). Kay provides a compelling exploration of Nazi Germany’s political and economic planning for the occupation of the Soviet Union in the year leading up to and several months following the invasion. This study is clearly structured and well presented, and Kay takes care to note any limitations he faces due to the inevitable gaps in the documentary record. Appealing to a diverse audience with interests ranging from broad wartime strategic policy to the specifics of Nazi Germany’s genocidal project, Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder provides many valuable insights into what transpired along and beside the "twisted road" to Auschwitz. . Jürgen Förster, "Hitler’s Decision in Favour of War," in The Attack on the Soviet Union, vol. 4, Germany and the Second World War (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998), 27. For more on the overlapping nature of ideology and strategy in Nazi doctrine and German foreign policy, see P. M. H. Bell, The Origins of the Second World War (London: Longman, 1986), 77-85. . Christopher R. Browning, Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 2-5. For more on the German policies of mass resettlement in Poland, see Götz Aly, "'Jewish Resettlement': Reflections on the Political Prehistory of the Holocaust," in National Socialist Extermination Policies: Contemporary German Perspectives and Controversies, ed. Ulrich Herbert (New York: Berghahn, 1999), 53-82. . Michael R. Marrus. The Holocaust in History (London: Penguin, 1987), 40. . For an influential example of the intentionalist perspective, see Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-45 (1975; repr., London: Penguin, 1990). . The conception of the war as having a specifically ideological nature is examined in Geoffrey Megargee, War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006). Also Richard Bessel, Nazism and War (New York: Modern Library, 2004), 23-29. . See, for example, Jochen Böhler, Auftakt zum Vernichtungskrieg: Die Wehrmacht in Polen 1939 (Frankfurt-am-Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 2006); Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Bogdan Musial, eds., Genesis des Genozids: Polen 1939-1941 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2004); and Alexander B. Rossino, Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003). If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the list discussion logs at: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl. Adam Brown. Review of Kay, Alex J., Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941. H-Genocide, H-Net Reviews. \|This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.\|
Vulnerability in Symantec ActiveX module A design bug in an ActiveX module installed by Norton Antivirus, Internet Security and System Works can lead to additional ActiveX modules which are normally not accessable by the browser being loaded, and their inherent vulnerabilities being exploited. The security service organization iDefense explains in an advisory that the affected ActiveX components are actually intended for an embedded browser. If a website loads the module in Internet Explorer, it crashes and leaves the browser in an undefined condition. Following the appearance of the error dialog, additional Symantec modules can be loaded, despite not being tagged as "Safe for Scripting". If these modules contain vulnerabilites, attackers might exploit them. The defective components are installed in Norton Antivirus, Internet Security and System Works in both the 2005 and 2006 versions. Symantec provides updated modules, which no longer contain the vulnerability, via LiveUpdate. - Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 COM Object Security ByPass Vulnerability, error report from iDefense
Evaluating the worth of the Mossad's opinions In practical terms, the moderate line attributed to Dagan, outgoing Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and various major generals seems preferable to that of Netanyahu-Barak, but Dagan has no advantage in a showdown with peers in the defense establishment. All media outlets focused last week on former Mossad chief Meir Dagan. You could have gotten the impression that two dozen journalists were brought to the holy sanctum of Mossad headquarters, where Dagan taught them holy truths. Whether his views were articulated directly to the media or reached journalists from places other than Mossad headquarters, the prevailing fashion in 2011, in the era of WikiLeaks, is to set aside reliance on "foreign sources." However it was delivered to the media, Dagan's message was clear. Iran, he predicts, will not have nuclear weapons before 2015. Dagan's assessment has a subtext: We, I, succeeded in secret efforts to disrupt Iran's nuclear ambitions, so there is no need to pay a heavy price by leaving the shadows and facing the thunder, lightning and consequences of a bombing. If this is a correct interpretation of the message, its gist contradicts the line taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. In practical terms, the moderate line attributed to Dagan, outgoing Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and various major generals seems preferable to that of Netanyahu-Barak, but Dagan has no advantage in a showdown with peers in the defense establishment. In a marketplace of opinions based on the same intelligence data, his opinion is not superior to a contrary one held by other senior officials. The Mossad is an entity that collates information and foils antagonists' plans and efforts. It has an intelligence branch, which was reinforced after the intelligence debacle of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but its resources don't make it a serious competitor of Military Intelligence, just as the establishment of a Foreign Ministry research center did not create a triangular intelligence community (or a square-shaped one, in light of the strategic-assessment unit set up by the Shin Bet security service in recent years ). The committee of the heads of the intelligence services does not normally confer with the Foreign Ministry's director general, or with the head of that ministry's research center, or with senior police officials - all these officials are constant discussion partners of intelligence chiefs in countries around the world. After the Mossad collects information from its sources and relays it to a general database accessed by authorized parties, its assessments have no special prerogative; they are used by whoever is authorized to use them. They are compared to other facts and evaluations, and incorporated in new assessments. In principle, it would be wise to exempt Military Intelligence from responsibility for furnishing national policy assessments. MI is steeped in work, both as a source of information for the chief of staff and in the preparation of targets for military operations and wars. Yet as long as no better, civilian alternative is found, Military Intelligence's assessments are more important and authoritative than those of any other source, including the Mossad. Toward the end of his term as head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin was more cautious about the pace of Iran's nuclear program. Yadlin talked about 2012, or even this year. His successor, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, has yet to speak about this topic, but he has clear lines of responsibility. The official who risks causing a national disaster by blocking progress or work on a particular issue, due to an error in intelligence analysis, is the head of Military intelligence, not the head of the Mossad. And the intelligence services are just one component in the equation. The missing variable is what the Israeli side chooses to do. So a full-sided assessment needs to be made, with the cooperation of government and the General Staff's planning branch. Dagan didn't provide a pure intelligence assessment, but rather a political statement designed to influence government policy, which is decided by the cabinet, the Knesset and in elections. Dagan has the burden of furnishing details, appearing in public, arguing his case and castigating his former boss, Netanyahu. The Mossad's assessment does not suffice.
Title of article: Body fat determination by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and its relation to body mass index and waist circumference in Hong Kong Chinese Authors: He M, Tan KC, Li ET, Kung AW. Journal: Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, May 2001;25(5):748-52 OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between percent body fat and body mass index (BMI) in the Chinese population of Hong Kong and to investigate whether the newly proposed lower BMI cut-offs for obesity in the Asia-Pacific Region recommended jointly by the International Association for the Study of Obesity, the International Obesity Task Force and the WHO are appropriate for Hong Kong Chinese. METHODS: A total of 190 female and 140 male healthy subjects were recruited from the community. BMI was calculated as weight/height(2). Body fat content (%BF) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). RESULTS: Comparing %BF measured by DEXA with predicted %BF derived from BMI using a prediction formula developed in Caucasian population showed that the formula significantly under-predicted %BF by 1.1% in males and 3.4% in females. A predicted BMI of 25 and 30 kg/m(2) using a Caucasian-based formula corresponds to an actual BMI of 23 and 25 kg/m(2), respectively. On linear regression analysis, 25% BF corresponds to a BMI of 24.6 kg/m(2) in males and a waist circumference of 86 cm; 35% BF corresponds to a BMI of 22.6 kg/m(2) and a waist circumference of 73.5 cm in females. CONCLUSION: Hong Kong Chinese population have a higher %BF for a given BMI which would partly explain why the health risks associated with obesity occur at a lower BMI. Our results would support the recommendations of using lower BMI cut-offs to define obesity in the Asia Region. Comments and Key points It's nice to read a consice article like this, that presents its data with completeness, and makes decent interpretation and conclusions. The article says that "In Asians, the new proposed cut-offs for overweight and for obesity are >=23.0 and >=25.0 kg/m2." Here's some of their data. I'm particularly interested to point out the relatively high body fat percentages in Hong Kong women, with relatively low BMI values. \|% body fat\|\|18.0%\|\|23.9%\|\|23.5%\|\|22.1%\|\|26.9%\|\|23.0%\| \|% body fat\|\|29.7%\|\|32.6%\|\|36.6%\|\|38.5%\|\|39.3%\|\|35.2%\| - "In men, a 25% body fat percentage correspondes to a mean BMI of 24.6. In women, a 35% body fat percentage corresponds to a mean BMI of 22.6." Ah ha. It appears they are already using 25% (men) and 35% (women) body fat percentage as a definition of obesity. That's higher (in women) than the often seen 30% criteria, and higher than the 33% that is also reasonably common. Where did they get their 35% criteria? From Deurenberg1. - Deurenberg P, Yap M, van Staveren WA. Body mass index and percent body fat: a meta analysis among different ethnic groups. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1998; 22:1164-1171. Review & comments by Steven B. Halls, MD, Lasted edited 23-June, 2008, Copyright. Back to the scientific BMI articles index.
Fair Trade Coffee Facts Not sure where your coffee was produced or why it matters? Here's what you need to know about fair trade coffee and the fair trade coffee movement. The Fair Trade Coffee movement is part of a larger movement that promotes improved pay and working conditions for those who produce certain products -- in this case, coffee growers and harvesters. It is all too common for the profits from gourmet coffee to go to brokers and middlemen while the workers live in poverty. Fair Trade certification is an attempt to develop standards that allow farmers of coffee and many other crops to share in the profits and to improve their working conditions. Origins of Fair Trade Coffee According to the PBS program "Frontline," the Fair Trade movement started in the Netherlands in 1988. The price of coffee had dropped sharply and farmers were earning less than the costs of growing and harvesting coffee. However, there was an earlier movement in the 1940s that was initiated by church groups. Fair Trade Certification In order to become certified by TransFair USA, the organization that oversees the Fair Trade movement in the U.S., a coffee purchaser must pledge to pay a minimum price per pound ($1.26 at this writing), provide credit in the form of loans to farmers, and provide technical assistance including help with transitioning to organic farming. Without Fair Trade Small family farms often do not receive enough money to pay for the costs of production. Young children work in the fields with their parents in order to meet quotas. That is not only dangerous, but prevents children from receiving an education that would allow them to gain better jobs. According to TransFair USA, Fair Trade Certified products are offered at more than 20,000 retailers across the U.S. In the U.K., £493 million ($803 million in U.S. dollars) worth of products were sold under the FAIRTRADE Mark. There are several different organizations which provide Free Trade Certification. Some of those include Fairtrade Foundation, Fair Trade Federation of North America, TransFair USA, and the Institute for Marketecology (IMO). Fair Trade vs. Organic Fair Trade Coffee is not necessarily organic. The Fair Trade label refers to labor and trade standards, not how the coffee has been grown. However, according to the Organic Trade Association, 78 percent of the Fair Trade coffee sold in the U.S. was certified as organic in 2008. Fair Trade vs Bird Friendly Bird Friendly certification is provided by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. It requires that coffee be grown under a diverse canopy that provides a habitat for birds.
\| Review of International Economics Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal? We model and calibrate the arguments in favor and against short-term and long-term debt. These arguments broadly include: maturity premium, sustainability, and service smoothing. We use a dynamic equilibrium model with tax distortions and government outlays uncertainty, and model maturity as the fraction of debt that needs to be rolled over every period. In the model, the benefits of defaulting are tempered by higher future interest rates. We then calibrate our artificial economy and solve for the optimal debt maturity for Brazil as an example of a developing country and the U.S. as an example of a mature economy. We obtain that the calibrated costs from defaulting on long-term debt more than offset costs associated with short-term debt. Therefore, short-term debt implies higher welfare levels. Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Risk and Uncertainty; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare or Wellbeing; Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk. "Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal?" Review of International Economics 17, no. 5 (2009): 890–905. (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 06-005 and NBER Working Paper No. 13119.)
Restorative Nurse Assistant (RNA) Although there are currently no federal or state regulations for Restorative Nurse Assistants a great deal of thought and discussion focused on the need for such a training program. The RNA is an expanded role for the Certified Nurse Assistant! It is the right of every individual to receive optimum care delivered by trained personnel. Federal and state laws and regulations are adopted to ensure quality care to residents of health care facilities. The RNA acquires special knowledge, skills, and techniques in therapeutic rehabilitation as prescribed and supervised by licensed personnel. Prerequisites for the RNA Course: It is recommended that the RNA course be offered to those individuals who qualify based on the following criteria: - The individual should be a practicing CNA with at least six (6) months experience after completion of the CNA program. - The director of nursing of the facility at which he/she is employed should recommend the individual. - The individual should have a high school diploma or GED. Education Program: A manual developed by the Department of Health and Senior Services is available. The manual is available at Assessment Resource Center 800-366-8232 or 573-882-4694 or viewing the web site at www.iml.missouri.edu. Item number for instructors is 50-5070I and for students is 50-5070S. A recommended program consists of the following: - The program constitutes at least 30 hours of classroom/laboratory instruction. - A minimum of 30 hours of clinical practice will be given each participant under the supervision of the facilitator and licensed therapist. - Hours of clinical practice may vary with each student based on mastery learning. - Evaluation includes written tests. Training Facilities: Recommended training sites include the following: - Area Vocational-Technical Schools - Comprehensive High Schools - Community Colleges - Selected four-year institutions - Classes may be held in health care facilities, but must be administered through the above-mentioned agencies. Instructor Qualifications: The following minimum requirements are recommended: - The course may be facilitated by an RN (preferably a Certified Rehabilitation Nurse or Certified Gerontological Nurse). She/he may teach up to Unit VI (Specific Care Problems of the LTC Resident). - Individual consultants (i.e., physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist) should teach specific restorative procedures in their respective areas. Test Procedure: A recommended testing procedure is: - The practical exam will consist of a minimum of six skills, two from each discipline (Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy). Plus four (4) required skills: - Draping the resident for treatment/procedures - Range of motion exercises - Transfer techniques - Ambulation activities For further information regarding this program contact us.
Legislative Gudieline 3 Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders will have the capacity to provide or arrange for the full range of services appropriate for the care of individuals with eating disorders. Article 27-J requires Comprehensive Centers to coordinate individualized plans of care, across a continuum that includes all necessary non-institutional, institutional and practitioner services and treatments, from initial screening and evaluation to treatment, follow-up care and support. Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders will provide a comprehensive intake evaluation for all individuals presenting for care at the Center. This initial evaluation shall include discussions with the individual, their family and consultation with a team of providers. Based on the evaluation and in consultation with the individual, an individualized service plan will be developed. Service plans will be multidisciplinary and will follow practice guidelines. Service plans will be developed to address medical stabilization, nutritional recovery and psychological recovery, provide the necessary supports through the treatment process and also enhance individuals' life skills and improve overall quality of life and functioning. Case management activities will be an integral part of ensuring that individuals' service plans are developed and implemented. A case manager will be assigned to each individual. The case manager will coordinate clinical services (e.g., obtaining evaluations and other documents form all members of the multidisciplinary team, assisting in scheduling appointments, coordinating clinical testing), ensure periodic team meetings and patient reassessments, assist in accessing reimbursement and social support services, coordinate with the educational system (as appropriate), and serve as a main point of contact for the individual and their family during the care experience. The Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders will provide or arrange for all services included in individuals' service plans. A treatment team will be designated for each person including, at a minimum, individuals representing the following disciplines: internal/general medicine, psychiatry, psychology, nutrition and dietetics, case management, and social work. Additional disciplines may be necessary depending on the needs of the individual. Individual choice of practitioners shall be available. Arrangements must be in place for the team to be accessible at all levels of care and case management must continue to be provided as the individual moves among levels of care. The following services should be readily available to all, either provided directly by the Center or through affiliation as described in the organizational plan: - Internal Medicine - Pediatric/Adolescent Medicine - Specialty Medical Care as needed including but not limited to gastroenterology, cardiology and endocrinology - Psychotherapeutic Interventions - Individual Therapy (Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy) - Family Therapy - Group Therapy - Nutritional Rehabilitation and Counseling - Case Management including assessment, reassessment, care planning and service acquisition - Social Work - Support Groups (Peer and Family) - Vocational Services - Educational Services - Dental Care - Transitional Services - Monitoring and Relapse Prevention Other services in the individualized service plan may be provided or arranged on an as needed basis across all levels of care. Examples of such services include occupational therapy, physical therapy, substance abuse treatment, exercise physiology, support and treatment for survivors of sexual and physical abuse, and pastoral support. Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders will have the capacity to provide weekend and evening support for individuals with eating disorders and their families, if clinically indicated in the plan of care. In addition, crisis services must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for clients and their families. Individuals will be offered developmentally appropriate services and treatment segregated by age. Involvement of recovered persons in the delivery of services is an asset. Transitional services will be provided to all individuals treated at Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders with the goal of eventual return to optimal functioning at home and in the community. These services will be incorporated into all levels of care and will focus on providing the individual with the necessary services and skills to adjust to changes in level of care and to prevent relapse. Transitional services will specifically address eating in a variety of settings and also include educational or vocational counseling, assistance in finding housing, meal preparation and grocery shopping skills, and other services as needed. If an individual chooses to use providers not affiliated with the Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders, the Center will facilitate their transition to those providers and may continue to serve the individual if clinically indicated. Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders must provide or arrange for residential care and services specifically oriented to the needs of persons with eating disorders in nursing homes, adult homes, or facilities licensed under Article 31 of the Mental Hygiene law. Individuals with eating disorders who require the provision of 24-hour medical supervision or nursing services may reside in a nursing home with specialized programs for eating disorders. The specialized program shall mean discrete beds or a unit with a planned combination of services designed to serve individuals with eating disorders who cannot be served in a less restrictive setting. The program shall provide the medical services of the nursing home and also the services required under Guidelines 3 and 4, as indicated in the service plan. The specialized program for eating disorders shall be located in a separate nursing unit or group of beds that are specifically designated for individuals with eating disorders. The facility shall develop written admissions criteria to be applied prospectively for individuals with eating disorders. The facility shall have a written agreement with an acute care hospital licensed under Article 28 of the Public Health Law and an inpatient psychiatric facility licensed under the Mental Hygiene Law to provide for inpatient admission and consultative services as needed. A proposed discharge plan shall be developed within 5 days of admission as part of the overall care plan and will include input from all professionals caring for the resident, as was as the resident and their family. When the interdisciplinary care team determines that discharge of the resident to another facility or community based program is appropriate, the discharge plan will be implemented. Program staff shall be available post-discharge to act as a continuing resource to the individual and their family. With regard to individuals with eating disorders under 18 years of age, the facility must assure that the child receives an appropriate education in compliance with state and federal mandates. For individuals with eating disorders who do not require 24 hour medical supervision or nursing services, existing adult homes and enriched housing facilities under Section 416(b) of the Social Service Law will provide a dedicated unit or beds including residential care, room, board, housekeeping, personal care, activities and supervision to individuals under eighteen as well as over eighteen years of age. Such residential care programs will include monitoring of attendance and supervision of meals by licensed dietary personnel and medication management by licensed nursing professionals. Activities at a minimum of ten hours per week will be relevant for individuals with eating disorders and include monitoring of such activities. Applications for new adult care facilities must meet these requirements and will be considered by the Department. Any requests for waiver of regulations must be included in the application and are subject to the approval of the Commissioner. All residences must maintain clinical relationships with the Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders. To ensure that each person is provided quality care, all providers, directly employed by or affiliated with the Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders, must have appropriate licensure and be in good standing with the State of New York. Affiliations with the Academy for Eating Disorders and other professional affiliations are assets. A Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders must employ a full-time Director, either a physician or psychiatrist, with at least five years direct experience in treating individuals with eating disorders. Centers must employ or contract with sufficient medical professionals with demonstrated clinical experience and training in the treatment of eating disorders to provide appropriate care for the client load of the Center. Mental health professionals conducting therapy will be psychologists or master level certified social workers. Mental health professionals will have specialized training in treatment modalities, for example therapists should have training in cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy and other psychotherapies used in the treatment of eating disorders. All professional staff will obtain a minimum of 24 continuing medical education or applicable professional education credits annually in the subject area of eating disorders or other significant co-morbidities.
I don't know if I am posting in the right place. For.9 Months I have been sick. Symptoms are, fatigue, severe nausea, occaisional vomiting, low grade fever every day, weight loss, memory problems, constipation, numbness equally in index fingers, metallic taste in my mouth, sore bones. All of my labs were fine in march but yesterday I got a call from the urgent care that the protein levels in my blood are high. Ive been tested for.HIV and hepatitis. What could the high protein mean? Does anybody have a clue as to what this could be? Hi Michelle & welcome. From the VERY little I know, elevated blood protein is seen for a variety of reasons. Bone marrow conditions (amyloidosis for one). Chronic inflammatory conditions (various kinds of inflammatory arthritis, etc.). Infections (TB, osteomyleitis, etc.). Simple dehydration (you'd mentioned nausea & vomiting). HIV/AIDs (you cited those tests already). Is your GP affiliated with the Urgent Care facility who called you with these results? I'd start with my GP, who presumably would call for any basic tests not yet done, e.g., ANA (a threshold test for various inflammatory autoimmunes), thryoid function, etc. Then depending on overall results, maybe he/she will refer you to specialists such as hematologist, rheumatologist, endocrinologist, etc. I think main goal is to move things along by seeing your GP as soon as possible. Please let us know how you make out, when you have time. Also, I'd get copies of all labs for my own files, at least until I got a better handle on what's going on. Wishing you more clarity soon & good luck, sincerely, Vee
Living with type 2 diabetes is hard enough. But what if your disease is affecting your work, or the way that people treat you there? What kind of rights do you have in the workplace, or on the job hunt? Plenty, as it turns out. Diabetes is considered a disability if it limits at least one of your major life activities, such as eating or caring for yourself, or if it has substantially limited a major life activity in the past. If you qualify, then you’re likely protected from discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which applies to any private employer with 15 or more employees, as well as all state and local government employers. If you’re federally employed, you may also be protected under the Rehabilitation Act. And state laws may cover smaller employers or offer broader protections. Here’s a primer on your basic rights: Diabetes shouldn’t keep you out of work. You can’t be fired or not hired because you have diabetes, nor should you be kept from promotion. The only exception to this rule comes if you are a “direct threat” to the health or safety of yourself or others by being employed there. (Example: If frequent hypoglycemic episodes could incapacitate you while you’re operating heavy machinery.) This kind of claim would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Many people with diabetes worry that their condition will stand in the way of getting the job they want. But it's important to know that federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, protect those with conditions such as diabetes from being discriminated against in a hiring decision. In other words, you cannot be refused a job solely upon your condition. In fact, there is no legal obligation even to tell a prospective employer about your diabetes. Once a job offer has been made, those with diabetes are subject to the same medical requirements as those without diabetes. That is, if a medical examination or medical history is required of a new employee in order to determine medical appropriateness for the work, you will be expected to comply. If questions arise about whether you can do the job safely with diabetes, you should know that your job offer cannot be withdrawn unless it is clear following an examination by a physician with expertise in treating diabetes that your diabetes would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of you or others—and that the threat cannot be ameliorated with an accommodation (a workplace modification that can be made to help you to manage your diabetes). Your employer must make reasonable accommodations. For many diabetics, managing their disease requires little employer adaptation. Maybe you have your own office, and you can eat when you please, and you can give yourself injections without worrying about privacy. If your workplace is less flexible, however, then it’s important to know that the Americans With Disabilities Act requires your employer to make reasonable accommodations so that you may manage your diabetes successfully while performing your job duties. According to the American Diabetes Association, some of the more common accommodations include: - Adequate breaks to check blood sugar, eat a snack, take medications, or use the restroom, and if requested, a private place for testing and insulin administration. - A safe place to rest following a hypoglycemic episode until blood sugar normalizes. - The ability to keep food and diabetic supplies close by. - Time off for treatment of diabetes, recuperation from complications related to diabetes, and education on diabetes management. - Consideration for a modified work schedule or a straight shift (as opposed to rotating shifts) if expected schedule interferes with diabetic management. - Ability to use a chair or stool or take a shortcut if you have trouble standing or walking due to diabetic neuropathy. - A large screen computer monitor or other assistive devices if you have visual changes due to diabetes. While these are typical accommodations, the need for these workplace changes should be assessed on an individual basis. Most often, accommodations cost little or no expense to your employer and cause little or no disruption in the workplace. The only exception: If granting a reasonable accommodation would be an undue hardship, causing considerable problems or expense, an employer doesn’t have to make it happen. But even in that event, an employer is required to try to come up with a workable compromise. You don’t have to disclose your disease. There is typically no requirement to tell your employer (or a potential employer) that you have type 2 diabetes, but you will only be protected via anti-discrimination laws if your employer knows you have the disease. You can take medical leave. Ever heard of the Family and Medical Leave Act? It applies to you. If a company has more than 50 employees (or if it’s a government employer), the FMLA requires that it allow up to 12 weeks of leave annually due to a serious health condition—yours or an immediate family member’s. You can also take that leave in chunks, should short-term issues arise. Some jobs are off limits. If you treat your diabetes with insulin, you won’t be able to do some things. For instance, pilots can attain FAA third-class airman medical certification, but they can’t attain first class certification (to fly large commercial planes). And you may be restricted within the military, depending on the branch, your duties, and what’s involved in your diabetes management. Entry into other specific fields, such as fire fighting, commercial driving, and police work, may require you to meet specific guidelines in order to qualify. There’s a lot of information out there. If you’ve got questions, a variety of agencies have answers: Questions and Answers About Diabetes in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) Employment Discrimination (American Diabetes Association) Diabetes and Employment (American Diabetes Association) Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (American Diabetes Association) It’s up to you to ensure your work success by managing your diabetes properly. Talk to your doctor about how to manage your diet, exercise, medication and self-monitoring while at work, especially if you work a rotating shift or long hours. The best tip is good planning. Always bring your diabetic supplies, planned and extra snacks, and a small notebook to work so that you can monitor, document, and correct your blood sugar and have a written record of glucose patterns for your doctor to use in adjusting your medications as needed. If you plan well and try to do the things you were told to do when you first discovered you had diabetes—eat regularly, get consistent exercise and sleep and check your blood sugar at certain times—you're more likely to have success on the job.
1501 / Hydro Drill with 1/2” Chuck, 1” Auger 1502 / Hydro Drill with 1/2” Chuck, 2” Auger Cores under sidewalks, driveways, existing landscaping with our Hydro Drill. Eliminates the need for excavation. Hydro Drill Augers range from 1” to 12” Sturdy aluminum housing, welded steel augers, high-strength steel chuck adaptor. HOW THE HYDRODRILL WORKS: The Chuck Adaptor is inserted into the chuck of your drill. The Chuck Adaptor, the Shaft and the Male Pipe Fitting are all solidly attached together, and rotate with the drill. The Shaft Bearings allow the Shaft to turn freely. A hose is attached to the Hose Fitting. When the water is turned on and the valve is opened, water runs through the valve and into the Hydrodrill body. The Shaft Seals keep the water from leaking out. There is a hole in the side of the Shaft, and another hole that runs down the length of the Shaft out the end. The water enters the side hole and runs out the end. From there it fills the pipe attached to the Male Pipe Fitting, and from there out through the Hydrodrill Auger.
There are striking similarities between the horsemeat affair and the international banking scandal that broke in August 2007. The financial crash was caused by the sale of toxic financial products called Collateral Debt Obligations that were composed of mortgage bonds that had been "sliced and diced" into new products that were then marketed as cheap and safe. They were the financial equivalent of mince meat, which of course was itself invented as a means of disguising poor quality meat. In theory, CDOs spread the risk and diminished the likelihood of a price crash, because the dodgy mortgages were bolstered by the sound ones. So, for every "liar loan" handed to an unemployed single parent in Detroit, there was supposed to be a solid and dependable loan on a substantial sandstone property in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way – the duff mortgages ended up contaminating the good ones and the whole system perished. These financial products had been sliced and diced so often and had been swapped back and forth between the offshore subsidiaries of international banks that no-one knew any more what was in them. The issue was one of trust – the most essential commodity in any financial system, or indeed, in any food chain. When you examine the extraordinary circuitous route by which processed meat is marketed, it is hardly surprising that it becomes contaminated. Findus ready meals were found to have horsemeat that came from Romanian slaughterhouses, via a Dutch food trader, who sold the stuff to a Cypriot dealer who sold it on to a French firm, Comigel, that sold some of it to the Netherlands, and some to UK supermarkets, which ended up being tested in Ireland. Once a product has been passed through half a dozen intermediaries, it is impossible to know where it is headed or what the hell is in it. We know that horsemeat ended up in cottage pies sold to children in England. The Scottish Government insists that no horse has been flogged – if you'll excuse the pun – to Scottish schools, but who really knows? This slicing and dicing of food is almost guaranteed to lead to a deterioration in standards because, as with the financial products, the purpose of the process is to disguise the true nature of the product that is being sold. It is an invitation to fraud. The Government response was also a disturbing echo of the 2008 crash. Ministers and the Food Standards Agency didn't know whether their job was to allay public alarm or try to expose the scale of the contamination. So we had the bizarre spectacle of Government ministers munching burgers and insisting there was nothing wrong with a bit of horse – quite tasty really – while at the same time warning of a massive criminal conspiracy. The public had grounds for confusion. It is true that horsemeat is not in itself toxic and only a little of it had been treated with bute – phenyl-butazone, a toxic painkiller given to racehorses – and you'd have to eat 1000 burgers to get a life-threatening dose. But this isn't the point. The real issue, as with the financial crisis, is confidence – the collapse of trust. Everything we do in a market economy depends on confidence. Once it is shown that some food labelled beef is actually horse, public confidence in all food health and safety collapses. Those of us who remember the crisis of BSE – mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy – in the 1980s can hardly believe this latest scandal could have happened at all. BSE entered the food chain through the brain and spinal cords of diseased cattle. The outbreak saw 4.4 million animals slaughtered in Britain alone, but only after some 400,000 tonnes of contaminated meat had entered the food chain in the 1980s, with a potentially catastrophic risk of humans contracting vCreutzfeldt Jakob Disease. In total, 198 humans are known to have died of vCJD. But the infection has never fully been eradicated, and new strains of the deadly "prion" that transmitted vCJD to humans have been discovered in the past 10 years. The BSE crisis led to the European Union banning exports of British beef, and the restrictions were only finally lifted in 2006. There are many disturbing parallels with the current scandal. BSE arose because cattle were eating industrial feeds that contained material from diseased cattle and sheep. Cows are herbivores, and feeding them processed offal and brain cells from other cows, including sick ones, should never have been legal. But of course, no-one knew what was going on. The diseased cattle carcasses had been sliced and diced and sent back and forward between traders and processing plants, acquiring infectious agents along the way. Then they were dried and added to bone meal and other material as a "high protein" feed. After BSE a whole new apparatus of food regulation and inspection was introduced. Yet we find that the labelling and monitoring of human feed is almost as opaque and unreliable as it was with cattle feed in the 1980s. Put simply, none of us knows what is in the minced beef we have been buying. Some is up to 100% horse meat, but no-one knows where this has come from. There are dark rumours about 70,000 missing horses in Ireland – animals that were acquired as pets and show animals during the property boom and were sold on by owners who could no longer afford to keep them. Given the unscrupulous nature of the food processing industry, it is quite possible that these animals may now be inside us – or those of us who have eaten mince meat products. The problem, as with the financial crisis, is a collapse of ethical standards in the food industry. It is the pursuit of short-term profits, the indolence of the regulatory agencies, the complacency of politicians, the failure of international regulation and the connivance of some large food companies with organised crime. What infuriates me most, however, are those Government apologists – especially the LibDems – who seem to lay the blame at consumers for buying cheap food. Food is not cheap. Food price inflation is running at 2.5% higher than non-food inflation, and takes up some 30%-40% of the budgets of low income families. Parents struggling to keep their families together should not be made to feel guilty for shopping at supermarkets like Tesco, which last year made profits of £3 billion. If customers buy a product in one of its stores, it should be safe, it should be properly labelled and it should be nutritious. There's no excuse. In August 2007, the banks simply stopped buying CDOs, and they became valueless. Since the banks had been using these instruments as capital, this threatened the entire financial system. Confidence was only restored after the taxpayers – you and me – were forced to buy up all these toxic products and put them in a special zone, held apart from the rest of the financial system. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself. We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well and trust you then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.
Annapolis County Court House National Historic Site of Canada Annapolis County Court House Palais de justice du Comté d'Annapolis Links and documents Listed on the Canadian Register: Statement of Significance Description of Historic Place Annapolis County Courthouse National Historic Site of Canada is a handsome building in the Palladian style. Prominently located on one of Annapolis Royal’s major streets, it is raised upon a high foundation storey of rusticated stone, and consists of a symmetrical facade with prominent central portico, all under a gracefully curving hipped roof. The designation refers to the building on its footprint. The Annapolis County Courthouse was designated a national historic site of Canada because: - it is an aesthetically pleasing example of the Palladian style in Canadian architecture; and - it is one of the oldest courthouses in Canada still in original use. The heritage value of this courthouse resides in its historical associations as reflected in its design and historic fabric. One of the oldest courthouses in Canada, it was constructed in 1837, and enlarged in 1922-23. Still in original use, it continues the local presence of the British-based judiciary, which dates from 1721. Builder Francis LeCain designed it in association with the county grand jury, a common process in early-19th-century Nova Scotia. The symmetrical facade, with its raised central projection and columned portico, is a hallmark of the Palladian style and typical of courthouses of that era throughout the British Empire. Prominently situated within a neighbourhood of 18th- and 19th-century buildings, the courthouse enhances the historic character of the town of Annapolis Royal. Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, November 1993; Commemorative Integrity Statement, 1999. Key elements contributing to the heritage character of this site include: - those elements which speak to the designation as an aesthetically pleasing example of the Palladian style in Canadian architecture, specifically the rectangular form, the symmetrical facade of five openings with a central door, the hipped roof and surviving side chimney, prominent portico with columns, as well as the distinct horizontal divisions of the exterior mass of the building, and the use of rusticated stone on the ground floor and flush board cladding on the upper level; - those elements which speak to this being one of the oldest courthouses in Canada still in original use, specifically its disposition of interior spaces that support the function as courthouse (combination of courthouse and jail) which is reflected on the exterior by the high basement, with spaces for support activities related to the administration of justice and county administrative duties; - surviving original interior fabric and finishes; - its prominent location, set close to the street, on the main street of Annapolis Royal; - its continued use as a courthouse. Government of Canada Historic Sites and Monuments Act National Historic Site of Canada 1922/01/01 to 1923/01/01 Theme - Category and Type - Governing Canada - Security and Law - Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life - Architecture and Design Function - Category and Type - Courthouse and/or Registry Office Architect / Designer Location of Supporting Documentation National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Quebec Cross-Reference to Collection
In an effort to forestall what he claims will be a "communist dictatorship" in the Dominican Republic, President Lyndon B. Johnson sends more than 22,000 U.S. troops to restore order on the island nation. Johnson's action provoked loud protests in Latin America and skepticism among many in the United States. Troubles in the Dominican Republic began in 1961, when long-time dictator Rafael Trujillo was assassinated. Trujillo had been a brutal leader, but his strong anticommunist stance helped him retain the support of the United States. His death led to the rise of a reformist government headed by Juan Bosch, who was elected president in 1962. The Dominican military, however, despised Bosch and his liberal policies. Bosch was overthrown in 1963. Political chaos gripped the Dominican Republic as various groups, including the increasingly splintered military, struggled for power. By 1965, forces demanding the reinstatement of Bosch began attacks against the military-controlled government. In the United States government, fear spread that "another Cuba" was in the making in the Dominican Republic; in fact, many officials strongly suspected that Cuban leader Fidel Castro was behind the violence. On April 28, more than 22,000 U.S. troops, supported by forces provided by some of the member states of the Organization of American States (a United Nations-like institution for the Western Hemisphere, dominated by the United States) landed in the Dominican Republic. Over the next few weeks they brought an end to the fighting and helped install a conservative, non-military government. President Johnson declared that he had taken action to forestall the establishment of a "communist dictatorship" in the Dominican Republic. As evidence, he provided American reporters with lists of suspected communists in that nation. Even cursory reviews of the list revealed that the evidence was extremely flimsy--some of the people on the list were dead and others could not be considered communists by any stretch of the imagination. Many Latin American governments and private individuals and organizations condemned the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic as a return to the "gunboat diplomacy" of the early-20th century, when U.S. Marines invaded and occupied a number of Latin American nations on the slightest pretexts. In the United States, politicians and citizens who were already skeptical of Johnson's policy in Vietnam heaped scorn on Johnson's statements about the "communist danger" in the Dominican Republic. Such criticism would become more and more familiar to the Johnson administration as the U.S. became more deeply involved in the war in Vietnam.
Parents / guardians of new students Please review the links within this section to find useful information about how you can best help your daughter to have a successful and fulfilling first year at Hollins. Please read the following information carefully. - Under Empowering Your Daughter, you will find ideas for helping your daughter take responsibility for her education as well as her well being. - Dealing with Homesickness is a hard topic for parents and students alike. This link will provide you with helpful hints for both you and your daughter. - The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords university students certain rights with regard to their educational records. Please be sure to read this information carefully as it will let you know what the university can and cannot tell parents with regard to their daughters' educational experience. - The link entitled Your Daughter's First Extended Visit Home will help you prepare for the changes you might see in your daughter after she has been away from home for even a short period of time. - The Roommate Questions link will provide you with information about how roommates are matched and conflicts are managed, and the Handling Distraught Phone Calls link will provide you with helpful hints for dealing with emotionally charged phone calls home. - By clicking on the Health Services link, you will find information from the director of our Health and Counseling Services including office hours and vaccine recommendations. - Under How to Send Items, you will find information about which mailing services to use. For instance, all residential students have post office boxes, but they can also receive UPS packages and flowers. - Under Information Technologies, you will find requirements and recommendations for bringing a computer to campus, as well as information about Hollins' computing policies. - Parent/Guardian Orientation information will soon be available. On Friday, August 30, 2013, while your daughter will be busy with her orientation, we have designed some special sessions for you to attend where you will have the opportunity to ask questions of the university's officers, members of the staff, and members of the Parents Council. - Additional helpful information for parents of new students can be found under the links to the Hollins Bookshop, Hollins Fund, a downloadable Campus Map, and an email link to ask questions of the Parents Council. Please refer to the Contact Us page for a list of individuals who will be happy to answer any questions you might have between now and orientation.
Jéanpaul Ferro Interview How did you come to realize that you were a poet? That’s a great question with an easy answer. When I was 15 years old I attended a high school where I grew up in Scituate, Rhode Island, that really put a strong emphasis on music and the arts. Everyone in our school had to take art classes and really the “Dean of art” at our high school was a woman named Eleanor Thompson. We had to experiment in sculpture, photography, painting, art history, and also in literature. She helped create a literary journal for the high school and in my art class she asked if I could contribute to this journal. Seeing that my brother had the gift of drawing, I told her I would try writing a poem or two for this new literary journal – mind you I had never written a poem before. So I set off and wrote two poems that I thought would suffice and I submitted them to her thinking that was the end of it and that I would never write a poem or anything like that again. When the journal actually came out it sold around sold 400 copies in a school that only had 900 students. And then about 399 of my peers came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed my writing… I was hooked! For the next 3 years I contributed to our school literary journal until I was made the editor my senior year. And that’s the genesis of how my literary writing career began. Does poetry have a place in today’s world? More than any other time in history poetry has a vital role in the world today. Societies are all interconnected via the Internet now. What is happening five thousand miles away in one country has the feeling to it that it might be happening right in our own backyard. The struggles that are actively taking place in country after country, the social ills that are right under your noses, war, poverty, injustice, the destruction of planet earth and its eco-systems are primed to be recorded by writers and poets; and because the world is really a global community now, poetry and literature is all the more important to a whole new range of people who never had the access to poetry, short fiction, and ability of the expressionism that it brings with it. As a poet I wish more poets took an active role in writing topically. It seems that most poets write by looking inward when ideally they should be looking at the world around them and chronicling it. Also, I’ve heard some criticism that western writers only write about the west when in actuality I think that perception has more to do with the magazines and literary journals that are more inclined to give their audience what they think they want (and in their minds its topics should deal with things mostly within their society). What’s the poetry scene like in Providence? Providence has a vibrant arts community. It is home to the world renowned Rhode Island School of Design. Also Providence, and Rhode Island in general, has produced a long list of literary greats, including H.P. Lovecraft, Cormac McCarthy, Sarah Helen Whitman, Pulitzer Prize winners Jhumpa Lahiri and Galway Kinnell, C.D. Wright, who won the 2009 Griffin Prize in Poetry, Ann Wood, Tom Chandler, Michael S. Harper, Ted Berrigan, and Denise Duhamel, just to name a few. Not to mention Providence was a favorite haunt of Edgar Allen Poe who liked to hang out on the East Side at the Providence Athenaeum that still exists today. In the city of Providence itself there are poetry slams, poetry readings at the Providence Public Library, and there is even a short fiction author’s circle. Also, award winning sculptor Barnaby Evens presents his WaterFire exhibition bi-weekly during the spring, summer, and autumn at Waterplace Park. On WaterFire evenings the 3 rivers at the heart of the city are lit ablaze with over 100 floating pyres. Ethereal music is played along the river walks. There are fire artists, jazz musicians, and all types of interactive sculpture displayed all around the city. Candlelit chandlers are hung up underneath the cities bridges along the river walks. Some evenings there is music, other nights the dancing of India and Pakistan, and other nights there is jazz and ballroom dancing. One evening I was there, a poet had poetry displayed up on the side of the one of the skyscrapers set to music as the words rolled down the building. It’s quite spectacular, especially on those evenings when there are well over 100,000 people who attend. As far as poetry itself goes, Tom Chandler has a column in the Providence Journal that features local poets twice a month. And Rhode Island is home to the Bryant Literary Journal, Newport Review, Alembic Review, and many other literary journals and presses. What’s your favourite poem in Jazz? That’s a tough one. It’s kind of like asking a parent which child of theirs is their favorite. I really like the ambiance of Arrete! C’est ici L’Empire de la Mort— and This Much and Letter From a Soldier are both very haunting. But my personal favorite has to be John Updike. I originally had wanted to write this poem after reading this dreadful John Updike poem where he used the words pallor, diaphanous, and polychrome and his poem was so terribly bad that I wanted, in the bravado that I had in me that day, to show that anyone could write a poem better than he had using those same words. That was the genesis of it. But then as I wrote it this beautiful and heart-breaking poem appeared on the page about the collateral damage of war and the after-effects, effects on other people that could last decades, if not a lifetime, of what it does to other human beings as though they don’t even exist. The poem isn’t taking sides. It’s actually not even political. It’s simply asking you to look at death from the act of war and its after effects; and also the morality of what is taking place when someone dies on the opposite side of whatever side you might think you’re on. Do you listen to jazz? If so, why? I do listen to jazz, but truth be told I listen to just about any music that moves me. I feel the same way about art, literature, and film. Great art and music has to move you. The connotation to the book comes from my state of mind at the time I was writing Jazz. I had been trying, and failing badly, to make it as a writer for almost twenty years. I finally realized that I loved writing so much that I would write even if no one else could read what I wrote. It’s not that I want to write; I can’t help but do it. It’s something that wells up inside of me and just comes out. So around 2004 I made up my mind that I was from then on only going to write for myself and not write to try and be published, which I had been doing since I was 18. The ensuing two books that came out were Essendo Morti – Being Dead, which was nominated for the 2010 Griffin Prize in Poetry, and the aforementioned Jazz. It was freeing, spontaneous, and I let the poems take me where they want to go and not the other way around. When this dawned on me I coined those poems my “jazz” poems, because like jazz they were improvisatorial. Do you revise your poems a lot? I do not! Usually I write a poem in one sitting and then I do not revise a poem unless an editor comes back when I submit to a literary journal or magazine and says, you, we like this poem, but would you try changing this? Lo and behold they are usually right on and an editor’s suggestion usually makes it a better poem. But at the time of writing each poem, I don’t get up until a poem is done. It could be completed in 5 minutes or 10 hours. I’m not leaving that chair and computer screen until it is completely done. But it’s taken 25 years of failing and succeeding to get this down pat. How long did it take you to write all the poems in Jazz? Jazz came out quite quickly in about 2 ½ weeks. I usually don’t write poems. I usually write books of poems. I have a burst of creativity and within those boundaries I write an entire book. I sit down and write one poem after another – usually in the order you see them placed in one of my collections of poems. Some days I’ve written 15 poems. Some days it could be 1. I do a quick study and write/work in a short amount of time because usually the ideas, words, pictures, and topics are already in my head and all I have to do is record them on the page. Poetry readings your cup of tea? No. My father is a gift orator, but I cannot get up in front of more than two people and read out loud anymore. I have a terrible anxiety disorder that basically precludes me from public speaking. I love listening to others read their works. When I write my own work, whether it be poetry, short fiction, or novels, I actually read it aloud as part of the editing process. I actually enjoy this. I enjoy hearing the emotion, the turns of the tongue of the writing heard aloud. But alas I can’t get enough courage anymore to stand out there and read my work aloud. The most honest being is… Certainly not human. As humans we are too worried about what everyone else is thinking about us. So we create these masks for ourselves that can be pieced together from money, prestige, fame, cars, jewelry, clothing, religion, atheism, politics, just about any human thing you can think of we put over ourselves to be something we think we ought to be. Animals are much more honest beings than humans. You can always know exactly what their wants are and whether they are happy or unhappy. And they are not going to do something in order to simply please humans. Not a perfect system, but it is much more honest than being a human being. How do you view other writers? I have a love affair with other writers. I’m always looking for writers who have “it” – that gift that you can’t learn. It’s hard to find now, but very satisfying when you find that one writer that just writes so beautifully it leaves you breathless. Personally, some of my all-time favorite writers are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, H.P. Lovecraft, Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda, Sylvia Plath, Federico García Lorca, Gabriel García Márquez, Michel Houellebecq, and Mark Z. Danielewski. Lately I have been reading Jennifer S. Davis, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, Corrine De Winter, and Mark Stand. Do you write from your gut or mind? Both. Whether I write poetry, short fiction, or fiction it comes from my gut, but what I’ve learned is that in order for it to be any good the visceral feelings bubbling up inside your soul have to be filtered through your mind and then set down onto paper. I usually am provoked by something when I write about it. This feeling hits me that I can’t keep in. I see the pictures in my mind and I write down what I am seeing. When I was young and completely stupid I just wrote those pictures in my mind down and thought that was good enough. Now that I’ve matured somewhat, I’ve learned to parse those pictures, words, sentiments, ghosts through the words of the story I want to tell. I think the best thing for any writer is to read everything and anything they can. If you’re a fiction writer you should read poetry. If you’re a poet you should also be reading fiction. You can learn a lot about writing and what works and what doesn’t work by reading a lot. And ultimately you retain a lot of what you’ve read and learned, and in the future, even if it is a long way down the road, this exercise will make you a much better writer. But every writer is different. Still you need to use your gut and your mind together to get it right. At least that’s my philosophy. Tags: essendo morti - being dead, jazz, jeanpaul ferro, jeanpaul ferro interview, john updike poem, providence arts community, providence journal, rhode island school of design, the role of poetry, tom chandler
How to move a hive You hear it all the time: you can’t move a hive a short distance because the field force will return to the original location of the hive and become lost. The usual advice is that you must move the hive at least two miles away, give the bees a few days to reorient themselves, and then move the hive back to where you want it. However, it is much easier than that. You can move a hive anywhere—a few inches, a few feet, or many yards—by simply forcing the bees to reorient themselves. Here are the steps: - In the evening or early morning when nearly all the bees are in the hive, block the entrance and move the hive to its new location. (How you actually move the hive is a separate subject, but I like to strap it all together and move it with a furniture dolly.) - Keep the bees sequestered the first 72 hours, if possible. Keeping bees locked up will cause some of them to reorient themselves the next time they go out. - In the meantime, place a leafy branch, a bead curtain, rags on a string, or something similar in front of the hive entrance. The object must be close enough to the hive entrance that the bees are forced to navigate around it as they leave the hive. - After three days, open the hive entrance. The bees will be confused by the object in front of their hive, pause for a moment, and exclaim, “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more!” They will each take a short flight and reorient themselves to the new conditions and new area. - Leave the distraction in place for two days or so, and then remove it. - Your bees will have reoriented themselves to their new home. This really does work. You can test it for yourself by placing distracting materials in front of any hive without moving it. Before the materials are in place the bees fly straight in and straight out. Within minutes after putting a distraction in place, you will see bees going through the process of reorienting themselves—circling around the entrance, hovering in front of the hive, and widening the exploratory area. Be sure you don’t have a second entrance unless it also has distracting materials. I think it’s best to have just one entrance when doing this. Also, I like to have a distraction that is big enough and irritating enough that the bees really notice. In other words, don’t use a skinny twig. I like to use a big leafy branch with lots of leaves within an inch of the entrance. I have had good results by leaving the hive closed for as little as 24 hours, but some people have had better luck by leaving them locked up for a full three days. If your bees have plenty of ventilation so they don’t get too hot, go for the three days. Also, see the YouTube video by LDSPrepper.
Challenge 9 - Mobile Malware (provided by Franck Guenichot from French Chapter, Mahmud Ab Rahman and Ahmad Azizan Idris from Malaysia Chapter and Matt Erasmus from South Africa Chapter) Please submit your solution using the submission template below by September 30th 2011 at http://www.honeynet.org/challenge2010. Results will be announced mid October. For any questions and inquiries, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org. Skill Level: Intermediate With the number of smartphone users growing exponentially (1.6 billion mobile devices units sold in 2010, 19% were smartphones) mobile devices are becoming an attractive platform for cybercriminals. As a security researcher or enthusiast, you need to know your enemy and be able to defend yourself against these new kinds of threats. This challenge offers the exploration of a real smartphone, based on a popular OS, after a security incident. You will have to analyze the image of a portion of the file system, extract all that may look suspicious, analyze the threat and finally submit your forensic analysis. From File System recovery to Malware reverse-engineering and PCAP analysis, this challenge will take you to the world of Mobile Malwares. 1. Write an executive summary of this incident (3 pts) 2. Provide the phone brand, model, OS name and version (1 pts) 3. Extract any suspicious application (if any). Detail your extraction method. Please provide name and SHA1 for each suspicious app.(4 pts) 4. What permissions are requested by the malware(s)? Why it is suspicious ? (1 pts) 5. Please provide a solution/s to quickly identify any suspicious API (please define your suspicious API according to your understanding) (8 pts) 6. What is the malware's home server URL and where is it located? Where, in the code, is/are stored the command server(s) URL(s)(4 pts) 7. What can you say about the communications model between the malware and its C&C server? (2 pts) 8. If encryption was used for the communication, which encryption algorithm was used? What was the key used? Explain how you found it. (4 pts) 9. Please draw a graph of the decrypted communication flow, found in the pcap, between the malware and the C&C (4 pts) 10. What personnal informations were leaked during this incident? A special secret information was leaked, Explain how and what it was. (2 pts) 11. What particular techniques are used by the malware to harden analysis or to evade detection? What unusual behavior can be noticed? (6 pts) 12. Provide a detailled analysis of the malware behavior and features. (10 pts) 13. Please provide a method to block (or request permission from Android (similar to UAC concept)) when any suspicious call received from Android (8 pts) The archive contains 2 files: - data.bin: corrupted /data partition image of the phone - traffic.pcap: traffic capture of the malware communications. This work by Franck Guenichot, Mahmud Ab Rahman, Ahmad Azizan Idris and Matt Erasmus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 1. Emilien Girault (submission SHA1: f1530d225862baf9eb8c618c0a1d082e284188d2) 2. Yuhao Luo, Wenbo Yang and Juanru Li (submission SHA1: cfe2d7f6e4aeeefd0de73fd5e91e0903d666834d) 3. José Lopes Esteves (submission SHA1: 18572aba77826317f3aec45284ea76603b795e76)
Near Death Experiences Does Personality Affect a Near Death Experience ? Many research studies have been carried out to see whether there is a relationship between a particular type of personality and having a near death experience. In other words, whether certain people had a predisposition to having the experience. One of the difficulties in these studies has been that they are all retrospective. Those having had a near death experience were interviewed after their experience and so researchers cannot be certain whether psychological characteristics they found pre-existed the NDE or developed after it. In one study a comparison was made between people who had had an NDE and people who had not, as regards IQ levels, an extroverted personality, a neurotic personality and anxiety. No significant differences were found. In another study researchers found no difference in measures of hysterical tendencies, death anxiety, danger seeking and psychotic personality. Other studies had suggested that there might be an increased likelihood of prior mystical experiences in those who had a near death experience. This was interesting, although there might possibly be a limitation associated with these studies in that they had involved somewhat biased samples of people. Essentially the people used in the studies had volunteered their experiences and therefore may have represented a specific group of people who were more likely to have had prior mystical experiences and therefore more likely to volunteer them to investigators. It wasn’t clear whether the reason for the difference was simply that people without prior mystical experiences were less likely to come forward. Ring and Rosing (1990)1 found a higher incidence of childhood physical, psychological or sexual abuse and neglect or a negative home atmosphere, among those subjects who had had a near death experience. They, and other workers, have also raised the possibility this group may be more prone to dissociation, defined by Greyson (2000)2 as “the separation of thoughts feelings or experiences from the normal stream of consciousness and memory.” Dissociation is a recognized response to trauma. Holden and Greyson (2009)3 however suggest that although traumatic life experiences may facilitate the occurrence of near death experience, they are certainly not preconditions for them. Many retrospective studies have analyzed the mental health of people who had a near death experience and found they are no more likely to show psychopathology than comparison groups those who have not, although several studies suggest that people with psychiatric disorders tend to report less elaborate near death experiences. Holden and Greyson conclude that “Though people with certain characteristics might be more prone to report a near death experience during near-death episodes, or to report deeper near death experiences or particular after-effects, research has not yet revealed a characteristic that either guarantees or prohibits the occurrence, incidence, nature or after-effects of a near death experience.” However there is still the finding that some of those who experience a near death experience do have multiple ones suggesting that if you have had one, you are then more likely to have a second. (1) Ring K and Rosing CJ. 1990. The Omega Project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality. Journal of Near-Death Studies 8:211-39 (2) Greyson B. 2000. Dissociation in people who have near death experiences: Out of their bodies or out of their minds? Lancet 355 460-73. (3) Holden, JM, Greyson B., James D. 2009. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences ABC-CLIO, LLC. California. Mailpoint 810, Level F, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 6YD, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 2380 001016
September is the ninth month of the year and is unbeatable the most pleasant month to travel around the world. Starting September 1st, travelers start packing their bags preparing for exploration and adventure in all corners of the world. Traveling in this month has a lot of benefits: there are fewer crowds, the weather is pleasing, and seas are balmy. The cities are alive with the festivals and people are in the mood to cherish this special atmosphere. Below are the top ten, must see places this September. San Francisco, USA San Francisco is a great city with many districts that have a lot to offer visitors. You can enjoy magnificent sightseeing, exciting nightlife, restaurants, accommodations and much more. This is a major city in California and is the centerpiece of the Bay Area. Travelers can stroll in San Francisco and have a lot of fun. There are many places like Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate, Chinatown, North Bridge, Union Square, etc. Visitors often love to see the place while riding cable cars; they are a San Francisco delight. History lovers can find a lot at this place, and there are some wondrous museums in San Francisco. When it comes to food, San Francisco offers a bit of everything to food lovers. There are restaurants that serve authentic Mediterranean and continental dishes at affordable prices. This beautiful city is said to be the capital of Turkish tourism. The city attracts nearly 10 million foreign visitors annually. It has everything including sunny weather, blue seas, green trees and majestic mountains. The city is rich in history which lures people interested in the past. Tourists find pleasure year round here. Its spotless beaches, comfortable accommodation, harbor and entertainment spots engage visitors and lead them to fall in love with Antalya. If you are fond of sunbathing, this is the place for you. Tourists enjoy Turkish delicacies and welcoming greetings from locals. Mallorca is the largest of all the Balearic Islands. Until the year 1950, the place was had not been developed. Recently it draws in 10 million visitors annually; such is the beauty of this place. Tourists visit this place in search of the sun, sea waters and beautiful sand. The beaches of Mallorca are world famous and the main attraction of the island. People come here for sunbathing, water sports and many other activities. The mountains located on the island provide an escape from the beach with their flowers, trees, and assorted vegetation. People can also visit villages located throughout the island. The Mediterranean food is a great delicacy to enjoy and is served cooked to perfection. The best time to visit this place is from September to November. During this period, the sun is warm and the prices are low. Rome, the capital of Italy is one of the great cities to live, not only in Europe but in the entire world. History aficionados often visit this place for the magnificent and spectacular monuments from the past. Rome is said to be the treasure house of Italy and brings in visitors from around the world. Tourists can enjoy arts and crafts, history and many forms of entertainment. The spectacular, classical statues in Rome are awe-inspiring. Food lovers enjoy this place the most. They can find delicious Italian delicious in all flavors. There are thousands of pizzerias, restaurants, bars, and wine shops to satisfy any craving. Athens, Greece is said to be the oldest city in Europe. It’s the perfect place for history aficionados; there are stories of god, athletes and goddess that abound here. People visit this place to swim in the serene and clear waters. The city also boasts an exciting nightlife, dance clubs give you the chance to relax and rock out. For those not interested in wilder activities, ancient temples and wonderful shopping venues abound. This city is for people of all ages, from kids to senior citizen. The best time to visit the city is by mid September. During this period the temperatures begin to cool and crowds are not as large. The beauty of the city can be experienced by wearing a light jacket or overcoat. Choosing this time will allow you to do more without waiting in lines and will therefore provide a more memorable trip. Kuta, Bali, Indonesia Kuta, Bali in Indonesia is an easy to reach place. It is world renowned for its water surfing. Tourists from all over come to partake of the sandy beaches. This place is a gem for nature lovers and tops tourist destination charts. People come with their families, friends and in groups. The best time to visit is in September to enjoy perfect outdoor weather. Along the beach, travelers can find sellers offering food, drinks, surfboards and many other things. Tourist often shop for local handicrafts from this place and keep them as a memory of their trip to Kuta. Maldives, Republic of the Maldives The Maldives have faced a lot of natural disasters, including the tsunami and coral bleaching. Still, they have managed to attract millions of visitors yearly. The Maldives have many things to offers visitors, apart from the blue waters and the warm sun. They are a paradise for honeymooners, divers and sun bathers. People from all religions and countries visit this place, and it tops destination charts. The Maldives are located in the center of the Indian Ocean and surrounded by a series of coral reefs. The immense beauty of this place has enthralled visitors and left them speechless. Pokhara’s beauty has been written about by many people. The peaceful weather, stunning snow peaks, greeneries and many more things make the place worth visiting. The three lakes, Phewa, Begnas and Rupa, add to the beauty to Pokhara. People often come here in search of peace and tranquility. This place is a perfect for trekkers; they come here and try various adventures available in the valley region. It’s on the must visit list, if you are in Nepal. There is a lot to see and admire in Pokhara, nature is at its best here. Beijing is a royal city. It prefers its visitors like delicious restaurants, exciting nightlife, comfortable accommodation and spectacular sightseeing. It’s the capital of China, the world’s most populous country, and it’s the second largest city in the world. Hundreds of skyscrapers dot the city, showing the architectural advances Beijing has made over the years. An ancient castle resides in Beijing that lures many history lovers. Travelers can visit the place in any season and enjoy the weather. Every year millions of travelers visit this beautiful city and take memories home with them. There are many scenic spots and sites in the city that are easily reachable. A few of its attractions are the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, Capital Museum, Panda House, Lama Temple, the silk market, the Forbidden City, National Grand Theater and many others. Zambia is set apart from other places with its overwhelming, natural wonders. It has tons of wildlife, huge open areas and many bodies of water. Tourists come here to experience the real Africa. They say it’s heaven and a once in a lifetime experience. Zambia boasts some of the best wildlife parks in the entire world and many other irresistible sites. There is a lot of peace here that attracts people from across the globe. People stumble upon nature at every turn and experience untold beauty. Victoria Falls is a major draw for tourists and stands apart from the seventeen other waterfalls located here. People often visit this place from September to November, though it’s very hot during this time. It is the perfect time for wildlife safaris though. The world is full of travel attractions and endless lists of prospective locations may be made, but these top ten places will surely lure you and make your travel journey mesmerizing.
New Apple ID phishing attack targets your on- and off-line life New phishing campaign that claims to safely change your Apple ID password is in fact fishing for gadget owners’ critical information. Apple customers are once again the target of a phishing campaign that attempts to collect log-in information. The message, disguised as a password reset message, lures victims to a phishing web page to “review” the original password. Making use of social engineering, the scammers trick users into willingly handing over identification data to their Apple accounts. Crooks included in the message body no fewer than three links towards Apple’s support pages – the one dedicated to those who forget their passwords to help them reset the password “if in doubt”, one to the questions and answers section and the third to the alleged Apple support page – AppleID – if the user wants to “review and update security settings”. These three links however lead the user to spoofed pages created by the crooks to collect account IDs and passwords from all users who might fall into the trap, willingly access it, and change their old passwords with new ones. The moment users type in their log in username and password on the fake login page, they will in fact hand the critical data to crooks. The message is clean, to the point, and in perfectly correct and formal English and the simple signature “Apple Customer Support” will offer no clue about the scam. Fig.1. Fake e-mail allegedly sent by Apple Customer Support Team This Apple ID is for the Apple customer the virtual key that allows the attacker access not a service, but a series of services and option – basically everything the Apple user would do with their computer: purchasing applications at the victim’s expense, access data in the iCloud and so on. From the iCloud user account, someone can locate, wipe, lock the registered gadgets. Imagine how dangerous a crook with access to the user’s ICloud account can be: they can literally track the user as long as they have their IPad or Iphone on them. They can access users’ documents, both personal and work-related, since the iCloud is the default save location for all new created documents, presentations and spreadsheets. As a bonus, the attacker gets access to the e-mail account and contact list, that are also available from the iCloud for synchronization purposes. You may wonder why this type of attacks works. Maybe because people know that security breaches happen quite often. Passwords and IDs are stolen and almost every month companies see themselves forced to ask their customers to change their passwords – or better yet – change the passwords immediately, then notify the user. The database breaches that affected Last.FM and LinkedIn, to mention only a few, give this kind of message credibility and context.
Recipe courtesy of John Ash Yields about 1 gallon or 16 1-cup servings If you buy vegetable stock, you’ll likely get a product with a lot of sodium but not a lot of flavor. By making your own stock, you can control the amount of sodium and create an incredibly flavorful base for soups, stews, risottos, and other dishes that call for stock as the primary cooking liquid. - 8 cups sliced white onions - 4 cups diced carrots - 4 cups sliced leeks - 3 cups parsnips - 2 cups sliced celery stalks, including leafy tops - ¼ cup chopped garlic - ½ cup canola oil or extra virgin olive oil - 2 gallons (32 cups) water - 3 cups dry white wine - 1 ounce dry mushrooms - 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes - 2 teaspoons whole black pepper corns - 6 bay leaves - 2 cups parsley leaves and stems, roughly chopped - 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper - 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt In a large pot add the onions, carrots, celery, leeks, parsnips, garlic, and olive or canola oil, and very lightly brown over moderate heat. Add remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 1½ hours. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper, strain, cool, and refrigerate or freeze. (You can use the strained vegetables as a base for a pureed vegetable soup. Simply place the strained vegetables and some of the stock in a blender. Blend until smooth, adding stock to get the desired consistency, heat and serve.) Nutritional information per serving: Calories: 100 ⁄ Protein: 2 g ⁄ Carbohydrate: 4 g ⁄ Fiber: 1 g ⁄ Sodium: 190 mg ⁄ Potassium: 560 mg Saturated fat: 1 g ⁄ Polyunsaturated fat: 2 g ⁄ Monounsaturated fat: 4.5 g ⁄ Trans fat: 0 g ⁄ Cholesterol: 0 mg Find more delicious recipes that spare the salt from The and the Harvard School of Public Health. Copyright © John Ash The aim of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source is to provide timely information on diet and nutrition for clinicians, allied health professionals, and the public. The contents of this Web site are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Web site. The information does not mention brand names, nor does it endorse any particular products.
OTTAWA - The federal government has been slow to boot up an effective response to the rapidly growing threat of cyber-attacks on crucial systems, says Canada's auditor general. In his newly tabled report, Michael Ferguson reveals the government has made only limited progress in shoring up vital computer networks and has lagged in building partnerships with other players. Ferguson points out the federal cyber-incident response centre doesn't even operate around the clock. The report says the shortcomings have left key networks — such as the one that ensures employment insurance benefits are delivered on time — exposed to attack. Assaults that crippled computer systems at the Finance Department and Treasury Board in January 2011 have been linked to efforts — possibly originating in China — to gather data on the potential takeover of a Canadian potash company. Ferguson says the cyber-attack cost taxpayers "several million dollars" in repairs, overtime and lost productivity. A lessons-learned exercise after the intrusion revealed "ongoing vulnerabilities to government systems" and showed that restricted information was being stored on unsafe networks, adds his report. Officials told the auditor general that the threat from malicious hackers was evolving more quickly than the government's ability to keep pace. Ferguson says the issue is important because computer-based systems form the backbone for much of Canada's critical infrastructure, including the energy, finance, telecommunications and manufacturing sectors as well as government information systems. "Cyber-threats are real, cyber-threats are going to exist and you can't eliminate them," he told a news conference. "But it's important for the government, in terms of its own systems, to make sure that they understand the types of threats and that they can be in front of them as far as possible. "It's something that the government needs to be ever-vigilant about." The government has acknowledged the dangers lurking in the online world for well over a decade, but a number of key initiatives and programs have fallen short, concludes the report. Elsewhere in Tuesday's report, Ferguson found: — National Defence and Veterans Affairs failed to inform injured ex-soldiers about their rights to benefits. — Finance Canada has not published long-term projections of the effect of budget decisions on government revenues and debt. — Planned changes to the old age security system will save government about $10 billion a year by the time they're fully implemented in 2029, the first time any such projection has been released. — National Defence is falling perilously behind in the maintenance of its properties, including failures to meet fire-code regulations. But the problems with cyber-security were the centrepiece of Ferguson's fall report to Parliament. The auditor general looked at the activities of 11 federal agencies, including Public Safety, Treasury Board, the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Communications Security Establishment, the secretive electronic spy organization that is supposed to help secure systems. Seven years after the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre was created to collect, analyse and share information about threats among various levels of government and the private sector, many were "still unclear" about the centre's role and mandate, says the report. "Some private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators that we interviewed told us they were not sure whether cyber events should be reported to the Government of Canada and, if so, to which agency." As a result, the centre "cannot fully monitor" Canada's cyber-threat environment, hampering its ability to provide timely advice. Further, the centre was still not operating on a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week basis, as originally intended, shutting down weekdays at 4 p.m. Ottawa time and closing for the weekend. The government plans to extend those hours to 9 p.m., seven days a week, but not round-the-clock. Liberal public safety critic Francis Scarpaleggia wondered why convenience stores can stay open all night but not the government's cyber incident centre. "This Conservative government is recklessly ill-prepared to protect sensitive information from cyber security threats," he said in a statement. In one case in which government systems were targeted by hackers, the centre was not notified by the affected departments until more than a week after the intrusion was detected, a violation of procedure. Last year, the centre transferred the responsibility for protecting government information to the tech-savvy Communications Security Establishment. It was agreed that the CSE would provide the centre with timely and complete information about threats. But Ferguson found the CSE was not consistently sharing data because of the classified nature of the material it collects. In addition, 11 years after the government said it would establish partnerships with other levels of government and operators of essential grids and systems, not all of the relationships were fully up and running. In 2010, the government rolled out a national Cyber Security Strategy, with $90 million in funding over five years and $18 million a year thereafter. However, Ferguson noted the strategy did not yet have an action plan to guide its implementation. "The lack of a plan makes it difficult to determine whether progress is on schedule and whether its objectives have been met." Federal agencies agreed with the auditor's various recommendations on digital security and spelled out plans to implement them. Last week, on the eve of the report's release, the government announced an additional $155 million over five years to bolster cyber-security. New Democrat MP Jack Harris said Tuesday that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has been scaremongering about cyber-threats but hasn't backed it up with action. "Announcements about money don't matter if you don't have an action plan." Government and private-sector systems are attacked by hackers, organized crime and state actors on a "constant basis," said Toews. The challenge is in fact to create a robust and resilient system that responds to those threats, he added. "I think we are making tremendous progress." Related on HuffPost: Here are the highlights of the auditor general's fall report to Parliament. <em>With files from The Canadian Press</em> Cyber Threats To Infrastructure The government must do more to protect critical infrastructure, such as power grids, from cyber threats. Cyber Response Not 24/7 The federal cyber-response centre still does not operate around the clock as promised, and is closed on weekends. National Defence and Veterans Affairs don't have the information needed to ensure that soldiers moving back to civilian life get the help and benefits they're entitled to. National Defence isn't keeping up with maintenance of its thousands of buildings and other facilities. Long-Term Fiscal Prospects Fail The government hasn't kept a 2007 pledge to publish analyses of its long-term fiscal prospects, but promises to do so starting next year. The decision to raise the eligibility age for old age security, to 67 from 65, will save the government about $10 billion a year when it is fully implemented in 2029.
There is consistent evidence that adults who live in walkable communities walk and cycle more for transportation, and have higher levels of total physical activity, than those who live in low-walkable suburban areas (3). Differences between neighborhood types of 30 to 60 min per week of physical activity have been documented with both self-reports and objective measures such as accelerometers (4). The evidence was sufficient for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Guide to Community Preventive Services to classify community-scale land-use changes as effective physical activity interventions (4). Cervero and Kockelman (5) introduced the “3 D” principles of designing communities that support active transportation: residential density, land-use diversity, and pedestrian-oriented designs. Adults who live near parks and other recreation facilities generally do more recreational and total physical activity. This association has been documented in numerous studies, but due to the wide variety of methods used, it is not possible to quantify the effects. The aesthetics of recreation facilities and communities in general have been linked with physical activity (3, 4, 6). See table 22.1 for a summary of environmental attribute associations with active transportation and recreation. Other built-environment characteristics have not been studied enough or have yielded inconsistent results, including sidewalk presence and quality, other road characteristics, availability of parking, and hills. Just a few studies of built environments have been reported for adults aged 65 years or greater. The results generally confirm that the physical activity associations with walkable community designs and proximity of recreation facilities generalize to older adults (6). Connections between built environments and physical activity have been documented for children and adolescents. Living in proximity to parks and other recreation facilities, as well as high aesthetic qualities, has been associated with higher physical activity among youth (6). This can be interpreted as suggesting that children need suitable places to play near their homes. Adolescents living in walkable neighborhoods are usually found to be more active than their suburban counterparts (6). More young people walk or cycle to school when they live in walkable neighborhoods (7). However, children may use cul-de-sacs as play areas because traffic is low. Thus, suburban road networks with low connectivity may simultaneously reduce walking to school and facilitate active recreation among youth (6). For youth, there is better evidence that sidewalks are associated with high physical activity levels (6). School grounds designed for a variety of activity opportunities may stimulate more activity during free time, such as after lunch (8). Young people generally seem to benefit from the same built-environment factors as adults, but there are additional settings (e.g., schools) and activity behaviors (e.g., walking and cycling to school) that must be considered for youth. Most of the studies on built environments and physical activity are cross-sectional, and they have been criticized because of the possibility that people who like physical activity move to walkable neighborhoods with parks. Several studies show there is some selection into activity-friendly communities, and there may not be enough such communities to meet the demand (9). However, it does not appear that self-selection can explain all the findings because, consistent with ecological models, both psychological and environmental factors seem to operate. Auto enthusiasts who lived in walkable neighborhoods did not walk more, but living in suburban neighborhoods seemed to suppress physical activity among walking enthusiasts (9). A major reason for the reliance on cross-sectional studies is that it is not possible to conduct a randomized trial in which people are assigned to live in different neighborhoods. However, there are several quasi-experimental evaluations of built-environment changes, though most are on a small scale. Building new trails usually increased trail use, especially when the trails were located in densely populated areas; introducing protected cycling lanes promoted cycling in Europe; changing road designs to slow traffic led to increased walking and cycling (10); and painting school playgrounds to stimulate active games led to long-term physical activity increases (11). These studies support a tentative conclusion that built environments can be causal influences on physical activity. However, these few studies are not sufficient to quantify the effects of built-environment changes. Several aspects of this literature generate confidence in the results. The key findings about walkable neighborhoods, proximity of recreation facilities, and aesthetics have been replicated in numerous studies that differ in study designs, locations, and population characteristics. Many studies have used objective measures of built environments, physical activity, or both, so the literature is not dependent on only self-report measures. Transdisciplinary collaborations are producing innovations in models, measures, and analyses. It is not well understood how built environment–physical activity associations may generalize to groups at high risk for physical inactivity, obesity, or chronic diseases. In some studies, low-income or racial-ethnic minority subgroups have not demonstrated the same associations as affluent or majority samples; but in other studies, racial-ethnic minority groups seemed to derive more benefit from activity-friendly environments (10). Studies of built environments can be translated directly into policy recommendations that can be implemented by planning, transportation, recreation, and education agencies of government, along with recommendations for changed practices by architects, builders, landscape designers, and other private sector groups. However, the research has not been as influential as it could be. Studying broad variables like walkability, proximity to parks, and sidewalks does not provide sufficient guidance to tell designers and policy makers how to create optimal activity-friendly environments. Since the turn of the 21st century, research on the built environment has become a recognized field, and consensus is rapidly developing about what kinds of built-environment changes are needed to improve physical activity in whole populations. Current research priorities are to (a) understand the built-environment characteristics that are most important for diverse population subgroups; (b) identify more specific built-environment supports for physical activity that can inform the design of optimal activity-friendly environments; (c) conduct prospective and quasi-experimental studies to improve the rigor of evidence; (d) improve understanding of how social environments (e.g., culture, social norms, media, crime) and built environments interact to influence physical activity; and (e) conduct economic and health impact assessment studies to enhance the relevance of built-environment studies for policy makers. In a short time, the field of built-environment and physical activity research has expanded the search for solutions beyond educating the individual to a focus on environment and policy change. Researchers from many fields are using their professional relationships with practitioners to change practices, and investigators are communicating findings to policy makers in many sectors. If these efforts are successful, the groundwork will be laid for long-lasting improvements in physical activity.
What a stunning video! It takes you through some of Egypt, sharing some of the flavour of these fascinating places. Enjoy and hopefully you’ll be experiencing all of this firsthand. The Nile at sunset from a felucca is stunning! Beautiful hues and scenic silhouettes. An experience you will never forget! This video conveys to you the magic of the region put to lovely music. Enjoy. Source: Ahram Online Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 1 Feb 2012 Egypt’s first museum devoted exclusively to crocodiles was inaugurated on Tuesday by Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Within the context of a plan by the Ministry of State for Antiquities to build museums at the country’s most significant archaeological sites, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim this week officially inaugurated Egypt’s first ever crocodile museum. The museum is located on the doorstep of the Ptolemaic Kom Ombo temple on the banks of the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan. The museum displays 22 mummified crocodiles of various sizes out of forty to have been unearthed in Aswan. The crocodiles are arrayed on a sand hill inside a large glass showcase, allowing visitors to see how crocodiles passed their days in ancient Egypt. A collection of crocodile coffins and wooden sarcophagi, along with crocodile foetuses and eggs, are also on display, in addition to stelae and statues depicting the crocodile-god Sobek, bearing a human body and the head of a crocodile. Replicas of Sobek’s original tombs and niches are also on display. During the opening ceremony, Ibrahim said that most of the museum’s c ollection had been stored in Kom Ombo except for two stelae and a statue of Sobek borrowed from the Luxor Museum. The most significant artefacts currently on display, he said, were the gold and ivory teeth and eyes that had been inserted into the dead crocodiles following mummification. Abdel Hamid Maarouf, head of the ministry’s ancient Egypt department, noted that the crocodile museum was the third museum to be inaugurated in Egypt recently, after the Imhotep Museum at the Saqqara Necropolis and the Meneptah Museum on Luxor’s west bank. Mohamed El-Biali, head of Aswan antiquities, explained that Sobek had been worshiped in ancient Upper Egypt, especially in Kom Ombo, where a great temple was built in his honour. Following a crocodile’s death, Maarouf explained, it was treated like a god, mummified and buried like a pharaoh, replete with funerary items. A memorial plaque at the new museum, like the one at the newly-opened Suez National Museum, does not include the names of any ministers or officials, merely a dedication to the “revolution’s martyrs.” Who hasn’t dreamt of going to Egypt? We were recently in Seattle talking with the executives of Expedia.com and while all of them are well travelled and have been all over the world. When we told them they were going to Egypt next, they talked of how it was either their favourite destination or for those who hadn’t been there, their dream destination. Everyone fantasizes about this ancient land. We loved Egypt It is filled with iconic landmarks and remarkable landscapes. It has a rich history and strong culture and it boasts world class diving, incredible beaches and exciting nightlife. Egypt has it all. In honour of our current trip to Cairo where we are speaking to the tourism industry about working with Travel Bloggers, we thought that we would revisit our favourite sites in Egypt. We spent a few weeks there before and during our cycling race from the top of Africa to the bottom of the continent and we are so excited to be going back to see more! Pyramids of Giza We hired a camel, a horse and a guide to take us to see the pyramids. Weaving through the back streets of Cairo on our trusted steeds, we entered what seemed like a shady opening to the grounds. Are we going to get anywhere near them? Well actually yes! We road our camels through the desert right up to the massive structures. Our guide urged us to walk up the steps and we weren’t sure if we were allowed or not, but we graciously accepted. After touring around the 3 main temples, they took us to a high dune overlooking the complex. Yes, we were being scammed and taken to the cleaners by the nice old man that kept layering us in robes and head dresses, but even though it cost us a bit of cash, we couldn’t put a price on securing this photo. We arranged a $15 a day tour to the White Desert through the Dahab Guesthouse in downtown Cairo. It ended up being an incredible trip. We were told, if there is one thing you should do in Cairo, it is see the White Desert. We listened and it didn’t disappoint. Giant White structures jutted out of the desert landscape creating incredible formations. Brought on by erosion, these chalky mounds create the illusion of massive mushrooms, eagles and turkeys and even one that looks like a camel. Experiencing a true Bedouin experience, we camped out under the stars. With just 3 walls made of blankets to blog the cold desert wind, we slept under thick sleeping bags and blankets grateful for the warm tea that our guides made us after our delicious Bedouin meal. Located on Lake Nassar we caught a glimpse of this monument from our ferry to the Sudan. The staff of the ferry told us to make sure we were out early in the morning to witness this wonder as we passed by. Originally located on The Nile, Abu Simbel needed to be moved when the Egyptians created the Nile Dam project. It would have been engulfed by water never to be seen again until the government came to its rescue taking it apart piece by piece and rebuilding it high on the banks of the lake. Built as a monument for Ramses the IV, this would definitely be enough to deter invaders from entering his kingdom. Nile River Cruise When in Cairo, you must book a dinner cruise on the Nile. It is here that you can sample Egyptian entertainment such as belly dancing and the Whirling Dervishes. Pass along the cityscape while you enjoy authentic Egyptian cuisine and imagine what legendary heroes and villains floated along these waters over the centuries. Valley of the Kings We were all fascinated with King Tut as children and it is here that you can visit his tomb. It is here that you can visit every King of the Pharoahs tombs. Ramses, I-V and everyone else in between were laid to rest here in extravagant tombs filled with riches and jewels. You won’t see the treasures in these tombs today, but you will see the paintings and heigroglyphics drawn on the walls of these massive chambers that are as big as a house. The tombs are impressive but the valley itself is even more incredible. I can see why the ancient Egyptians chose this as the resting place of their most important leaders. Temple of Hatshepsut This impressive temple is dedicated to the female King Hatshepsut . Leader for 27 years, she has a monument to rival even the greatest of kings. Built between 1490-1460BC. It is impossible to imagine that the Nile reached the grounds of this temple complex and that the area surrounding it was lush and green. Today the desert is dry, but the temple is no less impressive. Felucca Ride in Luxor So your Egypt holidays are going great. You’ve done a Nile dinner cruise in Cairo, now its time to feel the wind in your hair on a sail boat in Luxor. We simply walked down to the river to find ourselves a boat for the afternoon. We walked along until we found a captain we felt comfortable with and negotiated a deal for him to take us out for a few hours. Sailing along the fabled Nile, I wondered exactly what bank Moses was left on? I don’t know a lot about the bible, but I do know that he was sent floating down the Nile somewhere! The sun was shining as we lazily drifted pass the cityscape. Camels and goats walked along the river banks and the day was silent as we fulfilled yet another one of our dreams. Checking off the Bucket List When visiting Egypt, you will check of many of those items on your bucket list. For us it was Sleep in the Desert, Sail on the Nile, See the Pyramids and Visit King Tuts tomb. We did it all and what do you do when you’ve accomplished something? Add to it of course. We now have a new bucket list that is ever evolving. This time in Egypt, we’ll actually make it inside the Egyptian museum and take a tour to Alexandria. Stay tuned for more coming from Egypt. This video is an advertisement by a UK tour operator, but it really shows you the sights of Luxor and the surrounding Nile Valley in an informative way. You can also find out about the different activities on the Nile and around Luxor as well as the different types of Nile Cruises available to tourists. Perhaps you’ll get inspired and find yourself booking a trip! Egypt has always held a fascination for me. I have travelled all over the Middle East, and to parts of Africa, but for some reason had never made it to Egypt. So when we were deciding where to go for a family holiday, it seemed an obvious choice. Discover Egypt organised the trip for us and were efficient and helpful, particularly as at the last minute we had to split up, two of us flying to Luxor and the other two flying straight to the Red Sea. Everything was re-organised with the minimum of hassle and I caught my first glimpse of the Nile with my youngest daughter Domenica when we arrived at the Maritim Jolie Ville Luxor Island hotel. The hotel is in a superb position, on the shore of the Nile, with a beautiful infinity pool looking over the river. A new reception area was being completed and I hope that the next bit of updating will be to the rooms, which are pretty basic. We had breakfast on the terrace before the heat of the day, watching life on the river, including vast boats passing serenely in front of us. From there we drove across the desert to El Gouna, on the Red Sea, where we stayed in the Movenpick Resort and Spa. This is a vast complex with several restaurants, swimming pools and beaches. It is overwhelming until you have worked out where everything is. Then it is like being a part of the computer game The Sims, a virtual world where the player is in control of the people and the buildings – you make it exactly as you would want it. In Movenpick everything interconnects and works like clockwork and the rooms are comfortable and well-thought-out. The food was exceptionally good, particularly the buffet lunch and at the fish restaurant. The Movenpick is one of a series of hotels built around the lagoons of El Gouna, an artificial construction on a vast scale. It is a hugely ambitious project and we spent a morning going through the lagoons in a boat to get a sense of its size. Satellite masts are hidden in fake palm trees and everything is pristine and spanking new, which reinforces that computer-game feeling. That evening I went with my eldest daughter Savannah to a Bedouin dinner in a strip of desert outside the main compound. There were camel rides, an ostrich to look at and food served while we sat cross-legged on cushions in the sand. The Moon was full and it was a lovely, if somewhat touristy, night, complete with whirling dervishes and plaintive Arab music. Water sports are a theme in El Gouna so I persuaded my husband Dominic and Savannah to have a go at parasailing. We were driven to the Old Marina, which is an isolated spit of sand with a hut and an incongruously placed sofa on the beach. Just seeing Dominic and Savannah’s faces as they were strapped into their double harness on the parachute before they had even taken off made the whole trip worthwhile. Savannah has a certificate from her school on the kitchen wall at home for the dubious accolade of ‘probably attending the least number of PE lessons in her year group’. And Dominic hates all ‘unnecessary’ movement. To see the two of them suspended high above us, attempting – as they told me later – to have a normal conversation to disguise their fear, was a sight to behold. When they were reeled in they had a ceremonial dunking in the sea. I asked Dominic what it had been like and he replied that he would like a ‘gin and catatonic, please’. One night we went to dinner by the harbour in El Gouna. It was a balmy night and the harbour was busy – one had a sense of being in some recently constructed Mediterranean port. In a few years, when everything has mellowed, it will be a very different, vibrant place. As it stands, its very newness is somewhat disconcerting. Savannah and I spent a morning snorkelling along the reef, seeing all manner of brightly coloured fishes, and then we set off across the desert plains to return to Luxor for our last two days. Dominic and I got up at dawn, were driven to the Nile, crossed over in the dark, and emerged on the west bank to a surreal landscape of billowing hot-air balloons. We clambered into a corner compartment of the basket of a huge balloon, and – very slowly – we rose majestically above the Nile to watch the sunrise. It was stunningly beautiful, eerily quiet and one of those dawns and sunrises that one will never forget. There were muted colours and stirrings of life and then the sudden explosion of light shattering across the desert landscape and shafting on to the temples. We landed abruptly in the middle of a smallholding, with ancient, inscrutable men in traditional robes rushing forward to help us alight. From there we went to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, built on three terraced levels. She was one of the rare female pharaohs, and in order to legitimise her position, she depicted herself wearing a pharaoh’s kilt and a beard. This temple is an extraordinary monument to the first known reigning queen. The advantage of going to the temple so early in the morning is that it was completely empty. By the time we got to the Valley of the Kings the crowds had appeared, and that, coupled with the intense heat, makes the viewing conditions of the tombs very difficult. You feel as if you are on a conveyor belt and, just as you are beginning to understand a particular piece of wall painting, you are pushed forward. I would recommend going out of season if you are serious about Egyptology. The scale of the tombs and the extraordinary sophistication and elaborate detail overwhelmed me. All this was achieved at a time when in Britain we were rushing around in loincloths and living in caves. The following morning I went to the temple of Karnak, with an informative and charming guide, and from there went to the temple of Luxor. There is work going on to uncover the sphinx road that connects the two, so in various places in the hustle of Luxor you come across destroyed buildings, and, emerging from the rubble, sphinxes that have somehow survived unscathed throughout the centuries. The temple of Luxor has traces of so many different civilisations, from the ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Christians and the Muslims. The original temple was completely buried for hundreds of years and was re-discovered when a mosque was built on top of it. The mosque is now an integral part of the site. We spent a last afternoon visiting the Winter Palace Hotel, which used to be the Winter Palace of King Farouk. I had a family interest in visiting this, as my grandfather had been King Farouk’s lawyer, and wrote his abdication speech. It is now a very grand Sofitel, and requires a king’s ransom to stay there. From there, we took a boat meandering down the Nile back to the hotel to watch the sunset from the water. On one bank of the river, nothing appears to have changed since biblical times. You see children playing in the water, women swaying through the fields as they carry their shopping home on their heads, and donkeys carrying their loads. Yet, on the other bank is all the bustle of modern-day Luxor. It was a perfect end to the trip – a contrast between the ancient and the modern, with a glorious sunset to end it all. Venture down to Aswan this weekend to experience the Characters of Egypt festival. The event offers a rare opportunity to link diverse cultures and to ‘inculcate values of mutual respect, understanding, tolerance and equality.’ Under the auspice of The Ministry of Tourism and the Egyptian Tourism Authority, the Characters of Egypt Festival will be organized from 27-29 October 2011. The festival is an annual event that has been organized for four consecutive years This year, the festival will take place in Aswan in the Island of Heisa on the River Nile. Aswan was chosen by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as a successful case study to showcase the theme of the 2011 World Tourism Day: “Tourism – linking cultures.” The World Tourism Day was celebrated last year in Aswan on 27 September in this same location. An estimated 33 tribes are expected to participate in the festival coming from South Sinai, North Sinai, El Ababda, El Bashareya, Nubia, El Hassayba and Siwa. The tribes are divided into seven groups. Besides the music and dance shows that characterize each tribe, poetry and stories telling and a number of informative workshops displaying indigenous practices, beliefs, cuisines, clothing, music, art, literary traditions, friendly sports competitions and conversations will take place during the event. The Characters of Egypt Festival provide guests with the chance to catch a glimpse of life as it exists in the different areas of Egypt’s extensive deserts. The objective of Characters of Egypt festival is to create a platform of awareness of cultural variances amongst different ethnic and tribal groups and Nile River valley inhabitants. The event offers a rare opportunity to link diverse cultures from all corners of Egypt, experience cultural exchange and connect over their common bonds. Egypt has a rich history of tribal heritage shown in their many dialects and languages. The island of Heisa is one of the oldest Nubian villages comprised of six Nubian tribes totaling 1,000 habitants. The objective of organizing this year’s festival in this Island is to promote it as a touristic destination. In fact, during the past three years, Characters of Egypt Festival was organized in the south area of the Red sea, which resulted in improving the cultural exchanges in this area, and promoted tourism in Wadi El Gemal protectorate, placing Marsa Alam as one of the prime eco-tourism destinations worldwide.
Belfast has a long history of providing shelter to those fleeing in fear; from Huguenots fleeing religious persecution during the 16th century to Vietnamese ‘boat people' fleeing their communist-controlled homeland during the 1970s. Yet Belfast has also been a city which has been fled from. The violence, fear and crime caused by Northern Ireland's internal Troubles caused huge population movement. Since the conflict ignited in the 1970s, extreme poverty and economic decline have forced many Irish to flee overseas and begin a new life elsewhere. The last significant in-migration to Ireland, however, occurred three to four centuries ago when in the latter half of the 17th century over 100,000 Scots migrated to Ireland. By 1606, Scots settlers had begun to stream across the sea into Ulster. The growth of Belfast during the seventeenth century as a marketplace and port servicing the successful plantation of Ulster ensured that its Scots population continued to increase. The influx of Scots came to an end with the accession of George I. Faced with restrictive leases on lands in and around Belfast, and with renewed Anglican hostility to Presbyterianism, thousands of Scots-Irish left for the American colonies in the first half of the eighteenth century. Since then, emigration has been the predominant demographic experience of Ireland for the past two centuries. Especially in the late 18th century, after the end of the war of independence in 1783, the expanding colonies in America began to entice many migrants from Ireland. The single most important demographic event of nineteenth century Ireland was the famine of the late 1840s and its accompanying wave of emigration. Belfast acted as a ‘dam' or barrier to further movement on the part of those leaving the Ulster countryside by offering industrial employment. Belfast's population continued to grow, and its importance relative to the rest of Ulster increased. In 1821, perhaps 2% of Ulster's population lived in the town. By 1911, the city held almost a quarter of Ulster's total population. By the twentieth century emigration to America and other parts of Britain still continued, but rural-urban migration from the Ulster countryside to Belfast did create a degree of internal immigration for the city. Belfast at the end of the twentieth century, like most large towns and cities in Ireland and Great Britain, plays host to numerous small immigrant communities. Figures from the Multi-Cultural Resource Centre suggest that Belfast is an important centre for Northern Ireland's 8000 strong Chinese community, for up to 2500 people of Asian origin, for 1500 of African origin, and some 1600 Arabic speakers. The dispersal of asylum seekers away from London and the South East to other regions of the UK was introduced under the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act in order to reduce the demand on areas where there is a lack of housing. The dispersal process was overseen by a new agency called the National Asylum Support Service (NASS), which provided support and accommodation to adult asylum seekers via contracts with various councils around the country. As part of Home Office restructuring, NASS ceased to exist as a directorate in 2006 and all asylum support issues are now dealt with by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA). Last Updated: 14/12/09
Investigator(s): ABC News/Washington Post Since 1981, ABC News and The Washington Post, both separately and together, have commissioned public opinion polls to collect information on the American public's attitudes and opinions on various issues. These surveys, conducted by Chilton Research Services until mid-1999 and subsequently by Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch, gather information in the form of monthly and special topic polls. Monthly polls solicit respondent information on the presidency and on a variety of other political and social issues. Special topic polls focus on specific events or issues that are of timely significance.
IFIAS is the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study. We are a network of about scientific research institutions from developed and developing countries that collaborate on projects addressing global policy issues. This page provides links to information about IFIAS and its activities. Information about IFIAS and its Members Implications for Developing Countries of the Human Genome Project Women in Global Science and Technology Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Information Map (STIMAP) Multimedia Strategy Information Map (MULTIMAP) International Gender, Science and Technology Policy Information Map Ontario Council (formerly the Ontario Premier's Council)
Remembering a Priest and Martyr: On the Ordination Anniversary of Alfred Delp, S.J. \| Abtei St. Walburg Alfred Delp was born in Mannheim, Germany, on September 15, 1907, and was raised in the nearby town of Lampertheim. He entered the Society of Jesus on April 22, 1926. Following his ordination in 1937, he lived and worked in Munich, where he became well known for his preaching and writing. Because of his opposition to Hitler's government, he was arrested on July 28, 1944. He suffered torture and solitary confinement without betraying any useful information to his interrogators. His trial in January 1945 focused on the irreconcilability of Christianity and Nazism. After his conviction, he wrote that his life had been given a theme "worth living for, and worth dying for." He was executed by hanging on February 2, 1945, in Berlin. In Lampertheim, a memorial chapel was built beside his parish church, and consecrated on the twentieth anniversary of his martyrdom. Special commemorative events are scheduled throughout 2007 in Lampertheim, Mannheim, and Munich to honor Father Delp during this centennial year of his birth. Seventy years ago, in the church of St. Michael in Munich, the German Jesuits marked the 400th ordination anniversary of their founder, St. Ignatius, in a very special way. On that festive anniversary, June 24, 1937, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber ordained a group of young Jesuits to the priesthood. Among them was Alfred Delp. It was the Feast of St. John the Baptist, that prophet who would become a central figure in Father Delp's preaching. Indeed, Father Delp himself would become a "voice calling in the wilderness" of his own turbulent times. In a 1984 radio interview, a friend and parishioner remembered the impact of Delp's preaching: "Of the many Delp sermons I was able to hear, to me the most moving were those about the prophets. For in these, without his listeners--or even, probably, himself--being able to guess it, he was anticipating his own destiny of martyrdom for the faith." Alfred Delp had entered the Jesuits in 1926. Even during his philosophical and theological studies, he was known for his interest in current political and social issues. In the years after Hitler came to power in 1933, Delp gradually began to recognize the dangers of the path that lay ahead of him. On March 4, 1936, he confided in a letter to his mother a presentiment that it even might lead to martyrdom: We [Jesuits] are gradually becoming pretty much fair game. Over the past few weeks, the first of us were arrested. The season of the Passion is coming for us; time to go with the Savior to the cross. We are called to this. We just have to pray, work, do we what can, and ask for the grace that we may be ready to die. Nevertheless, his vocation was unshaken. In a letter to a friend, written March 3, 1937, three days before his ordination to the deaconate: Finally at the gates of the final things that I seek in this world. Everything else that has value for me is on the Other Side. And when I really have this one thing, then let come what may. That his journey to ordination was marked by joy and gratitude is clear in this April 1937 letter to his superior, Provincial Augustin Rösch, S.J.: For a long time I have wanted to send you a few grateful words of greeting, in these happy days between the ordinations. It is really a nice time. I have only had such refreshing and joyful days back when I became a Catholic, and when I entered the Society of Jesus eleven years ago. For ordination, someone sent me a card with the text: 'your youth will be renewed...' [Ps 103:5] It is really true... Seventy years after the event, with our knowledge that his priestly ministry was brutally cut short after less than eight years, it is moving to read and reflect upon Father Delp's own experience of the sacrament. In 1941 he preached a series of seven sermons on the sacraments. The conclusion of the sermon "Holy Orders" from this series presents a very personal expression of Father Delp's insights and ideals. Holy Orders \| by Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J. \| Preached in Munich, Autumn 1941 "Let the grace that is in you through the laying on of hands be rekindled." (2 Timothy 1:8) ...First: In that great moment of our life when we go to be ordained, we kneel before the bishop and he silently lays his hands upon us. He is silent. You feel the blessed and creative burden of this hand through your entire being. And the congregation is silent. And this silence will surround the priest. This keeping silent, the still hands of the silent bishop, calls forth the priest from his former homeland. It calls him forth from his previous refuges, and sequesters him and encompasses him with this silence, this stillness in which he will be consecrated, so that it will accompany him all his life. This silence must surround us. We guard people's secrets in silence. We call our heart to be silent, so that it does not love where it should not love. Our will for power must be silent, because we are sent forth to be the hands of the Lord in blessing. Silent, too, must be our will for all the other things that, otherwise, could shelter and anchor and secure a life in this world. The silence accompanies us, because it is always the sign that the Lord God has come especially near. Second: The second symbolic action tells us the meaning of this mission. This happens when our hands are anointed with the sign of the cross. Anointing is a sign of mission and authority, of stability and power. But our anointing is the anointing with a cross. It is, first of all, like that of the body of the Lord, an anointing to "passio", to the deepest participation in His vocation as Redeemer. Therefore, we are held and we are bound to give all we have, really to wear ourselves out, to give ourselves away completely. Being silent must also be a silence before oneself and one's own will to live; an entering into the service, into the worship, and into the sacrifice. Third: And then we receive the chalice and the paten. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned to be guardians of the very holiest that mankind possesses, the body of the Lord and the holy chalice of His present sacrifice. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned and sent--not to keep for ourselves the filled chalice--but to bear it onward, to share it, to give it away. With the chalice and the paten, we are commissioned and sent forth to gather together into this chalice the world's sorrow, sacrifices, and distress, and simultaneously to remove them--as much as that is possible to us--and to consecrate them in this sacrificial chalice of the Lord. Fourth: Then there is another laying on of hands and we are told that we are to go forth and take away sin, that we are sent into this final dialogue, into the final duel with the demonical. With the guilty, the weak, and the sick, we must have an endless mercy. There, where help is needed, it is really true [as Schiller wrote]: "Your duty and your vows are your rampart. And nothing more remains to you." We must actually roam the outermost trenches, where it is imperative to take a stand against the demonical. Fifth: And once again we turn to the consecrating bishop and extend our hands, and he takes our hands in his and asks us: "Do you promise?" We answered: "Promitto" (I promise). That was the final commitment, that--with our very existence, our own salvation, and our eternal destiny--we bound ourselves to the fulfillment of this life. From this moment of consecration on, we must be under way, as long as our feet will still carry us, in order to bless and to help and to consecrate; to share the chalice of the Lord, and to bring light, and to ban the night and the darkness. That is the image, and the outline, and the duty, which we carried forward from our ordination day. ...Seen from the perspective of what we priests should be and could be, we are an answer: the priest is a redemption and is a fulfillment. And look where you will, wherever people follow a man and follow him completely, finally and ultimately they expect him to be precisely what the priest should be and must be for them, if he does not want to betray his office and his consecration: One who is stable, completely helpful, really in possession of the ultimate in being; and also able to give, to communicate the great blessings, the great consecrations, the great graces. Therefore, the consciousness of the fact that in our community there are men who are ordained, who are blessed, should help you to stand with certainty, upright and unashamed in this life, whatever the effort, come what may. There are men placed in your midst whose only meaning and right to exist is that they be available, and give what they have--and more than they themselves have to give--the Lord God's entire abundance, which is entrusted to them. In the consciousness that such is among you, you can grow and be secure. However, you must always have the sense, as well, that you are helping us, so that the fire, which is in us through the laying on of hands and the consecration and anointing, does not does not go out. Rather, it should glow and blaze and burn, so that the seekers know where homeland is; and the erring know where counsel is; and the helpless know where blessing is; and those who have strayed know where the gates are for the return, which is awaiting them with the joy of the Lord. See Advent of the Heart, Ignatius Press, 2006. Bayerischen Rundfunk: Interview with Dr. Ernst Kessler, June 17, 1984, as cited in R. Bleistein, Alfred Delp, Geschichte eines Zeugen, © Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main, 1989, p. 205. Alfred Delp: Gesammelte Schriften, Band V, Briefe, Texte, Rezensionen. Hg. Von Roman Bleistein, ©Verlag Josef Knecht. Frankfurt am Main. 1988, p. 70. ibid., p. 86. ibid., p. 86f. [Source: Alfred Delp: Gesammelte Schriften, Band III, Predigten und Ansprachen. Hg. Von Roman Bleistein © Verlag Josef Knecht. Frankfurt am Main. 2. Auflage 1985. pp. 353-355 and 359-360. Used with permission. Article and translation from the German by Abtei St. Walburg.] Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles: The Mystery Made Present To Us \| Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J. Remembering Father Alfred Delp, S.J., Priest and Martyr \| A Conversation with Father Karl Adolf Kreuser, S.J. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross \| IgnatiusInsight.com Alfred Delp: Priest and Martyr \| Advent of the Heart Seasonal Sermons and Prison Writings, 1941-1944 Fr. Alfred Delp was a German Jesuit priest who was imprisoned in Berlin. At the time of his arrest, he was the Rector of St. Georg Church in Munich, and had a reputation for being a gripping, dynamic preacher, and one who was an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime. He was an important figure in the Resistance movement against Nazism. Accused of conspiring against the Nazi government, he was arrested in 1944, tortured, imprisoned, and executed on Feb 2, 1945. While in prison, Fr. Delp was able to write a few meditations found in this book, which also includes his powerful reflections from prison during the Advent season about the profound spiritual meaning and lessons of Advent, as well as his sermons he gave on the season of Advent at his parish in Munich. These meditations were smuggled out of Berlin and read by friends and parishioners of St. Georg in Munich. His approach to Advent, the season that prepares us for Christmas, is what Fr. Delp called an "Advent of the heart." More than just preparing us for Christmas, it is a spiritual program, a way of life. He proclaimed that our personal, social and historical circumstances, even suffering, offer us entry into the true Advent, our personal journey toward a meeting and dialogue with God. Indeed, his own life, and great sufferings, illustrated the true Advent he preached and wrote about. From his very prison cell he presented a timeless spiritual message, and in an extreme situation, his deep faith gave him the courage to draw closer to God, and to witness to the truth even at the cost of his own life. These meditations will challenge and inspire all Christians to embark upon that same spiritual journey toward union with God, a journey that will transform our lives. "As one of the last witnesses who knew Fr. Alfred Delp personally, I am very pleased this book will make him better known in America. The more one reads his writings, the more one clearly recognizes the prophetic message for our times! Like his contemporary, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Delp ranks among the great prophets who endured the horror of Nazism and handed down a powerful message for our times." -- Karl Kreuser, S.J., from the Foreword Visit the Insight Scoop Blog and read the latest posts and comments by IgnatiusInsight.com staff and readers about current events, controversies, and news in the Church! Place your order toll-free at 1-800-651-1531 Ignatius Press \| P.O. Box 1339 \| Ft. Collins, CO 80522 Web design under direction of Ignatius Press. Send your comments or web problems to: Copyright © 2013 by Ignatius Press IgnatiusInsight.com catholic blog books insight scoop weblog ignatius
I was navigating through Chrome Web Store recently looking for some new extensions. I noticed a section in Left sidebar that said “For Your Desktop”. I know all the Chrome extensions that I have tried till now work within Google Chrome, so this section looked interesting. Clicking on it opened some of the regular apps, most of which I had already heard about. However, I noticed that there is a big difference. These versions of the apps actually opened outside of Google Chrome. My curiosity got the better of me, and I had to figure out what is going on, and I was quite excited with my findings. Here they are. Recently Google introduced Chrome apps for Desktop. Basically, these are apps that run outside browser. They install in the same manner as other Chrome extensions, but instead of running with Chrome, they run more like desktop software. Let’s look at some of the major features of Desktop Apps for Chrome: Run Outside Browser: As I already mentioned, the big difference here is that these apps run outside browser. So, you don’t see any traditional Chrome stuff, like, address bar, bookmark bar, tabs, etc. In fact, when you run any of these desktop apps for Chrome, you would be more tempted to think that you are running a normal software installed on your PC. The apps can have a window as per what their developers wanted. You can maximize, minimize, resize the window of the apps (if the app allows). And each app will have its own separate window and will show up separately on taskbar, like any other running software would. Here is a screenshot of a desktop app called WeatherBug (the same app that is available for Windows 8 and iPhone as well): As the apps launch separately, you can easily close any app as well. This is different than Chrome extensions, as they might keep running in the background all the time, without you being aware of it. Another major difference is that these desktop apps for Chrome do not launch from within Chrome. They come with their own launcher. Google adds a small application launcher to taskbar of your PC when you install your first app. Just click on that app launcher to launch any installed Chrome desktop app. When you click on that launcher, a small launcher opens up that shows all the installed Chrome desktop apps. Just click on any app to launch it. It even comes with a built-in search box to search for installed apps; this comes handy when you have too many apps installed. Another major difference, and I would say advantage, of Chrome desktop apps is that they work offline. So, you can use Chrome desktop apps even if you are not connected to internet. However, let me clarify what that means: You can launch the Chrome desktop app even if you are not connected to internet, but which all features of app you will be able to use offline depend on what developers of the app have enabled. It might happen that you are able to edit and modify data when you are offline, and data is synced up when you connect to internet. Or, it might happen that entire data storage is offline, so you don’t need internet for the apps at all. Or, it might happen that even though app might launch, it might need internet to do anything (like, if there would be a Chrome desktop app for Youtube, I suspect that would fall in this category). Google at its end has been encouraging developers to follow an offline first approach, in which it has asked developers to first create an app that works completely offline and then think about features to add for online mode. This offline mode means that entire code of apps have to be downloaded and installed on your PC, while data might be stored locally or online. If you have tried Chrome extensions, you know most of them are pretty small in size. However, that is not true for Chrome Desktop apps. As the apps have to work offline, so they have to download all the codebase and other required components and so download size is normally more than Chrome extensions. I was trying to download a Chrome desktop game and its download size was more than 350 MB! However, when you compare them with comparative desktop software, you shouldn’t be surprised. Access to Devices: As Chrome desktop apps work like normal desktop software, they have access to lot more parts of your PC, then what an extension running inside a browser might have. They can access your hard drive to modify data, access devices connected to PC, connect to internet, and lot more. Essentially, all the liberties that a normal desktop software enjoys. It does sounds scary a bit, but again when you compare with any other desktop software you wouldn’t be surprised. I agree that these permissions can be misused, but that risk comes with any software that we install on our PC. All the Chrome desktop apps that I saw were free. Will they be free forever? I doubt that. I believe many of them would go with Freemium model. And some might be just ad supported (see the screenshot of Weatherbug app that I posted above, you will notice a nice rectangular ad at bottom right corner). So, what do I think about Chrome desktop apps? I think they are pretty awesome. I tried couple of apps and I was quite impressed. The fact that I can start and stop them anytime I want is a good move. I do not completely like the fact that Google adds a separate launcher; I wish they could have integrated with my Start Menu. But that’s a small pain. Overall, this is a good move from Google that will expose us to a plethora of more quality apps that work offline. What do you think about Chrome desktop apps? Let me know your thoughts in comments below. Link to This Page: Be the first to know about Latest Free Software:
Founded in 2005 and originally based in the Department of Arts & Humanities (now Department of Culture, Communication and Media) of the Institute of Education, University of London, the International Music Education Research Centre iMerc.org is a place where researchers in music education, professionals in related fields, as well as undergraduate students and enthusiasts, can get together in a virtual exchange of information and knowledge in the field of Music Education, Music Psychology, Special Needs Education and Music, Early Childhood and Musical Development, Philosophy of Music Education, Music Technology Education, Musical Performance, Music Curriculum, Sociology of Music and Music Education and Choral Music Education, Music and Health and Musical Development across the Lifespan. The International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc) is lead by Professor Graham F Welch, who holds the Institute of Education, University of London Established Chair of Music Education. Professor Welch is also Chair of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) and President of the International Society for Music Education (ISME). Co-ordinator of the International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc) is Dr Evangelos Himonides, Senior Lecturer in I.T., Music & Music Technology Education and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Education, University of London. Recent and current externally funded research includes awards from major UK research councils (ESRC, AHRC, EPSRC), the EC (Framework 7), leading UK charities (Paul Hamlyn, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation), other charitable bodies engaged in the promotion of music (Youth Music, Sage Gateshead, Choir Schools Association, ABRSM, Drake Music Project, Soundabout, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, New London Orchestra, RNIB, Amber Trust), UK Government departments (DFES/DCSF) and Local Authorities. Note: No part of the iMerc Web Site or any material appearing on the site, may be reproduced, stored in or transmitted on any other web site or medium without the prior written permission of the International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc), Institute of Education, University of London. Requests to republish any material may be sent to the Webmaster: email@example.com
Send your comments on PRSPs and IPRSPs to firstname.lastname@example.org Ghana and the IMF Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) Joint Staff Assessments Republic of Ghana\| Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Progress Report 2002 February 4, 2002 1.0 Progress Report on Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy 1.1 Process of preparing the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy A participatory process to formulate the GPRS has been used, comprising: a) Establishment of core teams to constitute the focus of analysis and recommendations for poverty reduction. Five core teams were established along findings of a preliminary situation analysis by the task force. Core team areas were as follows: b) Local level consultations on dimensions of poverty and recommended solutions involving a sample of 36 communities, 12 districts and six administrative regions. c) Consultation among core teams and key agencies on analysis of data from local consultations and quantitative data, leading to identification of priority issues and required actions for poverty reduction. d) Forum of civil society, private sector, government agencies and development partners to review and harmonise priority issues and actions e) Special forum for civil society to validate priority issues and actions f) Review and prioritisation at the National Economic Dialogue, comprising representatives of development stakeholders in Ghana. 1.2 GPRS process from May 15, 2001 (National Economic Dialogue to date) Outputs of GPRS Core Teams were discussed and validated at the National Economic Dialogue (NED) held in May 2001 to build consensus on the way forward for the Ghanaian economy. Six thematic areas were addressed including one on poverty reduction. Comments and inputs were solicited from participants during the workshop breakout sessions. The general consensus was that the document addressed the challenges facing the country with respect to poverty reduction and growth. 1.2.1 First draft GPRS By mid May, a drafting team for further work on the GPRS was set up to undertake further analytical work and validated targets set by Core Teams to produce a zero draft document, which was circulated among key government decision-makers. Comments and detailed technical input from the drafting team culminated in the first draft document, the Ghana Poverty Reduction Policy Framework. 1.2.2 Comments from stakeholders Comments were solicited from other stakeholders in development including planning and budget staff of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies. A full week of training was held for these staff members on the process and content of the Poverty Reduction Policy Framework. Their comments were sought and used to update the document. The GPRS was discussed with development partners at a meeting organized for that purpose. In July 2001, the development partners formed five working groups to comment on the first draft document. 1.2.3 Consultation workshops Workshops were held with the following groups: 1.2.4 Comments from Organised Groups The draft Poverty Reduction Policy Framework was circulated for comments from the following groups: The draft GPRS has since been reviewed by Cabinet. 1.2.5 Budget Process and the GPRS Consultations have also been held with the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework Secretariat on preparation of a common set of guidelines for the preparation of the MTEF for the 2002-2004 period. Locational priorities for sectoral allocations have been prepared by the GPRS team and agreed with the Ministry of Finance, to guide the allocations made by MDAs for budgeting. This process of linking up the GPRS with the budgeting process has been on going since June 2001. A one-day training workshop was held with the budget officers of the Ministry of Finance on the content of the GPRS, the locational priorities for sectoral and sub-sectoral allocations for poverty reduction within the GPRS. From the beginning of September 2001, the following activities have been undertaken: 1.2.6 Involvement of Parliament In the case of Parliament, its Finance and Public Accounts Committees have had one-day workshops each on the draft GPRS. The Final GPRS will be laid formally before the entire body of Parliament. 1.2.7 Monitoring and Evaluation of the GPRS The elements of monitoring and evaluation for the GPRS are currently under discussion. The need to link up with current Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) processes and systems is recognized as well as the need to include more participatory forms in M&E. Recognition has been given the need to track expenditures especially those to be received from the HIPC initiative and working groups have been set to work out the modalities and system for tracking HIPC expenditures including the formats for monitoring, software requirements. 1.2.8 Regional Consultations Regional consultations have been completed. The regional consultations included discussions with civil society groups as well as the political leadership and technical personnel operating at regional and district levels. These consultations have been used as dissemination and orientation for the GPRS framework. The regional consultations will be followed by district and sub district meetings organized by each region to validate the targets and interventions in the GPRS. Districts Assemblies are being required to prepare implementation plans based on the priority interventions of the GPRS. 1.2.9 Political opinion on the GPRS On the political front, a forum for all political parties has been held to ascertain the views and comments of the various shades of political opinion of the GPRS. In addition a two-day meeting has been held with all Ministers, chaired by the President, to review the content and scope of the Strategy and deliberate on the expenditure shares by administrative categories. Another meeting has been held in January 2002 with all Ministers, chaired by the President to finalize the review of the GPRS documents. 1.2.10 Costing the GPRS Currently costing the entire GPRS is being undertaken with Sector MDAs having to cost the Government component of the process. 1.2.11 Finalisation and Submission of GPRS The process of preparing the GPRS and budgeting will culminate in submission of the final GPRS, the three-year MTEF and the 2002 budget to Cabinet and Parliament. The GPRS Framework will be finalized by January 31, 2002. Costing of GPRS actions and programmes will be completed by February 22, 2002 to ensure inclusion in the 2002 budget.
Best-selling author Tom Rath looks at the link between work-life balance and personal happiness. Christopher Banks/Courtesy Subject What makes people feel truly satisfied? To write Well-Being: The Five Essential Elements, Gallup researchers Tom Rath and Jim Harter combed through research on worker engagement and productivity. Their key insight: The secret to a happy life is rooted to a large extent in interactions with co-workers and bosses. Rath outlined the findings in a conversation with Inc. reporter April Joyner. Most people list their boss as the person with whom they have the least pleasant interactions at work, according to your research. Why? Many people actually say cleaning the house is more enjoyable than sitting in the same room with their boss. Yet in the best workplaces that we've studied, workers want to spend time around their bosses, because they know that they care about them as individuals, what's going on in their lives, and their career development. How can you build that kind of culture? The first step is having good managers in place throughout an entire organization, not just in pockets. Our research shows that people don't quit a company; they quit a bad manager. So, then, how do you define a good manager? When you think about the way good managers invest time in the development of employees, it looks a lot like what great teachers and great parents do. They see all of the employees as unique individuals. They know their strengths. They help them celebrate successes. And they're clear about expectations, so their employees know what they're supposed to be doing on a daily basis. You also found that happy workers spend six hours a day socializing. How is that even possible? Well, we counted time spent chatting on e-mail and IMs in addition to time outside of work. And this is a good thing: Studies have shown that when an employee has a best friend at work, he or she is likely to be highly engaged and much more productive. Meanwhile, for an employee who doesn't have a friend at work, the odds that he or she will be highly engaged are quite low.
Category: Temple University Founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University has become a comprehensive urban research and academic institution which owns 9 campuses and 39,000 students. It also has 333 academic degree programs in the disciples of medicine, pharmacy, podiatric medicine, dentistry and law. Temple University’s Fox School of Business is ranked as one of the top providers of MBA programs in the USA. Online MBA program offered by this school is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). This MBA program has gained great popularity thanks to its professional faculty, well-prepared curriculum and convenient schedule. With OMBA program, students are able to improve their business skills, expand their knowledge and vision, enrich their professional network and gain useful experience which will have a deep impact on their career later. Blackboard system is used by online Temple University as the course management system. It allows you and your professors to share studying materials and take part in the class discussion groups. Related course materials including streaming videos, documents and announcements are available. About 5,900 instructors and professors use blackboard system as the medium to transfer web-based materials for more than 17,700 courses and 800 communities. Online MBA program offered by The Fox School of Business will expand your knowledge, strategy and ideas about business. The program is a team-based and makes use of cohort pattern to develop students’ abilities and problem-solving skills. After the program is over, a robust professional and personal network will be built and developed. The Fox School of Business praises highly teamwork which has been the distinguish trait of its programs. With the help of advanced internet technology, students of this online program are able to participate in the real classes, operate with their fellow students and exchange their viewpoints with their instructors. The online program of The Fox School of Business has the same curriculum and faculty with the traditional on-campus program. Students can get precious management consulting and team-building experience from Enterprise Management Consulting Practice (EMC). The faculty is made up of those who have worked for some of the most influential and famous corporations and are recognized as the most respected experts in their industries. Many of them still have a great influence to national and international business circle by various means. They act as consultants to some large companies, hold leadership of professional organizations, do leading research in their fields or run their own businesses. Therefore, they will put their real-life experience into their daily teaching. They know clearly what their students need to solve problems in their industries and based on this give academic and professional knowledge. All the faculty strives to offer students an enjoyable and though-provoking learning experience. The MBA programs at the Fox School of Business is specially designed and prepared for those seasoned business professionals who wish to promote their career, but can’t receive traditional classroom study for some reason. Many professionals, including strategists, entrepreneurs and leaders across a wide range of industries and fields will benefit from this two-year program and definitely receive a rewarding learning experience. Note: This web site is not affiliated with or connected to Temple University. For accurate and professional information, go to Temple University official site. A degree in marketing can open up many doors to a wide variety of career fields, such as advertising, public relations, development, financing, customer service and sales. To begin a career in marketing, earning an associate degree in marketing could be a good start. You can learn about marketing and business essentials required for the marketplace. An associate degree in marketing can also put you towards earning a bachelor degree. Read more As we know, in the US there are six regional accrediting agencies providing accreditation for educational institutions, among which the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) takes charge of the accreditation for the universities, colleges, schools and other educational organizations in its service area. Read more In today’s high-tech world, no corporation can spring up without relying on information technology to control data and other information. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for employment in information technology will continue a 17% rise through the year 2018. The educational requirement begins with an associate degree in information technology. Read more
Health, Physical Education And Recreation \| Physiological Basis of Human Performance (3 cr) K535 \| 6294 \| Brechue PREREQUISITES: P: PHYS P215 or equivalent Meets one 50 minute period three times per week and 1 two hour lab per week A study of the physiologic responses to exercise. Adaptations to exercise training with an application to human performance with an emphasis on cardiovascular, pulmonary, muscular, and biochemical changes. 1. Structure and Function of Skeletal Muscle 2. Basic Energy Systems 3. Cardiovascular System 4. Pulmonary System 5. Hormonal Control and Exercise 6. Exercise Thermoregulation 7. Adaptations to Resistance Training 8. Adaptations to Endurance Training 9. Quantifying Sports Training 10. Exercise for Health and Fitness 11. Exercise and Aging 12. Exercise and Rehabilitation TEXBOOK AND MATERIALS: 1. Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and Performance. Plowman and Allyn & Bacon, 1997. 2. Supplemental articles from the literature. Lecture - 65% 2 exams plus Final Written Assignments and class participation. Laboratory - 35% Laboratories are "hands on" experience with the basic tools of exercise physiology testing and evaluation. Each laboratory has a write-up
Sustainability related and focused courses are defined as follows: - Sustainability focused courses concentration the concept of sustainability, including its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, or examine an issue or topic using sustainability as a lens. Sustainability is a consistent thread throughout each course component and most assignments are designed to help students develop a better understanding of sustainability and sustainable development. - Sustainability related courses incorporate sustainability as a distinct course component or module, or concentrate on a single sustainability principle or issue. Exceptions can be made for courses that do not meet all criteria but excel in certain areas. To suggest a course for the list, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org.
Kolkata, Feb.21: West Bengal celebrated International Mother Language Day on Friday with fervour and paid homage to those who had sacrificed their lives with an aim to provide an identity for the Bengali language. Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh Abida Islam organised a march with banners and placards in the Kolkata in memory of those who died in the struggle to make Bengali the state language. “International Mother Language Day is a significant day in our national history because on February 21, 1952 so many people laid down their lives for establishing Bengali as their mother language,” said Islam “To give it an international touch we have invited all the consul generals and also the honorary consuls. We have received quite a spontaneous response from them. Eight of the consulates here will be participating in afternoon’s programme,” added Islam. The Bangla Language Movement of February 21, 1952 was a unique movement aimed at advocating the recognition of Bangla language as the state’s official language, allowing it to be used by the government. The march witnessed participation not only from Bangladesh and India, but will also be graced by the presence of consuls of eight countries in India. The sacrifice made by the students on February 21, 1952 became the inspiration Bengalis needed in their struggle to establish the only nation named after its language, Bangladesh. (ANI)
Lacolle (läkôlˈ) [key], village (1991 pop. 1,392), S Que., Canada, S of Montreal and near the U.S. border. During the War of 1812, an invading American army was defeated in the area by the British on Mar. 30, 1814. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Research our extensive archive of more than 80 million articles from 6,500 publications. Additional search results provided by HighBeam Research, LLC. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. About Infoplease, Part of Family Education Network © 2000–2014 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease
Microsoft to Stop Honoring SHA1 Certificates for SSL and Code Signing The US National Institute of Standards and Technology has recommended that SHA1 no longer be trusted past January of 2014. But with 98% of certificates issued world-wide being based on that standard an immediate change is no feasible. So Microsoft is giving websites until January first of 2017 to replace their SSL certificates with a more secure version. Application vendors that need to sign their code are also affected. They only have until January first of 2016 to acquire new code signing certificates. “SHA1 code signing certificates that are time stamped before 1 January 2016 will be accepted until such time when Microsoft decides SHA1 is vulnerable to pre-image attack.” These polices are subject to review in the middle of 2015. Two key factors that may affect Microsoft’s timelines are: whether SHA1 is still considered resistant to pre-image attacks by the security community, and whether a significant portion of the ecosystem is not capable of switching to SHA2. Third party legacy systems and embedded devices that cannot be upgraded to SHA2 may be particularly susceptible. We will continue to gather data on this portion of the ecosystem. As currently written the SHA1 Deprecation Policy will apply to Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and later operating systems. Those still running Windows XP will need at least Service Pack 3 in order to use SHA2. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 also supports SHA2. Delivering Performance Under Schedule and Resource Pressure: Lessons Learned at Google and Microsoft Ivan Filho Mar 06, 2014 Andrew Stellman Mar 06, 2014
May 2, 2011 -- The hearts of people who perform the daring feat of fire walking beat in sync with loved ones watching them complete the ceremony. A new study shows the heart rates of fire walkers were synchronized with friends and family watching a fire walking ceremony in a way different from other non-related onlookers. Researchers say the results suggest that collective rituals may bond participants and onlookers in a physiological as well as social way. The results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Rituals Bond Hearts For the study, researchers recorded continuous heart rate information from 12 fire walkers, nine spectators who were friends or relatives of the fire walkers, and 17 other spectators during an annual fire walking ceremony in San Pedro Manrique, Spain. Using a mathematical model, researcher Ivana Konvalinka of Aarhus University in Denmark and colleagues found similar patterns of heart rates during the 30-minute ritual among fire walkers and friends and relatives in the audience but not among fire walkers and unrelated spectators. Researchers say the mathematical model used distinguishes between changes in heart rate due to adrenaline surges that would be expected at such an event. They say the unique heart rate patterns reflect subtle heart activity associated with shared emotional experiences and suggest that people can be linked in physiological as well as emotional ways.
Amazon Web Services is a juggernaut in the infrastructure as a service market, but GoGrid, a midsize IaaS competitor that aims to be the cloud for big data, says it wants to offer an alternative to AWS's platform. And it's hoping to do so through open source databases. AWS is a great platform for running its own custom-built proprietary databases, like DynamoDB, its internally designed NoSQL database, along with Elastic Map Reduce, its Hadoop-like data service. But GoGrid CEO John Keagy says if an organization wants to use a true open source database, like MongoDB, Basho's Riak, Hadoop or Cassandra, Amazon is not the place to go. [ Stay on top of the cloud with the "Cloud Computing Deep Dive" special report. Download it today! \| From Amazon to Windows Azure, see how the elite 8 public clouds compare in InfoWorld's review. \| For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ] "We want to be an open source alternative," he says. "If you're not worried about lock-in then use (AWS). If you're an enterprise that wants to be able to scale indefinitely and have a flexible architecture then you should identify those needs early and embrace an open source architecture." Keagy says GoGrid has been built from the ground up with the intention of running open source big data workloads. The company has been recognized as one of the industry's notable vendors by Gartner in the research firm's latest Magic Quadrant. GoGrid was positioned in the "niche players" quadrant with one of the weakest "completeness of vision" rankings of the more than a dozen vendors in the report. This week GoGird took a substantial step toward improving its platform with the launch of its 1-Button Deploy feature. The tool allows users to spin up versions of MongoDB, Basho's Riak, Cassandra and Hortonworks' Hadoop with one click. Keagy says this is the easiest way for users to spin up and test out a version of these open source tools. He's hoping once users try it, they stick around. Because they are open source, users can build applications around these data services in GoGrid's cloud, then run the same copy of the open source software on their own premises and bring the apps back in-house. Keagy says customers can't do that with AWS's DynamoDB or EMR. Here's where GoGrid's value proposition breaks down somewhat, though: AWS offers all those open source database options, too.Liam Eagle, an analyst with 451 Research Group, says GoGrid is in a similar position to a host of other IaaS vendors looking for a competitive edge against AWS.
& lt;span class= "dropcap " & B & lt;/span & esides Tim Eyman's tax limitation Initiative 960 and Referendum 67, which has been the subject of television ads for weeks, there are four other state issues, all proposed constitutional amendments, on Washington's November ballot. Only one has drawn much public interest, HJR -- House Joint Resolution -- 4204. Here's a rundown of the four. HJR 4204: "Simple Majority" When a candidate for office wins an election with 59 percent of the vote, he or she calls it a landslide. When school administrators win 59 percent of the vote for a local school property tax levy, they call it a failure. Since 1944 the Washington constitution has required school districts to win 60 percent majorities at the polls before collecting local taxes to supplement their basic education funding from the state. The move was rooted in the Great Depression. "Washington voters put the supermajority requirement in the constitution as a protection against a small number of voters, who may not have been property owners, being able to raise property taxes on every homeowner in the school district," said Sen. Dan Swecker (R-Rochester) in a pamphlet sent to his constituents. School advocates, from administrators to teachers to parent groups, say it's time to revisit the supermajority standard and allow the people the chance to dump it in favor of a 50 percent-plus-one-vote standard. If a "simple majority" is good enough to raise sales taxes for sports stadiums and to incorporate cities, it should be good enough to raise property taxes for schools, they argue. And they say, although the state is allocating more money than ever for basic education, it's also tying most of that funding to specific programs, leaving districts with fewer discretionary dollars and making local levies more important than ever. "Those levies provide things like crossing guards, librarians, band and strings," said Spokane Education Association President Maureen Ramos, "the things that make our schools special." The supermajority issue is not that urgent in the Spokane district where voters routinely approve school levies, said Ramos at a recent news conference to kick off the "Simple Majority" campaign. "Few districts in Spokane County have failed levies in the last 15 years. But other districts in Washington don't have that level of support." "Simple Majority" supporters cite about 30 levies statewide that have failed in recent years, despite winning majority votes. In those cases district officials had to resubmit the levies to voters, spending thousands of dollars on elections that they could have used in classrooms, supporters say. HJR 4204 does one other thing: it eliminates the validation requirement, whereby a school levy would also need to be voted on by a certain number of people to even become eligible for approval. Opponents of HJR 4204 say the 60 percent supermajority is an appropriately tough standard that levies should meet. And they cite the same 30 failed levies -- only a few of the hundreds of levies submitted to voters -- as evidence that almost all measures are approved, despite the higher standard. They say the state would set a dangerous precedent by making it easier to authorize taxes. During legislative debate, Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Hoquiam) said he would support the "simple majority" proposal if it applied to school levies run during November general elections, when voter turnout is higher, but not to levies run during special elections in the spring. His amendment failed. HJR 4204 would not apply to school bond issues. The "Simple Majority" campaign is certainly well funded. Supporters have donated more than $500,000, according to recent Public Disclosure Commission documents, an indication that they plan to make the most of their shot at convincing voters. ("We've worked 30 years for this," one educator said.) Many business organizations have offered their support. "The No. 1 issue among 50 of our top business leaders is an effective K-12 public education system," said Rich Hadley, the president of Greater Spokane, Inc., at the "Simple Majority" news conference. "Companies want to know their schools are strong. This is good for business. It makes all the sense in the world." HJR 4215: Higher Education Investments Washington State University has convinced lawmakers to allow the money generated from the state trust lands that are dedicated to Washington's college and universities to be invested in stocks. Because that requires a change to the state constitution, the people will have the final say. For years, state officials have deposited the money raised from cutting timber or mining minerals on state land into "permanent funds." Originally, that money, which is managed by the state's Investment Board, was to be routed into safe, but sometimes lower-yielding, government bonds. However, three times in the last 40 years, voters have changed the constitution to allow some of the recipients of those funds to broaden their investment options. Now, only the funds for higher education are subject to the restriction. "WSU's agricultural and scientific permanent funds actually lost money during the past year due to an unfavorable bond market," says Larry Ganders, WSU's Olympia lobbyist, in a recent briefing paper. This year, WSU went to the legislature with House Joint Resolution 4215, which would allow the six higher education institutions to work with the Investment Board to invest trust fund money in private equities. "We're just looking for a better return," Ganders told the House Capital Budget Committee in February. He said the universities understand the risk that investing in the stock market carries, but he assured representatives that the universities weren't interested in taking big chances with their trust money. The resolution passed both chambers with only two dissenting votes. One was cast by Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle), who worried the measure would "place university funds at risk," he wrote in a pamphlet to his constituents. "I believe these funds should remain in stable investments, instead of gambling them in the stock market to create profits for stockbrokers." ESSJR 8206: Budget Stabilization Fund The title of Engrossed Substitute Senate Joint Resolution 8206 might be more complicated than the measure itself. The proposed constitutional amendment would require the legislature to create a Budget Stabilization Account and deposit 1 percent of the state's general revenues generated each year in it. The measure allows the legislature to take money from the account if the governor declares a financial emergency, if a slow economy falls under certain conditions and triggers a mechanism that allows a majority legislative vote, or with a three-fifths vote of lawmakers in all other cases. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane) and Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-Vancouver) say the amendment requires the state to have a reserve fund that it can draw upon during tight economic times. Opponents, including Rep. Helen Sommers (D-Seattle) say putting the reserve fund under the protection of the constitution takes away some of lawmakers' flexibility in allocating taxpayer money. "Spending policy should not be written into legislation," she says. SJR 8212: Inmate Labor Many Washington prison inmates work for a living, making furniture, clothes and other goods behind their institutions' walls. "There is a benefit to their being there," Sen. Jim Hargrove told the Aberdeen Daily World. "They provide wages that pay for victim restitution. They give prisoners skills that prevent recidivism." The state regulates correctional work industry programs so that they don't have unfair competitive advantages over local businesses. But in 2004, the Washington Supreme Court, after a complaint from a Western Washington manufacturing company, ruled that one of the five classes of prison industries did enjoy competitive advantages and it required that the nine prison/private partnerships that fell under that class be shut down. Hargrove disputes that those companies shared competitive advantages. He told the House Human Services Committee in February that, although the state provides the space and the labor for a business/prison partnership, the business must pay locally competitive wages plus the sometimes greater costs of operating in a state institution. His SJR 8212 would allow voters to change the constitution to allow businesses to contract with prisons for labor, as long as the state labor programs don't give the businesses involved an unfair advantage.
All I want for Christmas is — marijuana? For Christmas-shopping Arizona residents, a new store just opened in Tucson that’s getting quite a bit of attention. The first marijuana dispensary is coming to town. Despite the federal prohibition on marijuana, a Maricopa County judge has ruled that the feds can’t stop a medical marijuana dispensary from opening. The decision by Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon allows dispensaries to open — and one already has, although marijuana will not actually be dispensed there until later this month. The ruling comes amidst the resounding approval of popular vote. White Mountain Health Center, a planned medical marijuana dispensary, has been blocked by the county’s refusal to release zoning information required by the state. The center has now been given the go-ahead to open its doors. The health center had been delayed largely due to the advice of County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who believed that the county should not release the zoning information to White Mountain. The Board of Supervisors supported Montgomery’s decision. White Mountain sued, claiming that those who voted for legalized marijuana were being denied their right to medical marijuana use. Montgomery them teamed up with state Attorney General Tom Horne’s office to argue the federal preemption angle, arguing that Arizona couldn’t possibly legalize or authorize the use of marijuana, because the federal government says marijuana is illegal. The judge promptly rejected the argument, writing: “… in the final analysis, the Court finds that federal law does not preempt the AMMA. In so doing, the Court notes that Arizona, if it had wished to do so, could have fully decriminalized the possession, use and sale of marijuana under State law. In its wisdom, Arizona took a far narrower and deliberative course opting to allow only the chronically ill access to it and only after a licensed physician certified that it might well relieve its citizens of suffering.” While opposition may remain, dispensaries will open. Arizona Organix was the first dispensary to be approved by the state Department of Health Services. It will open on Thursday. A dispensary allegedly opened yesterday, reported by Fox News as the “first legal medical marijuana dispensary in Arizona.” Although patrons were able to enter and register at the doctors-office style dispensary, no marijuana will be released until later this month, reports say.
Launched in May 2011 by the former Liberal Quebec government, the Plan Nord is a sustainable development program for northern Quebec that establishes the framework for the long-term economic and social development of an area that covers approximately 72 percent of Quebec’s territory (463,323 square miles). The government will deploy the Plan Nord over the next 25 years through a series of phases and is expected to lead to 80 billion Canadian dollars ($81.8 billion) in public and private investments. The Plan Nord focuses primarily on the mining, forestry, biofood and tourism industries and places great emphasis on the development of energy, transportation, communication and social infrastructure, such as housing. In this context, the Quebec Finance Minister announced the following measures in the 2012 budget speech: - Focusing on natural gas to stimulate the development of new mineral resource processing projects. Thus, Gaz Métro with the support of the Quebec government will undertake feasibility studies with a view to building a gas pipeline to supply the Côte-Nord region. Such a pipeline would represent an investment of approximately CA$750 million. - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec (manager of public- and private-sector pension funds) and CN (a Canadian railway company) are teaming up on a project to build a rail link between the port in Sept-Îles and the various mining projects in the Labrador Trough. If the project proceeds, it would represent a multi-billion dollar investment. - In 2012 Hydro-Quebec will undertake studies on the extension of the power transmission grid to Nunavik from the Complexe La Grande facility. When the Plan Nord was launched in 2011, the Quebec government announced the creation of a new government corporation, the Société du Plan Nord, which will be responsible for coordinating government funding to implement the strategic plan formulated by the government in connection with its five-year action plans relating to the Plan Nord. Bill 27 creating the Société du Plan Nord is still being reviewed by the lawmakers. Under the circumstances, the government announced the creation of the Plan Nord Transition Office. This office is taking over the short‑term mandates and responsibilities that will eventually be entrusted to the Société du Plan Nord. It is worth noting that two other major economic arms of the Quebec government, Hydro-Quebec and Investissement Quebec, were assigned important roles in their respective areas of expertise, namely the development of energy strategies and the coordination of public investments in private-sector projects. In the 2012 budget, the Quebec government refined the role of Investissement Quebec, not only vis-à-vis the Plan Nord but in the natural resource sector generally. Investissement Quebec already controls two subsidiaries operating in the natural resources sector, Société québécoise d’exploration minière (SOQUEM), which specializes in mining, and SOQUIP, which specializes in hydrocarbons. For better coordination of its investment strategy in resource development companies, the government announced in the 2012-2013 budget the creation of Ressources Quebec, a new Investissement Quebec subsidiary. That new entity will consolidate all of Investissement Québec’s current equity interests in mines and hydrocarbons, with SOQUEM and SOQUIP becoming subsidiaries of Ressources Quebec. The primary role of Ressources Quebec, made official on April 18, will be to establish more private partnerships with private entities in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors. Ressources Quebec will be allocated over CA$1 billion, of which CA$500 million will be invested in equity interests in specific Plan Nord projects and the other CA$500 million will be invested in projects in the overall the Plan Nord territory. Thirteen developers have already been informed that the government is considering investing in their projects. SOQUEM, now a Ressources Quebec subsidiary, will be allocated a further CA$100 million over five years for investments in mining projects. Furthermore, the profits generated by the equity interests taken by Ressources Quebec will be deposited in a new fund announced in the budget speech, Capital Mines Hydrocarbures, and reinvested in future projects. On Sept. 4, Quebec’s voter elected a minority Parti Québécois (PQ) government. The announcement of the new government’s vision for the Plan Nord is eagerly awaited. The new government has proposed to adopt an “integrated strategy for resources in the north in order to guide development projects” and may do some tinkering with the Plan Nord, such as changing the nature of the program to “Développement nordique”. It will be interesting to see how and if the new government will support infrastructure projects such as roads, transmission lines and railways in order to allow the new development projects to get off the ground in the north. Some have speculated that the new government will require some form of equity participation in projects in order to finance infrastructure projects.
New York Gov. David A. Paterson on Friday proposed legislation that could give the state's two huge university systems a large infusion of funds and far more flexibility -- even in what is going to be another tight budget year. The proposal receiving the most attention would allow the State University of New York and City University of New York to set their own tuition rates and to consider differential tuition policies by campus or academic program. Further, the proposal would allow the university systems to keep any additional tuition revenues they generate. The combined impact of these shifts could be dramatic. Currently, the Legislature sets tuition during the annual appropriations process and doesn't necessarily allocate the additional revenue generated from tuition to higher education. So SUNY and CUNY have been in the unenviable position of seeing rates go up to bail out the state, not to help students. The governor is also proposing significant regulatory reforms for university systems that have long complained of spending too much time dealing with the Albany bureaucracy. For example, campuses will have greater freedom to lease property and to sign contracts without prior state approval. These changes are expected to speed up many construction projects that have languished, even if funds have been found for them. The governor's office projected that the shifts together could, at SUNY, result in the creation of more than 2,200 faculty positions and the ability for campuses to enroll an additional 20,000 students above planned targets. With the governor due to present his budget plan on Tuesday (a plan unlikely to please higher education, given the depth of the state's financial woes), Friday's announcement shifted moods on many campuses. A big question mark, of course, is whether the plan will win legislative favor. Governor Paterson -- currently considered a long shot in his bid to win a full term on his own this year -- isn't a political powerhouse these days. But SUNY and CUNY officials hope that there are enough campuses that would benefit from the plan that a legislative majority will emerge. Nancy L. Zimpher, chancellor of the SUNY system, said that she spent some time Friday afternoon talking to legislators and that she found a willingness to seriously consider the plan. She acknowledged that lawmakers have been hesitant in the past to give up their control over tuition rates, but she noted that the governor's plan has a specific limit on any increase -- two and a half times the rolling five-year average of the Higher Education Price Index, which for the most recent year was 2.3 percent. She also said that state leaders want the university system to do more for the state, and yet lack funds for a major additional state investment right now. "This is a no-cost option" (for the state), she said, "that has 'return on investment' written all over it." "These times are different," she said. Student groups tend to be skeptical of tuition increases. Fran Clark, program coordinator for higher education of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said that any tuition increase generates "concerns about access" and over whether the state is engaged in "a shifting of resources away from students." He also said that he feared that differential tuition by campus or program would result in low-income students being discouraged from enrolling on certain campuses or in certain programs. University officials, however, pointed out that the choice for New York State students wasn't between the governor's plan and level tuition, but between two different approaches to tuition increases. Allan Dobrin, vice chancellor and chief operating officer of CUNY, said that the way New York State has set tuition is "almost perfectly wrong." He noted that "we don't raise tuition in good economic times when families have more money, and then [do] raise it in bad times." Students and their families would benefit from "small increases" on a regular basis, with the funds paying for improvements in student aid and academic programs, he said. Different approaches are expected to any flexibility the state grants on tuition rates by campus or program. CUNY is expected to consider differential tuition not by campus, but by academic program, particularly for those with higher than normal costs due to laboratory needs, specialized faculty and so forth. Within SUNY, the strongest push for higher tuition rates is expected to come from the university centers. Because SUNY's four-year institutions include large research universities and small undergraduate colleges, the former have said that they are limited by having to charge the same as the latter. Leaders of the university centers were quick to endorse the governor's plan. Samuel L. Stanley, president at Stony Brook, said that the additional funds would provide for extra financial aid for low-income students. But in a statement, he said that the additional funds would benefit all students, enabling the university to hire 400 new faculty members over the next decade and to reduce class sizes. John B. Simpson, president of SUNY's university center at Buffalo, said that the governor's proposal makes it possible that he could for the first time in seven years "be focused on investing in quality" instead of "another budgetary disappointment." The shifts being proposed could give SUNY campuses the ability to compete nationally in a way that has been difficult for them. Buffalo has been pushing for more authority to set its own tuition and made some progress on that front (but fell short) in the legislature last year. Simpson said that the governor's plan would achieve his key objectives in giving Buffalo the flexibility it needs, and others in the state said that by broadening the flexibility options, the governor might make the plan attract more support beyond western New York. Simpson said he believed students could be won over as well. He noted that when the state last increased SUNY tuition, 90 percent went straight to the state, without providing any help for the university. "The status quo is pretty horrible," he said.
In this project, I am making a small desk for my daughter. She tends to be very rough on furniture, so I want a solution that will be inexpensive but will also last a while. Luckily, up in the attic, there are a number of old kitchen cabinets as pictured below. If I squint my eyes a little, and dim the light, I can already see a desk, can't you? Be warned - this is no heirloom piece, but as a six year old, my daughter is convinced I'm a genius. Step 1: Clean the cabinet This is the easiest step. Simply take a damp towel and some Dollar Store cleaner (thanks Jolene!) and wipe the cabinet clean, inside and out. Step 2: AAAGH!! CONTAC PAPER!!! MUST REMOVE!! As you can see, the inside of this cabinet is coated with a horrific, 1951 floral print. Being as horrible as it is, it must come off. Step 3: Scrape Contac Paper off of shelves Using a razor blade, being very careful, begin to remove the Contac Paper. Starting in a corner. Step 4: Try to get the Contac Paper off in large pieces Contac Paper is fairly easy to remove, but it will definitely save you time to remove it in as large pieces as you can. Peel slowly, and be patient. Now is a good time for some music. Go ahead and keep the lights dimmed too, and possibly sip some champagne. Step 5: Carefully replace Contac Paper once daughter begins to cry because she likes the flowers Step 6: Paint the outside of the cabinet I chose some old paint from a wall project we did upstairs, because it's a nice color and my daughter likes it. I did not remove the doors initially, because I am lazy, but changed my mind later. I was thinking the contrast of the already-white doors against the blue would look nicer. When I put the doors back on, I put them on upside down, so the pull knobs would be near the top instead of near the floor when the desk is in use.
Depression And Alcohol And Drug Problems A person’s genetic make-up influences the risk of developing problems with drinking, drug use and depression. These problems can overlap; the link between depression and substance abuse and dependence is strong: - Depression makes substance use worse. - Depression lasts longer in people who drink, and it is more likely to happen again. - Depressed people who drink alcohol attempt suicide more frequently than depressed people who do not drink alcohol. Abusing alcohol or drugs is linked to brain damage, stroke, liver disease, heart disease, digestive problems and cancer. People who use alcohol and drugs are more at risk of car accidents, drowning and falling. They may engage in unsafe sex, which exposes them to illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and herpes. Any alcohol- or drug-related problems can contribute to depression. Substance abuse also can wreak havoc on your personal life. Relationships become tense. The risk of divorce and domestic violence increases. School or work performance may be poor. Initially, people may turn to alcohol or drugs as an escape from painful emotions. The substances, though, tend to amplify rather than reduce problems. Depression and substance use/abuse feed each other. No matter which problem comes first, it is important to treat both the depression and the substance problem. (Sometimes substance abuse is a hidden reason why depression treatment fails.) Treatment often involves a combination of psychotherapy, group support (such as Alcoholics Anonymous) and drug treatment. Your doctor can help to determine whether you have any associated medical problems that need to be treated.
Lee, Oneida County, New York Contributed by Kathleen L. Last, Feb. 2000 [email@example.com]. Total records = 5,991. Located on Route 26 in Stokes, Town of Lee This cemetery was copied by Kathleen Last and Virginia Ackerman during the fall of 1998. After copying the tombstones we went through the interment books and filled in any names that we did not find a stone for. We have included the names taken from the interment books in ( ) and indicated Book and page number. If there was a date in the book we included it. The dates in ( ) indicate the date we found in the interment book. Please note that we have found some cases where this date was the burial date not date of death. In addition to going through the interment books we have added information found in obituaries and family records that we had access to. This information is in ( ) within the inscription. New York Genealogy Links
Promoting growth and jobs is our top priority. We agreed to nurture the global recovery by supporting demand, securing our public finances and exploiting all sources of growth. The fight against unemployment, particularly long-term and youth unemployment remains critical in our domestic and collective agendas. Global economic prospects remain weak, though downside risks have reduced thanks in part to significant policy actions taken in the US, euro area and Japan, and to the resilience of major developing and emerging market economies. Most financial markets have seen marked gains as a result. However, this optimism is yet to be translated fully into broader improvements in economic activity and employment in most advanced economies. In fact, prospects for growth in some regions have weakened since the Camp David summit. While countries have taken steps to avoid the worst of the tail risks that faced the world economy in 2012, vulnerabilities remain in 2013, highlighting the need for countries to press ahead with the necessary reforms to restore sustainable growth and jobs. Downside risks in the euro area have abated over the past year, but it remains in recession. Additional strengthening of the architecture of the European Economic and Monetary Union, including through the development of the agreed elements of a banking union, is strongly needed to contribute to further reducing financial fragmentation, and continued strengthening of banks’ balance sheets. Fiscal sustainability and restoring financial stability need to go hand in hand with well-designed growth strategies, including growth-oriented structural reforms. The US recovery is continuing and the deficit is declining rapidly in the context of a continuing need for further progress towards balanced medium-term fiscal sustainability and targeted investments to enhance growth. Japan’s growth will be supported by its near-term fiscal stimulus, bold monetary policy and recently announced strategy for promoting private investment. However it will need to address the challenge of defining a credible medium-term fiscal plan. Some of our central banks have continued to use highly accommodative monetary policy to support their domestic economies, including through unconventional means such as quantitative easing. Russia is experiencing low unemployment and a favourable fiscal position, but more moderate global growth and volatile commodity prices will be a challenge. In light of this background we are committed to taking further action now to restore confidence, encourage investment and job creation, support the recovery and reduce global imbalances. We agreed today that: Decisive action is needed to nurture a sustainable recovery and restore the resilience of the global economy. Advanced economies need to balance supporting domestic demand with reforms to tackle structural weaknesses that weigh on growth, while implementing credible fiscal plans. We reaffirm our commitment to cooperate to achieve a lasting reduction in global imbalances, which surplus and deficit countries must address. Monetary policy should continue to support the recovery and be directed towards domestic price stability, according to the respective mandates of central banks. Restoring medium-term fiscal sustainability remains a priority. Fiscal policy should allow for near-term flexibility to accommodate economic conditions including through focusing on the structural deficit as appropriate. The pace of fiscal consolidation should be differentiated for our different national economic circumstances. Structural reforms are key to improving sustainable growth and long-term living standards, enhancing competitiveness, providing well-functioning credit channels for investment including by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and strengthening confidence. Urgent and specific measures are needed to create quality jobs, particularly for the young and the long-term unemployed. We are all committed to make the necessary reforms in our own economies to support stronger financial systems, healthy labour markets, jobs and growth, and bolster world trade. - Date Modified:
Keith Richburg, Jon Huntsman and Kevin Rudd will be in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Wednesday, April 3 to discuss "China Rising". It’s been often repeated that the U.S.- China relationship is the most important of the 21st century. And most Americans implicitly understand that China is now a key global player whose economy rivals our own. In fact, according to the most recent Pew Global Attitudes Survey, 41 percent of Americans now see China as the world’s leading economy, compared to 40 percent who still see the U.S. in that role. But that recognition of China’s rising clout doesn’t mean we fully understand the complexities of the relationship, or are yet ready to carefully manage it. Understanding starts first with a recognition that the U.S.-China relationship is defined by multiple, overlapping layers of engagement and mistrust. Our economies are now inextricably intertwined through mutual trade and investment. There are deep and growing social, cultural and educational ties – witness the number of Chinese students and professionals coming here, including to the Kennedy School, and the number of young Americans studying Mandarin Chinese in our high schools and universities as well as in mainland Chinese schools. And our commercial ties go well beyond the level of our national leaders; American governors, county executives and mayors now travel regularly to China in search of trade and investment opportunities, and are forming strong links with Chinese local officials in the cities and provinces far from Beijing. But the deepening ties must not obscure the continued and profound mistrust, often born of misperceptions and a mutual lack of understanding. The Chinese warily see our announced pivot to Asia as purely military in nature, and an attempt to encircle China and contain its inevitable rise. We likewise view China’s assertiveness in the East and South China Seas as a kind of belligerence, born from China’s new economic clout and perhaps a perception from Beijing that the U.S. is now financially weakened and military drained. None of this means that conflict is inevitable or even likely. The U.S. and China are likely to remain competitors but not necessarily antagonists. But it does require careful and sustained management of this complex relationship. That means, among other things, identifying strategic areas where our two countries can cooperate, while recognizing frankly and openly the areas where we will continue to differ. And it also means the “pivot” should be not just a military re-positioning, but contain a positive agenda for the Asia-Pacific region, like free trade agreements with our friends and allies. All of this is long, hard work. Results won’t come quickly or without fits and starts. But the payoff would be immense – nothing short of a more peaceful, stable and prosperous world.
This is the full research report for 192.168.97.209, which is an IP address. 192.168.97.209 is the IP address you have a ran a report for on March, 07, 2014. If you meant to use another IP other than 192.168.97.209, then enter above and try again. It is 10:01 AM CET when you ran this report for 192.168.97.209 here on our website, IP-Adress.com. When it comes to 192.168.97.209, you can trust that if we have IP Whois information available for it, we will display it further below to assist in your research of this IP address. Feel free to run another search for 192.168.97.209 or a different search. The IP Whois report for 192.168.97.209 was ran at 10:01 AM CET on March 7, 2014 and the information is provided below if available. View comments on this 192.168.97.209 Whois IP address report below or add your own comment about 192.168.97.209. Now you can review additional IP Whois data for 192.168.97.209 below. Things like the status of 192.168.97.209 and the server of 192.168.97.209. Don't forget that the server that hosts 192.168.97.209 could also host other IP addresses, so research accordingly.
The hidden wiring emerges: The Cabinet Manual and the working of the British constitution This paper presents an analysis of the draft Cabinet Manual, a potentially powerful document that codifies and unites the often unwritten conventions and rules that have governed and guided governmental activity for decades. However, there are those who discern in it the prototypical nuclear core of what might become a written British constitution. By contrast, the authors think it is more a question of the hidden wiring of the constitution beginning to emerge: the process of codification to which the manual is a significant contribution should not be confused with full codification, as it might generally be understood. Nevertheless, while the manual may not be the constitution, it will impact upon it and may be interpreted as if it were that ultimate document. Author(s) : Andrew Blick - 01 Sep 2011 You may be interested in... IPPR in the news Ed Cox on Why London is such a powerful force in the UK (2.55 in) BBC Today - 04 Mar 2014The north holds the key to a better economy Manchester Everning News - 04 Mar 2014Net migration soars despite Cameron's pledge Daily Telegraph - 28 Feb 2014NEET generation The Independent - 27 Feb 2014 More BBC indie commissions, report says Radio Today - 27 Feb 2014BBC boss wants to extend licence fee to cover iPlayer Daily Mirror - 27 Feb 2014Scotland: Vote 'Yes' and lose the BBC The Independent - 27 Feb 2014Indy Scotland would be a vote to “leave” the BBC The Scotsman - 27 Feb 2014 Tony Hall: extend licence fee to cover iPlayer The Guardian - 27 Feb 2014Maria Miller says independent Scotland would lose the BBC The Guardian - 27 Feb 2014Hall vows to protect drama under further cost-cutting The Stage - 27 Feb 2014Hall proposes licence fee extension to include iPlayer BBC News Online - 27 Feb 2014 Harman at OMC: 'Daily Mail should apologise' The Guardian - 27 Feb 2014Time to break London's grip on creative industries BBC Wales Today - 25 Feb 2014UK's creative industries 'must back regional and ethnic diversity' The Guardian - 25 Feb 2014Creative industries need to be freed from London's 'closed shop' WalesOnline - 25 Feb 2014 Track changes - IPPR North on transport spend The Economist - 25 Feb 2014Tony Hall: top-slicing would undermine whole TV industry Broadcast Magazine - 25 Feb 2014Affordable childcare would boost economy BBC News Online - 23 Feb 2014IPPR report makes case for universal childcare Nursery World - 23 Feb 2014
Borg: Well, from that reflection we're going to do some up-to-date reflection on today's Condition of the State Address and we have convened three Iowa political reporters. Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson. Kathie Obradovich, Political Columnist for the Des Moines Register. And James Lynch who writes for the Gazette published in Cedar Rapids. I won't call on any one of you specifically for this but I'll tell you that just a few minutes ago I was talking with Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal about his reactions. And typically after, I think after every one of those speeches that you have just seen on Iowa Public Television back over the last 40 some years, I have never spoken with an opposition leader after the speech in which that person could completely agree with the speech. But yet, he did. So what are the implications politically for the length of this session, for Iowans overall and for the coming election in that? Kathie? Obradovich: Well, I think that not everyone universally agreed with everything the Governor said. We heard from one of his likely opponents, Senator Jack Hatch, who is running on the democratic ticket for Governor, who had quite a few things to say. He disagreed in general with the scope of the Governor's speech, not necessarily a lot of the individual programs. But he said it was timid, it was lackluster, it showed that the Governor had been there too long. So I think there is some criticism. But the Governor set out to deliver a bipartisan agenda and judging from the reaction that I heard from lawmakers on the floor here he did that. Henderson: This was a speech in which he addressed political reality. It's a careful agenda. Everything he mentioned does have broad support. There are some details that may run into problems in the legislature. For instance, with his anti-bullying proposal, some of those details are troublesome to First Amendment advocates. There are other parts of the proposal, for instance, in regards to veterans, in regards to the tax issue forgiving state income taxes on military pensions. But overall I think this was a veteran governor giving his 19th Condition of the State message addressing political reality. It's a split control legislature and he didn't want to propose anything that's just going to get shot down in a year when he is going to be going out to Iowans and saying, look, I can govern. Borg: Did you say it was a careful agenda? Lynch: I think it reflects the generally low expectations for this session. He threw out some agenda items that are -- we agree that both parties can work with. I mean, who can be against helping veterans? Who can be against broadband access? Freezing tuition? The only really sticking point here may be his anti-bullying legislation. But these are things that both parties can agree to for the most part and get through this unhurt, without either party getting hurt. Get in, get out, get re-elected. Obradovich: I think it was a little too careful. Governor Branstad presumably is going to be going out on the campaign trail in 2014 and making the case to Iowans that not only should they send him back but they should send him back a republican legislature. What I heard in this speech was him making the case over and over again about how well they work together as a divided legislature. He did not throw some things out there to say, here is what I could accomplish if you give me more republicans to work with. Borg: You said, Jim, that the anti-bullying legislation may find some controversy. Lynch: Right. He has proposed this before and it hasn't passed the legislature and there have been a number of objections. There are some civil liberty concerns, free speech concerns. There are some concerns from his own party about limits, how it would affect faith-based groups and those sorts of things. So there's some concerns out there about -- it's a sticky subject to deal with because you're saying in some ways you're limiting speech, you're limiting comment so that raises a lot of objections. Henderson: And republicans by and large want parents to be in control and this gives school officials a great deal of latitude in being, if you will, the disciplinarian and I think that is where he's going to run into problems with some of his core constituency republicans. Borg: I know we're gathered here to critique and observe on the current speech that we just heard. But let's just say that Terry Branstad is re-elected and he is back on the podium at that lectern next year at this time. Would you expect, Kathie, a completely different type of speech? That is, was he just kind of setting the stage? Or not even setting the stage, waiting for something bigger? Obradovich: Well, presumably he will come through the campaign, if he is re-elected, with an agenda for the next 4 years and I would expect that his speech next year, if he is re-elected, will be laying out that agenda as he did in 2010. I think what he would be able to accomplish though depends a lot on what kind of legislature gets elected with him. He benefits in some ways politically from having a divided legislature because he is not being pushed by the extremes of his party to do things that the majority of the electorate may not like. He has been very good at playing the democrats and republicans off of each other so he can be the consensus builder in the middle. That may not be the case next year. Lynch: This was sort of a half and half speech in terms of being political. I don't see the Home Base program for veterans is something you really take out on the campaign trail to get re-elected on or broadband connectivity. But he talked about Iowa is working, he talked about the successes that he can use that as he goes out onto the campaign trail. And if he is re-elected I would expect a much bolder agenda and sort of a more triumphant agenda. Henderson: Well, we have already heard him say in early December that he would like the state to have a flat tax because it would be competitive with surrounding states, it would lower the way Iowa's taxes look when compared to Illinois and Nebraska and Missouri and Minnesota. So I expect the man to go out and promise Iowans that he'll cut their income taxes and make that a key part of his theme for re-election and bring republican legislators on board with that. Borg: And this isn't an agenda, is it, that's going to cost the state a lot of money, Kathie? Obradovich: No, the Governor made it very clear that he has -- he and the legislature spent most of the money last year with the major property tax reform, which gives state money back to local governments, major education reform, which has not been fully implemented yet. And if you look at his chart over the next five years the state's big ending balance is big, ballooning surplus that we have dwindles down to very little at the end of five years. So he is saying that we have a discreet agenda here and we're going to make sure to keep the budget in balance. Borg: And that balloon that we're talking about here that Kathie has just described is the fact that things that were enacted last year are going to be costing money and dwindling down that state surplus through the next four or five years. Henderson: I'll use the same word that I used earlier, careful. There were some careful statements and reaction from republican legislators who are loath to spend a lot in the state budget because the budget plan that Branstad delivered these people today calls for a 7.8% increase in overall spending and that's going to be tough for republicans to swallow, especially in an election year. Borg: The Governor called this Home Base Iowa, the plan for education credits for veterans and the big one is that $10 million that it's going to cost the state treasury if we forgive military veterans their pensions in paying state income tax, and he called it the centerpiece of his agenda, the very centerpiece of all he wants to do. If you're looking ahead, crystal ball, would you say, Kathie, that is the way we're going to view this legislative session when it's all over, that this would be the centerpiece of all that happens this session? Obradovich: It's entirely possible. When you're betting on the legislature, betting on them doing as little as possible would be I think the smart money. And I do think that when he is setting up a very careful, limited agenda, the risk he runs is that legislators might decide not even to do that much. So if you go beyond what legislators are willing to do, you can take something into the next election. But in this case you take an agenda that is very bipartisan, that everyone agrees with going in and then if you can't get that part accomplished then it kind of raises questions for voters. Lynch: What I thought was interesting is that he was halfway or better through his address before he got to his centerpiece. It was like it was buried. Borg: Three-quarters of the way as I gauged it, yes. Henderson: It was interesting to me that he began the speech by talking about wrestling and saving wrestling in the Olympics and I think it was an intentional placement on the part of Branstad and his staff because they wanted to condition all legislators to stand up at the same time and clap. This was a remarkable speech in that you saw bipartisan applause for most of the items that he was proposing whereas in the past some things got republicans to stand up and cheer and other things got democrats to stand up and cheer. Borg: You know, in all the years that I have been covering conditions of the state and briefings on the state budget and so on, I don't believe I ever heard a reference to corn and soybean prices and the implications for the state budget. Obradovich: You know, the most partisan thing he did in this speech was to say that the federal government run by a democratic administration is failing the country. Very pointed and he is very passionate about trying to get Iowans together to try to save the renewable fuel standard, which could have a big impact on Iowa's ethanol industry. He's trying to rally the people of Iowa in a bipartisan fashion to say the democratic administration in Washington is messing up. Borg: Kay, go ahead. Henderson: The corn and soybean reference is interesting in that if the ag economy tanks, the ag economy has been booming in Iowa, if it tanks that is going to be a problem for Terry Branstad heading into an election. What happens if he has to do an across-the-board cut in the state budget? That really will be a thorn in his eye if he turns around later and the economy has gone south and he has to make some incredible budget decisions. Borg: Final question, are there winners and losers in what we heard today in the condition of the state? Lynch: Winners, working Iowans who pay taxes I guess probably are winners. I would say the losers are the people who work for minimum wage or low wages, no mention of that. Mental health, people who need mental health assistance. Obradovich: I would also say road builders, no mention of raising the gas tax or any other increased revenue to help build Iowa roads. Henderson: I agree with all that analysis. Borg: In future Iowa Press programs we're going to be asking you back as we analyze what happens here at the state legislature. This concludes Iowa Public Television's coverage of Governor Terry Branstad's Condition of the State Address to this 2014 session of the Iowa General Assembly. We'll be following, of course, this legislative session on our weekly Iowa Press program. And on Iowa Press, in fact, this Friday we're questioning House Speaker Kraig Paulsen and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal. We'll see you back here this weekend for Iowa Press. And for our entire Iowa Public Television production crew at the Statehouse in Des Moines, I'm Dean Borg. Thanks for joining us today.
The Donald Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy carries out research on the emerging green economy and climate change policy in California as these relate to labor markets, workforce development, and workforce policy. We work to promote the growth of a sustainable economy that brings together a highly-skilled workforce and innovative technology while also creating quality, family-supporting jobs. In addition to conducting original research on job creation, job quality, and training in the energy efficiency and clean energy sectors, the Vial Center engages with policymakers, other researchers, and advocacy groups to provide technical assistance and education. Our partners include California’s state energy and workforce agencies, environmental advocates, community-based social justice organizations, labor unions, and contractors’ associations, among others. California Workforce Education and Training Needs Assessment On March 17, 2011, The Donald Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy released the California Workforce Education and Training Needs Assessment for Energy Efficiency, Distributed Generation, and Demand Response. The report was endorsed by California Public Utility Commission president Mike Peevey, Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Martin Morgenstern, and Senator Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) in a press conference at the State Capitol. The study was mandated in the California Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic plan to provide recommendations to the CPUC and other agencies on the workforce strategies needed to achieve the state’s ambitious energy efficiency goals. Read more on the Needs Assessment report »
What are the benefits of IsaOmega Supreme? With over 25,000 clinical studies on omegas, research shows that getting an appropriate amount of fish oil in your diet may offer amazing benefits to your body. Offering gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an omega-6 fatty acid that’s commonly deficient in the body and may support joint health.* Additionally, The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times a week. According to the AHA, omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people. Research reported by the AHA has shown that omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of heart disease. As an added bonus, IsaOmega Supreme may benefit your hair, skin and nails.*
Tens of thousands of Portuguese and Spanish people took to the streets to demonstrate against austerity measures imposed by their governments to combat the banking sector debt crisis, BBC reported. The protesters rallied against increased taxes and spending cuts in towns across the Iberian Peninsula. At least one person in Portugal attempted to light themselves on fire to protest their economic hardship. Throughout the two countries and especially in their respective capitals of Lisbon and Madrid, public sector workers filled the streets and blocked central squares. Among the various anti-government messages broadcast at the rallies were "They are sinking the country". But the Spanish government defended the austerity measures they had put in place, claiming that the "sacrifices" were absolutely necessary if they were to extract the country – the continent's fourth largest in economic activity – from the financial crisis.
You need to Login or Register Home \| Search \| About \| SiteMap Status : Open as usual Know different? Sign Up to change it Build your pub pages for FREE Click for more info Why not Add your own image(s) to this gallery. Sign-up as Landlord/Manager of The Green. (You will need the PIN No. provided). A surname . Green Meaning: dweller at or near the village green, or grassy ground; someone fond of wearing the color green 1. of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum: green leaves. 2. covered with herbage or foliage; verdant: green fields. 3. characterized by the presence of verdure. 4. made of green vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, endive, or chicory: a green salad. 5. not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged: This peach is still green. 6. unseasoned; not dried or cured: green lumber. 7. immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced: a green worker. 8. simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled. 9. fresh, recent, or new: an insult still green in his mind. 10. having a sickly appearance; pale; wan: green with fear; green with envy. 11. full of life and vigor; young: a man ripe in years but green in heart. 12. environmentally sound or beneficial: green computers. 13. having a flavor that is raw, harsh, and acid, due esp. to a lack of maturity. 14. freshly slaughtered or still raw: green meat. 15. not fired, as bricks or pottery. 16. freshly set and not completely hardened. © 2007-2010 Its Our Local.com. All Rights Reserved. Web Design by New Media Designs.
This Recommendation \| International Standard defines a framework for public-key certificates and attribute certificates. These frameworks may be used by other standards bodies to profile their application to Public Key Infrastructures (PKI) and Privilege Management Infrastructures (PMI). Also, this Recommendation \| International Standard defines a framework for the provision of authentication services by Directory to its users. It describes two levels of authentication: simple authentication, using a password as a verification of claimed identity; and strong authentication, involving credentials formed using cryptographic techniques. While simple authentication offers some limited protection against unauthorized access, only strong authentication should be used as the basis for providing secure services.
March 28, 2013, 9:00 AM — Synergy Research released a ranking of cloud services recently that surprised many. In the infrastructure-as-a-service category, Amazon Web Services was far and away the leader – no surprise there. But number two, IBM, and three in particular, British Telecom, were unexpected. A few years back when I first started writing about cloud services there was buzz about the potential for telcos to become big suppliers of cloud services. Operators already have data centers—often globally--plus great connectivity options, and relationships with enterprises. Also, their traditional services have become commodities so they’re looking for new revenue streams. Periodically this subject of cloud services from telcos pops up but most often doesn’t end up gaining much momentum. For instance, AT&T has a cloud service built on OpenStack that I’ve heard very little about since launch, in January last year. Source: ivanx, via Flickr It’s a similar story with Terremark, which is celebrating a two-year anniversary since being acquired by Verizon. The under-the-radar strategy is about to change, at least for Terremark, said Chris Drumgoole, who heads global operations for Terremark. “Depending on who is doing the counting, we’re the second or third largest in the world,” behind AWS and possibly Rackspace, he said. (It really does depend on who’s counting. BT and IBM, in the Synergy report, may have included hosting or other services. It would be surprising not to see Rackspace ahead of IBM.) “Yet most people don’t know about us,” he said. That’s partly by choice. “We have consciously gone incognito a bit,” he said. That’s because the company has been working on big decisions around “what the next version of the cloud will be like, so it’s the silence before the storm,” he said. He didn’t want to say much more about what’s coming but he may have hinted at it. “We’re at the very beginning stages of this but we’re bringing the Verizon networks of the world, like wireless, FiOS and the business network, closer to the cloud,” he said. In practice, that means that if a business, for example, has franchises all over the country and uses Verizon for broadband, Terremark’s cloud can look like another node on that company’s private network. “For all intents and purposes, it’s private. If I didn’t tell you it was a cloud, it would look like any other data center on a private network. That’s huge for businesses because it takes the risk out of moving to the cloud,” he said. Other public cloud providers have ways that customers can securely connect to their servers. For instance, Amazon offers its virtual private cloud offerings. Drumgoole said there are tradeoffs to using that service, although he didn’t really specify beyond saying that it’s complex and not as secure. But AWS and other service providers, like an HP for example, aren't able to pass along the same kind of pricing and service for the network services as a company like Terremark that is affiliated with an operator. Leveraging Verizon’s telecom network is one way that Terremark can differentiate its services from the pack and may put it in a unique position to offer services that some others can’t. For instance, Terremark may be able to offer end-to-end SLAs that guarantee low latency. Latency is very important for many customers, enough so that many choose a cloud provider based on the location of its data centers. Even though these kinds of integrated services aren’t quite yet on offer from Terremark, it has managed to build itself a reputation for working with enterprise customers. I’ve recently been talking to platform-as-a-service providers and many of them offer customers the choice of running on AWS or Terremark. I suspect that non-startups of the world are interested in going with Terremark rather than with AWS, which has a relatively poor reputation for serving enterprises. Drumgoole said Terremark is also better off than the traditional enterprise vendors, like HP and IBM, because while he’s under Verizon’s umbrella, he doesn’t have the kind of baggage those others have. “For every cloud instance HP sells, it’s a server they don’t,” he said. It may still be some time before we see the telcos taking a significant bite out of this market. But from my perspective, they may have a better chance than the HPs and Dells of the world since the telcos don’t have the kind of business conflicts that are likely to hold back those traditional vendors. Read more of Nancy Gohring's "To the Cloud" blog and follow the latest IT news at ITworld. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @ngohring. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook.
“I’m not pretending to be naïve and say that every person in government takes it just as seriously,” he says, “but one of the hottest issues among our government customers is the need to guarantee that information on individual US citizens does not fall into the wrong hands. There’s rigorous scrutiny to ensure that information isn’t analyzed inappropriately.” And, he adds, the Feds aren’t generally interested in individuals so much as the connections between networks of people. “They need to understand the entire conspiracy, the complete story,” he says. So if the spooks do mistake you for a wanted terrorist and toss you into Gitmo, at least you might end up there with people you know. Hopefully, though, smarter tools for manipulating big data will make this outcome less likely, not more. Got a question about social media? TY4NS blogger Dan Tynan may have the answer (and if not, he’ll make something up). Visit his snarky, occasionally NSFW blog eSarcasm or follow him on Twitter: @tynanwrites. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-to’s, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook. Now read this:
August 26, 2008, 9:45 PM — The cell phone has revolutionized the way Kenya's pastoral communities work and conduct business, according to Joseph ole Kishau, an elder in the Maasai community. Using the cell phone, communities can make calls to warn adjacent villagers of cattle thieves and rustlers, which has made it hard for the attackers, Kishau said. Cattle rustling is a cultural tradition among the pastoralist communities where one community steals cattle from another. Today, however, cattle rustling involves guns and affects communities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. With technology, communities are able to prepare and guard their homes against the thieves, which reduces vulnerability. Pastoral communities occupy vast areas, but now that most people have mobile phones, communication between herders has become easy, said Molu Kulu, an elder from the Gabbra community in Northern Kenya. "The mobile has made us equal," Kulu said. "It is not like the landline, which was only available in some homes, or the phone booth, which was available in trading centers. Now everyone can communicate." Mobile phones have also changed the way these communities conduct business: Herders call Nairobi to find out the market rates for their livestock, and they can receive daily prices via SMS (Short Message Service), enabling them to demand better rates from livestock buyers. The M-PESA electronic money transfer service, however, is what amuses Kishau the most: "I can send money to any part of the Rift Valley without spending money on bus fare or walking there. This is so good." "The market has now come to our door step," said Kulu. "I can sell my cattle from my home and receive money via M-PESA. I do not have to walk the long distance." Moreover, the mobile phone has aided peace initiatives due to the ease of communication and coordination with village elders, said Patta Scott-Villiers of the United Nations Pastoralist Communication Initiative. "UN PCI works with the traditional elders who wield a lot of power in their communities," he said. "With a mobile phone, we can easily communicate with them, no matter the distance."
THE VIEW FROM HERE Did you have a nice Christmas? I’m sure you did. I expect it was all non-stop peace and goodwill and everybody being simply super to each other. What’s that you say? There was the odd argument? Somebody had a hissy fit and there was a great rumpus and it all ended in tears? And who was the somebody who got in such a naughty temper? It was actually you? Oh dear me, that won’t do at all. If only you’d taken an aspirin. Yes, research reveals uncontrollable bouts of rage (such as we witnessed when the fairy lights wouldn’t work and you threw the screwdriver across the room) not only have a fancy medical title but can be cured with a simple little pill. Did your family irritate you to boiling point this Christmas? And did you shout at them? And what sort of language did you use when you got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the supermarket, then fought your way through the vegetables to find there weren’t any sprouts and finally spent an hour waiting in the queue for petrol? I thought so. You are a very cross person and you are suffering from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). This is a disorder which, like so many others at this time of year (disgusting runny noses, repulsive hacking coughs) affects not only you but those around you. Fortunately, help is at hand. It seems IED is caused by inflammation of the blood and can be alleviated with an anti-inflammatory drug such as aspirin. Interestingly, the Greek physician Hippocrates latched on to this sort of thing centuries ago (around 300BC, to be precise) when he declared personality was ordained by bodily fluids — black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. When the Greeks got their togas in a twist, it was all down to an excess of yellow bile. This was scorned by modern medics, who preferred to cure tantrums via the psychiatrist’s couch. Hitherto, IED has also frequently been treated by amateur physicians such as Michael Winner and David Cameron, exhorting the sufferer to "Calm down, dear". This has been an entirely counter-productive remedy, its patronising ingredients merely inciting the patient to fresh heights of rage. An aspirin. That’s all you need. Stock up before the New Year and for goodness sake, try to contain yourself when the pharmacist insists giving you a lecture about how often to take them and inquiring whether you have a delicate stomach. Don’t have an IED fit at the counter. Soon the aspirin will be slipping down your throat, that beastly yellow bile will be in retreat and Hippocrates will be saying: "I told you so." After gunpowder, any other beauty tips are welcome I wonder if David Icke, the Island’s kookiest celebrity, might benefit from an aspirin? He is frequently cross, though one cannot blame him, with all he has to worry about. We’re still in the festive season but there’s no time for jollity, as far as he’s concerned. He’s currently fretting about a paedophile network whose roots lead back to 10 Downing Street, satanists in the Royal family, a fearful scandal about Nick Clegg (excuse me? Boring old Nick Clegg? Are you quite sure?), not to mention the iniquities of evangelist preacher Billy Graham, who may be 95 but is still enraging poor Mr Icke. With all this on his mind, I am mortified, therefore, to discover I have unwittingly exacerbated the grumpiness that festers in Mr Icke’s heart. I recently wrote an article recommending him as our next MP. He is constantly alert to all sorts of frightful goings-on in the world, such as cheese made out of armpits and Prince Philip turning into a serpent at night, and I can’t think of anyone better to represent the Island at Westminster. Sadly, Mr Icke seems not to have taken my suggestion in the spirit it was intended. Reproducing my article on his website, he declares the CP to be "the IW Mafia’s favourite paper" and says of me: "If her brains were gunpowder they would not ruffle her eyebrows." I can assure Mr Icke we have never had the Mafia in at the CP. Our ladies of the WI on the Village Talk pages would surely have noticed if we had. As for the gunpowder epithet, I can’t make head nor tail of it. Is Mr Icke suggesting I am some sort of gunpowder-proof fort-ress? If so, I shall sell myself to the Ministry of Defence for a fortune. Or is it some sort of beauty tip? Do your eyebrows look ruffled? Just add gunpowder to your brains for an elegantly smooth outline. I like this idea very much, as it will save me the pain and expense of having them shaped at the beautician’s. I don’t want to make Mr Icke cross again and I know he’s a busy man but if he has any other cosmetic advice for me, I’d be most grateful. I have a pack of aspirins I could give him in return.
From the Editors The significance of the United Nations General Assembly vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state has been exaggerated by opponents and proponents alike. It has no consequences for the status of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, nor does it undermine the rights of Palestinian refugees living in exile, the occupied territories, or indeed Israel as codified in international law and particularly UNGA Resolution 194 of 1948. By the same token, and as demonstrated by Israel’s subsequent decision to build several thousand new settlement units, it does not make the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip any less occupied or colonized, nor does it confer any additional powers upon either the PLO or Palestinian Authority (PA) that can be exercized within Palestinian territory. Although it essentially changes nothing, it nevertheless has the capacity to contribute to a strategic transformation in Palestinian fortunes. This will depend primarily on how it is utilized by the Palestinians – all Palestinians – but also the actions of others. To take the most obvious aspect, the United Nations initiative was strenuously opposed by Israel and the United States. For good reason, because it forms a flagrant violation of the Oslo framework pursuant to which they alone are empowered to answer the Question of Palestine, without heed to either the international community or the corpus of resolutions and laws that collectively represent the will of that community with respect to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The question for Palestinians is therefore whether the initiative is a first step towards referring the Question of Palestine back to the United Nations – which after all created it and remains responsible for its resolution – or merely a tactical maneouver to resume bilateral negotiations with Israel under American supervision. To point out that Mahmoud Abbas went to New York in an attempt to shore up his domestic standing and that he has every intention of rushing back to the negotiating table is in this context almost irrelevant. Abbas similarly wanted to host Shaul Mofaz in the center of Ramallah several months ago. Yet popular revulsion at the prospect of a war criminal being feted at the scene of his crime put paid to the planned rendezvous. Similarly, in the wake of Israel’s latest assault on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians across the political and geographic spectrum are with renewed vigour demanding the formulation of a meaningful national strategy and its implementation by a genuinely representative national movement. Ensuring that the UN initiative serves the internationalization of the struggle for Palestinian self-determination, rather than being a prelude to more negotiations that are but a fig leaf for deepening colonization, can hardly be considered an impossible task. It will require serious effort, and won’t succeed overnight, but it can and therefore should be done. To dismiss and miss this opportunity strikes me as a dereliction of duty. The first step in this direction must be to end the Palestinian schism on the basis of a rejuvenated PLO, particularly since the political programs of Fatah and Hamas are today all but indistinguishable and they are primarily engaged in a power struggle more about factional interest than ideology. Accusing either or both of these parties of having sold out their people is all well and good, but detractors need to get used to the fact that there can be no national movement without both of them, and that the most effective restraint on the excesses of either leadership is not Hamas but rather a rejuvenated Fatah. It may be too late for the latter, but the left and Islamic Jihad presently lack the capacity to play this role, and it will be years before a credible and sufficiently powerful alternative emerges from today’s otherwise inspirational youth movements. Civil society, particularly that large swathe of it dependent on foreign funding, cannot substitute for a national liberation movement. The UN vote taught us not only that Canada and the Czech Republic today have the most fanatically pro-Israel governments on the planet, and that there are a few more rocks in the Pacific than we thought, but also that Israel’s position in Europe – and Europe’s subservience to Washington on matters Palestinian – are in a state of flux. Here again, things are not going to develop of their own accord, and will be reversed if they are not actively promoted to their logical conclusion. For Palestinians not to capitalize on these opportunities – for at present they are only opportunities – and work to ensure that the EU policies and those of its member governments begin to more faithfully reflect Palestinian rights and European public opinion would be tantamount to criminal negligence. The time is ripe, for example, to put an end to decades of effort to ensure that settlement products are properly labeled and taxed, and seek to have them defined as contraband and prohibited from the European market altogether. Similarly, there is no reason why European arms sales to Israel are not now prominently on the agenda of every European parliament. In the context of decades of growing Arab disengagement from the conflict with Israel, the regional upheaval that commenced in late 2010 presents an almost unique opportunity to re-mobilize official Arab influence in support of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, particularly in Europe. The one concrete achievement resulting from Palestine’s elevated status at the United Nations is the ability to join subsidiary organizations. Given credible US threats of sanctions against such institutions, Palestinians would do well to first join those, such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation, that mean most to Washington and least to the Palestinians. Make those knaves on Capitol Hill publicly proclaim that their loyalty to Avigdor Lieberman precedes the interests of their constituents and corporate sponsors. The same principle applies to the International Criminal Court (ICC). But joining the latter and ending the African monopoly on its interests makes little sense if existing legal instruments, such as the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the West Bank Wall, are not activated without further delay. Indeed, using existing mechanisms to confront the massive settlement scheme Israel proclaimed the day after the UN vote, and which once implemented completes the encirclement of East Jerusalem through its isolation from the rest of the West Bank and effectively bisects the latter, should be considered an urgent priority. Sufficiently urgent to override and invalidate initial Palestinian statements that further recourse to international law is not imminent, and would be assessed in light of Israeli and US conduct in the coming weeks and months. With the Obama administration today enabling an Israeli plan George W. Bush for eight years consistently opposed, the immediate priority for Palestinians is to compel their leaders to show no consideration towards American sensitivities – or threats - when it comes to defending and promoting Palestinian rights. [A shorter version of this article initially appeared as “UN Vote is Symbolic – Unless the Palestinians Take Advantage” in The National (UAE).] If you prefer, email your comments to email@example.com. 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Japan Guides: Hiking in Kamikochi Kamikochi Nagano Prefecture 上高地 - spectacular mountain scenery - Kamikochi center for hiking and climbing - at over 1500m elevation - set in the Azusa Valley - part of Japan Alps National Park - one hour by bus from Takayama - one day tour bus trip from Nagoya - highest mountain Hotakadake 3190m - very busy trails in summer - Kamikochi trails closed mid-November to late April - area "discovered" by British missionary Walter Weston Kamikochi is an area in Nagano Prefecture located in the northern part of the Japan Alps. The three kanji (上高地) that make up the name of Kamikochi mean "upper highlands." The Kamikochi area is a plateau about 15 kilometers long in the Azusa Valley, approximately 1500 meters above sea level. It lies in the Hide Mountains between Mt. Hodokadake and Mt. Yakedake which is an active volcano. Lake and mountain views in Kamikochi Lake Taisho, which sits at the foot of Mt. Yakedake, was formed after the volcano erupted in 1920. Some of the tallest mountains surrounding Kamikochi include Nishihotakadake at 2909 meters, Okuhotakadake at 3190 meters, and Maehotakadake at 3090 meters. The Azusa River flows through Kamikochi and feeds Lake Taisho. Kamikochi, Nagano Prefecture The Kamikochi area was used extensively by the logging industry until the mid 19th century. The British missionary Rev. Walter Weston (1861-1940) lobbied to preserve this area, and is given the credit for enticing the Japanese to hike and mountaineer. Both logging and stock farms were shut down and closed. Weston is also said to have popularized the use of the phrase "Japanese Alps." There is a plaque commemorating him set into the rock on the west side of the Azusa River, just north of the Onsen Hotel (Tel: 0263 95 2311) and Shimizuya. On the first Sunday in June, the Weston Festival is held to celebrate the opening of mountain-climbing season. Kamikochi is considered part of the Chubu Sangaku National Park (also known as the Japan Alps National Park), and is protected from over-development. There are only a few hotels, hostels, ryokan, souvenir shops, cabins, and trails. There is a visitor center and a post office. Private cars are not allowed in Kamikochi, and the bus service consists of hybrid buses reducing pollution in the area. And it works! The Azusa River has the cleanest, clearest water I have ever seen in a natural setting. It is amazing. You can see all of the colorful rocks at the bottom of the river. There are signs encouraging visitors to take everything brought into the area out with them - please don't litter. Alpine scenery in Kamikochi When you arrive at the Kamikochi bus stop, you are just minutes away from the Kappa Bridge. This is where you will find a handful of hotels that house cafes and souvenir shops. It is a perfect location for lodgings as you can unload your baggage and walk light over the trails. You can also get off of the bus at Teikoku Hotel Mae or Taishoike. The Teikoku Hotel Mae stop is closest to the Tashiro Bridge. Taishoike bus stop is right next to Lake Taisho. There is a hotel at each of these stops. The visitor center is about two minutes farther up the east side of the river from the Kappa Bridge. This is a good place to start your hike because you can learn about the flora and fauna found along the trails before heading out. Keep your eyes open for monkeys, wild boar, and several types of birds. You'll gain a greater appreciation for the amazing scenery once you know the history behind it and the preservation efforts. There are a lot of hiking trails, and the trails that lead toward the mountain summits are quite challenging. There are signs pointing the ways to these trails from the easier trail around the Azusa River. Not many of the trails have been laid with boards, so most are dirt paths. This simpler trail offers some of the most scenic views of the river and mountains. From the Visitor Center, keep going up the east side of the river to Myojin Bridge. It takes about an hour. You'll pass one of the campgrounds. The campgrounds are marked, and you are not allowed to camp outside of these areas. This path is breathtakingly beautiful! The bridge is picture-perfect from the river bank as well as on it. There are gorgeous views from the bridge. Crossing the bridge to the northwest side of the Azusa River takes you to the Hotaka Shrine and Myojin Pond. The Myojin Pond is one of my all-time favorite places. They have built a dock out into the pond, and it really feels as if you are standing in untamed wilderness. If you just relax and listen to all of the natural sounds surrounding you, you can lose yourself in the moment. If you make the trip to Kamikochi, you must stop at Myojin Pond. After soaking in the nature at Myojin Pond, continue down the west side of the Azusa River. The trail continues through the Takezawa Marsh, so keep a lookout for photo opportunities. They are everywhere. This is where you have a chance to see some of the area's more unusual animals. You'll come back to the Kappa Bridge which is usually crowded with tourists traveling to one side or the other and people posing for pictures. Kappa Bridge is especially crowded during the summer holidays and the autumn leaf viewing season. The park is busy, in general, during these times (mid July to August, and October) but Kappa Bridge is in the center of it all and, with all of the shops, makes for a great break area. The coffee and treats at the cafes are rather expensive. My small cup of coffee was 500 yen. So if you're traveling on a budget, you may want to consider taking your own snack food and drinks. Once you're ready to continue around the river to the lake, keep heading down the west side of Azusa River. You'll see the Weston Monument in the rock on the right hand side, not so far from the Kappa Bridge. As you continue, you'll come to Tashiro Bridge. You do want to cross this to the other side of the Azusa River unless you plan to trek up to the summit of Mt.Yakedake. After you cross the Tashiro Bridge, keep going downriver to Lake Taisho. It takes about 40 minutes. The path does break into two, but they come together again before heading to the lake. The lake makes for fantastic pictures. There are dead trees standing in the lake with the backdrop of tall green trees and the majestic mountains and clouds. The sandy beach is full of tourists posing and taking pictures, or eating box lunches. It is a lovely, comfortable place to sit and just take in the view. You can really see how the mountains surround Kamikochi at Lake Taisho. From the lake, you can head back up to Kappa Bridge, or catch the bus at the Taishoike stop to head back, or perhaps on to Takayama. Takayama is a charming, old-world Japanese town. The streets are narrow and the shops are what you imagine Japan to be before you get to Japan. The architecture is something to admire, and the story is the best carpenters in Japan are from Takayama. All of the oldest buildings are still in use today, and things are done traditionally. If you are a miso fan, you really need to visit Takayama. I bought about a pound each of two different misos at a wonderful shop that let you try every miso they offered. They also offered miso soup tastes from barrels. You can reorder by mail, too. The Shinano Express to Matsumoto & Nagano To get to Kamikochi from Tokyo, there are two trains that get you to Matsumoto. You can take the JR Nagano Shinkansen to Nagano. From Nagano, you have to take the Shinonoi Line to Matsumoto. The other option is the JR Chuo Line. It's slower than the Shinkansen, but takes you right to Matsumoto from Shinjuku Station. At Matsumoto, you get on the Matsumoto Dentetsu Railway. That gets you to Shin-Shimashima. If you drive a car, you will park at Shin-Shimashima. Shimashima is as far as you can go. From here, you take one of the hybrid buses, or a taxi to Kamikochi. From Nagoya the JR Shinano Express takes 2 hours to Matsumoto. If you want to travel on to Takayama after your venture through Kamikochi, catch the bus at the same stop at Kamikochi near the Kappa Bridge. The journey takes about one hour. You can travel back to Shin-Shimashima to collect your car and drive along the main national road to Takayama, as well. Kamikochi Visitor Center Hours: 8:00 to 17:00, mid-April to November 15, free admission 7:00 to 18:00 July 20-August 20 Closed November 15th through winter Phone: 0263 95 2606 Fax: 0263 95 2611 Kamikochi official website (in Japanese)
I have to implement a queue but I'm a lil bit confused with some features and implementation techniques. I've download some queue implementation from the internet but I don't know how to get started for the next step. I have to implement a queue for a shop where clients. Each client have a randomWaitTime and randomProccessingTime. The inputs are: min and max from randomWaitTime which every clients have a time for waiting in the queue. Another input is for maximum numbers of desk. Just this for now. Hope you understand what I want and I ask you to give me some help for understanding this and learning Java. I'm a begginer so every kind of help is welcome :) Thank you Have a nice day. PS I have attached the source files to see what I've done and make an idea. Nobody? I'm waiting for your answers Discrete event simulation? Well you haven't specified where you need help with. I haven't looked at your code. Is it going to be for just the M/M/S/k model or are the arrival and service time distributions pluggable as well? Nobody? I'm waiting for your reply.
When most people think of natural light, they think of the sun. Strangely enough, the sun (along with the moon and stars) was not created until the fourth day. So what was the “light” that God placed in the world on the first day? Well, I thought I knew just about everything about Jewish food and had seen, heard or tasted it all, but I recently saw a reference for eating black eyed peas or rubiya or lubiya.I had not heard of this symbolic food before. We eat black-eyed peas in the hopes that our merits increase and we are purified. The custom of eating black-eyed peas is Baghdadi. Peas are eaten as a symbol of abundance and fruitfulness. In addition to the unique prayer services of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the High Holidays are known for one other service: selichot. A collection of religious poems and verses, selichot are penitential prayers that help one focus on the mood of the season. We hate to be a buzz-kill, but now is when you need to begin the transition from one season to the next, while taking the time to soak in the last of the warm weather. But fear not, as the editors at SingleEdition.com, we have put together a checklist of things you should consider as summer (and your tan) begins to fade. While one of the founding principles of the United States of America is freedom of religion, any historian would agree that in the early days this was often more principle than practice. Mordecai Manuel Noah, a lawyer, politician, journalist, diplomat and playwright (and a few other things) who was born shortly before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, firmly believed that his government would uphold this principle. As a kid, I always knew where to be for the high holidays. I would be in my seat in synagogue, with an occasional respite for “bathroom” breaks that devolved into 20 minute games of freeze tag. I know, lying to my parents is wrong. But it gave me something for which to repent. “The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge…” (Proverbs 1:7) The idea of “fearing God” carries with it overtones of fire and brimstone, a puritanical flavor that seems foreign to our 21st century mentality. With humanity (especially Western society) feeling secure in its understanding of the universe, most people no longer fear the so-called “wrath of God.” September looms and children all over have either just begun school or will be starting shortly. Judaism has always been a culture focused on learning. The Torah commands parents to teach their children, but since many parents are not capable of fulfilling the role of teacher, schools have become a necessity. Baba Batra 21a discuss extensively our Sages’ views on education. Great food, free booze and an evening of dancing – how could anyone ask for a better Saturday night out? From the perfectly manicured flowers right down to the martini bar, nothing can change your mind, not even the endless supply of little cocktail wieners wrapped in flakes of crispy dough awaiting your arrival. It’s a party most people prefer not to miss, but you are dreading it. To the Jewish community and general population at large, the Maharal of Prague is the revered, mystical medieval rabbi who created the Golem to protect the Jews in the Prague ghetto. But the Maharal’s true contribution to Jewish life has little to do with the legend of the Golem.
If there is one question that artists ask me all the time, it's "How much should I charge for my artwork?" In our seminars on Art Marketing, and from emails and phone calls from artists, I can hear the frustration in their voices. It's as though just knowing the answer to that question will solve all their marketing problems. They are not alone. We have all done the mental art math at some point in our careers, especially at the beginning....someone comes up with some formula for setting a price, determining how long it takes, how many we can do in a day, multiplied by a week, a month....we should all be rich by now, right? But there is a problem with that formula because these artists are all focusing on the wrong thing. Selling your art is NOT about putting a price on your artwork. It's about creating an entire package where you and your art, combined, are more than just a number! And your job is to make it a unique package. You need to present the "whole package" to your client. A professional looking artist with a professional looking studio and with a professional attitude can command a far higher price from the get-go than artists simply intent on concentrating on the price of their artwork and who ignore everything else about their marketing package! Let's take it step by step. 1. Determine who is or will be buying your art. What are you creating and who is buying it now? This group is your target market. This is the group to whom you will most focus on when presenting your art package. Never sold anything? Not to worry. In your mind is some idea of who would buy your art so narrow it down. Would your market be children? Young families? 30-something executives? NASCAR fans? Dog owners? Concentrate on the people who are most likely to buy your art. You are not your target market. Most people value what you do far more than you value what you do. 2. Focus on one art area initially. There is no rule that says that if you start off selling your pottery that you cannot switch over to landscape painting. But you need to focus on one area initially. You cannot be everything to everybody. Many artists have "bread and butter" art products and expand into other areas as the time, money, desire or need arises. Concentrating in one area, initially, allows you to build your art marketing skills both with your art product and your customers. 3. Determine your Unique Selling Feature If all things are perceived as equal, then price becomes the major factor. So you need to educate your prospects so they know what's "unique" about you. What is special about you and your art? What makes your 11 x 14 oil landscape different from another artist's 11 x 14 oil landscape? So having said that, we learned that you do not hand out "price sheets." When a prospect compares your 11 x 14 art product to another artist's 11 x 14 product through a price sheet alone, you do not have an opportunity to share what is special and unique about you and your art! 4. Work on your confidence A huge part of what we do is to essentially give artists permission to sell their art! Most have been taught nothing about what is necessary to represent themselves and their art product. Feeling good about selling your art starts with the premise of "I'm good at what I do and the prices on my artwork reflect that." The "Price/Value Relationship" in human psychology says that to most people, the more you charge, the better you are. But you have to believe it AND have the skills to share that positive attitude with your clients! So, forget about formulas and special charts to price your artwork. Most of it is common sense. If people are buying everything you put out, you are not charging enough. If people have bought nothing from you, it may not be the pricing but how you are presenting it! Remember, it's not the price you charge that matters, it's how you present the price, your package, that makes all the difference. So rather than keep your art prices really low and not be a good salesperson of your work, put your prices higher, and learn how to present them.
Bavarian rabbi; born in Baiersdorf 1805; died at Redwitz Feb. 1, 1862; son of Yom-Ṭob Gutmann. Moses Gutmann was educated at Erlangen University, and when twenty-two years old was elected district rabbi of Redwitz, which office he held for thirty-five years. He was the first rabbi of Bavaria with an academic education as well as a thorough Talmudical training who espoused the cause of Reform, to which fact his contributions to Geiger's "Zeitschrift für Jüd. Theologie," Stein's "Volkslehrer," and several of his responsa bear witness. He published a translation, with notes, of the Apocrypha, under the title "Die Apokryphen des A. Testaments aufs Neue aus dem Griechischen Text Uebersetzt" (Altona, 1841). His translation of Josephus with a scholarly Latin commentary has remained in manuscript. - Allg. Zeit. des Jud. xxvi. 150 et seq.
Why do so many Jews believe otherwise? You should ask them. You descend from a Chabad family and went to religious Zionist schools growing up. How would you describe yourself today? I’m Moshe Zalman Feiglin. There’s no [label] that describes me specifically. Sometimes you can call me Chabad, sometimes you can call me dati le’umi [religious Zionist], and sometimes you can even call me not religious at all since I don’t identify with the concept of “religion.” Religion, to my understanding, is not a Jewish concept. The first person who uses the word “dati” [religious] in the Bible is Haman Harasha. Judaism is not a religion; we should remember that. Religion is just part of Judaism that served us in the Diaspora, but when we come back to our land we should open that to a full culture because otherwise Judaism cannot fulfill its message. There’s a reason why the punishment of not willing to go from the Sinai desert to Eretz Yisrael was much bigger than the punishment the Jews got for cheit ha’eigel [the sin of the Golden Calf]. For cheit ha’eigel – which is, so to speak, a religious sin – we can do teshuvah and start from the beginning. But when you’re not willing to go to Eretz Yisrael, you’re basically saying, “I give up on the Jewish mission” – which can only be fulfilled from the land of Israel. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch also disliked the word “religion” to describe Judaism since it implies that Judaism concerns only one aspect of life – the religious as opposed to the secular – when, in fact, Judaism encompasses and is supposed to permeate and inform every aspect of life. Is this what you’re saying? We took the concept of religion from Christianity, and we should understand that this is not what Judaism is all about. It’s not just about religion. It’s much wider than that. Of course I’m not talking about giving up Torah u’mitzvot. Nahafoch hu. I’m talking about Torah u’mitzvot with a national purpose. Not just a private purpose or a family purpose, not even a community purpose – but a national purpose. On that level it can be done only in the land of Israel with Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and, b’ezrat Hashem, as soon as can be, the Beit HaMikdash. Who are your heroes? Herzl is also definitely a hero. Not that I agree with everything he said, but definitely a person with a vision who changed history. If you want to talk about non-Jews, we can talk about Churchill who saved his people from Germany. Both your friends and enemies sometimes compare you to Meir Kahane. Do you embrace this comparison? Reject it? You can find places where we say the same things. You can also find places where we are different. I was in the army when Meir, Hashem yikom damo, was [most] active, so I didn’t get to know him so well. But I can definitely say that the slogan “Kahane tzadak – Kahane was right” has proven itself many times. When you first started your campaign to become Israel’s prime minister, terrorism was rampant and Israel’s leaders were constantly negotiating to surrender land to the Arabs. Matters seem to have improved somewhat since then. For people who only care about land and security – rather than the ideological vision you outlined earlier – why is it important that you become prime minister? Well, I don’t agree with the way you describe the situation. Just a few months ago, we had missiles being shot from Gaza at Tel Aviv. It reminds me of the joke of a person falling from the roof of a skyscraper and somebody in the middle of the building is looking from the window and asks him, “How is it going?” and he says, “So far so good.” Israel is being targeted by terrorists and losing its credibility all over the world. We have the strongest economy; we have accomplished miracles. But we have also lost our roots and our ability to justify our existence. We definitely need Jewish leadership. Do you genuinely believe you will become prime minister one day? I have no doubt that sooner or later Israel will have Jewish leadership. About the Author: Elliot Resnick is a Jewish Press staff reporter and holds a Masters degree from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel School of Jewish Studies. If you don't see your comment after publishing it, refresh the page. Our comments section is intended for meaningful responses and debates in a civilized manner. We ask that you respect the fact that we are a religious Jewish website and avoid inappropriate language at all cost.
A US federal appeals court has ruled that researchers' right to free inquiry is overridden by the British state's right to investigate past crimes By Jason Walsh US ruling reopens old 'Troubles' UBLIN (TCSM) When Boston College launched its Belfast Project the aim was to create an insiders' oral history of Northern Ireland's so-called "Troubles" by collecting the testimonies of participants on all sides of the conflict. What no one expected was for history to rear up and become the present once more. That is precisely what has now happened as a US federal appeals court has ruled that the researchers' right to free inquiry is overridden by the British state's right to investigate past crimes. The July 6 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit results from Boston College researchers Edmund Moloney and Anthony McIntyre's attempts to block two sets of subpoenas issued by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The PSNI wants access to the testimonies in order to pursue prosecutions for unsolved crimes in this case one of the most unsettling of the murky 30-year war: the abduction and secret killing of Jean McConville in 1972. Boston College is separately appealing the order enforcing one of the sets of subpoenas. Ironically, all sides want the truth to be told the question is when, under what circumstances, and if it will be the full historical record. "The whole purpose of doing the archive was to establish some truth, as far as you can," says Moloney. "What you do is collect it together and look at it in the round." The Belfast Project, hosted by Boston College, collected testimonies from pro-Irish republicans and pro-British loyalists about their activities during the 30-year-long Troubles, on the basis that the information would not be made public until after their deaths. The testimonies were meant to provide a frank history of the Troubles that might otherwise go untold. But the court decision has thrown this into disarray. "They [the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team] are trying to open a Pandora's box here, that has the potential to cause all sorts of damage," says Moloney. The murder of McConville is one of the most contentious killings of the Irish conflict. McConville, a Catholic convert and mother of 10, lived in West Belfast, ground zero for the early years of the conflict. In 1972 she was abducted and killed by the IRA. She subsequently became the best-known of "the disappeared," those believed to have been killed by the IRA in secret because it was feared that revulsion at their killing would have turned nationalists and republicans against the organization. The IRA admitted responsibility for the killing in 1999, but claimed McConville was a spy, which her family denies. Her body was recovered in 2003, buried in County Louth in the Republic of Ireland. After the court ruling, the material is expected to be handed over by Boston College in the next month. In January 2012, Mr. Adams told Irish national broadcaster RTÉ he had "nothing to fear from any of this." US Senator John Kerry is among those who have campaigned for the subpoenas to be overruled, arguing they could destabilize the settlement in Northern Ireland which sees the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) share power with Irish republican Sinn Féin, once the political wing of the IRA. DUP Member of Parliament Gregory Campbell welcomed the ruling, telling reporters: "This is a step closer to establishing if there is information in the tapes that might be of assistance to the authorities in Northern Ireland. This could lead to the investigation of many senior personnel within the IRA and other groups about matters they were involved in, and if that is the case it would be welcome." Attorney John McBurney, who has represented the families of some of those murdered in the conflict, says the law must come before politics and so the tapes must be released. "It would undoubtedly have an impact but the real difficulty of this is the Jean McConville file is an open file. In the midst of this there seems to be this tape which the PSNI simply couldn't ignore. "It's unfortunate that it's such a politically sensitive case that is the test case, but as [British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland] Owen Patterson said, no matter who the finger points at, the law is the law," says Mr. McBurney. McIntyre says the politicking has begun. "Already you see the DUP's Peter Robinson [First Minister of Northern Ireland] calling for arrests [of republicans for past crimes] he may be playing to the gallery, but the gallery is there to play to. "Left to his own devices, Robinson wouldn't pull the plug [on the power-sharing arrangement], but that gallery is made up of people who instinctively hate the setup. Political instability can arise from this [including on the Irish republican side]," says McIntyre. The case has also raised hackles among journalists and academics who say source protection is sacrosanct. The National Union of Journalists, a joint British-Irish organization, condemned the ruling, with General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet saying the ruling has "significant implications" for academic and journalistic research. Tommy McKearney, an ex-IRA member now working as a labor activist and with ex-prisoners in a reconciliation project, says Boston College must shoulder its share of the blame for the situation. "I would expect that academics would have at least the same amount of integrity as journalists. Journalists, by and large, will protect their sources. They're not protected by law but journalists put their foot down and say they'll go to jail rather than reveal sources," he says. McIntyre also fears for his own safety. "People who think the Provisional IRA have folded-up shop are foolish," he says. "It doesn't seem right that my wife and children have to live under this stress. What can I do? Run away? To where? To abandon people? I have to take the researcher's risk," he says. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
One day not long after Frank Oski arrived at Hopkins in 1985, the exuberant pediatrician and new director of the Children's Center asked a startling question. Why are people permitted to smoke in the hospital? Medical centers, after all, are places of healing. Why then should life-endangering behavior be tolerated within its confines? Although it was a question that made sense, at that time not a whole lot of other people were asking it. "But asking those kinds of questions came naturally to Frank," said Hopkins Hospital vice president of medical affairs Beryl Rosenstein, who worked closely with Oski throughout his decade-long tenure as director of the Children's Center. He died Dec. 7, of prostate cancer at age 64. "Everybody else who worked here just sort of accepted that you couldn't prevent the doctors and nurses and worried patients and nervous relatives from smoking in the hospital. But Frank came here, looked at the situation and said, 'Let's change it!' And he did." Oski is widely credited with starting the movement that led to a smoke-free environment at Hopkins. His many friends and admirers remember him as a man of many accomplishments. "Frank Oski was an accomplished scientist, a great teacher and wonderful human being," said acting dean of the School of Medicine Ed Miller. "He brought tremendous energy, enthusiasm and vision to the Children's Center and to the entire East Baltimore medical campus. Whether it was outlawing smoking or cheerleading for the annual Children's Miracle Network Telethon or helping our medical students and house staff become more effective care providers, Frank threw his heart and soul into making this institution the finest in the world." A graduate of Swarthmore College, Oski earned his medical degree in 1958 from the University of Pennsylvania and went on to complete his internship and residency there. After a fellowship at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston he returned to Penn as a faculty member, eventually becoming head of the division of pediatric hematology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He left to chair the department of pediatrics at the State University of New York in Syracuse in 1972. An internationally recognized specialist in childhood blood disorders and nutritional deficiencies, Oski was the primary or co-author of 20 books and hundreds of scholarly articles. Among those publications was his 1983 book Don't Drink the Milk, which raised a storm of controversy over his assertion that cow's milk is not good for children. "Frank wrote that book while he was at Syracuse, surrounded by pastures full of cows. Do you have any idea what the New York dairy farmers wanted to do with him?" said Catherine DeAngelis, vice dean for academic affairs at the School of Medicine. "He never took anything at face value. He was constantly questioning conventional wisdom to ascertain if it was actually wise. Frank had a sweatshirt he liked to wear that said 'Question Authority' and that is what he did." "Frank Oski embodied the philosophy and mission of Johns Hopkins in everything he did," said Ronald Peterson, acting president of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and a former Children's Center administrator. "He was the consummate teacher; a passionate advocate for children and among the nation's best researchers into pediatric nutrition and blood disorders." Oski's research led to better understanding of iron deficiency and its effects on behavior and learning; of the reasons premature infants become anemic; and why youngsters with sickle cell anemia have strokes. He helped define the folic acid composition of infant feedings and documented the clinical and laboratory manifestations of vitamin E deficiency. Declining health forced Oski to retire from the Children's Center in May, but not before he had led an effort that helped redefine the institution's research, patient care and teaching missions. His guide for parents, The Practical Pediatrician, was published earlier this year. The recipient of many awards and citations, Oski received the 1972 Mead Johnson Award for Pediatrics and the 1990 St. Geme Award for Pediatric Leadership from the Federation of Pediatric Organizations. In October, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He was the senior editor of the textbook Principles and Practices of Pediatrics, considered the standard text in American pediatric training. Until his death he was editor of Contemporary Pediatrics, which he founded, and co-editor of Current Opinion in Pediatrics. "His contributions are legendary," Rosenstein said. "He flew all over the world giving lectures, he wrote all these books and hundreds and hundreds of articles. Yet at Hopkins he still had time to devote energy to the house staff training program and working with medical students and residents." "There is a feeling in modern academic medicine that you can't be a triple threat, that you can't be a clinician and researcher and teacher and excel at all three," DeAngelis said. "Frank came pretty close. Talk with anyone who made rounds with him, and you'll hear about the tremendous warmth and compassion and commitment he showed to patients and to those he was teaching." An avid sports enthusiast with season tickets to the Baltimore Orioles and a box at the Pimlico Race Course, Oski is said to have harbored a not-so-secret desire to be a sports writer or sports announcer. "Sports was his grand passion," DeAngelis said. "He loved racing, baseball, football and would talk about any sport. I think being a sports newscaster would have been his second life if he'd had the chance." He also took great delight in making people laugh. "Frank could relate to anybody. He would always begin grand rounds with some kind of joke, usually one that made everyone groan," Rosenstein said. "He'd also perform these magic tricks, although never completely correctly. I remember one with a lemon and a handkerchief that he could never get quite right. The man just had a wonderful love of life and could get excited about anything and everything." Oski is survived by his wife, Barbara--whom he met and married at Swarthmore--daughters Jessica and Jane, and a son, Jonathan, as well as a brother, Richard, and two grandchildren. "We were very lucky to have had Frank's vision and leadership for an entire decade," said Dean Miller of Oski's contribution to Hopkins. "His efforts changed this institution for the better, and we will always be grateful for all that he accomplished." 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Du’s tea has been used in Japan for the treatment of obesity. In one study, obese patients were given high quality Du’s tea in the morning and afternoon, and most patients lost a significant amount of weight. Prev \| Du's Tea Assists in Managing High Cholesterol May Assist in Managing High Cholesterol Levels. \|Health Benefits of Du's Tea A Japanese scientific study undertaken by professor Takahashi has suggested that using Du’s tea for more than one month reduces fat underneath the skin and around internal organs. Du’s tea may be the solution for natural weight loss without the need for exercise or a change in diet that you are looking for. The study showed that the Du’s tree leaves boosts the metabolism of collagen and accelerates protein anabolism, which burns calories and reduces the storage of fat. Human diet trials have shown a weight loss of between 1.5-2kg among candidates using Du’s tree leaf tea for approximately 4 weeks. Burns Calories and Prevents Obesity. Scientific studies have confirmed the properties in Du’s tea assist the regulation of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL (bad cholesterol), and HDL (good cholesterol, which helps to metabolize cholesterol from the arteries). The gypenosides (GPs) found in Du’s Tea lowers total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and increases HDL cholesterol. More than 20 papers have been published on the subject with effectiveness reported as ranging from 67 to 93%. It also inhibits platelet aggregation which lessens the chance of a stroke or heart attack and prevents the AS.
what is the anti derivative of 70/-.6 times e^.6t wouldnt it be 70/-.6 times e^-.6t? I love women. hope this helps :) the answer is 7 math - what would the antiderivative of e^-2x be? and if the antiderivative of ... derivative am i right or wrong - what is the antiderivative of 1/(x^2-2x+2)? ... Calculus (Antiderivatives) - What is the antiderivative of the followring ... Math - Can someone help me with this question. I'm not sure how to go about it. ... math - Consider the function f(t)=2sec^2(t)–6t^2 . Let F(t) be the ... Business Calculus - The indefinite integral, or which call the "antiderivative... calculus - antiderivative - can someone help me find the antiderivative of: f'(x... Calculus - What's the antiderivative of x(2x-6)^(1/2)? Calculus (Antiderivatives) - Suppose f(x) is a continuous function. Then a ... Calculus!!! - Find f. (Use C for the constant of the first antiderivative and D ...
Ligands of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ) induce apoptosis in activated T-lymphocytes and exert anti-inflammatory effects in glial cells. Preclinical studies have shown that the thiazolidinedione pioglitazone, an FDA-approved PPARγ agonist used to treat type 2 diabetes, delays the onset and reduces the severity of clinical symptoms in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). We therefore tested the safety and therapeutic potential of oral pioglitazone in a patient with secondary MS. The rationale and risks of taking pioglitazone were carefully explained to the patient, consent was obtained, and treatment was initiated at 15 mg per day p.o. and then increased by 15 mg biweekly to 45 mg per day p.o. for the duration of the treatment. Safety was assessed by measurements of metabolic profiles, blood pressure, and edema; effects on clinical symptoms were assessed by measurement of cognition, motor function and strength, and MRI. Within 4 weeks the patient exhibited increased appetite, cognition and attention span. After 12 months treatment, body weight increased from 27.3 to 35.9 kg (32%) and maintained throughout the duration of the study. Upper extremity strength and coordination improved, and increased fine coordination was noted unilaterally after 8 months and bilaterally after 15 months. After 8 months therapy, the patient demonstrated improvement in orientation, short-term memory, and attention span. MRIs carried out after 10 and 18 months of treatment showed no perceptible change in overall brain atrophy, extent of demyelination, or in Gd-enhancement. After 3.0 years on pioglitazone, the patient continues to be clinically stable, with no adverse events. In a patient with secondary progressive MS, daily treatment with 45 mg p.o. pioglitazone for 3 years induced apparent clinical improvement without adverse events. Pioglitazone should therefore be considered for further testing of therapeutic potential in MS patients. Keywords:Multiple sclerosis; thiazolidinedione; PPARγ; pioglitazone; inflammation Current therapies for MS are limited in efficacy and can have adverse effects. Although immuno-modulating type-1β interferons and glatiramer acetate reduce active CNS inflammatory lesions, clinical severity and attack frequency in relapsing remitting MS, they are less efficacious in progressive disease . The immunosuppressive agent, mitoxantrone is presently approved for treating progressive MS but is limited because of severe adverse side-effects especially cardiotoxicity . The insulin-sensitizing anti-diabetic thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are high affinity activators of the nuclear transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ). TZDs inhibit T lymphocyte proliferation and activation, reduce expression and production of inflammatory molecules including interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α and inducible nitric oxide synthase, increase astrocyte metabolism and resistance to cytotoxicity , and reduce clinical symptoms in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an autoimmune-mediated, demyelinating disease which provides a model for MS [2,3]. In view of these effects and the established safety profile of TZDs, we investigated the therapeutic potential of the FDA-approved anti-diabetic TZD pioglitazone in a patient with secondary progressive MS. A 44-year-old woman with secondary progressive MS was diagnosed at age 20 yr, per Lublin and Reingold . During the next 15 years she had 8 documented relapses which resolved with intravenous glucocorticoid therapy. The relapses decreased in frequency during this time, after which her clinical status deteriorated, with progressive development of quadriparesis, ataxia, fatigue and cognitive decline. In 1994, a trial of interferon β-1b was discontinued because of increased spasticity, and she was not a candidate for glatiramer. She had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular, liver or kidney disease. When seen in 1999 her weight was 29.5 kg, down from 54.5 kg in 1976. She was paraplegic, wheelchair-bound, and exhibited paresis of the upper extremities with OMS (Oxford Muscle Strength) score of 2–3 out of 5 (Table 1) and an EDSS score of 8.0. Neurological presentation included paraplegia, bilateral central scotomata with visual-field loss, dysphagia, chronic fatigue, cognitive impairment similar to mild dementia, and depressed mood. In June 2000, having explained the rationale and risks, she consented to a trial of pioglitazone, which was initiated at 15 mg daily and increased by 15 mg biweekly to 45 mg. Improvement was evident within 4 weeks as increased appetite, cognition and attention span. Her weight increased from 27.3 to 35.9 kg (32%) after 12 months treatment, which was maintained between 34.6 to 36.2 kg throughout an additional 18 months. Weight gain was evident as increased muscle mass and peripheral fat, mainly in the hips, gluteal area, and limbs. Upper extremity strength and coordination progressively improved (Table 1). Improved fine coordination was noted unilaterally after 8 months (left finger-to-nose execution), and bilaterally after 15 months. Before pioglitazone, repetitive statements and forgetfulness, reminiscent of dementia, were problematic. After 8 months therapy, cognitive assessment demonstrated improvement in orientation, short-term memory (recall increased from 0/3 to 2/3 objects), attention span, registration and insight, and is consistent with clinical improvement . According to DSM IV criteria, her depression also improved significantly, along with the progressive gain in weight and improvement in neurological function as a whole. She was progressively able to tolerate outdoor social activities for several hours at a time, with improved stamina and well-being. Table 1. Upper Extremity Muscle Strength Before and After 52 Weeks on Pioglitazone During the study, two MRI studies with gadolinium (Gd) were performed, one 18 months after initiation of pioglitazone and the second 10 months later (Figure 1). There was no perceptible change in overall brain atrophy, extent of demyelination, or in Gd-enhancement indicating that at least over the 10 months between the MRI studies, the disease was quiescent. This also suggests that the beneficial effects of pioglitazone treatment were not associated with any overt improvement in pathology. After 3 years on pioglitazone, she continues to be clinically stable. There have been no adverse events, and her metabolic profile has remained normal throughout the study. Figure 1. Axial T1-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI images showing confluent demyelination. MRIs were taken at 10 months (left) and at 18 months (right) after initiation of treatment with pioglitazone. Similar axial sections are shown for the two time points. The limited efficacy and safety of immuno-modulatory and immuno-suppressive agents available for treating progressive MS warrants development of improved and safer therapies . MS is an autoimmune disease associated with inappropriate T lymphocyte activation, CNS inflammation and demyelination, resulting in axonal and neuronal damage . The thiazolidinedione class of drugs were developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and act by improving insulin resistance without causing hypoglycemia, even in euglycemic individuals. They were later found to activate PPARγ and shown to promote anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects by suppressing T lymphocyte activation, proliferation, and inhibiting cellular production of inflammatory molecules associated with MS [3,6,7]. The beneficial effects of pioglitazone observed in this patient are somewhat unexpected as inflammation is less prominent in secondary progressive MS compared to relapsing remitting disease. However, improvements in upper body strength, coordination, dysphagia, and cognitive function, suggest neurological benefit associated with pioglitazone treatment. In addition to their anti-inflammatory actions, TZDs can also influence cell physiology in a receptor-independent manner, and we recently demonstrated that TZDs increase astrocyte glucose metabolism and lactate production . It is therefore feasible that effects on brain metabolism, for example increased capacity of astrocytes to provide lactate to surrounding neurons, accounts in part for improved cognitive and motor function. However, the persistence of lower extremity paralysis appears a likely consequence of irreversible spinal cord atrophy. The 30% gain in weight markedly exceeds the approximately 2–4% weight gain seen with diabetics [see prescribing information: ACTOS® (pioglitazone hydrochloride), Takeda Chemical Co.]. While this may reflect decreased depression, there are as yet no reports that pioglitazone or any other thiazolidinedione, influence mood disorders. In EAE mice pioglitazone decreased disease incidence, reduced maximum disease severity, and induced remission in already-ill animals . Similar results were obtained with other TZDs including rosiglitazone, another approved antidiabetic drug . These drugs have also been shown to clinically ameliorate other inflammatory diseases including psoriasis and ulcerative colitis . Described adverse effects for pioglitazone are confined to the diabetic population, and include mild edema, and limited weight gain, and pioglitazone has not been causally linked to hepatic failure, as has troglitazone. These findings imply that pioglitazone, and perhaps other insulin-sensitizing TZDs may provide therapeutic benefit in MS. DSM, diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders; FLAIR, fluid attenuation inversion recovery; Gd, gadolinium; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; MS, multiple sclerosis; PIO, pioglitazone; PPARγ, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma; TZD, thiazolidinedione. HAP was the primary physician, conceived of the original study, and prepared first draft of the manuscript. MTH was a consulting neurologist, evaluated MRI data, assisted with manuscript editing, and contributed to the original idea of treating MS patients with TZDs. RS performed clinical assessments. NM and DJB consulted on clinical evaluations and response to therapy. DLF organized and analyzed data, contributed to the original idea to treat MS patients with TZDs, helped write and edit, and wrote the final draft of the manuscript. We thank Monica Menendez for secretarial assistance. Supported by grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (DLF), Takeda Pharmaceuticals (DLF) and Bethesda Pharmaceuticals, Inc (HAP). Written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of study. Lublin FD, Reingold SC: Defining the clinical course of multiple sclerosis: results of an international survey. National Multiple Sclerosis Society (USA) Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials of New Agents in Multiple Sclerosis. Neurology 1996, 46:907-911. PubMed Abstract Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2002, 17:23-9. PubMed Abstract Ellis CN, Varani J, Fisher GJ, et al.: Troglitazone improves psoriasis and normalizes models of proliferative skin disease: ligands for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma inhibit keratinocyte proliferation.
The Michelangelo Project March 6th is Michelangelo's birthday! To celebrate the birthday of one of the world's most inspiring artists, you are invited to participate in this project. Here's what to do if you're interested: 1. Do something creative this Sunday, March 6th. It can be something you love to do, something you've forgotten how to do, something you've never done and always secretly wanted to try. Here's your excuse! Some ideas are: - sculpt (like the master) - write a poem, a short story - take a photo - visit a museum or art gallery - cook something exciting you've never made before - see an art film, foreign film, or movie about an artist 2. Visit French Toast Girl's site and share your experience! Post a link to your creation, write about your trip or creative process - share your creative story with others. How creative can we get? (There will be a special post Sunday for you to post to.) 3. Link back with the above graphic if you've written about it on your site. 4. Have fun, for goodness' sake! This is not about being perfect or creating the best piece of art. It's about embracing your creative side in whatever form it happens to take. French Toast Girl March 3, 2005 in Announcements \| Permalink \| Comments (0) \| TrackBack Project Exhibition Submission deadline changed ""Thanks to all of you who are interested in submitting your work to this project, since I've been busy for several business trips and the exhibition fixture was being developed late, the exhibition date is now changed to mid-March. You still have time to submit your work in order to be exhibited, your work will be shown in the a gallery area in Times Square, Hong Kong, as well as being published online at MoleskineArt.com. If you are interested, we still have some space and I'm waiting for more people to participate, so please send me a mail of your intention first, but the final submission of electronic or hardcopy sketches will be 8th March!" © 2004-2011 journalisimo.com All Rights Reserved.
OSLO - The European Union will receive the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Monday, honored by the Norwegian committee for bringing decades of peace and democracy to Europe after the horrors and division of two world wars. Looking beyond the current, deep malaise Europe finds itself in with slumping growth, soaring unemployment and countries unable to pay their debts, the Nobel committee has instead focused on what the EU has done over the past 60 years to reconcile the disparate, warring corners of the 'old continent'. From just six countries who agreed to pool their coal and steel production in the 1950s to 27 member states today - and 28 once Croatia joins next year - the EU now stretches from Portugal to Romania, Finland to Malta and sets rules and regulations that have a bearing on more than 500 million people. "The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace," the Nobel committee said on October 12 when it announced the EU had won, an unexpected decision. "The division between East and West has to a large extent been brought to an end; democracy has been strengthened; many ethnically based national conflicts have been settled." Jerusalem Post Annual Conference. Buy it now, Special offer. Come meet Israel's top leaders
University Teaching Scholars Chair Summary of Activities Dr. Stephen Thien Scholarship under girds both teaching and learning. In brief, a teaching scholar is someone who will: Learn to learn, learn to teach, and teach to learn. It seems basic that teachers must understand, practice, and transfer these fundamental scholarly activities. To that end, during my tenure as University Distinguished Teaching Scholar Chair, I sought to define those traits that describe a teaching scholar to recognize those that are and provide a guideline for those that want to be. Describing such traits might also provide useful as criteria for selection or evaluation processes involving teaching. Interested persons may find results of this search in three formats: - "Traits of a Teaching Scholar" presentation in the Provost's Lecture Series, April 5, 2001. (Video available from the Provost's Office). - "Traits of a Teaching Scholar" website (http://www.k-state.edu/agronomy/teaching_scholar/traits.htm). - Traits of a Teaching Scholar journal article (currently in review). The Teaching Scholar Teaching scholars apply scholarly traits to teaching that lead to learning. They exhibit a passion for teaching and a steadfast quest for mastery of teaching-learning processes. Scholarship provides the basis of the teaching profession, it's how knowledge progresses. Teaching scholars enable the process of academic cloning, where one learner becomes many learners. Teaching scholars seek proficiency of a trinity, three teaching/learning processes linked as one: learning to learn, learning to teach, and teaching to learn. A crowning achievement for a teaching scholar is to learn how to transfer a love of learning. Teaching produces learning. Teaching intentionally transforms information into intellectual development of the learner. Teaching scholars seek development of the learner by presenting relevant content in a workable format to build critical thinking skills. Teaching scholars know that it hasn't been taught until it's been learned. A scholar is a learned person. Scholar's exhibit a zest for things of the mind, thought, speculation, curiosity, learning and creativity. They practice discovery (what nobody knows) and insight (what you didn't know). A scholar builds, not fills, minds. A scholar awakens intellectual curiosity. Teaching scholars create lessons that stimulate learning. A scholar is a self-teacher and a self-learner in whom scholar and scholarship are inseparable. Scholars teach others to become scholars. Teaching Scholar Trinity: I. Learning to Learn. Learning to learn is life's most important skill. Teaching others to learn is a teacher's most important gift. Teaching scholars learn how people learn because the process of learning is fundamental to teaching and the advancement of knowledge. Learning to learn guides a teaching scholar in mastering both content and practice. Teaching scholars know what it means to learn, apply it purposefully, and promote its intellectual development in their students. A list of guidelines on learning to learn traits can be seen at the website identified above. Teaching Scholar Trinity: II. Learning to Teach. Teaching scholars learn about teaching. Knowing how to teach is essential to their goal of producing self-directed, lifelong learners. Teaching scholars have the capacity to learn how to move students into the mode of becoming a self-motivating learner. Teaching scholars intentionally pursue development of the learner's intellect. A teaching scholar understands that format determines the teacher-learner interface and has important consequences on learning. Teaching scholars don't evolve from, or into, a standard, easily recognizable mold. The varieties of paths taken by teaching scholars in their quest to learn how to teach have yielded a multitude of outcomes. Students appreciate that learning can be packaged into many different formats. How boring it would be if learning were confined to a uniform context. Teaching Scholar Trinity: III. Teaching to Learn. Teaching scholars use instruction to produce learning. They teach in ways that exercise the mind, not fill it with the accumulation of others. They understand that learning isn't a happen-stance occurrence, but results from the intentional application of steps based on learning theory. Using their content and their style, teaching scholars use learning-oriented techniques and take responsibility to produce learning. This responsibility involves setting learning goals, creating a learning environment to achieve these goals, assessing outcomes to verify learning, and modifying activities as necessary to promote success. Teaching scholars adhere to the guide that "it hasn't been taught until it's been learned." Teaching scholars learn to learn, learn to teach and teach to learn. They master these traits to teach how to think rather than what to think. They seek to educate in ways that allow independent thinking and learning. In do so, teaching scholars teach toward the creation of other scholars. They have taught well enough when their students know how to learn.
“It’s not a lot different than conventional breeding. In conventional breeding we did the same thing, but it would take us 10, 15 years to figure out how to get that hybrid, or that variety with the benefits that we wanted.” Biotechnology has sped up the breeding process “We’ve got the DNA, for example, on a corn plant mapped out completely, and so if we’re looking for something such as yield, increased disease resistance, water efficiency, something like that, now we can go directly to that gene, we know where that gene is, and we can put it in there.” The first big biotechnology breakthrough was with soybeans you could overspray for weed control with a chemical that becomes inert when it contacts the soil. “You could spray Round Up when you needed to, and from a conservation tillage standpoint, it allowed us not to do as much tillage, and we didn’t use as much fuel.” One of the huge successes was taking an insecticide that occurs naturally in the soil and breeding it into corn plants. “It controls basically corn ear worms and corn borers. When they take a bite of that plant it kills them, and what it allowed us to do was not have to spray insecticides like we used to, and we used to spray a lot of insecticides. Now, if we have to spray an insecticide, it’s very rare.” Many growers get a premium for growing cleaner grain. “We don’t have the insects feeding on it. We’re not spraying the chemicals on it. We’re not spraying insecticides on it like we used to. It’s cleaner, healthier food than what we’ve dealt with in the past.” Biotechnology, another reason our country enjoys the safest food supply in the world. I’m Joe Brown, looking at Brazos Valley agriculture, From the Ground Up.
Information about Big Tex: Big Tex was the 52 foot tall icon of the annual State Fair of Texas held at Fair Park in Dallas.Big Tex made his debut at the 1952 fair. He was altered the following year to straighten his nose, correct a lascivious wink and allow him to talk. Former disc jockey Al Jones was the first voice of Big Tex, but would fill the role for only one season. His most familiar voice is that of radio announcer Jim Lowe, who boomed Big Tex's signature "Howdy, folks!" for a total of 39 years. DALLAS -- Fire has destroyed Big Tex, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall cowboy that's an icon of the State Fair of Texas. Some material that made up the towering structure's hands and sleeves still could be seen as firefighters gathered around the scorched area Friday. Big Tex's 75-gallon hat, 50-pound belt buckle and slow drawl have been greeting state fair visitors since 1952. This year's fair, which closes Sunday, had been celebrating Big Tex's 60th birthday. Fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding says she doesn't know the cause of the fire but did note electrical controls move Big Tex's mouth and head. Gooding says no one was injured in the fire and added that she expects Big Tex to be back for next year's state fair. To comment, the following rules must be followed: Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content, but the station is under no legal obligation to do so. If you believe a comment violates the above rules, please use the Flagging Tool to alert a Moderator. Flagging does not guarantee removal. Multiple violations may result in account suspension. Decisions to suspend or unsuspend accounts are made by Station Moderators. Questions may be sent to firstname.lastname@example.org. Please provide detailed information.
AUSTIN (AP) - Lottery ticket sales are down and a Texas Lottery Commission spokesman says smaller jackpots and a sagging economy could explain the drop. The ticket sales are 2 percent lower than last year. The drop could affect the amount of money given each year to public schools, which got $1.03 billion in 2007 and 2006. If current sales trends hold, the amount of money going to schools this year could be $930 million. Lottery officials hope a new $50 scratch-off ticket game will provide a boost in sales before fiscal year ends in August. (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) To comment, the following rules must be followed: Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content, but the station is under no legal obligation to do so. If you believe a comment violates the above rules, please use the Flagging Tool to alert a Moderator. Flagging does not guarantee removal. Multiple violations may result in account suspension. Decisions to suspend or unsuspend accounts are made by Station Moderators. Questions may be sent to email@example.com. Please provide detailed information.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among American women. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 289,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed in 2012. Unfortunately, many of the 2.6 million survivors experience long-term side effects of swelling, pain, thickened scar tissue and decreased flexibility after treatment. Swelling can occur in the upper limbs and chest following removal of lymph nodes, trauma to the lymph vessels through radiation, or infection. This swelling, known as lymphedema, is the result of protein accumulating in the tissues. Those with lymphedema might experience decreased flexibility in the hand, wrist or elbow, or their clothes, rings or watches could become tight on one arm. It's important to recognize these symptoms and seek medical advice as soon as possible because early diagnosis and treatment improve the condition. Treatment of lymphedema is called complete decongestive therapy, and it involves manual lymph drainage, compression bandaging and garments (sleeves and/or glove), skin and nail care, therapeutic exercises, infection education and self treatment. Referral to a certified lymphedema therapist for an individualized program is essential to treat the lymphedema appropriately. Scar tissue can develop and tighten in the incision area after breast cancer surgery, and the area might become hypersensitive. This hypersensitivity frequently occurs at the incision and drain site, and can make wearing a bra or clothing painful. ASTYM treatment is a non-invasive soft tissue therapy using handheld tools to apply force to the tissue. The therapy "remodels" the tissue and provides a desensitizing effect. ASTYM treatment also may be used on other soft-tissue problems, such as shoulder tendonitis and elbow epicondylitis. Recognizing signs of pain and hypersensitivity and contacting an ASTYM- certified provider are important to help decrease long-term symptoms. Participating in physical activity and an individualized exercise program improves range of motion in the shoulder and stretches scar tissue. Movement of the joints and muscles helps increase the lymph flow to move the lymph fluid. Exercise also improves the feeling of well-being, contributes to increased energy levels and helps maintain a healthy weight. The key to treatment of lymphedema and scar tissue is early referral to a physical therapist specially trained to address the individual's needs and help minimize pain, swelling and further formation of scar tissue. Claire Davies is a physical therapist with Central Baptist Hospital Outpatient Therapy Services.
On the hunt for unique STEM activities? We've got you covered! Check out 6 of our favorite STEM challenges below. 1) Chain Reaction We could watch this for hours! 2) Tie-Dye Milk Watch as the addition of dish soap creates some out of this world swirls. 3) Baking Soda Volcano Baking soda volcanoes are true STEM classics. Plus, this one's easy to clean! 4) DIY Marble Run Give in to the marble madness with this DIY marble run! 5) DIY Rainbow Slime Get ready for the slime of your life! 6) Flower Power Watch the roses turn the color of the water they're placed in.
Virtual meetings have been gaining momentum for years now, but it's only been over the past few months we've really come to appreciate their value. However, with business travel way down and remote work becoming an indefinite prospect for many, virtual meetings are here to stay. Here's why virtual meetings have taken such a stronghold in our imaginations - and how to make the most of them. News From Afar: Benefits of Virtual Meetings Sure, face-to-face can be hard to beat in some respects. There's the easy chitchat, the ability to gauge reactions and course-correct accordingly, and of course, the coffee and snacks. But there are plenty of areas in which virtual meetings come out ahead. Easy scheduling. When you don't need to account for commuting or set-up times, it's far easier to arrange a meeting time that suits everyone. Virtual meetings also make it simple for people to log on and off as needed, and without the awkward shuffle involved in doing the same in person. Instant room availability. Since each participant is logging on from the comfort of their own workspace, there's no need to hunt around for (or pay for) an available conference room. You just set the time, and off you go! Screen-sharing. Virtual meetings make presentations a breeze. Rather than fretting about whether the people at the back of the room can see what's on your Powerpoint, you can easily share your screen with them. Whether it's a traditional presentation, work-in-progress, vision board or a site link, sharing media just got easy. Reduced carbon footprint. Business travel is a top source of carbon emissions for many companies. Virtual meetings cut back on the need for flights, taxis, hotels, and even printed notes and handouts, dramatically reducing your company's carbon footprint. Improved meeting logs. A dedicated minutes-taker can be a great help. But virtual meetings can take note-taking to the next level. Both audio and video can be recorded, and even auto-transcribed, and chat logs and shared media can be easily downloaded and shared. Files from events and presentations can also be uploaded and shared to your social channels for greater reach. Try This One Weird Trick: Tips For Effective Virtual Meetings Virtual meetings can be a game-changer, but they do take some getting used to. If your virtual meetings are characterized by awkward sign-offs and last-minute tech troubleshooting, try these steps: Make them video optional. For presentations or events, it makes sense to have the camera rolling. But for quick check-ins or brainstorming sessions, let your employees hide behind their Zoom avatar. People working from home in less-than-optimal work environments don't necessarily need their life scrutinized by colleagues or clients. Try out your tech beforehand. If you're going to be using a new platform or trying out new-to-you features, don't wait until your meeting is underway to test them out. Browse the program's support documentation ahead of time, and enlist a friend or coworker to help you do a trial run. Similarly, log on early before any meeting or presentation to ensure all presenters' microphones and cameras are working. Prepare an agenda. Just like an in-person meeting, things will go much more smoothly if you outline an agenda and goals at the beginning of the meeting, and assign roles to various participants. Keep things on track and succinct, and your meeting will be a winner. Be mindful of time zones. The simplicity of virtual meetings makes it tempting to arrange an event for whenever best suits you. But remember that coworkers or clients might be signing on early in the morning, late at night, or during dinnertime with their family. Try to keep things within business hours where possible. Get real-time feedback. You may find that your participants "go silent" during your virtual meeting. Avoid this situation by explicitly asking for feedback and input throughout, and by making it clear up-front that you'll be doing so. This will help you avoid the feeling that you're talking into a void. Virtual meetings will never replace face-to-face meetings entirely, but they're an affordable, convenient, and accessible complement to them, especially in a context where the majority of us are working remotely. Keep the tips above in mind, and your virtual meetings will quickly become something everyone on your team looks forward to!
This month, members of the Department of Psychiatry will volunteer at three non-profit organizations as a way of giving back the community. On Thursday, May 2, thirteen members of the Department of Psychiatry worked at the Heart Ministry Center, a North Omaha non-profit started forty years ago to provide food, clothing, shelter, and financial assistance to people of need. Volunteers worked in the food pantry – handing out food and loading groceries into vehicles. “We’re proud to say that the Department of Psychiatry will be making history with these service projects,” said Department of Psychiatry Chair Dr. Howard Liu. “We’re the first department at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine to ask and receive permission to spend part of a work day helping agencies in need.” Maggie Milner, Psychiatry Clinic Manager, said Thursday’s service project was a lot of fun, especially since she was able to work outside on a sunny spring day. “I thought everyone worked very well together. Heart Ministry Center was very welcoming, and the people who came were very grateful,” Milner said. “The weather was gorgeous, beautiful. The sun was shining, which makes everyone smile more. It was a blast.” Mark Dahir, Director of Operations at the Heart Ministry Center, not only welcomed Psychiatry volunteers to his organization but also shared the center’s success stories, which includes its Fresh Start program. The program helps find work for people struggling to get and maintain a job. “The bloodline of the Heart Ministry Center is our Fresh Start Job Placement Program participants and volunteers,” Dahir said. “Without them, we could not operate in the way that we do. UNMC and Nebraska Medicine volunteered (on May 2). We are all spokes on the heart-shaped wheel that is our mission. UNMC, Nebraska Medicine did great work.” The final two service projects will take place on May 15 and May 29. On May 15, staff members will volunteer at Grief’s Journey. Two weeks later, members of the department will help Keep Omaha Beautiful by cleaning a park at 20th and Wirt Street. Dr. Liu said he hopes Volunteer Month will continue every year.

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